Passing by the stunning Gateway Arch on our way out of St Louis, and Missouri, the time had come to begin the drive back East, travelling through Illinois on our way to Indiana, and our next stop: Holiday World. Holiday World was something of an anomaly in our road trip line-up, being a medium-sized family-owned amusement park in amongst the giant chains that owned each of our other stops. The park is known internationally for it’s attention to customer care, with free parking, suncream, and most importantly all of the free soft drinks you can drink and we certainly couldn’t wait to sample some of this for ourselves!
At this point in these blogs, I probably don’t need to tell you how hot it was. But in case you’re new around these parts, it was really bloody hot (around 100 Fahrenheit). But as we pulled into the parking lot, it was a relief to see the solidly overcast sky above, meaning that at the very least we wouldn’t be queueing up under a beating sun. Sadly, that didn’t massively help my well-being and our day at Holiday World was definitely the low point of the trip for me as far as my health went. I was really struggling with headaches from the heat, and this had quite an impact on how I was able to experience the park, with it becoming clear pretty quickly that re-rides weren’t going to be on the cards for me. For the most part at least.
Of course, I doubt I even need to tell you where we were headed first. If you’re a rollercoaster enthusiast, there is one very big, very wooden reason why you make the trip to Santa Claus, Indiana: to take a Voyage.
Taking just a moment to get our bearings, we began the march through Christmas, past Halloween, and the 4th of July, walking to the very bottom of the park, and its largest land: Thanksgiving. In case you didn’t guess, Holiday World is themed to The Holidays – it’s located in Santa Claus after all! As we passed by Holiday World’s various lands, I began to get a good idea of what to expect from the park’s theming, and that was… not an enormous amount. Whilst themed to the many holidays of the American year, the theming itself is light, almost reminiscent of Rollercoaster Tycoon. I honestly don’t mean that as a slight, it’s simply the style of the park and that in itself has a charm all of it’s own for me!
The Voyage is consistently ranked as the world’s greatest wooden coaster – as is proudly stated on the station building – and as such it’s safe to say we were more than a little bit excited about it. Some rollercoasters are just legendary. Mythological beasts that have been in so many rankings, so many awards, so many WILDEST ROLLERCOASTERS IN THE WORLD shows and videos, that they take on a fictional quality. Amongst those, perhaps even chief amongst them, was The Voyage. It’s in a small park in Indiana for crying out loud, how would I ever get to experience that?! Well. Here I was. Holy. Shit.
I’m certain that a fair chunk of the excitement was the mystery. I truly knew nothing about what to expect from this rollercoaster, except that it was Very Good. That was just about it. The views from the park didn’t exactly offer any further information with very little of the layout visible beyond the final section heading back into the station, and the gargantuan first lift hill.
In fact, even now I’m not quite sure what on earth happened on this ride. (This is going to be a great blog post isn’t it?) Except that it was nothing like I had ever experienced before. For the most part throughout the trip, I’d been giving wooden coasters (outside of those manufactured by GCI and RMC) a miss. It’s not that I’m particularly averse to a classic woodie, it’s just that I knew I had to try and get myself through this trip and being pretty sensitive to a rough ride, this felt like the right call. So having avoided much of the USA’s wooden coaster offering, and with no woodies you’d really call big back in the UK, The Voyage hit me like a truck. It was magnificent. When talking about coasters there are a few phrases that get bandied around a lot, including ‘I was practically stood up!’ and ‘I was out of my seat more than I was in it!’ Never had I felt either of these statements more relevant than they did immediately after riding The Voyage. It’s practically a stand-up coaster for crying out loud. And it is long. So, so, so long. As you dip in and out of tunnels, and through the forest, it feels as though you’ll never make it back to the park, though not for lack of speed. Where other lengthy coasters can lose their momentum midway through (not naming names El Toro), The Voyage never ever ceases to pack a punch. Every time you think you’re due a rest, it just keeps on hauling. And here my friends is where we hit a snag. This coaster was simply too long for me to truly enjoy. Don’t get me wrong, I adored the first half. Adored it. But it’s not smooth. It’s not rough, not really, but it doesn’t reach GCI levels of smoothness either. And that wouldn’t have been a problem if it had run for about the normal length of a rollercoaster. But it does not. This is the transatlantic Voyage after all, not the channel crossing. You are in this for the long haul. By the time we reached the utterly wild extended tunnel section on the return trip, I was more than ready for the ride to end. By the time I could see the station, I was practically begging. My head was banging. And this is why I only rode The Voyage once. Honestly, I did have a little cry whilst at the park – and I’m getting emotional thinking about it now – knowing that I’d come all this way, probably on a once-in-a-lifetime trip and here I was, in too much pain to ride this iconic rollercoaster a second time. It cut deep. But as tempting as it can be to go wild and ignore your body in this hobby, sometimes you just have to listen, and this was my time. The Voyage is a magnificent rollercoaster, and I like to think that had I not arrived at the park feeling worse for wear I would have managed a few rides on it alongside my friends, but I’m just overjoyed to have had the chance to experience, if not my favourite, then objectively one of the greatest wooden coasters in the world.
With the park’s signature coaster under our belts, it was time to sample the park’s true headline attraction: the unlimited soft drinks. Contrary to my expectations, these were not slyly available in a few well-hidden locations, serving the likes of Professor Peppy and Cola X, but nearly omnipresent throughout the park and well stocked with a solid range of brand names. With Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Gatorade and the fully qualified Dr Pepper, the selection was impressive. Instead of a marketing ploy, it truly felt like Holiday World was doing this to look after its guests, and – particularly on this searing summer’s day – this was more than appreciated.
Practically overflowing with Mountain Dew, we ventured deeper into Thanksgiving, heading towards a ride that stands in stark contrast with the rest of the offering at Holiday World: Thunderbird. A B&M wing coaster, but a B&M wing coaster featuring not just the only launch on a B&M wing, but the only house-made launch on any B&M coaster in the world. (The Incredible Hulk’s launch was not built by B&M!) It’s a shame too, because Thunderbird’s launch was impressively snappy, perhaps feeling even more so from the comparatively exposed wing seats. Aside from the launch, however, the ride experience wasn’t super memorable for me. There were moments I adored, particularly the final in-line twist, which offers a fantastic head-chopper element through a barn before progressing through slow, graceful hangtime – the best finale – but what truly makes this coaster is its surroundings. Swooping through the woods on the glossy smooth ride, you really do feel like you’re flying, and the views of The Voyage are some of the best – read: the only – in the park. Thunderbird definitely benefits from its launch – it’s super fun after all – but it still doesn’t manage to top that slow initial dive drop on The Swarm for me. A rare UK W.
With Thunderbird located down a dead end (whyyy), there was nothing to do but to turn on our heels and head back toward The Voyage and its neighbour, one of my most anticipated rides of the whole trip, the park’s only dark ride, the glorious, iconic Gobbler Getaway.
I cannot emphasise enough how incredibly hyped I was for this ride. I remember the first time I learned of it’s existence (watching a Cupcakes and Coasters vlog) and fell in love immediately. I adore a good UV paint dark ride, especially one with a healthy dose of whimsy and oh boy does Gobbler Getaway deliver that by the bucket load.
Walking in to the attraction, Gobbler Getaway invites you to ‘find the turkeys and save thanksgiving!’ I mean, if you haven’t been asked, nay, implored, to save the day, have you even visited a theme park? Thankfully, this shooting-style dark ride is no turkey massacre. Riders hop in to a ‘Turkey Trotter’, armed with not a gun, no sir, but a ‘Turkey Caller’ in order to call back the escaped turkeys ready to celebrate Thanksgiving – no one ask what happens after the events of the ride! The ride uses this narrative to really bring interactivity to the fore. I always prefer a shooting ride when a shot on target produces some kind of visible effect, and that’s what Gobbler Getaway is all about. You shoot a target and a turkey pops up. How could you ask for more?! Of course, there’s only one real way to ‘call’ to a turkey, and that’s to have your Turkey Caller make a turkey noise every single time you pull the trigger! A spark of genius. Gobbler Getaway is a ridiculous, wonderful, joy of a dark ride, sending you rolling through neon orange scene after neon orange scene to a chorus of turkey gobbles. And on a day where I was struggling to pull myself on to rides, I’m grateful for this being the only attraction I was able to get some re-rides on. I love you Gobbler Getaway!
Older wooden rollercoasters scare me. Maybe 1995 isn’t that old, but 27 years is still plenty of time for a ride to decide it wishes to rearrange my spine. So, The Raven, the park’s oldest rollercoaster, wasn’t drawing a lot of excitement from me, I won’t lie. But, I’d heard that Holiday World’s woodies were all three a blast, plus this one was lightly themed to the Edgar Allen Poe poem so it was a must-do nonetheless. As we pulled out of the gothic station, I tried to let the pleasant surroundings put me at ease – like many of the park’s coasters, The Raven is surrounded by gorgeous forestry – but mostly it just reminded me that I had absolutely zero idea what this coaster was about to do to me, so hidden was the track back amongst the trees. But, as we crested the first drop and hurtled down through the first tunnel, it… didn’t hurt. The ride was actually smooth! Sure, not as smooth as say Nickeloeon Streak over at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, but certainly smooth enough to simply enjoy the ride, even with a headache! Fear gone, I was treated to an airtime packed, fast whip through nothing but the most stunning scenery. Zooming over the glassy lake, on a wooden coaster that wasn’t hurting me was one of the most memorable moments of joy on the trip for me, and I really loved The Raven from then on. Sure, it’s nothing earth shattering, with stats that pale in comparison to even it’s closest neighbours, but it’s a damn fun ride. Me? Dread The Raven? Nevermore.
(P.S. my wonderful friends Matt and Bobby did a fantastic episode of their podcast all about The Raven if you wanted to hear more about this gem!)
Sadly, The Raven was our final wooden coaster of the day as it was quite clear The Legend wouldn’t be opening for the day – maintenance workers drilling pieces of wood to the lift hill is usually a pretty good sign! I was more than a little bit gutted to be missing this coaster, one that would be a contender for headlining woodie in any other park, but there were bound to be some spites on the trip and this just happened to be one of ours!
But that didn’t mean there weren’t any rollercoasters left! Waiting for us over in Holidog’s Funtown was Howler, the park’s kiddie coaster and a truly superlative ride. It’s just a shame that the superlative in question is that it was the most painful experience of the trip for me. Sure, I was careful to try and maintain my health whilst we were out there – no Wildcat for me – but it’s still saying something that this tiny rollercoaster managed to hurt me so much. It all comes down to one moment: the dispatch. The jolt that I experienced when this train was dispatched was unlike any other I can remember, as I felt each and every vertebrae of my spine crunch into the hard seat back with such force that I was certain I’d be injured. And it did this every time we lapped. I still love you Holidog, but this relationship could do with being a little less abusive.
That wasn’t the only ride we ‘treated’ ourselves to down in Holidog’s Funtown of course! We also rode what appeared to be the land’s cute little train ride, Holidog Express, which actually turned out to be more than a little bizarre. What we thought was a traditional transport ride around the park was actually a journey through ‘Mother Goose land’ through seemingly endless bottom-tier fairytales, represented by truly cursed statues and described to us by the train driver as we went along. At least they were for a while, until the ride audio broke down and we ended up just spending the next few minutes gazing out in silence at these bizarre statues, allegedly of scenes from fairytales, but often seemingly just depicting novel means of assault. The was enough of Holidog’s ‘fun’ town for me!
The merchandise range at Holiday World was absolutely top notch, particularly for an independent park! There was a great selection from the always excellent Made to Thrill (the The Voyage patch was a must-buy), really interesting looking book charting the park’s history (somewhat incredibly also available here in the UK from WHSmiths), plenty of t-shirts and posters and this incredible hat that was an absolutely non-negotiable item – and only $13 if I remember correctly! Holidog forever!
As a testament to the warmth and kindness of the staff, as I happily purchased my hat and immediately rammed it on my head, the lovely cashier asked me if I’d like to take a look at the matching Holidog capes to complete my outfit. I declined this generous offer, but found it strangely touching. Sure, it was an upsell, but I’m here pursuing my silly hobby, wearing my silly dog hat and instead of getting a look I’m being encouraged to get even sillier. Thank you lovely Holiday World cashier! The same was, of course, true of every single person I interacted with that day. No one at this park can do enough for you. It’s just such a warm, welcoming place and I cannot praise it enough on that front!
I mean, could anyone be warmer or more welcoming than Father Christmas himself?! (We visited this park in June in case you were wondering.)
Lunch for the day was Santa’s Merry Marketplace, a delightfully themed food court with a range of options including pizza, chinese-style food, burgers, salads and even a homemade fudge and confectionary counter! There were plenty of drinks machines in here too, making sure you were well stocked on the free beverages. Food prices varied by type, with mine coming in at $6 for a slice of pizza and a further $6 for two bread sticks. This wasn’t horrendous given that I didn’t need to buy any drinks to go with it, but for an individually priced slice, it wasn’t massive. Prices were a bit higher for burgers, with a beefburger costing $11 dollars individually, and a further $6 for fries.
With an aim to getting on the road mid-afternoon, we didn’t have too much time to stick around and watch the entertainment, but there was an impressive array of shows at the park during our visit. From the queue for The Raven (lol) we actually watched a reasonable chunk of a pretty fun little diving show, and had fully intended to catch a show of dogs doing tricks (why would you ever not?!) but got our times mixed up and realised we’d been waiting for a juggling show instead – worst luck! From following the park’s socials since, it seems that they bring in a really strong roster of professional acts to perform seasonal shows in the park which is just another think that makes this park so charming in my opinion!
Holiday World was a fantastic theme park, filled with memorable rides and wonderful staff, and we didn’t even see half of the park! Splashin’ Safari is one of the world’s best water parks (if the Golden Ticket Awards are anything to go by it has some of the best rides at least), is included with admission, and you don’t even have to leave the park – just wander on in! (This major-water-park-inside-the-theme-park thing is surprisingly common in USA theme parks, but was something I’d never really seen until this trip!) If we’d had less of a packed schedule I’d really liked to have checked it out, and I say this as someone who can’t even swim! It looked incredible from the views we got walking through. I really hope I get to return to this park one day, hopefully when I’m feeling a bit more up to riding things – I’d sure give anything to try out The Voyage again!
Let me know if Thanksgiving ever needs saving again, yeah?
Speak again soon,
Claire
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coasterclaire.co.uk 