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Volcano155
Posts: 826
Registered: 4/19/2002
Rank: Gold Critic
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 6/3/2002 1:29:00 PM
What a weekend!
Holiday World is owned and operated by the Koch Family. For years they have added to and improved their park. The standards they set for Holiday World are unrivaled. The staff, on all levels, is friendly and easily approachable. The grounds are immaculate. The prices for food and souvenirs are more than reasonable.
We arrived in Santa Claus, Indiana about 3:30 Friday afternoon. The town itself is themed for Christmas! The Town Hall is adorned with Christmas wreaths and has a Santa on a pedestal out front. Across the street is Kringle Place, a mall where you can find the Santa Claus Fitness Center, Holiday Foods and Ho Ho Ho Video. Throughout the Town you see wreaths, Santas and snowmen. It's pretty cool! lol
Holiday World is close to the center of town. As you enter the park you get a great view of Lake Rudolph, the campground and the lake turn of The Raven. Parking is free!
About 5 we collected our SRM packets and entered the park. Santa was there at the turnstiles greeting everyone. There weren't many people there so we went straight to The Raven. This is one special woodie. It was running faster than the last time I was at the park in 2001. Talk about great airtime! You can catch air in any seat. But the back is nothing but air! I love the layout on The Raven. The first part of the ride gives you hills and air then it changes to an insane, flat tracking twister. All the time you're flying through the trees of Ravenswood. The Raven is proof that great things come in small packages.
After getting 7 laps in on The Raven, we shot over to The Legend for a couple rides. The new PTC trains are awesome! A major improvement from the Gerstlaur they were running before. We found The Legend to be in peak form. The airtime is amazing! The ejector air on hill 4 leaves you breathless. Hill 5 floats you as you descend into the 2nd tunnel. Then comes the incredible laterals! There isn't a soft turn anywhere on the track from the 2nd tunnel to the station brakes. The Legend is truly a hard charging ride that has excellent pacing throughout it's layout.
We attended the SRM opening ceremony in the Discovery Theatre. Will Koch warmly welcomed us to Holiday World. He spoke of the recent changes and improvements that were made to the Raven and The Legend. He spoke with pride about Zoombabwe the park's newest waterslide. Zoombabwe is the world's largest enclosed slide! Will then introduced his mother, Pat Koch.
As she took her place on the stage the crowd rose to give her a standing ovation. This was well deserved for this remarkable woman. She spoke of "what's been going on". Daily she volunteers her time for community service. Mrs. Koch received her degree in ministry this year. She has been cured of cancer. Sadly, she lost her husband over the winter. It was his dream that brought Holiday World to where it stands today. She intends to keep the park heading in that direction.
Next up was Paula Werne aka "Raven Maven". She had gathered up some items from the park to auction. Most notably was the Legend logo plate that was removed from the old G train. This single item sold for $500. Wow! In all they raised about $1,000 for the Make A Wish foundation. After the auction we were treated to a new song that was written for the event. lol
When the ceremony let out, some went for the provided pizza supper, I went back to The Legend. The ride crew had put the second train on. Watching the sun go down from the lift hill was inspiring. The ride got more intense as the night went on. There's nothing like riding a coaster with a full train of enthusiasts!
I hit The Raven a few more times. Flying through Ravenswood in the dark is awesome. These were some of the best night rides I've ever taken.
Saturday morning we arrived about 9:30. The park was filling up with enthusiasts and GP. We decided to do some of the flats. The Eagles were pretty good but I couldn't get any snaps. We rode the Howler, a Zamperla kid
Message updated 6/3/2002 4:33:00 PM by Volcano155
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