Holiday World Trip Report 07/06/10

[Jeffy]

The wife who is a non-rider and the kids my 7-year old daughter and 12-year old son and I traveled to Holiday World and Splashin' Safari. We arrived shortly after the park opening of 9:30 Central Daylight. We walked straight to The Raven. My daughter was itching to get on her first "big" wooden roller coaster. It was my plan to get her a taste of how it would feel before we moved on to the other coasters in the park as this is her first season at the magical over 48". We had a 30 minute wait. I noticed the queues in the park are fairly narrow compared to other parks I've visited. The Raven only had one train running due to, I was told, of having loaned one of it's trains to The Voyage until the new Timberline trains are installed. However the line moved fairly quickly. The ride experience was exciting although comparatively short and the pace of the ride was very consistent. One of the highlights was the helix over the lake and a very nice finish. Really all of the coasters have nice finishes to them. My son decided unfortunately that he was not a huge fan of woodies this trip, as he only rode The Raven two times with us.

We rode several flat rides between The Raven and The Legend and also enjoyed a nice bit of shade in Fourth of July Section and a free soda.

The Legend is simply the smoothest wooden coaster I've ever ridden, it also has a great pace and airtime. I love the homage to The Beast's double helix. My daughter and I rode this twice as well. Morning ride was about 45 min. wait. The afternoon ride was a 15 min wait and even smoother. We rode several more flat "carnival" type rides that were well situated in the shady part of the park I mentioned this because it was a very hot day with high in the mid-90's. While we enjoyed the free sodas many of our stops at the Pepsi stands were only to retrieve water for better hydration.

Next was The Voyage an Out and Back coaster - Oh my. Words really cannot describe my utter joy. What is not to like? Speed, outstanding pace, five, count em FIVE tunnels, not to mention one tunnel has triple dip in it and unbelievably this coaster has three 90-degree turns. It is a virtual ejection seat ride! Airtime galore! I thought I would never, ever say this about another woodie... bite my tongue, it is better than The Beast.

The crowd was large; a Tuesday after a long holiday weekend. My suggestion to beat the crowd at Holiday World is try to do the exact opposite as everyone else and it is not imperative to be at the park at opening. Surprisingly, the Water Park really drives this park. So ride the park rides while everyone is at the water park, go get wet on the flume ride and the white-water ride. The crowd at the water park was really out of hand during peak time of the day, later in the afternoon as folks made there way back to the dry area of the park it eased off somewhat. The water park closes at 6:30 which gives you 3 hours for more riding in Holiday World. There was over a 1 hour wait at Wilde-beast their near new water coaster; we reluctantly passed.

All in all a great experience. My seven year old had a blast, it looks like I have a riding partner for awhile until it gets too uncool to ride with ol' Dad.

The park was ultra-clean, staff were very accommodating, overtly friendly and all SMILES. It really goes back to the family-run business model of serve the public well and they will come/return and if yesterday was any indication; in large quantities.

[DropZone99]

Hey I was there too! Wow it was busy, never have I ever seen HW even half as busy as it was that day! I'm glad you managed to enjoy your day despite the high crowds and extreme heat!

[Jeffy]

Very crowded, I think part of the reason some folks just took an extra day off after the holiday. We are going next Tuesday/Wednesday to KI, hopefully we'll miss some crowd there due to it being mid-week. Unlike Cedar Point, last year I learned it really doesn't matter when you go there, while sometimes one can get lucky at KI.

I was kinda shocked to learn of the 9:30 closing. I would have loved to have ridden The Legend while completely dark.

[The Interpreter]

The 9:30 closing is of recent vintage. Time was when the park had no lighting and closed at 6! Originally, Stark Raven Mad was the ONLY time you could ride Raven after dark, and you had to use flashlights to get in and out of the park!

Meanwhile, with the cutbacks Al Weber has imposed at Six Flags...to make impressive financial results says he, many Six Flags parks are closing at 9, 8 or even 7! Most have had their hours cut since the schedules were originally printed/published...some substantially.

I am glad you and your family had a great time. How'd your wife like the place? Anybody take in a show?

[Adventure Express]

I'm hoping to take a trip out to Holiday World sometime soon!

[Jeffy]

The 9:30 closing is of recent vintage. Time was when the park had no lighting and closed at 6! Originally, Stark Raven Mad was the ONLY time you could ride Raven after dark, and you had to use flashlights to get in and out of the park!

Meanwhile, with the cutbacks Al Weber has imposed at Six Flags...to make impressive financial results says he, many Six Flags parks are closing at 9, 8 or even 7! Most have had their hours cut since the schedules were originally printed/published...some substantially.

I am glad you and your family had a great time. How'd your wife like the place? Anybody take in a show?

The wife enjoyed the Dive show and the Contemporary Christian music show very much. We're heading to KI next Monday and Tuesday.

[IndyGuy4KI]

Nice TR, Thanks for sharing.

I remember reading on HW's FB page the week before the holiday they predicted Sunday to be the slowest day of the 4 day weekend. I wonder if they were right?

[luff]

Nice TR. Holiday World is a great park. I was planning on going there Monday, but due to a last minute cancellation of my friend, I ended up taking the kids to the Indy Zoo. Not nearly as fun.