Color for comps

Do you have some good color-ers at home?

Then they might want to enter our coloring contest and get the chance to win two free tickets to Holiday World & Splashin' Safari.

The coloring contest will be announced in our next newsletter. If you haven't already, sign up for the newsletter here.

Bowling for hollers

An up close and personal look at Bakuli, thanks to our friends at State Tourism.

As always, click on the big arrow in the middle to stay on the Holiday World website.

Puns for all occasions

We've previously mentioned our connection with the Lincoln Amphitheatre.

We had an announcement today. I couldn't resist.

Clean and pleasant

It's always interesting to read about reporters' takes on their visits here.

I got a kick out of "clean and pleasant." Beats the heck out of "filthy and cranky."

New favorite phrase: "Opened a can of pout"

Dear Holiday World,

I just wanted you to know that my mom was planning a big trip to Williamsburg,Virginia. I asked my mom if we could go to Holiday World too. She said maybe but not for very long. When she said that, I opened a can of pout and got really upset because I have been wanting to go to Holiday World since like December. Then my mom talked to a friend of hers and found out she was going to Holiday World. This made my mom so homesick for Holiday World, that she canceled out Williamsburg vacation. YAHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! WE'RE GOING TO HOLIDAY WORLD IN JULY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! KIMA BAY(WHICH I HAVE BEEN SPYING ON THROUGH YOU'RE WEBCAM SINCE IT WAS JUST A FIELD)HERE WE COME!!!!!!!!!!! When you see a long bearded man with a tie dye shirt and a yellow hat in the Bahari Wave Pool, that is my dad. When you see him, you will know I'm having a great time at Splash and Safari!!!!!!!!! I LOVE HOLIDAY WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SEE YOU SOON,

Gabi , age 11 your OFFICAL BIGGEST FAN!!!!

She finds a lost tooth...

...and they give her plaque?

(Okay, so it's a stretch. I deserve the brush off...)

Bob, bob, bobbing along

Look at all the little yellow buoys in the wave pools.


This little cutie is getting ready to splash his brother.



Supplies of lifejackets are available at both The Wave and Bahari.



Bring your own hat.

Tomorrow is "Take Your Dog to Work Day"

Thank goodness Friday is Eric's day off!

Knock knock

Who's there?

Who!

I'd like mine medium-rare, please

Here we go again...

The values of life

Yesterday, we looked for tips about coaster riding.

Today, we receive advice about living from Mrs. Koch in this newspaper article.

This is a good place to tell my latest Mrs. Koch story. Last week in our directors' meeting, her cell phone went off. She scrambled to quiet it but a moment later the ring tone again filled the room.

"I don't know how to turn this thing off!" she wailed, as a few of us giggled. We've all been there.

Will, ever the good son, had some stoic advice: Mom, perhaps you should sit on it.

"I did!" she cried. "I am. It got louder!"

Need a ride from Nashville?

This new service from Anchor Trailways and Tours may be just the answer.

Here's a link to their commercial.

Hoofin' it

I just love this photo from our Rough Riders Bumper Cars.


Okay, be nice ... what is our bull-riding friend thinking?

A new log for the flume

Mike left me a message this morning that we added a new style of log to Frightful Falls this morning.



As far as I can tell, the main difference is the back of the boat is higher.


See?

No doubt if there are other differences, we'll soon see Comments posted about them.

A request for advice

We just received a sweet email from 11-year-old Matthew.

He says he and his dad are planning a visit to Holiday World & Splashin' Safari. They made a pact to ride every single ride while they're here.

Matthew admits he's a little nervous about riding The Voyage and would like some advice.

I suggested he keep an eye on this post, as I'm sure our readers will come up with lots of great tips in the "Comments" section.

I'll start with my tip: Keep your eyes open, Matthew. If your eyes are closed, you won't "go with the flow" of the ride. Plus it's an incredible view from the top of the lifthill!

Okay, your turn. Click on the "Comments" link just below this post and help Matthew out.

A ride on The Voyage? Priceless

The director of our local visitors bureau told me this story:

My sister and brother-in-law came to visit Holiday World over the weekend and brought their best friends, Michael and Kelly, who were coming to Santa Claus for the first time.

Michael told me recently that he loved roller coasters so much, he'd ride one to work every day if he could! And asked if I got to ride a roller coaster to work every day, since I live so close to Holiday World. I responded, "Unfortunately no. I just drive a car."

Needless to say, he was looking forward to the visit!

After getting off The Voyage, he turned and headed back toward the front gate of the park. My sister stopped him and asked where he was going. "I have to go back to the gate and pay them more money," he said. "They didn't charge me enough for this. That was awesome!"

Michael also was impressed with the food prices. He couldn't believe that for about $25 they got a large pizza and fries for everyone.

He assured me, they'd definitely be back to visit again soon!

Contest for Volunteers

If you live in Tennessee (the Volunteer State), you might want to check out this contest.

No flooding here

Thank you for all the emails of concern. Although the national news media have reported that all of southern Indiana is under water...that is not an accurate statement.

Indeed, there is a crisis for many communities 100 miles north of us, but we did not receive those torrential storms. Our thoughts and prayers are with those who are dealing with the aftermath.

Dial-a-Dad (or Mom)

Channel 25 was here yesterday to do a story about our Phone Find program.

Lisa says they had a challenge finding a mom to interview. Nothing like asking women sitting down eating lunch -- in their swimsuits -- to appear on TV!

These brave moms did a great job. Click here to see the story.

Check out that cover girl!

If you live in Terre Haute, you can probably find your very own copy.

For the rest of us, this nice article is online.

Hope this wallpaper is water-proof

A new wallpaper for your computer.

Looks very refreshing on this first really hot day of the year. (I saw Will sweat for the first time this season. I don't know why I feel the need to make note of that, but he had just hoofed it up to the front gate from Splashin' Safari and he was a tad drippy.)

Missed it

I was all fired up to announce this is our 800th HoliBlog post.

...but I looked again.

It's 801.

An IT blogger takes a closer look

How nice to be noticed.

Staying on key

Click here to see a post from Will on BlooLoop.com's blog, in which he reveals one of the keys to his family's success in the park business.

A peek behind the (shower) curtain

Warm, fuzzy moments happen around here all the time.

And when one of the men on staff tells the story, it's all the sweeter.

So when the new guy (Tony...our Director of Maintenance) emailed this to our staff of directors, it seemed a pity not to post it here:

When I was at the Bahari Snacks window today, a young man came up to the window with a receipt and some money. He waited patiently. When he got to the window, he said that his change was wrong. He got back $5 too much!

I asked him if he liked Icees. He said yes so I bought him one. He asked me why I was doing that and I told him that most people aren’t that honest and I thought that was pretty cool.

That boy made my day.

Tony's last name, by the way, is Perkins.

When it was announced at staff meeting months ago that our new maintenance director was Tony Perkins I immediately formulated a plan to remove his office door and replace it with a shower curtain for his first day at work.

The younger directors looked at me like I was some kind of psycho.

I guess they didn't catch the meaning of the "eee! eeee! eeee!" screeching sound I made either.

Do me this favor, won't you? The next time you're in our Halloween section and the theme from that movie comes on, whisper in a slightly macabre way: Oh, Tony...they're playing your song.

The most beautiful smiles all day

...were on the faces of these happy children.


They are the Ugandan Orphans Choir, who are touring the States this summer performing songs from their native Africa.

But on Saturday, they were just regular kids having fun.

Long gone, long ago

It's been more than three years since we sold the last one, but emails are still coming in asking about buying our old Skeeball machines.

Matt says he gets a query every week or so. He's threatening to forward all such calls and emails to me, so in the spirit of detente, I thought a HoliBlog post was in order.