Day 4 June 15th HW-warning, slightly controversial
Associated parks:
None
For the average traveler though passing through the state, they don't see anything except for a lot of farms and flat space for miles upon miles, and might come to the same conclusion I did that there's nothing much here. One thing I would recommend to Indiana is that they should update their rest stops to feature brochures about the area, as they had nothing. That would've given me more of a feel for the area. I was however able to find out information about deadbeat parents who owe their kids child support. My favorite was the guy who owed something like $46,000 and his occupation was unknown.
The one thing I did find curious however, is that the Chamber says that there's a wide variety of ethnicities living in Evansvile. I didn't see that reflected at HW at all. So either the different ethnicities are relatively new to the area, or they haven't yet discovered HW.
Who cares? It's a ridiculous generalization for one, but why would you care while at an amusement park?
Intamin Fan said:
Still, no one has answered the question of why a large amount of kids–and not just at Holiday World–were way too big for their size in the midwest.
Holiday World is in the business of showing you a good time and escaping the often crappy real world. Let go.
Jeff - Editor - CoasterBuzz.com - My Blog
You might burn your house down so you can't have a grill.
You might die early because you smoke, over eat, drink to much ect.
One day there will be a serious backlash in this country and I wouldn't wanna be on what it obviously the minority side.
People watch too much news saying everything is racism, For your health ect. Make up your own mind. Theres nothing wrong with living healthy if thats your choice but know this, I know several people who had anti smoking views and died from colon cancer at age 22. Anti fat views and died from complications due to anorexia at 27
If I died from being fat tomorrow or whatever reason, Know I've enjoyed my life and didn't worry about everyone else or what they thought.
Go out, have fun and let people worry about themselves. unless its imediate family, It's really none of your buisness anyway.
Chuck
Also, I see plenty of cities ALL over the country on this "fattest" list. Look what #2 is! Look what #8 is!
I can't explain the numbers you are referring to about the University of Evansville and although I do believe you've seen those numbers somewhere, it really does surprise me.... A LOT. Academically, U of E is one of the best private schools in the midwest. Usually the more educated you are, the better you take care of your health. U of E itself is a rather diverse university with a lot of out of state and international students...so I'm not 100% sure whats going on there. As far as what you have seen across the midwest, I'm as baffled as you are, but I don't see it myself. Either way I think everyone could probably agree that its probably an irrelevant topic.
As far as Holiday World itself and your comparison to Hershey Park, I kind of see what your getting at. I will say though that demographics in that part of the U.S. are probably much different than those in the midwest. What people of that region would consider "family oriented" could be completely different than what those in the midwest consider family oriented. I've been to Hershey and I will agree it's a larger park with more rides and overall more to do. I'm also sure there are other parks that are really clean and friendly as well. The thing about Holiday World is that they don't have to be the largest park with the most things to do. But they do strive to do/be the best at what they do have. I think the biggest difference for me though is that Holiday World is a park that has a face to it. When people around here talk or think about Holiday World, they instantly can picture Will and Pat Koch's faces. They can instantly recall a Holiday World without roller coasters or a water park. They instantly think of those free soft drinks, sunscreen, and parking. And they instantly remember all the fun they had while there...from the rides, the games, all the way down to the really friendly person behind the counter at the food stand and Will and Pat welcoming you to the park when you enter and thanking you for coming when you leave. And after all of that you can still put a face to the park. How many other parks out there have the ability for their guests(the GP NOT coaster nuts) to remember all those memories they had at their park and associate that with the face and names of those who own the park and make it all possible? THAT is what is so unique about Holiday World. And when you can visit the park and realise this, it makes the whole experience that much more magical. That's about as close as I can get to explaining it.
I'm really glad you decided to check out the Chamber's website. There is no apology needed about your assumptions of Evansville itself. I will be the first person to admit that Indiana has probably one of the worst D.O.T. in the U.S. They've made it EXTREMELY difficult for people coming through the area to see very much of anything of what the city has to offer. This isn't your fault.
As far as being ethnically diverse. Both you and the website are correct to a degree. Evansville IS pretty diverse...now anyway. This has probably all happened in the past 10 years though. There is a large population of latino's and asians especially. The asian population boomed around 1999 or so when Toyota opened one of their largest vehicle manufacuring plants in a nearby town. There are also have been some large corporations that have placed headquarters here as well some that have been here for quite sometime (Vectren, Old National Bank, Shoe Carnival, Atlas Van Lines, American General Finance, the nutritional division of Bristol Meyers-Squibb, ect.) That has contributed to the growth of ethnic diversity a lot in the past 10 years. Because of this, I too have been somewhat surprised to not see the diversity as much at Holiday World. Most of the larger corporations and businesses in the area do host company picinics at HW, so I'm wondering if some of these people just don't get their fill of the park then, and just not make a return visit on their own.
One last thought - Someone above was curious about where HW drew the bulk of their attendance from, either Louisville or Evansville. Louisville is the larger of the two, but Evansville is a bit closer so you would think either one or both. But I think I remember hearing Will in a podcast or video pod cast on either this site or some other, say that Indianapolis was actually where a bulk of their attendance comes from(although this could have been some crazy dream or something, I'm not 100% sure). This would make sense with the obesity though since Indy is listed #13. *** Edited 6/24/2006 8:06:17 AM UTC by HoliJohn***
Impulse-ive said:
Hey coasterb did you notice your picture next to gullible at dictionary.com?
I just gave a normal midwesterner response to city folk who think they are the best in the world. I didn't include food production in my previous post either. IE everyone would starve to death without the corn and wheat belts.
Charles Nungester said:
One day there will be a serious backlash in this country and I wouldn't wanna be on what it obviously the minority side.People watch too much news saying everything is racism, For your health ect. Make up your own mind. Theres nothing wrong with living healthy if thats your choice but know this, I know several people who had anti smoking views and died from colon cancer at age 22. Anti fat views and died from complications due to anorexia at 27
Go out, have fun and let people worry about themselves. unless its imediate family, It's really none of your buisness anyway.
Chuck
Well, according to NBC Nightly News last night, you just might be right in one aspect. They had a whole segment dedicated to businesses that are catering to people on the extreme end of the weight scale. For example, there's a company who makes a toilet seat that supports 1200lbs (it's a popular seller). In TIME Magazine recently, they had a similar article and featured a company who makes caskets that are up to four times as big as your standard issue casket (ironically the couple that sells them were not obese).
I do agree that a lot of how I think is probably shaped by what I read and watch. I read two newspapers [one liberal, one not so liberal] a day during breakfast. I read Time Magazine, and the Baltimore City Paper once a week. And if I have anytime, I like to read Men's Health, Men's Fitness, Rolling Stone and more at the library.
When we were on our trip, we knew very little about what was going on in the world, except for a USA Today I picked up and barely read (of course I pick up the one issue that had a Six Flags article), and some stories I was reading off of my cell phone (I subscribed for the weather). It was nice and relaxing not to know everything, but I'm not the kind of person who can also shutoff my brain the other 51 weeks of the year. I think it's healthy to know that South Korea may be considering launching a missle our way.
Chuck, where I won't agree with you is that it's none of my business how other people live. I'm in an HMO and I pay my own health insurance since it's not provided through my work. If health costs continue to skyrocket due to other people's problems related to weight gain, then I wind up paying for it as well. It's currently $276 a month.
But I promise that that's the end of my rant on weight and people at amusment parks.
Intamin Fan said:I think it's healthy to know that South Korea may be considering launching a missle our way.
It's North Korea. I just know that from seeing Team America. *** Edited 6/24/2006 4:35:31 PM UTC by baller24***
There are cost offsets of overweight people, They usually live a shorter life therefore deduct the 20 years of social security and medicare you would have paid for them living longer.
Yes, People in poor health do raise rates some but the majority is in funding the UNINSURED AND UNDERINSURED of which also happen to be in the overweight catagory.
Im not knocking ya bud, Just enjoy life.
BTW, North Korea is not a big deal like Gore, Kerry and everyone else seems to think, They are and have been threatening for years now only to get aid and if they ever did launch a nuke yeah, we'll loose a couple hundred thou if it hits a major city but the deterent is they know they will no longer exist, PERIOD.
Chuck
http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/trend/maps/
I often don't realize just how bad it can be here until I get back from traveling abroad. I just got back from Stockholm last week, and here is some interesting comparative data, taken from: http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/15/25/34970222.pdf.
Obesity rates have increased in recent decades in all OECD countries, although there remain notable differences across countries. In 2002/3, the prevalence of obesity among adults varied from 3.2% in Japan and in Korea to 30.6% in the United States. Countries like the United Kingdom, Australia, the Slovak Republic and Mexico also showed relatively high levels of obesity among adults (over 20%). The obesity rate in Sweden (measured as a body mass index of 30 or greater) stood at 9.7% in 2003, up from 5.5% in 1989. The time lag between the onset of obesity and increases in related chronic health problems (such as diabetes or asthma) suggests that the rise in obesity that has occurred in Sweden and most other OECD countries will have substantial implications on the future incidence of health problems and related spending.
...and I didn't feel as out of place weight-wise in Sweden as I often do in other European countries.
Charles Nungester said:
BTW, North Korea is not a big deal like Gore, Kerry and everyone else seems to think, They are and have been threatening for years now only to get aid and if they ever did launch a nuke yeah, we'll loose a couple hundred thou if it hits a major city but the deterent is they know they will no longer exist, PERIOD.
Chuck, if you really dont believe that North Korea is a *serious* threat, then I have to wonder if you've been paying attention my friend. There is no single more volitile situation in the world right if for no other reason that Kim Jon Il (sp?) is not the most rational leader the world has ever seen.
And bombing a country off the face of the earth, IMO, will have *far* more negative effects on us than you seem to imply. I'm sure our firends China and S.Korea are just gonna *LOVE* the smell of fallout in the morning (apologies to Apocalyspe Now).
And I'm not one who is often mistaken for a tree-hugging hippie (that's my twin Bill :))
As for rednecks, there have been a TON of them in HW on each of my visits. And while I was under the MISTAKEN impression that the mullet had gone the way of the jheri curl, I didnt have a problem with them (and this is the kid who wont go to Knoebels for PPP). The only thing I find even slightly annoying is their tendency to say "whenever" when most would simply say "when" but that's clearly a minor point.
Oh, and BTW, there are no "red" or "blue" states, they are all purple!
lata, jeremy
--who wants his country and his religion back
I haven't had *my* country since JFK and LBJ (who was a Texas conservative from a different herd, BTW)...and I'm pretty sure my religion left me when God decided to go into politics... ;)
*** Edited 6/27/2006 2:23:38 AM UTC by rollergator***
Launching that missle would be the worst mistake they ever made and he knows it but he also knows without touting his horns he's never gonna get anything, You do know tht 90 percent of that country doesn't even have electricity don't you?
Another reason why I feel that sanctions, blockades and UN mandates do nothing but breed contempt for democracy and create warlords who rule by force or take what they need and screw their citizens.
Chuck, who again says what in North Korea affects you at all other than gas prices rising everytime someon runs their mouth? Same with Argentina and Iran We can't make our contry work so we'll blame America.
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