Photo TR: HoliWood Nights

[Midgetman82]

I attended my first roller coaster enthusiast event and, at the same time, went to Holiday World for the first time. This had to be one of the best times I have ever had in an amusement park. It's not just the roller coasters either, my family and I were blown away by the cleanliness and family-feel the park gives off. The park has some of the nicest staff I have ever come into contact with. I have no idea why I have never taken the half and hour drive here before, it was great.

 

Holiwood Nights was the first coasters enthusiast event that I have ever attended. The event had hundreds of other coaster enthusiasts from around the world come to have exclusive ride times on Holiday World's roller coasters and other rides. Many people from different clubs showed up. The only clubs I was able to spot was a lot of ACEers and a few ClubTPR members (I should have worn my club shirt, darn it). The first night was all about riding Holiday World's three wooden roller coasters, and a few extra rides that were open as well. I didn't try to get in as many re-rides like others were doing, but I did get a pretty good amount of rides in:

Raven: 7

Legend: 9

Voyage: 5

 

When we were released from pavilion, I randomly followed a crowd to the first coaster since I didn't know how to get around.

The group led me to the Raven. I was on the first train out of the station. This is the smoothest wooden coaster out of the three and is also the shortest. I like the tunnel it has at the first drop and the long lasting curve over Lake Rudolph. At night, the coaster is very dark which adds to the thrill since it was more difficult to predict when the next turns would be approaching.

Next I rode The Legend, and this was my favorite coaster out of the three because it is much longer than the Raven and not as intense as the Voyage. The roller coaster also has a unique amount of airtime pops and a larger amount of laterals. This coaster also has a more intimidating drop than the Voyage and Raven because of how it curves downward into a tunneled left turn.

The next coaster I rode after the Legend was the Voyage, and this ride was a monster. It had a faster lift, harder turns and bankings, airtime on most hills, and cold pitch black underground tunnels. I had the least amount of re-rides on this ride because it was very intense to me. It was a lot of fun, but it forces me to brace myself on some of the turns and bankings it has. The Voyage also lasted much longer than the other coasters. But like I said, I really like this coaster. I like that it's wild and intense.

 

I rode and re rode rides during the nighttime ERT session and had a blast getting to ride great coasters with short lines. Before it was time to go, I re-rode the Legend 3 times in a row without getting off, which caused me to be on one of the last trains of the day on that coaster.

 

You may be wondering how I am posting an early PhotoTR of an event that is still happening. After my photo walkback of the Raven and Legend on day two (today), my right leg cramped up causing me to be temporarily immobile. This was probably due to how I drank sodas during the day instead of water, and didn't have an adequate breakfast (lesson learned). Since I was still prone to cramps after that first lock-up, I didn't do the Voyage walkback; in fact, I felt I was in bad shape and too tired to continue the day, so I went home.

 

All that I missed was the meal service they offered and more ERT on the same coasters and a few more select rides. I'll have what I did today up soon, but for now, here are the photos I took yesterday, Enjoy.

 

ADMIN EDIT: I went ahead and moved the "Photo TR:" notation to the front of the thread title. Thanks for sharing this with us!

We were introduced to Pat and Dan Koch and a few more people who went up to the microphone to talk. They also mentioned Will Koch. I wish I have met him, he sounds like a great guy. He will be missed.

After the park was cleared of guests, we were "released" from the pavilion. This was where the random crowd of people I followed took me to.

It's a great coaster.

The second coaster I hit-up. Much better than the Raven IMO.

In front of the Voyage, I raise my cup to HW's idea for free drinks. Be careful how much soda you consume though, it can be overwhelming to new visitors.

Soon I rode the Voyage. Amazing coaster, but not my favorite in the park.

People flying by.

It was much darker when the camera took this picture, the sky was black, but you could see the top of the lift.

Benefits of ERT, and I love it!

Another picture where it was darker in real life.

Walking between coasters, this was how crowded it was most of the time.

They first had Turkey Whirl open, then they soon had Hallow Swings open. This ride is beautiful at night.

This was my favorite coaster in the park.

Lift hill and first drop, and it was darker in reality.

I was enjoying myself to the fullest with these rides and low lines. Pat and Dan were to be found walking around the park watching the people have fun on the rides.

Compared to the other coasters, this was a monster!

Out in front of the Voyage, free cupcakes were being handed out.

Because I had to get a picture of myself somewhere. This picture is missing a train...

My last ride on Voyage.

Only ghosts filled the empty seats on this solo ride.

Coming off my last ride on the Legend and beginning to leave the park.

I'll be back tomorrow Update 2 coming your way.

Edited June 7, 2011 by jedimaster1227

[Electerik]

Free cupcakes??

 

I went to a Stark Raven Mad (the precursor of HoliWood Nights) and loved it. But it was fairly busy. Where has everyone gone?

 

Glad to hear that The Legend is your favorite. Not because I agree, but because I sort of feel that The Voyage has stolen all of its thunder. So it's nice to see it still impressing people.

[Pirouettes907]

^ I was going to ask the same thing. Where is everybody? I went just last year and there were no re-rides to be had on the Voyage because it was pretty packed.

 

I'm also glad to hear you liked the Legend a lot. I preferred it over the Raven too, but I must say I put the Voyage above them both.

 

Sorry to hear you had to skip out early, hope you're feeling better by now!

[Midgetman82]

I always attempt find methods to avoid crowds. When ERT started the majority of people headed straight to Voyage. I knew something like this was going to happen, so I headed to Raven and Legend first.

I also didn't know where I was going anyways, I was on a side of the pavilion that was closest to Raven and Legend. There were a lot of people, but they didn't show up in my photos.

[DBru]

The Legend is running the best it ever has. My rides on it the last two nights (and Wednesday) were incredible.

 

That guy in the third-to-last picture is a hoot. When that train came back into the station after his "zen" ride, my friend and I took the front seat and we rode and re-rode like that until the last ride of the night. The three of us had a great time, and that guy ended up getting *43* rides on the Legend that night!

 

So I guess we barely missed each other, and were riding on opposite trains, haha. Glad to hear that you a great time at the event, too!

[WildStangAlex]

Wish I could've made it down there this year! Looks like you had a great time, and I am so envious of FREE cupcakes, I bet they were delicious!

[Midgetman82]

Day Two:

Day two began with waiting outside the gate for someone to finally open it. We then rented our lockers for use during the ERT at the water park. Not only did they have Wildebeest open to us, but also Zinga, Zoombabwe, and the wave pool to ourselves. The line for wildebeest during ERT was just a few minutes at the most, but there were times when it was less then one minute or nearly a walk-on (But that was for the people who made it there first). Zoombabwe was almost always a walk-on and Zinga soon grew a line after people had tried the Wildebeest. After all was said and done, the normal park guests showed up and water for Jungle Racer was finally flowing.

 

I spent time in the amusement park and rode rides I have never been on before. Pilgrim's Plunge was pretty fun, nothing intense so it was nice to ride. Gobbler's Getaway was pretty interesting, I found that you could sometimes hold down the trigger and aim it at the targets. Liberty Launch gave me the most I've ever gotten on an S&S tower, and I loved it!

 

Soon I went to the meetup spot for the Raven and Legend Walkback and went with the group. It was interesting to see the rides in the angles I got. And it was interesting to see other people getting their "perfect angles" for both coasters. I thought it was really cool to be that close to a roller coaster and not having something in between me and it.

 

A few minutes after the walkback my leg locked-up. I received ice and sat down for a while, then made up my mind that I was just about done anyways. I rode all the rides I wanted and I was still prone to cramps, so I left Holiday World with my family (whom was at the park, but not with me during the event), went to subway, and drove home.

 

I had a great time at Holiwood Nights. I don't know if I'll do it again next year or just go to another enthusiast event. Thanks for reading, here are some videos I was able to obtain:

 

Legend

[coastertube]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=The_Legend_63e7[/coastertube]

 

Raven

[coastertube]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=The_Raven_ep6l[/coastertube]

 

 

And now, on to photos.

Waiting for the day to start, you can see both Dan and Pat Koch on the other side.

Soon we are led into the waterpark.

Once you stowed your stuff in lockers, you couldn't return there until after ERT was over.

This was taken after ERT was over. During it a walkback tour of the slide was available but I didn't do it. I rode it 5 times that day.

After ERT was over, I did a few more slides and walked straight to Pilgrim's Plunge.

Fun ride, got me more wet than I had expected.

It was great to come into air conditioning.

I came back to the front to do a few flats. This was my favorite.

I soon went to the front to begin the walkback tour of Raven and Legend. I broke out my telephoto lens and soon realized that it was a little too much zoom than I needed.

Walking...

Wood

Raven going into it's tunnel

Over the river and through the woods.

Flying overhead

The group stretched out pretty far.

The "over the river" part.

The "through the woods" part.

Extra Wood

Passing by the Legend now. You don't exactly know how big a coaster is until you stand next to it.

Undercoaster shot! Just a few more photos left.

Like I said, you don't know how tall a roller coaster is until you stand next to it.

It was cool to walk around this area of the coaster.

Soon, "It" happened.

Soon I was back on my feet, but not in good enough state to finish the day. Thanks for reading, and thanks to everyone who made Holiwood Nights a great event.

Edited June 6, 2011 by Midgetman82

[David H]

As to questions of where everyone was, the answer is simple: Voyage. I wasn't there this year, but last year Legend was walk-on, especially any time after about 30 minutes into the ERT session. And Raven had more of a line, but not that much more. Voyage's queue was long both nights, particularly at the beginning of the ERT sessions. But within an hour or two, it was in the station.

 

Glad to hear that Legend is running better. Last year it was rougher, with less oomph than it's had at it's best. But it's always been a top coaster for me, if not always for the masses. It seems to alternate between very good and "Wow, I love this ride" on my vacations to the park. I could easily spend the whole ERT session on it -- if it wasn't for Voyage across the park!

 

When it's at it's best -- which it unfortunately isn't always -- it's a top 5 woodie for me. In fact, it spent quite a while as my #2 and #3. It's still my #6, though that's with factoring in both how it's run in the past, and how it's running now.