Dark humor

When we began building The Raven back in the fall of 1994, we came to know all sorts of coaster- and park-enthusiast clubs.

First, we heard from the American Coaster Enthusiasts (ACE). And then there was the National Amusement Park Historical Association (NAPHA). And even regional groups such as the Great Ohio Coaster Club (GOCC), the Western New York Coaster Club (WNYCC) and the Mid-Atlantic Coaster Club (MACC). And that's just a handful of the domestic clubs.

Overseas, there's the Roller Coaster Club of Great Britain (RCCGB) and the European Coaster Club (ECC).

And now we're learning about DAFE.

DAFE?

At first I pronounced it as spelled, "dafe."

But I've been enlightened.

The Darkride and Funhouse Enthusiasts pronounce their club's acronym "daffy."

Ha!

These are folks who are drooling over the thought of a new "dark ride" being produced in our Thanksgiving section. We'll update them along with everyone else here on the HoliBlog as decisions are made regarding this interactive turkey-chase ride.

Here's DAFE's lighthearted slogan: We keep our members in the dark!

Overheard in Holidog's FunTown

At closing time, Chris (our security director) got a chuckle out of this...

While closing FunTown, I overheard a mom and her young (6 or 7ish) daughter:

The mom kept saying, "I know you need you to go to the bathroom--you need to go before we leave."

Daughter replies, “What I need is some ice cream.”

"We finally made it!"

This really belongs on our What Our Guests Are Saying feedback page, but it's so neat, it earns HoliBlog placement as well:

Well, it took more than 30 years, but I finally made it.....to Santa Claus Land!!

When I was a little girl growing up here in Cincinnati, I remember seeing commercials or something for Santa Claus Land in Indiana.

I wanted to go there so bad...after all, it appeared to combine my two favorite things-amusement parks and Christmas.

Well, as things sometimes go in life, we never made it there, and I had long forgotten about your park.

Then, a few years back, I picked up one of your Holiday World brochures at an Indiana rest stop on my way home from visiting the in-laws.

It suddenly dawned on me that this was the Santa Claus Land I had once dreamed of visiting.

Since then I have seen your park countless times on The Travel Channel, and through the internet, have read nothing but praise for your park from theme park and coaster enthusiasts.

I made up my mind that this summer I was finally going to Santa Claus Land.

Well, at 6 am yesterday morning, I left Cincinnati with my 79-year-old mother and seven-year-old daughter in tow. We were at your park when it opened, and, had we not had the three-hour drive home, would have surely closed the place down. The 8+ hours we spent there were awesome.

Everything I have read and heard was 100% true.

The park was immaculate, the staff polite and competent, the themed areas were actually that--THEMED, and the rides and attractions were great fun. And, oh yeah, the soft drinks and parking were free!! (Even on the drive home, my mother was still marveling at the fact you do that all the time; that it wasn't just something special.)

While it may have taken me 30 years to get there, I can assure you it won't be another 30 before we return. My daughter and I (and maybe even mom) are planning a longer visit next summer to give "Thanks" to the Koch family and Santa for an awesome park!

Shari S.
Mason, Ohio

More facts from The Gravity Group

After reading Wednesday's HoliBlog entry, Chad at The Gravity Group offered these latest facts as part of our continuing education:

To clear up any confusion, structural screws ARE bolts, but you probably already figured that out.

A325 is the "high strength" designation.

H.D.G. stands for hot dipped galvanized.

3/4 inch diameter, 10 threads per inch, 2 inches long.

Am I the only one wondering ... if screws are bolts -- why not just call them bolts?

All together now: It's all a little nutty!

Small world (oops! wrong park...)

Received this email from Allison this morning:

I just read the request from Connie in Texas about the brochure.

I couldn't believe it!

My husband's mother passed away in March and we've been busy cleaning out her home. (Keep in mind, my husband comes from a long line of pack rats.) We actually have the brochure from Santa Claus Land with the little girl wearing the sunglasses!

It was found among a thousand other brochures from various vacations over the years.

We pitched all the others but kept the Santa Claus Land brochure.

Not that we are freaks.....my second cousin, Lori, happened to marry Will Koch so it has some meaning to us.

It is a small world! Who would have thought I'd marry a boy who visited Santa Claus Land, my cousin, Lori, married a boy who would grow up to be King of Holiday World, and my in-laws would keep everything they ever touched so that we could have the missing brochure featuring the little girl on the springy thing!

I bet there aren't too many other people who could read the "Brochure Baby" HoliBlog and have the exact same brochure right in front of them. Maybe we should have saved the other brochures and put them on eBay.

Oh, say hello to Lori and Will for us. We can't wait to ride the new coaster! We set up our chairs from our dining room all in a row and "rode" the computer simulation, but somehow, it just isn't the same as the real thing!

Brochure baby

Received an email from Connie yesterday.

Asking about old brochures.

Santa Claus Land brochures.

Connie's not a collector, though.

Not of brochures, anyway.

It's just her daughter's photo was once in a Santa Claus Land brochure. Somehow, over the years, Connie's copy of that brochure was misplaced.

Connie was a college chum of a member of the Koch family. She was invited bring her daughter to a pre-season event in the mid-1970s. Silly little Kimber Lee put her sunglasses on upside-down and played on a "springy" ride.

Now the next generation is interested in seeing this photo, so Connie emailed from Texas asking if we could dig up the picture for her granddaughter.

And here it is ... from our 1978 Santa Claus Land brochure:



Now we have three happy generations grinning over this photo.

And maybe a few honorary cousins.

Made in the U.S.A.

The delivery arrived this morning.

Two semi-loads.

Eighty-thousand times three, actually.



Wouldn't all fit in the storage trailer.

When Steve told us about the upcoming delivery in Monday's staff meeting, I gasped, "Where will we put them all?"

Steve misunderstood and gave me quite a look: "In the coaster structure, of course."

Good grief. Maybe I need to darken the shade of my hair a tad.

Eventually the facts came out -- we'll fit all we can in the storage trailer and the rest will be stacked next to it.



Closer inspection reveals a bit more information.



Screws?

According to Steve...we were to receive the following:

80,000 bolts

80,000 nuts

80,000 washers

There was no mention of screws.

Maybe that is a bonus barrel. You know--buy 80,000 bolts, get a free barrel of screws.

With the end of the month comes park-wide inventory. I know April is looking forward to counting all that plush in her department.

Wonder who counts the bolts?

A year late?

The other evening, my youngest son and I came back to "work" to enjoy a few hours in the park together.

James had never tried Monsoon Lagoon before; he was beside himself with glee and was literally the last one to leave.

As the water park closed, and we headed back toward Holiday World, I heard an almost familiar noise.

What was it?

So loud.

So distinct.

Could it be?

Cicadas!

Remember a year ago, how we were supposed to get clobbered by the 17-year cicadas? I started getting emails from folks back in February who word concerned about planning their vacation around the invasion.

It was alarming, to say the least.

So were the websites I went to, in order to learn more. Talk about ug-ly bugs!

I calmed down, though, when I thought to ask around -- do a bit of research. Surely I could poll the folks who worked here 17 years ago. Wouldn't it be reasonable to surmise that if the cicadas weren't here 17 years ago, they wouldn't have laid those incredibly-long-gestational eggs?

Happily, there was no memory of cicadas from 1987.

And no cicadas in 2004.

But now ... wait ...

That loud, harsh, snapping sound.

More and more ...

Louder and louder...

Coming from every direction...

Surround-sound cicadas!



Oh.

In my defense, it was less than a split second before I recognized it was the sound of soaking-wet flip-flops making my heart palpitate.

But for that brief nano-second it was very scary indeed.

A new number

Just because the announcement is in the past, doesn't mean the hints and teasing have gone away.

Perish the thought!

Tomorrow, we will receive a huge delivery on the Snowy White Gravel Road.

Included will be 80,000 ... things.

We'll post some photos and more info once the trucks arrive in the morning.

Hope you can hold it together till then.

Christmas in July!

Couldn't miss this opportunity to send a greeting from Santa's Summer Home on this festive day.



Cute little Ashli and Lea were determined to get some face time with St. Nick before heading to the water park.

Only five more shopping months left, after all!

If you live in the Owensboro area...

...and you're on Adelphia Cable, you can tune in at the following times to see a very nice program about our 2006 Expansion Project Announcement.

There will be 3 airings:

Saturday July 23rd at 12:00 noon and 4:00pm CDT

Sunday July 24th at 1:00 pm CDT

The piece will be aired in Owensboro, Kentucky, on Adelphia Cable Channel 52.

Family first

Visitors to the park in the coming days who notice that Mrs. Koch isn't in place outside our Front Gate each morning...

Fear not; all is well!

With the arrival Grandbaby #12 imminent, Mrs. Koch is out of town for a while.

Meanwhile, we hope this message will do:

Good morning!

Are you ready for fun?

We're so glad you're here!

Please put your shirt on, sir.

Oh, what beautiful children you have!

What's your favorite ride?

Yes, I'm the lady from the commercials.

Please keep my park clean today!

We miss you, Mrs. Koch -- but you're where you need to be right now. And when that happy time comes, give that grandbaby a smooch or two from all of us!

A glassy proposal

Maybe that new section should have been Valentine's Day!

...'cause love was all around yesterday at Holiday World.

Karen, who's in our Human Resources Department, tells the story:

On Thursday evening, July 21, a gentleman named Chris stopped by the Bavarian Glassblowers Shop to observe the artisan at work.

He saw Kathy blowing glass "straws" into the shape of written names; he asked if it would be possible for her to make a "Will You Marry Me?" piece.




Kathy said yes! Chris came back a little later and told the Hostesses in the shop that he was going to propose to his love, Mary, right there.

Chris got down on bended knee and as Mary pulled the beautiful glass sculpture out of the box, he said, "Honey, you know I love you. Will you do me the honor of being my wife?"

Through tears of excitement, joy, and surprise, she said, "Yes."

Cheers were cheered!

Tears were teared!

And claps were clapped!

Love was the theme in the Glassblowers Shop that evening. And as the newly engaged couple walked out past Mrs. Klaus’ Kitchen, we knew our lives would never be the same, because yet another love blossomed here at Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari.



We wish the best to Chris and Mary from Centralia, Illinois, as they stroll together in life hand in hand.

Holidog's Voyage

I guess this shouldn't surprise me.

After all, my parking spot here at work is just a few spaces down from one marked "Santa Claus."

But...

...I just received an email from Holidog.

Complete with pictures!

Here's some of the message:

In celebration of our new themed area, I have decided to embark (pun intended) on my own voyage.



Through my travels, I hope to tell more people about Holiday World.

Don't worry about me; I'm a Big Dog now and I will be just fine as I explore a new world.



I'll be sure to write and send you lots of pictures. I'll be back in time for the launch of The Voyage in May.



Well ... I'm off!

Chow, Holidog


The email message came to me as a PDF file, so I asked Holidog to please email me the individual jpeg files, as his voyage would certainly be HoliBloggable.

Holidog complied, even though PDF (Puppy Dog Format) is his favorite format.

Don't worry, children of all ages, Holidog won't head out too far until after the season is over. He'll still be up at Holidog's FunTown with lots of hugs and dancing.

Sigh!

Our little Holidog ... taking a new leash on life!

A firm foundation

Here's another discussion about footers. This is from our old pal DJ, you remember him, right?

What the man in the photo is drilling into is typicially referred to in the construction industry as a "pile."

A pile is a vertical shaft made of concrete that is created by drilling a hole into the ground, putting a circular form inside the hole, and pouring concrete inside the form. It typically has reinforcing steel inside the concrete to make the pile stronger.

The purpose of a pile is to prevent the structure above it, in this case a roller coaster, from sinking.

These can be seen beneath the Raven in this photo.

In the construction of buildings, piles typically go deep enough to hit bedrock beneath the soil. However in the case of many coasters, which are lighter than buildings, the piles often do not need to go that deep. This all depends on the soil the ride is built on, which is the type of information a geotechnical engineer can tell you.

The large, flat holes in the ground that the workers are creating and filling with concrete and steel in other photos are called "spread footings." These serve the same purpose as a pile (i.e. to make sure a structure doesn't sink), but instead of going deep vertically to gather its support, a spread footing stays closer to the surface and depends mostly on the soil beneath it to support itself.

Each patch of soil has specific properties, and some can support more force (weight) per square foot than other soil. Once the engineer knows the properties of the soil, and how much force the ride puts on the ground, he can design a sufficient spread footing.

Just remember that without careful consideration of a roller coaster's foundation, the ride will likely start sinking in many areas soon after being built. This is why you often don't see much vertical construction early on when a ride is being built. The creators are making sure the ride doesn't sink for future park patrons to enjoy for years to come.

There's something quite likeable about engineers, isn't there? They may not be the flashiest individuals, but they're smart and they like to explain what it is they do.

And I'm surrounded by them! (Will has an Electrical Engineering degree from Notre Dame, his dad had an engineering degree from Purdue, and my oldest son is an EE/Math major at my husband/his dad's alma mater.) And then there are our pals at The Gravity Group.

I must admit, my eyes roll back in my head fairly often.

But it's always a learning experience.

Because sometimes it's best to ask the experts

Suffering from feelings of extreme inadequacy while creating yesterday's post, I realized it was time for me to consult an expert.

After all, this watching-The-Voyage-grow-and-grow will only get more complicated in the coming weeks, right?

Happily, Chad at The Gravity Group is more than happy to educate us:

Most of what the guys are doing right now (when they're not pouring concrete) is digging holes and trenches, bending and tying up rebar cages (the steel reinforcement that adds strength to the concrete foundations), forming up the holes and trenches (so that the concrete that's above ground is nice and square or round), and setting the anchor straps in place (the lower portion of which get buried in the concrete). Each foundation has to meet up perfectly with the post that will attach to it, so position along the ground is important as well as the top of concrete elevation.

The foundations we are using on this job are different than the other two coasters, but not completely due to the fact that we are using steel structure. It also has to do with new ASTM requirements, site and soil conditions, and an evolving design philosophy on the part of The Gravity Group.

Thanks, Chad. We'll check in again with you soon. No doubt you'll keep us right on track.

We get all kinds of suggestions

Received an interesting email from an ACE member the other day:

I was at Great Escape in Lake George, New York, over the July 4th weekend, and an 8-year-old boy noticed my Legend T-shirt and said "That's at Holiday World, right?"

I confirmed it was, and I expected him to tell me how great the rides were or rave about the water park or just talk about what a great time he had, but all he said was "Free drinks" and gave a thumbs up.

Apparently, even the little ones who probably aren't paying for their own beverages appreciate the value of a dollar. Maybe you don't even need any rides at this point. Just charge admission and let the kids shove a hose attached directly to the soda dispenser down their throats.

Just a thought.

Anyway, I was glad to hear your reputation has started to spread to New York. And thanks for the awesome additions for next year - I'm already planning my trip(s).

Jon E.
Hopkins, Minnesota

Voyage construction photos

Rachel, who is truly a wonderful person, offered to head up to the Voyage construction site this morning (before it got too hot) to take some photos for you.

All together now: Thank you, Rachel!

Let's start out by looking from side to side at the top of the hill when you drive up the Snowy White Gravel Road.

At the top of the hill, you're in the woods. The road curves from heading west to heading south. At this curve, Rachel stood ... and looked to the east:



As you look at this photo, the path of The Voyage is coming your way. It's heading north and then curves westward, toward the turnaround.

Next Rachel spins 180 degrees (which, coincidentally, was the average temperature today). This photo shows the path toward the turnaround.



Next, Rachel drove back onto Highway 162 and into the employees-only parking lot. From there, she headed north back up toward the woods (to the east of The Wave).

Bingo! Pouring footers was the task of the day.



These are very different-looking footers than we saw in the construction of The Raven and The Legend. This is because The Voyage will have a steel structure and wooden track.



See the footers that are already there? Right next to the road? And then off in the distance, there's a cluster of workers over by an existing footer.



I'm sorry to say I have no idea what these fellows are doing. I'll try to find out and will report back here when I do.



Okay, now that's a drill, right? And he's drilling into what looks like the type of footers we had for the other coasters.



There will soon be enough footers in place for them to start putting up structure.

And going vertical is a very good thing.

Those were the days...

It truly is a milestone.

Worthy of pausing to celebrate.

Turning 30.

Oh, no...not me! (Heavens, no!)

Our director of merchandise, Vanessa, turned 30 the other day.

And everyone ... everyone ... was in the pink.



Will didn't get to wear his shirt the rest of the day, though. He spilled cake on it pretty early on and the more he tried to rub the stain off, the more he rubbed it in.

Do we know how to party, or what?

The hint no one caught

I found this to be stunning.

And no one caught it.

Whew! I thought it was a complete give-away.

It started on July 7.

Wanted to show one of the ... um ... more interesting photos taken by the editor of our local paper during our fireworks celebration on Independence Day.



Okay...so now that you know what's what for '06 ...

... do you get it?

Look carefully.

Squint a bit.

Maybe tilt your head.

No -- the other way!

A bit more ... a little more ...

Okay, I'll do it for you.



There! Looks just like a turkey, doesn't it?

Okay ... well ... an exploding turkey. But a turkey nonetheless.

Right?

Is this a sign?

A message of some sort?

What does this mean?

When I discovered this on July 7, I just couldn't keep it to myself. I forwarded the photo to Will, Mrs. Koch, and our directors.

The sole response to that email: Paula, you really need a vacation.

The quote that didn't make it

It was so nice to wake up this morning to see this article in USA Today. (Their circulation is a whopping 2.2 million, baby!)

Will did a phone interview with the reporter a month or so ago. I always try to sit in on these interviews. Not that I "catch" a mistake all that often, but I do tend to learn a thing or two.

Will's strongest statement in the article is that building Splashin' Safari "...is the best business decision we ever made."

(Of course, when he tells this to a travel writer during a park tour, I pipe up, "Next to hiring me, of course!" A bit obnoxious, I admit, but it always gets a laugh. From the writer, anyway...)

Later in the phone interview, Will nearly gave me a heart attack.

"You know, if I had to choose between our coasters or the water park...

"I'd keep Splashin' Safari."

Gasp!

Will -- how could you?! Making a choice? And then talking about it?

Don't you know the first rule of Parenting Q&A: I love you all equally.

Happily, such a decision doesn't have to be made.

And no one need know Will's dirty little secret.

Guess I'll go eat...

...worms.

That's right -- worms!

A lady called for more information about her upcoming visit. When our Call Center operator asked if she needed to make group reservations, since she was bringing a busload, she said she'd won a contest and already had her tickets.

"I ate worms."

Excuse me, ma'am?

"To win the contest, I had to eat a bowl of worms. It was down to me and another woman. Then we had to eat a bowl of spaghetti.

"She gagged on the spaghetti, so I won."

Oh, yes.

Of course.

Imagine having to eat pasta!

The operator was so stunned, she didn't ask for more details. We're guessing it was one of those zany radio stations holding a contest.

So if you're in line to ride The Raven and you catch a whiff of "worm breath," you might want to sit in front of the lady, not behind.

Definitely, not behind.

More news

Here's that Associated Press story (thanks to Jason in St. Louis for sending the link). They got their directions mixed up a bit (we're east of Evansville), but the rest looks great.

This includes audio from INside Indiana Business.

...and Owensboro, Kentucky's Messenger-Inquirer. It includes a photo of preparation work for pouring footers.

That's so Edgar

While walking a reporter around the park, the neighbor girl she'd brought along (for a child's view of the park) unintentionally made me feel like a total geezer.

When I pointed out The Raven wooden roller coaster, she turned her head quickly to take a look, her long braids swinging wildly.

Oh! Is that named after That's So Raven?

What's it all About?

About.com's Arthur Levine is a man after my own heart. (Oh, wait -- we're not doing Valentine's Day, so I can quit the misleading references.)

No matter how many puns I come up with, Arthur squeezes a few more out.

Much to my delight!

He serves up a few delicious tidbits in today's posting on his blog.

FAQ: The Voyage

Still losing the battle of the emails. (At last count, I'd reduced my Inbox from 154 to 129 emails.)

Since so many folks are asking the same questions, here are some quick answers.

1. Yes, the HoliBlog will continue.

2. Yes, the HoliBlog will provide ongoing construction updates and photos.

3. Yes, your humble servant will continue to insert puns whenever possible. (Actually, no one asked that.)

4. Yes, the new-section layout is available on our website. Scroll down the page and click on the Thanksgiving logo.

5. We put all the graphics on our website -- we're not holding back! More information and graphics will be added (and pointed out on the HoliBlog) as they become available.

6. No, that isn't a "wild turkey" flying in the on-ride version of the ride simulation. According to Chad at The Gravity Group: I'm not positive, but I think it's a left-over piece of foliage from a tree that was modified or moved, and never got deleted. We had joked that it looked like a stealth bomber. Sorry it's not a more interesting story.

Links to stories

Still trying to get my head above water following the announcement yesterday of The Voyage.

Want to read and see more? Here are some links to articles and TV reports:

WEHT TV report and announcement

WFIE TV has the full announcement

An article in the Evansville Courier & Press

The Indianapolis Star

There's also an Associated Press story somewhere...haven't found a link to it yet.

"No Limits"

There's been no limit to the number of emails I've received asking if the ride simulation for The Voyage was created with the No Limits roller coaster ride-simulation game.

And--if so--if we could please-please-please provide our files for their personal use?

Yes, this is a creation of No Limits.

But they had to provide us with a customized version 'cause The Voyage is just that long.

When I say "us," I should clarify I'm referring to our friends at The Gravity Group, who designed The Voyage. (Wouldn't want anyone to think it was anything I personally created! Heck, I had to Google "no limits" to find out what exactly it was!)

So, sorry ... but we can't do this.

We do have a consolation prize, however -- did you notice the new wallpaper?

Had to chuckle

Just got in from taking a newspaper editor from Muncie on a tour of the park.

Big surprise -- it was raining. (It's been a bad week in that department, thanks to remnants of Hurricane Dennis.)

She and her party didn't want a rain poncho, so I didn't feel right putting up my umbrella, since it wasn't large enough to shelter everyone.

We got down to the water park at about 10:30 am, and had to "cross the chains" to continue our tour.

Usually this is rather intimidating, as a mass of swimsuit-clad guests push toward us, hoping to follow us in without us noticing. But those chains stay up until precisely 11:00 am.

"Sorry...just 20 more minutes and we'll be ready to go! Thanks for coming!"

With the steady drizzle (we convinced ourselves it was good for our complexion), there weren't too many people waiting.

The ones who were waiting to start their visit in the water park stood patiently by the chains ... in their swimsuits and bare feet ...

Huddled under umbrellas.

It boggles the mind

Well, I guess we got your attention!

Man, oh, man.

When I asked the producer who was on site yesterday from WEHT TV if he knew how many people would have been able to stream our announcement before their site sent out "NO MORE!" error messages, he said, "Forty thousand."

Forty thousand?

As in...40,000?

Eegads.

And I just heard from the creator of CoasterBuzz ... my friend Jeff sent his compliments, along with this message: CoasterBuzz set its record for simultaneous users Wednesday around 12:30 EDT. We had about 2,000 unique users hitting us at once. That's more "buzz" than Millennium Force, X, Dragster, Kingda Ka... any of the big announcements in the last five years.

I'd say Holiday World made the right decision.

Yes, we're definitely getting that impression.

And if one more person emails me suggestion we name the three coaster trains the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria, I'm going to cry.

Those were Christopher Columbus's ships...back in 1492.

We're talking more modern times (and the Mayflower) which sailed in 1620.

Okay, I admit it, I had to double check those facts, too.

Well, you did it, didn't you?

You crashed their site!

They weren't planning to offer our announcement as an archived file, but since a lot of you didn't get to see anything but an error message, WEHT-TV is kind enough to offer "re-runs."

And our friends at WFIE-TV are offering it, too.

Seven hours for Germans

Just had an email from Germany ... the difference is seven hours for them.

Six hours it is

Thanks to Justin, the head of the European Coaster Club, we now know that there is a six-hour time difference.

So all of our friends over in England can watch the announcement at 5 pm.

Can we help out the Brits?

Does anyone know the time difference between the UK and us?

Just received a nice email from a fellow who want to stream the announcement today -- and wondered what time he should tune in from over there across the pond.

I think the difference is seven hours ... meaning it'll be 6 pm in England. But I'm not positive.

Does anyone know for sure? (Please email me if you do.)

By the way, here's the direct link to the streaming page.

...and there's a nice article in this morning's Evansville Courier & Press.

Just a few hours to go!

You don't have to miss our announcement!

Thanks to WEHT-TV you won't have to miss a thing, even if you're sitting at your desk, halfway around the world, pretending to be hard at work.

Our local ABC affiliate has arranged to have their very cool satellite truck here on Wednesday. (Once you're in the biz, you know to refer to it as a "sat truck.")

WEHT-TV will provide a live stream of our announcement on their website. (Gotta catch it live; it won't be archived.)

It'll be available starting shortly before 11:00 am CDT/EST. (Please figure out the time thing now ... by tomorrow morning, it may be too late!)

Just head over to their website and click on the Holiday World logo.

Will's presentation will begin precisely at the top of the hour; we expect the announcement to last approximately 15 minutes.

If you live in the Evansville market and are a Sigecom digital cable customer, you can also tune in on Channel D-WEHT.

Will plans to talk about the new additions to both parks. He'll reveal the new holiday-themed section. And he'll take us on the ride of our lives. (And that's no eggs-ageration.)

We sincerely hope to meet a bunch of our friends from HoliBlogLand (no, that is NOT the new section!) tomorrow. Thanks so much for all the sweet emails from so many of you the past few days.

We know now more than ever...

We are truly blessed.

Change of Venue

For Wednesday's announcement ... we'll be in the Holiday Theater (not the Hoosier Celebration Theater). It's indoors...it's air-conditioned...and the roof doesn't leak!

The Holiday Theater is in the Christmas section, walk up to the fountain, look to your right and there it is.

Doors open at 10:45 am CDT/EST. The best seats should be in the middle section of the theater.

If you can't make it here for the announcement, we'll have everything up on our website by 11:30 am.

We're almost there!

"Sunscream"

Take a look at this cute story in today's Henderson (Kentucky) Gleaner.

It's the second story down in the column.

Will he crack?

The folks at WTVW-TV in Evansville have invited Will to stop by Monday morning for an on-air chat between 7:30 and 8:00 am CDT.

They want to talk about the upcoming "What's New for '06" announcement, which will take place (rain or shine!) on Wednesday at 11 am CDT.

I've prepared Will as best I can, as is my job.

He's got the list of HoliHints.

He knows what not to say.

And he knows not to come back if he leaks anything. We've come so close to the announcement day; we can't blow it all now.

"What if they trick me?" he wondered aloud a few hours ago.

"What if I crack?!"

Using all of my public relations schooling (read: none), I advised him to re-enact the dramatic scene we've all seen played out on the TV news magazines: "What? This isn't what you said it would be! This is an ambush! I don't have to take this! I'm outta here!"

And then he could yank off the microphone and stomp off!

We laughed ourselves silly at the thought.

Hang in there, boss.

We'll be watching...

Talkin' trash

Matt, our controller, was incognito in the park on Monday afternoon.

After working that day (at Holiday World we don't get summer holidays off ... but before you start feeling sorry for us, please note we do get an extra week off at Christmas), he changed into his civilian clothes and met his family in Splashin' Safari.

Before sitting down for their meal at Safari Pizza, Matt reached down and picked up some trash.

The lady sitting at the next table over chuckled.

"I know," she said. "You almost feel obligated to do that since this park is so clean."

Drumroll, please...

Can it really be? Our final HoliHint?

And I mean FINAL … this is driving me nuts! (Whose idea was this, anyway? Oh, never mind…)

You already know a few important numbers…$13.5 million for the budget plus 7/13/05 and 11:00 am for the announcement.

What’s left?

Here are a few more numbers to tickle your imagination along with silly (or not?) guesses:

24.2 seconds (the length of my scream?)

66 degrees (an air-conditioned ride?)

84 persons (new helpers for the PR Department?)

20 feet wide (this applies to both parks’ projects)

60 years (how long it will be before we offer weekly HoliHints again!)

Hang in there!

All (well, nearly all) will be revealed next Wednesday!

Phone Find followup

We've received a number of emails from people following our Phone Find post the other day.

Here's another clever idea, from Jeffery S. in Crane, Indiana:

Excellent idea!

I have another that I don't mind you passing along to your youthful guests who may be afraid that their parents may get lost during their visit.

A few years back, when my family made an extended visit to one of your "magical" competitors, we took along one of the one-shot, instant-develop cameras.

Each morning, before leaving the hotel, we'd snap off two pictures of our (then) three-and-a-half year old son in the outfit of the day; one for mom to carry with her, and one for dad. That way, if we ever got lost, all we had to do was show the helpful employees the picture we'd taken, and they'd be able to help us get reunited.

We thankfully never had to use them for that purpose, but at the end of the vacation, we had 10 great little pictures of our son!

Love the blog!

Talking back

We get tons of emails.

Tons.

Most of it is really, really nice.

Some emails have even brought a tear or two to my eye.

So nice, in fact, that we've added a "What Our Guests Are Saying" page to our website.

All writers have given us permission to use their musings. A few even said it would be "an honor."

Who ever thought working at a theme park could be such a humbling experience?

Oooooo! Aaaaaaahhhh!

We had to move the fireworks extravaganza up a bit last night due to a highly unusual occurrence -- rain!

I was down by Bahari with Melissa (the editor of the Spencer County Journal-Democrat) and her husband, Mark.

It was almost eerie ... just the three of us down there in the water park. Oh, and Beatles music was still playing in Splashin' Safari. (Although during the fireworks finale, I did my best to "sing" portions of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture.)

Melissa's quite the photographer:



As the fireworks faded in the night sky, the clouds opened up and soaked us all.

All the way down at Bahari we could hear it. From up in Holiday World, cheers and shouts. Thousands of patriots making a joyful noise.

I hope our friend in Afghanistan could feel it in his heart. As well as all the other servicemen and servicewomen who so selflessly serve our blessed nation.

Some little guests may be too independent!

It's happened to every parent -- you turn around for half a second and your beloved child has disappeared.

Often a quick look around the area and you're reunited. A quick hug, maybe a brief scolding, and your life is back to normal.

But for that moment, your heart stops.

Last fall, we decided our big "let's make it better" project would be Lost Parents (the children always know where they are ... it's the parents who aren't in the right place).

What we came up with is the Phone Find system. So many people carry cell phones nowadays, we thought offering a wristband for children to wear--on which we'd write the family's cell phone number--would work well.

And it does.



(Please note, this doesn't work if you don't actually have your cell phone with you. One dad was all fired up about getting a Phone Find wristband for his little girl...until it suddenly hit him that his mobile phone was back home.)

Our next challenge was how to spread the word. We could add it to our website and put a blurb on the Show Guide. But how to get it front of everyone's face at a time they might actually read it?

Enter...Potty Prose!



These stickers are located in the restrooms in areas where reading materials are often appreciated.

Here's a story from our controller, Matt, who has two little girls of his own:

Remembering the many children we have "reunited" with their lost parents, there is usually one that stands out in our minds, that leaves a special feeling in our hearts that lets us know that we have done our proverbial good deed for the day.

For me, it was a five-year-old girl.

This particular little girl was extremely concerned that her parents had left her behind. She thought they hadn't noticed that she was missing and had unknowingly left her at the park.

She was terribly worried, and asked at least 500 times what we were going to do.

She never broke down in tears, but came close, and continued to try to come up with a game plan to handle her abandonment.

I repeatedly assured her that we would indeed find her family, and she would be going home with them that very night. We walked around for quite some time, looking at every possible place that she thought that they might be.

She held my hand so tightly I grew concerned about loss of circulation. But I decided not to say anything; she clearly had more important worries.

After about 30 minutes, we managed to locate her mother (her parents had split up to search for her). As expected, her mother was frantic, sick with worry, yet extremely happy that her little angel had been found.

Her mother was very gracious and thanked me as she hugged her daughter. My job was done, I wished them a good evening and started to walk away.

My little friend then grabbed my hand, looked me in the eye and solemnly declared, "Thank you, mister. You saved my life."

Q: When is the color green ... blue?

A: When Will says it is!

Here's the story...

Will planned to replace the boats at Raging Rapids over the course of two years. A few last year, but most of them this season. Boats were ordered last fall, in plenty of time for the new season.

The boats were to be the same colors as before -- the official Holiday World colors: red, yellow, and blue.

The red, yellow and blue boats only recently arrived. Red, yellow, and...



What's that?

The yellow and red boats are true to form...

...but the blue boats?

Aren't they...?



Checking with Will only added to the confusion.

"That is one of our new blue boats," he deadpanned. "We ordered blue boats. These are the blue boats."

Okay...

So when you head over to Raging Rapids during your next visit, it'll help to know that when the Host or Hostess invites your family to climb into the blue boat ... well, it's best to just go along for the ride.