More attendance records toppled, Holiday World plans expansion

OoOoOoH!

Paula just gave us a hint........! She used a possible plural!

Let the speculation begin.

Paula, funny you should mention the "other" park. I visited IB just yesterday for the first time. A charming park that complments the offerings in Indiana. Although I find HW a bit less "corny."

I think you and I both know at which of the two my heart lies.

By the way, I am still dying to be a fly on the wall in those managerial meetings. ;-)

Shaggy

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Shaggy

R.I.P. Maestro
Phantom Theater 1992-2002

Hey, if Holiday World says they're going to build something, we best speak up. They listened to us last time they built a coaster, and now we make our way down there once a year to have a religious experience.

Who is going to keep quiet in this case?

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.com
"Let's stop saying 'don't quote me,' because if no one quotes you, you probably haven't said a thing worth saying." - Dogma, KMFDM

I'm sure whatever you decide to build will be a superb addition to the park. You didn't let anyone down in the past with your past selections.

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Knoebels visits in 2002. 6

Jeff - yes, they listened to us last time they built a coaster, but only after ASKING for our input.

Shaggy - I wasn't singling you out.

Everyone else - I have nothing against playing the "What Will/Should Holiday World Add next Year?" game but it seems to pop up every time the park is mentioned. I guess I just felt that in this news thread it would have been nice for everyone just to give their congratulations and leave the speculation and wishes for another time.

Paula doesn't mind and I spoke too soon, so I'll rescind.

Let the games continue!

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Matthew "mamoosh" Sullivan
[aka DaDoosh, thanks to pikfanatic]

Congrats HW on a record breaking season! I don't care what goes in, because I'll return along with the thousands of others who have been moved by such a unique and caring park.

Many ideas have pointed towards an attraction for the 4th o' July area. I love the S&S tower ideas. Halloween is, by nature, easy enough with all of the dark ride options out there, and could benefit from another flat ride, since the 4th section already has quite a few. Then again, I'd love to see an addition to the Christmas section, even though it is fairly restricted spacewise. I can only think of a couple areas near Kringle's Kafe that are big enough for a ride. Hmmmm....we're running out of holidays! Valentine's would work, though some of us may break into tears just walking under the arch! How about a Cupid-themed, interactive bow & "arrow" (pun slightly intended) coaster. Instead of water (like Carowinds' Saturator) you'd aim your Nerf-tipped arrow at a rider or spectator of choice! This only works, of course, if the target is "available". I see a long line for that one. :)

MagnumForce, they've already had a Firecracker! :)
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Brad Sherman
BuzzCon Frequent Flyer, responsible for guests fleeing the queue in horror!
Model coasters and rides

"We should end the season around 760,000. In fact, on Wednesday (Mrs. Koch's birthday) we should surpass last year's final attendance figure. Happy Birthday, Pat!"

WOW! This is truly amazing. When I 1st went down to Holiday World in the fall of 1994 to see the Raven construction and interview Paula and Will they gave me these previous attendance figures (Roller Coaster #55):

1977: 100,000+ guests

1980s: attendance doubled

1993 (addition of Splashin' Safari): 400,000

Very impressive! Congrats on another record setting season! *** This post was edited by IB*Dave on 8/12/2002. ***

Maybe they could do a Six Flags and buy used ...

Hmm Family-oriented high quality High capacity ride ... hmm how about a Tomb Raider thingy ...

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If Lifes a Rollercoaster, I want a Flawless

Dear Mr. Koch & Paula,

Thanks for putting out a first-class product. Oh that other parks took a lesson about the 'guest experience' from you!

Whatever you put in, I will be there!

I hope to add to the attendance numbers for the first time next season. Hopefully I'll be able to drag along a few friends too.I'm so happy to see HW doing so well. Having ridden Rollersoaker I recommend one to any park. It's not huge capacity, but waiting in line was even more fun than the ride.I really don't care what gets added if anything. I just can't wait to get there.

Congrats to Holiday World. *** This post was edited by coasterrod on 8/12/2002. ***

Congratulations HW. I can't wait to hear what you have in store for us next year. Sounds like it might be the largest ever... The way things are going, 1 million will be just right around the corner. BTW...send my birthday wishes to Mrs. Koch.

Martin

Congratulations to Holiday World. This is great news, especially in light of the economy (attendance at a lot of other parks, including regional parks such as Kennywood, not just the destinations like Disney)

I'll hold off on suggestions for now and bask in the joy of this news :)

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--Greg
"Now all I want is to find a way home, to warn Earth -- look upward, and share the wonders I see..."
My page

For me flat rides come to mind. Something like a Chaos or a gravitron would really top HW off I think. But I guess they wouldn't go too far when it comes to capacity. As for coasters I'd like to see another great woodie. Right now they're the staple of the park (IMO) and another one would keep that tradition going. A steel might be nice, but it's just hard for me to picture a steel coaster there....bring on the wood!

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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. :)

Good thing that added that second train to The Legend, huh? :)

I think that there are 3 things that could be perfect for HW. A carousel, a pair of S&S towers, and finally, my personal favorite, a Roller Soaker. It would be a perfect addition to the waterpark and a great family ride.

Some of you guys have to think of a realistic addition, not something a major thrill park would add. Noe to mention that Will only has less than 2 months to figure out what to add, not to mention build this off-season. Those huge addtions would take a couple years to plan.

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

Paula, first off.. congrats on the increase in attendance! Great news.

Second, I do have I suggestion....Not about the "new ride", but about the name.

Why not let us name it (them, maybe!).
Hershey Park did this last year with Roller Soaker, and the wife and I had a blast thinking up names!

The winner could receive season passes, attend the opening, etc.

I, for one, wouldn't need the season pass because my thought-up name on a ride would be the prize in itself!

Just a suggestion!

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So many coasters, so little vacation time....

Pinfari makes small compact inverted coasters. But here are my ride suggestions that the park "needs". For me they have what they needed the most 2 WORLD CLASS woodies and the best operatiopns in the entire universe. For for the GP this is what I think would be good for the park in upcoming seasons.

1. Carousel and ferris wheel. It was only in the last year or two did I realized that HW had neither and for such and long running family owned park esepecially one that started as a kiddie park this was quite a surprise.

2. Small portable (65-75 foot tall) Pinfari inverted. I have a video of the ride on my old computer and when I buy a used replacement diskette drive I can transfer the video on this computer and mail it to Holiday World.

3. A drop tower with a combination of a shot and drop ride within a single tower. Should be a minumum of 200' tall and be named Bottle Rocket or similar name for the 4th of July section.

4. There are TWO type of dark rides both that should be seriously considered by the park. A haunted house themed dark ride for the Halloween section and I have seen a Christmas themed dark ride that would be really good for the Christmas section.

5. The biggest suggested project would costs about $7 million as my estimate so attendence would probable needs to exceed 1 million before this is feasible but an Intamin or Morgan jr hyper (135-150 feet tall) would make a good addition to the park.

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Six Flags attendance is down 11% for the June quarter and Holiday World thrives. I guess good guys sometimes finish first!

I'm with CP in thinking that spreading the wealth around by adding to both areas of the park would be ideal. The carousel? That's practically a given since Pat herself has mentioned it. The roller soaker would be a clever way to add a fourth coaster with low sight-lines to the water park, though it is a snail capacity-wise. The S&S towers would be great. Everyone does either 2 or 4, why not 3, color them Red, White and Blue and to use a defunct ride name, call it Firecracker? -- Just editing myself here after seeing Pink Floyd's post, forget Firecracker, the single-tower Bottle Rocket is much more aproppriate.

Last on the logical shopping list? Sally's North Pole Adventure:

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

But, hey, it's not my money -- or our money -- Holiday World earned every red cent. Congrats and here's hoping even greater success awaits in 2003. *** This post was edited by Paris on 8/13/2002. ***

That's expected for Six Flags, actually. They didn't inject infrastructure this year.

I'm curious who's up and who's down this year. Most of the family-owned parks don't say much regarding their attendance figures.

Indeed, it would seem that all three Indiana parks are doing okay this year.

Congrats again Paula, Pat, Will, and everyone else at HW! There isn't a park out there that deserves this "dilemna" more than yours!

Reading through all the suggestions is also quite entertaining. Some good ideas, and also some that are definately dreaming hard.

Like the others mentioned, a carousel would be a wonderful addition, but then I'm sure you knew that. I'm also partial to the ideas of a dark ride.

I could also see a mine train type of coaster as an inexpensive steel coaster that can provide some thrills. Bonfante Gardens, a small park out here in CA, put in a real nice one. And it could possibly help give some good ideas for landscaping, along with some family friendly thrills.

Great news! Way to go HW.

I think people here are missing something though. With the water park bringing in so many people, it's clear something else is needed there just to handle the crowds. There is space too.

And the other part of the park needs something new too. And I think just maybe Will is thinking along the same lines and we will see a new attraction in both HW and SS sections. I can't wait! :)

As for what HW should get, I think the roller soaker is a great idea, but perhaps even better is the S&S tower. And a family mine train would work VERY well at HW. All good suggestions and I don't think they could go wrong with any of those. But I am sure Will has something up his sleeve that none of us are thinking of and we'll be completely surprised. :)

How about all of the above...wait a minute...I can't talk...I've never been. But trust me on this, we'll be there as soon as we can. Congrats...very good news to hear that a park that is loved for putting customers first is doing well...This probably means that It;ll be around when we manage to get there.

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"If the beats were made of meat then they would have to be me ..." - L.L. Cool J