I may tweet, but I'm not a twit

Are you familiar with Twitter?

You may have noticed, we added a feed to the right of the latest HoliBlog post ...

It's a micro-blog. With a maximum length of 140 characters (not words) per post.

So you have to choose your sassy comments carefully.

Once we're open daily (Saturday), it's our intent to provide running commentary about the day. If you're in the park and have the feed text-messaged to you, you'll know which rides have the shortest lines. If you're not in the park, you might still get a kick out of knowing that stuff.

Apparently the Motley Fool likes the idea.

As I was typing this, Eric called. He'd just read the latest column from the Motley Fool and saw that we were mentioned. He wanted to know: What's Twitter?. After my brief explanation, Eric sighed, "Wow. I'm getting old." That made someone who is old enough to be his mother feel pretty good.

We now interrupt this regularly scheduled blog post

Well, that's certainly nice.

We get quite a few positive comments about our customer service, but this time it's about me.

We don't often get asked about "hot spots" in the town of Santa Claus, but it's nice to know there are at least two.

Are you a freeloader?

We'll that's not a very nice question to ask...

(Although anyone old enough to remember comedian Red Skelton's "Freddie the Freeloader" character should know Red was from Vincennes, Indiana.)

Anyway, this radio station is looking for "freeloaderz" to sign up for a chance to win free Holiday World & Splashin' Safari tickets.

Lights! Camera! Action...

John over in Marketing has written his first HoliBlog post. So let's be gentle...

Here goes:

If you've always wanted to get your sweet mug on a commercial, this may be your big chance.

We need volunteers to be extras this Friday, May 9.

As extras for the new Holiday World & Splashin' Safari TV commercials, you’ll be asked to try out our new Kima Bay water-play attraction in Splashin’ Safari.

Interested?

We can’t promise to make you a star, but we will feed you and give you a free ticket as a token of our esteem.

The timing for this is 12:00 noon to 5:30 pm CDT this Friday, May 9. (Weather permitting)

To sign up, please contact us no later than noon on Thursday by sending us an email at mintern2@holidayworld.com (or call 812-937-5280 and ask to speak with Braden or Patty).

We’ll answer your questions and will provide you with more information, such as: please wear a swimsuit that is modest in design; bring plenty of towels and warm cover-ups and a change of clothes, plus something to pass the time during down-time (there's always down-time). This is a first-come, first-served opportunity; adults and families are particularly welcome. (Sorry, children must be at least 36-inches-tall to ride on certain slides and 42-inches-tall for others.) Infants and toddlers may be present at Kima Bay however they may not have a role.

And before you ask "is Kima Bay’s water heated?" You bet! We use solar heating and as long as the sun is shining, the water is warming up.


This photo is from last year's commercial shoot.

An A+ for Hannah

Hannah is a sweetie.

I met her a few seasons ago when she visited the park with her family. Her dad is a journalist from Cincinnati.

Hannah is finishing up 4th grade ("Just like Bart Simpson," her dad told me).

Her proud papa emailed me a theme paper (remember those?) for which Hannah received 25 out of 25 points, plus a one word comment: Great!

Here is that paper, but first a photo of the author loving on her little sister, Lizzie.

HOLIDAY WORLD

The best trip of my life was last summer. I was so excited I actually got a headache from being excited. That turned the whole trip around.

My sister, a young blonde with blue eyes, sat next to me and my dirty blonde hair and shining green eyes. We were going to Holiday World, best theme park ever! (Not Disney or Blizzard Beach, that's a tie). My dad is a writer. He reviews DVDs. He also writes for The Gary Burbank Show and interviews comedians, but for the second time in a row he is reviewing Holiday World. It is located in Santa Clause, Indiana. It is named "Holiday" World because its town is named after Santa Claus. All of the rides and restaurants have a holiday theme, except for Easter, St. Patrick's Day and birthdays. We had to stop at two Lincoln museums, but then went to Holiday World. We stayed in a large wooded area called Rudolph campsite. In the trailer we slept in, I felt excited and I got a headache, but the trip was awesome.

My little sister Lizzie is 4. She was fine and I thought I was too. I ate at a Thanksgiving sever-yourself restaurant. My mom paid me to go on the tallest rollercoaster made. Um, hello mom I have a headache!

A few rollercoasters later, I had barley any headache at all. And right in front of me was my favorite rollercoaster, The Raven. It was tall brown and wooden. The top had 2 flags. On the tallest hill there was a big raven. My mom and I got in the front seat, but oh boy did my head hurt. I would rather have dipped a cookie in orange juice. But once I got off the ride I was fine. So we went in the water park Splashin' Safari. It was connected to Halloweenland. I had my favorite swimsuit, lime green and navy blue. My mom and sister went to a large fenced area and ran through sprinklers. Me and my dad went to my favorite water slide. It was green, yellow and pink and blue. It was slightly steep and went up and down and side to side. My dad and I got spongy blue mats with rubber handles, climbed up the stairs and splashed down the slide. After a while I knew this was the second best day ever. The first best was last year's trip to Holiday World!

Later that night we were at a hotel that was a house. Kind of a condo, but not connected houses. You could sleep in it like a hotel. There was a cozy library, cute rooms and a list of rentals for movies. We rented The Wedding Singer. Halfway through, I got a stomach ache. Then something came out my front end. Didn’t want to get descriptive about that!

This is dedicated to Paula, a worker at Holiday World. She made this trip happen and I can't think of anyone I met at that park who was nicer (including Lizzie, my sister!)

"I would rather have dipped a cookie in orange juice." That's classic. I predict Hannah has a wildly successful writing career in front of her.

Keeping contests on Track

Okay, so here's another contest with a ticket giveaway.

The station goes by the moniker The Track. They have a free membership program through which you can earn points and maybe even win some prizes.

Best I can tell, they don't require you to run a marathon or anything strenuous.

And maybe while you're signing up you can stream their music. Seems like the decent thing to do.

Oh, and there's a fun feature on their homepage. Scroll down a bit and place your cursor over the deejays and watch them dance. (But don't be getting any ideas for this website!)

Here we go!

We open for the season tomorrow.

Tomorrow.

Where in the world did the "off season" go? Amazing.

Meanwhile, we've got some photos from yesterday. (It rained most of today, so we meltable PR types didn't venture forth much.)

The landscapers were hard at work.


The last of the flags went up (good thing, too; today would not be the day to hang coaster flags):


This photo of Tommy painting our Santa statue was taken this morning, before the clouds opened up.


It is such an honor to be part of this tradition. For the 62nd time, the park will open for the season.

Remember, we're splitting the difference on time this year: The rides open at 9:30 am CDT.

It's the spring of the year...

...when the sweet, melodic voices of mothers all over southwest Indiana murmur to their darling teen-aged sons:

Work starts on Saturday -- get your hair cut!

Exhibit A:


You probably won't recognize this friendly Holiday World Host from the past several seasons because, well ... you can only see about 30 percent of his face.

His mother (um ... me) and father allowed #2 son to go organic over the winter.

It keeps my head warm. You don't want my brain to freeze do you?

Said parents were more concerned about whiplash. John enjoyed snapping his head to swing his bangs a bit to the side. Within half a second, the hair would slide back down, and the whole process would begin again.

Yes, son, very cool. You rock.

But all good things must come to an end.


Look at the size of that head! (Did I mention John weighed 10 pounds, 11 ounces when he was born via natural childbirth? A reminder to sons with large heads everywhere: 10 shopping days left till Mothers Day.)

The poor stylist was probably ankle deep in clippings as my sheep-dog son was shorn.

But in the end, all is well. I can see John's blue eyes again and...


... John will qualify to earn a summer paycheck once again.

Your favorite ride?

Budget Travel magazine wants to know.

Want to be our new "IT" guy or gal?

Actually, that's assistant IT guy or gal...

Head over to our Jobs page to take a look at the description and needed qualifications for this and other positions.

Goodness knows I'm not qualified. This stuff is all hocus-pocus with a sprinkle of pixie dust to me!

Lunatic on the loose

The subject line of this post is a nod to my dear husband. Gary loves malapropisms (and I loved reading The Rivals in high school, so I still use the word malapropism whenever possible).

We live out in the country (which works well, seeing as though he's a farmer). Whenever a large moth flies by, he cries out: "Look! A lunatic moth!"

Yes, there's a lunatic in our midst, dear, but it's not the flying kind

This post and accompanying photo, though, are from Eric:

Today is cleaning day in the Admissions Department.

This morning, I headed out to the Holidog Inn to prepare it for opening day.

As I opened the door, I saw something fly into the room over my shoulder. At first glance I thought it was a leaf.

A closer inspection made it clear that it was no leaf, but a living being!


A luna moth decided to be the first unusual Holidog Inn guest of the year. It's a beautiful little creature, but kind of creepy. It wouldn't stop smiling at me!

(Perhaps it sat in on one of our Hospitality Training sessions?)

Smile and say "cheese pizza"

Those who stop by the park this afternoon to get their Season Pass photos taken will probably chuckle when they look at their photos all season long.

It's quite chilly out again today, so no doubt we'll have photos of folks in turtlenecks, sweaters and hoodies.

Let's try to draw the line at fur-trimmed parkas, though.

My mother-in-law, Rita (rest her soul), used to call this late-spring cold snap The Ice Man. And she was right. Once you get out the shorts and the sunscreen, there is always a nasty cold front to remind us who is really in charge.

Two days ago, I saw an Icee truck in the park.

It gave me a chill.

But I guess The Ice Man has to get around somehow...