Holiday World (HW) Discussion Thread

[Reon]

Sounds about right to me.

[spaceace12]

From the Facebook page.

 

Timberliners won't be taking riders this week or next (including the holiday weekend). We're working hard to get the testing successfully completed; as I'm sure you realize, a brand new design requires extra time/attention--it would be foolish to rush it. We're so sorry to disappoint--we'll keep you posted as testing p...rogresses. Meanwhile, Voyage is open, just not w/ new trains. Thanks for understanding.

[Skycoastin Steve]

Obviously they're busy corn-proofing the fiber glass on the trains.

[AndCamSS]

I wonder if they will have them running by HWN now. If they wont be on for Memorial Day weekend, that is only days before the event! Lets hope!

[timberskara]

This is not against anyone in this thread, but I just really hope that the enthusiast community can be supportive of the park in this situation. I read a comment or two on their Facebook page that made me cringe, so I apologize about my random venting.

 

We all want the train to be ready for HWN…but I hope everyone realizes that the park does too. Really, at this point, it is out of our control. Of course they are going to do whatever they can to get it ready as soon as possible—but there’s probably a good chance it won’t be, and we’re going to have to accept that.

 

No one likes waiting in longer lines and many of us are coming from all over the country to attend this event. Yes—no lie—it’s a major bummer. But again, it is what it is and I think the way we react will make or break the event. For a place that always goes above and beyond for us coaster dorks, why don’t we surprise them by being polite and understanding about this issue? I'm sure they're already stressing about the present, let's not make them dread HWN.

 

I know Steve and I will be making the trek from FL regardless of the number of trains on Voyage. It’s not just about the coasters-- it’s about the atmosphere, the friends, the food, the bonfires and a fun, out in the middle-of-nowhere family run theme park.

[SharkTums]

^Totally agree.

 

I don't think you'll find anyone on this board 'bitching' or 'yelling' at HW because of this situation. It's new, new stuff takes time. This is why we don't plan trips early in the season!

 

Now we should get back on track on figuring out a way to blame Intamin for this!

[larrygator]

But it wouldn't be a coaster enthusiast gathering without some complaining.

 

Our brethren are a fickle group. But that doesn't give anyone the right to lash out at people who don't control the situation. As Kara said, no one broke the trains purposely to lessen the event.

Edited May 18, 2010 by larrygator

[spaceace12]

This is not against anyone in this thread, but I just really hope that the enthusiast community can be supportive of the park in this situation. I read a comment or two on their Facebook page that made me cringe, so I apologize about my random venting.

 

We all want the train to be ready for HWN…but I hope everyone realizes that the park does too. Really, at this point, it is out of our control. Of course they are going to do whatever they can to get it ready as soon as possible—but there’s probably a good chance it won’t be, and we’re going to have to accept that.

 

No one likes waiting in longer lines and many of us are coming from all over the country to attend this event. Yes—no lie—it’s a major bummer. But again, it is what it is and I think the way we react will make or break the event. For a place that always goes above and beyond for us coaster dorks, why don’t we surprise them by being polite and understanding about this issue? I'm sure they're already stressing about the present, let's not make them dread HWN.

 

I know Steve and I will be making the trek from FL regardless of the number of trains on Voyage. It’s not just about the coasters-- it’s about the atmosphere, the friends, the food, the bonfires and a fun, out in the middle-of-nowhere family run theme park.

 

Knowing HW, if, and I bet they will be ready, the new trains are not ready by HWN. You know Holiday World will make up for it. Due to lack of TL ready for the ACE event, they gave everyon at the event a free ticket.

[cgodsey]

Unfortunately, I can already hear the rabbling from certain participants. I will be on Wildebeest most of the weekend anyways. Caroline is ready to ride some "Water Swides!"

[Raven Maven]

Aw, reading these posts did my heart good. Thanks.

 

Yes, we're sick not to have the Timberliners roaring through the woods with riders by now. The Gravity Group guys are, too.

 

I hesitate to give odds, but yesterday I asked Will what he thought about our chances of having the TLs going for HWN. He thinks there's a 40% chance we *will* have them. I don't tell you this to discourage anyone -- just want to let you know where things stand. We're not giving up!

 

I'll continue to post updates as we get more information.

 

Thanks again, Paula

[ginzo]

I'm delaying my trip to HW this year until the new trains are working. No worries. I'm just intensely curious about how this new rolling stock will perform. Maybe Voyage will climb back into my top 10.

[itsasamccormick]

At least the Voyage is still running....

 

I just don't understand how if the park ordered them last fall how they wouldn't be done by before April which was planned... Anyways, It will be interesting to see how much longer this takes. I support HW 100%!

[Skycoastin Steve]

^Because delays happen, and these are the first ones to ever be tested on a full scale. Maybe they want to make sure everything is 100% good before letting guests sit in them?

[ginzo]

I just don't understand how if the park ordered them last fall how they wouldn't be done by before April which was planned...

 

Well, the park got the trains a little bit later than they expected to. And testing is taking a bit longer than anticipated. It does not make sense for them to have the expensive trains arrive too soon and have them just rotting outside in the winter, not generating any ROI. The ideal is "just-in-time" delivery where they get the trains exactly when they need to start testing them with maybe a little bit of a time buffer to fix any problems that might arise.

 

However, this is not Wal-Mart automatically pushing orders to a factory in China for umbrellas. This is a fairly complicated, one-of-a-kind machine that was custom built for this park.

[SharkTums]

Let's also remember that this doesn't all fall squarely on Holiday World, I'm sure this being GG's first trains have a big part of it as well.

[larrygator]

I just don't understand how if the park ordered them last fall how they wouldn't be done by before April which was planned...

 

Because their creation is not magic. As has already been stated, they are the first of their kind from Gravity Group. No matter how much computer modeling and research is done, there are still unforeseen complications with every new product.

Edited May 19, 2010 by larrygator

[saginawhxc]

I do got to say that Timberliner or no Timberliner, The Voyage is still my absolute favorite coaster, and Holiday World is still my favorite park.

[DBru]

^I completely agree.

 

Not that anyone would have expected that...

[PKI Jizzman]

After Andrew and I rode today, Wildebeest > Cedar Point.

 

Seriously, Wildebeest is absolutely nuts. The raft literally flies off the slide and goes THUNK. But it's so smooth! And yet the airtime is scary crazy good.

 

I'll be driving back down just for more rides on it.. oh, and we rode about 10 times in a row and it was windy, and about 60*. Sooo worth it.

 

Voyage was good, getting rough in some rows though, but hey it's Voyage, and since they probably put all the money that they would have used fixing it up on the Timberliners, it's whatever.

[jedimaster1227]

Holiday World has sent us a fun press release about the results from their latest relief auction efforts...

 

WEST-COAST COUPLE ‘BUYS’ 9 PARK STAFFERS AT AUCTION

PARK MATCHES BIDS FOR $12,000 FLOOD-RELIEF DONATION

 

SANTA CLAUS, IND-----Nine members of the Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari management team found out yesterday that they were sold at auction to a Los Angeles couple.

 

“When we planned this auction to raise funds for Nashville-area flood relief, we assumed the winners would be individual families,” says Holiday World president Will Koch. “We were stunned to learn that nine of our 15 auctions were won by a west-coast couple.”

 

The winners, Robb and Elissa Alvey, are familiar faces at Holiday World. The couple run the popular website ThemeParkReview.com and the coaster-enthusiast group Club TPR.

 

“Robb and Elissa were already planning to bring a group of coaster enthusiasts here in August,” says Koch. “During their visit, they will now have all sorts of enhancements provided by the eight directors—plus me—they won at auction.”

 

Fifteen members of top management were on the auction block for the past week, including Koch and his mom, Pat. Each auction winner receives at least four park tickets plus $20 in Holibucks. In addition, each staff member will provide their winner with two hours of their time and expertise, offering such perks as a laptop tune-op, an audition for New York and Nashville producers via Skype, swimming lessons, behind-the-scene tours, and front-of the-line access to rides and the new Wildebeest water coaster.

 

All proceeds from the 15 auctions will be donated to the American Red Cross for Nashville-area flood relief efforts. In addition, Holiday World matched the auction bids, effectively doubling the donation, which will top $12,000.

 

Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari are now open daily, with the new Wildebeest, the World’s Longest Water Coaster. For more information, visit the park’s website at http://www.HolidayWorld.com or call 1-877-Go-Family.

[DOCTOR DOOM!!!]

i totally missed that chunk out of the train Sunday! I guess thats why Larry Bill and other Gravity Group employees were wandering around Voyage!

[Cameron]

I just don't understand how if the park ordered them last fall how they wouldn't be done by before April which was planned... Anyways, It will be interesting to see how much longer this takes. I support HW 100%!

 

Engineering isn't an exact science, even for something small like a simple metal bracket .. A roller coaster train is seriously complicated from a mechanical engineering stand-point, on top of that you have a bazzilion safety issues to take into consideration. Top Men are working on it right now, and it'll be ready when it's ready

 

In the meantime, it's fantastic that Holiday World is still running Voyage with the old trains. Holiwood Nights is a stunningly good time regardless of what trains are running!

 

Cameron.

[AndCamSS]

You know Holiday World is doing everything possible to get those trains up and running. If they aren't ready for HWN, they did their best. If you were not at HWN last year, the Legend blew the lift motor (or something like that) and Pilgrim's Plunge needed a part from overseas. The parts were personally driven to the park for Legend to get it up for the event, and the Plunge parts were sent express and picked up from wherever UPS delivers to so they could get that ride up before the weekend was over. What other park goes through all that kind of trouble for an event? There are always a few bad eggs in every group that will complain no matter what. Lets hope that number is to a minimum at HWN if the TL's aren't running yet.

[PKI Jizzman]

Here's a few pics of the Timberliners from yesterday.

Front car

Can't wait to see 'em run.

Details on the front bench.

[robbalvey]

Holiday World has sent us a fun press release about the results from their latest relief auction efforts...

 

WEST-COAST COUPLE ‘BUYS’ 9 PARK STAFFERS AT AUCTION

PARK MATCHES BIDS FOR $12,000 FLOOD-RELIEF DONATION

 

SANTA CLAUS, IND-----Nine members of the Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari management team found out yesterday that they were sold at auction to a Los Angeles couple.

 

“When we planned this auction to raise funds for Nashville-area flood relief, we assumed the winners would be individual families,” says Holiday World president Will Koch. “We were stunned to learn that nine of our 15 auctions were won by a west-coast couple.”

 

The winners, Robb and Elissa Alvey, are familiar faces at Holiday World. The couple run the popular website ThemeParkReview.com and the coaster-enthusiast group Club TPR.

 

“Robb and Elissa were already planning to bring a group of coaster enthusiasts here in August,” says Koch. “During their visit, they will now have all sorts of enhancements provided by the eight directors—plus me—they won at auction.”

 

Fifteen members of top management were on the auction block for the past week, including Koch and his mom, Pat. Each auction winner receives at least four park tickets plus $20 in Holibucks. In addition, each staff member will provide their winner with two hours of their time and expertise, offering such perks as a laptop tune-op, an audition for New York and Nashville producers via Skype, swimming lessons, behind-the-scene tours, and front-of the-line access to rides and the new Wildebeest water coaster.

 

All proceeds from the 15 auctions will be donated to the American Red Cross for Nashville-area flood relief efforts. In addition, Holiday World matched the auction bids, effectively doubling the donation, which will top $12,000.

 

Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari are now open daily, with the new Wildebeest, the World’s Longest Water Coaster. For more information, visit the park’s website at http://www.HolidayWorld.com or call 1-877-Go-Family.

This is going to be a LOT of fun for our Club TPR members who are signed up for the Middle America trip!

 

--Robb "Happy we could help out!" Alvey

Edited May 19, 2010 by robbalvey