Holiday World...A Flawless Park?

Ha! I guess I should list the flaws since that was the original purpose of this thread. Anyway, I posted a more complete "dream makeover on a shoestring budget" account in an earlier thread, but here's a list with a few things. The fact that most are petty speaks volumes of what Holiday World has been able to accomplish so far.

-- Food. We loved the Frito Pie, but it's a simple novelty. With growing traffic the park is fully justified in building a more casual upscale table service restaurant with fancier fare. I'll develop the menu for free, if need be, but play the theme to its logical conclusion and you'll have red white and blue ice cream sundaes served with sparkler aglow or snowman fritters with white chocolate shavings as snow. Because of the free drink policy folks are going to walk away with warm fuzzy feelings no matter what is on any of the counter service menus, but this is one area where HW can learn from either IOA or Knoebel's. Create the signature food items. It's not that hard.

-- Themes. There is so much more that can be done, even with the most modest of sums, in amping up the theme of each holiday. More themed attractions would go a long way but so would any kind of sensory candy that can be added beyond the musical score. A small soap snow machine set at the slowest speed on top of Kringle's or the ornament shop to flake a bit of the walkway? American flags or streamers lining the Independence Day area? Wholesomely creepy Halloween diversions?

-- Rides. Anyone who faults HW for not having enough rides doesn't get the smart Koch approach to expansion. Let the rides come in gradually but make them count the way Zoombabwe and Legend have in recent years. Work them into the theme as well. Gut the fountain at the entrance and replace it with a double-decker carousel icon that can cater to both the jeweled horse purists as well as the theme fans who would like to see reindeers and Santa sleighs go round. Get Sally to build its interactive shoot 'em up ride with a snow gun on Christmas Eve theme. Find a way to shoehorn a haunted house into Halloween that is wholesome enough by Koch and family standards yet edgy enough to matter.

It's just so cool to see a park taking the right steps forward in such comfortable shoes.

Rick

Now I will quote directly off Jeff from another post saying that anybody who disses HW "will have a world of hate coming at them." I've noticed that from reading these post.

Here we have PatMan who is basically judging a book by its cover, not wanting to go to "Hicksville" to go and ride two rides he already knows are good. (strange isn't it)

I myself have never been to HW but from what everyone is saying, I could lose sleep over it. The park sounds amazing, though not very big. And it seems it is definantly a rising park, with the 22% raise. I will rush over to this park when I get the chance. BUT my only thing to really say is that HW is so good because it doesn't seem to be to huge. If or when it increases in size and rides, it might gain a few more flaws, maybe cleanliness. I am not trying to diss HW but it seems like what would happen to any park that would rapidly increase in size. Maybe I am totally out there but thats what I think. Well, now is now and HW is still as good as ever, according to everyone who has been there. Hearing about it and reading reviews about it, I think they could do with a pair of duelling terrain woodies. Imagine how fun that would be!

SpongeBob,

They're not "rapidly increasing in size" as you put it. Every bit of expansion they do is well thought out months, maybe years in advance. Even without visiting there, you should be able to gather that much. But definitely get there, you won't regret it. I don't regret the drive and it's 8 1/2 for me. ;)

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Sorrrrrrrry folks! Parks closed. The moose out front should have told you.

I think, however, that the friendliness of the employees is a little overrated. The staff wasn't any friendlier than the staff of any other amusement park I've ever been to.

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06/11/02
Photos from Six Flags Worlds Of Adventure were added plus some other small updates:
http://www.angelfire.com/extreme2/rollercoaster2/index.html

Silly me in suggesting a Sally snow-based attraction when a better fit already exists:

http://www.sallycorp.com/darkrides/north%20pole%20adventure.htm

Why wouldn't this work in Holiday World? It would be the only copy in the country.

I think that would be awesome to have in the Christmas area. It looks like a happy den of lost theives.

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You can hear the laughter, you can hear the mighty roar. From the brickyard down in Indy to the white Chicago shore. It's a rollin', twistin', turnin' and might we both suggest. You get you fanny ridin' on the Cornball Express!

A trip report for my trip to Holiday World was added to my website:

http://www.angelfire.com/extreme2/rollercoaster2/index.html

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06/11/02
Photos from Six Flags Worlds Of Adventure were added plus some other small updates:
http://www.angelfire.com/extreme2/rollercoaster2/index.html

Paris,

Well I can happily state Holiday World did take one of your suggestions, a key pathway in the 4th of July section (the path that runs past the Alamo and connects the section with the Virginia Reel and the show venue with the area with Paul Revere's Midnight Ride and the Rough Riders) is now lined with American flags. I recall either reading in a PR from the park or a plaque in the park or both that the new flag display is a memorial to all veterans past, present and future.

Oh, also after you finish that Frito Pie, head over to Udderly Blue and ask for a Patriot Missile, you will get a concoction with red and blue soft serve swirled together with white sprinkles.

(You can also join the bandwagon of those who would love Santa's Carousel in the front entry plaza (by Kringles and the Holiday Theater) Though I admit I hadn't thought of the double deck approach. Also a nice haunted house or dark ride in the Halloween section. (How bout we just tear out the High-Dive Show venue for it?))

Is the park flawless? No, but they do a really nice job of being a family-oriented theme park, and the attendance numbers speak to that.

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David Bowers
Mayor, Coasterville

The only flaw I can think of is I have to sit on 80-94 on the way there and back! If you guys can build a direct super-highway directly to the parking lot from Chicago, then it would be flawless!! If not, I'l more than willing to deal with the traffic and *shudder* road "work".

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Crito, ergo sum.

there is no such thing as a flawless park

There is *one* thing that I would like to see Holiday World change. I'd like to see springs installed on the lapbars of The Legend that are akin to the springs on the PTC trains on all of PKD's woodies. Those bars will NOT come down unless specifically tugged on to do so. That would make The Legend as perfect as perfect can get.

Dont get me wrong, they could put the old G-Train back on and it would still be my favorite coaster, but if I had to say *something*...
lata,
jeremy

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"To get inside this head of mine, would take a monkey-wrench, and a lot of wine" Res How I Do

I think that the name" HOLIDOG's FUNTOWN" is flawless

I must have been away the first time this thread came around so forgive me for my late intrusion. I live in Indiana, but I too am like 5-6 hours from the park, which is a shame because it would be nice to go to a few times a year.

Holiday World isn't located in Hicksville, USA it's located in Santa Claus, Indiana. I live right by Hicksville, (OH) just a few minutes away from my house. Don't make fun of Indiana...if you don't like the dialect of southern IN, go north to Central or Northern IN, and you'll have people with no accents.

"Older posters, please don't generalize about the teenage population here on Coasterbuzz. We aren't all attention loving assholes that try to stir up controversy.

Now, teenage assholes (I refer to them like this because this is how they are distinguished from the rest of the teenage population)...stop being such attention mongers. When you voice your opinion about a park you have been to that is one thing, but when you stereotype a park for the number of coasters they have, your true asinine selves shine. You think you can judge a park by the number of its rides, when in reality you have NO idea what you're missing out on. This just lowers everyones caring about what you have to say on other matters. Being here for over a year, PatMan007, I'd think that you'd have learned that by now.

Also, unless your a mulit-million dollar wrestling superstar/actor please don't refer to yourself in the third person. It's neither amusing nor charming.

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LocoBazooka--Sevendust, Nonpoint, Stereo Vent, Mushroomhead
Korn Tour (With no name)--Korn, Puddle of Mudd, Deadsy

*** This post was edited by CPgenius on 7/16/2002. ***

Yes I am a teenager but not an a-hole! I don't think. I prefer smaller parks like HW to larger corperate park such as Six Flags! You can't judge a park by the number of rides!! It is the whole experience that I remember most about a park! If a park has a really awesome coaster but the park experience was sub-par then next time I will visit a smaller park instead!

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Magnum for President!

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Coasterville Dave said: a key pathway in the 4th of July section (the path that runs past the Alamo and connects the section with the Virginia Reel and the show venue with the area with Paul Revere's Midnight Ride and the Rough Riders) is now lined with American flags. I recall either reading in a PR from the park or a plaque in the park or both that the new flag display is a memorial to all veterans past, present and future.

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Actually...the Avenue of Flags has existed for many years. I don't know for sure it was added the first year that we became Holiday World (1984), but it definitely existed back in the 1980s.

We held a ceremony this year on Memorial Day to dedicate the Avenue of Flags to America's Everyday Heroes...part of the Heroes Day celebration we held that day. So the monument *is* new.

Thanks, Paula

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Paula Werne
Director of Public Relations
Holiday World & Splashin' Safari
Santa Claus, Ind.
JPWerne@holidayworld.com

CPgenius......You just summed up my feelings and probably a lot of other people's here as well. Kudos. :)

This thread has bean going on for 17 days! End it people.

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S:RoS ( SFNE ) is #1!

SFNE Dude - you realize had you not posted it might have ended with Lallen's post? Opps...now *I* continued it! D'oh!

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"There's nothing sweeter than a bowling ball with a liquid center" - Homer Simpson

The only thing Holiday World needs is 2 train operation for the Raven. It kinda needs it at SRM. They could build the transfer track right by the flat track after you make that turn out of the station.

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#1 Steel-Nitro
#1 Wood-Shivering Timbers

Rockrc480, I think that was discussed previously, and the feeling at the park is that the ride length of Raven (relatively short) means that two-train ops wouldn't significantly improve throughput....

Besides, Paula was *hinting* at some other installation for this off-season.....I'll be back if the installation turns out to be a water fountain....17 days isn't nearly enough for this thread - the park may not be flawless, but sure is close.....and the FRIENDLY staff is becoming more and more a real rarity in the industry......