With three weeks till opening our 64th season, the park is a-buzz.

Down in the Hoosier Celebration Theater, our entertainers are getting quite a workout.

Here's a "Real Country" snippet from a rehearsal over the weekend.

"Real Country" opens on May 1.

It takes a lot of testing before opening a new water coaster!  And this was only the first day...

This is Ray, an engineer from ProSlide, and Joe (off camera, saying "3-2-1" a lot then going back to his laptop to reprogram slightly and try again) testing the pulse feature for the linear induction motors that power Wildebeest's boats "magically" uphill.

Wildebeest, the world's longest water coaster, opens May 14.

Typical conversation between Will and me:

Me: Thanks for emailing me the photos, Will. The one of the logo -- exactly where is it on the seat?

Will: It's on the seatback.

Me: The back of the back of the seat? Or the front of the back of the seat?

...after pausing to laugh and reference an old Abbott & Costello routine, we came to an understanding.

Me: So it's the front of the seatback? The part you'll sweat on when it's hot like today?

Will: (still laughing) Well, I'd never think to put it that way, but ... yes.

Exhibit A: The front of the seatback of a Timberliner seat, produced for The Voyage this season.

Okay, to avoid confusion please be sure to read this thoroughly: Below is a photo of one of the seats from Voyage's new Timberliner trains.

The seat is sitting on a chair in Holiday World's conference room.

So the good news is the trains do *not* run on casters. (Hmmmm...a coaster on casters. Say that three times fast.)

But we digress...

Other good news, the chair that the seat is sitting in is quite roomy -- as are the Timberliner seats.

At first I thought Will was playing "button, button, who's got the button?" but now realize he's pantomiming riding in The Voyage in our new Timberliner trains.

The rest of the train arrives next week.

Casters optional.

As you may be aware, Holidog likes to travel.

The little fellow recently accompanied admissions director Eric and his wife to Baltimore.

But why Baltimore, you may ask?

To pay his respects to his old pal Edgar.

Been bugging the engineers at The Gravity Group for more photos of our new Timberliner trains.

Testing of the new trains for our Voyage roller coaster begins in just a few weeks, and the parts are in painting-and-assembly mode.

Korey was kind enough to send a few.

In Korey's words: I took a field trip today to the shop that is handling the fiberglass work on our Timberliners. They are deep in the process of producing the front and side fenders for your Voyage trains.

This first photograph shows seven of the fiberglass fronts that will attach to the foot box on each car.

The second photo shows the fenders that go over the road wheel. They are working with 6-7 pieces at a time. When I stopped in they were smoothing the pieces down in preparation for the painting, which they are planning on doing tomorrow or Monday.

Back in Santa Claus, we've turned on the water to begin the testing process for Wildebeest, the world's longest water coaster. Photos are posted on our Facebook Fan Page.

My new pal Steve at Matt Davenport Productions in Nashville (as in Tennessee) put together a little introductory video showing our entertainers' first rehearsals over the past weekend.

And yes, as a special treat, you get to see Will in jeans. (What next?! Cowboy boots and a 10 gallon hat?) Looks like we're in for a fun season...

...he wants Daddy and Mommy to take him to Holiday World!

This little fellow is only a few weeks old, but already he's pals with Holidog.And he has his first park shirt (okay, it's a onesie)

His dad, Jeff, is the coaster geek who founded CoasterBuzz. (Little Simon is bound to be a chip off the old block.)

Awwww...

Well, not really.

But I've always wanted to write that.

What we can show you, though, is the underbelly of the Wildebeest's boats. Will that do?

These aren't your run-of-the-mill inflatable pool rafts, bucko. These boats contain the other half of what makes the Linear Induction Motor (LIM) technology work. As in a sheet of steel. These puppies are heavy!

Will is an engineer; we'll let him explain:

“An alternating magnetic field beneath the slide surface propels the rafts, pushing them rapidly and smoothly uphill. LIM technology is a popular feature in some steel roller coasters; it’s cool to see it applied to water coasters, too.”

Sure do like those seatbacks. Looks sort of non-invasive, if you know what I mean.

We hit the "just add water" stage next week. Then testing starts next month.

Watch it all happen live on our webcam.

When we first talked about starting an online shop, the thought of asking staff to model for the photos appealed to us.

Our people, after all, are an important part of our "brand." (That's marketing talk for families-are-us.)

As you surely know, families don't always behave.

Above are Jennifer and Lori, the manager and director of Splashin' Safari. They're trying out the new Wildebeest beach towels that arrived recently for our shops, including our online HoliShop.

Here's a more passive approach to beach linens. Our marketing coordinator, Andy, stretches this Holidog towel to its full height (Andy, by the way, is six and a half feet tall).

If you'd like to shop around, here's the link to our HoliShop.

I'll never forget the first time I heard about waterless urinals.

It was the year 2000.

The Kochs had arrived back from the annual IAAPA convention all excited.

The guys, anyway.

Mrs. Koch cracked us up at the next directors meeting. Apparently Will and his dad were pretty fired up about these new-fangled guy potties.

"That's all they talked about -- all dinner long," Mrs. Koch wailed. "And we were in a really nice restaurant with other park people. All the men talked about were urinals!"

Oh, how embarrassing.

I felt my cheeks burn with a deep ... flush.

Before long, I got over my mortification and pitched a story to the trades. Indeed, Holiday World was breaking ground again. Just one year after introducing "Free Unlimited Soft Drinks" to the industry, we were the first park to add these mysterious new waterless urinals.

Cause and effect.

For some reason, the coaster enthusiasts seemed particularly enthralled with the news. The female enthusiasts demanded to see what was going down. So when we held our annual coaster-riding event for them that May, we made special arrangements.

A tour.

We called it the "Ladies Only V.I.Pee Tour."

Will and Mrs. Koch headed the tour, armed with Super Soakers. At one point after explaining the inner workings of the waterless wonders (in his customary scientific manner), Will was suddenly overcome with embarrassment, hung his head and sort of stood in the corner. (A urinal-free corner.)

Flash forward a decade.

This morning, Will sent me this photo, marked "Must-blog: Pixie Urinal."

All I could think was, "Here we go again."

Here is Will's wee tale:

We were meeting today with a vendor who told the following story: One of the ladies who works in their office got a phone call, asking if the company could supply them with some more of the "pixie urinals." Needless to say, the folks in the office were confused, and couldn't guess what the customer wanted. After thinking it through for a while, they decided the customer was referring to the part in the photo (it's actually a charger for a handheld/wireless scanning device). At the customer's company, they have quite a few of these (maybe 10) lined up on a shelf. I can't disagree that they would indeed look like the urinals for people (pixies?) who would use a very small men's room.

Here's a photo of the "pixie urinal" being used as originally intended:

And so now, Will, I have blogged about the pixie urinals, as requested.

What a relief.