We recently visited Holiday World and Splashin' Safari for our annual summer family trip. We are always impressed with all of the typical things for which you have won awards and people have commented upon on the website (free drinks, cleanliness . . . ).

So often people only write to complain, I wanted to bring to your attention a particular employee that was working his tail off. We were waiting to ride the Legend on Thursday, June 26. There had been a storm that shut down the rides earlier, and the lines were longer than they had been for our entire visit. Brice was his name. He and another female were the only ones working the entire ride. He was drenched in sweat from collecting all the stuff people needed to store, securing more than half the train, and still greeting people. He was working extremely hard, but he still had a pleasant attitude.

We appreciate all you did to make our experience a wonderful one!

Thanks,

Annette T.
Kingsport, Tennessee

My family and my brother's family visited your park this past week for our summer family trip. I could not wait to get home to email and let you know what a fabulous time we had.

Your park is the cleanest park I have ever visited.

All workers were polite and ready to serve.

I will definitely tell all my friends and will be back for future visits.

Thank you for a wonderful time.

Connie M.
Lebanon Tennessee

We were to be in St. Louis June 17th-22nd, for a work-related convention and thought about leaving a few days early in order to go to Six Flags and Hurricane Harbor on the outskirts of St. Louis before being downtown for the week. Once that idea was out on the table, the plans quickly changed as we decided to drive to St. Louis on the 13th, and then onto Santa Claus the 14th-17th, returning to St. Louis on the 17th for the convention.

We had first heard about Holiday World in the early 90's while reading a AAA travel guide, however, it was too far off our route to make a visit. We have continued to hear about Holiday World by watching the Travel Channel and decided this was the perfect opportunity to check it out!

We made our reservations in January to rent an RV at Lake Rudolph Campground for the dates in June.

We did not tell our 8 year old daughter until the week before we were leaving.

Upon our arrival into Santa Claus we bought our discount tickets at the campground and headed to Holiday World.

Your website states that Saturdays in June are not that busy, and it was right - not busy. We spent all afternoon and most of the evening at Holiday World and had a wonderful time!

Our daughter's favorite ride is the "Gobbler Getaway."

While our daughter did not do the 3 wooden coasters, we did. WOW! The Raven and Legend were good, but the Voyage? WOW! It was an amazing ride!

The food at Holiday World was good and was reasonably priced. The blue and red twist cone, in the "4th of July Section," was a creative idea and tasted great and of course, the free drinks were wonderful!

We bought the next day pass so we could go to Splashin' Safari on Father's Day where we spent the majority of the day. It was not very crowded either! We enjoyed going on all the family tube rides, hanging out at "Monsoon Lagoon," "Kima Bay," and the two wave pools; and going on the two lazy rivers. The free sunscreen was great! We had a wonderful lunch and even fit in a few snacks. We have traveled all over the United States, and this is one of the better water parks we had the pleasure of visiting.

We decided to buy the next day pass so we could go one last day on Monday. We spent the morning going to Lincoln's Boyhood Home, the Candy Castle, and the Santa Claus Museum but we headed for the water park when we got back and finished the trip with a few rides in Holiday World.

All in all, the parks were as advertised: family friendly, clean, affordable, and fun. We even saw Mrs. Koch a few times just as others have said.

It has been a week since we were there, and we wish we lived closer. In fact, if it wasn't over an eight hour drive, many of our friends and neighbors would load up their kids in an instant as they enjoyed hearing about this "Hidden Gem" in Southern Indiana!

Thanks for making such a great place for family fun!

"Toto, we're not in Santa Claus anymore."

Mark and Jill S.
Baldwin City, Kansas

My family and I were at Holiday World on 6/21/08, and while there we attended what I thought was going to just be a Gospel show. It was awesome! The singers were top notch, and evidence of their faith and the presence of The Holy Spirit really made my day. I cannot begin to tell you just how much I really enjoyed it all. It made me cry. Thank you for the BLESSING!

Mrs. Michelle D.
Hardinsburg, Kentucky

My husband, sons (5 & 2), and I spent a day at Holiday World last week. I want to thank you for the wonderful time!

The park was so clean and the staff was friendly & helpful. We couldn't have asked for better service!

I hadn't been to Holiday World since I was in high school. It was better than I remember!

Our sons had so much fun riding the rides. I thought we would have to pitch a tent in the Holidog play area. Then they found Splashin' Safari. It was a hit too.

Thank you for running such a family friendly park. We look forward to
creating more memories at your park.

Sincerely,

Amy Jo P.
Concord, Illinois

P.S. My husband rode the VOYAGE. He said it was the best roller coaster he'd been on. By the look on his face in the picture, I think it took him by surprise!

Just returned from our first visit to your park and wanted to say WOW and thank you.

Staff was soo friendly and helpful. Very polite and asking if we were having a good time and thanking us for coming. Most of these workers were young - so good job on customer service training.

The park was so clean - never saw a drop of trash anywhere.

Prices were very reasonable. Thanks for making it family affordable.

We had a great time and are recommending it to all our friends.

Tom & Lois H.
Collierville, Tennessee

I was there with my son and husband for our first trip to Holiday World, and we all had such a great time! We were there from the park's opening until the park's closing that night, and we didn't even get to Splashin' Safari or the Halloween section. There was just so much to do! We really had a great time.

I was especially impressed with how much there was for my 3 1/2 year old son to do throughout the whole park. In addition to the two areas specifically designated for smaller kids, there were so many other things he could enjoy - rides, shows, games, attractions. My son truly had the time of his life! He literally did not stop moving for 10 hours. All he ate that day was a very small part of a cup of chocolate ice cream around 11 that morning, part of a soft pretzel around 1 right before the Holidog show, two packs of fruit snacks that I had in my purse and some mini-melts around 4:30 in the Thanksgiving section. He was way too busy having fun to care about food!

I've personally never spent that much time - combined - in my entire life at an amusement park.

Holiday World is so clean and feels so safe. Not only are the employees all friendly, but the patrons are also. We will definitely be back next year.

I briefly considered adding a second day before we left the park, but I had a feeling that my son still wouldn't get too far past where we'd already been since he'd enjoyed it all so much. Meeting Santa, Holidog and the HoliDazzles were amazing highlights for him. He was in tears when we had to leave the park at 7:45! Less than 5 minutes after we pulled out of the parking lot, he was literally out cold!

I just wanted to write to you and tell you how great Holiday World is. I've been spreading the word about it to everyone I know here in St. Louis, and I have a feeling that more than a few of my friends will also be making the trip.

Thanks to you and the entire Holiday World family for making our experience such a fantastic one!

Warmly,

Amy G.
St. Louis, Missouri

Yesterday, I lost my 6 year old son in Splashin' Safari. Needless, to say I was in a panic, but your staff left me a message on my cell phone letting me know they had found him.

I just want to say THANK YOU for providing lost parent meeting sites, a great staff to keep lost children calm and thank you for providing wrist bands to allow parents to be connected if they get separated.

I really just wanted to say Thank You and to let your staff know how much I appreciate them!

THANK YOU!!!!!!

Amy A.

My wife and I visited your park for the first time yesterday, Tuesday June 17th. We were so impressed with our visit that we felt compelled to write a letter of thank you and congratulations to you and your staff. Excuse me if this letter is a bit on the long side, but I want to be sure you and your staff get all of the accolades that you are due.

We live in Louisville, Kentucky, and have attended Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom and St. Louis, as well as Paramount's King's Island, yet we had never made the short trip out to Santa Claus, Indiana. We have repeatedly watched your commercials and have discussed a trip, but it wasn't until this year that we made it out your way. To be honest we were both curious about the unlimited beverages and sunscreen, as well as some of the other guest benefits in addition to our attraction to your world class roller coasters.

Upon arriving at the park we were instantly impressed when passed through the gates. A extremely warm and welcoming lady named Cindy (hope I am spelling that right, Cyndi maybe?) wished us a pleasant visit. When we informed her that we were first timers, she became very excited and asked if we had any questions regarding our visit. She answered all of our questions and pointed us to the park map display. Needless to say we were pretty well blown away by this. No person at any amusement park we have ever attended spent anywhere close to this much time ensuring that we had a good visit, much less someone in the often busy position of checking tickets. We immediately felt that we were in a place that really cared about the quality of the guests' visit.

Walking around the park your dedication to cleanliness and park beauty was prominent. During our entire stay (from park opening to 7pm) we never saw so much as a single piece of litter in the entire park. I have a feeling that your guests appreciate your attention to detail and care about the park as much as you do and therefore make an effort to put trash in its place. We were also impressed by the state of maintenance of all of your attractions. From the rides to the theatres and gaming booths every piece of equipment, every building looked well kept and cleaned. We were unable to detect even the slightest hint of graffiti or disrepair. Another very pleasing aspect of your park is the atmosphere. With so many happy families in attendance and none of the teenage and twenty-something riff-raff that often plagues other parks, my wife and I were able to really enjoy ourselves and share in the enjoyment of other guests. Never did we have to shake our heads at the behavior of your guests.

We managed to take in all of the rides (save for the kiddie rides), played an ample amount of skeeball and even enjoyed a few shows. By far our favorite ride was the Voyage, with the Legend a close second. We are big wooden coaster nuts so your park is heaven for us in that regard. We also took advantage of the Splashin' Safari water park. We absolutely love those "float along in a inner tube" river attractions so the fact that you have two was of particular excitement. The big wave pool was our other favorite spot.

One of the truly incredible stand-out moments came for us upon completing our ride on Paul Revere's Midnight Ride. One of the operators, a young man named Chaz, if I recall correctly, let us out of our car and then asked us if we enjoyed our ride!! After telling him we did and thanking him, my wife looked at me and said "That has never, ever happened to me at any amusement park before!" Chaz's simple and polite inquiry literally made our day. And Chaz was not alone. Every, and I honestly mean every, single park employee we interacted with seemed genuinely interested in the quality of our visit and dedicated to ensuring that we had a fantastic time. And so we did. Every employee from the nice young ladies who served us at Kringle's Cafe, to the energetic folks operating the rides, from the girl who gave us our locker key, to the polite young lady who stamped our hand to get back into the park appeared to truly enjoy their job and exhibited real park spirit. I certainly hope you pay them well, they deserve and earn every penny!

Finally, I would like to say a few things about value and then you can get on your way, I'm sure you have important things to be doing! One of the most important features for us was your overall value. For the quality of the experience we had, we greatly underpaid. Admission was comparable to, if not lower than, other parks in the area. The free unlimited soft drinks were as promised, free, with no restrictions. And I think, since they were free and readily available, we were less inclined to abuse the privilege and really maybe only had 2 or 3 small cups of soda the entire visit. With all of the superb freebies at our disposal we were much more inclined to spend our money elsewhere. And much to our delight, your concession prices were quite reasonable. Your $1.59 ice cream cone and your 2.29 nachos were far cheaper than comparable treats at other parks and even less than we usually pay at the movies! Without having to spend money for things like parking and drinks, we were much happier to spend that money on games and souvenirs. You may call us skeptics, but in this world nothing is free, so we were constantly looking for where you were going to "get us." To our pleasant surprise we never found it. Well, that's not entirely true, we did figure out how you were going to "get us:" repeat business! My wife and I plan on visiting your park many more times, hopefully this season, but if not we will be looking for season passes next year for sure!

Overall, we were extremely impressed with the quality of our visit to your incredible park. We probably spent the same amount of money at your park that we would spend at any other park, but we got so much more for it! Our high level of satisfaction with our visit is a testament to the hard work and devotion of you and your staff. We wish you many more years of success and look forward to being a part of it!

Thank you all very much,

Ronnie and Aimee D.
Louisville, Kentucky

We just visited your park last week for the 3rd or 4th time. We had a wonderful time and sure enjoy the fact that the park is clean, well kept, and your staff is very polite and helpful which makes visiting Holiday World enjoyable.

Our 15 and 12 year old can’t wait to come again next year. I guess we are making this an annual event!

Thanks to all the workers!

Kim S.
New Haven, Indiana

Just wanted to comment on the fun we had at Holiday World and Splashin' Safari water park!

We are 2 parents, 3 kids (2 - 7 yrs old and a 3 yr old), and 2 grandparents ---- and everyone had a GREAT time!!

We spent one day riding all the rides, and the second day at the water park!

Probably the only complaint would be the long waiting lines at a few of the rides, but that was to be expected and hard to avoid on the popular rides --- mainly the Log Flume.

We ate lunch at the parks both days and were very impressed with the food and it's cost!! The free drinks are awesome!!(A huge rip-off at OTHER amusement parks!!) We had hamburgers & hotdogs one day, and pizza the next, and I think it cost less than at a "fast food" restaurant would have!!

Can't THANK YOU enough for a fun weekend with family!

We have already recommended you to everyone we know and took lots of your brochures to give to friends also!!

We will definitely be back again! If not this year, for sure next year!! (The 3 yr old is already talking about being tall enough next year (?)to ride all the BIG rides like his sister!?!)

THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!!

Jeanie L.
Decatur, Illinois

P.S. Just wanted to give "kudos" also to Lake Rudolph Campground!! We rented a "king-sized" RV at the campground for all of us and could not have been more pleased with the accommodations! Very clean & nice --- campground is beautiful and the perfect place to stay while visiting your parks!! Kids LOVED the golf cart rides in the evening ---- great way to "unwind " after a long day at the amusement park!!

THANK YOU AGAIN !!

We visited Holiday World on Saturday, June 14, 2008, for our annual company picnic. Every year we are more impressed with your facility and the friendliness of your staff.

We have 10-year old twins that are disabled and in wheelchairs. They enjoy many of the rides at your park, particularly some of the water slides. I wanted you to know how much we appreciate your staff escorting us up the stairs while we carry the twins to these rides and not making us wait in line. If this were not done they would not be able to experience this simple pleasure.

God bless you and your staff.

Sincerely,
Carl C. and Family
Indianapolis, Indiana

We just returned from our 8th trip(in 10 years)to Holiday World and Splashin' Safari. This year my husband's company held their picnic there (June 14th).

I have to tell you that I absolutely LOVE this park. It's not only the fact that it's affordable and clean, the free soft drinks or free sunscreen (which with a family of 5 saved us a fortune.) It's just a wonderful place to take our family.

As I mentioned before we have been regulars since 1998.

In 2000, my parents, brother, niece and nephew joined us. We camped at Lake Rudolph(another GREAT place).

Our last trip with the family was in 2006.

We were unable to go last summer due to the fact my mother had just found out she had lung cancer.

This year's trip was difficult for me since we lost her in January. I knew that I would see her everywhere I looked. But I am so happy that I have 7 years worth of memories with her and my family at Holiday World and Splashin' Safari. I will cherish them always. Your park will ALWAYS have a special place in my heart. The only regret I have about this year is that we were only able to visit for the one day.

As always the food was wonderful, the new additions are top notch.

We are already planning our vacation for next summer.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart, for creating such a special place that my family has such fond memories from visiting.

Till next year.

(Oh I noticed when I took my children for their picture with Santa that you have a new one. We missed the one who had been there on our other trips, we hope he is well.)

Laurie M.
Kingman, Indiana

I attended your park for the first time on Wednesday, June 11th. It was my niece, Summer's, 7th birthday and it turned out to be a very special day for her.

After spending most of the day at the water park, she had a very special meeting with Santa and had her picture made with him.

We then went to see the "HoliDazzle" show, and the cast sang "Happy Birthday" to her after the show.

I truly enjoyed the day at your park, and I cannot wait to come back.

Thank you for giving us such an affordable, clean, and fun place for our families to enjoy!!

Looking forward to seeing you again soon!

Leigh Anne R.
Lafayette, Tennessee

I wanted to take a moment to thank you. I wanted to thank you for what Holiday World has come to mean for my family.

We were there a couple of weeks ago and I believe it's our 9th straight year. It is the only time all year that the entire family is together. Holiday world has filled our hearts with such valuable memories of our kids and grandkids.

Every year one of the kids over comes one of their fears on a ride or a slide. It is exciting for me to watch them having so much fun and over coming each one's fears.

No matter what is going on in our lives we still gather at Holiday World once a year. It has become a special place that we all look forward to each year. We see the grandkids eager to try new things and extend their boundaries.

This year our family pet came with us. You provided him with a nice air conditioned room while we all played.

You truly have something for everyone.

So thank you for providing us with a nice, clean and SAFE family atmosphere.

I can't wait to see what is new for next year.

Congratulations, and again, from the bottom of my heart... Thank You very much.

Steve P.
Bowling Green, Kentucky

We just returned from a vacation in Florida and went to Wet and Wild Water Park in Orlando.

After visiting Holiday World, we were so disappointed in Wet and Wild!

First, it cost 3 of us over $120 to get in, $8 to park, $8.99 for a refillable drink and then $.99 for each refill. Yikes!! We spent $27 for lunch and my son and I split a sandwich!

The employees were rude and unfriendly. It was not a very fun experience!

You have set the bar high and I just wanted to compliment you on your fabulous park and wonderful service.

We hope to make a trip down yet this summer!

Keep up the good work!!!

Susan D.
Westfield, Indiana

I just wanted to let you know how much my family enjoyed our trip. We spent June 9th, at your park and we all had a blast.

Splashin' Safari was amazing. Holiday World dry park was very good as well. We enjoyed all aspects of the park.

The free drinks, and parking were great but the icing on the cake was the free sunscreen stations. That was a nice touch. The free drinks were very much appreciated. Thank you.

This was the first time I had ever ridden wooden rollercoasters. WOW. We started at the Raven and worked up to the Voyage. They were great rides. Speed, speed, speed. Loved it.

If you expand and add more rides, please think about adding a metal frame coaster with inversions. Those would be a nice change up from the wooden coasters.

Again, thank you. We had a great time and if we were a little closer, we would be back a lot more often. We WILL be back.

Thank you again.

A very satisfied customer,

Keith W.
Alexandria, Tennessee

P.S. All your staff is to be commended. Everyone was great.

For the 2nd straight year I brought my daughter and a friend of hers to Holiday World as a birthday gift for my daughter. She turned 12 yesterday and we visited on June 7th.

I want to let you know that I'm always eager to take her to Holiday World for many reasons. It's obviously very family oriented, plus it's clean, safe, the food is good and reasonably priced and there's so much to do.

I can see why you all win so many awards and get so many accolades. It's very apparent that everyone there, from ownership, management and on down to each employee works very hard to make Holiday World the very best.

My daughter was at Kings Island last week and told me yesterday that she likes Holiday World much better. She's also been to Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom and rates Holiday World above that. She said Six Flags was always dirty.

I just want to commend you on all the hard work you do and how you give parents' a positive option for entertaining their kids.

I do have one suggestion. I'd like to see some benches or some sort of seating set up in the area near Bakuli and Bahari River. I was waiting for them to go through each and standing in the hot sun wasn't very pleasant. It seems there's seating in most other areas of the park, so some benches, tables, etc. in this area would be nice.

Thanks again and we'll be back next year!!

Barry S.
New Albany, Indiana

This past Sunday, June 8th, I, my wife and my daughter visited Holiday World and the water park.

We came from Nashville. It as a 3 hour drive from Nashville. I must state that it was well worth the trip.

For a park that is 62 years old you could not tell it. The park was very clean the employees were all very professional and friendly.

The life guards did their jobs and paid attention to the swimmers.

The food was good and reasonably priced.

The efforts that you are making to keep the bathroom clean is fantastic. I visited several different bathrooms in the park and in each one I saw someone cleaning.

I have been to several Six Flag parks over the years and you do a better job in keeping the park clean.

The free drinks are a plus. They really help in keeping people from getting sun stoke or dehydrated.

I would recommend this park to anyone.

The one problem is finding any hotel or motel close to the park. We came in from Nashville and did not see any.

Just keep up the good work.

I saw your advertisement on TV which caused us to consider you as an alternative to Six Flags.

I'm glad we chose you.

Bill L.
Nashville, Tennessee

On Saturday, May 31, 2008, I visited Holiday World for the first time. As a lifetime native of Indiana I really had no excuse for not going sooner, just never had the opportunity to visit.

In today's society, you hear commercials, ads, etc. that state this product is the best, this one is the cleanest. Most of these claims fall very short of their mark. However, Holiday World is not in this category. I was amazingly impressed with the cleanliness of your facility and the across-the-board niceness of each and every employee we encountered.

It was especially pleasing to be greeted by Mrs. Koch at the front gate. Throughout our day, we saw Mrs. Koch at various locations just checking up and ensuring that things were running smoothly.

I am not a theme park enthusiast but this is one facility that I am sorry I did not visit earlier and now hope to make up for lost time.

Thank you and your staff for a pleasant experience.

Janice W.
Hymera, Indiana

I took my grandchildren to Holiday World last weekend. I have heard it was really nice but it topped everything I imagined.

I have told everyone how clean and friendly the workers were and my 5, 3, 2 and 1 year olds had a ball.

Thanks so much for keeping up with this park and making it better and better.

We took our kids there in the 70's and 80's and they loved it then but now, taking our kids with their children is better than ever.

Also the Santa on May 30th, was really nice and looked really good. The best Santa I've seen.

Thanks for making memories for our family.

Cathy & Pat G. from Bedford, Indiana (Granny and Papaw)
Natalie, Brian, Marilyn and Benjamin B. from Louisville, Kentucky
Justin, Jennifer, Carter and Ella G. from Indianapolis, Indiana

I just wanted to let you guys know how excited I am that you are keeping Holiday World in great condition!

We recently went to Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom and I was horrified at how trashed it was. It was definately not worth admission!

I just wanted you to know that my family will never go to any other park but yours!

I have memories there from when I was little and now I can take my kids there to make their own memories.

I love how some of the original rides are still there, like the "birds" and the "train". And in addition, you guys add something new every year.

The water park is so clean and nice.

I cannot wait to come this year if we can.

Thank you for keeping my childhood alive so I can still share it with my family every year.

Sincerely,

Angel H.
New Albany, Indiana