PhantomNik
Posts: 515
Registered: 6/6/2002
Rank: Gold Critic
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 5/25/2007 4:02:51 PM
Nestled quietly in the southern Indiana farmlands, there exists a magical place where park guests are treated to an experience unlike any other. It’s a place that is like a trip back in time, to a time when guests were a park’s number one priority. It’s a place where the employees go out of their way to ensure that your experience is not only a good one, but also that you feel like the most important guest they will see all year. In this special park, glorious timbers of wood rise majestically through the trees and forests, providing genuine thrills and frolicking fun to all those who climb aboard. And in this place, this amazing place, guests can take a "voyage" that will forever change their thoughts about what a dynamic roller coaster experience should be. Where is this mystery park? Is this slice of heaven even real? Yes friends, this park is indeed real – this park is Holiday World.
For years, I had heard so many rave about the little family-owned park in Santa Claus, Indiana. Year after year, Holiday World would win awards for its fine customer service, friendly staff, and overwhelming cleanliness. It never seemed like a destination spot for us though, not because we don’t like the smaller parks (we loved Knoebels), but because the park is a rather healthy 500+ miles from our front door in a suburb of Pittsburgh, PA. Then 2006 came and went and the reviews and praises rolled in for their third wooden coaster gem, The Voyage. I decided it was time to pay Holiday World a visit and see what the buzz was about. So, we figured the perfect time to do this was for their enthusiast event, Holiwood Nights. May 2007 drew closer and closer, and my excitement built inside, as it always does before I head to a new park. But this time it just seemed greater, as something inside of me couldn’t help but feel that this place was truly going to be special. Then I began to wonder if this was all a recipe for being disappointed. What if the park didn’t live up to the hype? Was this a good decision? Turns out I could never have known just how wonderful a decision it was to take a trip out to Holiday World! 
Day 1 (5/18) – Holiwood, here we come!:
Well, I won’t lie and say that the trip out to Indiana was a short one! But the billowing excitement I had overtook me, and I just could not wait to hit the road! We hit the road at 7:20 that morning, and the drive itself was rather uneventful, being that it is 98% Interstate driving. Although we did have one funny moment as we passed through Cincinnati. There was a traffic jam we hit as we crossed the Ohio River, and as our gas ran low we realized that our original plan to wait until we got through Cincy to fill up was not gonna cut it! So, we hopped off and filled up, then deciding to grab some food to try and let the traffic ease up. As we were sitting and eating, we realized that here we were, in the heart of Cincinnati Bengal country, with our big proud front license plate proclaiming – "You’re in STEELERS country".  We got a kick out of that! Aside of that one stop and a few pit stops, we made very good time and also benefited from the time change as we crossed the Indiana border. We pulled into Santa’s Lodge to check in at 4:15 local time. So far, so good!
I will say that it is very neat to drive down that Indiana route (162 I think?) after exiting I-64. You pass tons of farmland and nice homes, all the while thinking "there’s a park out here?" Then, like a beckoning lighthouse to a lost ship at sea, the mighty Voyage appears first to your view. I saw it and responded with the very simplistic WOW. Now my excitement absolutely boiled over! As for the hotel, we found Santa’s Lodge to be very nice! It’s very neat how it is all decked out for Christmas, and that was a nice touch to see that in the middle of May. The room we were in was very nice and frankly better than what you’d get at many chain hotels. Add to that the fact that it is about a block<
Message updated 5/30/2007 4:04:45 PM by PhantomNik
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Timberman
Posts: 845
Registered: 9/21/2004
Rank: Gold Critic
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 5/25/2007 10:18:14 PM
Great trip report, PhantomNik. You capture very well the feeling us grizzled mega-park veterans get when we step into the alternate universe that is Holiday World. I totally agree with everything you said about the park and about Voyage in particular. While I still, uh, pine for the "Golden Age" wooden greats I'll never get to ride, I wouldn't leave Voyage to go back. It definitely sets a new standard, and the limits of human endurance themselves will have to increase before it will have a viable successor (not that I discourage any coaster builders from trying). I'm glad you had such a great time, and I'm looking forward to your reviews.
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hrrytraver
Posts: 1270
Registered: 7/16/2005
Rank: Platinum Critic
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5/26/2007 9:17:29 AM
nik- i read the whole thing. it was very encouraging, because i'm trying to go to HW very soon.
Quote:
nik said:
She shared some stories and then led the entire group in a prayer before festivities began. |
"o lord, on this day may you lubricate these coaster wheels with the divine grease of thine greatness. may the unequalled strength of thee translate to powerful lateral Gs upon our earthly bodies. may the holy spirit descend upon us and lift our bottoms from our seats in an offering of scared airtime. o lord, today we offer up our screams and howls to thee on high, as we are but humble riders on these wooden sacraments. thank you, lord, for blessing our coaster engineers with sacred knowledge of gravity, friction, inertia, and tolerances of woods and metals. amen."
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the following sentence is false.
the preceding sentence is true.
Message updated 5/26/2007 11:08:31 AM by hrrytraver
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larrygator
Posts: 4654
Registered: 11/7/2002
Rank: Platinum Critic
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5/28/2007 10:11:45 AM
Nice detailed TR - the only thing I disagree with you on is the assessment of the flat rides, which I consider to be weak.
I'm surprised a Kennywood regular would have a high rating for HW's flats.
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PhantomNik
Posts: 515
Registered: 6/6/2002
Rank: Gold Critic
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6/21/2007 5:40:08 PM
Thanks guys, I'm glad you enjoyed the trip report. Timberman, what you said is so true - HW is almost like an alternate universe! And with their wooden gems, I must say that I "pine" for the day I can return there! (yep, that was a lame pun there, wasn't it? )
Quote:
hrrytraver said:
"o lord, on this day may you lubricate these coaster wheels with the divine grease of thine greatness. may the unequalled strength of thee translate to powerful lateral Gs upon our earthly bodies. may the holy spirit descend upon us and lift our bottoms from our seats in an offering of scared airtime. o lord, today we offer up our screams and howls to thee on high, as we are but humble riders on these wooden sacraments. thank you, lord, for blessing our coaster engineers with sacred knowledge of gravity, friction, inertia, and tolerances of woods and metals. amen." |
Now that was great and very funny!! Nice one hrry!
Quote:
larrygator said:
Nice detailed TR - the only thing I disagree with you on is the assessment of the flat rides, which I consider to be weak.
I'm surprised a Kennywood regular would have a high rating for HW's flats. |
You know, it's funny, cause I actually lowered the rating for the flats to an 8, once the buzz of joy from HW tapered off a bit. I figured that was fair since I rate Kennywood's and Knoebels' flats as a 10. I know HW's collection is not extensive, but I for one thought they were solid, and uniquely themed to match the holiday section they were in. Not a nicer looking set of swings around, in my opinion.
Message updated 6/21/2007 5:43:05 PM by PhantomNik
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larrygator
Posts: 4654
Registered: 11/7/2002
Rank: Platinum Critic
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6/21/2007 11:51:22 PM
^The Hallowswings are good looking, however SF has redone theirs at SFoG and the paint job looks great. It think they repainted it at another SF park also, but can't be certain.
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psu_dude
Posts: 92
Registered: 6/6/2003
Rank: Senior Critic
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7/10/2007 1:21:20 PM
Excellent trip report, PhantomNik! Very detailed as per usual. It sounds like Holiday World is one of those truly special places that you simply have to see to believe. With their detail to theming and their wooden trifecta, I simply have to find some way to make it out there for a visit.
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ginzo
Posts: 564
Registered: 7/16/2006
Rank: Gold Critic
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7/16/2007 12:12:33 AM
Nik this TR did one thing very well- it convinced me that I need to go to Holiwood Nights next year.
IMO HW is just a well run park with the best woodie collection and a great waterpark. I don't remember the customer service being better than at, say, Dollywood. And both Dollywood and BGE are much nicer looking parks.
The reality is that they amp things up for their ERT event, and give the super deluxe royal treatment. All that glad handing doesn't go down normally, and the magical HW just becomes an above average theme park.
I still love the place and want to attend the ERT event next year. I just wanted to point out that a lot of enthusiasts only go for the ERT events, and they mistakenly think that the park is always that awesome.
To me the most amazing thing about HW is how they got 1 million guests to show up to the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE last year. That, more than anything else, shows how well that place is managed. They got more visitors than Geauga Lake, which is near Cleveland!
Message updated 7/16/2007 12:14:04 AM by ginzo
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PhantomNik
Posts: 515
Registered: 6/6/2002
Rank: Gold Critic
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8/23/2007 1:34:03 PM
Quote:
ginzo said:
Nik this TR did one thing very well- it convinced me that I need to go to Holiwood Nights next year.
IMO HW is just a well run park with the best woodie collection and a great waterpark. I don't remember the customer service being better than at, say, Dollywood. And both Dollywood and BGE are much nicer looking parks.
The reality is that they amp things up for their ERT event, and give the super deluxe royal treatment. All that glad handing doesn't go down normally, and the magical HW just becomes an above average theme park.
I still love the place and want to attend the ERT event next year. I just wanted to point out that a lot of enthusiasts only go for the ERT events, and they mistakenly think that the park is always that awesome.
To me the most amazing thing about HW is how they got 1 million guests to show up to the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE last year. That, more than anything else, shows how well that place is managed. They got more visitors than Geauga Lake, which is near Cleveland! |
Oh, I realize that they do amp it up a notch for their event, but we were also there all day on Saturday before the event portion kicked in at night, and I saw the same friendliness and great service that I saw the night before at the event. Maybe they're not always top-notch with their service and whatnot, but I was very impressed with what I saw when we were there.
I would bet that both Dollywood and BGE are nicer looking parks, no doubt, which is why I want to make it to both of those parks ASAP! 
I couldn't agree more with your statement regarding how many people make the trek to this park in the middle of nowhere in Indiana. That does speak volumes about the alure this place really has! I traveled over 500 miles to get there, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat!
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