Holiday World TR 6/16/09

[IndyGuy4KI]

I took my first trip ever to Holiday World on 6/15/09. We got on the road at 7am and arrived at 10:15. Not bad since we stopped twice on the way, once for food, and then a potty break. We had 4 tickets so it was my wife, my son, my sister in law (who is 7) and myself. There is a 20 year gap between my wife and her youngest sister! After we got in we took the little ones to Rudolph's Reindeer Ranch to get them moving from sitting in the car for 3 hours. While they were there I went on ahead and rode The Raven. I was very excited to ride it since it was supposed to be one of the best coasters out there. I got back to the station a little disappointed. I was really expecting more coming from a coaster that had won awards and such. I kept Korbin (my son) at RRR while my wife (Kim) and sister-in-law (Sierra) went to ride The Legend.

Korbin having Fun!

Kim and Sierra said The Legend was really good, but scared Sierra a little. So, I headed over to ride it as well. After ridding, I was very impressed with The Legend. The ride I got on The Legend is what I was expecting The Raven to be. I really enjoyed The Legend. We rode quite a few flats for a while and finally made it back to the Thanksgiving section of the park. We ate lunch at Plymouth Rock Café. They have very good country cooking meals very cheap. I got a picture of my food before we ate.

All this for around $11.50 (with the pie.) All 4 of us ate for $30.00, we got really full and was it was very good food!

Pilgrims Plunge was not running yet, but The Voyage was, so while everyone one else was finishing lunch I ran to The Voyage at 2:10. I really like the station and queue theme. I was hoping it was going to be as good as Giga had said from her TR to HW. Man Giga was right again, what an amazing ride. The ride seems to last for a very long time as well considering the speed that thing runs the whole time. It just flies around those banks and turns. What an amazing coaster, very fun!

I rode The Voyage again about a half an hour later, as I pulled out of the station it was starting to sprinkle, but not bad enough to be needles on the face. Another great ride on The Voyage. Kim, Korbin, and Sierra were marathoning Gobbler Getaway. It is the HW version of SDATHC. This ride is newer and was very fun as well. Interesting shaped guns though! While they were doing that I noticed PP was now open so I made my way back there it was right at 3pm. It was starting to rain as this point, but I was getting on a water ride. The elevator ride was the most fun for me on this ride. It feels really weird while going up. The drop was ok, but it needed to be steeper in my opinion. I thought we would have gotten more speed, although I had just rode The Voyage so maybe it was just my perception? I enjoyed it, but was not blown away.

Sierra and I rode Eagle Flight two times in the rain. It had started raining really hard at this point and Korbin had fallen asleep. We had him covered up in the stroller, and Kim was hiding under trees and going under what she could to keep her and Korbin as dry as possible while he slept. It stopped raining about 45 minutes later. A lot of the park had cleared out so lines were even shorter now and everything was walk on. Sierra and I rode some more flats and came to Rough Riders bumper Cars… No not cars they were shaped as bulls and horses. They were quite fun, especially due to their shape.

Sierra wanted to ride HalloSwings so she and I did that. She wanted to ride again so I let her. Kim watched her ride while Korbin was asleep. I went and Rode The Legend again. It had stopped raining at this point and things were now walk on, but they were only running 1 car on The Legend. I enjoyed my ride on it. Got back to HollowSwings and Sierra was marathoning them so I went over and rode Frightful falls. A log ride that does not have water going down it's drop? You don't get very wet, but very fun little ride. It was interesting for the river was built in the ground, not above, so you were even with the ground while ridding. After I got back over to Hallowswings again we told Sierra it was her last time. She rode it 8 times in a row!

By this time in the day my cell phone died so I could no longer update Twitter on my location and ride status. The rest is all from memory. Korbin woke up so we went back to Rudolph's Reindeer Ranch. I told Kim to go ride The Raven since she had not done that yet. She enjoyed it, but commented it was very short. I decided to give it a second try since I was expecting more the first time I needed to ride again with no expectations. It is a good ride, but I told Kim I though Cornball Express (at Indiana Beach) was a better coaster in my opinion. I wanted to ride PP and The voyage one more time before we left for the day. We slowly made our way to the back of the park again and rode a few more flats.

Korbin rode the Salmon Run ride and loved it. I could not get him off of it. We made it back to Thanksgiving again and we all rode Gobbler Getaway. Although I commented on the ride earlier, this was my first time ridding it. I went to Pilgrims Plunge, but there were lots of people back there and a 20 minute wait, so I decided I would rather spend my time in The Voyage queue instead. Kim, Korbin, and Sierra were marathoning Turkey Whirl while I rode The Voyage. I got up there and I was next to get on and they said that there was a error on the control board and maintenance was on the way to clear it. So they ran 2 empty trains. I got on and it was another great ride. Got back to the station and no one was in queue for my seat so I rode again.

We started to make our way out of the park for it was around 6:30 their time and 7:30 our time and I had a 3 hour drive ahead of us. For some reason I could not get Sierra to ride the Raven earlier in the day, although she had ridden The Legend? So on our way out I told her this was her last chance to ride. I finally talked her into getting on the ride. When we got back to the station her first words were "I wish I had ridden earlier." After we got off and meet back up with Kim and Korbin Sierra told her what she had said and she told us to go ride one more time and she would take Korbin on out to the car. So we rode one more time before leaving for the day.

We got home around 11:30.

Big Ride Count

The Raven -4

The Legend – 2

The Voyage – 4

Pilgrims Plunge -1

Total Big Rides = 11. Not bad for having 2 kids with me.

Thanks for Reading.

[standbyme]

A VERY good trip report...I REALLY have to make it to HW sometime.

... my sister in law (who is 7)

That HAS to take awhile to getting used to...I can picture being able to have fun with that fact with your co-workers...by not telling them her age you could keep telling stories about what she did recently..."Oh, she was out playing in the mud"..."She thinks The Jonas Brothers are hot"...they would think she was a nut-case!

[cassie_KY]

Holiday World is just a great park. Lots of activities for all ages. I am glad you enjoyed Voyage. Just blows me away!

[TopThrill]

Yeah nice trip report Indyguy. I've eaten at that Plymouth Rock Café every year it has been open, and have never had a cold plate of food, always warm and hot. And always leave it feeling full! compared to other park food. And I love the Voyage!!

[IndyGuy4KI]

Yes, I enjoyed the park a lot. Visited Indiana Beach Thursday. I have been North and South this week in Indiana!

TR in the making now. Will do some comparisons as well that might spark a converstion I hope! I will be posting soon.

[KYJoe]

Sounds like you had a great time. I was supposed to go tomorrow but, i went yesterday instead. It was very hot. It was my first trip of the year, the Legend seemed to be running a lot faster and smoother than previous years, it was really forceful in the back seat, it was incredible.

The pilgrims plunge was down the first part of the day also, the ride did not do much for me, but a lot of people seemed to really enjoy it.

The Voyage was running really good too, with really short lines most of the day, the only time it was longer than 5 minute wait was after the water park closed. It also seems to run a lot faster as the day goes on.

I end up with about 15 rides that day, and with the heat it was about all I could take, the heat index was over 100, good thing for the free Gatorade.

We spent most of our day in the water park to keep cool, I love the Jungle racer I could do that all day. Also with Bakuli the more and heavier people you have on your raft the better your ride will be.

[Touchdown]

Im going for the first time since the Voyage was put in next Tuesday and can not wait.

[gigacoaster2k]

I was hoping Voyage was going to be as good as Giga had said from her TR to HW. Man Giga was right again, what an amazing ride.

I am so glad you enjoyed your trip! I absolutely adore Holiday World. I have nothing bad to say about the park!

[Beast79]

I don't think anyone can have a bad trip report, glad to see that we have another Voyage fan!

[TopThrill]

Yeah to me Holiday World is the only good park to go when it's warm out, free ice cold Gatorade all day! A great water park to cool off, and great meal deals that won't break the bank!

[paperg]

Nice trip report... My first trip to HW will be on the 3rd of July. Hope I have just as good of a time as you did. I'm going with "jess" her hubby & my G'son (4 yr old). I don't know about me making a trip report cause I never have. Guess I don't think my reports would be as good as some peoples.

[txdrummer]

I just love HW, such a clean, well run park with a great family atmosphere. Voyage is my personal favorite.

Last year when we were there we met Pat Koch as she was walking around the park.

[IndyGuy4KI]

I don't think anyone can have a bad trip report, glad to see that we have another Voyage fan!

I don't think you can be an enthusiast and not love the Voyage. That goes for those that are more steel coaster fans. I am not partial either way, if it is a coaster I will ride it!!!