Mea gulpa

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Have you ever made a teeny, tiny error — and gotten clobbered for it?

Happened the other day.

Around here, we take our hard hats seriously.

When construction is ongoing, the hats are on. And the swath is wide.

Heck, even the Big Guy wears one.

Holidog's hard hat

(You thought I meant Will, didn't you? Well, he wears one, too.)

The other day Lisa and Rachel took a walk down to Kima Bay to take some photos of Kima Bay's final construction days.

When they delivered the memory card to me, I remember thinking that all the shots were taken from very far away.

But not quite far enough, apparently.

When they got to the construction site, they suddenly remembered that they'd forgotten to bring hard hats.

So they stayed very far away.

But not quite far enough.

Out came the shout: "Hey! Where are your hard hats?!"

Apparently the "hard hat area" had just been breached.

The photo session was over.

Our Safety Director (you remember Craig) came for a visit the next day.

Wanting to support his efforts, I blurted out, "We should make cookies for your crew … and deliver them in hard hats!"

And so a batch of chocolate chip cookies was baked and delivered a few days later.

I tried to get everyone to pose holding a cookie, but by the time I'd retrieved the left-behind camera battery, it was too late. Nary a crumb remained.

Who you callin’ cheap?!

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Cheap is not usually meant as a compliment.

No wonder your shoes wore out fast — they're cheap.

That cheap so-and-so made me pay for half the gas money on our date last night. (Which will be, by the way, our last date!)

Oh, she's so cheap.

Okay, you know what I mean.

But when USA Today calls you "cheap," it's a good thing.

If you read this today (Friday, Christmas in April), you can head over to their website and scroll down a bit to see a picture of The Raven.

You can call me a lot more than "cheap" if you put a Raven photo on the front page of USA Today's website.

If you are one of the 2.3 million people who have a copy of the actual paper, turn to page 2 of section D for a gander. To see the article online, click here.

The budget-minded travel expert who mentioned us is Tim Leffel. He and his family visited us last summer on assignment with a national magazine.

We emailed each other a month or so ago and he broke the news that the magazine had cut way back on the article and several parks ended up on the cutting-room floor.

Including us.

So when he got another chance to mention us, he did.

But we won't mention that particular magazine here … or the name of the woman whose face and name are on the cover.

… but I bet she's cheap.

Shaken, but some weren’t stirred

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I’ve been wanting to post for the past hour, but keep getting derailed by all the emails asking about The Earthquake.

Thanks for caring. The coasters are fine. (Oh, and we are, too.)

It was 4:36 this morning. The rattling began.

Later, I thought of the ratty motels featured in movies and sitcoms — those with the “Magic Fingers” on the beds? For 50 cents? Well, let’s just say the magic was in overdrive.

Gary, my husband, woke up for about a minute. I told him I thought we were in the middle of an earthquake.

Ohhh… yeah…

He rolled over and went back to sleep.

When I teased him a few hours later about how safe I felt that my big strong man was on top of the emergency, he was ready with an answer:

Well, if we were going to have a crisis, I should be well-rested, right?

Our 16-year-old son John says the earthquake didn’t awaken him.

But the call at 4:37 am from his buddy Philip did.

“Dude, we just had an earthquake!”

Huhhhh? Whaaaa?

Apparently John takes after his dad in all the important ways.

I just talked to Will. He’s deeply disappointed in his foo-foo doggy.

“Aren’t dogs supposed to know ahead of time and warn the family? We have to have a serious talk this evening…”

Apparently Will watched too many Lassie reruns growing up.

Also heard from Korey of The Gravity Group (they’re in Cincinnati). He says two of them awakened and three didn’t.

I want names.

Meanwhile, we do have a set emergency procedure for earthquakes. Our crews are carefully inspecting the rides and buildings. So far, so good.

As I prepare to push the “publish post” button, I feel the rumble of an aftershock. And thank God that all are safe.
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Grumble, grumble, grumble…

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Bahari tikiGrumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble.

Growl.

It is tax day, after all.

Got pretty loud down here at Bahari, what with all the grumbling.

Bahari Wave

But isn't the water pretty?

Do these men look happy?

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Oh for heaven's sake, Eric and Matt! You're about to get the first ride of the season on the #1 Wooden Coaster on the Planet!

In the front seat, no less!

What in heck are you talking about — budgets?!

Eric and Matt about to ride Voyage

Off they go.

That's Tori and Will in the back seat.

Will and Tori ride Voyage

We had thunderstorms last night, but today turned out to be gorgeous.

Up we go, into the wild blue yonder…

First rides on Voyage

Ride after ride.

After ride.

Apparently Will and Tori got bumped out of the back seat.

Will and Tori ride Voyage

They didn't seem to mind one bit.

Holiday World heist

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What a nice email (including the subject line, above) from a new friend from across the pond:

Good Evening/Afternoon Paula!

It is Friday night over here and after a hard day's work I am relaxing at home as I am traveling 2 hours at 7am in the morning to get to Alton Towers for a day of themepark goodness. Being an enthusiast I have just been watching Extreme Rides, a double episode programme repeating on Sky 3. The programme is a couple of years old and is filmed at the time when Holiday World debuted The Legend and features an interview with Will and then a coaster enthusiast is filmed riding. But who is riding, sorry screaming, next to him… You!

What a scream you have, and all the way round, relentlessly!

Hot on the heals of Extreme Rides, I'm sat here with my laptop and thought I would check out HoliBlog having not updated myself for a couple of days. Here I find your entry relating to Voyage's first test run. The SplashCam is showing 13.26 and I cannot believe the coincidence. So my laptop has remained open sat on the coffee table whilst I continue to channel hop keeping one eye on the laptop and one on the telly … for an hour and ten minutes!!!

At first I thought there might have been a technical problem and I may have spotted somebody brave, if not stupid, walking down the lift hill. I resided myself to the fact that it wasn't going to be happening. Perhaps, just perhaps your American time zone differentials might have a bearing on the SplashCam which was now showing 14.25.

Three minutes later and at 14.28, what do I see? A navy blue train climbing the lift hill. After just over an hour I saw the train climb up and quickly drop over the top of the hill and then to return across the bottom of the splash cam on its return journey to the station.

A relaxing hour of anticipation, well worth it as I prepare for my own voyage 100 miles for my own rollercoaster fun tomorrow.

Keep up the great work on the HoliBlog. I hope to visit one day soon.

Best wishes,
Jonathon
Blackpool, England

Call for riders

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Happens every spring right about this time.

Time for the coasters to reawaken and for employees to demonstrate their loyalty.

Time to ride.

We started with The Raven.

Raven rides

Later on at a meeting, someone asked who had gotten to ride.

Quite honestly, all you had to do was look around the conference table and check out the tousled hair.

Here's the train coming back into the station after the first ride.

First Raven flight of 2008

There's Will in the back seat. Eric, in the front, gives the ride a thumbs-up. Poor Kristine, right behind Eric, opted out after the first ride.

Are you admiring the groovy eyewear? Those are safety glasses, as the earliest rides of the season are accompanied by the occasional flying grit from the graphite that is used to prep the track.

And speaking of trendy accessories, look at this fellow:

Kima Bay bucket

The bucket for Kima Bay has at last arrived.

They're swinging it into place.

Kima Bay bucket

This fellow looks a little nervous…

Kima Bay

But these rascals don't have a care in the world…

Kima Bay monkeys

Up four stories the bucket flew and landed safely in place.

Kima Bay bucket

One step closer to opening.