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Holiday World completed its 57th season Sunday with its highest seasonal attendance ever.
“I’m thrilled to report that we bucked a national trend and showed an attendance gain of more than 20 percent for 2002," says Holiday World & Splashin' Safari president Will Koch.
With a final count of 753,010 Guests, this is the first year Holiday World & Splashin' Safari have ended the season with attendance figures topping the 750,000 mark. Koch credits the economy, a tight marketing focus and concentration on cleanliness and friendliness for the season-long surge in visitors.
“A lot of the credit goes to the incredible service and hospitality provided by our outstanding hosts and hostesses,” he says. “It doesn’t matter how great your rides are if the employees are rude and the bathrooms are filthy. We are very grateful to our hard-working staff.”
In August, Holiday World & Splashin' Safari were awarded three coveted “Golden Ticket Awards” from Amusement Today magazine. The publication’s readers, who are well-traveled park enthusiasts from around the world, voted the southern Indiana parks the world’s #1 Friendliest and #1 Cleanest again this year. In the roller coaster category, Holiday World’s The Raven was again voted the world’s #1 Wooden Coaster and The Legend rose to the #4 Wooden Coaster. In addition, Splashin’ Safari was voted the World’s #2 Water Park and the new ZOOMbabwe enclosed water slide was named the #2 Water Park Ride.
Koch says the growth pattern should continue next year with the addition of three new rides: Zinga family water slide, HallowSwings and Liberty Launch. The $3.8 million expansion, the largest in the park’s history, is expected to increase attendance by another 10 percent and create an additional 50 seasonal jobs in 2003.
Holiday World will open its 58th season on May 3, 2003.