Midgetman82

To no one's surprise, yes, it was slammed. A gorgeous sunny day outside, so of course the park is heavily attended today! I dropped by for an hour just to get two quick laps on Storm Chaser, and get a certain loaf to take home to family! Entered at noon. It felt like the majority of guests hit up the water park since it's pretty hot outside. I got my two laps on Storm Chaser with very short waits! Since I had just come in from out of town and had junk in my car's trunk, I couldn't stay long. So on my way out, I made a mandatory pit-stop to a newly opened building! A sample of sweet offerings from the new Bluegrass Bakery. And the moment we've all been waiting for. The coveted Herschend-style CINNAMON BREAD! It comes with either classic icing, apple glaze, or a bourbon glaze. I took my lidded loaf home, warmed it back up in the oven for a few minutes and enjoyed that suuuper sweet and soft bread! VERY worth getting! The portion is big enough to share or take home to save.

Yuuup. I'd bet the park is likely to be pretty packed, especially Saturday. I might drop by for a bit since I'll be in town too, maybe get a lap on something, and hopefully leave with a heap of that anticipated cinnamon bread to enjoy over the holiday weekend!

Great photos! Takes me back to those days as well. I almost kind of miss the facade they did for Road Runner Express, being that it might've been the most themed coaster queue that's ever been at the park. Lightning Run's line is typically the slowest, and I usually recommend getting it out of the way first. Otherwise, KY Flyer and Storm Chaser have some really easy waits early in the day. If you're there only to get the credits and bounce, you're gonna be there a lot shorter than you think. Don't forget to consider some re-rides if the wait seems short!

I booked thru a travel agent and received Early Park Access on my ticket for the two days I was there. It was extremely smooth getting into the park for me Monday and Tuesday, but of course that meant waking up at the ungodly hour of 5am and arriving there AT 6:30am. You only really need to do EPA if you LOVE IoA potter stuff, or you're a morning bird who isn't planning to do night rides and want to get the park over with sooner. Huge crowds did form at entry and security closer to noon, with the afternoon seeing huge security lines backed all the way to the parking structure trying to get in to either parks (at least according to a friend). Park was fantastic, weather was fantastic(ly HOT! Holy cow, that morning humidity was insane). So many new attractions I finally got to try ever since my last visit when Dragon Challenge was still operating in 2017: Hagrids, Bourne Stuntacular, Fast and the Furious, Transformers, revamp-ed Hulk, aaand VelociCoaster. VelociCoaster was absolutely worth the hype, all the more with really great operations allowing me SIX rides between the two days I was there (Day 1: two in morning + one night ride. Day 2: three consecutive morning rides). I had been using the single riders line on the first day thinking I was getting there quicker, but I made the better choice on day two to wait in the full 60 minute stand-by queue. Not only was I getting the full themed queue with the cool effects and lovely extended-queue views, but the line moved MUCH more consistently and guaranteed me one front-row (kindly requested) ride! The trains are indeed incredibly comfortable to me as well, the ejector airtime is plentiful (more airtime moments front seat, but more powerful airtime in back seat), the inversions and launches are super-sweet as-is the pacing of the whole ride, and the theming through the ride is stellar too! I'm also one that appreciates any coaster with good path interaction, and this coaster may be one of the best with with the top hat dropping near path and queue, the top-gun stall directly over path (no nets, ftw!), the huge overbanks over the bridge, and that roll over the lagoon grazing past extended queue folks! This hit a LOT of things I love most in coasters. It might be my personal new #1! P.S.: After finally experiencing Fast and Furious, I no longer think it deserved the hate it's received.

Thank you!! It would mean I'd only have to pay, like, $10 to get the cheapest AP once at the park with my multi-day ticket, and I was deciding if I wanted to get it before or during my visit since the ticket guarantees me early access on my visit this summer.

I have a question about Universal Orlando Annual Passes: If I visited the park on a dated ticket and decided I wanted to get an annual pass, am I able to upgrade that ticket to a pass with the difference of the ticket price knocked off of the pass?

There's very weirdly specific spots in the park where they can build up to 200-ish feet high. Most of the other spots, up to roughly 100 feet, especially spots that line up with the adjacent Louisville Airport's runways (like where Storm Chaser sits). It's why they can have the Giant Wheel (150ft), Fear Fall (129ft) and Deep Water Dive (121ft) where they are.

Millennium Flyer restraints dig into my lap enough to staple my actual hip bone mid-ride, so some rides on some of their coasters genuinely hurt at times when they come down an extra click from g-forces. PTC's punch against my belly, but I can take that over the heavier, bulky lap bars. RMC's are more comfortable than both, though, because of my body shape.

With modern coasters built in recent years with wild but very controlled experiences, elements like Legend's unbanked helix feel almost illegal! I love a great airtime filled RMC any day of the week, but hardly anything matches how out of control any of Holiday World's wood coasters feel. And I don't hate them. PTC's are more comfortable on me than Millennium Flyers because of the restraint style, and Gravity Group's wood coasters rank higher on my list than GCI's (they give WAY more intense rides and better airtime).

Not as of recent. GCI seems to be scooping up the big wood coaster market the most as of late, but they don't quite compare to the intensity of these three "box on wheels" rides. (Seriously, a hard double helix with nearly NO banking??) Cheetah Chase is such an awesome water coaster with insane amount of soakage, though as mentioned above, a bit more tricky to get on compared to the other bigger water coasters. No single-riders, finicky min/max weight restrictions, and seemingly lower relative capacity. Absolutely worth doing though.

The selection/number of rides may be relatively little (outside the water park), but the plot of land the park sits on certainly is not! Feels like hiking a mile getting to Voyage, or even Thunderbird. Well worth the trip though, as the vistas around the park are quite farmland scenic! I was so saddened to hear of the incident and learn much later of their passing. I can't even begin to fathom how it must've been for the family visiting the park that day, let alone for the operators running the ride then. It was a good call for the park to have closed the coaster that night right after. I wish them everyone involved much strength and healing from this tragedy. For the event, I managed one ride on Voyage. Understandably a roughly 55 minute wait during Saturday's ERT, with every switchback inside and outside the line full + some spilling past the entrance, and the park needing to close the line early so everyone got through before the night got too late. All three woodies were running great, especially Raven with the track work done on the turn over the lake! The one ride on Voyage at night was stellar as always, added in with parts of both Voyage and Raven being pitch black through the forest! Lastly, I have to point out how incredibly generous it was for Holiday World to have offered all attendees a free return visit this season with their Saturday ticket solely because of Thunderbird's closure, which was mentioned in the Facebook group earlier in the week before the event began. That, alone, I find goes above and beyond with their customer service and is another reason why I love the park so much.

I'm already making plans to hit the parks on a Monday next month. I can't say I'm very thrilled seeing reports of the crowds that arrived today, and thinking how that'll look on the one day I can afford to be there. May end up splurging on Express Passes... pray for me y'all, haha. Edit: If I manage to visit maybe a second time this year and again early next year, I'll likely budget for a pass, so at least I can get myself back to the park again instead of waiting 4 years between visits because, y'know, single day ticket + booking everything else is pretty insane for out-of-state visitors.

Twice, opening day three weekends ago and then yesterday. Opening day crowds were pretty intense, only did two rides. Came back yesterday and it was really easy going, got every major coaster except Thunder Run which was closed.

Rides that intentionally have you facing other people. It's great when you're with a decent sized party, but when you're in a group more than 4 or on your own, it's just weird. So rides like Larson Loopers or Vekoma invert boomerangs while facing total strangers while you ride makes it... really uncomfortable with me. I try to go to the ends when I can, but sometimes it doesn't quite work.

Despite Storm Chaser existing, T3 is often the most popular roller coaster (after Lightning Run) by the afternoon. This accounts for when it ran two trains too.