Joncars05 Posted June 24, 2016 Share Posted June 24, 2016 Holiday World June 3rd-4th. Day 1 My wife, daughter, and twin cousins set off for our 5th Holiwood Nights from our family’s place in southern Indiana. We ended up getting to the park at 4:30 which was the time we could check in with the HWN’s ticket. Check in was rather smooth. There were about 15-20 registrants in line but HW handled it pretty well with 4 check in windows opened. After about 5 minutes we all had our wristbands, schedules, and t-shirts and were in the park at 4:35. The weather predictions were bad so that kept the majority of the GP away from the park. Luckily for us it didn’t rain on Friday at all while we were in the park. The first thing we did was make sure we rode all of the coasters. So we worked our way from the front to the back. Raven rode well. The 5th drop is stunning as usual. The ride always seems too short, but it certainly packs a punch for it’s size. Next we headed to Legend. Legend had a huge overhaul this year with the first drop AND return to the station out of the double helix being completely torn down and rebuilt. A new double down feature was added to the course after the double helix as well. The theming changes didn’t stop there. When you go up the lift hill there is now a sound clip of a horse chasing you up the hill and a person saying don’t look back. The first drop was absolutely awesome. Before the re-profile, the first drop was jarring. Now it is as smooth as butter. This led to a much more comfortable ride throughout the course. The laterals were still there. The spiral drop in Splashin’ Safari and the double helix were lateral filled. After the double helix the new double down wasn’t as powerful as I was hoping. The first drop had almost no airtime and the second had just a small pop of airtime and it was nothing that I would write home about. After the double down the return trip was so smooth yet still felt fast and filled with laterals. It is an A+ ride! The work that the Coaster Cats at HW and GCI did on this is amazing. I wasn’t able to ride this ride until 2012 so the improvements to me made the ride seem brand new. Next we headed to Voyage and it was out of control and aggressive as usual. The ride was just so fast and surprisingly smooth. I didn’t notice any ‘chuckholes’ along the track and I felt as if it was really re-ridable. The little bunny hops along the track are so much fun and the first 3 drops were solid as usual. The ride seemed to be the same even when the trim brake was applied during regular operating hours. Lastly we hit up Thunderbird and it was solid again. This is by far the best wing coaster I have been on. The launch is forceful and the layout of the ride is great as well. We even had a crossover of Voyage when going through the course. The barn double keyhole is so much fun. Every time I have been on Thunderbird I still and just shocked that HW built a B&M coaster at the park. It is such a daring move and it seems to have paid off for the park. After our Thunderbird flight, we saw the HWN guests heading to the water park for the water park ERT. We ended up getting in and rode Mammoth and Wildebeest at least 6 times each. The park offered some snacks and had a new auction that allowed behind the scenes tours for some of the rides, a morning walk up the lift hill on Voyage, and a sign up for the new Gobbler Getaway turkey call tournament. I put in the first bid on the Voyage morning lift hill walk and I missed out on the last call because I was riding with the cousins. So I lost out on being there at the end to try and outbid others for the prize. Too bad. The dinner was great. It was the usual pizza, chips, veggies, and fudge. I honestly love their pizza. If I lived within 20 minutes of their place I would order a pizza for dinner at least once a month. (Yes I have heard of a couple of people that live down there doing this!) After dinner it was off to night ERT. When I say night ERT I mean it. This year was a new moon so there was ZERO light other than the stars and what was on the rides. This made the rides incredible as the trees looming over the rides and complete darkness made the rides feel even faster at night. After multiple trips on the rides we ended up leaving when ERT was over and heading to Santa’s Lodge for some rest. Day 2 Saturday’s weather looked even worse than Friday’s weather. So we headed to the park and spent the first little bit in kiddie land up front and in the back. I was able to ride a couple of rides with my daughter and she was able to have a good time in the morning. Once done with that the rain looked like it was on the way so we put our swimming gear on and headed to the water park. We were able to ride a couple of rides and then the rain came. Luckily they don’t close the water park for rain so it was really fun to ride some of the rides during the rain. I took my daughter to the newish Safari Sam’s Splash Land. It was really fun especially with her. She has never been on a water slide before so we did some of the small ones. She liked the open slides but still wasn’t up to trying the enclosed slides. I appreciated HW for having both options of slides along with a wading pool and fountains to play in. I really think you could spend all day there with a kiddo and they wouldn’t get tired. After that lightning was detected in the area so the water park was closed. We took shelter in a food area. This was a common theme as the park was shut down 2-3 times due to lightning throughout the day. Once the weather cleared I let the wife and kiddos stay in the water area as I went on the Voyage and Thunderbird walkback. I was able to get some fantastic shots of both Voyage and Thunderbird on this trip. The nice part was this year HW let us get back to the Zero-G section and the barn keyhole element. This was really cool as literally the train flew over you when it went through the Zero-G roll. This is the sad part of the event for me! After the Thunderbird walkback. My phone, which struggled to have any signal in Santa Claus, IN, vibrated and I saw I had a new voicemail. I listened to it and it was a voicemail from Leah Koch saying that they received my pre-event survey and that they were going to grant one of my request of how to make the event unforgettable by letting me have a walk back of Legend and Raven in the morning. Unfortunately, the morning she was talking about was Saturday morning! So I wasn’t able to go on the trip. They also announced that they were granting requests during the event program opening. I unfortunately missed that program because the kiddos were having so much fun in the park that we decided to skip the introduction. So that was a bummer but totally my fault because I literally missed two chances for a special walk back. I guess it’s time for a new phone and attend ceremonies because I usually skip all of them at these events haha. After the TB/Voyage walkback we came to the dry side and rode the coasters again. The dinner was good too. They had the same fried chicken, green beans, macaroni and cheese, and some desserts. I actually caught up with Leah and she apologized that we weren’t able to connect for the special walkback. I said I was just unlucky and it didn’t really hamper or mess up my trip at all. I thanked them for their generosity of the offer. After dinner it was time for night rides. Once again the new moon provided some spectacular night rides. After the ERT ended we headed out of the park, thanked the higher ups for another awesome event, and we headed to the hotel counting the days until the next Holiwood Nights event. Thanks for reading my trip report! My photos from the event are below. Ride Counts: Raven: 4 Legend: 3 Voyage: 11 Thunderbird: 18 The Legend The Voyage The Legend Thunderbird and Voyage It's launch time! Voyage Voyage Voyage Thunderbird reflection off of a puddle. I got a shoutout on the HW Podcast and a repost on Instagram from HW for this photo. Thunderbird loop 17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beast Gal Posted June 24, 2016 Share Posted June 24, 2016 Mad props joncars. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TombRaiderFTW Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 Great TR! Your pictures are incredible, as always! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calakapepe Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 Incredible pictures 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vortex lover Posted June 27, 2016 Share Posted June 27, 2016 Incredible Pictures! and a great TR to! I should be on my way to HW on the 28 of June. I hope I get a chance to bring my DSLR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joncars05 Posted June 27, 2016 Author Share Posted June 27, 2016 Thanks you all for your compliments! @Vortex Lover Have fun and good luck with your photos if you end up taking the DSLR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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