McSalsa's Coaster Adventures: A Thundering Return (Holiday World: July 21st, 2018)

[McSalsa]

While we originally planned to go to Kings Island on July 21st, storms and the threat of heavy rain and lightning changed our plans. However, we were still hungry for a amusement park trip, and Holiday World was on our radar, and the weather there looked much better. So we changed the trip. I had not been to Holiday World since 2013, and apparently some changes had been made, mainly the addition of Thunderbird, the park's launched B&M Wing Coaster. But I have ridden many new rides since 2013: mainly Banshee, Mystic Timbers, and everything at Cedar Point. Would this affect my opinions on the coasters at Holiday World? How is the park itself doing? Is the fudge still amazing? But first, as usual- the ride rating system (which has also changed since 2013):

F- Garbage. I regret ever riding this and will not make the same mistake of ever riding it again!

D- Mediocre. A disappointing, or painful ride, though there might be a little fun here. I might give a D-Tier ride a second chance but it is gonna need to be a walk-on or something.

C- Average. A fun ride, but either there is enough roughness/pain to dilute it, or it just does not blow me away. Will still ride this if the wait is not too bad, though.

B- Good. A ride I enjoy, but it may have some flaws, but I will happily re-ride this unless the wait is pretty crazy.

A- Awesome. These rides leave me with a huge grin usually, and I will ride them over and over if there is a short wait. If there are long waits around the entire park, I may aim for these anyway, as if you are gonna wait, best to be for something worth it. Surpassed only by...

S- Zen. The best of the best. I am usually giddy and my happiness meter is maxed out after riding one of these. Tragically, these are not the most common rides out there, however. 

Note: If you wanna take this as a 1-10 system, S=10, A=9, B=8, C=7, D=6, and F=5 or worse.

We arrived about 15 minutes before Holiday World was to open, and found the Raven lot pretty full. I was hoping the weather and threat for rain would make the park a ghost town, but I was wrong. We entered the park, scanned our tickets, and walked in. When the park opened at 10AM, we headed for my usual 1st ride of the day...

RIDE #1: The Raven

Wait: 20 Minutes

Yeah, 20 minute wait for Raven at the very start of the day. Not a good sign for crowd levels. We rode in the very back car, with me and my sister on the very last seat, because no one wanted to ride there for some reason. I was confused, sure it may be rougher, but that last car I remembered having really good airtime back in 2013, so I thought someone would realize this and take it. But no one did, so we took it. Thankfully, the ride wasn't too rough- it was bumpy but nothing worse than Blue Streak or Racer. There was great airtime on the 1st drop and 5th drop, but not much anywhere else (though it was not Magnum XL200 or Steel Vengeance crazy levels). Rushing over the lake and the turns in the woods were still fun though, but the ride is short and ends rather quickly. A fun ride and a good start to the day.

Rating: B

As Raven pulled into the final brakes, I looked over at Legend and it was down. We went over and saw it do a test run, but the ride ops said it was down for the day. Agh! I wanted to ride Legend to see if GCI's 2016 refurb had made it better or worse! We went over to ride Liberty Launch, but it ALSO BROKE DOWN. We stopped in to the Fudge gift shop, and we saw Santa and had a nice chat with him. He said Legend had become the smoothest of the 3 woodies since GCI worked on it, and also we found out Mrs. Claus loves Diamondback. After that, we headed down to see the wait for Voyage, and...OVERFLOWING!?!? Nope, we'd come back to that later. So instead, we hit up a ride only Holiday World would make.

RIDE #2: Turkey Whirl
Wait: 10 Minutes

Even the flat rides had waits, that's when you know the park is packed, LOL. This was a fun Tilt-A-Whril, but I think we screwed up our weight distribution because we did not spin that much. The ride cycle was long though. And the theme- a Turkey Tilt-A-Whirl. It's so Holiday World.

Rating: C

After Turkey Whirl, we decided to see if Thunderbird had a longer wait than Voyage, because we noticed it was sending trains out much faster. We headed over there and decided just to suck it up and wait...one of our friends, the one who cannot do loops, sat this one out. Also, Thunderbird is very far from the rest of the park, making it kinda like The Bat at Kings Island, just for anyone who might be wanting to go.

RIDE #3: Thunderbird

Wait: 1 Hour

Yep, waited a hour. Thankfully the line for this coaster moves pretty good, and the station has Air Conditioning! Add the excellent theming around the station, which I would say rivals Mystic Timbers (my sister thought it was even better but I dunno if she paid attention to all of MT's small details) and it made the hour wait a little more bearable. But was the ride at the end of this worth the wait?

Yes. Thunderbird is another fine creation by B&M, with a pretty good launch and some good forcefulness in the inversions. The storm sound effects and fog before the launch are pretty good and at first confused me when we approached the ride, I was worried a actual Thunderstorm had come into the area, LOL. The final slow roll is similar to Banshee's, but even slower. Thunderbird is a solid coaster, but to be 100% honest and I am probably in the minority here- I think I did like GateKeeper just a wee bit more, due to that ride's longer track and extra inversions. However Thunderbird is still a great ride, it WAS worth a 1+ hour wait after all.

Rating: A

After riding Thunderbird, as my friends went to smoke, I checked out the Thunderbird Plaza. This area is really nice, and the gift shop has some cool stuff in it. They have CoasterDynamix models of Thunderbird and Voyage, which kinda surprised me- I had thought those were Cedar Fair exclusive, guess not. They also had completed ones sitting out for display, which was cool. I was hoping they would be to scale, but nope. My friends finished smoking, and we decided to ride the other ride in this section as it now had no wait.

RIDE #4: Crow's Nest
Wait: Walk-On

This ride is like a Mini-WindSeeker, but with chains. I had ridden this before, but as Sparkler, when it was in 4th of July. I forgot it came down and then went back up, instead of simply staying at the top the entire cycle. A fun flat ride.

Rating: C

After Crow's Nest, we headed to 4th of July, as one of our friends really wanted to do Liberty Launch since it was a "mini version" of Cedar Point's Power Tower. So, we headed that way. Along the way, I saw Legend...running...with RIDERS!?!? THE RIDE OPS LIED TO ME! I would have to ride it, but first, we still needed to ride Liberty Launch.

RIDE #5: Liberty Launch
Wait: 5-10 Minutes

This ride really isn't too intense, and is nothing in terms of fear factor compared to say, Drop Tower. The first launch up is probably the only intense part, as the launches that follow are not super forceful or anything. You get a nice view from the top though. It is a fun ride, and would be good if you are scared of the bigger towers.

Rating: C

After Liberty Launch, we decided to go to our car, get our waterpark gear, and then we would go ride Legend, and then do the waterpark. So we did just that: after coming back in the park, to Legend we went.

RIDE #6: The Legend

Wait: 30 Minutes

Yeah, it didn't feel like 30 minutes because the line moved pretty well, but it was. After the wait, I boarded Legend and got front row! They had to unlock all the restraints because the ride op didn't see my sister go over to put our bag in the bin, and he had locked the restraint down before I got a chance to even go "Wait!". After that goof-up, though, we rode Legend. The first drop on the coaster is still one of my favorites, I love how it curves and then goes into a tunnel. There didn't feel like there was as much airtime on the section under the waterslides, but that could have been because we were in the very front row. The spiral drop was fun, and then came the 2nd half. Oh wow, I had forgotten how strong these laterals are. In comparison, even Beast's laterals in the helix are weak. The final 4 turns have been banked a little more, so the laterals there are a little weaker than in 2013, but they are still more than strong enough to make the finale good (they still hurt a little). The ride was also running very smoothly, GCI did a great job in that regard. Legend is still awesome, I would say I like it just a bit more than Mystic Timbers.

Rating: A

After a great ride on Legend, we headed into the waterpark, and found it was PACKED. We decided we were gonna try to get wet anyway, so we got a locker, and headed for the lazy river.

RIDE #7: Bahari River

Wait: 5 Minutes

We had to wait for the lazy river. What kind of madness is this!?!? The River is fun, though I found it does not have as many water elements to drench you as Kings Island's version, which could be either a minus or plus. I accidentally flipped myself over trying to fix one of my water shoes mid-ride, that was embarrassing. It was a nice lazy ride for the most part though.

Rating: C

After Bahari River, we got a snack at the Wildebeestro.

FOOD: Wildebeestro

Wait: None

OK, here comes our 1st real issue of the day. The people working at Wildebeestro seemed to be oblivious to what came with their own combo meals, we got the kids burgers since we just wanted a snack and they forgot they came with fries and a juice box. They also charged us $3.79 for a $1.79 cookie, when the board clearly said $1.79. On the plus side, besides the Grilled Cheese one of our friends got (which looked very bad) our burgers and the fries were pretty good. But the service was pretty bad.

Rating: D (B Taste, but D service)

After our snack (during which it rained for the only time during the day which lasted like 5 minutes and nothing even went down- Mammoth and Voyage kept running) we decided to suck it up and since everything had waits in the water park, to ride...

RIDE #8: Mammoth

Wait: 1 Hour

The capacity on this is great, but it is still stupid popular, so it had a 1-hour wait. At least the line moved pretty well though. We finally got on (the 2nd half hour felt like it went by much faster) and were paired with a dude from California. And wow, did riding this bring back memories. Mammoth drenches you quite a bit, with COLD water. It also has some epic drops and airtime, including a very steep drop about halfway through the ride, and it ends with a great splashdown finale. Mammoth is a epic, amazing waterslide and I would actually rank it higher than even some of the best roller coasters!

Rating: S (Yep. First S for a non-roller coaster!)

After Mammoth, we decided to do the OTHER water coaster...

RIDE #9: Wildebeest
Wait: 30 Minutes

Crowds were easing up by this point (it was now 6:30PM), so Wildebeest had much less of a wait than Mammoth. Wildebeest is a great ride too, but since I was not solo here like I was in 2013, I actually think I liked Mammoth a bit more because when you ride as a group, Wildebeest does not have as much airtime (though it still has lots). This slide does, as stated, have lots of airtime and twists and turns, and while you get pretty wet it does not drench you like Mammoth does. Another great waterslide. Oh BTW, I would rank Wildebeest and Mammoth as follows: Solo Wildebeest>Mammoth>Group Wildebeest.

Rating: A (for this ride, it is a S if you can ride solo)

After Wildebeest, I was pretty soaked, so when my friends rode Zinga (Funnel Slide) I sat it out, but watched them do it from the observation platform. Afterwards, the waterpark was gonna close within the hour, and we still had a big roller coaster in the dry park to do, so we got ckour stuff and changed and headed out. Into the Thanksgiving section we went, where would found a much shorter wait than it was earlier for...

RIDE #10: The Voyage

Wait: 15 Minutes

My history with this coaster has been a little mixed. I rode it in 2010 and loved it, but in 2011 it had not been re-tracked and was super rough. In 2013, on my last visit, the first half was amazing but the 2nd half was still very rough. Around 2015, 2 years after my visit, Holiday World began to slow the coaster much more on the MCBR and this season they re-tracked a lot of the 2nd half of the ride. So, how is Voyage running in 2018, with all these changes?

In short: 2010 Voyage is back (sorta- the MCBR is used now)!

The roughness, though there was some, is not at all bad this year, so you can actually enjoy the intensity of the ride much more now. Yes, the train does come to a near-stop on the MCBR, but that gives you a much-needed second to breathe, because the ride re-gains its speed, and I actually got airtime in the 2nd half for the 1st time since 2010 as well. The 1st half was as good as ever, too. I got off the coaster giddy, smiling, and very happy...that also hasn't happened on this ride since 2010. When it runs good like this, Voyage is a truly amazing coaster. If turning the MCBR on was what was needed to keep it running well, then keep it on (save maybe for enthusiast events). Also the ride ops were saying "Voyage sets sail" and "Voyage returns to dock" whenever a train would leave or come in, which I thought was kinda cool.

Rating: S

After the epic ride on Voyage, my friends went off to smoke, where we met a employee cleaning up. We mentioned Pilgrim's Plunge, the ride that used to be in that spot, and the employee told me what he had heard regarding its removal- apparently, the park was not planning on demolishing it, but a part had broken and they found it was gonna cost $2,000,000 just for that one part. That much money buys you 1 or 2 good, brand-new flat rides, BTW. They figured the ride was not nearly worth that to fix (on my visits to Holiday World it never had a line even when it was new so it was likely not popular) so they demolished it, then decided to build Thunderbird, leaving that section of the park a "mess" since now Hyena Falls was all by itself in a otherwise dry section of the park. Also apparently a new human resources building is their current "big project" and it is currently under construction. After the nice chat, we headed to Thanksgiving's dark ride...

RIDE #11: Gobbler Getaway

Wait: 5 Minutes

This ride is like Boo Blasters in many ways, but TBH, I perfer this one. I like the theme a lot more- it is cheesy but feels more original and in-place. And some of the Jokes in the ride are pretty funny, especially the ending. The animatronic old grandma is very well done. This is a decent shooter dark ride. I would still prefer a non-shooter ride though.

Rating: C

After Gobbler, it was dark out, and Voyage still had a very short line. Realizing that night ride opportunities at Holiday World are rare, and knowing the ride was running good, I talked my friends (save the one who was not into huge coasters that much- he did do it during the day, it scared him a little but he was OK, but he would not ride at night) into grabbing a quick night ride...

RIDE #12: The Voyage (Night)

HOLY TOLEDO, this is a incredible coaster at night! Once you hit the twisty bowl section at the furthest point, it becomes super dark and you can't see the little dips or turns, making them feel like they come outta nowhere. The tunnels were pitch black, and the triple down was pretty wild with 3 airtime moments in a row in pure darkness, even if the train wasn't going super fast since the MCBR was right before. My friends thanked me for suggesting this, we felt this at night might have been even better than Beast at Night (though maybe not Beast at Night during Halloween Haunt). A red shirt manager was working the ride and saw my face when we returned, he asked how it was. I told him "It was amazing".

Rating: S+!!!

After the even MORE epic ride on Voyage, our friend who had passed on it for the night ride (he does NOT like not seeing where he is going thus he skipped in spite of riding earlier) wanted to ride Liberty Launch again before we left. So we headed that way.

RIDE #13: Liberty Launch (Night)
Pretty much the same as the 1st time, except now, I got pretty views of Raven and Legend at night. For a few seconds.

Rating: C

And that was last ride of the night for us. We headed into Christmas, and visited the main gift shop because we had $20 worth of Holicash (which we had used earlier- we got it when we entered the waterpark). I got a Thunderbird Fridge Magnet, and some of the delicious Holiday World fudge. Then we came home. Just ate said fudge, it was great. In spite of the big crowds, we had a blast at Holiday World and Splashin' Safari. Now, for the final Pros/Cons of the trip...

PROS
+Amazing roller coasters. Raven, Legend, and Voyage are a tough trio of awesome wooden coasters and Thunderbird is a rock-solid B&M.

+Amazing waterpark. Wildebeest and Mammoth being highlights.

+FREE SODA!!!

+Friendly Employees (Mostly)

+Very Clean Park, even more than Kings Island or Cedar Point

+Bins on all coasters, even Thunderbird, so no need for ride lockers unlike KI or CP.

+More reasonable prices than Cedar Fair on food

CONS

-Somewhat slow dispatches on the coasters (even Voyage would stack), though they mainly are trying to not be rude, and be safe.

-The Legend ride ops LYING about the coaster not re-opening, when it was open again by noon. Also they forgot to let my sister sit down and had her restraint locked as if there was no rider and gave her a rude look when they had to unlock the coaster because of this.

-Poor food service at Wildebeestro (though the food itself was decent)

-Huge crowds, though it was a July Saturday so it was to be expected I guess

That will do it for this trip to Holiday World. I cannot believe that in 1 year, I have been to all 3 parks I visited since 2009 (Kings Island, Cedar Point, and Holiday World) in a 1 year span. Speaking of that, Cedar Point will probably be my next trip, we are looking into going back there in August. Anyhow, questions and comments welcome...MCSALSA AWAY!!! (Gets on a Vintage 1700's Boat and begins to sail away but smashes head-on into a huge rock and destroys the boat) Uh-Oh...

EDIT: Oops. Also, My Top 10 Coasters have changed, here is the new updated list...

#1- Steel Vengeance, Cedar Point

#2- Maverick, Cedar Point

#3- The Voyage, Holiday World (rises massively due to epic rides!)

#4- Millennium Force, Cedar Point

#5- The Beast, Kings Island

#6- Magnum XL-200, Cedar Point

#7- Top Thrill Dragster, Cedar Point

#8- The Legend, Holiday World

#9- Mystic Timbers, Kings Island

#10- Banshee, Kings Island

Raptor, which was #10, falls out due to Voyage's huge rise.