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Soon enough, we were going thru the cornfields, and pulling into the parking lot for Holiday World. we knew we had purchased for a School Days day. . but wow, there were a LOT of busses in the parking lot. And with HW not having any kind of skip the line pass, we worried it might be a challenging day. Still, I was thrilled to be there - even with my ankle still messed up from a bad twist 10 days earlier, so more "hobbling" than "walking". . but still..I was determined to have a great visit regardless (and I really did, even tho the day got cut short). slowly making our way from our parking spot - we got to park fairly close, as all the busse were too the left. I've seen this in other's reports. . but so excited to see it in person. (tho I was surprised not to find ONE T-shirt for sale with the traditional logo on it. Found some that were close, but not this logo) I'm here! (and I can *totally* read Joel's mind in this pic.. .. you already move slow. .and you're stopping for pictures???). LOL absolutely purchase your tickets online. . we bypassed some pretty lengthy lines to enter the park, since we already had our tickets form online. we followed standard HW procedure (from what I'd been told) and headed all the way to the back of the park for Thunderbird/Voyage. . . as Legend was already filling up most of the queue as we passed by (it was running only 1 train, as Raven was as well). Didn't stop me from getting a pic with Santa as we passed by - tho I didn't wait in the long line for the "professional" pics. . . it's just timing between people from off to the side I was actually VERY impressed with how lovely the park is. and surprised. . I was really expecting more Wal*Mart / Carnival Cruise type atmosphere, and yes, the clientele certainly gave off those vibes (lots of "let's go Brandon" t-shirts - on KIDS yet! - and unironically worn shirts with certain president's heads on bodybuilder bodies). . but the park itself was beautifully landscaped in places (other than the neglected dirt-pit with flume remnants from where Pilgrim's Plunge used to be), and the grounds were - for the most part - beautiful. and the free drink stations set up everywhere were very nice! other parks should start offering this perk (think of the staffing they could save from not having to have registers at every location!) Park Map. oooo. . spooky. . heading into Halloween section but first, a photo op? why of course! see? it really is a lovely park. . there were several flats, that had pretty decent lines already, as we passed. the park was only open until 4, so we had planned to focus on the Coasters and the Water Coasters as much as possible. . but some of the flats certainly had my interest. such as this wave swinger, that looked incredible. crossing into Thanksgiving, we came upon the Voyage - tho we were headed to Thunderbird first. (and yes, that IS the line for Voyage, already coming out of the queue line. . wowza) LOL. .I adored this Turkey Themed Tilt A Whirl.. but it had a line. . and we were headed to Thunderbird, so passed it by. I hadn't realized this park was "hilly".. so it was giving my ankle a real workout. . but we finally made it to the final hill at the back of the park, and into view came this beautiful sight. no, not the worlds smallest skyflyer - tho that made me giggle.. . .and people were lining up for it!!! but Thunderbird, a launched wing coaster. were they only running 1 train here too? No, they actually were running 2, but they were having some issues with fast loading on this day. no worries..we were here to ride coasters, and any ride was worth the wait for me. . . so we headed in and joined the line um. . yeah. and with so many schools on site, there were rampant cases of "I need to cut thru to meet up with my friends" now, to be fair, we FULLY expected this. We knew we were going on a school days day. . . but that didn't stop TeacherKim from stopping several of these line jumpers and telling them "I'll let you thru once, but everyone here is waiting and you are cutting in line!" LOL. . several groups of kids kept staring back at us (afraid of Kim) the whole time we were in the line. (not that she was wrong at all. .and they knew it. . . because if you DON'T say something? soon, two kids cutting becomes 5 more meeting their friends, then 3 more that came later, etc) we ended up waiting about an hour and ten minutes for Thunderbird, and since we had waited? just went ahead and waited a few more cycles for the front row. (yeah, even with the "boarding instructions" listed there, quite a few folks seemed confused as to if they should take off shoes, or how to click the restraints. . . . ) a look at the train. . Joel and I on our ride. . it was really fun, and quite intense. A bit more intense than I had expected really.. . was glad I hadn't eaten anything before standing in the heat for over an hour and then riding this. but I liked it a lot.. particularly the launch, and the "near misses" thru the barn. Kim being silly. . but I had to include this pic for that epic side-eye her seat mate is shooting her on the brake run. we headed to Voyage, but first had to stop and get some drinks, and as we passed by the turkey shooting dark ride, we noticed it was open! it had been listed as closed at the front gate, but maybe since it had gotten so warm they decided to open it? I dunno. . but I LOVE stupid rides, and this turkey shooter ride sure was stupid. . a fun stupid. and it was air conditioned. So you betcha we hopped in the fairly short line to take a spin. not before I was a turkey tho: the queue line.. . my. . how TERRIFYING you are, Gramma! I was SO tempted to hop in line for this as we exited the turkey shoot dark ride, but the truth is it was too hot for anything "spinning". . so I settled for a picture of it, and moved on to Voyage queue. so the Voyage queue was so long, they were using the basement area - routed down there after going up the initial steps. there really wasn't any airflow down there, and so I put on my mask - and i was literally the only one in the line that bothered (tho I did see a few others put on masks to go inside stores that were busy). at least what is very cool is that down in the basement, there is a flyby of the train, past a big window towards the end of the ride. and it did get everyone excited every time a train zoomed by that giant window. there were some line jumpers here too. .and again, Kim put them in their place, explaining why they shouldn't cut. I think in total we waited ~ 1:30 for it? lookie. . finally up at the station! and we ended up in Row 2. where we got a really, really rough ride. but took the pic first, so we're so happy to be riding. . LOL the tunnels were the best part of the coaster, I think. nice and cool. and I was thrilled there was so much air-time, as it got my butt out of the seat so I didn't' get jackhammered to death. Glad I finally rode it, but yeah... (tho if ever make it back, will try it again in a different (ie: front) row) we headed over to Legend, and the line hadn't died down that much. (one train ops). but the sky had started to get dark. we didnt' notice any lightning or thunder, but about 15 minutes into the wait? an announcement was made about Inclement weather. they made EVERYONE leave the line. . no one allowed to wait it out - although they oddly, didn't send anyone out to the front to chain off the queue, nor tell anyone status (something they didnt' do on other rides either. . very strange)..they just started shutting everything down. it was only ~1:20, and the park was only open until 4. so we had a chance things might open again, but not looking good, or that we'd manage to get on any water coasters - as Splashin Safari had just down either. I'd never been, so I was happy just to walk the park and take a look at things. the only thing we came across that had NOT shut down was the "Holidog Express". . which looked to be themed to Nursery Rhymes, and traveled around the Kids area. it was open, so did we ride it? you bet your ass! (remember what I said about loving stupid rides) this sign in the train! OMG. . . . "contact with Moving OR Stationary object can cause injury?" HAHAHAHAHA not everyone was THRILLED to be riding, as the woman behind me facial expression shows. . but it was the only thing operating, so it was a full train. (the last full train as it turned out as once we got back, the engineer got a call to shut it down too, just before the sky opened) highly recommended if you enjoy stupid things. . . the Engineer, in a dead monotone voice, just says the nursery rhymes as you pass by each set piece. hysterical. this is Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater. the kiddie coaster in the park. can't remember who this is who is stealing a pig. . .but I mean, I think we all know WHY he was stealing a pig. which i found VERY confusing, as right across the train tracks from him was Mary and her little lambs. . so one would think he'd rather have a soft lamb for his bestiality. but oh well. . I try not to judge Indiana. the Giant looks like Jack pissed in his cornflakes, doesn't he? is this the back entrance? it's an entrance to something. . but we didn't come in this way. weird. as noted, moments after we got off the train, the sky just OPENED up. .. .quarter size rain drops, and it poured for a good 20 minutes. Once it slowed down to a drizzle, we continued our walk around the park, checking out the closed rides. Some of which I really wish had opened up - and I'd like to check out if I ever get back. I dont' do bumper cars. . ever. But man, I'd sure be tempted to ride bumper cars themed to Horses! I adored this! and the most boring mini flume / canoe ride, I've ever seen. this was in a theme park? Bwaaa-haaaa-haaaaa as we made it back towards the front section, since nothing was open, I suggested we hit the main store (as I still wanted to buy a tshirt for Nick). well.. ALL those bus loads full of kids? yup, they were ALL packed into the the big store by the front section. sitting in aisles - so you couldn't move - and the checkout lines were all lengthy, stretching as far as the eye could see and wrapping up and down the open aisles, making it even more impossible to move. Most of the lines were the kids all holding a pack of candy, or a magnet, or some rocks/jewelry. Have to wonder just how much product walked out in pockets during the 55 minutes I was in that store standing in line to get that shirt. I wasn't comfortable at all, but it's not like could go outside, since this happened while in the store (or, and a tornado warning too). eventually, everything passed, and we decided to check out some sections of the park we hadn't' gotten to yet. it was just after 3, and as noted, the park closed at 4 today. People/kids were streaming out of the park, now that the rain had calmed down. . . so we figured we'd wander and see if any movement. and hey, it allowed me to get some pics I hadn't gotten yet. but by 3:20, there was NO movement at all on any of the rides, and we just decided to call it. We still had a pretty good drive to Kings Island (Coasterstock! started the next morning early), and we still had plans to stop for dinner. so with certainty that they probably were not going to get open either Legend or Raven (we seriously couldn't get anyone in the Guest Services booth to come to the front - I could see them hiding out in the back room chatting away - to advise what their policies were, and if they would attempt to get things open for the last 1/2 hour of the day). . we called it and headed out. but not before I got another picture : so the day got rained out, but you know what? I STILL had a great time, even with only 4 rides on a very crowded and rainy day. I liked the park enough that I'll absolutely go back if I get the chance. . and perhaps get to try out those water coasters. but with that, we headed out and made our way towards Cincinnati.. with the POURING rain following us off and on the whole way.

To be fair, there were tornado warnings/watches in the area and it started lightening before the rain. As far as our TV/speaker/computer set up I'm sure Steve was this guy listening to music in the man cave while we were gone. Joel built that computer and uses his Dad's 77 inch TV as the monitor which sometimes leads to arguments over possession of said man cave.

Who in their right mind would wait 2-3 hours for that?

That's disappointing that they started closing rides even before the rain hit, one of my best rides was on Voyage and halfway up it started pouring, Voyage in the rain with slippery track is so much goodness but man rain drops sure do hurt going that fast... lol I agree the grandma in Turkey Round-up has always been creepy. The other big thing I miss seeing is Ms. Pat Koch being out in the park with a broom and dustpan helping to clean the park up. I was always super impressed by that! The other back entrance you mentioned is to the overflow parking lot, you can park there and go through an underground walkway and meet up with the main parking lot and main gates.

Oh and that entrance that you were wondering about was the entrance to the parking lot but on the other side of the park we drove in from. So if you were wb on 64 you would have come in that way. We actually drove out of the parking lot through that when we left since we were continuing on toward Louisville instead of going back to STL, you just didn't realize.

You can post the picture with Steve in it if you want, he never reads this, won't even know, lol. I was up at 4:50 actually, watered all my flowers outside before we left and packed the final things in the car. Anyone that takes a picture of me after getting up that early and having already driven an hour and a half will get a tongue sticking out at them. Boo. Lol, I explained to the girl on TB that I was being goofy for a pic, it was all good. All I could think was how short and fat I look next to a young teen. Probably serves me right since technically I was mocking some FB posters that were at another theme park. Always fun to give a good healthy scare to some annoying teens. I realized that even though I have ridden Voyage many times, it was always a front seat ride. Never tried the back since I figured it would beat the shit out of me. Joel said his ride was fine and surmises we should not have ridden in the second seat of the car, odd seats only. Ironically we got the smoothest ride ever just last October on a cool (literally and figuratively) night ride. It really is too bad we got rained out of Legend, Raven and the water coasters. Stupid tornado warning. I was really hoping since it was a Thursday and the first of several "school days" it wouldn't be too bad. I was very wrong. Avoid school days. And to anyone that has ridden the janky shooting ride at HW, you will understand why Joel and I laughed out loud at Bert when he asked us if it was like Toy Story Mania

Rode it this past sunday. The "death turn" that got the titan track just might be the smoothest part of the ride now. Its amazing how much that helped. As for the speed, it honestly felt pretty similar if you ask me...

correct. Don Helbig and Chad Showalter are aware of it, and were NOT happy at Coasterstock when they experienced it for themselves. I fully expect they have/will have folks working on it (it's only been a week since they were made aware of the issue)

With my flight delayed at the airport, I just wanted to pop in and write up a mini-report about how much I LOVED my first ever visit to this park yesterday. Those of you may have seen my posts in the Kentucky Kingdom thread trying to decide how to do HW and KK in the same day. I ended up dropping KK entirely for another visit and dedicating my day to Holiday World and I am very happy I did! Kentucky Kingdom is just another reason to come back to the area in the future. I thought all three woodies were wonderful. I don't know how rough or smooth they usually run, but I didn't think any of them were overly brutal. Just a usual intense woodie experience. I also wasn't expecting how different the 3 were. Raven in the back car surprised me a LOT (that drop mid-ride and the whole ending is insane) and is probably my second favorite ride in the park. Legend is very good but almost has too many laterals for my taste, I think the GCI trains would be more comfortable with all those laterals. And of course, Voyage was... Voyage. Absolutely relentless and insane from start to finish. This has been a big bucket list coaster for me for a long time and I'm so happy I got several rides on it, and it didn't disappoint. I don't think anything can dethrone El Toro as my favorite wooden coaster but Voyage is a very solid #2. Oh, and Thunderbird was great too. Perhaps a tad underwhelming with the layout, but the launch had more kick than I anticipated and the setting is wonderful. Good operations too. As for the park itself, this is where I was most surprised. First off, my favorite thing about this park is the free drinks. What an absolutely brilliant idea. There are so many locations to conveniently grab a drink and that is the BEST idea ever. I don't know how they offset that cost or sneak it in elsewhere but I wish more parks did it. So many parks make you jump through hoops just for a water cup or simple refill - long lines, bad service, few locations, lug around a souvenir bottle, etc. Holiday World does it RIGHT. I don't think I have ever been more hydrated at a theme park! And they also had water, lemonade, and vitamin water options, which as a pretty infrequent soda drinker (especially at parks) was nice to have. The park also looked very well-kept, clean, and very friendly employees. And I know many people way be annoyed with the lack of a line-skip service here, but I will say it did make the regular lines move quite well, and their operations as a whole were pretty decent with two trains on all coasters (although they did removed a train on Raven mid-day, but it was a walk-on anyway). Those of you that said the lines die down in the afternoon when everyone is at the waterpark are absolutely right. There was a morning rush on everything but by lunchtime the dry coasters were all walk-ons. I got multiple rides on all coasters and I was not expecting that on Memorial Day weekend. Overall I absolutely love this park and can't wait to visit again. Another major steel coaster would do them wonders - perhaps where Giraffica used to be. That area is, admittedly, an eyesore.

my new boots

^ Noted, thanks. And my Latest Newly Discovered "Word of The Day" is ..... skorts. It's clothing. Mostly for women. But some men tend to wear it/them, too.

"Let's go fly a kite*, up to the highest height, let's go fly a kite and send - it - soaring." c/o The Sherman Brothers. *Or an umbrella, I forget who's using what for where, lately. Hugs to ya, Bert.

^^ Great shots, especially the ones that you wouldn't expect to be taken. 3rd one from the end is a great example. The train in the bottom of the Lochness track, is another one I like. Thanks for sharing your visit there!

someone wake me up when something other than dumb shit about kites - that I don't care about - gets posted.

Hey everyone, so are there days at Cedar Point where it's legitimately dead? Last time I went was June 3rd, 2019 (Monday), I got FP+ for myself, kids were too little for all but the smallest coasters.. but even with FP+ I still had 45 minute waits on SV. Maybe it was because SV was still really new? Or a shitty merge point, I can't remember. It was also the day after bike week ended, I don't know if that affects crowds. But LOTS of people had FP+ Barring forecast for rain/storms that doesn't come true and keeps everyone away, is CP ever quiet where if you don't have FL+ you can have 30 minute NON-FP+ waits for SV and MF? Or is it just packed every day? I read about how Hersheypark is always packed, and I went last weekend.. and it was packed on the Saturday, 1-2hrs waits on any of the big coasters.. we didn't even bother with any of them and figured it would be better Sunday. And what a difference, Sunday we road the 5 big coasters 3-4 times each with barely any waits. Our goal was to just get on each one once, so it was a real pleasant surprise. Just wondering if days like that ever happen at CP, so I can try to aim for them Now that all my kids are 54"+, I can't afford to be forking out for 5 FP+ for the whole family, so I need to try and find the quietest possible time to visit

We had intended to travel from Orlando to Charlotte to visit Carowinds for my birthday weekend. Unfortunately the weather and Spirit airlines had other plans on Saturday evening and $600 later we were rerouted the next morning. Spirit customer service was pathetic and there were practically no seats on any flight out of Orlando on any airline for the next morning except Richmond or Knoxville. Eager to get on Pantheon, we opted for the former and booked the expensive JetBlue flight. We checked into the Courtyard early and headed to the park on Sunday arriving around noon. Thankfully they still had preferred left for my Platinum Pass and we were quickly in the park. Guest services honored the 50% discount on Quick Queue that I couldn’t seem to buy online so that was appreciated. We spent 8 hours in the park on Sunday and were gifted and extra 6 hours in the park on Monday due to a delayed flight home on our dear friend Spirit. Here are some highlights: - I’ve always preferred this to the Tampa park. I think Tampa might have a slight edge in the coaster line up, but Williamsburg is significantly better in every other area. - Sunday was fairly quiet but QQ still came in handy and well worth the $65. We managed to snag a ride on Pantheon fairly quickly first thing both days. We had a ride in car two row 1 and I’m car 4 row 2. Not surprisingly, I preferred towards the back of the train. The ride was about what I expected based on the reviews I had read. First portion is…fine… kind of awkward. The swing launch is fantastic. The backwards ejector airtime isn’t a sensation I’ve felt on any other ride. The top hat and outer bank are fun but are taken a little too slow. The stall was better than I expected and the ending was pretty good. Definitely the best ride in the park but not at the same caliber as Iron Gwazi or Velocicoaster. - Alpengiest is my #2 in the park. Unpopular opinion, but I think the cobra roll is outstanding and the ride is a solid 8/10 on the smoothness scale. Objectively, Montu is probably the better coaster but I prefer Alpengiest’s setting. - We enjoyed Verbolten and Tempesto for what they are. I don’t particularly care for how Tempesto looks against the skyline and think Tigris fits in better at BGT comparatively. - Invadr is very underrated and I prefer to White Lightning. Had some Thunderhead vibes to it minus the straight first drop. - Apollo’s Chariot is my least favorite of the B&M hypers but the setting is easily the best. The elements are a tad drawn out and with Mako down the road back home, the airtime particularly in the front is very mild. - Loch Ness Monster was one of the coasters that got me hooked as a kid. This and Alpengiest are probably the two most nostalgic rides in the park for me. Still a well-maintained ride with character that has a certain magic about it similar to The Beast. - Operations we’re pretty solid given the crowds. I was pleased to see coasters running multiple trains even on Monday. SeaWorld has been guilty of dropping to 1 train on Mako on some weekdays had me concerned we’d have some long lines without QQ on day 2 but that wasn’t the case. - Staff was definitely above average. Everyone seemed confident without that deer in the headlights look you get when you ask someone a question. - Food was definitely better than Tampa. Some interesting options for the food festival although the matcha Ice Cream made me gag. Overall we had a wonderful time. As much as I would have enjoyed binging Fury325, I actually think we had a more “full” trip visiting BGW instead. The park looked gorgeous and we had all the rerides we wanted with the exception of Pantheon. It’s such a refreshing change from the manufactured feel of the Orlando parks. Thanks for reading!

Every themepark should be required to have a minimum of two hypers