Here's WFIE's Nathan Ryder's report from tonight's 5 o'clock news.

If you watch closely, you'll see that Mrs. Koch was on the first boat. She wasn't going to ride today...but at the last minute, hopped on. There are lots of Kochs on that boat, actually...Will's wife, Lori, their younger daughter, Leah, and William A. Koch III. And in the back seat, Will's brother Philip with his daughter Alexa.

Here they are:

The family that rides together ... gets soaking wet together.

What with all this testing...

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/8uWkSpo0LJg&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x...

As we get closer to opening each season, John keeps busy writing and producing our ad campaign.

For editing our "creative," he travels to Cincinnati. He was there a week or so ago and was delighted when, while at lunch, he looked out the window and saw this on the back of a Pepsi truck:

John approached the Pepsi truck drivers and asked, "Hey guys, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Priceless response: "Uh...what did we do?"

John happily emailed me the photo with the Pepsi guys, quipping: "Kings Island may have Diamondback, but we've got Truckback!"

...or, technically, William Shakespeare:

What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.

We addressed in a past post the struggle to find a suitable moniker for Mrs. Koch.

This came up again recently at the Easter Seals Telethon.

That's WEHT-TV's Brad Byrd in the middle.

You know how Mrs. Koch doesn't like to be called our "matriarch"? Brad called her "the grand old lady" of Holiday World.

Thank heavens she's such a good sport. Someone else called her "an institution." She just howls with laughter.

Maybe we should all do what Will does ... and simply call her "Mom."

Speaking recently at a hospitality conference, I heard gasps upon mentioning we were in our 5th year of blogging here at Holiday World.

Despite my sort-of tongue in cheek (actually, in song) appeal for a new Golden Ticket Award category, the wait continues.

How nice, though, to start the day with this lovely news.

Once upon a time, a rabid coaster enthusiast lived here in the town of Santa Claus.

He never missed a trick. He loved to ask me about things before I even knew about them

He moved away a few years ago for career reasons, but I thought of him the other week.

...and wondered how I could have possibly kept this a secret from him.

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/BtqHBuHAHOs&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x...

Our friends at The Gravity Group asked to "borrow" our coaster track to test the prototype of the new wooden coaster train they're designing.

The testing went remarkably well and the train is now back in Cincinnati. We put our PTC trains back on the tracks for another season.

...but it sure was fun to take a tiny part in what Will referred to as "quite possibly a piece of roller coaster history."

Brian & Pauline J. from Indy emailed to ask for more details about our Feeding Families Food Drive.

They tucked in photos of their three sons, with the note: Santa keeps getting smaller each year!

Indeed, it's a scientific fact.

As Kevin, Harrison, and Brandon grow, Santa is shrinking a bit.

Happy Easter to everyone!

Question: When your staff works tirelessly for years to earn the distinction of being the first theme park in the nation to achieve SHARP status, a safety award, how should you celebrate?

This hard-hat cake (and the Oreo cookie "dirt") was far too cute to eat. Happily, IT Director Joe's wife, Lana, made several other cakes.

A wonderful national organization called FAAN (the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network) announced this morning that Holiday World is the recipient of the 13th Annual Mariel C. Furlong Award for Making a Difference.

Here's more information.

This is a huge honor. The best award, though, is the sweet little faces of the children who were able to safely eat at the park with the rest of their family last summer. Here's an example of some of the wonderful stories we heard. And here's another.

Do you know someone with food allergies? Please let them know they can head over to our Restaurant & Food page to download this year's Allergen-Friendly Information Guide.

Many thanks to the Tri-State Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Support Group in Evansville, who nominated us for this award.