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Holiday World (HW) Discussion Thread


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When we visit HW, we usually stay at the Hampton Inn in Jasper. It's right next to Schnitzelbank, which is supposedly one of the better German restaurants in the states. They have authentic German food and beer, as you mentioned you liked. It's about 25-30 minutes from the park, but it's clean. Just beware of the time change between Jasper and HW.

Jasper is where A League of Their Own was filmed... if you care... and why would you?

We stay at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Louisville. Although, last time we went, the city was dead. It got hit hard by COVID and peaceful protests. 

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I would get up early, drive to KK and have a great day.  Then, decide if you need more time there.  If so, you can split between the parks since you gain the hour you spend driving between them.  Then, decide again if you need another day at HW before driving back home.

 

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Oh boy everyone has different opinions here. I think your plan for the day is at HW is sound (as far as stash stuff at wp lockers, do TB and Voyage then wp then back over to dry park, etc) Personally I would not stay anywhere near HW. The hotel across the street is not great and anything in Jasper or Ferdinand you will just be wasting time. I would get up early and just drive right to HW for rope drop and then drive on in to Louisville that night. It's only 45-60 min and even with the time change you will be there by 10, without having to get up super early the next morning. There are a ton of hotels around KK since it is on the grounds of the convention center and just a mile or two from the airport. 

The wp at KK is usually busier than the dry park,  but mostly because locals use it heavily not because it's better, you won't have any trouble getting on stuff. Then by all means if you want to spend a couple days in Louisville do so and/or follow the bourbon trail into Frankfort or Lexington. The Woodford Reserve distillery in Lex is beautiful and they give you bourbon balls as well as two tastings at the end of the tour.

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@teacherkim OooOoOOoooOOooohhhhh....I may dance with that plan.  I like the sound of that....A....LOT.  I have been looking at AirBNB's around both areas....and there is a surprising amount to choose from.  Even some within a half hour of HW.  My wife may balk at the heavy driving (go go go) plan....BUT....I think I can modify and make that work.  Sounds like rope drop to close at HW is more than enough...especially if it is clear sailing weather wise on Thursday.  Then, I have been researching breweries in Louisville, and there are multiple that I would love bouncing between....not to even mention that this could get me a day to do some bourbon-trailing (how has that not been worked into a coaster name yet).

GOOD STUFF!

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On 5/23/2022 at 6:51 PM, MrFurious said:

My original thinking is to leave the STL on wednesday (7/20), and head straight for HW.  Of course, lodging seems....interesting.  I first looked at ticket packages, but some of the drives from their "preferred hotels" can be as high as one hour away!  I also noted that the "packages" don't really offer any serious savings, if at all, over standard pricing (hotel and tickets).  Basically, the Comfort Inn in Ferdinand seems to fit the bill.  Thought was to stay there wed night, and then hit HW hard core all day thursday.  I have seen some good plans here for attacking the day (lockers right away near splashing safari, then Voyage and Thunderbird in morning, SS during the day, but pulling the rip cord early and then hitting remaining coasters and flats late afternoon).  The park closes at 8pm.  Here is where my brain breaks: Should I get a two day ticket, and then hit stuff up for half of the day friday and THEN head to KK in Louisville....OR....just get the one day, and then get up and get to KK on Friday morning (we LOVE craft breweries, and Louisville seems to have a good selection!).  Regarding KK, no idea where to stay yet (getting research started ASAP), or whether to get a one day or a two day ticket.  Two day tickets only cost five additional bucks, so getting in Friday night, then FULL day saturday sounds pretty good.  

SO...opinions: 

1) Is Hurricane Harbor in KK worth spending some time in, especially after SS at Holiday World?

2) Am I doing this trip in the correct order?  Part of me thinks we should head directly to KK from STL, then work our way back.  My fear with this is HW crowds.  I am thinking that they may be more difficult on the weekend compared to KK, hence getting to HW on a thursday.

We did a similar trip a few years back. (Pre-Covid) Our hotel for HW was about 45 min away from the park. (Seemed the only decent place at the time of booking) We did HW hit up dry side first thing then headed over to the waterpark. And it seems that everyone else had the same plan. So we were stuck with long lines for the coasters in the morning, then long lines for the slides in the afternoon, then again long lines for the coasters in the evening. We left the park and drove to our hotel right beside KK. 

The Crown Plaza next to Kentucky Kingdom offers an awesome 2 bedroom suite that is great for families that are traveling together. Has a living room in between both of the rooms. Highly recommend (We traveled with another family as well, and it was awesome) The waterpark at KK is definitely worth the visit. (If you can drag yourself away from Lighting Run) If you have two families going I'd highly suggest a cabana. It was great for our visit, and when you split the cost between two families it's not bad at all, and makes for a great "landing space" for everyone. 

I hope you have an awesome trip, and enjoy those water coasters at HW, they are amazing! 

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With my flight delayed at the airport, I just wanted to pop in and write up a mini-report about how much I LOVED my first ever visit to this park yesterday. Those of you may have seen my posts in the Kentucky Kingdom thread trying to decide how to do HW and KK in the same day. I ended up dropping KK entirely for another visit and dedicating my day to Holiday World and I am very happy I did! Kentucky Kingdom is just another reason to come back to the area in the future.

I thought all three woodies were wonderful. I don't know how rough or smooth they usually run, but I didn't think any of them were overly brutal. Just a usual intense woodie experience. I also wasn't expecting how different the 3 were. Raven in the back car surprised me a LOT (that drop mid-ride and the whole ending is insane) and is probably my second favorite ride in the park. Legend is very good but almost has too many laterals for my taste, I think the GCI trains would be more comfortable with all those laterals. And of course, Voyage was... Voyage. Absolutely relentless and insane from start to finish. This has been a big bucket list coaster for me for a long time and I'm so happy I got several rides on it, and it didn't disappoint. I don't think anything can dethrone El Toro as my favorite wooden coaster but Voyage is a very solid #2.

Oh, and Thunderbird was great too. Perhaps a tad underwhelming with the layout, but the launch had more kick than I anticipated and the setting is wonderful. Good operations too.

As for the park itself, this is where I was most surprised. First off, my favorite thing about this park is the free drinks. What an absolutely brilliant idea. There are so many locations to conveniently grab a drink and that is the BEST idea ever. I don't know how they offset that cost or sneak it in elsewhere but I wish more parks did it. So many parks make you jump through hoops just for a water cup or simple refill - long lines, bad service, few locations, lug around a souvenir bottle, etc. Holiday World does it RIGHT. I don't think I have ever been more hydrated at a theme park! And they also had water, lemonade, and vitamin water options, which as a pretty infrequent soda drinker (especially at parks) was nice to have. The park also looked very well-kept, clean, and very friendly employees. And I know many people way be annoyed with the lack of a line-skip service here, but I will say it did make the regular lines move quite well, and their operations as a whole were pretty decent with two trains on all coasters (although they did removed a train on Raven mid-day, but it was a walk-on anyway).

Those of you that said the lines die down in the afternoon when everyone is at the waterpark are absolutely right. There was a morning rush on everything but by lunchtime the dry coasters were all walk-ons. I got multiple rides on all coasters and I was not expecting that on Memorial Day weekend. Overall I absolutely love this park and can't wait to visit again. Another major steel coaster would do them wonders - perhaps where Giraffica used to be. That area is, admittedly, an eyesore.

 

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Glad you had such a great trip! It really is a great park and like you said they just seem to do things "right".

Judging by the lack of mention of the water coasters, the next time you go back, do them! Even if you HATE waterparks... they are like the "Raven", "Thunderbird" and "Voyage" of the water park! All three are completely unique, just like the actual dry coasters. They are insane. Oh and they have free sunscreen to match the free soft drinks... just don't drink it ;)

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24 minutes ago, anonymouscactus said:

Glad you had such a great trip! It really is a great park and like you said they just seem to do things "right".

Judging by the lack of mention of the water coasters, the next time you go back, do them! Even if you HATE waterparks... they are like the "Raven", "Thunderbird" and "Voyage" of the water park! All three are completely unique, just like the actual dry coasters. They are insane. Oh and they have free sunscreen to match the free soft drinks... just don't drink it ;)

I definitely plan on going back again soon and doing the water park too! I am not a water park person but I know Splashing' Safari is different so I will plan on it! My biggest gripe with water parks is body slides (I just don't like body slides at all) and I know SS doesn't have any and they're all rafts so that really puts it more up my alley. For sure next time when I have a bit more time, a closer hotel, and less driving before and after my visit!

I will add that during my several rides on the Voyage, I looked over and did not see Cheetah Chase operating at all so that was part of the reason I decided to just stick to the dry park. But I've heard great things about the other two so yes, that is on the list for next time!

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you REALLY missed out on the Nursery Rhyme train. . . I was hysterically laughing during it. . the dead delivery. . . in monotone.

when I get my trip report going (hopefully soon), the 1st stop was the rained out day at Holiday World.


the park was WAY nicer than I expected it to be, and do actually hope to go back one day to ride things that we missed due to rainout.

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^^Great review, you remind me of some things that make Holiday World one of my favorites (but Legend is my supersweet spot, personally!)  Hope you can go back for the waterpark; no joke those watercoasters are more fun and exciting than some of my favorite roller coasters.  Plus, the operations cannot be beat.

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^ Couldn't miss that thread title, as much as I'd tried to, LOL!

Longest ~ Thread Title ~ Ever!

 

(Or is there an earlier, much ~ longer ~ title  I've missed?)

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Holiwood Nights is back. Lines today were short all day. ERT was a 2 or 3 train wait on Voyage, and walk on for the others. 

Day 1 I got 5 or 6 on Raven and Legend. Roughly 20 laps on the Voyage with over half at night in the dark trimless.  Such a good time today.

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I had to cut out day-two of the event due to waking up with a headache. Guess I wasn't ready for all those laps I got the previous night, lol.

5 on Raven, 5 on Legend, 1 on Voyage (unfortunate, but okay with me), and... wait for it... 10 on Thunderbird! Why? Because I love that coaster to the moon and back, and missed out on riding it at all last year (it was down during HWN '21). Plus, ridiculously easy re-rides! Got multiple rows of re-rides without needing to get out of my seat, including closing out my last 4 laps going front-row right side without getting off! Such a fun glossy smooth coaster with a good kick on that launch!

I think Legend is running at its best! Relatively smooth in comparison to the other two coasters, which surprised me! Though I only got 1 trimless ride on Voyage, it still did not disappoint! Such a relentless roller coaster day or night! Raven was fun too, but I feel like it's beginning to get some jackhammering on the bottom of one of the last turnarounds.

The park choosing to limit attendance felt so much like the event did in some of the earlier years I've attended the event. Getting walk-on or in-station waits for most of the event up until everyone packs the queue for Voyage near the end of ERT! In comparison to the previous couple of years where attendance jumped, and the basement queue had to be used for Voyage. I'm sure this year was certainly a breath of fresh air for management and selected attendees. I guess we'll see how next year is handles, but I do hope more folks who couldn't go this year get the opportunity to next time!

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Visiting this park for the first time on a Sunday after starting the morning out at KK.  How is this park on Sundays lines and crowds wise?  I would like to get in the water park for the 2 older water coasters single rider lines. at some point during the day, my main focus will certainly be the 4 coasters.  Thanks for any tips!

All the weekdays of my trip are at CP and KI so I will be more leisurely at those.  

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2 hours ago, CoasterAuditor said:

How is this park on Sundays....  

Painful. Like every day.

 

  

2 hours ago, CoasterAuditor said:

lines and crowds wise?

Oh. I thought we were talking about the roller coasters.

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10 hours ago, CoasterAuditor said:

Visiting this park for the first time on a Sunday after starting the morning out at KK.  How is this park on Sundays lines and crowds wise?  I would like to get in the water park for the 2 older water coasters single rider lines. at some point during the day, my main focus will certainly be the 4 coasters.  Thanks for any tips!

All the weekdays of my trip are at CP and KI so I will be more leisurely at those.  

It will be busy but your best bet is to get there early and beat the church people. Good news like I said in the KK thread you will gain an  hour and nullify the travel time so easy to get there early and rope drop. They will let you in to the locker area by the water park a little early so you can stash your water park stuff and go get some a couple coasters in but I would get back over and change and be ready to do water park right when it opens. Do Cheetah Chase first and then yes definitely do single rider on the other two. Then as the water park crowd builds go back over to the dry park and finish/repeat what you need to 

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I know there has been a lot of jabber on here about going to HW for the first time...but I thought I'd ask for some help anyways!

I have a couple questions:

How should I hit this park? Go the back first and do T-bird and Voyage, and then come back to the front for Raven and Legend, or do something else?

I'm on the fence with the water park, on the one hand the three water coasters look great and it does look like a solid water park. On the other hand I know we are going to have to leave early around 5 or so, in order to drive to KI for are next stop (Sorry KK, next time...) and I'd really like to prioritize the dry park. Any ideas?

 

Any other advice would be really appreciated! Thanks in advance everyone!

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