Gordon Bombay Posted May 4, 2009 Share Posted May 4, 2009 So last week my good friend Alex (SonOfBeast07) calls me up and asked me to be his guest at Pilgrim's Plunge media day. For those of you that don't know; Pilgrims Plunge is the world's tallest water ride and opened this past weekend at Holiday World in Santa Claus, IN. The theme of the ride is not to be confused with the motion picture The Pillgrums, which was just released on the new Cinco Home Video Cube Playback system, but rather fits in with the theme of the "Thanksgiving" section of Holiday World. Alex was attending as a representative of "Coaster Cats," The University of Cincinnati chapter of the Collegiate Amusement Park Association. Holiday World invited a plethora of media and other organizations to attend the event and I was grateful to be allowed to attend as a guest. Although, I will admit I had been skeptical of the new ride every since I saw it had been announced. I personally am not the biggest fan of water rides. I hate being soaked all day, I hate wet shoes, water rides tend to have slow lines with bad capacity and really just aren't that thrilling. However, as you are about to see, this isn't your typical water ride. We left a rainy clifton parking garage, stopped for Burger King, passed through Lousiville, took a bathroom break in Indiana and found sunshine: Finding promotional flyers in the rest stop got us excited as we read the facts for the ride, but we still had our doubts as to if the ride would be any good. While I love Kings Island, Holiday World is a great park too. My only problem is that I don't get to visit HW too often due to the driving distance. Cincinnati is a pretty good haul from Santa Claus, but simpsons episodes on Alex's iPod are a good way to make the drive bearable: Finally, after three hours of driving, Holiday World appeared on the horizon with something new on it's skyline! Pulling into the employee lot as instructed, we were greeted by Santa Claus and got our first glimpse of the elevator lift system featured on the ride, the only one of it's kind. Santa described the ride as being very similar to when his sleigh lands on houses, a nice practice run in the off season. As we waited for the event to begin, we got our first glimpse of the ride in action with riders as the park filmed promotional footage. Please note the giant American flag on top of the ride. I think it's a very nice touch. Entering into the ride area, a quiet voyage and the new path that leads guests from the waterpark to the new ride. The station of plunge allows guests to enter from both the water and dry parks: The Pilgrims Plunge station: - Will Koch, President of the park, and Paula, the HW PR rep., discuss the new ride with the media. After allowing the photographers to set up, it was time for the Koch family and Santa to take the first ride! As they climbed the lift, we were relocated out towards the front of the ride for a better angle. Taking the first plunge: Bottom of the drop: -The speed of the drop is incredibly fun. -Biggest part of the splash. The reaction... ...of when the splash takes full effect. Don't be fooled, while the splash may not be as big as some of the other chute the chute rides you've seen, it certainly gets you soaked and takes you by surprise. I'd say they had a good time: Overview of the ride area. The new area looks very nice and I'm sure it will be even better once all the landscaping is finished. The fountains along the splashdown are a nice touch. Like I said, I was skeptical of the ride at first, but was blown away by how good it turned out to be. The first drop is fast and quite fun. The splash gets you soaked, especially in the front most seats. The elevator lift is a great buildup to the ride and works very similar the typical intamin chain lift. In fact it is just that, but bent in an odd shape. I'd say Holiday World gets an A+ for this one. Not many water rides are installed these days, this ride embraces some new ideas that may just promote a water ride comeback. I was worried how long the line may get and how the capacity would compare. According to Mr. Koch, the ride can theoretically get around 1200 riders per hour at full capacity. For a water ride, that's awesome. My only complaints were that on a few of our rides we were waiting at the bottom of the lift for quite some time and another boat would be dispatched and come behind us and bump us. Although the friendly employee warned us, the bump was pretty hard hitting. However, I'm sure once they get the operation down there will be less waiting. Other than that; great ride! Glad I made the trip, HW has another good addition on their hands. Kudos and thanks to the staff of Holiday World for allowing me to attend, offering us four great rides on Pilgrims Plunge, the free pizza and a day of driving well spent! Check out Pilgrims Plunge this summer then go dry off on Voyage! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kawana Posted May 4, 2009 Share Posted May 4, 2009 Thanks for the TR. I'm sure Pilgrim's Plunge will be a big hit for HW this season. It has that curiosity factor that will draw the people in, I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KI-ORIG-EMP Posted May 4, 2009 Share Posted May 4, 2009 The only thing that seems to be missing is the soap!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avatar Posted May 4, 2009 Share Posted May 4, 2009 WOW nice report and awesome photos, looks like you had a great time. I have not been to Holiday World for several years, reading this and other reports has got me wanting to go back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cassie_KY Posted May 4, 2009 Share Posted May 4, 2009 I, too, am not a huge fan of water rides. Squishy shoes are no fun! However, this ride looks really neat and I am looking forward to trying it out when I go the end of this month. The photos are awesome as usual! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westcoaster Posted May 4, 2009 Share Posted May 4, 2009 Great pics imagine a nice enclosed ride like this with theming, animatronics then the elevator up and the drop!!! butHoliday world for being a small family park really has put itself on the map!!!!! Way to go Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Nemo Posted May 4, 2009 Share Posted May 4, 2009 Wonderful PTR. Glad to see that Holiday World has another winner for 2009. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonofBeast07 Posted May 4, 2009 Share Posted May 4, 2009 great photos! i have one as my desktop right now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XGatorHead 8904 Posted May 4, 2009 Share Posted May 4, 2009 We rode this on Saturday (my TR to be posted eventually, and I'm sure violakat will have one as well ). Everyone there with me (violakat, clbehymer and Beast Man) all agree that wet shoes are no fun. But this ride is different. Since you can also enter it from the waterpark, you can ride it barefoot. We were glad to find this out! We took off our shoes and left them on the shelf in the station. It was very nice to have dry shoes after riding. Everyone else in the group besides me bought ponchos to wear while riding this and Frightful Falls, but I opted to go without. I sat on the left side of the boat, and we went up the lift on the right side of the tower, so there was nothing but a straight drop down on my side of the boat. It was a little unnerving going up that lift, especially when the boat tilts slightly while going up. You get some good speed on the drop, and I agree with Gordon... the splash may not look like much, but you do get pretty wet. Not WWC wet, but the water came into the boat and came up to the middle of my lower leg before quickly draining from the boat. I wasn't so wet that I was uncomfortable the rest of the day though. Overall the ride is okay, but not necessarily something I just have to ride every time I go there. And before you even think about saying anything Gordon, standbyme, Kawana and anyone else out there, the boat did not sink on me unlike a certain pedalboat incident I had in December. Violakat, clbehymer and Beast Man were all brave enough (or foolish enough, depending on your point of view) to dare ride in a boat with me, and everything turned out just fine for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diamondback FOF Posted May 4, 2009 Share Posted May 4, 2009 According to Mr. Koch, the ride can theoretically get around 1200 riders per hour at full capacity. For a water ride, that's awesome. 1200 riders per hour on any ride is pretty good. Anyways, great trip report and I would LOVE to ride that ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCryptRaider Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 Personally, I think the ride looks great, but the station and landscaping are very poorly done.. Compared to Voyage's station, this reaaally stinks. Holiday world is a THEME park, and this looks like something, as an amusement park, CP would throw in. From what I've seen and heard, Ride: A- Landscaping: C- Great pictures though, I love the one with Santa coming down the hill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 I would never presume to judge a ride I had not ridden. There's just way too many variables involved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markr Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 Nice trip report Ronny. Do you get as wet as Snake River Falls at CP? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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