"M" is for Mud

Chad was here on Tuesday.

But who knew?

After tromping about the construction site, catching up on the progress made over the past several weeks, Chad was so muddy he just headed back to Cincinnati.

"The mud was up to my knees, so I didn't even come up to the office."

Happily, Chad didn't get any mud on his camera.



Here's a look at the station on the left and the lifthill on the right. You may notice a bit of fish-eye distortion; some of the photos Chad took were in a panoramic setting.

And here's another view of the station, also looking to the north.



Next, Chad heads to the far northern end of The Voyage, gathering mud all the way.

The turnaround is growing rapidly.



Here's a closer look:



Chadwick, by the way, will be pleased to know his British friends will be able to watch "Building the Biggest: Coasters" on the Discovery Channel on March 29 at 10 pm. The next evening, the show will air in Canada.

We still don't have the U.S. air date; rest assured it will be posted here as soon as we get the good word.

A dusting of snow

Here's The Voyage's station on Saturday, with the lifthill off in the distance.

You can see the second hill and a bit of the third.

At the bottom of the third hill, down we go...



...underground.

We're making good use of the tunnels; we'll fly through several of them on the way out and the way back.

Let's zoom out and take a wider look:




Here's another double-wide tunnel, heading in and out of the turnaround.



And now let's go back to the other side of the station. Remember, the trains will make a wild swoop back around the station at the end of the ride.



The temperatures are rising and the snow is melting.

March is just a week away.

Where can you get a Leap Year when you really need one?

Wanted: 1,500 smiling faces

This time of the year, I must admit I find myself murmuring, "I'm so glad I'm not in Operations" on a daily basis.

Not loudly, though. It would get on the Operations Staff's last nerve.

This year, we plan to hire 1,500 Hosts and Hostesses.

That's a lot.

Especially considering that the first "hiring" news release I wrote (back in 1992) called for 450 seasonal employees.

Operation's "head hunters" hit the schools the week prior to the start of Job Fairs.



Jennifer is manager at Splashin' Safari. What are the chances she recruiting a lifeguard?

Continuing on the then-and-now theme, it's hard to believe that just a decade ago, we could hold Orientation for our employees with all of them here at the same time.

In 1995, we had everyone gather 'round that new coaster of ours (notice the queue area hadn't been built yet) for a group photo.



This year, we'll take two weekends to orient everyone.

Funny, the park tour takes longer and longer each year, too.

Will's favorite ride

When you saw the subject line of this post, you probably assumed the subject was going to be coasters.

Right?

That's a reasonable assumption, but truth be told there's another ride from Will's childhood that is right there at the top.

Pump cars.



See them there, in the middle of the photo?

This is the Pleasureland ride section of Santa Claus Land. (Yes, we're working on our pictorial history book again today.) The pump cars are also featured in the Vintage Footage of Santa Claus Land, which you'll find on our streaming video page.

When asked by reporters over the years, Will and his four siblings are unanimous in their delirious memories of the pump cars.

They were the best.

The reason why they were the best, though, explains why they're no longer here.

"You could pump really hard, build up some speed, and then crash off the track when you came to a curve. It was great!"

I won't credit that quote to a particular Koch. I believe I've heard all three of the male siblings say it.

When preparing the above photo for this post, I emailed a piece of it to Will. My question was regarding whether the pump cars were individual cars, or connected, as it looks here:



Will's reply: Yes, they are the pump cars. They are individual units. However, if the person in front is going too slow...…

Sweet, sweet photos

"Happy Valentine's Day!" sang out the joyous voice through my phone line.

"I took some more pictures -- I'll drop by your office later."

These sweets from Craig may actually have the opposite effect of the usual Valentine's Day fare.

Surely we'll burn a few calories when viewing these photos. Can't you just feel your heart rate accelerating?



Above is a POV shot (point of view) of The Voyage's first drop.

Sixty-six degrees.

Looks straight down, doesn't it?

After we arrive at the bottom of the first drop, let's turn around and see from whence we came.



Yikes!

You can count the layers of the wooden track.

As long as we're up on the structure, let's take a glimpse over at the Gobbler Getaway building.

It's going up quickly.

And it's huge!



And now a look at our happy photographer.

Craig, our camera-carrying Cupid:



It looks like he's sitting on the 90-degree banked track. If it's not that third 90, it's mighty close.

Okay, Craig ... enough lounging around.

We want a closer look at that perpendicular track.



And finally, here's another look down the first drop. This shot is cropped so that it includes more of the track heading back toward the station.



Enough eye candy -- back to work!

Final foundation

Will reported today that The Voyage's last footer was poured on Saturday.

This is a very good thing!

And beginning Saturday, we start hiring 1,500 seasonal Hosts & Hostesses (a new record, by far). More details, plus a downloadable application, are available on our website's Jobs page.

Jennifer and John from Channel 7 headed up this way this afternoon to see the progress that's been made since their last visit.

Their reports should be on this evening at 6 pm and 9 pm CST.

Brown Dog's Day

This just in from our traveling friend, Holidog:

French Creek Freddie, Shubenacadie Sam, Claude the Crawfish, and, of course, Punxsutawney Phil.

All famous prognosticators.

And now, after receiving my training through a Sally Struthers online course, I'm one too.

In fact, I'm the world's first dog-nosticator.

I replaced Gator-nosed Gus, the previous prognostigator for Fort Myers Beach, Florida. Apparently he started snapping at the onlookers during last year's festivities.

In the Sunshine State, the celebration determines how much longer before the Snowbirds begin their migration back north.

On February 2, 2006, at precisely 6:30 am, I embraced my role, celebrating Brown Dog's Day.

Here is my official prognostication poem:




The sun will shine
And starting in May
A Thanksgiving summer
Is coming our way
It won't be long
Until Pepsi will flow
I have no shadow
So go, Snowbirds, go!


I'll send more photos from Florida soon. And then I'm off for even more adventurous travels before heading home to Santa Claus in time for the opening of The Voyage!

We truly don't know who is helping Holidog send us these photographic updates. Perhaps he's relying on the kindness of strangers...

We thought we had it all figured out a few months ago, but discovered we were barking up the wrong tree.

When the pup returns from his travels, we'll see if we can get his tongue to wag.

What the birds see

Not sure I completely caught how we got this aerial shot ... but it goes something like this:

One of our directors went to visit his doctor recently. Someone who worked in the doctor's office saw that he worked at Holiday World. She showed him a photo her daughter had taken. (Her daughter is taking an aviation class.) And she was kind enough to give us a copy.

That new coaster changes the look of the place from every angle, doesn't it?

Could it really be?

A while back, we gasped at the thought of so many future stars having appeared at Santa Claus Land many, many years ago.

By golly, it's happened again.

We're working with a publishing company in producing a pictorial history book of Santa Claus Land and Holiday World & Splashin' Safari for this, our 60th season.

(Can you believe it? Our 60th Season!)

Our offices are awash in sentimentality.

And look at what we discovered in our archival photo files just this morning:



Could it be?

Is it really...?

Could that just-retired dancing guy from the-commercials-we-have-all-seen really have gotten his start here at our park?

Honestly, the photo is of the late Gene Smith, our tap-dancing magician. His slogan was, "Feats of Hand and Feats of Feet."

But in honor of our upcoming anniversary...

...let's just call him Mr. Sixty.

"Building the Biggest"

We've received lots of inquiries regarding when "the roller coaster episode" will air.

It's part of a new Discovery Channel series called "Building the Biggest" and will include construction of The Voyage.

We still don't have specifics about when it will air in the U.S., but our friends to the north will be able to catch it on March 30.

Waxing poetic

"Come on in -- I'm stripping!"

Samantha, what a shock!

This may be the "off" season...

...but you're still on the clock!

Our cleaning manager laughs out loud

...and continues with her chores.

"Carlene and Sally are stripping, too --

It's time to wax the floors!"

Calculating the countdown

Oh, my.

Marc and Julie were visiting friends over the weekend and decided to swing over to Santa Claus to take a look for themselves at what all this fuss is about.

The little jaunt from their friends' house involved crossing state lines, but they just couldn't wait any longer.



Can you read the caption?

"I wonder if they would let us get in line yet..."

Just three months minus one day. You'll make it...

Remember, February is a short month.

(And it's not a leap year.)

A gallery of Voyage photos

Over on The Gravity Group's website, they've posted a bunch of the Voyage photos they took last week.

Click here to get to the page of "thumbnail" versions of the photos. Then click on any of the photos for a larger view.

Back in the woods

Thanks to The Gravity Group, we have a few more photos from this week. When they get everything posted on their website, we'll be sure to provide the link.

Let's start with a look at the turnaround. To get there, we must traverse yet another underground tunnel.



Korey got artistic with this one. The structure will be very close to the ground here.



And here's another view of the turnaround. It looks rather gloomy right now, but when the trees leaf up in the spring, just imagine how lovely it will be.

I guess, though, all we'll see is a massive blur of green.

And that's if you ride with your eyes open.



The third hill is nearly done.

Nearly.



Heading back toward the station, there will be lots of speed and a few surprises left to the ride.



The roof on the station is coming right along.

Did you notice the track? Look in the lower left-hand corner.

That is track, isn't it?



After flying past the station, we'll swing around back and into the final tunnel.



...and out again.



I spoke with Tom at PTC the other day. He promises to send photos of our three Voyage trains soon.

And John is getting ready to order the flags that will fly up above the top of the lifthill.

Feel free to discuss among yourselves which three colors we might have chosen.

The Gravity Group guys take a walk-about

Larry and Korey, two of the four Gravity Group engineers, took a nice long walk yesterday.

How kind of them to snap off a few photos for your viewing pleasure.

Let's get started:



This is the view you'll see as you walk down the pathway into the new Thanksgiving section.

The crane is lifting numerous trusses into place for the roof of Voyage's station.

Next, we see the grand finale of The Voyage. The station is somewhere there in the middle of all that curving track. And that's the lifthill off in the distance.

And yes, you see it correctly: one last underground tunnel at the very end of the ride.



Here's another view of the insane finish to the ride and the station's vertical growth.

In the background, to the left, you can see our employee parking lot is the holding area for all sorts of building materials.



Now let's take a look from up around Raging Rapids:



And finally, our energetic engineers climbed the stairs of ZOOMbabwe in Splashin' Safari for another view:



Eegads, that first drop is steep.

A post-script to yesterday's story

Last night was Concerto Night at our high school. The annual Solo and Ensemble contest is coming up on Saturday, so it's nice for the musicians to have the opportunity to perform in front of a friendly audience.

James and I were sneaking in late, as middle-son John was kind enough to let us know exactly what time the Winter Percussion Ensemble, of which he's a member, would perform.

In the hallway, another later-arrival was right behind us.

"Hi!"

James's head snapped around. He recognized that voice.

"Will!"

The look of adoration on my littlest son's face was enough to make Will laugh.

We walked into the auditorium just before his daughter Leah performed with a percussion group.

Will wisely sat across the aisle from us. And one row back.

I glanced over at James, who chose the aisle seat.

He wasn't watching the stage. His eyes were locked on Will's face. You could count every baby tooth in his six-year-old grin.

Remember Eddie the dog from TV's Frasier? That's all I could think of; I could see Will shaking with laughter.

"James," I whispered. "Would you like to go sit with Will?"

I didn't have to ask twice. My son dashed across the aisle and plopped down next to his hero.

It was a relief that when Leah's group performed their number, James sat up and paid attention to the musicians. But as soon as it was over, he was deep in conversation with Will again; their discussion was punctuated regularly with bursts of giggles.

Both of them.