Holiday World - June 11th - First Visit

My little brother and I headed to the park, arriving a little after 11 AM. The weather was great, sunny and 90 degrees. The real reason we (well mainly me as I was the one dragging him there) were there was Voyage, but also wanted to check out the water park and other rides. The parking lots look relatively full for a Wednesday afternoon in early June so I was a little worried about crowds due to not being certain about the size/capacity of the park. I noticed as we were walking in that Raven was running only one train and thought, well they can't be that busy then.

Heading through the ticket booth I turned in our Pepsi cans for $5 off and paid $70 for two tickets. The attendant was very friendly and told us "to have a great day." As we turned in our tickets, I told the woman it was our first time here and asked if they were "busy." She politely said, "Well, welcome. It is about average for this time of year, you guys should have a great day." I said thanks, even though it didn't necessarily give me a detailed answer and proceeded blindly towards the water park. I picked up a map, but really just like to walk and see where it takes me.

Our first goal was to get a lounge chair or two by the wave pool and hit some slides during the hotter part of the day. On the way to the Splashin' entrance, we passed the river raft ride and decided to take a spin (I always love these). The wait was around 10 mins. It was a fun ride, no real rapids though that truly splash the boat, mainly water cannons but still fun. Would eventually ride later in the day with no wait. 6/10

Next we headed down the hill to the water park, found a chair near the older wave pool and headed to the slides. I'm not the hugest fan of water parks, I think they are generally overpriced (see Zoombezi Bay) and waits are too long but I don't have a problem spending a few hours in the water to cool off. We were able to go on all the slides (except the green family raft ride, forget the name) in under 3 hours. I won't give a slide by slide review but my favorite was probably the racing slide. It really is a nice, clean water park. One thing I noticed is they dispatched tubes at a record rate. Lines moved VERY quickly compared to other water parks I've been to. The only thing I was really missing are body slides, they don't have a single one. Also, I love the huge drop slides which was missed as well.

The whole time in the water park, I just looked at Voyage, anticipating the ride. My brother, who also loves coasters, is the type who wants the biggest and fastest. I told him about the 3 coasters HW has ("only three," he says, who's used to KI and CP). He seems uninterested in the "baby" coasters Raven and Ledgend and seems like Voyage "is big enough." I didn't want to build up too much anticipation for Voyage so I kept my info to a minimum. "I don't know, it's supposed to be good, like number one in the world," that's about all my brother knew of Voyage before he rode it. I on the other hand knew it was going to be good. My thoughts later on.

Moving on. After finishing up the water park, it was around 2:30. We first headed to Ledgend.

Ledgend- One train, 15 min wait, towards the back. The first drop had some good air and some fairly nice air throughout. Fast, fairly long, and forceful but not rough. The helix reminded me of the Beast, only more tame. Solid wood coaster. 7/10.

Next was onto Raven- One train, 10 min wait, last seat. Even I was skeptical of this ride. Looking at it, it seems like not much. I found it to be a lot of fun. Great sustained speed throughout with good laterals and spots of air. The biggest downfall is it's too short. 8/10

Finally, after taking a stroll and hitting all the rides in the 4th of July area (yes, even the Freedom Train) it was time for Voyage.

Voyage- 2 trains, 10 min wait, last seat. First, I love that the trains do not have head rests, can't stress that enough. You're view is so much less obstructed. Being the first ride, we wanted the best/craziest ride we could so we decided to ride hands up the whole way (the best we could). The first drop wasn't outstanding but I was out of my seat the whole drop. The third drop into the tunnel is where the ride really gets good, as those who have rode know. It's amazing the laterals and random, "out of nowhere" pops of air. The 90 degree turns are nothing special really, but my lord, that turn around section is nothing like I've ever seen before. Simply amazing. The mid course breaks hit as the train is cresting the break run, which at first is a real disappointment. (I thought I read that with off season track work the breaks would be off?) Well as soon as we hit the triple-down in the tunnel, all was forgiven. The last drop in the last seat was ridiculous. I knew it was coming, just not how big it was going to be! Wow, just wow. The rest of the ride back is intense as any coaster I've been on with great air and laterals to boot. After hitting the final break run, I look at my brother as we both try to catch our breath from laughing non-stop for the last 2 minutes. In the words of my brother "That is the BEST ride I've EVER been on!" Agreed.

After taking a break, and watching the Dive show, we headed back for a mini-marathon, one ride in the front (second row), middle, and again in the last row. All spots are great, but nothing beats the back. I've never laughed and enjoyed a coaster so much in my life.

We ended the day at around 7:20 (park closed at 7:30) and dragged our beaten and burned (from our minimal sunscreen use due to the desire to get a tan, good choice there) back to the car for the long trip home. All and all, I couldn't say enough good things about Holiday World. The park is clean and friendly, and is definitely a family oriented park, which I think is great. Although the price may be a little high, I feel $30 would be more than fair. Heck, that is what Zoombezi Bay charges for a one day admission, and I'm sure HW's water park is just as good. The food tasted good and was very fairly priced (2 corn dogs, fries, and a little cookie was $4.99). I think the free drinks are great as well. Most parks I refuse to pay $3 for a drink, get dehydrated and get a headache, here I was able to stay consistently hydrated and feeling good. I'm looking forward to my next visit!

Great TR, glad you and your brother had a nice time. What did you think of Bukali, the "toilet bowl" slide? It got all four of us men giggling like little girls and was our favorite of the day.

mOOSH

Oh...not to be the grammar police or anything but it's L-E-G-E-N-D...just one D, not 2 ;)

Oh, sorry about that spelling, something seemed off, lol.

Bukali was pretty cool. The drop into the bowl was pretty big and I liked how dark the enclosed portion was. I think it would have been better with 4 people. More weight would give a better ride I would imagine. Actually, my favorite for the day probably would have been Zoombabwe if there weren't "lights" throughout most of the slide.

Ah...yes, with four of us we certainly got quite a ride including four full revolutions in the bowl. I can see where only two people would make for a more borinig second half. But yeah, that drop was insane.

Okay, I must go to Holiday World someday. I don't even know where it is though! I've heard nothing but wonderful things about them (except for the random Breathalyzers at special events) and just awesome things about their wooden coasters. Having gotten to ride ElToro five times in one day, my opinion of wood has changed (yes, I know Toro was not typical of wood), so Holiday World would now not be a huge waste of time for me.

Actually, the food sounds like it was priced very WELL! And free drinks is always nice. Is that something that they were just doing that day as a promo, or did they actually have free drinks as a policy?!

The free drinks are available all day every day you visit. It's Holiday World's policy. :-)

Oooh, that's nice. I like that. Indiana's a little far for me though just for a park. Anything else historical or of interest around that area?

http://www.holidayworld.com/lodging.html

If you scroll to the bottom of the page, they have a section for nearby attractions. On the way in I saw several places to visit caves and there seemed to be a large state park nearby. The park is pretty much in the middle of nowhere, only cornfields around, but a 2-3 day camping trip with a visit to HW and a nearby cave would be a great little vacation.

Don't forget, if you are in the park you can buy tickets for the next day for only $20.

Moosh you talk about spelling, when it really is Bakuli not Bukali. Oh the humanity! ;)

There is the Candy Castle for homemade candies just down the road.

Buffalo Run has two original log cabins. One of them was Abraham Lincoln's uncle's cabin. You can feed the buffalo at 11 AM on Saturdays. They have a quaint restaurant with delicious elk and buffalo burgers, potato salad and ice cream.

The state and national parks up the road are where Abraham Lincoln grew up. There is a fantastic museum there and a living farm that is done in third person, so the little kids don't get confused.

If you have some time in the evening and do not want night rides, about half an hour away is a drive in at Rio, IN.

If you can take a couple days, other parks within a day trip of HW include Indiana Beach, King's Island, Beech Bend, and Kentucky Kingdom (depending on your definition of a day trip).

Coast2coaster.com is your friend. *** Edited 6/15/2008 5:57:09 PM UTC by ApolloAndy***

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bucknut08 said:
In the words of my brother "That is the BEST ride I've EVER been on!" Agreed.

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Voyage is also my all time favorite roller coaster. I was (and still am) a huge Magnum fan, and during the Coasterbuzz Fall Affair last year, I commented to Mrs. Koch that it was a sad day. Why? Because Magnum was no longer my #1.

Did you get a chance to ride the Eagle's Flight?

-Sam

Sure did! I used to have the slack and snap down pat when KI had their eagles (damn IJ:ST!). At KI they had rubber stoppers so I knew the best method to get a good snap. I mean, enough to make me actually stop for fear of my life. At HW though they were free to swing wide in both directions so it was more difficult to get down a good rhythm.

The one at HW was nice (was it painted yesterday?) but we only rode it once; plus I was kind of afraid to get big snaps in being I didn't know their rules/policy on that issue (didn't want to get kicked out before I got on Voyage!).

Moosh you talk about spelling, when it really is Bakuli not Bukali. Oh the humanity!

UGH, lol. Actually I appreciate you pointing that out. I hate when I make stupid mistakes like that.

mOOSH (never claimed to be perfect)