Holiday World 7/5/02
Associated parks:
None
There are already great trip reports for the day we were there, so I'll keep this (somewhat) short and simple. Overall, by far the best managed park I've ever been to. Despite the large crowds (supposedly 10-12k people for the day) we never waited more than about 30 min. for a ride on the Raven or Legend. We also wore ACE shirts, which was a great idea. We got to talk to ride ops and even Will Koch himself (though very briefly, after exiting the Legend). A mechanic even told us which Legend train was running faster -- don't know if that's standard practice at HW but we sure appreciated it.
I think the Legend is by far the best ride there, and were it not for the Beast it would be my favorite woodie. But it rained for part of the afternoon and that caused it to shut down on and off for the rest of the day. The mechanic said one of the trains was going too fast due to the rain and that's why it was coming about halfway into the station before the trims stopped it at the end of the ride (they're supposed to stop just outside the station). But we still rode 20+ times and enjoyed every ride as much as the one before.
The Raven is also very good, but for me it just doesn't stack up to the Legend. But we didn't get to ride it in the dark, and that seems to be the best time to ride. It has the speed and fast corners that the Legend has, but is shorter and has less air time hills.
If there is one thing that I didn't like, it was the lead ride op on the Legend. All of the employees, him included, were really nice and some slapped hands with riders as trains left the station -- something I had only seen on the Gwazi before then. But this guy had a bad habit of trying to press down on the lapbars and thus take away air time space. After the last ride of the night he banned us from the Legend for supposedly standing up on the coaster and unfastening our seat belts. Not true, but it didn't matter because the park was closing and I don't think he meant any harm or he would have banned us earlier in the day.
Overall, one of the best days I've ever had at a park. A welcome relief from the normal crowds and wait times at bigger parks. We stayed from before opening til close and probably could have spent at least another couple of days without getting bored or tired.
Were you the clan with the red and blue ace shirts on? We noticed you two walking up the exit in the early evening after the Legend had gone down to one train operation. You must have been one of the 'lucky' ones to receive a boarding pass after standing in line when Legend went down during the rain. We were just heading back from the water park (an appropriate place to be during the rainstorm or so it seemed). I will have to agree about the Beast comment. The Legend just came up a little short. Going to have to get to SRM to get those night rides. Did you get a chance to ride the Raven in the rain? That thing was flying through the course during the early afternoon rain.
StandUpFan said:
I think the Legend is by far the best ride there, and were it not for the Beast it would be my favorite woodie.
You've GOT to be kidding me...
-----------------
-Rob Vaccaro
Yes, that was us -- we were the second in line for the back seat when it was shut down. (I was in the red, my younger brother in the blue.) It took them a long time to let everyone know what was going on and get the passes handed out, but I'm glad we waited and didn't leave like plenty did.
Nope, I'm not kidding. The Legend is great, but that helix on the Beast is just too good to be beat. And plus, how can you beat a 7200-ft woodie with very little brakes? As for the Raven, it's too short and lacks the air time of the Legend. I wasn't disappointed at all with the Raven, but I expected more from a #1 rated coaster a couple years running. I can't see how it consistently gets ranked ahead when the Legend is only a few hundred feet away.
-----------------
PLEASE READ: This post wasn't meant to offend or anger anyone; I apologize in advance if it does. So please don't post a reply just to rant about it. :)
Beast over the Legend....I just can't comprehend it. The ride offers NO airtime, its braked to death (there are no brakes on the Legend), the pacing sucks, the few drops that the Beast do have are very rampy and offer nothing in the waty of negative g's, and...length means nothing if the ride is BORING!
It's just not interesting! A bunch of overkill with all those helixes, and...nothing really else to offer except alot of braking and...geeze, I just can't understand it. The Legend's got the better trains, the better ride, the better first drop, and overall the layout is more imaginative and exciting than the Beast's. Well, I dunno...each to his own I guess. :(
-----------------
-Rob Vaccaro
its braked to death (there are no brakes on the Legend),
That explains it. When we rode the Beast it was almost completely unbraked. Before we went we had seen stuff about how much the brakes took away, and I hear that it's braked now...I guess we hit it at a good time. It is a bit rough without the brakes (I had bruises on my thighs afterward from the lapbar). But the helix, with no brakes, is both the most fun and the scariest coaster element I've ever been through.
BTW, I thought there was a trim on the top of the 2nd or 3rd hill on the Legend (can't remember which). As much as we rode it I still can't be sure if it was a trim or not because it wasn't as obvious as most trims are, but we eventually agreed it probably was.
-----------------
PLEASE READ: This post wasn't meant to offend or anger anyone; I apologize in advance if it does. So please don't post a reply just to rant about it. :)
StandUpFan:
There are NO trims on Legend ANYWHERE, only a final brake run. What you saw was the anti-rollback strip, which is commonly mistaken for a trim when zooming past it.
For many, many years there have been skid brakes on Beast's first drop, the shed, and the approach to the helix [as well as the final brake run]. This year the skids were removed and replaced with magnetic braking in the shed and on the approach to the helix. But if you rode Beast in, oh, the last ten years you rode a coaster who's trains were trimmed of speed in more than one place.
Everyone Else:
As for StandUpFan's preference for Beast over Legend, so what? We all have different likes and dislikes and preferences and its his right like Beast over Legend if he so chooses, no matter how crazy that might seem to everyone else. Stop giving him such a bad time.
Matthew "I'd choose Legend, too" Sullivan
-----------------
"There's nothing sweeter than a bowling ball with a liquid center" - Homer Simpson
Thanks for clearing that up; it's good to know that the Legend isn't braked. We never did quite figure that out. Just shows that HW knows better than to mess with a great coaster, I guess. But I'm kinda surprised there'a an anti-rollback strip there with the consistent speed the Legend has. Maybe it does something I don't know about...?
I don't know how much braking was on the Beast when we rode or where the brakes were or any such details. But what I do know is that it was flying through a lot of the course, especially the helix with the tunnel. I have no idea what it's like now, but in August of 2000 I think it was probably the best woodie running. It would really suck if PKI managed to take all the fun out of one of my favorite rides...
-----------------
PLEASE READ: This post wasn't meant to offend or anger anyone; I apologize in advance if it does. So please don't post a reply just to rant about it. :)
StandUpFan said: But I'm kinda surprised there'a an anti-rollback strip there with the consistent speed the Legend has. Maybe it does something I don't know about...?
The anti-rollback strips are for the spring and the fall, when we're just open weekends. The weather is cooler then and that first test trip around the track after 4-5 days of rest can be a little sluggish. If the train would fail to crest a hill, we'd much rather it stop at the top than roll backwards and end up valleyed--that much farther for our crews to winch it back to the station.
Thanks, Paula
-----------------
Paula Werne
Director of Public Relations
Holiday World & Splashin' Safari
Santa Claus, Ind.
JPWerne@holidayworld.com
You must be logged in to post
