Vacation Day 5 - Holiday World

Holiday World http://www.holidayworld.com/

This is a small(ish) (ok, not really small), family owned park in southern Indiana. Santa Claus, Indiana to be specific. I had heard about it and its collection of fine coasters on the internet and was interested in visiting. Looking at the on-line info, it looked to be the coasters, a waterpark and not much else. While there isn't 'much' else at this gem of a park, it is so worth a trip if you appreciate a Good park experience. The park arose from a park that was called Santa Claus Land (I think) and had a (predictably) Christmas Theme which suited Santa Claus, IN. Now there are several holidays within the park.

We started with a brief walk through part of Christmas and enjoyed the decor of the shops (think gingerbread style architecture), the very large fir tree decorated with Gingerbread men, candy canes and garlands and betook ourselves to visit Halloween. Our goal was the Raven. Unfortunately, Raven was having trouble waking up so we watched part of the diving show (they are crazy, diving from 85 feet in the air into a 10 foot deep pool is insane). Granted that was the show-stopper but still. Anyway, our next stop was Legend. The theming was Sleepy Hollow with the headless horseman on the overhead sign. There was a line but not bad and you got an up-close and personal view of the coaster as it came screaming by you on the way back into the station. We sat front seat for our first ride on this beast. Legend is wooden and seriously twisted. She is a bit rough (we avoided axle seats) but a nice ride with surprising air here and there. I was giggling madly throughout this speed demon as we rocketed down the turning first slope, through the water park and weaving our way back into the station. I figured out why my right hip is a bit touchy, I was using my right leg to try to stay balanced in the car (yeah, riiiight). This ride has some major laterals (esp. to the left) but has a nice roomey feel (the seat dividers are open below the divider so there is room for little things like hips). We then went to the Free Pepsi stand (woot!) and to the Hallowswings (standard swing ride with very nice Halloween theming but not frightening), back to Legend (slightly further back) and to the flume. After riding the flume, I became convinced that Holiday World loves tunnels, Legend has several and the flume had a long one. We got to stop at the top of the drop and chat with the ride op up there.

Then we went to the Raven. Raven is a speed demon wooden terrain coaster that takes you flying through the trees (and some tunnels) and amazing speeds. She is a short ride (timewise) but well worth it. She is the smoothest of the coasters at the park and the entrance is classic Poe with the wrought iron gate and the name of the ride in iron overhead as you pass through the brick posts. You barely get to catch your breath on this ride as you rocket past the trees and along the rises and dips in the land.

The whole area is so well themed with Goblin Burgers, lots of orange, yellow, and black. Halloween type music playing throughout, a bell ringing when Legend leaves the station, a wolf howl at the top of the lift. VERY nicely done.

Then we decided to eat. Back to Christmas for some food and the prices are VERY reasonable and the food was good. The combos are the entree, fries (choice of shoestring or curly), and a small cookie. The sodas are again free. The pizza was good and I hear that the sausage & pepperoni Stromboli (more of a sub sandwich) was fabulous.

Then it was time to go visit the Fourth of July. We started in the glassworks shop (some very nice blown glass ... the chickens in multi colors were gorgeous) which also had a collection of antique toys in a museum and a lot of stuff on Abraham Lincoln (who grew up nearby). Artifacts from the time (and some replicas) to show what the time felt like. We probably could have spent an hour in there more than we did if we wanted to but the day was short and there were more things to see and do. We rode the antique cars and headed to the Bumper Cars(?). OK, these weren't cars. It was a mixture of bison and horses (palomino, bay, and grey) with a nice old-west mural on the back wall. Fairly nimble cars with very soft bumpers. FUN! Then the bumper boats, the Liberty Launch (launch up and bounce type ride), and to the Freedom Train which was the first ride in the park 60 years ago. Miniature train that goes around a kiddie area and passes a lot of storybook characters (Jack & Jill, Old Mother Hubbard, Jack and the Beanstalk, Bo Peep, Little Miss Muffet, ... cockleshells ... jack horner ... Red Riding Hood ... Humpty Dumpty ... etc.); rode the kiddie coaster (rough), Flying Eagles, and then to the River Rapids. Fabulous ride with lots of pretty rocks, very nice theming and you go through a flooded old-west type town. Then it was time to go to Thanksgiving.

I was perfectly willing to skip the TurkeyWhirl (tilt-a-whirl with the cars shaped like giant turkeys) which was cute, however, Legend was a must. She starts out as an amazing out and back. Wood on a steel frame and TALL. Then she changes into a twister of monster proportions. Lots of tunnels (5 I think) some seriously banked turns (3 at 90 degrees according to the specs) and speed, speed, speed, speed, speed. Did I mention she was twisting and turning at insane speeds? Then we went to the Gobbler Getaway which is one of those "shoot the target from a moving vehicle" rides but it (of course) had a twist of sorts. The 'guns' were turkey callers and went "gobble, gobble, gobble" when you shot them. They did make a different noise when you hit a target (and the turkey would pop up/out from wherever it was hiding). Chris wiped the floor with me. The final scene is a thanksgiving family sitting down with a stereotypical platter that opens to reveal pizza. Giggle. Back to Legend for another ride and up the hill to see some stuff we hadn't seen in America. In Thanksgiving we heard "Goober Peas" and "Turkey in the Straw" and some other tunes.

Salmon run is a kiddie ride with very cute fish and the indian canoes are another kiddie ride but the Betsy Ross Doll House is the original Santa Claus post office and is full of dolls. Some of them need some work but they have the presidents through Johnson and their first ladies (though we thought that Johnson was Nixon), representatives of the Koch family (The people who own the park), dolls from various times (cave man, Roman, Greece, Italian Ren, English Tudor, etc.), interesting composition (wax, apple head, peanut head, etc.), famous people (Henry VIII, Napoleon, Howdy Doody, Florence Nightingale, Jenny Lind, etc.); famous cartoons (Tom & Jerry, Popeye, Lulu, Houie, Douie, and Louie), from around the world (spain, italy, russia, etc.) and a nice collection of dolls from Laos in honor of those who served in Vietnam.

Then back for re-rides (we skipped the Monster and the Scrambler for more coaster time). 2 more on Raven, one more on Legend then race to the back of the park to get final ride on Voyage ... front seat. But aw shucks, the train was going out one more time, would we like another ride ... all we had to do was switch seats. That got a 'duh'.

We bought souvenirs, funnel cake, and wrote up the Guest Card and headed out.

I highly, HIGHLY recommend this park.