I won’t lie.
Transitioning from a career in buttoned-up, corporate TV news to the world of coasters and khaki shorts has been one wild “voyage.”
My first few weeks here in early spring were filled with that Christmas morning-like excitement you felt as a kid.
Walking amongst coasters, games and the ever so jovial Santa statues can leave a corporate-minded person like me pinching myself. I wondered on a daily basis if this place was real. Was this really my new career to work in a place where people are having the time of their life?
To-do lists in TV news were pretty much non-existent. The people and places were changing on a daily basis but the task at hand wasn’t. At Holiday World, a place filled with projects years in the making, there is plenty of new stuff that pops up on the to-do list. Imagine my boisterous laugh through slurps of my morning coffee as I reviewed one of my latest tasks to be sprung on me a couple weeks ago: Ride those rides! Where else is it your job to go hop on some of the world’s top-rated rides so you know how to describe them?
Voyage was conquered early in the season. I started with the biggest, best wooden coaster and worked my way backwards, hitting Legend and Raven a couple of mornings before the park opened.
One ride that was still lingering for me to jump on was Wildebeest. I do happen to work at the #1 water park in the nation (thanks, TripAdvisor) but contrary to popular belief, I don’t have swim trunks in a desk drawer (although I probably should from here on out). It took me awhile to get around to Wildebeest and when I finally did, we decided I would throw Dan on and shoot video of him on his favorite attraction.
Wouldn’t you know it, just to make sure we got good video we rode Wildebeest about six times back to back. I can now officially vouch for the fact that Wildebeest is one amazing ride and I can’t wait until it’s time for ride testing and video shooting on the new Mammoth water coaster. Everybody keeps telling me I have one rough job.
To see for yourself, check out Dan’s Wild Ride on Wildebeest!
