Holiday World (HW) Discussion Thread

[Hoosier Dude]

So this is a new guy thing? Ok.

Reality is I love the place too much and have too many good memories to see it in this state. And I don't want others to experience it like this, or to know exactly what they are getting into if they do choose to go. As I said, if you go for the first time this summer, you will love it. That is a promotion for a first timer. But if you go every year like we do, you probably won't. 

[teacherkim]

1 hour ago, LegendFledgling said:

Just to clear things up, we offer three 4-hour tours per day with a maximum of eight Guests per tour, and Guests may not ride the same ride back-to-back without waiting at least 15 minutes. We also offer one EarlyBird Tour per day. We don't believe premium or skip-the-line products should interfere with everyone else's experience.  

Thank you for the clarification! 

[KBrylczyk]

20 hours ago, Hoosier Dude said:

So this is a new guy thing? Ok.

No, you're just being kind of a prick about minor yet expected issues. I'd get treated the same way if I made a post like that and I've been with TPR almost since it's inception.

[anonymouscactus]

I'm 100% sure management was not like "hmmm...let's not open Legend today. Or the next day." There is no way it was due to staffing, they would have taken the people from the ice cream stand at that point and train them.

Rides need maintenance. Earlier this year Thunderbird was down for a few weeks, but you know what? At midnight and into the early mornings they were tirelessly getting it back open as soon as humanly possible. They were doing MAJOR structural work and digging up all around the ride.

I don't know what the issue with Legend is, but I can assure you it's not like they want the ride to be closed. Things happen, unfortunately it just happened while you were there.

It may be going downhill over the years in your eyes, but major rides being down on purpose is not something Holiday World would allow to happen. I can see them maybe staggering rides if there was a staffing issue, or closing some smaller attractions or ones that require a LOT of staff to run, but cheetah chase is a brand new ride and there's no way they wouldn't just not open it due to staffing. (Unless you're Darien Lake).

Sorry you had an unfortunate visit.

[DILinator]

I'm going with my kids this Saturday, the second time for most of us (after HWN), and I can't wait to experience it with my youngest for his first time ever! Whatever's open, will be open, and I'm sure it'll be a great time there for the whole family regardless!

[KristenLeigh]

On 7/24/2021 at 4:29 PM, LegendFledgling said:

I just want to express that our team puts our hearts and souls into what we do. When a ride goes down, we will spend what it takes to get it back up and operating safely as quickly as possible. Right now, we're at the mercy of a mess of a global supply chain--both with food and ride parts, but our team is going above and beyond in so many invisible ways to get rides back and food in restaurants this year. I'm proud to be a part of that team. 
That said, the days of your visit were particularly unlucky days for our maintenance team. 
 

We've made so many trips to Holiday World since I was 3 years old and have enjoyed ourselves. We was there last Thursday and it was hot, humid and busy but we expected longer waits than normal. Yes, Legend, Cheetah Chase and the original wave pool was closed that but it was ok. I'd rather you close the ride and make it safe. It just means next summer we'll finally get to ride Cheetah Chase (the other 2 water coasters are insane). We did get to experience Wildebeest (my favorite ride in the whole park) as it was around the 1 million mark so that was extremely cool. 

The food was sooo good and tasty. Best onion rings we have ever had (and they were thick breaded and huge). My hubby even said the Asian food at Santa's Merry Marketplace was better than Panda Express. The ice cream you sell at Sugarplum Scoope is tasty. The only regret was that we forgot to buy peanut butter fudge.

Everything we rode was truly enjoyable when we were there. I couldn't ride Voyage only because I was afraid it would make my right shoulder sore (my orthopedic told me no more rides on Beast at KI or anything similar). Raven was my 1st coaster back in the day and I believe it felt smoother than ever before. 

The only problematic thing was we left early due to the humidity. It really drained us after being out in it for 8 hours and I drank water and Gatorade to stay hydrated. 

Either way, Holiday World has been a consistent #1 park for us. We live in Ohio and I've told many friends and family here about the park so hopefully they get to enjoy it as well. Thanks for all you do!

 

[jarmor]

If I may chime in for a sec. . .

I made my first trip to the park last month.  I was pretty impress.  Now, the food sucked but the atmosphere, the ride selection and the overall feel of the park was very welcoming to me.  I consider myself a person that gets to a lot of parks and have been doing so for some time.  I can see how someone who has been going to the park for 10 years could say the park has changed but honestly, what hasn't changed in 10 years?  My philosophy is if the good outweighs the bad then i'm good!  With growth comes growing pains and I hate to be that person but things could have gotten a lot worst in the last 10 years especially for a family owned park. . .

[Jaykethekid]

I last visited in 2017, and I remember the park closing ride queues a good bit of time before the park actually closes. I will be visiting this coming weekend and was curious if they still did that. I can't really remember what time they would close the queues either... Is there a general rule of thumb to go by to help make sure I make it into the queue before it closes?

[prozach626]

On 7/27/2021 at 7:41 AM, jarmor said:

what hasn't changed in 10 years?

Worlds of Fun.

[DoinItForTheFame]

Thinking of heading to the park this coming Saturday!! What type of crowds should I expect?? 

[mikeykaise]

10 hours ago, DoinItForTheFame said:

Thinking of heading to the park this coming Saturday!! What type of crowds should I expect?? 

Usually the dry side is busy for the first hour until the waterpark opens and then the crowd moves into the waterpark. the dry side then almost empties out and doesn't get busy until the waterpark closes.

[teacherkim]

We were at the park yesterday. We had actually never been there when the water park wasn't open and we had a fun day but for me personally I'm not sure if the 6 hour round trip was worth it without the water park rides. There was a point for a couple hours in the late afternoon when we were just kind of killing time waiting for dark; BUT if you have younger kids then it would be totally worth it to go. Lots of kids in their costumes which was very cute, trick or treating for them in the water park entrance plaza, corn maze/hay ride, a couple cute shows that kids could enjoy and 3 very family friendly haunted houses. 

The decorations/landscaping was all seasonal and made the park look extra nice and there were some extra eating choices with the seasonal food offerings. It was a beautiful day to hang out at a park. and as usual the park looked great. It was very crowded and Legend was down. I know it was reported down over the summer but I'm not sure if it has been closed all the time or if this was a more recent closure, but I can tell you that there were no trains in the maintenance shed or the station and it was dead there. In fact squirrels were playing on the lift hill, so I guess it's been quiet for a while. Unfortunately, that was one less major ride to disperse the large crowd. 

Voyage gave us the smoothest ride we've ever had on it, I'm guessing the cooler temps slowed it just enough to smooth it out but not so much that it wasn't still hauling ass. We got a very epic night ride on Voyage that legit gives the Beast some serious competition for best night ride. Also got a night ride on TB which was great too.

They did close many of the lines 15-30 min before close, which is normal for Voyage. No complaints I understand why, just be aware if you go. We tried to get a night ride on Raven on the way out but missed the line closure by probably a few minutes. This applies to some of the flats and kid's rides as well so prepare your young'uns for that if you take them and plan accordingly. 

They were working on the rapids ride and ended up opening it late afternoon, but there was no way I was getting wet when it was around 60 degrees, lol, but I did see some people ride it. 

If any of you have little kids and are wondering how they will react to Halloween stuff, this would be a good intro for them.

Oh and they have, like many other parks, switched over to the seamless walk through at security instead of searching every dang bag and making you take out keys and phones, which makes it all go so much faster. That is one change brought on by the pandemic that I hope will stay.

[teacherkim]

Question for anyone who has gone to the park on one of the "school days" and/or any employees lurking on the board. We are planning on stopping by on Thursday 5/19 which I believe is the first of the school days. We'll be on our way to CoasterStock and want to take THE one and only Bert425 since he's never been to the park. However, I've never been there on a school days day. I suspect that all the kiddoes will be coming in on their big ole busses first thing at opening and as the afternoon drags on it will slowly dissipate. Anyone with experience know if that is true? And/or how swarmed are they likely to be? And/or any other info you can tell us? Our priority will of course be the 4 coasters, maybe the big 3 water park rides, a few flats if they aren't overrun with kids.

[mikeykaise]

Most of the school groups stay more in the dry park from my experiences so the lines usually are filled with school kids during the day.

[KBrylczyk]

On 2/16/2022 at 1:48 PM, teacherkim said:

Question for anyone who has gone to the park on one of the "school days" and/or any employees lurking on the board. We are planning on stopping by on Thursday 5/19 which I believe is the first of the school days. We'll be on our way to CoasterStock and want to take THE one and only Bert425 since he's never been to the park. However, I've never been there on a school days day. I suspect that all the kiddoes will be coming in on their big ole busses first thing at opening and as the afternoon drags on it will slowly dissipate. Anyone with experience know if that is true? And/or how swarmed are they likely to be? And/or any other info you can tell us? Our priority will of course be the 4 coasters, maybe the big 3 water park rides, a few flats if they aren't overrun with kids.

I can't speak for Holiday World but I know the school days at Six Flags are generally one of the absolute worst times to visit.  They're pretty crowded, the kids generally have minimal to no supervision, line jumping is rampant, etc.

[jarmor]

When has there ever been a case where what happens at a six flags park be what to expect at holiday world lol?!?

[KBrylczyk]

^ School trips are school trips.

[teacherkim]

2 hours ago, KBrylczyk said:

I can't speak for Holiday World but I know the school days at Six Flags are generally one of the absolute worst times to visit.  They're pretty crowded, the kids generally have minimal to no supervision, line jumping is rampant, etc.

I get that, remember retired teacher here.......but most Six Flags parks are in major metropolitan areas with thousands of schools within 60 minutes. HW is in the middle of a cornfield and other than Evanstan which is pretty small the closest cities are Evansville and Louisville,  both about an hour (which would be a 2 hr round trip for a school field trip) and several dinky little towns within that hour. Indianapolis and St Louis are too far for a school trip. Maybe Bowling Green but that would be a 3 hour round trip, pushing it. Now I get that it is a smaller park than most SF parks and so proportion of crowd to ride is a major factor here. Anyway that is why I was asking specifically for HW as I am trying to gage how big a crowd this will be and if we will be better toward the end of the day as I suspect.

[mikeykaise]

I know both of my kid's trips to HW were in May... the lines weren't horrible, it just depends on how many schools show up that day.

[bert425]

Does Holiday World & Splashin Safari allow swimming goggles on the Water Coasters?

I wear contacts, and am COMPLETELY blind without them.   

I almost never do waterparks, because the water kicks up and gets in my eyes on slides. . but I've been told the water coasters here are not to be missed.

So my only options are to keep my eyes closed the whole time (what's the point then?) or wear swimming goggles while riding the water coasters.

I know most parks wont allow swim goggles on the slides. . .but Water Coasters aren't really slides.

soo.......   does anyone know?

Thanks!

[tndank]

Yes you can. Looked at some FB posts to confirm. 

[KBrylczyk]

15 hours ago, bert425 said:

but I've been told the water coasters here are not to be missed.

You weren't lied to, that's for sure.  I can't help but laugh the entire time I'm riding them.  Mammoth is especially fun when the forced spinning comes into play about halfway through the course. 

[teacherkim]

17 hours ago, bert425 said:

Does Holiday World & Splashin Safari allow swimming goggles on the Water Coasters?

I wear contacts, and am COMPLETELY blind without them.   

I almost never do waterparks, because the water kicks up and gets in my eyes on slides. . but I've been told the water coasters here are not to be missed.

So my only options are to keep my eyes closed the whole time (what's the point then?) or wear swimming goggles while riding the water coasters.

I know most parks wont allow swim goggles on the slides. . .but Water Coasters aren't really slides.

soo.......   does anyone know?

Thanks!

I'm sure you can Bert. I've worn just a regular pair of sunglasses without a strap of any kind, just to keep the worst of the water out of my eyes, many times and no one has ever said a word to me. You can wear water shoes too. They really are great rides.. .... I'll get the suburban mom pool bag and a couple beach towells ready to go for your trip. 

[grsupercity]

I want to see st patricks day land. A Leprechaun themed coaster would be legit. 

[coasterbill]

As someone of Irish descent, I feel that putting a Saint Patrick's Day land with a leprechaun coaster into a park that doesn't serve beer is highly offensive.