Sign of allergy season

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We had a blast with the CoasterBuzz folk on Saturday.

Their rather snarky leader, Jeff, was yucking it up over the discovery of this sign as he drove toward our fair city (er … town) the night before:

Highway sign in Santa Claus, Indiana

Well, Jeff, in case you didn't get a chance to go back and take a picture as planned, I just did it for you.

Since Jeff's a city slicker I had to patiently explain to him that with all the farmers' fields around here, this time of the year there's all sorts of "stuff" in the air, causing many of us to carry around a box of tissues for all the sniffles and sneezes.

On the way to Holiday World

Hence: we're in a congested area. (One last pun: Yes, I did "crop" this photo.)

One of those hints

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So have you taken the time to go back and review the hints we dropped prior to our Pilgrims Plunge announcement?

This one in particular.

Korey from The Gravity Group really was here with his family to visit the park. That's all. The "meeting with the maintenance technician" reported by a park visitor on one of the coaster forums was a simple introduction. Dennis had just finished lunch and was walking by. Seemed like the polite thing to do was to introduce them.

Nonetheless, the conspiracy theories raged. Just read the comments on that blog post.

Do you really think we'd make it that easy? That we'd hand you a clue without even wrapping it up first?

Uh…no.

What I found out that day, standing by Kringle's Ice Cream, was that Korey et al were gravitating toward the great world of Social Marketing.

A blog and a podcast. And what did I think?

I think I'll bookmark that page.

Calling Wes Williams …

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Here's the weird phone call of the day.

Bethany just called and said she was going to transfer a business call from a woman who wanted to speak with Wes Williams.

Bethany explained we don't have anyone here by that name, so the lady agreed to instead talk to the Director of Public Relations.

It was a lady taking a survey.

Or actually a lady wanting to make an appointment to take a survey.

A very long survey.

I actually remembered talking to her before. Because I'd told her a few weeks ago we really weren't interested in participating, but she was incredibly insistent. She asked me three or four questions and then told me that our "category was already full" so we couldn't take the survey.

But … I didn't want to take it in the first place. It was for a private company (no doubt gathering ammo-data to use for a future sales pitch) and it was all secretive and such. This was nothing that was going to help the world or bring gas prices down.

Well, here she was calling back, looking for Wes Williams.

After a minute or two, she squinted enough at her hand-written note to decide it wasn't Wes Williams, it was "Was Willing."

Thing is … I wasn't willing. Sorry, but once she told me the survey would take up a full hour of my time, it didn't seem worth it. Not for a company that wouldn't even tell me its name.

But she was so happy to tell me there was now an opening in "our category," and she could schedule my hour-long survey session within the next few days.

So I broke it to her as gently as I could: Wes has a middle name. And it's "Not."

What’s your favorite?

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No, we're not asking for your favorite coaster or ride.

Not even your favorite flavor of fudge.

Or your favorite HoliDazzle.

This is a question from our Entertainment Director, Sandi Fortune. (Normally I don't include last names, but just for fun try saying her name more formally. Ms. Fortune. Say it again. It makes me laugh. I know; I'm immature sometimes.)

Anyway, Sandi is working on next season's musical shows and she'd like to pose this question:

What is your favorite song?

Simple as that. Please keep in mind that we're squeaky clean, so perhaps we should ask, What is your favorite song that would be performable in a Holiday World show?

My favorite?

You Got To Me.

By Neil Diamond.

Sublime.

Please click the Comments link, below, and give us your favorite.

And remember, yours truly controls the "accept" and "reject" buttons for comments on this blog, so if you care to take issue with the brilliance of Mr. Neil Diamond, think again.

The “e” word

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Even before we opened The Raven back in 1995, we started hearing from coaster enthusiasts.

They'd found us.

And life hasn't been the same since.

Little by little, we learned the jargon.

Air time.

Laterals.

Double up.

Trims. (Oh, pardon me. Bad word.)

And then there's the beloved acronym: ERT.

That's short for "exclusive ride time," meaning after the park closes for the day the coaster enthusiasts are escorted back to the coasters and they get extra rides.

Usually in the dark.

There are a number of clubs made up of these aficionados. In case you're interested in joining, here's the link to a list of clubs which join in our special event, HoliWood Nights. 

Maybe we'll even teach you the secret handshake.

“Helping hands…”

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If you've got little ones, you now have that HoliDazzles song rattling around in your brain.

You're welcome.

If you don't have little ones, we don't want you to feel left out.

Meanwhile, these "helping hands" are on some hard-working fellows.

Coaster Cats

That's Dennis, Sean and Chad; they're just a few of our Coaster Maintenance Technicians.

We probably need to gather some laundry tips for them, not to mention soap recommendations.

Coaster Cats
They're working on The Legend's track, performing standard maintenance.

Try as I might to replace "Helping Hands" with "If I Had A Hammer," it's not happening.

Maybe a Michael Bolton song would do it?

“Molly, HoliDazzles, and Santa rank high with my girls”

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We visited Holiday World and Splashin’ Safari on Labor Day and received a comment card on the way out so I thought I’d email a few comments and forward on some pictures too.

We are second-year season pass holders and have already purchased our tickets for next year.

Your parks really are the friendliest places on earth! Your employees are always friendly and great with the kids.

My girls absolutely love Molly who works with Holidog and the HoliDazzles, especially Sparkle! Of course we love seeing Santa too! What an awesome individual with a heart of gold!!! My two-year-old is still struggling with seeing Santa close-up, but he always talks to her and tries so hard to get her to budge on her feelings about him.

Thank you for some great family times!

Tracy G.