- August 31st, 2010, 10:48 pm
#42740
91 photos at Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jhawkins/s ... 727378059/
Cedar Point is a good distance from Santa Claus, Indiana, but if there is one destination that is worth the trip, it is Holiday World. My last visit was in 2006, which is four years too long between rides on The Voyage, which is as far as I am concerned the greatest roller coaster ever built. I drove down with a co-worker, stopping at Kings Island the previous night in time for one single (but amazing) night ride on Diamondback.
As always The Raven is the first thing to greet guests near the entrance to the park. This is what started it all.
We were incredibly worried when we saw how filled the parking lot already was before the park even opened. Since it was Bob's first visit, the idea was to ride the coasters in chronological order, but a completely filled queue on Raven (now running one train as the second is on Voyage) nixed that, and then Legend was not open yet. The line for Voyage was spilling out of the entrance. 100+ degree temperatures and huge lines would not make for a promising day.
So The Voyage became our first ride of the day. Originally the plan had been to hit Holiday World once the new Timberliner trains were up and running, but once it became clear that would not be happening until fall or 2011, we decided to go anyway. This was really not such a bad thing, as I feel Voyage is already basically the perfect coaster, so there is not much new trains could do to improve the ride, but plenty to ruin it. I was glad to get some last rides on the PTC trains, and intrigued at the idea of the second Raven train running on Voyage.
I was surprised to find that not only did I enjoy the coaster as much as I did opening year, but I actually felt it has improved. The ride was pretty much perfect in 2006 except for two fairly brutal potholes on the return part of the layout. Those potholes are gone, and the ride was like glass except for some bottoming out in the valleys of the first couple hills. As before, I was just blown away. This ride is just unbelievable. It is perfection. It has basically every element that I desire on a coaster, and it seems to go on forever.
Legend had just opened, and the queue was quickly filling.
As always, Legend was fantastic, but I was shocked when Bob could not decide between Voyage and Legend. I cannot even begin to understand why anyone would prefer Legend or Raven over Voyage, but I guess everyone has an opinion.
One thing I will say is that the first drop on Legend in the back seat is one of the best ever.
Next, into Splashin' Safari where my incredibly epic Cedar Point tanlines were on full display.
The Voyage towers over Splashin' Safari.
There are so many things to praise Holiday World for, like free parking, reasonable admission and food prices, free soft drinks, friendly employees (some may differ but my experience, on this day in particular, has always been great), and of course a love of amazing wooden roller coasters. One of the more minor details that I love is their music selection in Splashin' Safari, which consists almost exclusively of The Beatles with some Beach Boys thrown in.
One of the focuses of this trip, the new water coaster of insane proportions, Wildebeest. The line was already to over an hour, but there was a single rider line which got us on in 15 minutes.
I had extremely high expectations for this ride, and it seemed really crazy, but it was basically ruined for me by these water jets that shoot up along essentially the entire course. There was so much water hitting me in the face the entire time that I could not open my eyes to see what was going on. Some nice airtime, though, which is surprising for a water ride.
Pepsi Oasis stations, an incredibly welcome sight on an absurdly hot day.
The other major attraction added since my last visit, Pilgrim's Plunge. This thing seems so out of place in theory at Holiday World; the world's tallest water ride at a small family owned park in rural Indiana? Bizarre, but it looks nice and does actually fit in with the park I think.
We got a kick out of how smoothly this ride operated (although it went down shortly after we rode) when big and mighty Cedar Point was still struggling to get the much simpler Shoot the Rapids to open. The station and queue house are huge and nice, and the boats load quickly since they unload and load while still in motion. It was a fun ride, but there is not a whole lot to it since it is just the elevator and one big drop.
Back to The Voyage for more insane rides.
As great as Holiday World's wooden coasters are, make no mistake, it is all about Splashin' Safari for the average guest. We were stunned to discover how short all of the lines were when we got out of the water park. It seemed like just about everyone had taken a spin on a coaster or two then went to the pools. Lines at the coasters went from massive to almost non-existent. Needless to say we were excited.
Gobbler Getaway, always fun and a nice escape from the heat. Something I did not notice before were the incredible smells (pumpkin pie!) they have pumped into the building. This is a really well done shooter dark ride.
A turkey themed tilt-a-whirl... only at this park.
How does a roof end up becoming known as a good spot to throw silly bands?
So strange seeing the red Raven train flying by on Voyage.
I just cannot get enough of this coaster. Rides like this are the reason why I still have this obsession and maintain an interest in traveling to parks as a hobby. It is difficult to explain to someone who has never been on a good and well maintained wooden coaster just how amazing a ride like this can be.
What's that I see? It's one of the new Timberliner trains, waiting for more test runs on Voyage.
In theory, these new trailered cars will track better, giving a faster (if that is even possible on this coaster) and smoother ride that will drastically reduce the enormous maintenance costs on The Voyage. The lap bar design also could theoretically mean faster loading and more airtime, as there are no seat belts (hooray!), and the bars supposedly will not rachet down during the ride. I am cautiously optimistic.
We had yet to ride Raven, and the queue was looking much better. In fact, it was a walk on.
The coaster that started it all for me, when I realized how good wooden coasters could be at Stark Raven Mad in 2002. I still have it in my top 10 and I like it better than Legend.
It is a short ride, but packs an incredible punch and never really lets up. As Bob pointed out, it is a bit nuts to think that this was the first major coaster this park ever built. A hell of a way to put yourself on the map.
Lunch at Kringle's (decent food at a reasonable price at an amusement park! Who would have imagined such a concept?) before moving on to explore the rest of the park.
This is one of the best signs I have seen at any park.
Unfortunately, Liberty Launch was closed. For such a tiny S&S tower it is fairly intense.
One of the things people always said Holiday World was missing was a carousel. Since my last visit, they added one, and I have to say, this is one rare area where I think they really missed the mark. It is a rather pathetic not to mention generic carousel.
The obligatory trip into Holidog's Fun Town, which almost cancels out the musical selection in Splashin' Safari by playing the most annoying and abnoxious teen pop (which is not at all the target audience of this area) from the 90's.
Bob got his Howler credit, and of course I rode too.
This seems to happen every time I come here.
Since lines were so short, we figured why not hit most of the flat rides.
One of the more disappointing flying scooter rides out there, but still worth at least one ride.
It is funny how a park as small as Holiday World can occupy a full day, because the three wooden coasters just never get old. It is a stark contrast to some of the large parks (like Cedar Point) where you feel rushed to get in all the rides (many of which are just not any good), whereas at Holiday World you can relax and reride your favorites as you please.
We got in quite a few rides on Raven and Legend, and of course a ton on Voyage.
As awesome as Raven and Legend are, I could spend my whole day in this area and be happy.
The Voyage in action. This is one of my favorite photos that I have taken.
Coming over this hill was for some reason the moment most of the time where my brain finally started to process what had just happened, and that euphoria over how ridiculous the ride is hit.
One last stroll around the park as closing time started to creep up on us, then back to The Voyage to finish the day.
I tell most people who ask me about parks that if they are going to travel somewhere, to make this the place. The Voyage is like Mecca in this hobby.
One bothersome thing about Holiday World is that their operating hours make it very difficult to get night rides unless you attend a coaster enthusiast event there (which is highly recommended). Another annoyance is that they close lines before closing time; I just do not understand parks that do this. It is odd that Holiday World, a park that bends over backwards to accomodate its guests, would have this policy. Even the Cedar Fair parks do not shut their lines until closing time. Fortunately, I believe a very kind supervisor was looking out for us, and made sure the line was not closed until we got back around and in line for the last ride of the night (on the train we were on at least). By that point it was getting quite dark out, so we had an amazing semi-darkness ride in the back seat to close out a wonderful day.
Will Koch passed away nearly a month to the day before our visit, and signs of him remain (and I would hope and assume will continue to remain) everywhere, including audio spiels for many of the rides. I had an enormous amount of respect for Will, and his passion for what he did was truly unparalleled. Now having actually worked at an amusement park, I have seen how rare it is for someone in a management position (particularly the president of a park) to legitimately care about each and every one of their guests, and to be just as excited about his park as even its biggest fans. I remember in 2006 at Holiwood Nights Will seemed even more excited than the coaster nerds at the prospect of Voyage night rides, and his pride in the ride was extraordinary. After all, he had a personal hand in designing all of the Holiday World coasters, again a rarity. The Voyage was his biggest achievement, and I really do not know that there is any park out there (at least in this country) that would ever have the will to build a project like it. My hope is that whoever eventually takes over long term in running the park can keep it up to the remarkable standards that he set, as Will Koch took Holiday World from obscurity to one of the best parks in the country, and it will be a very difficult job to maintain what he has left. I will be back though, that is for sure, and the sooner the better.
Cedar Point is a good distance from Santa Claus, Indiana, but if there is one destination that is worth the trip, it is Holiday World. My last visit was in 2006, which is four years too long between rides on The Voyage, which is as far as I am concerned the greatest roller coaster ever built. I drove down with a co-worker, stopping at Kings Island the previous night in time for one single (but amazing) night ride on Diamondback.
As always The Raven is the first thing to greet guests near the entrance to the park. This is what started it all.
We were incredibly worried when we saw how filled the parking lot already was before the park even opened. Since it was Bob's first visit, the idea was to ride the coasters in chronological order, but a completely filled queue on Raven (now running one train as the second is on Voyage) nixed that, and then Legend was not open yet. The line for Voyage was spilling out of the entrance. 100+ degree temperatures and huge lines would not make for a promising day.
So The Voyage became our first ride of the day. Originally the plan had been to hit Holiday World once the new Timberliner trains were up and running, but once it became clear that would not be happening until fall or 2011, we decided to go anyway. This was really not such a bad thing, as I feel Voyage is already basically the perfect coaster, so there is not much new trains could do to improve the ride, but plenty to ruin it. I was glad to get some last rides on the PTC trains, and intrigued at the idea of the second Raven train running on Voyage.
I was surprised to find that not only did I enjoy the coaster as much as I did opening year, but I actually felt it has improved. The ride was pretty much perfect in 2006 except for two fairly brutal potholes on the return part of the layout. Those potholes are gone, and the ride was like glass except for some bottoming out in the valleys of the first couple hills. As before, I was just blown away. This ride is just unbelievable. It is perfection. It has basically every element that I desire on a coaster, and it seems to go on forever.
Legend had just opened, and the queue was quickly filling.
As always, Legend was fantastic, but I was shocked when Bob could not decide between Voyage and Legend. I cannot even begin to understand why anyone would prefer Legend or Raven over Voyage, but I guess everyone has an opinion.
One thing I will say is that the first drop on Legend in the back seat is one of the best ever.
Next, into Splashin' Safari where my incredibly epic Cedar Point tanlines were on full display.
The Voyage towers over Splashin' Safari.
There are so many things to praise Holiday World for, like free parking, reasonable admission and food prices, free soft drinks, friendly employees (some may differ but my experience, on this day in particular, has always been great), and of course a love of amazing wooden roller coasters. One of the more minor details that I love is their music selection in Splashin' Safari, which consists almost exclusively of The Beatles with some Beach Boys thrown in.
One of the focuses of this trip, the new water coaster of insane proportions, Wildebeest. The line was already to over an hour, but there was a single rider line which got us on in 15 minutes.
I had extremely high expectations for this ride, and it seemed really crazy, but it was basically ruined for me by these water jets that shoot up along essentially the entire course. There was so much water hitting me in the face the entire time that I could not open my eyes to see what was going on. Some nice airtime, though, which is surprising for a water ride.
Pepsi Oasis stations, an incredibly welcome sight on an absurdly hot day.
The other major attraction added since my last visit, Pilgrim's Plunge. This thing seems so out of place in theory at Holiday World; the world's tallest water ride at a small family owned park in rural Indiana? Bizarre, but it looks nice and does actually fit in with the park I think.
We got a kick out of how smoothly this ride operated (although it went down shortly after we rode) when big and mighty Cedar Point was still struggling to get the much simpler Shoot the Rapids to open. The station and queue house are huge and nice, and the boats load quickly since they unload and load while still in motion. It was a fun ride, but there is not a whole lot to it since it is just the elevator and one big drop.
Back to The Voyage for more insane rides.
As great as Holiday World's wooden coasters are, make no mistake, it is all about Splashin' Safari for the average guest. We were stunned to discover how short all of the lines were when we got out of the water park. It seemed like just about everyone had taken a spin on a coaster or two then went to the pools. Lines at the coasters went from massive to almost non-existent. Needless to say we were excited.
Gobbler Getaway, always fun and a nice escape from the heat. Something I did not notice before were the incredible smells (pumpkin pie!) they have pumped into the building. This is a really well done shooter dark ride.
A turkey themed tilt-a-whirl... only at this park.
How does a roof end up becoming known as a good spot to throw silly bands?
So strange seeing the red Raven train flying by on Voyage.
I just cannot get enough of this coaster. Rides like this are the reason why I still have this obsession and maintain an interest in traveling to parks as a hobby. It is difficult to explain to someone who has never been on a good and well maintained wooden coaster just how amazing a ride like this can be.
What's that I see? It's one of the new Timberliner trains, waiting for more test runs on Voyage.
In theory, these new trailered cars will track better, giving a faster (if that is even possible on this coaster) and smoother ride that will drastically reduce the enormous maintenance costs on The Voyage. The lap bar design also could theoretically mean faster loading and more airtime, as there are no seat belts (hooray!), and the bars supposedly will not rachet down during the ride. I am cautiously optimistic.
We had yet to ride Raven, and the queue was looking much better. In fact, it was a walk on.
The coaster that started it all for me, when I realized how good wooden coasters could be at Stark Raven Mad in 2002. I still have it in my top 10 and I like it better than Legend.
It is a short ride, but packs an incredible punch and never really lets up. As Bob pointed out, it is a bit nuts to think that this was the first major coaster this park ever built. A hell of a way to put yourself on the map.
Lunch at Kringle's (decent food at a reasonable price at an amusement park! Who would have imagined such a concept?) before moving on to explore the rest of the park.
This is one of the best signs I have seen at any park.
Unfortunately, Liberty Launch was closed. For such a tiny S&S tower it is fairly intense.
One of the things people always said Holiday World was missing was a carousel. Since my last visit, they added one, and I have to say, this is one rare area where I think they really missed the mark. It is a rather pathetic not to mention generic carousel.
The obligatory trip into Holidog's Fun Town, which almost cancels out the musical selection in Splashin' Safari by playing the most annoying and abnoxious teen pop (which is not at all the target audience of this area) from the 90's.
Bob got his Howler credit, and of course I rode too.
This seems to happen every time I come here.
Since lines were so short, we figured why not hit most of the flat rides.
One of the more disappointing flying scooter rides out there, but still worth at least one ride.
It is funny how a park as small as Holiday World can occupy a full day, because the three wooden coasters just never get old. It is a stark contrast to some of the large parks (like Cedar Point) where you feel rushed to get in all the rides (many of which are just not any good), whereas at Holiday World you can relax and reride your favorites as you please.
We got in quite a few rides on Raven and Legend, and of course a ton on Voyage.
As awesome as Raven and Legend are, I could spend my whole day in this area and be happy.
The Voyage in action. This is one of my favorite photos that I have taken.
Coming over this hill was for some reason the moment most of the time where my brain finally started to process what had just happened, and that euphoria over how ridiculous the ride is hit.
One last stroll around the park as closing time started to creep up on us, then back to The Voyage to finish the day.
I tell most people who ask me about parks that if they are going to travel somewhere, to make this the place. The Voyage is like Mecca in this hobby.
One bothersome thing about Holiday World is that their operating hours make it very difficult to get night rides unless you attend a coaster enthusiast event there (which is highly recommended). Another annoyance is that they close lines before closing time; I just do not understand parks that do this. It is odd that Holiday World, a park that bends over backwards to accomodate its guests, would have this policy. Even the Cedar Fair parks do not shut their lines until closing time. Fortunately, I believe a very kind supervisor was looking out for us, and made sure the line was not closed until we got back around and in line for the last ride of the night (on the train we were on at least). By that point it was getting quite dark out, so we had an amazing semi-darkness ride in the back seat to close out a wonderful day.
Will Koch passed away nearly a month to the day before our visit, and signs of him remain (and I would hope and assume will continue to remain) everywhere, including audio spiels for many of the rides. I had an enormous amount of respect for Will, and his passion for what he did was truly unparalleled. Now having actually worked at an amusement park, I have seen how rare it is for someone in a management position (particularly the president of a park) to legitimately care about each and every one of their guests, and to be just as excited about his park as even its biggest fans. I remember in 2006 at Holiwood Nights Will seemed even more excited than the coaster nerds at the prospect of Voyage night rides, and his pride in the ride was extraordinary. After all, he had a personal hand in designing all of the Holiday World coasters, again a rarity. The Voyage was his biggest achievement, and I really do not know that there is any park out there (at least in this country) that would ever have the will to build a project like it. My hope is that whoever eventually takes over long term in running the park can keep it up to the remarkable standards that he set, as Will Koch took Holiday World from obscurity to one of the best parks in the country, and it will be a very difficult job to maintain what he has left. I will be back though, that is for sure, and the sooner the better.
