iheartHW

I love comparing Holiday World maps each year too!!

I'm pretty sure that's around the area where Lake Rudolph has been constructing a mini waterpark with some old slides they bought from HW. I could be wrong on that though, since I didn't go there last time I stayed at Lake Rudolph. Also someone's been lurking on this forum and asked what HW was doing behind Jungle Racer on FB and Paula responded confirming that it's Lake Rudolph's property. I think Lake Rudolph's mini waterpark might be finished, but I haven't been there lately to know for sure. On Lake Rudolph's website it says they are building 20 new Holiday Cottages, and replacing 20 RVs. Sounds like they might have started working on the new cabins. EDIT TO ADD: I just noticed that Lake Rudolph's website says stay tuned for another major announcement coming soon! http://www.lakerudolph.com/new-for-2016/

Does anyone know what the area is that kind of goes through the middle of Holiday World in the GIS map? I have been wondering about that for a while, but have never been able to figure it out for sure. You can see it by looking at the lines that separate properties on the GIS map. It looks like maybe it is supposed to be a road, but it isn't really a road. One end is by Holidog's Fun Town, and the other end is behind the Zinga, and it just kind of runs right through the middle of Holiday World.

I got in The Wave yesterday, and overheard someone say "Those people are still stuck on The Voyage!". I looked up and a full train was stopped at the end, right before going back into the station. I am not sure how long they had been there at that point, but it was at least another 5 - 10 minutes before they moved into the station. Then some empty trains were sent out. I probably wouldn't even have noticed it if I didn't hear someone else mention it, and not sure how long it was down because I got distracted enjoying Splashin' Safari. We left Splashin' Safari a little before 6 and decided to head to Thanksgiving to get a pretzel. The pretzel stand ended up being closed, but I noticed someone in a yellow shirt standing where The Voyage goes over the walkway into Thanksgiving and looking up at the brakes or track or something every time a train passed over. It looked like he was keeping track of something, but also kind of trying to pretend like he wasn't doing anything. The Voyage was running normally at the time, with people riding, so I don't think anything was wrong. But that area could have possibly been what caused it to be down earlier in the day.

I'd like your take on this since it was a fresh experience for you. The helix had some hella intense laterals, right? How did the final three turns feel compared to that? Would you call them regular GCI-style "hardly there" laterals or did they actually have any kind of punch? I felt a "punch" and also a major "pop" among other things when I rode with a full train. Not so much when I rode with only 5 people in the train. Both rides were fun, but the full train ride was amazing!

I rode The Legend again today. When I rode it the other day there were only 5 people in the train. Today the train was full, and I think that made a huge difference. I liked it the other day, but I loved it today! I saw them ringing the bell today, but I could barely hear it. Still no howl, but I am sure it will be back soon.

I rode The Legend on Sunday. It is very smooth and so much more enjoyable to me. They did a great job with the improvements! I didn't hear the howl or bell, but I am sure they will be back. The new tunnel was not finished or themed yet. Can't wait to see the theming.

Double post. Sorry!

This is not as exciting as flywheels, but I just noticed that they renamed the canoe ride Tippecanoes. (Sorry if this was something that was already announced. It is possible I missed it.) 2016 is Indiana's bicentennial year and the name change is related to that. They could put the kids bumper boats next to the canoes if they are still planning on bringing them back and renaming them Water Bumpaloes. I think Water Bumpaloes would fit the bicentennial theme. I saw a holiblog post not too long ago about a bicentennial themed carousel horse. 4th of July is also getting the Freedom Train / 70th Anniversary display. My imagination is running wild thinking of what else they could be planning for 4th of July for next season and also in the next few years. There is a bicentenial torch relay that will be going through every county in Indiana in September. I read that the torch relay was going to stop at Holiday World when it goes through Spencer County, so they might have some kind of bicentennial event for that. I also read that the Town of Santa Claus was wanting to build a trail between Holiday World and Lincoln's boyhood home as a bicentennial project and they planned to have rental bikes for the trail.

Thank you! That makes sense. I saw the generators running all season, but I never knew if the generators were being used to power and/or backup the flywheels, or if they were using the generators instead of the flywheels. I noticed that the generator trailers were gone (or moved) when I drove by in December.

On season pass holder preview night there was a very loud motor noise coming from the Will Power building. I figured it was probably the flywheel, but I don't know for sure what it was. It didn't bother me too much, and it didn't sound like anything was wrong. I was just surprised at how loud it was. I got stuck in line near the Will Power building for almost 2 hours, so that might be why it sounded so loud that night. I have gone back several times since then and have not heard the sound at all since that first night. I have been curious what happened to the loud sound. Was it not really as loud as I remembered? Did they sound proof the building to reduce noise? Was something different about the flywheel that night that made more noise? Maybe the noise was from a generator? Did they move a generator farther away? Why? What's the significance? I don't know! It really doesn't matter. I am just curious what it was.

I finally got a chance to listen to the podcast and it was great! I was so happy for the update on Freedom Train! I am always super excited about the new rides at Holiday World, but the older rides will always hold a special place in my heart. I can't wait for the next podcast.

I have been saying for a few years that I want The Legend howl as my text ringtone. I hope they add it to the list. But either way I am excited about the podcasts and love the ringtones they have made available so far! I am hoping they have some nostalgic things planned for the podcast and around the park for their 70th season. Like maybe displaying a restored Freedom Train coach. If they have any other old rides in storage it would be cool to have a displays of cars from other retired rides. Or maybe just some signs around the park showing what used to be there.

I just noticed that the webcams are working again (they had not been working for me for a few days). The splash cam has some new views of The Legend.

I am super excited about everything they are doing! I can't wait until next season! These videos with Leah and Lauren always make me happy because you can see how much they love the park and the coasters. I have never listened to a Podcast before, but I will have to learn how to so I can listen to Holiday World podcasts.

I think I am seeing something when I am looking at the Splashcam. Move the camera back and forth between the Voyage lift hill view and the Raven & Legend view. I can only catch a quick view of something when the camera moves from The Voyage to The Raven & Legend view.

I think I see something on the webcam by The Voyage, but I can't quite figure out exactly what I am seeing.

This doesn't matter too much, but I was just looking through pictures on my phone and it looks like they painted the Halloween sign sometime last season. I have pictures of the sign in May before it was painted. Then I have pictures in June and I think the sign is missing (or the picture is a weird angle). I didn't notice it missing when I took the pictures. And then starting in August I have pictures where the sign has been painted. (I wasn't taking millions of pictures of the sign, it just happened to be in the background of lots of my pictures.) edit: Actually now I see pictures I took in early August that look like the old paint, and pictures from late August that are the new paint, so maybe it was painted in August. I guess it doesn't matter. I was mostly looking at the pictures to compare to the instagram picture to see if it was moved, but I am not sure about that either.

I also think that Halloween is getting revamped. Halloween Weekends are a big deal, and a revamped Halloween section would be perfect for that. They mentioned planning new events, so maybe they are going to add more things to Halloween Weekends once the Halloween section is upgraded. Hallowswings is getting an awesome paint job. I have been wondering if they will move it to make is move visible. I saw in the background of an instagram picture that they have painted the Halloween section sign. It kind of looked like it had been moved a little bit, but I think it might just be the angle. If the sign has been moved how it look to me in the picture, then the section with the Christmas rides would be turned into Halloween. But then where would the Christmas rides be moved to?. I really think it had to have just been the angle of the picture, so I haven't thought too much about this possibility. If this is even possible, I think they will alter the steep hill between Halloween and Christmas. About a week ago, they reposted an old blog post and it said something about "one less hill to climb". It made me think of that hill. Edit to add the instagram picture: (The pieces of Hallowswings are leaning against the theater by the fountain where they have Holidog 3d maze during Halloween.)

Here are a couple interesting things to read about Skyline Attractions, Skyline Design, and GCI. http://www.skylineattractions.com/?p=design http://www.iaapa.org/news/funworld/funworld-magazine/next-generation-of-creativity---july-2015

Maybe the new tunnel will be themed like a covered bridge to go along with the Legend of Sleepy Hollow story. I had never thought about it before, but are the tunnels on The Legend already supposed to be covered bridges? I think it would be really cool if there was a themed covered bridge tunnel at the end of the ride.

I just looked at the blueprint layout from the video since HWFTW mentioned it. I don't know anything about blueprints, and it took me a little while to make sense of what I was looking at, but this is what I think I see. (And I am probably wrong.) I think the little colored arrows are where The Legend intersects with other rides or slides. I think the upper left corner shows where it intersects with Zinga and Zoombabwe. It looks like it is showing Watubee there too, but it doesn't seem like that is the right spot. I think Watubee is the arrow at the top middle on the other side of his head. Except I feel like there should be two arrows for Watubee, so I am probably wrong. Then he is blocking a lot of the track, so skip ahead to the upper right corner, which I think is the last turn. After that last turn, right before you get to the station there are two more arrows. What are those arrows? And why are there no arrows for Frightful Falls? Maybe I am wrong about the arrows.

^They are at Sparklers old location. EDIT: Woodie Warrior beat me by a minute.

I was just thinking about how Hallowswing is taken down for off season maintenance and painting. I know they that they always take rides apart during the winter to do maintenance, paint, keep them out of winter weather, etc., but Hallowswings looked like it was getting completely taken apart for new paint. Will Hallowswings be put back in the same spot? If they have ever thought about moving it, now would be a good time. I am not sure where they would move it though. Are Hallowswings conveniently out of the way for work going on nearby? They are obviously working on The Legend, but they could also be working on the Splashin' Safari entrance. In an Instagram photo from 8 weeks ago, they had pieces of Hallowswings lined up against the side of the old theater near the fountain where they put Holidogs 3D maze during Halloween weekends. Is that near the paint shop? It also almost looks like the Halloween section sign in the background has been moved a little bit, but I think it is probably just the angle of the picture. It looks like the Halloween section sign got new paint. I have been thinking about the Sparkler location, and maybe Revolution or Liberty Launch could be moved there. Revolution was down during Halloween Weekends. I am not sure why it was down, but that made me think about them possibly moving it. The whole area with Revolution, Liberty Launch, bumper cars, and Indian River seems a bit dated. There is also a seating area that I think used to be a theater that seems kind of wasted. I am not complaining, it really isn't that bad, and they have done a lot of good updates in that area in recent years. That area just has a lot of potential. They had that Strike U Up game in Sparklers old spot for a little while last season. At least I think they had it there. It was on the map there, but before I got around to checking it out, it had been moved to Thanksgiving. Maybe they will move it back. This picture is from December 20, 2015. It almost looks like Liberty Launch was moved into Sparklers old spot, but I think it just looks that way from the angle of the picture.

Maybe a new station for The Legend? I love the theme of The Legend, but I think a new station that looks even more like an old school house would be perfect. I love the old school bell and the howl sound effect, so I hope they don't change those, but I doubt they will. I still can't decide what I think they are doing about the track. I keep imagining a steel track with a launch, but I know that probably wont happen. Whatever they are doing, I am sure The Legend will be running better than ever. It would be great if they did some theming for Frightful Falls. It really doesn't have much theming now, but has a lot of potential. I have had my eye on Frightful Falls for the past few years, watching for signs of plans to update it, or retire it. At the beginning of this past season I noticed them working on the Frightful Falls observation deck area, but I never figured out exactly what they did other than put up a new fence. I have had a feeling since then that they were doing more than just replace a fence. I noticed that Frightful Falls got new cameras last season, so that makes me think they might have plans for the ride, like better theming.