Yearly Archives: 2005

Home // 2005

The sky’s the limit

Posted December 22, 2005

The lack of a Voyage construction update lately doesn’t mean work isn’t getting done. It just means the gloomy skies don’t provide for the sharpest photos. No matter what the weather, when it comes to The Voyage, the sky’s the limit!

Indeed, as Jacob, our marketing intern, ventured forth into the sunshine this week, he came across quite a bit of progress.

Here’s that three-story coaster station:

And here’s a look at The Voyage.

On the right, you’re heading down Hill #2 and then heading up Hill #3.

The trackers are hard at work on Hill #3.

No one appreciates the warmer temps more!

And here are the footers poured for the turnaround portion of the ride.

Finally, this is the drop into the turnaround:

Time to head out for Christmas break, so please understand there won’t be regular posts for a week or so.

From all of us here at Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari — a very merry Christmas to all of you and your families!

___
Would you like to receive HoliBlog notices – along with news releases and sweepstakes – by email? Sign up here and you can choose whether to receive the emails weekly or the same day the blog posts are published. Thank you!

You’d better watch out!

Posted December 22, 2005

Here’s Jim Anderson’s radio story from today’s newscast on WBDC-FM:

One just never knows when one might meet one of Santa’s Helpers. At the Vigo County School Corporation, there is a Hoosier Prairie fifth grader who will think twice before he starts to spread unfounded rumors about Santa Claus. He’ll probably think once more before believing his own story … now that he has the facts.

The older student decided it was time to tell a first grader at the school’s after-hours program. Well, he was going to tell him that there is no Santa Claus.

That was indeed his plan, but a supervisor at the after-school program interceded. She warned him to be careful about the “knowledge” he was about to share.

While everyone may believe as they choose, Julie Anderson explained to students that she not only believed in Santa — she actually worked with Santa Claus!

Anderson spent her last nine summers at Holiday World, earning money for college and was well prepared for the questions that followed. After all, one summer she personally escorted Santa out in the park.

So exactly how did she know he was Santa Claus?

What proof did she have?

Well, apparently Santa is ready for Indiana’s new Voter Identification Program. Right there on the Jolly Elf’s driver’s license is his name, Santa Claus.

That name is also featured on his checkbook and his credit cards.

So believe as you will, but don’t be surprised if Santa has picked up another believer at the Hoosier Prairie Elementary School.

You might notice the supervisor in the story has the same last name as the news director. Julie is indeed Jim’s daughter.

And there’s no doubt that she will forever be listed in Santa’s “Good Girls” book.
___
Would you like to receive HoliBlog notices – along with news releases and sweepstakes – by email? Sign up here and you can choose whether to receive the emails weekly or the same day the blog posts are published. Thank you!

Our answer to the Christmas debate

Posted December 15, 2005

Have you been following all the fuss? About whether it’s a Christmas tree or a “holiday tree”? Not a terribly new debate, sadly.

We had to go back seven years to find this, but thought it was worth dusting off. Back in 1998, we were approached by a national newspaper chain to write a “counter-point” opinion piece about one man’s push to have Christmas removed from the list of national holidays.

He was suing the government in an attempt to turn December 25 into just another day here in the U.S.

Here’s the reply, from Mrs. Koch, that was printed:

Point/Counter Point

Dear Santa, I have been trying to be good this year but my little sister gets me in trouble. I hope you give me lots of toys this year. I’ll be happy with anything you give me this year. Your friend, Bubby B.

Dear Santa, I what my dad to be smarter. Love, Robbie D.

Dear Santa, I have been a very, very good gril this year. I want your picer. Your friend, Annessa P.S. Go to Mrs. Johnson’s house to get me a cat. She has lots of them.

Dear Santa, I like board games. I promise to leave you some cookies and milk. Oh, don’t forget to turn off the TV this year, you forgot to last year. From your friend, Michael

As thick as snowflakes in a blizzard the letters come, year after year, as children send their letters to Santa Claus.

Somehow these letters find their way to the tiny post office in Santa Claus, Indiana, from all around the world even though at times the address is simply “Santa Claus, USA,” with a colorful sticker where a 32-cent stamp should be.

Somehow the harried postal workers see to it that the letters get to Santa Claus in time. And somehow this town provides enough volunteers to make sure that each of the thousands of letters receives a personal reply from one of Santa’s Elves. Everyone is busy, everyone has shopping and cooking and wrapping to do. But the sweet and sometimes sad letters from children from all over the world are too important to ignore.

Christmas is about children. Although we Americans sometimes complain about the commercialism of the holidays, we must look beyond the hustle-bustle and into the eyes of our nation’s children, for it is there that we will rediscover the true spirit of the season.

Children understand Christmas

They know it’s about believing.

It’s about sharing and loving and giving from the heart. As adults, it’s about gathering the little ones in your lap and telling them about what you asked Santa to bring you (back in the dark ages when you had to walk eight miles to school in ten feet of snow). It’s giggling as three generations try to remember the gift given on the eleventh day of the Twelve Days of Christmas, and blinking back tears of tender love as the tiniest grandchild recites the names of Santa’s reindeers.

It’s taking time off from work and school to be home with loved ones. Oh, and it’s breaking bread together, and giving thanks for family, good health, and for the blessings of living in America. It’s a time to donate to a good cause, to prepare meals for the less fortunate, to bring flowers to a shut-in.

Thousands of children visit Santa Claus, Indiana, during their summer vacation each year to get an early visit with the town’s namesake. As they climb up into his lap, there are no questions about religious or ethnic background. The only questions are: “Have you been good this year? And what would you like Santa to bring you?” Nothing political, nothing controversial, simply a quiet conversation between a little child and kindly old gentleman.

During the years when Americans have been overseas at war, the bombs stopped while soldiers from both sides gratefully celebrated the Christmas holiday. There was no question of religion for these cease-fires, but a universal agreement that on December 25th there would be no war.

Can a holiday with the power to halt wars not be a national treasure?

Christmas is as American as the 4th of July. It should be celebrated by all who wish to recapture the belief and hope of a small and trusting child.

Patricia A. Koch
Santa Claus, Indiana

It helps to have an understanding spouse

Posted December 6, 2005

Thought you’d get a kick out of this, from my pal Mike in Louisville, who has an understanding spouse:

I had just turned off the lights last night and I said, “Five months from tomorrow!”

I thought my wife, Michelle, was asleep but she was not. She asked me what I was talking about.

I told her Holiday World opens for the 2006 season then.

She chuckled and said when she heard me she thought about our anniversary, no that did not fit, her birthday, close but no fit. But of course, it is December, I am just going to bed after a long day, I am in my warm bed with my lovely wife and I am thinking of Holiday World and the premiere of The Voyage.

I think she is jealous.
___
Would you like to receive HoliBlog notices – along with news releases and sweepstakes – by email? Sign up here and you can choose whether to receive the emails weekly or the same day the blog posts are published. Thank you!

“Outstanding Concrete Achievement Award”

Posted November 29, 2005

I kid you not.

This award exists.

And in a few weeks, that award will be proudly displayed here at Holiday World.

I’m afraid I may have offended Steve a bit; I grinned and started laughing when he told me about the Outstanding Concrete Achievement Award.

“You’re joking, right?” I chuckled. My chortle quickly choked into a cough when I saw that … he wasn’t.

Yes … here it comes … brace yourself … suddenly, I found myself between a rock and a hard place.

How narrow-minded I’ve been.

Sure, I know all about the organizations that I’m associated with here at the park, but I all but scoffed at the thought that the Indiana Ready Mixed Concrete Association might want to get together once in a while and pat each other on the back.

What more concrete evidence could you ask for but the Tiki fountains at Bahari?

So congratulations to Steve and his crew for the award. (Do they call each other “cement heads” in private?) You’ve all worked hard to earn this distinction.

Okay, one more and then I’ll stop.

The awards luncheon next month, will the social time before the meal be called … a Cement Mixer?
___
Would you like to receive HoliBlog notices – along with news releases and sweepstakes – by email? Sign up here and you can choose whether to receive the emails weekly or the same day the blog posts are published. Thank you!

Talking turkey trotters

Posted November 23, 2005

Yesterday, we got a look at the train for The Voyage.

And what about that other ride?

No trains for Gobbler Getaway, but rather Turkey Trotters:

turkey trotter vehicle

There will be a dozen Turkey Trotter cars, seating up to four persons each.

These Turkey Trotters will take us through the town of Autumn Falls as we try to help turkey farmer Cornelius Van Snoodle locate his missing flock.

We don’t want to give away too much of the “plot,” but rest assured no mayhem will ensue.

A bit of chaos, perhaps, but definitely no mayhem.
___
Would you like to receive HoliBlog notices – along with news releases and sweepstakes – by email? Sign up here and you can choose whether to receive the emails weekly or the same day the blog posts are published. Thank you!

Midnight train in Georgia

Posted November 22, 2005

Okay, so it’s not midnight blue, but close enough.

Will, his mom, and three of our directors were in Atlanta last week, attending the annual IAAPA Convention.

The folks at PTC had a display model, which garnered a lot of attention.

Interesting new seat divider:

Remember, The Voyage will have three trains when it opens May 6. And each train will have seven cars (the trains on The Raven and The Legend all have six cars).

Here’s a side view:

The IAAPA Convention is huge (IAAPA stands for the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions). There are loads of social events, seminars, workshops, plus a gigantic exhibition.

Look who Will and Mrs. Koch found …

It’s our friends from The Gravity Group.

From the left in the back row, that’s Korey, then Chad (affectionately named Chadwick by the Discovery Channel crew last month), Larry, and Mike.

This photo was taken by Justin, the head of the European Coaster Club. He’d emailed me from Atlanta to tell me he’d seen Will and Mrs. Koch in the exhibition hall. I emailed back in my standard professional manner that it was good to hear they weren’t goofing around.

I guess Justin figured I needed proof.

By the way, that additional element that has been added to The Voyage is a third 90-degree-banked curve.

It will be positioned just after the first one. You’ll bank 90 degrees to the left and then after about 100 feet of track, you’ll bank 90 degrees to the right.

Sort of a big “swoosh”

The third 90-degree-banked curve is the one closer to the end of the ride.

Heading out soon for Thanksgiving with family and friends? We wish you all a warm, wonderful, and safe holiday!
___
Would you like to receive HoliBlog notices – along with news releases and sweepstakes – by email? Sign up here and you can choose whether to receive the emails weekly or the same day the blog posts are published. Thank you!

Crossing Over

Posted November 18, 2005

What a lovely fall day.

Much better than yesterday.

Not as chilly. Or as windy. Not even as muddy.

Tom, the editor of Construction Digest magazine, and I took a lovely stroll from one end of The Voyage site to the other.

Here’s something new …

As you start up the lift hill, you may see one of the other two trains heading back to the station.

Right over your head.

That’s what the enthusiasts call a “head chopper.”

Not to worry; it’s all smoke and mirrors.

No heads will roll

Promise.

Here’s the crossover from another angle.

This is the bottom of the lift hill, crossed over by the beginning-of-the-end of the ride.

Remember, at this point you’ve only been through three of The Voyage‘s five underground tunnels.

The other two are on the other side of the station.

Or so I’m told.

As I told Tom, I don’t have one of those engineer/egghead brains.

When Will drags out some blueprints or other design graphics during staff meeting, it’s always the same. About six of the directors pop out of their seats and lean across the conference table, studying and questioning.

Mrs. Koch and I always catch each other’s attention from our seated position. Sometimes we shake our heads. Other times we roll our eyes. And once in a while, we just laugh.

We’ll get it all figured out by opening day.

That’s soon enough for us.

Above is the second hill; the lower track is the return trip.

Let’s take a closer look.

Tom tried to snap the very first photo of Hill #3 under construction.

Ever the gracious hostess, I sneaked behind him and took one first.

And finally, we gawked at Tunnel #1 for a bit.

From this angle, the opening at the top (in the foreground) is where the train will fly out as it exits the tunnel.

See the opening to the right, more in the background?

Is there really enough room for the train to change directions (from down to up)?

I don’t know…

Maybe I should ask Will for another glance at those blueprints.
___
Would you like to receive HoliBlog notices – along with news releases and sweepstakes – by email? Sign up here and you can choose whether to receive the emails weekly or the same day the blog posts are published. Thank you!

Skeletal remains

Posted November 17, 2005

Walking through the park in the off-season is sort of creepy. Skeletal remains of rides are everywhere.

Since we’re closed for the season, there are no happy families, no wondrous smells from the restaurants, no holiday-themed music.

Just a big ol’ empty park.

The fountain and all the pools are empty. The flags have been taken down.

The maintenance staff takes apart just about everything for winter rehab. All that’s left are skeletal remains.

Skeletal "spider ride"

In the past several days, we’ve received a bunch of emails asking for more construction updates plus additional info about Gobbler Getaway.

Every last one of them included the phrase “… since this is your slow time — just kidding!”

Hmmm.

I’d post a photo of my desk, but I wouldn’t want to traumatize the children.

And as we get closer to Thanksgiving, I will provide more information about Gobbler Getaway.

Just a few nibbles, though. We wouldn’t want to over-indulge and spoil your appetite, now, would we?
___
Would you like to receive HoliBlog notices – along with news releases and sweepstakes – by email? Sign up here and you can choose whether to receive the emails weekly or the same day the blog posts are published. Thank you!

Keep a lid on it

Posted November 16, 2005

Let’s get something straight: The “lid” for Tunnel #1 in no way resembles Tupperware.

And the tunnels are nothing like those on The Raven and The Legend.

Because the tunnels at The Voyage are underground.

Cedar worked for the wooden tunnels at The Legend (and offered a lovely whiff of relaxing aromatherapy). But for the underground tunnels at The Voyage there’s a need to use a material that termites won’t be able to nibble.

Concrete. And lots of it.

One piece at a time (each piece weighs something like three tons), the pre-poured concrete slabs are being carefully lowered into place.

Take a look at the upper right portion of the above photo. You’ll see some Voyage structure through the trees. See where we are? That structure is part of the second hill. Hill #3 has yet to be built; at the bottom of the hill, we’ll fly into Tunnel #1.

Wonder what it will sound like?

And will the internal temperature be cooler than outside in the summer, as caves are?

Rachel took this photo from the other side of the tunnel.

Here it is from a bit farther away.

After all the pieces are in place, a final layer of concrete will be poured. The lid.

And then it all gets buried in dirt. (That’s the “underground” part of all this.)

And regarding the added element mentioned a few weeks back, we’ll let you know more early next week. Will is going to be on another podcast with CoasterBuzz and will spill the beans then.

But for now, we’ll keep a lid on it.
___
Would you like to receive HoliBlog notices – along with news releases and sweepstakes – by email? Sign up here and you can choose whether to receive the emails weekly or the same day the blog posts are published. Thank you!

Good Gravy! Family Coaster

Mammoth Water Coaster

Yearly Archives: 2005

The sky’s the limit

No one appreciates the warmer temps more!