I have used that same credit card four other places today...

The fact that they don't have a backup option such as a "manual imprinter" machine is a bit surprising. Surely they have at least one somewhere in the park...

Edited due to further information.

They're unusually silent on their vaunted social media outlets today.  

The fact that they don't have a backup option such as a "manual imprinter" machine is a bit surprising. Surely they have at least one somewhere in the park...

Not all credit cards are capable of being used with the old manual imprinters. Some modern cards have the card number and other information merely printed on the card, not embossed. I currently have one non-embossed card, and had one other one in the recent past.

The card is indeed not embossed.

And one of the employees was supposedly the head of admissions. She seemed as, if not more, clueless as the others.

Edit: never mind, HW closes at 6... Wouldn't have time to ride anything. Maybe I'll go Raise Cane...

I wish I had seen this sooner. The weather forecast kept everyone at home today. (Yes, Terp. I know what post you're thinking of. ) I've never seen such an empty day at Holiday World than today. Honest.

Coasters not named Thunderbird or Voyage ran one train and never managed to fill a full train while I was there. Voyage never filled one train in that time, as it was closed. Thunderbird, the brand spanking new $22 million B&M that's engulfed many billboards in Louisville, ice cream boxes in 20-something states, and TV commercials, was entirely possible to reride without having to get out of your seat on its first true public day of operation. It was surreal. Especially considering that it had a 1.5-hour line by the time the line was closed off for closing on the season passholder night just the night before.

(Edited to correct wait time facts. I misremembered what time I got in line.)

I am almost afraid to mention two words:

Central...Time.

6 Central = 7 Eastern?

^ Something I myself remembered only after I had decided not to go, and then remained at Hartland long enough to legitimately not have time to get there and ride anything...

Sounds like you had a sweet time tombraider, how was tbird?

(Didn't mean for this to be so long-winded, and especially not in the Kentucky Kingdom thread. Apologies!)

Different from what I expected, in both good and bittersweet ways. I was very much impressed by the ride itself, being the type of coaster that it is. It's not the most intense B&M Wing Coaster, but I think it has the most personality in the layout of the ones in the U.S. I think it's probably my favorite of the bunch because of that. There seem to be polarized opinions over whether the right side is better than the left, or vice versa, but I personally find that both sides have their pluses and minuses and neither trumps the other. Your mileage may vary. The zero-G roll seems to rotate significantly more rapidly than on the other Wing Coasters, to the point that there are laterals as you rotate (regardless of side), which I thought was interesting and unusual.

The theming is much more well-done than I expected and looks like something you'd expect out of Dollywood, which I like on one hand but find out-of-place at Holiday World on the other. Both the ride and its plaza are different from the Holiday World norm, even from the rest of the Thanksgiving area. The plaza almost feels more like the New France area of Busch Gardens Williamsburg to me for some reason (despite the giant barn) than any extension of Thanksgiving, though it's not as detailed as that area at BGW. (There's some part of me that reads Terp's predictions about the place and worries that they're trying to make the park more appealing to Herschend.) The theming of the ride also has just enough details to it that I geek out over it, haha. The flickering lighting (both on the ride and in the queue) and LOUD booming thunder and wall of fog of the launch is such a neat combination of effects that I almost get goosebumps thinking about it.

The only thing I could ask for is that the storyline of the ride be made a bit clearer. I'm with them on the Pilgrims getting lost at sea and then lead to the New World by the Thunderbird, but then it gets fuzzy. A farmer finds some key to harnessing its power or something because he's descended from the Pilgrims... and it gets loose in his barn and breaks out? Except the old "newspaper clips" in the queue make it sound like it's already loose. So what role does the coaster play in the plot? Are the riders playing the part of the Thunderbird, the farmer, or some crazy townsfolk or something? I feel like, for all the thought that went into tying the story to Thanksgiving, there has to be a complete thought about what part the coaster itself plays in it. It's just not apparent, unfortunately.

I probably would have spent $100 or more in the park today, NOT including admission.

I've never seen such a pathetic "Guest Relations" anywhere else. Ever.

Worse than the famed Carowinds visit?

Far worse.

No one called security there...

Do NOT miss:

http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php/topic/30901-hartland-opening-day-42515/

One of the best reads in years!

I to had Raising Canes in Louisville yesterday.

Do NOT miss:

http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php/topic/30901-hartland-opening-day-42515/

One of the best reads in years!

That's almost at the level of that infamous The Beach trip report...

I to had Raising Canes in Louisville yesterday.

I saw the new one, on the Fort Knox strip, on my way to Taco Tico. It's just about ready to open.

The one in West Chester is also opening within a week, and another one will be going in near Tri-County Mall, where Don Pablo's used to be.

An interesting article in today's Columbus Dispatch about Ohio's Raising Cane's franchisee: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2015/04/26/wittenberg-graduates-raising-canes-franchise-in-ohio-learns-to-fly.html

I'm no so impressed with Raising Canes.  Food is ok, service is ok, but nothing to make me WANT to eat there.  If only we had In-N-Out Burger locations here...Maybe they will come to Kentucky Kingdom!

Raising canes > in-n-out

I'm probably really late on this - I've just started looking into Kentucky Kingdom now - but I see that tickets online are $40?? And for a child it's $34? That's absolutely ridiculous! For $4 more, you can go to Kings Island with tons of more rides, shows, dining, a much better experience, etc...

 

...now I can begin to see why this place is so hated...

 

Edit: ...and they're only open 8 hours during the weekdays in the summer?!! Holy moly!!!

I saw that Raising Canes in West Chester when I was down that way earlier this week. I didn't realize they weren't open yet. These boards are the only place I had ever heard of the restaurant, but from what I've heard I'm interested in trying them out.

I personally didn't like In-N-Out. I am more interested in fries than burgers, and their fries didn't impress me. To hijack this thread more, how are the fries at Raising Canes?

They are good crispy small crinkle cut fries.

Even better dipped in Canes sauce.

You cannot make this stuff up!

HUNDREDS ENJOY KENTUCKY KINGDOM'S PREVIEW WEEKEND:

http://m.wlky.com/news/hundreds-enjoy-kentucky-kingdoms-preview-weekend/32581048

More than 2000 people Saturday.

Yee-Haw!

Two thousand people!? Where were they all hiding?

does that include people they called security on?

So wait... It doesn't officially open till May? What was this weekend?

When the park realized that in many ways it was nowhere close to being able to fully open, it told its employees these were "Preview Weekends."

No discounted admission.

So not ready that I was made fun of for thinking the park was ready to open last weekend.

Clearly, it was not.