Holiday World (HW) Discussion Thread

[Midgetman82]

I enjoy corn mazes but they are way better when there is an awesome roller coaster waiting for you at the exit

Looking forward to being back out at the park one of these weekends. Holiday World during the Fall is a must every year! Nice shot!

[tykunkel1031]

^^ What he said. Holiday World is Central Time Zone. Your best bet is to go as close as you can to the end of the season, that way it gets darker earlier. You might end up with more dusk rides than night rides if you go earlier in the season. Just make sure that it's the dead last thing that you do, and you should be fine to get a (very close to) dark ride. Have fun! It's a blast at night, especially if you get lucky and the tunnel lights aren't on.

[octoroach]

Thanks for the feedback guys, gonna make it out there the 15th and hope it's pretty dark, either way it will be fun!

[ratdogg68]

I was just there this past Saturday. The last hour we was there is was dark and dead. We rode Thunderbird, 4x in a row without getting off and the Voyage as we walked out. The last 2 hours the park was open was dead, you can get plenty of night rides. We ended the night with a ride on the " Scarousel ", in the dark. I asked the operator to turn the light's off for us and she did.

[Midgetman82]

I accidentally hit the park late last Sunday, so only got 3.5 hours in. Even with the shorter than expected time, I still got an enjoyable trip out of it with hitting all of the essentials. I'm still kind of a whimp when it comes to haunted walkthroughs, yet I still get a kick out of doing the Carnival Chaos walkthrough. While more or less family-friendly and not filled with jumpscares and live actors like an average haunt, the creepiness factor in it is still up there!

Apart from that, I had worked my way from the front of the park to the very back. Raven ran wonderfully like I had always remembered it to. Legend felt EXCELLENT. No uncomfortable jarring anywhere during the ride. Voyage still delivered the wildest and most adventurous ride out of them all, though! It unfortunately was just a tad jarring and required some back-adjusting yoga poses afterwards, though I blame the fact that I sat on a wheel seat. Regardless of that, I still consider it my favorite wooden roller coaster! Hard for me not to throw my hands up for the entire ride! I got one ride in on each woodie with Legend and Raven being a walk-on and Voyage being a two train wait for second row.

 

For the last hour and a half left in the park, I found myself sticking in the Thunderbird area (I am a huge sucker for this roller coaster, I will admit ). The first ride had a 20 minute wait total, which included the extra wait for front row. Disembarking after and returning to the line for a second go, the line had cut in half, and proceeded to do so for each lap until the 5th when it was practically a walk-on (except for front row). I took some breaks in between, but the plaza had cleared of most people towards the last 30 minutes of park being open leaving no waits and plenty re-rides without exiting the station. I had brought my ride count to 11 for the day, with being on the last train of the day!

[rwilliam62521]

Hey Paula. Thunderbird Cam needs a cleaning. Bird/insect doodoo

[prozach626]

Hah. Nice. Those cameras have to be hard to keep clean in the fall. I've given up on keeping my car clean...

 

(except I gave up in July)

[mikeykaise]

I may have missed it but has the Park announced anything in the way of 2017?

[ratdogg68]

^ Not yet

[Greatescapelover]

Here's a Great Escape Fright Fest ode to former Great Escape Operations Manager and current Holiday World Director of Attractions Eric Rentz

 

[middle_keeny]

Howdy yall.

 

Last weekend I made my first trip to Holiday World. For all of you who call this place your home park, you have a great gem on your hands. I am not going to do a full trip report but I enjoyed it and will have to come back in the summer when the water park is open.

 

PROS: Free drinks- this is a real money saver and time saver that the stations are self serve.

For only having 4 major coasters, all were fun.

staff was friendly

 

CONS: After my day there, I have come to the conclusion that PTC trains are of the devil. I have larger legs and have to squeeze into the seat. My first ride on Voyage left a bruise on my right thigh from the lap bar. My next ride was Legend and I sat in the right side of the train. It was a good ride until the helix, bruised my ribs and ripped my shorts. Raven gave me a good chiropractic adjustment.

 

I did manage to get two night rides in on Voyage in the front and it redeemed itself for my bruised thigh. the night ride definitely put it in my top 5.

 

Overall, I will be back next summer.

[JT325]

I *love* PTC trains. They still feel like a roller coaster (in contrast to say, RMC trains; although great rides, those leg/lower body shackle cars stink). I like the way a PTC lets you feel the coaster. Sure, they are very old and basic design.

 

It would suck if everything was perfectly heartlined and held you tight in the seat; that's a whole different experience. We have plenty of B&Ms, GCIs and the like.

 

It used to be that bruises meant you had a good coaster ride. So many folks have been raised with the perfectly, over-engineered gentleness of B&M. The only thing I don't like about PTCs are those ratchet bars, but they are still light years better than the auto-stapling in a GCI or (manual stapling) RMC. Just my opinion though, it's good we all have different likes.

[ajfelice]

I have a growing disdain for PTC trains, but for me it's mechanical reasons. My short self does fairly well adapting to the ugly, tight soapboxes on wheels with awkward lap bars.

 

Going into my recent visit a couple weeks ago, I was very nervous about The Voyage continuing to be my favorite coaster. Unfortunately the relentless criticism of the touchy MCBR, and cries of nearly non-rerideable roughness had me skeptical. Early rides were just as I remembered with a noticeable need for the trains to get warmed up, but still a very intense ride. The Voyage does get my vote as the best recovery from a recently stronger MCBR, so that was also a feeling of relief. The roughness; well yes The Voyage is not a butter smooth ride, but any pain someone may claim feels is more likely due to the insane transitions or just the length of such an intense ride. As for the night rides, I was blown away. The Voyage is everything The Beast is supposed to be and then some. In our group of three, I got the chance to ride solo. Without having to consider the space of the person next to me, I found myself being thrown everywhere in pitch black darkness. At one point I may have been stretched across the empty seat as a transition hit that I wasn't ready for. To me, those frequent holy-$h*T moments combined with relentless speed is what makes The Voyage my favorite ride. The slightly rough undertone only increases the intense, grueling ride experience The Voyage is all about. It might not be for everyone, but The Voyage is one of a kind.

[middle_keeny]

My biggest issue has to do with the fact that I have a large frame and have large legs from cycling. It's not just the Voyage, every PTC train beats me up. Last weekend, I rode 6 woodies with PTC's and all beat me up. I never had that problem when I was younger and smaller.

 

I do agree, some coaster are better because of the roughness. I remember riding Steel Phantom (with loops) and having to hold the handrail just to walk off the station cause your bell would be rung and thinking, "H-ll YEAH! that was an awesome coaster!!"

 

Don't get me wrong, I was able to do 2 night rides on Voyage in the front and was an incredible experience. Its a solid choice as my number two coaster. I would have loved to ride it with Timberliners.

[Password121]

Visited the park yesterday for my first visit and I was really impressed overall! Holiday World is a fantastic park and I imagine it's only better with Splashin' Safari open. Huge shout-out to TPED at Purdue for organizing these trips and being way too much fun. Can't wait to be back sometime!

 

Brief thoughts on the coasters...

 

Thunderbird (2x): I really enjoy GateKeeper (not like it's a top ten ride or anything but more than it seems like most people do on here) and Thunderbird is definitely a notch above. The launch is a nice element to start out with (not crazy forceful but pretty solid), the inversions are really fun, and the pacing overall seems much quicker than GateKeeper. The flyovers through the trees, zero-g roll, helix and inline rolll are a fantastic combo and I wish I had ridden this more.

 

The Voyage (2x): My favorite coaster for a while now has been El Toro and I've been waiting between this or Great America's Goliath last week to take that spot... but El Toro is just too ridiculous. I don't have any problems with aggressive rides or wood coasters in general, so I really appreciated the spaghetti bowl to finish as well as the massive length of The Voyage. From what I was told the ride was running a bit slow in the cool fall weather (topped out around 60), but even as is this is a really special ride that I'd love to ride in the summer and without the trims. I don't really understand how this beat El Toro for best new ride back in the day, but it might be the best "traditional" wood coaster I've ridden.

 

The Raven (3x): Although I didn't get a night ride, I did get a very much "non-stapled" ride to end the visit, and I was not let down at all. If this ride is that much better at night I'd be amazed because I thought it was just below that upper tier of world class wood coasters. Not as extreme as Voyage or Legend, but two or three crazy moments and solid laterals.

 

The Legend (2x): This was a massive surprise and I liked this almost as much as Voyage. The helix was laughable and I loved every moment of it, the underbanked turns were really fun, and the airtime was surprising, quick, and forceful. Definitely didn't expect this to be so awesome--almost topped Voyage for me, and I know that's an uncommon opinion.

[KristenLeigh]

Meanwhile, back on Planet Normal ... we had an absolute blast this week with WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley on our podcast: http://traffic.libsyn.com/holidayworld/The_One_with_Mankind.mp3

 

Awww I love Mick Foley and it's even cooler that he visits Holiday World. What's even crazier is that I grew up 45 minutes from him. Even crazier...I just saw his daughter Noelle Friday evening. Anyway, can't wait to bring my friends to this theme park so they can experience how awesome the place is!

[ytterbiumanalyst]

Meanwhile, back on Planet Normal ... we had an absolute blast this week with WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley on our podcast: http://traffic.libsyn.com/holidayworld/The_One_with_Mankind.mp3

 

Awww I love Mick Foley and it's even cooler that he visits Holiday World. What's even crazier is that I grew up 45 minutes from him. Even crazier...I just saw his daughter Noelle Friday evening. Anyway, can't wait to bring my friends to this theme park so they can experience how awesome the place is!

Everyone needs to experience this theme park. It's such an amazing place.

[jonskinny12]

The Raven (3x): Although I didn't get a night ride, I did get a very much "non-stapled" ride to end the visit, and I was not let down at all. If this ride is that much better at night I'd be amazed because I thought it was just below that upper tier of world class wood coasters. Not as extreme as Voyage or Legend, but two or three crazy moments and solid laterals.

 

The Raven is fun any time of day, but it really comes alive at night going through the trees and the sweeping turn along the lake. It's up there with some of the best coaster experiences I've had. Same with The Voyage at night. My only complaint about Raven is that it ends just a little bit too early.

 

This really is a special park and I can't wait to get back. Hopefully next year for HWN.

[coastermaniac]

This was our first time at Holiday World. It's an excellent park with some great rides! Check out my video blog and let me know what you think.

 

[Vonni]

^ Love that B&M roar!

[middle_keeny]

I know its a random question: but when we went, I noticed Pilgrims Plunge was taken down. Is this just for seasonal maintenance?

[ejot]

No, Giraffica (Pilgrim's Plunge) was permanently removed before the 2014 season.

[ytterbiumanalyst]

I know its a random question: but when we went, I noticed Pilgrims Plunge was taken down. Is this just for seasonal maintenance?

You are correct. They completely dismantle the ride and remove it from their property entirely each season for maintenance.

[Midwesterner]

I know its a random question: but when we went, I noticed Pilgrims Plunge was taken down. Is this just for seasonal maintenance?

Pilgrims Plunge (or later Giraffica) hasn't been at the park since the 2013 season after it was permanently removed due to maintenance and technical problems.

[Rollercoaster Rider]

Would not shock me if they add a Splash Battle in that area.

 

I still want a Thanksgiving ride called "Gravy Train"