August 2011
Looking Back... August 2011
9 August 2011 - 2:15pm
A slightly tilted birds-eye view
When our friends at State Tourism asked if a group of students from Ball State University could spend a day with us shooting a video, it sounded like a pretty good idea.
Boy, were we ever wrong...
...it was a great idea!
(Faked you out, there, didn't I?)
Here's the result of their effort, using very cool "tift shift" photography:
5 August 2011 - 3:32pm
Santa Claus Land forward: 65 years in 2 minutes
Wednesday was a big anniversary for us. Sixty-five years ago, on August 3, 1946, Louis J. Koch opened his park, Santa Claus Land.
It was his retirement project, conceived before World War II and opened a year - nearly to the day - after turning over that first shovel of dirt.
As part of our anniversary celebration on Wednesday, our a cappella singers, Legacy, performed the song "Have a Holiday" while the packed house enjoyed watching this retrospective of our history.
That's Santa Jim - the quintessential Santa - up on the screen.
And here's the video:
1 August 2011 - 7:41pm
"Where can you get a good stake around here?"
If you've enjoyed the prime rib at Plymouth Rock Cafe this season, you have Mrs. Koch to thank.
... plus the many folks who've asked her "where can you get a good steak around here?" over the years.
As we prepared for the start of this season, Mrs. Koch was determined she'd be able to answer "right here!" when asked about steak.
Over the next two days, she may be asked about the location of some other "good stakes." Vertical stakes of the wooden kind.
And that's because we're getting ready to announce our new ride for 2012. And it's so hard to be patient.
This will be the biggest single-ride investment we've ever made. And by "ever" we mean 65 years.
It's no coincidence that our announcement is on our 65th anniversary. On August 3, 1946, we opened Santa Claus Land and on August 3, 2011, we'll talk about this $9 million monstrosity we're building for next year.
If you're here in the park on Wednesday, please join us in the Holiday Theater (in the Christmas section) at 11am CDT as we celebrate our past and look excitedly toward our future.
Who knows, we might even have cake!
If you're not able to be with us in person, please join us via our UStream Channel . Air-time (couldn't resist the pun) is 11am CDT. Of course, we'll also post the ride information and some very cool animation on the Holiday World & Splashin' Safari website.
By the way, thanks to all who have participated in the wild speculation on our Facebook Wall and via Twitter. It's been a blast!
