Holiwood Nights: Day 1 TR

[gigacoaster2k]

My apologies for the lateness.. my 80GB hard drive crashed the day I came back from HWN and I just got my computer back.

I didn't do a PTR this time around, as many of you have never been to HW before and I wanted to give other KICers a chance to post a PTR, so my camera stayed in the car all weekend.

I woke up at 4 am, and planned to hit the road around 5 am, 5:15 am at the latest, so I could spend all day Friday at Holiday World before the event began. I woke up to 6 voice mails and nearly 30 texts asking me if I was still awake.. did it not occur to anyone that I wanted adequate sleep before a 250-mile drive? (My drive to Holiday World takes me on I75 from about 20 miles north of Dayton all the way down to I71 in Kentucky and then to I64 west in Indiana!)

Around exit 22 on I75 south in Ohio, there were two jackknifed semi trucks on the right side of the highway, one of which had gone over the guard rail. Once I got to I71 south past Florence KY, I was still amazed at the insane speeds at which people drive. I now call it the autobahn of the eastern US.

After a very long and lonely drive, I finally arrived at Holiday World around 9 am CDT. I was greeted by Pat Koch, who was at the gate saying good morning to everyone. I started my walk down to Voyage, only to be stopped by a rope hanging shortly past the Liberty Bell gift shop. I could tell it was going to be a hot day already with the way the sun was hitting me.

Once the rope dropped, everyone started running! I started off in a run, but slowed down to a jog once all the runners had stopped to catch their breath. I kept up my jog all the way through the park, and was 1 of maybe 6 people to hit the queue and get on the first train of the day, which was the red Raven train! I've never been so happy that I stopped smoking.. I still can't believe I had the stamina for that ROTB!

Voyage was running very rough, but I blew it off due to it being the first train of the day, and gave it another ride. The second ride was so rough that I stopped for a break and wondered how in the world I was going to survive ERT. I couldn't help but go for another ride.. I'd had enough for the moment especially since the line was getting long, and headed to Legend.

On the way to Legend, I noticed that the day had gotten very hot very fast. I decided to head to Splashin Safari after I got something to eat.

Legend was running a tad rough as well, but it was still a terrific ride as usual. I was getting quite hungry by this time, and stopped at Kringles Kafe for some food. I got 2 slices of pizza, 2 cookies, fries, and a drink for $6.73. I destroyed all of it but the fries as they were a tad greasy, and handed my cookies off to the kids at the table next to me.

Out to the car I went to apply more sunscreen (I use the clear spray-on), and then headed back into the park for some fun and relief from the heat in Splashin' Safari.

My first stop was Congo River, a lazy river. I LOVE lazy rivers. I decided then that it was time to give Wildebeest a shot. I got to the queue and it was almost completely full. I waited nearly an hour, half of it in the blazing sun, with the water coolers empty. I finally got to ride, and sat in the third seat back. I nearly lost a contact to the constant spraying of water in my face, and I got very little airtime. I was hardly impressed, and far from thrilled that I'd waited an hour for that.

I hit the Bahari Wave Pool to cool off and catch some waves for a while. Then I hit Bakuli, and loved it! I have a new favorite water slide! I rode with a.. ahem.. guest of exceptional size and her friend, and it caused the raft to go nearly completely vertical around the side of the bowl! That was awesome!

I hit The Wave to cool off again, then hit Congo River one more time before heading back to the coasters. I spent a total of 2.5 hours playing in the water and I was nearly dry again as I left the water park.. yes, it was THAT hot out!

I headed to Legend, and had an interesting ride. There was virtually no wait, and I ran all the way to the station to see the gates in the station open! I ran through the gate and jumped into an empty seat, and here I made a mistake.. I forgot I'd had my phone in my hand the whole time. I quickly fastened it into my buttoned cargo pocket, but the ride op insisted that he had to take it from me and put it in a locker.

I got back to the station to see no one waiting for my seat, so I stayed on! On this ride, we were on the brake run for quite a while. The ride op came out and explained to us that someone had gotten sick in the station and they were cleaning it up, and apologized for our wait.

I rode Raven, and then headed back out to the car to apply more sunscreen. I wondered to myself why I hadn't picked up my HWN packet yet, and headed back to the gate to get my stuff. Inside my envelope was a name tag which I immediately put on, a detailed schedule for Friday and Saturday, a flyer for Fall Affair, a ton of coupons to use at HW.. and a FREE admission ticket (which I gave to Tom for his birthday!) since the Timberliners weren't ready!

Back out to the car I went to get rid of the materials I didn't need for the event (by this time, I think the hand stamp lady and I were BFFs LOL), and headed back into the park for a few more rides before the events began that night. I got 3 rides on Voyage and saw my friend Andy that works at HW! Then I got in 1 ride on Legend. As I was getting ready to ride Raven, Nick (DropZone99) texted me and said he and Jared (rotag), Ryan (CoasterKid), and Nick's cousin Mitch were outside the entrance waiting on Adam (pkiboy) so they could get in to the park. I rode Raven, and then it dawned on me how long they had been out there in the heat with nothing to drink. I grabbed four cups of ice water and carried them all the way out to the picnic area by Raven's turnaround, and surprised them. They were more than glad to have something to drink!

I completely lost count of how many KICers and friends from other coaster websites that rolled in for the event. I was especially excited to see a big group of my friends from Detroit that I hadn't seen since last summer!

There is absolutely no way I'm going to remember everyone I rode with.. just a warning haha.. but if you remember anything about Friday that I didn't, feel free to post it!

ERT started a little after 7 pm, and I hit Voyage first, of course! Then I got 2 rides in a row on Legend without leaving my seat, 2 rides on Raven, and one more ride on Legend before I headed back to Voyage for the night.. and rode Voyage 12 more times before ERT ended.. AND I STILL WANTED MORE!

Kat (violakat03), Nick (dare to fly), and I were all staying at Andy's house (the ride op I saw on Voyage). We all had to run to Walmart to get some things before crashing at his place for the night, and I was so tired even just driving back to Andy's that I was glad to have Kat's car to follow or I never would have made it. I rode with Kat and Nick to Walmart (Kat took one look at me and suggested I ride with them.. yes, I was THAT exhausted.. I love her for the way she takes care of me), and promptly passed out in their back seat. After our road trip to Walmart, it was back to Andy's we went, and as excited as I was for the next day, I was out before my head hit the pillow.

Friday ride count:

Voyage - 19

Legend - 7

Raven - 4

Congo River - 2

Wildebeest - 1

Bakuli - 1

Bahari Wave Pool - 1

The Wave - 1

[trevor75]

Angie,

Just going through this trip report and remember that people were saying they didn't want to post reports anymore. Mainly because no one comments on them so what is the point? Well I decided after reading this for the third time I would go ahead and at least post a thank you for posting; and letting us who can't get out to the parks as much as we like to live through other people's reports!

So

Thank You

[DropZone99]

Great trip report so far! Thanks again for getting us those drinks, you don't know how nice that was! Reading through these TRs makes me realize that HWN were the best two days of my life. So I want to thank you and everyone else who helped make it the best days ever! I can not wait until HWN 11'!

[Aaron88stang]

Thanks for the report Angie. I have to agree with others that this years HWN was the best experience I have had at a park.

[Guest Millennium]

Where is the rest?