Holiday World---Friday, May 15th

Holiday World- Friday, May 15
Friday was just a review day for finals the following week, but since we are exempting out of all our finals, 4 friends and I decided that Friday would be a great day to head up to Holiday World.

When we arrived (shortly after the park opened), the Raven lot was as empty as I have ever seen it--maybe 1/10 of it was full. The weather was warm and sunny, though very humid. There was a small chance of thunderstorms later in the day, but we didn't let that get in the way. We parked, gathered what we needed for the day, stopped to talk to Mrs. Koch, and headed into the park.

Ride Reviews
The Raven- Because of its location, the Raven usually generates long lines early in the morning, but because the park was a ghost town, we headed to it first and walked right onto the ride. As expected, it was only running one train. I hopped in the backseat, and off we went.

The Raven was running very fast and smooth that day. The lake turn was a bit rough, but nothing too bad (though I bet this is the next area of the coaster that HW will retrack). The 5th hill remains my favorite part of the ride, and the run through the woods was great as usual. 8/10

The Legend- This was a walk-on, as well; I grabbed the backseat again. I have never been a fan of the Legend, because of its roughness and the lack of banking, but it was excellent on Friday. The first drop is one of the best on a wooden coaster, airtime was abundant throughout the first half of the ride, and the double-helix was great. Strangely, the lights were turned on in the tunnels, which I thought took away from the ride. I hope this is just temporary. 8/10

The Voyage- I've been anxiously waiting to revisit my favorite woodie for 7 months now, and needless to say, I was not disappointed on Friday. I'm up to 66 rides now, but I still can't decide where my favorite spot on the train is. The front provides a smoother ride, great visuals, and fun floater air on every hill, but the back provides 2.5 minutes of complete INSANITY, and amazing air on the out-run. The turnaround, however, could use some retracking/redesigning. (I can't stand the reverse-banked turn...) I am still amazed by the incredible pacing of the ride, and can't wait to experience it with Timberliner trains, whenever that time comes... 10/10

Pilgrims Plunge- The 2009 addition can be described with one word... FUN! In person, the ride really looks quite terrifying--but awesome at the same time. The whole new area looks very nice, and I'm sure it will look even better once the grass grows in. I do wish the park would add some trees/foliage to the first half of the ride, because currently, it seems very bare and, well...ugly. I fear that lines will be terrible for the ride come mid-summer. Holiday World was practically empty today, and even though they were running all 5 boats, wait times could get a bit long. But onto the ride experience:

The boats are pretty nice. There is plenty of room, and the lapbars are great (though they don't fit quite like they should--they reach all the way out to your upper-leg, instead of to your lap). They are just like Mavericks/Fahrenheit/Ka's, except without the shoulder straps. I don't understand why all Intamin restraints can't be like this; it's not like the straps really 'restrain' you, anyway.

The boat exits the station, and flows at a fast pace around some s-bends and a turn (with a few splashes along the way). Then, you reach the elevator. The boat is locked into place, and then quickly lifted upwards. The ride up is quite rough and noisy, which just adds to the fear. The leaning motions can be felt, but they were taken too quickly to really have any effect on me. (All of my friends were completely freaked out, though).

Suddenly, you have reached the top of the tower, which is the scariest part of the ride, IMO. Within seconds, the boat inches forward, and you begin to plunge 131 feet. The drop is very fun, and quite long, but not intense. I would have liked it to be a few degrees steeper, but I understand the family-friendly situation. For an added thrill, look to the side while dropping--this provides an interesting sensation. When you reach the bottom, you skid on top of the water for a while, and then finally drop a bit to create the splash. Though the splash itself is small, you still get quite wet...I still hope they can find a way to increase the size of it, though.

Overall, Pilgrims Plunge is an excellent addition to the park. Everyone who rides it seems to love it, and I can't disagree with them one bit. Unfortunately, the ride did go down around 11am, and didn't reopen until 4:30--one hour before the park closed. I'm glad that Holiday World worked all day to get it back up, though. I just pray that they can get the problems worked out soon...we REALLY need a strong relationship between HW and Intamin to develop. ;) 8/10

Zinga- I'm not a big fan of water parks, but Splashin' Safari is one of the best, so I always pay it a visit, anyway. Friday was its opening day, and they were having problems with lots of the major attractions, but luckily my favorite slide (Zinga) was operating.

Zinga is the prototype 'tornado' slide from ProSlide. I've ridden many of the later versions, but this one remains my favorite. There were no lines today, so the trek up the hill was killer, but the ride back down was well worth it. 7/10

Jungle Racer- With there being five of us, this was the only slide we could all ride together, so we raced many times on it--I won most of them! (And I just cheated a little bit...) The third drop provides some nice air. 6/10

Bakuli- Ugh...so much wasted potential. The location is great, the turns in the dark are cool, and the drop is really fun...but the bowl section is just so boring! The revolutions are taken at a snails pace, which hurts capacity and ruins the climax of the ride. Oh well, the rest of it is fun. 4/10

Watubee- The park's newer additions may overshadow it, but this is still a fun slide. There are plenty of little drops along the way, and going up on the side of the chute is always fun. I wouldn't wait too long for it, though. 5/10

AmaZoom and Bamboo Chute- The first slides in Splashin' Safari remain two of the best. They never have a line, and the layouts are equally fun. I'd give a slight edge to AmaZoom, though, as it is a bit faster. 6/10

Raging Rapids- The theming is nice, but this is a pretty weak rapids ride. The tunnel at the beginning of the ride is fun, but after that, there are only about 2 places that really get riders wet. I like the layout, though, and I think some of the water features may be turned off because it is so early in the season. 5.5/10

Liberty Launch- My favorite S&S tower was still running its great program on Friday. Even if you are stapled in, the 2nd blast is powerful enough to rip you from your seat. If only HW would invest in some more powerful flats, such as this one...(wouldn't a pair of Screamin' Swings fit greatly into Thanksgiving?) 7.5/10

Frightful Falls- Though Pilgrims Plunge may overshadow it, Frightful Falls is still a great ride, and will remain a family favorite. The lights were on in the tunnel, which was pretty cool, but like the Legend, I hope it is only temporary. 7/10

Food
Holiday World has some of the best food prices you will ever find at an amusement park. We ate lunch at Safari Jake's, located beside Monsoon Lagoon in Splashin' Safari. I received two HUGE pieces of pepperoni pizza, an order of fries, cheese sauce, and a chocolate chip cookie for under $7. And don't forget, soft drinks are FREE! Not only is the food relatively cheap, it is also delicious. The pizza was thick and smothered with cheese, and the fries were some of the best I have ever had...crispy and golden brown.

I also had a small cone for $1.67...and by small, I mean huge. The scoop was easily larger than a softball. I love Holiday world? ;)

Overall Experience
Besides Pilgrims Plunge being down for most of the day, I have nothing but positives to report about my day at Holiday World. The weather was nice, prices were cheap, and all of the employees were nice and helpful. Operations were good, and lines were nonexistent---besides a few school groups, we were practically the only people in the park. The coasters all ran as well as they have in years, and almost every ride left us satisfied. I had a great time at the park, and can't wait to return later this summer!

You consider Liberty Launch powerful? I got off that thing disappointed.

Have you ridden the one at Indiana Beach? Now that is some powerful stuff.

Was the voyage turn around rough or do you just not care for the track shaping asking out of curiosity with holiwood nights coming up.

^^Yes, I have ridden both. I find the double shots at Indiana Beach, Wild Adventures, and Holiday World all to be equally amazing. (They are much better than any of the larger versions...)

Zeus, I'd say a little bit of both. The combined roughness and awkward flow of elements in the turnaround makes it my least favorite part of the ride. They did fix the strange dip going into the final 90* turn, though! That section of track is now much more bearable/fun.

That was one of my favorite parts how fast it dropped before that 90 it was a quick ejector air moment :(

Lights on in the tunnel? Boo!

Sorry, the lights should not have been left on.

Thanks, Paula

I think he deserves some compensation for his troubles. Say, maybe some free Pepsi and sun screen? :)

^^Thanks for the reply...that makes me feel a lot better. Better go scold the maintenance guys, Paula. ;)

^You'll never believe this, but the park actually DID offer me free soft drinks and sunscreen on Friday...the management at Holiday World must be going crazy! :)

Yeah? But what about parking? Surely they haven't lost their minds completely and charged you a premium for using their lot and trams to get to the park.

~Rob

Parking is expensive last time I was there it cost me... wait I don't think I paid for parking. Wait I did it was thirty dollars at the campground the ride over was free though the let me sleep there though so I didn't feel ripped off. :)

Who doesn't love Holiday World

^ Someone who hasn't heard of it and hasn't been there yet -- they're the only ones I can think of... ;)