A ride report from an "extra"

So who exactly is that riding on our Voyage videos?

Shortly before we opened for the season, we put out a call for employees to ride for a few hours as we shot video and snapped digital photos.

One of the riders offers this as his report of the day.

Although nobody truly hates their mothers (at least not publicly), I know many children across the ages have had times when they despised their maternal parental figure. For many reasons, be it taking out the garbage, cleaning the dishes, or finishing your vegetables (that she broke her back over a hot microwave all day cooking for you).

Well, my friends and fellow coaster lovers, YOU AIN'T GOT NOTHING ON THIS!

As many of you know, Paula Werne is the director of PR at Holiday World (bless 'em), but she does have a life outside of the limelight. In her quieter, more down-to-earth home, I, John Werne reside. For any of you Paula fanatics (please let there be none), you will know I am her middle child, seldom mentioned to others for reasons we won'’t discuss.

I'm the one she comes to when she needs someone to ride something for the media. So when she tells me she needs someone to ride The Voyage for pictures and whatnot, I, of course, jump for the chance, as I do with all new coasters.

Finally, the morning comes to ride The Voyage and I'm excited. As I walk down to the new Thanksgiving section, tension and anxiety is building beyond a normal point. An indiscernible amount of time passes before we are let inside to see The Voyage station. We push and shove our way to the front (in my case, the back) of the line to get on The Voyage.

I was not able to get on the first ride, but my good friend Corey and I made it onto the second one. We waited at least 20 minutes for the photographers to move their equipment after the first run, and then we finally are let loose. I gotta tell ya, sitting and waiting in The Voyage, close to the back seat, is nerve-racking. My mom comes over a few times and I'm close to clawing my way out of the seat to grab her by the collar and force her to start the train.

FINALLY, we start off on The Voyage of a lifetime. For a timed 34 seconds (thanks to my trusty watch), Corey and I waited for the ascent to the top of what seemed like Mt. Everest to end. I could see landscape all around me and at points thought to myself, "Okay, this is how high the Raven is, this is how high the Legend is, HOW MUCH FRIGGEN HIGHER IS IT GONNA GO?" We get to the top, look down, and nearly lose all bodily functions. Then we went down it, at a speed I have never felt before. I'm screaming my head off, going crazy, and I look to Corey and see he's in worse shape than I, and laugh. Two minutes and 45 seconds later, we pull into the station, with a new love for roller coasters.

But did it stop there? OH NO, we still had another three hours to ride The Voyage. Corey and I rode The Voyage a total of 25 times by our count. After our thirteenth time riding it, we were both feeling a little queasy in the stomach. We had never been made the slightest sick by any ride ever before, and we were intrigued by it. At around the nineteenth time, we were feeling pretty bad let me tell ya, but were we gonna stop? HECK NO!

We rode it the twentieth time, and kept going 'cause they were still shooting. The twenty-fourth time, we thought would be our last, but they said one more time, so I, being the son that I am, forced my mother into riding it with me, just once before the gates of heaven closed.

Many of you may know my mother as the Raven Maven, but riding with her on The Voyage I started to wonder how the heck did she get a nickname like that screaming all through the ride. Finally, the last ride comes in to a halt, and I'm feeling quite light-headed. I go to the gate for my dad to take me home, and I tell him of how The Voyage FREAKIN ROCKS, and that I rode it 25 times and I wasn't feeling good. He just says, "Is that it? Come on John, I though you'd have a better stomach than that." Thanks for the support. . . Dad.

I get home and pretty much just sit around resting the rest of the day. It took me several hours to get the sick feeling out of my stomach. One thing I remember though, as I'm lying down to go to sleep after a long, LONG day, I lay my head on the pillow, as most do when they go to bed. As I lay my head on the pillow, I feel a rush of energy to my legs and a feel of adrenaline all over my body. I finally bring my head to the pillow, and I get the worst head rush you can imagine. I'm dizzy, I'm disoriented, everything is changing colors. As all of these sensations are going through my body I think to myself, this is what I get for being Paula Werne's son.



That's #2 son in the red shirt.

Sarcastic lad, isn't he?

Wonder where he got that...