My First Trip to Holiday World 6/23/14

[emileeee]

I was moseying around different amusement park websites and planning imaginary road trips in my head via google maps one slow January afternoon in my communications class. I realized that I had often overlooked Holiday World as a road trip destination, and that I had always wanted to go. I texted my mom right then and told her that the whole family should consider Holiday World for a mini-road trip since they had a big water park and were reasonably priced. My mom feeds my theme park enthusiasm and often tells me my pointless knowledge of coasters and parks "entertains us all," so she agreed to consider a trip out to Santa Claus, Indiana.

Fast forward to 6/22 and we are departing for Louisville and then Santa Claus. We wanted to stop at the zoo on the way there, and our whole family even made matching tie-dye shirts for the occasion (my family is a goofy bunch).

And hey, look how up close and personal I got with these lorikeets!

Holiday World:

We arrived at 8:15. Yes, all of us had forgotten that we were in a different time zone and thought it was actually 9:15. But hey, we were first in line to get in.

When the gates opened, we headed straight for The Voyage, a coaster that I had been told many times by many enthusiasts that I just NEEDED to ride. However, upon arriving at TV, we were informed that the ride wouldn't be opening until later that day.

Slightly crestfallen, we headed to The Legend, or as my younger brother called it, "The One That Only Runs One Train And Takes Forever." We rode front seat.

See, I like woodies, so I liked The Legend. Noah wasn't a fan. After checking TV again and finding out it was still closed, we headed to Splashin' Safari.

After getting a locker (I LOVE how they handle lockers! The wristband with the barcode on it was very convenient!), we decided to start with Mammoth. I'm not a big fan of water parks and slides, but I must say, Mammoth was great. It was my favorite of all the slides we rode.

We went from Mammoth straight to Wildebeest. Wildebeest was fun, too, but the raft made me a little nervous. I liked the big six seater on Mammoth better.

We made our way to Zoombabwe until I noticed that The Voyage was running test trains. I excitedly urged a few of my family members to join me. The line was only barely outside the station so the wait was about ten minutes. I noticed Voyage only runs two trains, which makes the wait a little longer than I'm used to with KI's coasters. I waited for the front seat.

Voyage was without a doubt the roughest woodie I've ever ridden! Those trains flying past the station aren't an illusion; you truly are flying on this ride. With all the sudden changes in direction and those infamous 90 degree banked turns, Voyage was wild from start to finish. My back, neck, and hip bones are still suffering from those three rides I took, but it was worth it. It was great to finally experience that airtime everyone's been talking about! We were always laughing when we pulled back into the station because of the sheer roughness and intensity of it. I would find myself, a hands up rider, gripping the lapbar for just a tiny bit of stability when the track banked and twisted suddenly. Every time I'd get off, I'd always say, "That was so painful and stressful. I LOVE it." I rode front, toward the back, and toward the front. Front seat was my favorite, and towards the back was impossibly rougher than my rides toward the front.

We also rode The Raven, or The Other Ride That Only Runs One Train. Though the ride itself was barely over a minute long, I was pleasantly surprised at how unique and dynamic the track's layout was. Going over the edge of the water was neat, and the woods added to the Poe-esque theme of the coaster.

Sometime during our hours at the waterpark, a nasty storm rolled through. I liked how clear the PA announcements were regarding severe weather. The rides closed a total of three times today, all for less than thirty minutes, which was good.

During one of these times, my stepsister and I went on the Gobbler, which is essentially Boo Blasters except it's Thanksgiving themed and the cars sit four people.

Also, BBOBH doesn't have this creepy old lady in the queue.

I should also add that I must be slacking in my HW knowledge. I kept looking around looking for Pilgrim's Plunge. I had to look it up and find out that it was removed. I cringed at how tourist-y that was of me

Overall, I loved Holiday World! It was so clean and picturesque. Having only woodies gave it a traditional theme park feel. Free drinks all day was a nice perk as well.

Anyway, that's my lengthy spiel about my first trip to Holiday World. I'm writing this on my way home so it definitely could have been more elaborate but I'll spare you all any more of my overflowing enthusiasm.Thanks for reading of you read it

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[thekidd33]

Always good to hear about people having a great time at Holiday World!

[BB1]

Great PTR!

How would you (attempt) to compare HW to the home ground of KK?

[calakapepe]

Glad you had a good time!

And yeah, having more trains would definitely help all of their rides, Voyage used to have 3 trains, and 7 cars.
Legend used to run two trains.
Raven.. I think they still have two.. They ran two when I went on the 17th, I think.

Be glad that you went on a weekday though! And I have to admit I had a nice little chuckle that the time zone change caught you guys.

[emileeee]

Great PTR!

How would you (attempt) to compare HW to the home ground of KK?

See I was gonna do this, but they're just completely different parks.

But I'll attempt

What I liked about HW was that I could get the whole park done in a day, due to its smaller size. However, if I were driving 3.5 hours to Kings Island, I would have definitely gotten a two-day ticket.

Holiday World had some thrills, but not near as many as KI does. HW is mostly water park, while KI is mostly theme park.

HW can do things like free drinks since it's a smaller scaled park. It was nice to get a small cup of Gatorade or something and toss it before getting on a ride instead of lugging around my souvenir cup on every ride.

Loose articles were definitely easier to manage than at KI. You could bring your sandals and sunglasses on every slide and there was a place for them ( Mammoth's was the best for this). If you wanted something secured in a locker rather than a cubby, you just asked the ride attendant and they locked it up for you and gave you the key to put around your wrist for the duration of the ride. Very neat idea, but made loading/unloading take longer.

We were amazed at how much cleaner HW was than KI. Trash cans every ten feet it felt like.

Not a big water park person, but I must say Splashin' Safari has more to offer than Soak City. The water coasters were just great.

However the whole time I was there, I just kept thinking "Man, this makes me so excited to get to KI on my day off this week." Like an appetizer to the main course

Both parks have different strengths. Overall it was just nice to see something different.

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[McSalsa]

Raven and Legend are actually both to have two trains- they'll apparently only use one though if they don't think it's going to be crowded to reduce wear & tear. Voyage originally opened with 3, but then the Timberliner fiacso happened and they sold 2 of their trains thinking they would have the new Timberliners ready in 2010, but they didn't and ended up having to buy a used PTC train (after using a Raven train on Voyage in 2010). It's only had 2 trains since.

Oh, and the Timberliner Fiasco, FYI, was that Holiday World was supposed to get Timberliner trains in 2010 to put on The Voyage and hopefully smooth the ride out a bit. However they didn't work in 2010, so they were delayed until 2011, and then 2012, then 2013...then they finally got canned and Holiday World just decided to stick with PTC trains. Another ride, Hades 360 (formerly Hades) at Mt. Olympus in Wisconsin did convert to Timberliners and according to reviews, they did nothing to help with the roughness on that ride whatsoever, so the whole thing seems like it was a big waste of the park's time and energy.

Glad you enjoyed your trip- BTW, I agree on your Voyage review about it being rough & still fun. I will still say it though: I personally like Legend over Voyage.

[BB1]

KK is KI now? Hart would be shocked!

[emileeee]

Interesting. Especially that they used one of Raven's trains at one point. Seems dangerously similar to Son of Beast's situation when they figured new trains would help with the ride.

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[emileeee]

KK is KI now? Hart would be shocked!

Oh I thought you meant KI. I've never been to KK. We passed through Louisville to get to HW but we couldn't go to KK sadly.

Maybe sometime this summer!

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[IndyGuy4KI]

Now you are wanting me to go back to HW. Although, I doubt it will happen this year. Thanks for the PTR!

[McSalsa]

Interesting. Especially that they used one of Raven's trains at one point. Seems dangerously similar to Son of Beast's situation when they figured new trains would help with the ride.

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The situation is a bit different than from what Son of Beast went through- that ride needed its trains switched (and its loop removed) due to MAJOR problems with the design of the trains themselves. Premier Rides, who had never worked with any kind of wooden coaster before, designed them to be "the ultimate wooden coaster trains" and ended up making them weigh far too much. Combine this with Son of Beast being a 78mph wooden coaster with turns that go way into the air, and you have a recipe for disaster- and that's what happened when in 2006 a vertical support broke from stress causing the track to dip a few inches and it ended up injuring 27 riders. Thus the original trains had to go, but the loop did as well because of this even though that part of the ride was seemingly the one that never had any issues.

The PTC trains Voyage uses are actually pretty good, but they have limits, and The Voyage was really pushing them with is height, 67mph speed, and the incredibly sharp and banked turns it does. The Timberliners were actually designed for Voyage, and even have wheels that turn with the track and such, but for whatever reason they ran into problems when actually using the trains (possibly because when Voyage was originally designed it was with the PTC trains in mind) and thus eventually had to just give up the project and stick with PTC trains+extra upkeep. Holiday World's wooden coaster "cats" actually go and replace entire track sections on The Voyage each offseason (for at least the last few years anyhow) when a "normal" wooden coaster just needs its first 2 layers of wood or so swapped out. The ride's very lucky to have a park so dedicated to maintaining it- if this were at a Six Flags or something with a bunch of other rides, it'd probably be neglected and become like the Old Texas Giant- a former great wooden coaster that fell from glory and became awful, and it would likely do so very quickly given its size and intensity. Instead it still remains one of the world's best wooden coasters in most polls, though it seems more and more are recognizing the ride's current issues.

[emileeee]

I had no idea they replaced entire sections of track during the off-season. HW in general looks like a place where upkeep is a priority. Everything looked so clean and polished.

Sure, I'm sure a lot of people would love it if Voyage wasn't so rough, but it IS still a woodie. It combines the twists and turns of a steel coaster with the familiar brain-rattling of a wooden coaster. Definitely one of the most unique coasters I've been on (which isn't THAT many because I've only been to a few parks outside KI) and it was well worth the trip.

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[McSalsa]

Here's a video where you can see the offseason track work done to Voyage- including clear shots of entire track sections being removed for replacement. It's pretty cool and thus I felt like showing it here...

[APE]

No ride has ever made me drool on myself like the Voyage did when I rode it for the first time. It is incredibly intense and awesome. I kind of don't want them to change anything about it. My first ride was a month ago.

[McSalsa]

No ride has ever made me drool on myself like the Voyage did when I rode it for the first time. It is incredibly intense and awesome. I kind of don't want them to change anything about it. My first ride was a month ago.

TBH, back when we didn't know the Timberliners were not going to work, I was hoping they'd make the ride just a bit more comfortable but still have that crazy intense wooden feeling- even if roughness wasn't effected, the Timberliners did look a LOT more comfortable than the PTC trains and I thought could have made the final spaghetti bowl section much less painful, while maintaining the fun parts about it. And they were supposed to reduce maintenance costs, which would be good because #1- It would have saved Holiday World money which they could pass on to the consumer or spent on other rides, and #2- It'd make The Voyage last longer since it would need fewer repairs and that's usually what eventually does a ride in later in its life. Sadly, the Timberliners didn't work though- which has me a bit worried for The Voyage long-term because it seems to need a LOT of upkeep...and what if Holiday World changes ownership, which could very well happen? Would a Six Flags or Cedar Fair possibly be willing to maintain a wooden coaster THAT much? Or even if there isn't an ownership change, Holiday World needs to grow and add new attractions to stay competitive, but those new attractions also cost money to upkeep...and they can no longer afford to keep such an insane wooden coaster around because of this (or the re-opening of Kentucky Kindgom digs into their profits to much, etc etc. could also in theory cause this)?

I do hope the ride does stick around for years to come though, and hope it stays good for as long as possible. Though based on how bad it got in 2011 alone- a mere 5 years after its debut- keeping The Voyage enjoyable long-term is going to be one heck of a challenge for Holiday World.

[emileeee]

Here's a video where you can see the offseason track work done to Voyage- including clear shots of entire track sections being removed for replacement. It's pretty cool and thus I felt like showing it here...

WOW. 5:30 every morning for four hours walking the track. That is dedication.

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[McSalsa]

^
For the record, I'm pretty (99%) sure Kings Island and other parks also have workers who get up very early and walk the track of their wooden coasters every morning. I have to give mad respect to anyone who has that job- it can't be easy, and they are responsible for keeping the roller coasters they work on safe. And considering how incredibly rare roller coaster accidents are, they are overall doing a great job...or at least it seems that way.

[IndyGuy4KI]

Would a Six Flags or Cedar Fair possibly be willing to maintain a wooden coaster THAT much?

I am not sure about a place that numbers its flags, but CF seems to do a good job. Look at Mean Streak. Track work has made it a decant coaster again. The Beast, (longer than The Voyage) even though it may not be as intense, but we have seen track work over the last few years. It seems to be running as good this year as I have ever remembered!

[jcgoble3]

Glad you had fun at Holiday World!

For the record, Voyage (currently) is not "rough". It is violent. Voyage used to be rough a few years ago, but massive track work has corrected that problem.

Violence is characterized by quick transitions, rapid changes in forces, and other factors that throw you around in specific ways. Roughness is characterized by jackhammering, shuffling from side to side, and similar factors that just randomly shake you around. Violence is typically part of the original design, while roughness is not.

I like my coasters violent. I do not like them rough.

[calakapepe]

I second that. Voyage 2008 and Voyage 2010 are vastly different... but Voyage 2014 and Voyage 2008.. Aside from a yellow-pine color.. aren't as different in experience.


Glad I'm not the only one who makes a distinction between rough and aggressive/ violent.