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I had to cut out day-two of the event due to waking up with a headache. Guess I wasn't ready for all those laps I got the previous night, lol. 5 on Raven, 5 on Legend, 1 on Voyage (unfortunate, but okay with me), and... wait for it... 10 on Thunderbird! Why? Because I love that coaster to the moon and back, and missed out on riding it at all last year (it was down during HWN '21). Plus, ridiculously easy re-rides! Got multiple rows of re-rides without needing to get out of my seat, including closing out my last 4 laps going front-row right side without getting off! Such a fun glossy smooth coaster with a good kick on that launch! I think Legend is running at its best! Relatively smooth in comparison to the other two coasters, which surprised me! Though I only got 1 trimless ride on Voyage, it still did not disappoint! Such a relentless roller coaster day or night! Raven was fun too, but I feel like it's beginning to get some jackhammering on the bottom of one of the last turnarounds. The park choosing to limit attendance felt so much like the event did in some of the earlier years I've attended the event. Getting walk-on or in-station waits for most of the event up until everyone packs the queue for Voyage near the end of ERT! In comparison to the previous couple of years where attendance jumped, and the basement queue had to be used for Voyage. I'm sure this year was certainly a breath of fresh air for management and selected attendees. I guess we'll see how next year is handles, but I do hope more folks who couldn't go this year get the opportunity to next time!

You wouldn't have gotten a tummy ache later if you hadn't added the fried mushrooms on top of the fried chicken, (same with the fried jalapenos on top of fried lasagna at Big Chief). Just saying. #noonelistenstomom I'm actually grateful at this point to have his 19 year old eyes when it's dark and raining out. I'm sure he has better vision than I do at this point in that situation. Getting old sucks.

Not so fast there. . .

Well clearly Tom's Twister is the old flat at SFStL that I completely confused with Cyclone Sam's! Both tornado themed, totally different rides at different parks. @slickpoetry I meant Cyclone Sam's!!!!!

I bet that never gets irritating.

Wait. What is Tom's Twister? ...do you mean Cyclone Sams? Because if so, I totally agree.

Yes, he was there Monday. I met him in the queue on American Thunder. He's visiting all the parks in the SF chain on the down low to get a feel for what each park might need. He is the nicest guy I have ever met that worked in the corporate office. He was super incognito, just trying to be a regular guest. The guy has a vision, and he sees every six flags as becoming a premium experience that rivals places like Cedar Point and Hershey Park. And he cares about every park, even little old us. No, I didn't get any secret plans or anything, although not for my lack of trying. Gives me hope our park won't be left behind anymore. (And if you believe any of this I have a bridge to sell you)

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.