Earlier this summer Holiday World announced that the park's river rapids ride, Raging Rapids, had been permanently retired and would no longer be taking visitors on a trip through Boulder Canyon. The attraction originally opened in 1990, meaning it cooled off guests to the park for more than three decades.
The loss of the ride may not be the saddest attraction retirement we've seen lately, but it does make me wonder if the days of the river rapids rides are numbered. There haven't been an overwhelming amount of them closed recently, just a handful really, but you have to wonder if this is just the start.
The rides are known for having a substantial operating budget (including labor) and definitely take up a lot of real estate, something that can be an issue for parks. For the number of people who ride these in an hour, and only for a limited part of the season (most places), using up all that space can be a tough pill to swallow I would think.
But back to Holiday World. It definitely sounds like the park is planning something with the Raging Rapids spot: "While this may feel like an ending, it’s just the beginning. We intend to return the sound of laughter to Boulder Canyon as soon as we possibly can."
The park's new coaster for 2024 isn't using any of this space, so it sounds like something else is already being planned for the park. Perhaps a new version of the ride, like Silver Dollar City did with Mystic River Falls? As always, time will tell.
I never thought I'd see the day where a brand new roller coaster would be announced to be themed to gravy, but kids the day has come! Holiday World has come through for us all with the announcement of Good Gravy, a brand new family boomerang roller coaster created by Vekoma. The ride will be suitable for a big spectrum of families, with kids as young as three years old able to experience the attraction due to its 38 inch height requirement. To that end, Good Gravy will fill a need the park has had for some time now in the coaster department.
The entire Good Gravy project will cost around $10 million to complete and will utilize space formerly occupied by the long removed Pilgrims Plunge. It will also come with the addition of the "Stuffing Springs" area, containing a children's play area, shaded seating and a Dippin' Dots stand created from a 1964 Airstream Camper.
“Since 1946, our family has been dedicated to being the best at family
fun,” says Fourth-Generation Owner Leah Koch-Blumhardt. “We’re excited
to add a coaster to our lineup that caters to the entire family, just
like Thanksgiving dinner! The experience will be smooth and gentle
enough for grandparents and younger children to enjoy, yet it’s still
dynamic enough for the thrill seekers.”
Good Gravy, scheduled to open in May 2024, will literally feature coaster cars that look like giant gravy boats. Obviously this ride will reside in the Thanksgiving section of Holiday World. The train will move backward up the first lift then be released through the twists and turns of the track. Speaking of the track, it will be painted a "cranberry" and sit atop orange supports. The trains will pass "a giant cranberry jelly can before narrowly avoiding giant kitchen
accoutrement, such as a 20-foot-tall whisk and an 18-foot-tall rolling
pin." A 77 foot tall spike will slow the train, then it will traverse the layout backwards and end at the station. The top speed of Good Gravy will be 37 miles per hour.
“We put the Guest experience at the center of this design,” adds Fourth-Generation Owner, Lauren Crosby. “We took every detail seriously. We added stroller parking, and a play area for kids who aren’t quite big enough to ride yet, and benches with shade for the family members who prefer to watch. The best detail is that the queue building is air-conditioned, and themed elaborately to Thanksgiving at Grandma’s house.”
The park's announcement video for Good Gravy and the Stuffing Springs area is NOT to be missed, it's adorable. Watch it below!
This upcoming season Holiday World will give visitors yet another way to celebrate the holidays they cherish so much with an all-new drone and fireworks show called Holidays In The Sky. Featuring 300 LED lit drones, the show will run each night from June 18th through July 31st. The production will feature Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween and the Fourth of July and conclude with a fireworks display.
“This is an experience you truly have to see to believe,” says Fourth
Generation Owner and Director of Entertainment & Special Events
Lauren Crosby. “When the drones first take flight and the lights start
to turn into a rotating Christmas tree or a waving American flag–it’s
indescribable. This is a custom show–you won’t be able to find anything like this in
the world!” adds Crosby. “Holidays in the Sky” is going to be a huge
hit with families, and we can’t wait for the spectacle to start!”
The drone displays will feature images that are up to 700 feet across, truly taking over the sky above visitors. Before the show park guests can party in the German American Bank Party Plaza (in the Thanksgiving section), complete with a live DJ. In 2022 Holiday World will feature other new live entertainment as well, such as a stunt dog show, magician, juggler, ventriloquist, and more.
While it is clear that parks are working on elaborate plans to reopen, Holiday World has gone ahead an announced a date for the start of their 2020 season: June 14th. To my knowledge that's the first medium to large sized park in the U.S. that has committed to an opening date.
It's certainly within the range of when most have expected parks to be able to open, at the earliest. It still gives them about six weeks to plan and prepare, and according to Holiday World they are doing plenty of that.
The park has been extremely flexible with pre-purchased tickets, but is also sharing news of their operating plans with regarding to sanitizing and safety. In addition to hand sanitizer available all over the park, they will also be sanitizing their rides and potentially limiting attendance. Not too surprising, as those seem to be staple elements of all parks gradual reopening plans.
The park has also notified guests that not all rides may be available immediately, or operating with reduced capacity. For instance, the trains for The Voyage are still at PTC, which has been closed, so the park might borrow a train from both the Legend and Raven to get Voyage up and running. They're also not sure exactly when their new dueling water slide, Cheetah Chase will be opening.
I'm sure a lot of the park's opening will be test-and-go, with things changing constantly based off of what works and what doesn't. It's wonderful for people to have a firm date for the park to open, if for no other reason than to have something to look forward to!
It is opening-day season for many amusement and theme parks across the country, though understandably they are currently delayed during to the pandemic. Holiday World's opening day for the 2020 season cannot take place on May 2nd in person, but the park will instead hold a digital opening day for fans of the park.
Starting with a welcome from park President Matt Eckert and fourth-generation owner Leah Koch, the park has packed their entire day with plenty of fun events - all which can be experienced digitally. “We may not be able to welcome guests through our gates on May 2 as we
had originally planned,” says Leah Koch, “but
we’re going to celebrate it just the same.”
The park has plenty of details for the event on their website, so be sure to check that out. They will be releasing videos each hour from 9 am until 9 pm central time. Videos will include topics such a cooking tutorials for making park food at home, a chat with the park's President, general entertainment and an hour dedicated to healthcare and other essential workers.
The day will be topped off with a fireworks celebration that will be set to holiday music and viewed from a drone, followed by a sweepstakes drawing for free tickets to the park at 9 pm. Holiday world has packed the whole day with fun so be sure to stay tuned throughout the day!
“Opening day is a special day that we count down toward every year. We can’t wait until we can open our gates to Guests again, but until then we’re going to celebrate and help our Guests bring opening day home,” adds Koch.
Right now the park is tentatively planning on an early June reopening, with more details on that to come as they are decided.
This is a wonderful idea by the park to keep their fans engaged and excited!
Announced toward the end of last summer, Holiday World's water park, Splashin' Safari, is gaining a set of water roller coasters in 2020 named Cheetah Chase. Featuring two slides on which riders race each other, Cheetah Chase features a total of 1,700 feet of pathway. Seen above in a new aerial photo from Holiday World, a large amount of the attraction is already in place!
Cheetah Chase features several interesting elements in its design, starting with a "water powered flat launch" section right out of the station before blasting up a large hill.
Holiday World was hard at work today on pouring the large foundation for what will become Cheetah Chase's 68,000 gallon balance tank, located adjacent to the station. That work can be seen in the above photo.
The attraction will not only contain the initial racing element, but also two points further on the layout where riders will closely encounter one another. Another notable feature are the ride's Flying Saucer elements, which are large swooping turns that take place high over the midway.
This photo is from slightly earlier in Cheetah Chase's construction, but gives a nice view of how the ride will interact with nearby attractions. Part of the slide actually passes over the Bahari River, which can be seen at the right of this photo.
To keep up to date with Cheetah Chase's construction, be sure to check out the park's live webcam!
Holiday World has announced the addition of Cheetah Chase, a pair of dueling water roller coasters, to Splashin' Safari for the park's 2020 season. The addition will be the water park's third water roller coaster, making it the "undisputed Water Coaster Capital of the world" according to the park's president, Matt Eckert.
The two sides of Cheetah Chase will feature a combined slide length of more than 1,700 feet, and each will feature bright colors that evoke those that are found on cheetahs.
The attraction is billed by the park as the "world's first launched water coaster." Each raft can seat up to three individuals at a time and rafts on both the left and right side of Cheetah Chase will depart the station at the same time. They will then immediately be blasted forward using a horizontal water powered blast. Sliders will hit a maximum speed of up to 30 feet per second while on Cheetah Chase.
After being blasted up the first incline the rafts will begin to pass through the ride's many special features, including three sections of interaction, including a "head-to-head dueling zone" mid-ride. There are also four separate Flying Saucer elements along the paths, which create "a faster and tighter ride with stronger g-forces" according to the park's release.
Cheetah Chase, also featuring the world's tallest Rocket Blast section at 27 feet tall, will be a very significant, $7 million investment for Holiday World. It will join the park's award winning other water coasters, Wildebeest and Mammoth, when it opens next summer.
Check out this cool fly around animation of Cheetah Chase, and be sure to take a spin on the point of view movie as well.
Holiday World has started teasing their new addition for 2020, which appears to be jungle cat themed. Is it for the theme park or water park? We can't be sure at the moment, however the water park is called Splashin' Safari, so a jungle cat theme seems a perfect one for something new there.
The images here are from the park's teasers, which make me think that whatever is coming might be somewhat thrilling. The top image instructs us to "hold tight," probably not only for the upcoming announcement but also while on the ride, and an e-mail from the park says the announcement will be a "blast."
Granted there are a lot of different thrilling water park attractions out there these days that could arrive, and Splashin' Safari is well known for their water roller coasters as well. It's also worth pointing out that the park removed Pilgrims Plunge (later known as Giraffica and folded into the water park) with no replacement, so perhaps we'll see that area redeveloped in 2020? You never know, the park could even use some of the ride's lagoon for something new.
Either way we won't have to wait all that long, as the park will be making their announcement on August 6th at noon. Visitors to the park that day can attend the announcement and be one of the first to find out all the details!
Indiana's Holiday World theme park has announced that they will spend $5.5 million on expanding the park in 2019. The focus of the work will be in the Christmas themed area, which will receive a sparkling new theming package, along with Santa's Merry Marketplace, a giant dining location.
In order to create Santa's Merry Marketplace, the park will retire Kringle's Kafe. The concept art above shows the area around the addition and Christmas area plaza, which is receiving new holiday theming from top to bottom.
The festive atmosphere will cover the area, magically transforming it into the pinnacle of holiday cheer. This concept art shows how a portion of the renovated area will look when complete. It appears as though many buildings will receive new facades, and new decorations will be strung up throughout.
Santa's Merry Marketplace will be a large dining establishment, and the holiday cheer will continue inside the new location.
“We’re ramping up the theming and the menus for next season,” says park president Matt Eckert. “Santa’s Merry Marketplace is nearly 50 percent larger than Kringle’s and will include more menu items plus a coffee shop, bakery, candy store, and ice cream shop."
“With Santa’s Merry Marketplace, we’ll start a new tradition at Holiday World, as Santa Claus greets park Guests each morning from the bell-tower balcony,” says Eckert. “We also plan to work in some reminders of our Santa Claus Land days and other magical surprises.”
The interior of the Marketplace can be seen above, and it will feature five different serving stations offing distinct menus.
Santa's Merry Marketplace will have even more than the different serving locations, such as the Sugarplum Scoop Shoppe, which is seen here. The ice cream store features frosty treats that are sure to hit the spot on a summer day.
This is the Candy Cane Confectionary and also Polar Expresso, offering a mix of sweet and baked goods, along with the caffeinated beverages needed to enjoy a full day at Holiday World.
This is Holiday World's pun-filled announcement video, which gives even more details about the work they have planned for the 2019 season in the Christmas area.
But wait, there's more! The park has also announced other changes for 2019, including:
- New “Kids World” event for five weekends starting in mid-August - On-ride photos for Gobbler Getaway dark ride - Candy Cornucopia store and Dippin’ Dots Sundae Shoppe in the Thanksgiving section - Track improvements for The Voyage, the world’s second-longest wooden roller coaster - Additional Cabanas
Holiday World is currently holding their family friendly Happy Halloween Weekends through October 28th.
Holiday World & Splashin' Safari has announced a $3.5 million capital expansion plan for 2018 that will see changes made in both parks, including a significant new attraction in the water park.
“We’re adding a fun elephant-themed water-play area for younger children,” says park president Matt Eckert. “When we discovered the Swahili word for elephant is Tembo, we named our new slide complex Tembo Falls and the junior wave pool Tembo Tides.”
Seen in concept art above, the new area will have two distinct attractions, both aimed at kids under 54 inches tall and their families.
Tembo Falls is the water slide complex seen on the left of the above aerial view of the expansion. There will be a total of eight new water slides added, each for kids. There will be a variety of slide types added, including "twisters, a helix, a mini-bowl and two racing slides."
Kids will also love Tembo Tides, a junior sized wave pool that will have various spray features included in the shallow end of it. Guests will also want to check out the new Riverside Retreats, described as "mini cabanas" in the water park.
Elsewhere in the amusement park will be all new live entertainment, including a "stunt show, musical magic show and a strolling brass band." Various track improvements will be made to the Voyage wooden roller coaster, and an electric car charging station will also be added.
Along with the announcement came this video showing off the various additions, check it out below!
Picking up on one of the trends of the moment, Holiday World released a mannequin video today to give park fans plenty of teasers as to their new for 2017 ride. Watchful eyes were able to pick up on just what ride will be added next season, check out the video and see what you can catch:
The new attraction will be named Firecracker, and is a classic Calypso flat ride that will be fully refurbished and added to the 4th of July section of the park, across from Liberty Launch. The ride originally operated at LeSourdsville Lake Park in Ohio before moving to Fun Spot in Indiana. Holiday World obtained the ride, of which there are only a handful still operating, and will bring it back to life for guests next season.
Next season Holiday World will also make three more attractions wheelchair accessible, add more shade structures on popular attractions such as Kitty's Tea Party and Otorongo, replace the Watubee family raft ride's tower structure, and improve many of the park's food and beverage outlets such as the Alamo. Both The Voyage and The Raven wooden roller coasters will also have off-season trackwork done.
The park promises more news on 2017 changes soon on their HoliSounds podcast.
Holiday World has announced that for the park's 70th Anniversary in 2016 they will be making improvements to all three of their world-class wooden roller coasters. Wood coasters require a great amount of maintenance and love to keep them in top riding shape, and Holiday World is already known for giving theirs plenty of attention.
The park's first wooden coaster, opened in 1995, is the Raven and that ride has already received some new track work meant to keep the terrain coaster as smooth as it can be. Even more track work and improvements are coming to the Voyage, the massive wood coaster opened in 2006. The ride is receiving "thicker uplift steel on the top of the second and third hills" and all layers of track have been replaced on a 300 foot section after the ride's triple down element. Both changes are meant to gives Voyage riders a smoother experience.
The Legend, built in 2000, will see the most changes at the park as it is "reborn" and improved to feature a new themed tunnel and an additional air time moment.
Work on the Legend, done by Great Coasters International, will include replacing all layers of track on the first drop and adding more support structure throughout the ride. A new tunnel will take place as the coaster passes under the park's log flume, adding a new surprise moment.
The graphic above is of one of the other changes to the ride, a new double-down element that replaces a downward curve just after the exit of the helix. Another change is a lowered turn just before the new tunnel that will increase the trains speed through the element.
Here is the full announcement video straight from Holiday World:
Holiday World, located in Santa Claus, Indiana, is now open for the 2015 season and that means that Thunderbird has officially debuted to the public. The very eager public. Last night was a sneak preview of the new launched roller coaster for season pass holders, and today everyone got their chance to fly.
These photos, supplied by Holiday World, show off just some of Thunderbird's aerial moves. Above is the initial launch, which takes place just after the trains are dispatched from the station. Some special effects take place and then bam - trains are sent out at 60 miles per hour, reached in just 3.5 seconds. This is manufacturer B&M's first launch coaster, a big move for the famous roller coaster designers.
Thunderbird features a 140 foot tall Immelmann inversion immediately after the launch, which feeds into the 125 foot tall vertical loop seen here. Two more inversions follow during the course of the ride, a zero-g roll and barrel roll. The wing coaster style of the trains keep riders outside the track area, with nothing above or below them. Thunderbird is the Nation's first launched wing coaster.
Holiday World park President Matt Eckert notes that “a wing coaster creates a feeling of incredible freedom," and is proud of the company chosen to build Thunderbird. He calls Bolliger & Mabillard the “Cadillac of roller coasters, known for their safety, quality and reliability. We’ve dreamed of adding a B&M steel coaster for many years and are excited that Thunderbird will be B&M’s first launched coaster.”
This final shot of Thunderbird swirling riders through one of the experience's "keyhole" elements shows just how well the unique trains are utilized. Trains actually pass through this structure twice during the ride - once upside down as you can see. The new coaster represents a $22 million investment in the park - more than any other single ride in the history of Holiday World.
Thunderbird is a part of the park's Thanksgiving section, where a new restaurant, the SmokeHouse, and a shop named Hevron’s Mercantile have also been built. Also new this season is George’s Gluten-Free Pizza & Snacks, the park’s latest effort to provide menus for those with special dietary needs.
For more on Thunderbird and Holiday World, check out the official website.
Holiday World & Splashin' Safari are celebrating the first launch of Thunderbird, the park's new steel roller coaster, just in time for the Nation's 'launch forward' into Daylight Savings Time. That extra hour of daylight should prove beneficial to the park as it continues testing of the first launched wing coaster in the United States.
The launch took place at 2:03 pm on Saturday, and the train - seen above mid-flight - made it back to the station with ease. The train was filled with twenty water dummies that are, one could say, the first riders of the new Bolliger & Mabillard creation.
Thunderbird is an enormous project for Holiday World, so this first launch is momentous. Matt Eckert, Holiday World park President, notes that "this is a huge milestone for us – Thunderbird is the greatest investment we’ve made since we opened in 1946. Our season begins in just seven weeks.”
The new coaster will feature a zero to sixty miles per hour launch in just 3.5 seconds, followed by four inversions including a 125 foot vertical loop and 3,035 feet of track. Thunderbird will also utilize the sleek wing coaster trains to treat riders to several "near miss" moments with a barn, other thematic elements, trees and even other rides.
So do you want to see the video? Me too! Check it out and remember to see more on Thunderbird from Holiday World at this link.
How lovely is this photo of Thunderbird? Holiday World via the ever-popular Holiblog has shared several new images of the launched wing coaster's new double keyhole element now under construction. One of the best aspects of the Bolliger and Mabillard wing coasters has been parks' ability to create these close-encounter structures around the track.
The structure that we see being created at the park will actually provide not one but two close encounters for riders of the coaster.
This is the original rendering of Thunderbird's layout, but it shows what I mean about interacting with the structure twice. There's just a brief pause as the train navigates the Carousel turn before heading back over top of the building, starting in-line roll at the same time.
Holiday World has also been adding the train's cars to the track in recent weeks, some photos of which can be seen here. Thunderbird opens in only 95 days from today!
Weeks ahead of schedule, Holiday World and Splashin' Safari has completed the track for Thunderbird, the Nation's first launched wing coaster. Today the 77th piece of bright orange track, seen above, was carefully lifted into place, completing the 3,035 foot long circuit. The last segment was located just after the ride's finale, a 360 degree in-line twist.
The park's Vice President of Development & Maintenance, James Olliver, has only great things to say about the team of more than three dozen workers who assembled the ride. The crews forged on through both end of summer heat and recent snowfall to get the ride's track in place an impressive three weeks early. The team celebrated by signing the final piece of track, forever leaving their personal mark on the ride.
Thunderbird will be Holiday World's first major steel roller coaster, and it's going to make quite an impression on visitors next year. The ride features a 60 mile per hour launch immediately into a 14 story Immelmann inversion. The trains will then encounter a vertical loop before heading into the woods for several more elements, including a horseshoe, elevated spiral, corkscrew and several near-miss interactions with thematic structures.
As if the ride as already announced isn't enough, the park is promising to release two additional "ride enhancements" in the coming weeks!
Holiday World will open for the 2015 season on April 25th - just over 5 months from now.
In amazing time, the track for Thunderbird at Holiday World is nearly complete! The park flew through the construction of the Horseshoe, Elevated Spiral, Zero-G Roll, and seen above, the S Curve element in recent weeks.
I love how many trees were kept in the above section of the ride, a couple of them are wonderfully close to the track! If you look at the background of this photo, you can also see the Carousel turn mostly in place. This element will eventually see a barn added over part of it, which will give riders two close encounters with its structure.
For more recent photos of Thunderbird's construction, head over to Holiday World's website.
Today was a special day for both Holiday World and Bolliger & Mabillard at the IAAPA Trade Show - the world got its first look at the new train design for Thunderbird.
Here we see the train for the wing coaster, complete with members of the Koch family and park manager Matt Eckert! The colors of the train are mostly cool, a mix of blues and greens with yellow accents. The colors will look great speeding along the orange track that Thunderbird has.
No need to miss an opportunity to spread the Thunderbird word, this decal was added to the train shortly before the big reveal. If you haven't already been to the park's website for Thunderbird, click here to check out the ride.
Scott was able to catch up with the Thunderbird project manager, James Holloway to find out some more about the nation's first launched wing roller coaster.
After Holiday World completed the 125 foot vertical loop on Thunderbird, they quickly crossed over The Voyage and started on the launched wing roller coaster's next element. That happens to be an "elevated horseshoe," which can be seen halfway complete in the photo above.
The top of this element is actually banked more than 90 degrees, and it will be quite a sight to see the five car trains soaring through it. The park reports that right around 50% of the Thunderbird track has been put into place so far.
Additional recent construction photos are available on the Thunderbird website.
Also worth noting is that the park has released another episode of Hard Hat Chronicles, which is nicely documenting Thunderbird's construction. There's some excellent shots of the elevated horseshoe going up in here as well. Check it out:
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