A skeptic's report

We visited Holiday World on May 12, 2007. I am a big fan of one of the Six Flags parks and was not too sure about attending. My husband really wanted to come there because he lived close and attended there when he was young. He asked me to please have an open mind and try to enjoy myself. Well...this is what the very skeptical me discovered at Holiday World.

First I watched the tellers at the ticket windows. They all seemed to be very nice and I was impressed that they reminded customers who did not have any discounts to bring a Pepsi can next time in order to get discounts. I went back to the gate later in the day to see if they were as friendly as they were in the morning and found them to be just as cheerful and helpful.

When we walked through the second gate, which took a very minimal amount of time, we nearly fell over the map stand. I know this sounds like such a simple thing, but I LOVED that we did not stand inside the gate and say "Now, where do we get a map?"

We rode most of the rides and I could not believe that the majority of the bigger rides, which tend to have longer lines, were shaded for the most part where you stand in line the longest.

Not only the free drinks, but the fact that there are so many stations at one location AND there is cool air blowing impressed me! I thought I would see Pepsi cups laying everywhere, but to my surprise, I saw NONE....all day. We were there for 8 hours! I realized that the fact that there are trash cans about every 10 feet was the answer.

The free drinks, I believe, not only keep customers cool, I think it keeps them less irritable and since we did not have to spend so much money on drinks, we spent a lot more on other things.

We had forgotten to bring sunscreen for my niece, who is very fair-complected. I was going to go to a store in the park and then discovered the free sunscreen stations. I was absolutely amazed and extremely thankful that I not only did not have to buy any, but I did not have to carry it around either.

The rides and areas for the smaller children were not only very pleasant, from the little bumper boats, to the area where Holidog was to the water area, they were all very well manned. My son, who is 11, said, "This place actually makes me want to be little again."

At the water park I noticed lifeguards all along the lazy river, at the children's area, at the bottom of the slides/rides and they were all so nice. A very small child was at the end of one of the largest slides and was trying to climb over into the water. The worker was so polite and involved the mother to help remove the child. It was done in such a mature manner.

We LOVE playing games. Usually the most tired, irritable, unfriendly park workers are located at the games. EVERY attendant at EVERY game area said the same thing, "Thank you for
playing with us and enjoy your day at Holiday World"....WITH A SMILE! Even at 4-5 PM.

On the roller coaster where you cannot take a fanny pack, the attendant collected everyone's
bags, glasses and fanny packs and even put mine in a locker and had a token for the key. I didn't have to walk across, he did it for me and he was so nice about it.

I also loved that there were long benches in so many places. People don't always want to sit next to someone on a small bench, but will on a larger bench.

I decided to analyze why it is that the park employees were so friendly ALL DAY. I realized that I had seen MANY changes and break relief throughout the day. I had noticed employees drinking and eating ice cream. It was such a nice change.

I have to tell you that we are selling discount tickets to the Six Flags park I mentioned, but if you all have an employee discount program, next year, I would love to know more about it.

Thank you for a great visit. My family WILL return in the near future; most likely we will bring others along and probably spend two days next time. I arrived a skeptic and left a true fan of Holiday World.

I have told so many people about it, don't be surprised if you start seeing a LOT of Tennessee license plates in your parking lots.

Thank you,

Ronda R.
Tennessee