You have done something that I thought could not be done. We visited your park this past Saturday, my wife and I and two daughters and their husbands and my 10 month old granddaughter. First off we had a wonderful time.

Now for what you did; I am a former 8 year employee of Kings Island in the rides department back when I was in college. Two things I want to admit, one, I did not think there could be a better, cleaner, friendlier, well run park then Kings Island, well yours is! All your employees were friendly with smiles. With your policy of free soft drinks, I expected to see paper cups all over the ground, well I did not see any except for a few in the hidden corners of some of the queue lines. I was also impressed with the design and layout of your rides with the coasters going right past you when you are waiting in lines of other rides (water slides) or past you as you wait in line (plexy glass windows on the Voyage). I also liked how the coasters curved around other rides.

Two, I never thought I would find a coaster better than the Beast at Kings Island. Well I spoke to soon after riding the Voyage my 28 year old daughter Sarah and I (only one's in family who are coaster freaks) could not get enough of it. We rode it twice and would have ridden it again but our family was waiting for us to leave. Sorry but the Beast is second and then the Legend and then the Raven.

Thanks again for running an excellent park. Please don't let your park get too commercialized. You have a wonderful family park. We plan on 
visiting again some day.

Dan H. & Family

While cleaning out my parent’s home I found a package postmarked 1963 from Santa Claus land.  In it were a brochure and some free passes.  My father was in construction and we were never able to go on a summer vacation.  However, in 1963 when I was 8 years old there was a strike and we took a 3 week road trip to Disneyland in California.  That was the last family vacation we ever went on. 
 
My mother must have sent away for information from other places and she kept the Santa Claus land envelope in a box with maps and other things from the California trip.

I, my wife, 11 year old daughter and 13 year old son finally made the trip to Holiday World last weekend.  We presented our passes at the ticket booth and to our surprise you accepted them!  Our kids have been going to Six Flags every year, and they both thought Holiday World was a better park.  We plan on making it an annual trip. 

Better late than never,

Alan V.
 

We visited your park yesterday and would like to share a few comments with you. We had a blast! 

Thumbs up to you on a clean park with a friendly staff. It was great that we could find a trash can anytime we needed one and amazing to us that we didn't see a single paper cup on the ground throughout the park. Unfortunately, we noted that some people were too lazy to use the trash cans you conveniently placed in the parking lot and left garbage on the ground...how rude. We found the cans to be useful. Great idea!
 
The employees were all very friendly. Did not encounter any rude behavior & would even like to mention a few specific examples of impressive behavior.

* My son was irritated that he wasn't allowed on a kiddie ride with his sister because he was too tall. We explained to him that it was a good thing the worker checked height and enforced the rules to ensure everyone's safety. Policy is policy. Glad she said, "Sorry, can't ride." To me, it said she was paying attention and taking her job seriously. Of course to a 9 year old it said NO and that is never a popular word. 
 
*We watched an employee intercept a young boy (guessing around 3 years old) who was obviously alone. She found mom chasing after him a little way behind and made sure he was safely with her before continuing onto wherever she was heading. She was very observant to notice that something wasn't right.

**This example really impressed us. We had a late lunch at the Plymouth Rock Cafe' (delicious by the way).  We noticed two male park employees having their lunch there as well. One of them (Jeffrey according to his nametag) recognized that a dad and little girl needed some assistance after the little girl dropped some food, etc.  He got up, went to their table to help them, grabbed some extra napkins, etc. How nice that this young man took time out of his break to offer an extra hand to someone who needed it. Both boys seemed very pleasant and had nice manners. It is so refreshing to see nice, clean cut, neatly dressed, polite teens who actually do their job and then some! Not sure what screening/recruiting process you use to find so many great employees, but keep up the good work!
 
Thanks for a great park where our family made some great memories!

See you next year!!! 

Lane M. & Family
Fairmount, Illinois
 

I’m writing to tell you about my fabulous visit to your park last weekend. I knew of your reputation for a great park and fabulous coasters, but I was worried that the actual experience wouldn’t live up to your great reputation. I was so wrong: you far and away exceeded any hoped-for expectations!
 
Your park was clean and beautiful. I actually saw one of your guests go over to pick up and discard a paper cup inadvertently dropped on the walkway. Wow!

Your employees were friendly and helpful.

Your rides were incredible. Loved Pilgrims Plunge – which I had to ride after following all the “doings” on Twitter.

Hands-down over-the-top-best-coaster-ever-anywhere is the Voyage! Wow – did you ever hit that one out of the ballpark!!!!! That was an unbelievable ride!
 
The personal touches everywhere really made your park feel warm and inviting. Will and Pat, your park closing announcement is the best ever!
 
Finally, Paula’s tweets on Twitter are legend. She exemplifies the best that Twitter has to offer businesses: the ability to introduce a company and product with warm humanity! I use her tweets as examples of “best practice.”
 
All my comments are from my personal perspective as a guest, but I couldn’t help slipping into my professor role as I was in your park, commenting to my son on all the organizational things you do so very well. Family businesses are tricky entities, and it looks to your guests as though you have done an extraordinary job capitalizing on the innate strengths of family business and successfully navigating the challenges. I can only say WOW!
 
Thanks for a most memorable visit! I can’t wait to come back again (especially with Wildebeest!!!!)
 
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee,
 
Carol R.
Plymouth, Minnesota
 

Thank you for the great experience our family had at your park over the August 8 & 9 weekend.  

Congratulations on creating a fun experience for folks, in a safe and wholesome environment, and for providing valuable employment opportunities for young people in your area.  

It was a pleasure not to have to fight traffic around a big city to get to your facility, but instead enjoy the scenic surroundings of southern Indiana.  

You have a very unique and successful business model. Keep up the good work! We'll be back!

Best Regards,

Dave and Melissa P. & Family
Clayton, Indiana

I took my children to Holiday world this year for the first time. I thought it was fabulous and I plan on going back.  I have also told several friends about our adventure. 

We loved the free soft drinks and free sunscreen.

The guards at the pools were very attentive and worked very hard. 

The people at the food stands were friendly, quick and polite.

I was very happy with the Phone Find Wristband that had a cell number on it for my little one as she does wander off. (Luckily we did not have to use it.)

Many friends with children wandered about your park and I was glad to tell them how clean it was and that it was a good value. I also mentioned that it has family values which are becoming hard to find these days. 

Thanks for having a wonderful place for us to visit.

Karen H.
 

We visited your park on August 6,2009, and we cannot tell you how pleased we were. There are not enough words to describe how pleased we were, from the time of our arrival until the time of our departure.

Your staff could not have been more courteous and friendly. Everyone was more than pleasant.

The park was amazingly clean and neat.

I must say we hadn't been to Holiday World, since our children were small. We went with our son and his family, children 2 and 6, and it was wonderful. In fact, we had such a good time that our oldest daughter, my husband, and myself plan on returning. As I stated before we had a great time.

You should be very proud that you have such a wonderful park and staff.

Thank you again,

Joy L.

Charlestown, Indiana

We just returned from our first visit to your park. We were planning to take our children to Disney World this summer, but my husband was permanently laid off, so were not financially able to take them and we felt awful about disappointing our three boys.

A friend told us about her experience at Holiday World, so we decided to check it out. I am so glad we did, we had a wonderful time, and we would of loved to stay a few more days.

We have been to Kings Island, Hershey Park, and Disney World many times, but our experience this weekend tops them all.

I want to say thank you for the free soft drinks and sunscreen. Times are tough and that really helped out.

We also were pleasantly surprised by how affordable it was to eat in the park.

If my husband finds a new job before spring we are planning on buying season tickets. We can't wait to come back!

Thanks for a great time!

Sam and Suzi S.

My son works for you there at the water park as a lifequard.

We had a chance to visit Dollywood on Monday Aug. 3.  She has a nice park but not for the price she charges for admission. Her admissions are two different prices for the theme park and the water park. Didn't get to go to the water park but did pay attention to her theme park. Our park beats hers with prices and rides, cleanliness, and friendliness.

Our free soft drink offer is wonderful. A large drink at her park is $3.99. You can get a souvenir cup for $10.00 and then refills are still $2.59.  Wow!!! 

Talked to several people and told them about Holiday World. They couldn't believe we had free soft drinks and one admission price for both parks.

Dollywood also put in a new ride called the Zipline. However, it costs another $44.00 to ride that ride. In my opinion, if it's in the park there shouldn't be an extra charge to ride it. Please keep that in mine when getting new rides.

I'm sure you get several e-mails on parks but just wanted to give you my input on what a great park we do have. Keep up the good work.

Thank You!

Rhonda C.

I just wanted to fill you in on our recent trip to your park (7/31-8/2). Let me preface this by saying I am an admitted Disney World addict and hold all theme parks to a very high standard when it comes to impressing me. I won't step foot into King's Island because of the filth and the rudeness of the employees. But let me just say, I was so impressed with what I saw this weekend!!!

First off to see Pat and Will (which I recognized from the commercials) out and about, impressed me.

EVERY time I turned around, I was finding something that made me realize what I had been missing only a short drive (3 hours) away.

Sitting on the tram, we would strike up a conversation with the drivers and it was always entertaining and informative.

When we asked employees where a certain attraction was, they would lead us to it instead of giving directions.

When we ate at Plymouth Rock Cafe (delicious and VERY reasonably priced like all the snacks/meals were), the employees were overwhelmingly helpful and friendly. And I don't know HOW MANY times I was asked if I was enjoying my day!!!

It was so refreshing to see employees dressed in respectable attire without their shorts hanging to their knees!

Before we drove out of the parking lot yesterday my sons were asking when we can return and I replied with, "Soon, very soon." This is definitely going to become an annual tradition for our family.

THANK YOU for providing a fun, clean park so close to our home.

The W. Family

Greensburg, Indiana