Would you like to take a walk?

A lot of children (and some adults) think working at a theme park is the coolest job imaginable. Yes, making families happy for a living is an amazing career.

Permit me, however, to clear up a few possible misconceptions:

• No, we don’t get to go on rides all day
• No, we don’t take long lunches lingering by the wave pool
• And, no, we don’t get free-unlimited funnel cakes!

One of the many things we do get (inherit, really) is a vast wealth of family tradition and small-park culture. We have an exciting future, certainly, but also a rich past.

And we’d like to share them with you

When we host a travel writer or similar VIP, we typically stroll together through the park. It’s not just to point out this coaster and that theater; it’s to provide “color commentary” on the 100 acres that have hosted millions of smiles and laughs over the past 59 years.

The stories range from a teasing tale about Will Koch’s childhood “job” as an elf to the history of how we went from being Santa Claus Land to Holiday World.

If Mrs. Koch joins us, she’ll laugh as she tells about the man who stopped her in the Christmas section a few seasons back and asked her, “Are you that woman in the commercials?”

Pleased, she responded, “Well, yes I am. I’m Pat Koch.”

“Well,” he snorted. “You look a heck of a lot older in person!”

(Only he didn’t say “heck.”)

Here she is, by the way, looking quite youthful with one of the Tiki faces for Bahari, our new themed wave pool.

The stories are different with each walk in the park. They seem to fascinate the writers and other V.I.P.s, and yet few, if any, of the stories end up in a news release.

That’s why we’re starting HoliBlog: A Walk in the Park

We’d like to share these stories with you.

Maybe we’ll hint about upcoming expansion projects. And once those new projects are under construction, we’ll show you photos and will let you know what’s going on.

And who is the actual blogger? Ideally, we’ll make this a group effort, with stories from all departments. But for the most part, these entries will be penned (can you even say “penned” anymore?) by PR Director Paula Werne.

Meanwhile, it’s April 7. We open for our 59th season on May 7. You do the math!
___
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!