Holiday World blogs

Fwaaaaaap!

HoliBlog — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:33:29 +0000

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.

Food restrictions won't stop guest from visiting

Shared_Memories — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 21:35:00 +0000

I just wanted to thank you all for going out of your way to prepare a listing
of gluten-free foods. Every year our family takes at least 1 trip to Holiday
World and after being diagnosed with Celiac Disease, I wondered what I would
be able to eat or what I would have to bring with me. This year I will be
visiting your site three times - as a school club sponsor, with our church
youth group, and as a family. You've made it so much easier for me to enjoy
myself at the park.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Amanda B.
Daawson Springs, Kentucky

Must be a guy thing

HoliBlog — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 00:55:02 +0000

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.

"...no one alive who is Willer than Will"

HoliBlog — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:18:53 +0000

Did you celebrate yesterday?

Maybe an extra helping or two of green eggs and ham?

Or a bit of reading to smallish children?

Will did.

Sarah, who's worked in our merchandise department for years and years, asked Will to come to her school yesterday to read to a wonderful group of kindergartners.

As Will was leaving our office yesterday, explaining where he was going, GM Matt said, "You know it's Dr. Suess's birthday, right?"

Will stopped dead in his tracks. "Oh. Well, now it makes sense."

And off he went.

Here are a few Dr. Seuss gems that surely fit the day (or any day):

Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you.

If you never did, you should. These things are fun, and fun is good.

I meant what I said, and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful, one hundred percent.

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself, any direction you choose.

And will you succeed? Yes indeed, yes indeed! Ninety-eight and three-quarters percent guaranteed.

From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere.

Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.

Good-bye, dear and kind friend

HoliBlog — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:20:07 +0000

We're all a little sad today, as we say good-bye to Frank Belcher.

Frank was a sweet, fun, gentle gentleman who adopted the entire park as his family.

Not that Frank needed more family--he already had a wonderful one. But when your heart's that big, you just keep adding friends and loved ones.

Frank retired from a long career, including the Fire Chief of Princeton, Indiana, in 1980.

He then became a full-time Holiday World fan.

Reading comments posted about Frank on various Facebook pages these past few days, the same word is repeated over and over: kind.

Indeed, Frank was a kind man. He came to the shows and made the entertainers feel extra special when he would remember their names and chat with them after the shows.

He was everybody's grandpa.

For 30 years, Frank visited us nearly every day of the season. He took lots of photos of the shows, and was generous handing out copies of his favorite pictures of his park family.

Here's one they took of him, up on stage after a show...

Frank even came to auditions, and made sure everyone had a soft drink from his cooler. He and his friend Luther (who no doubt greeted Frank at the pearly gates last Thursday) often came to the park together. They used to ask to be issued Season Pass #1 and Season Pass #2 each season (long before we went to that new-fangled scanner system).

We'll let a former park entertainer named Josie finish this, with her sweet Facebook post: I remember how kind Frank was - he will live on in the wonderful memories I have of my summer at Holiday World.

New method of crowd control at Raven

HoliBlog — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 00:42:56 +0000

When do you think we should schedule one last snowfall for this memorable and seemingly endless 2009/2010 winter season?

Quoth The Raven ... Nevermore!

"No better bang for their buck!"

Shared_Memories — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:16:43 +0000

My family and I have been coming to the park every year since I

retired from the Navy and moved back to Indiana in late 2004. We

live up near Anderson, which makes for about a 4 hour drive to

Santa Claus and Lake Rudolph Campground where we stay every year.

And every year we come, we are so impressed with the park, and I

vow to write you and let you know how much my family loves coming

there and how we always look forward to our next trip and count the

days until we are packing up and heading south. Well finally, here

it is!

Your park blows every other theme park out of the water, no pun

intended. The quality and variety of the rides, the sincere

friendliness of every staff member, the cleanliness of the entire

park, the affordability of the food and gift shops... nothing tops

the entire package that Holiday World & Splashin' Safari offers.

And it's easy to take the quality and cleanliness and friendly

atmosphere for granted...until you go to another park.

We went to a certain unnamed water park in the Tampa area, and all

we did was grumble and gripe about how utterly pitiful the park was

compared to our favorite place! Filthy lazy rivers, shortage of tubes,

bad attitudes and total lack of customer service made us wish we were

back in the hills of southern Indiana and in the good hands of the

Koch's.

Which brings up another observation I've made: we always spend two

days at the parks, and I have yet to have one trip where I haven't

seen either Pat and/or Will roaming around, greeting people, saying,

"Hi! Are you having fun? What can we do?" I think that alone says so

much about what the park means to you and your concern for your patrons.

That is something I have never seen at any other park. And I think that

helps contribute to the best advertising you can get: word of mouth.

Anytime I hear anyone talking about summer plans, I heartily recommend

your park to them and relay all of our great experiences and how there

is no better bargain for their buck.

I was so glad to hear that you had another record-breaking attendance

this past year, even with the bad economy. You richly deserve every

accolade and award and good word that is said about you and your park.

I wish you and yours continued success, a wonderful off-season as we

watch the Wildebeest come to life, and look forward to seeing you next year!

Thank you so much for all you do!

Darrell H.

Snowy Safari

HoliBlog — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 15:40:38 +0000

We keep hearing from folks who think the water park would be loads of fun in the snow.

A Facebook Fan even recommended we host the next Winter Olympics.

This particular ride would certainly start off fun, but the new decelerators on Jungle Racer might have a chilling effect.

"Don't track in any snow..."

HoliBlog — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 00:23:01 +0000

The recent winter storm gave a whole new meaning to that oft-heard phrase:

"Honey, when you come back in, be sure that you don't track in any snow..."

Special delivery

HoliBlog — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:12:45 +0000

It's nice to have The Gravity Group offices just three hours away, in Cincinnati.

So when Tony, our maintenance director, asked for sample bogies and a chassis to be delivered early, Chad hopped in the van Friday and headed our way.

Searching for a "hanging Chads" joke ... sadly, none comes to mind. But that's Gravity Group's Chad on the far left and Holiday World's Chad with the hood up.

I guess they're hanging...sort of.

I'm told that's a chassis they're carrying. Basically, that's the framework -- or skeleton -- of the train.

Poor Bryan. I think Chad just told him he has to carry the chassis to the top of the 173-foot lifthill all by himself.

Just kidding, Bryan. That Chad's a joker.

That's Tony with Chad in the foreground, over in The Voyage's transfer track area. Lots of snow in the background. (Mostly gone now, due to warmer temps and even a bit of rain over the weekend.)

If the chassis is the skeleton, then are these things the feet?

Chad tells us these metatarsals (anyone else got a young-un studying up on naming all the bones in the body?)...er, feet, are actually called bogies.

Since golf has been in the news all too often lately, I checked the dictionary to make sure Chad's nomenclature was accurate. Indeed, among the golf notations, nickname for Humphrey Bogart, cartoon character, and a gross nasal reference, there it was. Back in mommy-mode, I'll ask you to look it up if you want the full bogie explanation. Wouldn't want to plagiarize or anything.

Bottom line, our coaster maintenance technicians are ready to make any minor adjustments to the existing Voyage setup to make sure the new Timberliner trains are a perfect fit.

Or, if you will, up to par.