No blarney in this feature story

Mike Kelly just retired from his position as Travel Editor of the Toledo Blade.

So what's he doing now?

Traveling and writing stories for the paper.

Mike was a lot of fun. It was nice to have a fellow descendant of the Emerald Isle to trade stories with on a pleasant weekday morning in June.

I came close to telling him he reminded me of a character Craig T. Nelson would play (remember him in Coach?). He provided just enough not-quite snide comments to keep us chuckling.

Happily, his humor seeped into his feature story, which ran on Sunday.

This companion story tells about the rest of his press trip.

So nice to see that Mike is enjoying his hard-earned retirement. Nothing like a change of pace to make all those years in the salt mines worthwhile.

This is for you, Vonda

Vonda is planning a park visit for next month.

She wants an advance peek at Gobbler Getaway.

Vonda looked around on our website and didn't find a whole lot. The focus was ... elsewhere.

(A la everyone's favorite whiney-girl, Jan Brady: Voyage! Voyage! Voyage!)

After receiving a "Where is Gobbler? Where is Gobbler?" email ... which is now swirling through my novocain-addled brain (why can't a dental cleaning ever be just that?) to the tune of Frere Jacques ... it was time to provide a little show and tell.

Let's start with Abigail...



Abigail hangs out in the queue, telling the story behind Gobbler Getaway and explaining that "turkey call" gizmo she's holding. Pay attention to Abby, she knows her stuff; you'll thank her later.

For the interactive portion of the ride, you're looking for targets.

You'll see one on the left side of this photo, just over the scarecrow's shoulder.



We don't want to give too much away, but there are a variety of scenes throughout the lovely town of Autumn Falls.

There's a pie shop, a covered bridge, a barnyard, a town square, and of course a Working Mom:



She has a rather crazed look on her face, can you see? What do expect from someone forced to hang out laundry in the midst of a flock of turkeys?

By the way, this ride was made by a company called "Sally Corp.," which is headquartered in Florida.

Last week, several of the Sally technicians were back here working late into the night (after park closing) to tweak the ride to perfection.

Everyone carrying a park two-way had to pause and arch an eyebrow when Mike, our Maintenance and Safety Director, called to the "closer" each night:

Be sure to leave the Thanksgiving Men's Restroom open tonight for Sally to use.

It's so easy being green

Larry and Korey from The Gravity Group are here today to ride The Voyage.

...with another park's owner.

Anyone else around here feel a slight tinge of jealousy?

Doesn't it hurt just a bit? After all we've meant to each other over the past two years...

Planning an incredible future for both parties.

Sharing wonderful photos.

Taking countless long, freezing-cold-to-the-point-of-being-miserable walks in the woods.

Carefully examining our highs and our lows, hoping against hope to finally achieve perfection.

Celebrating together when our goal was met.

And now ... so soon ... they're moving on to a new conquest.

Sigh!

If that other park has a blog, I won't be able to look. It would be too painful.

I guess we always knew this day would come. Just not so soon. And when the hurt fades, we'll wish them well.

Maybe.

At least we'll always have ... The Voyage.

Bunny coincidence

For all you parents out there: Do you find you sometimes yearn to have your children experience some of the same pleasures you enjoyed as a child?

...even if you have to force it on them?

Such was the case with Uncle Wiggily.

When we started noticing rabbits coming to visit our front yard at home (and once even when we were at Monsoon Lagoon in Splashin' Safari) it was time to find a book about bunnies to read to James.

Actually, the search began as a hunt for The Velveteen Rabbit, but Uncle Wiggily was the first rabbit book I found, so I took it as a sign.

Uncle Wiggily, if you hadn't heard, is a bunny rabbit gentleman who likes adventures and makes a point of doing good things for his fellow woodland creatures and even the boys and girls who live nearby.

So when Kathy from Give Kids the World came to visit last week and dropped off a Mayor Clayton plush toy, I took him home to James with the story that Mayor Clayton was probably Uncle Wiggily's brother, as they were both rather dapper in their dress.

Give Kids the World is a remarkable program. Please take a look at their website if you're not familiar. In a nutshell, Give Kids the World is available to families of children with life-threatening illnesses. Located in Orlando, they offer a week-long vacation to these special families who deserve every carefree, precious moment of happiness together.

And after this wonderful week, the families receive a "passport" that provides them with free visits to lots of member parks around the country for the next year.

It's important to Kathy that Holiday World is one of these parks, as she was an intern here long ago.

So when I emailed Kathy to thank her and ask about her visit I happened to mention the separated-at-birth thing going on with Mayor Clayton and Uncle Wiggily.

She quickly responded, attaching this photo from her trip.



That's Mayor Clayton in the middle, held in front of a display case in our own Betsy Ross Doll House (down the hill from the bumper boats in our 4th of July section). And who's that on the right? Why it's Uncle Wiggily!

As many times as I've been in the Doll House, somehow I never realized Mr. Longears was among the collection.

I'll bet Frieda knows.

Remember Frieda? We celebrated her 95th birthday last fall.

This photo is on page 60 of our pictorial history book.



Jane, the co-author, wanted to use the photo and asked who that was in the doorway.

I thought it might be Frieda and Mrs. Koch thought it could possibly be her Aunt Beatrice.

Jane was heading over to talk to Frieda anyway, so she took the photo and my magnifying glass along.

When I asked Jane later if Frieda was able to solve the mystery, she laughed out loud.

Frieda didn't need to use the magnifying glass, her eyes worked just fine and she recognized herself in the photo.

Frieda's only frustration was that she couldn't exactly tell which doll she was holding.

Trip report from the "Very Nice Dad"

The VND who emailed last month to ask about whether The Voyage would be too much for his younger daughter has sent us a trip report via email :

We're back from our trip to Holiday World. Caitlin, Megan, and I had an absolute BLAST at the park! We were there for two days from open to close, and I'd highly recommend a Thursday and Friday in June, because the crowds were so light. As expected, the park was spotlessly clean, and given the number of cups you must go through, that is a real testament to your employees.

We loved Splashin' Safari. Megan's favorite was ZOOMbabwe, and Caitlin's favorite was Jungle Racer. We also spent hours in the wave pools. After two half-days in Splashin' Safari, the kids only suggestion is to add a body-slide complex, and they thought that the center of Bahari River was just the place.



We also had a terrific time on the rides. Since Megan was a bit concerned about how big The Voyage looked, we started with The Raven, built up to The Legend, and then rode The Voyage.

Five times.

She LOVED it!

It was also Caitlin's favorite ride at the park, and her #1 coaster.



Please thank the staff at Holiday World for helping to create such good vacation memories. I took a stack of Holiday World brochures and park maps back to my office, and I've been handing them out to everyone. It's a shame that you're not a little closer to Chicago!

Peace!
Mark P.
Chicago, Ill.

Compelling memories

We recently received a lovely email from a fellow who hadn't visited in a while.

Maybe "a while" is understating the situation a bit.

His email, which is posted over on the "What Our Guests Are Saying" page, mentions he remembers seeing the Willie Bartley Water Ski Show during his last visit.

So when did this water-ski show take place? A quick look on the park's Timeline reveals it's been quite a while.

Decades.

Scores, actually.

From 1959 to 1961, the Willie Bartley Water Ski Show was performed on Lake Rudolph. A much smaller version of Lake Rudolph, in fact.

Makes this photo all the more amazing.





When we were working on the pictorial history book earlier this year, co-author Jane Ammeson couldn't get enough of the ski show photos. We picked out the four most compelling pictures for the book. That was Jane's constant question, "What is the compelling reason for using this photo?"

Uh...because we like it?

Jane was very patient.

Here's another ski-show snapshot. This one depicts the "human kite":




Now that's compelling!

Busted!

Gwen called this morning with a distressing tale.

When she took this darling photo to have duplicates made, the clerk at the very-large-discount-store-that-some-call-the-scourge-of-humanity confiscated the copies, claiming it would be a copyright infringement.



Huh?

A photo from 1959 with no copyright markings on it?

"I was just trying to share a memory with my brothers," she wailed. "And they busted me!"

That's Mel standing and John sitting; they both live in Indianapolis now, while sister Gwen is in Corydon. The bespectacled fellow looks to be some sort of elf. (No doubt any number of SCL fans will correct me if I'm wrong.)

Look at Gwen's cute little face. Could she be thinking, "Someday, when I'm all grown up, this photo is going to get me in a heap o' trouble!"

We're hoping my quick email to her will do the trick and grant her photos a stay of execution.

And just maybe we can get Mel, John and Gwen's names returned to Santa's "Good Boys & Girls" book.

365 days ago...

...we announced The Voyage.

Ah, the memories.

From the Snowy White Gravel Road (that name has caught on around here, by the way) ...

... to the increasingly annoying HoliHints ...

... to the scramble to help our friends overseas early that morning ...

... and, of course, so many folks tuning in to stream the announcement that we crashed WEHT's server.

Months and months of construction.

A Discovery Channel show that has yet to air in the U.S.

And a perfect launch:



That's launch, not lunch!

That's Mrs. Koch and, well, Mrs. Koch (Will's wife, Lori) launching The Voyage on May 4. Those bottles were so delicate we opted out of filling them with liquid. Thank goodness we had extras!

My, my, the many happy, surprised, and delighted faces we've seen each day since then.



It has been a fantastic Voyage, indeed.

She really did need a vacation!

Danielle, one of our marketing interns, takes care of putting together our e-newsletter.

When a new edition blasts forth, my Inbox immediately fills with automatic replies from dozens of our faithful readers: "Sorry, I won't see your email till next week when I'm back in the office."

This one was especially telling: "I'm on vacation and will not return to the office to check my emails until Monday, July 12."

Meanwhile, this question is being brought up fairly regularly:

When will 2007 Season Passes go on sale?

The answer is...soon. And discounts will be the deepest we will offer.

All the specifics will be included in the next e-newsletter. Click here to sign up.

Yum, yum, yum!

Anyone else out there a cornball who loves to listen to old radio shows from the '40s?

I grew up hearing my folks talk about Fibber McGee's closet, Jack Benny's squeaky violin, and Baby Snooks' antics.

Thanks to satellite radio those shows are available again, 60 years later.

And the commercials are a hoot. Either the plugs are non-too-subtly inserted into the script or the cracky, nasally voice of Henry Aldrich belts out a jingle.

Tums for the tummy. And Jell-O, yum, yum, yum!

A Kraft Foods employee emailed the other day, so pleased to see in our pictorial history book that Santa long ago posed for an advertisement with a variety of products, including Jell-O.



Upon closer inspection, it appears that it was Jell-O pie filling.

Lemon pie filling to be exact.



Mrs. Koch might need a slice of pie to keep her energy up as she autographs all those books, which are available in our shops and through our website.

Star-spangled banter

If you've ever stayed in Splashin' Safari till closing time, you may have noticed the chair thing.

As the supervisors walk from water ride to water ride, they straighten the chairs. Lined up evenly, they're ready for the next day. This is done rather subtly prior to closing and then they really go to town. All the chairs are lined up, ready for the opening, when they'll all be rearranged again. (Will refuses to call them chairs; they're "towel holders" in his book.)

On Tuesday, we reopened a portion of Splashin' Safari just before the 4th of July fireworks got underway.

Lori, the director for Splashin' Safari, stood out on the island by the entrance to Congo River.

Waiting.

Those chairs. Freshly straightened, they would soon be grabbed and rearranged all over the island.

She joked to another employee, "Would you go over and ask everyone to please remember exactly where they got their chairs and be sure to return them after the fireworks?"

The fireworks were great. The oooohs and ahhhhs were outweighed only by the cheers and applause. Hearts were swelling with patriotism and emotion.

But for Lori, the most emotional moment came when she turned to start dragging scores of chairs back to their places.

Every last Guest, without being asked, took his or her chair back to its place of origin on the island. All lined up, neat as a pin. Ready to go for July 5.

God bless America!

Hitting the big Times

My folks live in Madison, Connecticut.

They have a subscription to the New York Times.

I probably need to send them a box of Band-Aids and a tube of Neosporin for all the paper cuts they've surely endured the past week.

Because the New York Times interviewed Will for a business article a few weeks back.

And then they sent a photographer. With a very big lens. It was fun walking around the park with Dan, as he asked folks he'd just photographed for their names and hometowns.

"I'm from the New York Times... "

But this was an "evergreen" story. That means it's not breaking news and will be just as fresh tomorrow as it was yesterday.

Evergreen stories tend to get bumped. And I explained this to Mom and Dad once word came that the article was in the chute, scheduled to run...sooner or later.

Undaunted, they dutifully scoured every inch of the paper for days.

Happily, only a few bumps occurred.

And today the article appeared on page 3 of the business section.

Here's my favorite quote from Will: "When I need to make a decision I call my brother and sister and they say, 'O.K.'"



He's going pay for that comment once Dan and Natalie see it!

(Thanks to Dan Patmore for the "extra" photo.)

It's 10 pm on a Saturday night...

...do you know where your lifeguards are?



Playing Ultimate Frisbee and football, of course.

Summer Safety Hint

In order to protect the tender skin on your delicate face, it's a good idea to not only wear sunscreen, but also a hat.



Here's a couple of cats who took this advice to the extreme.