Holiday World (HW) Discussion Thread

[B&MBoy1982]

any food suggestions at Holiday World also?

 

Plymouth Rock Cafe is my favorite.

 

http://www.holidayworld.com/visit/food-restaurants

[Raven Maven]

It never ceases to amaze me how the same ride can create such passionate reactions - both pro and con.

 

And I'm not just talking about our roller coasters.

 

Even when I post a photo of Frightful Falls, our log flume, I see it. After a string of "that's my favorite ride" posts, someone will come on and condemn it as a total waste of space. They get too wet, they don't get wet enough. It's too high; it's not high enough.

 

To save my sanity (what's left of it, anyway), I stopped trying to understand this phenomenon years ago.

 

It still puzzles me, though ...

[BeemerBoy]

^ That post was too long.

 

EDIT: ...or short. I can't decide.

[Koasterking48]

Hello,

I am new here.

I am planning a Holiday World trip soon.

Any suggestions?

The park is definitely a two-day park at the least.

One day for HW and one day for Splasin' Safari.

Two days is kinda excessive (I manage one day trips every year with no time crunch problems). Unless you want to go on a weekend in July or plan to return another day later on in the year, one day should be plenty. The theme park area on a week day shouldn't take much more than a few hours, while the water park is a good 4-5 hours of your day.

 

As for the suggestions, Plymouth Rock for dinner and Safari Pizza for lunch. Do the entire thanksgiving section in the morning and then head to the water park. Go there and get every thing you want to do done. Now head back to Halloween and get the Legend and Raven done. Afterward, you're pretty much given short lines on anything in the dry park. Have a good time

 

EDIT: You can do the parks in two days if you really want to the full HW experience and ride everything. Sorry, I was speaking from a POV of a person who has visited many times and am not sure what a new comer prefers.

Edited June 25, 2013 by Koasterking48

[Raven Maven]

I'm editing this post because the comment I was responding to wasn't right above it once posted, as it was when I started writing it.

 

Yes, it was a lengthy post. One word.

 

So shoot me.

 

(Where's the delete button. That's what I really wanted ...)

Edited June 24, 2013 by Raven Maven

[Woodie Warrior]

Sorry, I was thinking of when I visited at the end of July last year. We got pretty much everything done in the dry park, but only got on Mammoth, Wildebeest, Bakuli, and Watubee in the water park. We still had fun anyways though.

[Raven Maven]

Hello, I am new here. I am planning a Holiday World trip soon. Any suggestions?

 

Maybe it would help us to know how many people (and age groups) will be visiting with you ... and what sort of rides you like. Shows? Shopping?

 

I think we can still manage to scrape together two days of fun for you.

 

(WORK with me here, TPR!)

 

Thanks, Paula

[Wes]

It never ceases to amaze me how the same ride can create such passionate reactions - both pro and con.

 

And I'm not just talking about our roller coasters.

 

Even when I post a photo of Frightful Falls, our log flume, I see it. After a string of "that's my favorite ride" posts, someone will come on and condemn it as a total waste of space. They get too wet, they don't get wet enough. It's too high; it's not high enough.

 

To save my sanity (what's left of it, anyway), I stopped trying to understand this phenomenon years ago.

 

It still puzzles me, though ...

 

I think you just described the entirety of the internet!

[adamico2]

Hello, I am new here. I am planning a Holiday World trip soon. Any suggestions?

 

Maybe it would help us to know how many people (and age groups) will be visiting with you ... and what sort of rides you like. Shows? Shopping?

 

I think we can still manage to scrape together two days of fun for you.

 

(WORK with me here, TPR!)

 

Thanks, Paula

 

While the park certainly can be conquered in a day, spending two days would not be a bad thing. You would certainly not be bored. Holiwood Nights is a day and a half with essentially no lines, so two days with some waits would be easy to fill. You can save money by camping and apply some of your savings to a second day at the park.

 

How's that for some PR

[jray21]

any food suggestions at Holiday World also?

 

Plymouth Rock Cafe is my favorite.

 

http://www.holidayworld.com/visit/food-restaurants

 

I agree. Also, the BBQ place was good, and the fried Oreo's are always great. As for 2 days, that can be tough since they only have Pepsi to drink!

[HWFan]

With KK back in business, does anyone think that Holiday World will have significant drops in attendance rates? I know that Dan stressed in an interview that there was something BIG planned for 2014. Depending on what it is, or if it's still even planned, it could really help in the loss of attendance. I know that Dollywood had a huge increase in attendance after opening Wild Eagle according to Screamscape.

[10ryansmith]

^No. Holiday World has a HUGE following. I'm up here in central indiana and I have family and friends who go to Holdiay World regularly. They never went to KK when it was open and didnt know it was closed till last year... I would also think that if this "really big" thing coming next year is really coming, attendance should go up (even with a slight decline from KK opening). Tis all just my uneducated opinion though.

[ajfelice]

Holiday World has made its name well known to a larger audience at an increasing rate ever since The Voyage and probably before that. Seeing their class act first hand was phenomenal. Putting it simply, Holiday World is the best value park I have ever experienced by leaps and bounds. Granted HW is not that far from Louisville by any means, getting people to choose Kentucky Kingdom over HW is not an easy task by any means. Of course having two parks in the same general market will keep HW on their toes, but I think it's absurd to suggest their attendance will drastically decline. I expect their numbers to continue to positively improve as more and more families discover the value they offer.

[bottom_feeder_13]

This sort of competition might even increase HW attendance in the long run as it would drive them to install rides at a higher rate to be competitive.

[goatdan]

Holiday World has made its name well known to a larger audience at an increasing rate ever since The Voyage and probably before that.

 

I have no knowledge of attendance history, but I would imagine that the year they got the Legend was really when they started picking things up. Before that point, although the Raven was already well known, it was hard to justify a trip there for essentially one good ride (okay, mind-blowingly-awesome ride, but it's hard to believe it is that good from just hearing about it) for one coaster. When Legend was being built, there was talk of this amazing ride that was already there and another they were making.

 

I went for the first time that year, and I knew a bunch of friends who did too - because they had heard the Raven was awesome, and because the Legend would be even better.

[ZeroGravity55]

With KK back in business, does anyone think that Holiday World will have significant drops in attendance rates? I know that Dan stressed in an interview that there was something BIG planned for 2014. Depending on what it is, or if it's still even planned, it could really help in the loss of attendance. I know that Dollywood had a huge increase in attendance after opening Wild Eagle according to Screamscape.

 

Holiday World will probably have much better roller coasters and definitely a much better water park. So I really don't see attendance dropping at Holiday World. In my opinion, as long as they keep expanding, it's only going to continue to grow.

Edited June 29, 2013 by ZeroGravity55

[Jew]

Ed Hart hasn't operated Magic Springs since 2008.

[ZeroGravity55]

^Well I stand Corrected! I guess the Kentucky Kingdom website put me under the impression that he was still running Magic Springs.

[Raven Maven]

Actually, the start of Splashin' Safari turned the tide (pun intended) for us. With its growth we became a two-day park for many. Each added coaster (wooden and water) gave us a bump in attendance.

 

Despite some comments to the contrary that have been carried in the media, the closing of KK did not make a big difference in our attendance. Many Louisvillians had already found us.

 

We'll just keep being "us" and will keep adding to both parks.

 

Thanks for all the nice comments! Paula

[Koasterking48]

^ Plus, I never really recalled you guys being extremely competitive with KK when Six Flags had it. I could be wrong, but from my personal knowledge, almost everyone I know from around southern Indiana visited HW over KK (me included ). Also, I recall you hitting the million mark for attendance a few years ago, correct?

[Raven Maven]

^ Since 2006, yes.

[Kafka]

I know this has probably been asked quite a few times before, but has anyone ridden Voyage this year. I remember reading that they were doing more track work on the return trip. Im curious if this has made the ride any smoother. Last time I rode it, the ride was great up to the turn right before the camera. This part was extremely rough. Im curious if anyone else had this experience and if it has improved because im considering returning to the park this year.

[Condor]

^ Voyage was running well enough when I rode in June. The "out" section and turnaround were acceptably smooth, the "back" stretch got a bit rougher as it went on, and only the final dive underground and turnaround into the brakes stuck out as being overly rough. I felt at least the first 75% of the ride ran great and then things started falling apart a bit at the end. Basically how you described it.

[Rollercoaster Rider]

Since you guys are having troubles getting Voyage to work with the Timberliners (No offense), Do you plan to put them on Raven or Legend? I saw a video where a 4 car Timberliner went through Raven wonderfully.

[HWFan]

Since you guys are having troubles getting Voyage to work with the Timberliners (No offense), Do you plan to put them on Raven or Legend? I saw a video where a 4 car Timberliner went through Raven wonderfully.

 

I remember them saying that they wanted to get them on the Voyage first. After that, they would evaluate if they would be a good match for the other coasters. That was a while back, so I'm not sure if that's changed. Personally, I'd like to see them on all of the coasters.

 

Also, am I the only one that remembers reading that the Timberliners were designed to be able to have an onboard audio system as well as the ability to be launched magnetically? If so, I think it would be cool if Holiday World would build a launched, looping wooden coaster with a great soundtrack for their next coaster. They could put it in Fourth of July by moving some of the park's facilities out by Thanksgiving or across the highway where the future employee lot is supposedly going to be located.

If you could have the ride launch under the highway through a tunnel themed to a canon during the Revolutionary War or something. The ride could take place in the extremely hilly land across from the park next to the parking lot.