Holiday World PTR, June 19-20th

disneygurlz2s · June 25, 2006

When we visited HW last summer on a day trip, we just totally fell in love with the place, so our plan this year was to go for two days. Thanks to my mother in law, who lives in a tiny Illinois farming town, we were able to buy tickets through her local radio station for $20 each! With reservations made to spend the night at Santa's Lodge, my mom (she's the 80 year old), Samantha (age 8 that day) and I (not currently discussing my age) headed out from Cincy at 6:30 a.m.

After a stop at Cracker Barrel for breakfast, it was on the park. I was so excited to crest the hill and see coasters rising out of the cornfields again!! We were quickly parked and on our way through the gates.

Once inside the park we encountered the jolly elf himself, and he immediately noticed the t-shirt I had made for Sammi that stated "Today is my 8th Birthday" with a coaster border around it. He sang "Happy Birthday" to her, which was cool. Even cooler was the fact that, once again, we were able to walk right onto to every ride, or wait maybe a turn or two. We headed to Sammi's personal favorite, The Revolution, which she rode at least twice. We hit several other of the "flat rides" in the area, including the Raging Rapids, which my mother rode. Kudos to the HW staff who so patiently assisted her on and off the ride. It's probably been years since she rode a river raft ride, and it was fun for Sammi to see her do it.

From there we hit as many rides as we could, and eventually worked our way around to the Raven and Legend!! Sam has hit the 48" mark this year, so this was a big moment for her. She loved them both, as did I. Last year, I chose Legend over Raven as my favorite, but this year I would have to say that I was pretty equal on them. They are both a lot of fun. Of course, there was one more left to try.....

It was really hot, NINETY DEGREES!!! or more, so we headed to Splashin Safari for some Bahari Wave pool action. About 5 minutes into the wave cycle, I take a wave to the left ear and my ear completely plugs up. One hour, and a trip to First Aid+ later, I still cannot get my ear unplugged. However, I just kept on going, because there was a lot to do! Sammi fell in love with the Jungle Racers slide this year, and the new Bahari River is a great place to relax and just float along. The great thing about HW's lazy rivers (Are you listening PKI?????) is that they don't make you get out after one circle around. You can park your a$$ in a tube and just chill, and no one is standing at an exit waiting to pull your innertube out from under you!!!

Well, we had cooled off, but it was still NINETY DEGREES.... so, we figured we might as well just go find out what NINETY DEGREES feels like when it's made out of wood......

Voyage. Hmm...... Here were the things that flew out of my mouth on the ride:

"OH MY GOD!!"

"WHOA!!"

"S&!T"

"HAHAHAHAHAHA" (hysterical laughing)

"NINETY DEGREES"

What an amazing ride!! I would have to say the trip-down tunnel is hands down the best coaster element I have ever encountered, but the ninety degree track is bizarre, and Robb is right...whether you mean to or not, you WILL yell out "Ninety Degrees" because it just blows your mind!!

The new Thanksgiving section is nice, but I was disappointed that the Plymouth Rock Cafe is not open, in fact, it looks to me like it will be another few weeks yet. Gobbler Getaway is up and running and VERY CUTE!!! However, they still haven't posted the "scores" on the board at the end. I am pretty sure I made Master Caller status though, with my 900 points!!

As the park closed for the night, we headed to the hotel to check in....Here's where things got interesting. After unloading all our crap and getting set up in our room (my mom is in poor health and had to bring along a breathing machine that must weigh about 100 pounds, to go along with her 100 pound wheelchair), Sammi and I head to the pool and hot tub for a quick swim before bed. We return to our room to find Grandma all worked up and flustered...that's when I realize, the beds in the room are these pillowtop mattresses about 4 feet off the ground!! My poor mother can't get into bed. I call the front desk to see if we can be moved or possibly get a rollaway, and the old battle ax who answers tells me that they can't help me. Well, I was ticked.... I am tired, I can't hear out of my left ear, and my 80 year old mother is planning to sleep sitting upright in a chair... I was not in a mood to be messed with.

I head to the front desk where a very nice younger girl named Jill called her manager, and within five minutes we were moving down the hall, at no additional charge, to a family suite that was handicap accessible!!!

Tuesday morning started with a ridiculously over-priced breakfast buffet at the hotel (they had ran out of food that morning and were serving Pillsbury biscuits..WTF?) and a tour around their very nicely decorated grounds. Overall the hotel is really nice, and I would recommend it-just don't buy the breakfast. Eat an early lunch at the park instead.

On our way into the park Tuesday morning, I spied Mrs. Koch, and took my mom and Sammi over to meet her. We talked for a bit and I mentioned we were from Cincinnati. She shared with us that her Granddaughter, Marie, (8 years old like Sammi) has blood cancer and is being treated her at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. She asked for our prayers, and I am passing this along to all of you.....

Tuesday was another perfect day, and we managed another couple rides on each of the coasters, along with all the other rides and water slides. At noon on Tuesday, you could literally WALK onto the Voyage.... how amazing, when you think people stood in line for 1 1/2 hours to ride "Italian Job" here at PKI last summer. I don't think we ever waited longer than 10 minutes for any ride, in two days.

Our day ended with a severe thunderstorm hitting the park around 6:30, just as we were heading towards the front gate. We had a blast though, and are looking forward to another trip back there, possibly later this season!!!

Shari