LongLiveTheSmurfRide Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 Last Saturday I went to Holiday World with my wife (Laura) and our friend (Scott). I had not been out there for a few years and it was Laura and Scott's first time. I was pretty nervous about driving 3 and a half hours out there mainly to take them on some of the best and intense wooden coasters, because, you know, what some people call "intense" others call "rough". And I didn't want to be responsible for dragging them out to the middle of the nowhere just to get a concussion; even if they got a lousy t-shirt with it. But threats of injury aside, we were going. Thunderstorms were in the forecast for later in the afternoon, so I hoped they would scare off some of the Saturday crowds. We arrived just as the park was opening. Me posing with Santa. "Welcome to Holiday World!" I had already decided that I was going to ramp up the intensity slowly by taking them on the coasters starting with Raven, then Legend and ending with Voyage. I'd already over-hyped the Raven enough early. My first trip to HW was when the Legend had opened. And while I loved the insanity of the Legend; it felt like a work out, where the Raven was just plain fun. It was short, but fun. We hopped on after about a 15 minute wait and flew through. Laura sat next to me and thought it was rough, but fun. Scott said that it was SOB rough and one of the worst coasters he'd ever been on for roughness. I thought they were both crazy, but they were reaffirming my earlier fears that maybe they were going to hate it here. I personally felt like the Raven was a little less stellar than I'd remembered. It was fun, but I wasn't blown away like I was years ago. Next we went over to Legend. It was about a 20 minute wait. Once we got into the station I saw that the front seat line was no longer than any other so we got in it. I always loved the Legend in the front. We rode and I heard Laura shouting "Oh god!" at every sudden direction change; which if you've ridden Legend you know, there are a LOT of sudden direction changes.So I was pretty sure she was hating it. As we hit the brakes we were wiping tears out of our eyes from the wind. Scott, again, thought it was rough, but not as bad as Raven, and he enjoyed it more. Laura loved the Legend. She was shocked by how forceful it was, but liked it a lot more than Raven. Hope was restored! Both of them needed a little break before going to what I told them would be the most intense coaster they'd ever ridden. Scott still had a headache from Raven and Laura's head was spinning. So we rode a couple flats like the carousel which has some sweet animals. Everyone was clamoring to get on this dragon-horse. Who-Dey!!! Their Flying Eagles/Parrots/Pelicans are fun, but you cannot get any kind of snap on them at all. I knew this going in, but we still tried. Laura insisted on taking this picture since my birthday is on the 4th of July (Look at me. I was so much younger in this picture. So full of hope, and life. Meeeeeemorieeeeees!!!) Scott and I on the Turkey Whirl. He's still got that Raven headache. So finally it was time for the Voyage. The line was pretty long and for the first half they were still running only 1 train. Once they got the second on the track, it moved better but we still had about an hour+ wait. We rode near the back, which was probably a mistake considering this was their first ride and they would not be able to see what was coming. I hyped this coaster a LOT. They are both big Beast fans and found it crazy that I thought any of these coasters could rival it. We started up the lift and Laura was getting nervous. We went down the first couple drops, then the beginning of the insanity starts. Sudden turns, 90 degree banks, lateral g's up the ying yang. Laura had again been shouting "oh god!" with every turn. We hit the mid course brake section and I shouted "It's about to get nuts!". Laura responded, "What!? Now!?" and then we hit the Voyage's triple down and everything from then was a blur of speed and turns. When we hit the brakes we were all out of breath. Laura was weak in the knees and needed some time to regain herself. She said that she had never been so scared on a coaster before. Scott got a bigger headache and was pretty much done for the day. I told them that we had to ride again in the front later so that they could judge better. We went back to the front of the park and ate at the restaurant in Christmas land. Food prices are so reasonable there. I think it was $9 for 2 big slices of pizza, bread sticks and some Oreos. Of course, drinks were free. The pizza was very good. Then we rode a few more flats like the bumper cars, which are still crazy fast and hit hard. They are not cars, but horses and bulls, which used to have light up eyes, but the lights weren't working at this time. Rode the Getaway Gobbler, meh. Then we went to the car and got some swimwear and went to Splashing Safari for a bit. This was my 4th visit to HW and the first time I'd actually tried the water park. It was crazy crowded, but we still got a few slides in. The water coaster lines were insane, so we didn't try them. We got changed and walked around a bit. Laura and I bustin' some ghosts. Both Scott and Laura were tired, but I told them we HAD to do Voyage one more time. Just then it started getting dark and a storm was heading in. We booked it to Voyage and it was already shut down. We had an early dinner to wait out the storm at the Thanksgiving restaurant. The food was okay and you got a LOT for the price, but the pizza was better earlier, I thought. The storms lasted a while with a lot of lightening and we had almost given up hope that we'd get a ride, but eventually the skies cleared and we got in line. Scott was done for the day so Laura and I waited for the front seat. We only waited about 30 minutes this time. The front is where it's at. Laura was still shocked by the coaster's intensity, and her final verdict is that it's the most intense coaster that she's ever been on, but she's still partial to The Beast for sentimental reasons. I'll take that. Laura and Scott both said they had fun, but I feel like Scott will not be a return customer. I think Laura will be glad to come back in a year or two. Maybe when HW finally installs those Timberliners. Laura loves Holiday World! And yes, we did get lousy t-shirts. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 IF the Timberliners are installed. Not necessarily when. Nice trip report! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McSalsa Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 Great trip report, being one I can kinda relate to having gone to HW a few weeks earlier (granted it never rained and the lines I encountered were much shorter than what you described). I can attest to the pure intensity of Holiday World's wooden roller coasters- Voyage is simply the most intense coaster I have ever been on (granted I have limited experience as I have only only been to Kings Island, Holiday World, and a looong time ago Indiana Beach) and Legend isn't too far behind that. I still perfer Kings Island's Beast overall for pure fun factor by a hair, but as far as intensity goes, it usually loses by a good margin (save that one ride in 2011 where it had strong laterals for some reason, that one kept up with Legend & Voyage a lot more in intensity). BTW, Legend is actually my favorite of the 3 woodies there, ironically. (And it's the one that according to all the polls and such should have been my least favorite...) If you ever do return to Holiday World on a less crowded day, try the waterpark again and hit up the water coasters. They are very fun rides, hence why they get such long lines. Epic ejector air on Wildebeest, and maximum soakage (for lack of a better term) on Mammoth...fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delirium13 Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 BTW, Legend is actually my favorite of the 3 woodies there, ironically. (And it's the one that according to all the polls and such should have been my least favorite...) You aren't alone there, I also like the Legend the best of the three. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joncars05 Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 Sounds like a fun trip! HW is my favorite park. Thanks for sharing your trip with us! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongLiveTheSmurfRide Posted July 6, 2013 Author Share Posted July 6, 2013 IF the Timberliners are installed. Not necessarily when. Nice trip report! Wheeeeen! I hope. Thanks for the compliments, folks! I forgot to mention that I ran into an odd camera/phone policy that they have. We were in line for Voyage there and were next to board. That's when I whipped out my iPhone and snapped that picture of the Voyage train coming into the station above. Anyway, I took that picture then bent down to put my camera into my zipper side pocket and one of the station workers said, "If we see a camera or phone, you have to put it in a locker before you ride." I was like, "Oh, I'm just putting it in my pocket now", and he said, "Nope, it's policy, you have to lock it up now." I complied (thankfully they have nice individual key lockers in the station so I didn't feel like my phone would get stolen), and he wasn't really mean about it, but still it made me feel a little like they thought I was going to video the ride or something when I was just getting a picture of the coaster before they'd even opened the gate for me to board. Odd policy that I'd never heard of before, so you're warned! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongLiveTheSmurfRide Posted July 6, 2013 Author Share Posted July 6, 2013 Found this on their site: Absolutely no cameras are allowed on any of the other rides (even when the camera is secured in a pocket or fanny pack). For everyone's safety, cell phone use is not permitted on rides. So technically, not allowed to have them even in your pocket, so I guess they can't enforce it unless they see it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McSalsa Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 BTW, Legend is actually my favorite of the 3 woodies there, ironically. (And it's the one that according to all the polls and such should have been my least favorite...) You aren't alone there, I also like the Legend the best of the three. Though to be fair, it is still really close between it and Voyage...the real tiebreaker for me is that I've found Legend more consistent in its ride quality, offering great ride after great ride...while Voyage ranges from amazing to good-but-uber-rough...sometimes even in the same ride (My 2012 ride on it started off amazingly well, but everything after the triple down was super rough and just not very fun). However, all 3 wooden coasters are awesome rides. I've kinda found it funny that this park, who's motto is #1 for family fun, would have such intense wooden coasters... "Yeah! We are #1 for family-oriented fun...but our wooden coasters are all aimed directly at uber-thrill-seekers and will scare the pants off coaster newcomers! And they are like, our main draw outside the water park..." The one thing Holiday World really needs is a mid-level, as far as intensity goes, roller coaster, in my opinion. Like a Mine Train Coaster or something...I would love to see how Holiday World would do one of those, actually, since they always come up with such weird ride concepts and themes. Turkey-Themed Mine Train Coaster? Only at Holiday World... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcgoble3 Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 Great report! Interesting to see the reactions of two first-time visitors. Random note: The Millennium Falcon shirt you're wearing in the photos is the exact same shirt I'm wearing right now. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 Great report! Interesting to see the reactions of two first-time visitors. Random note: The Millennium Falcon shirt you're wearing in the photos is the exact same shirt I'm wearing right now. What did you do, take the shirt right off his back? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcgoble3 Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 Great report! Interesting to see the reactions of two first-time visitors. Random note: The Millennium Falcon shirt you're wearing in the photos is the exact same shirt I'm wearing right now. What did you do, take the shirt right off his back? Okay, exactly identical shirt. jcgoble3, who hasn't been Terpied in a while 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 You wear the same size, too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcgoble3 Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 You wear the same size, too? That's quite possible. My version of the shirt is a large. Having seen him in person, it's possible he wears the same size. I don't know for certain, though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndyGuy4KI Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 Nice PTR! As others have stated, it is nice to get your thoughts along with the newbies! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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