Podcast: Mix It Up Menu

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Admissions-area rainbow

Our pal Tammy from F&B is back again to tell us about what’s new on the food front this season:

I promised to post photos of some of the Premium Cabana Meals, starting with the Fruit Platter:

Fruit Platter

Next on the menu is the Chicken Tenders Platter:

Chicken Tenders Platter

And the Shrimp Platter:

Shrimp Platter

Just like our Pick Your Price discounts on admission tickets, our Cabanas and Riverside Retreats have a pricing calendar, with variable rates.

Eric getting his Vitamin CTammy brought along some cool goodies, and Mr. Rentz couldn’t resist the one that boasted of containing 50% of his Vitamin C needs for the day.

Ice cream sandwiches and similar frozen treats will be available at the end of the day near the front gate for just $1 each.

We delved into the magic and mystery of #HoWoPoSloMo. Embarrassed at first, we all wiped away tears by the end.

Want to hear more?

Here’s where to make the adjustment (look for the blue circle):

half-speed podcast adjustment

Have you entered our Make the Best Memories Sweepstakes yet? Enter daily through April 2!

I think this is my favorite rainbow photo from over the years:

Admissions-area rainbow

In #HoWoPo Feedback, we once again shake our heads in awe of The Coaster Crew’s cleverness:

Kitty Claws and her Bacon of Doom:

… and an alien abduction:

And finally, Eric shares that he’s now a proud uncle. Here he is Facetiming with 12-day-old Jack.

Baby Jack Rentz

During our game, we talk about The Voyage‘s wildness.

You remember, right?

Thanks for listening!

Sweepstakes: Make Your Best Memories

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Howler roller coaster

Howler roller coasterCongratulations to our winner, Felicia M. from Columbia, Tennessee! Thanks to all who entered!
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We’re just a handful of weeks away from Opening Day – let’s celebrate with a new sweepstakes!

Would you like to help this year’s first-timers make great memories when they visit? Post a tip below and you could win a Family Getaway for your kind efforts!

What sort of tips? Well, let’s be sure they know they’ll get two parks for one price (bring your swimsuit!) and that parking, soft drinks, and sunscreen are always free.

Also, be sure to take a family photo at the Santa statue – and with the big guy himself – during your visit.

That sort of thing.

What’s the prize?

You could win a family getaway! The prize includes four one-day tickets to Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari. One winner, chosen at random, will also receive two overnights in a Holiday Cottage at Lake Rudolph Campground & RV Resort!

Holiday Cottage at Lake Rudolph

Before you enter, please read through these instructions and rules:

  • You must be at least 18 years old to enter. Also, you must not have won tickets from Holiday World in the past 12 months.
  • Employees of Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari, Koch Development Corporation, Lake Rudolph Campground & RV Resort, Sun Communities, and Sun RV Resort (and the immediate family members of employees) are not eligible to enter.
  • By entering, you agree to be added to our e-newsletter list. You may unsubscribe at any time by following the directions in your email.
  • Use the widget, below, to enter daily. There are lots of options, so you can earn extra entries by posting here on our HoliBlog and tweeting about this sweepstakes. Earn even more entries by following us on Pinterest, and visiting our Facebook pages (we’d love it if you’d leave us a Facebook Review while you’re there!).
  • If you win, please note you must be at least 21 to phone in your two-night Holiday Cottage reservation at Lake Rudolph. Here are the dates the cottage will be available for reservation: May 1 – 24 and May 28 – June 7, 2018.
  • All prizes are non-transferable and not for re-sale. Each winner is solely responsible for reporting and paying any and all applicable taxes related to the prize(s). Each sponsor will distribute respective prizes.
  • For the “post a comment on the blog” entry option, simply tell us your favorite tip for making memories at Holiday World. (Our comments are moderated, so as long as the content is HoliFriendly, it will appear soon.)
  • Did you know you can subscribe to our HoliBlog so that you receive all of our posts (including contests) by email? If you’re using a desktop computer or tablet, look for the “Subscribe to Blog” sidebar at the top-right corner of this page. On a smartphone? Just scroll down a tiny bit more to find it.

Ready to enter?

Simply enter our sweepstakes here from a mobile device; or if you’re on a desktop, enter by using the widget, below. And not just today – enter daily through Monday, April 2, 2018, at 2:30pm CDT, when we’ll email our winner, chosen at random.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck to all!

Podcast: ProSlide CEO

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Will Koch & Rick Hunter

We crossed the border this episode.

A quick call to Ottowa (Ontario, Canada) and the CEO of ProSlide joined us for a fun chat about snow skiing, water coasters, and the passion to create.

Here’s that photo I took of Rick Hunter and Will Koch right after Wildebeest opened.

Will Koch & Rick Hunter

Two brilliant businessmen who never lost touch with their inner child.

We now have a HoWoPo Glossary, which will probably be referenced each episode. We welcome suggestions for topics we need to add to help new listeners crack the code.

And one of those glossary terms in Cheezeball.

Exhibit A:

We’re excited to introduce our Tesla charging station, which in a round-about way leads to us reminiscing about this gem:

Banshee "Falling Star" ride

And here’s Banshee in action:

Looping GIF of Banshee

(Note to self: Add Banshee to glossary.)

We talked about the new Riverside Retreats.

Here’s what they’ll look like:

Riverside Retreats

And Matt gleefully announced that Big Red ICEES will be making tongues fire-truck red all season!

Big Red ICEE

The other 11 flavors at our ICEE Mix It Up will be:

  • Pepsi
  • Mountain Dew
  • Watermelon
  • Grape
  • Red Cherry
  • Orange
  • Green Apple
  • Lemonade
  • Blue Raspberry
  • Blue Cotton Candy
  • Banana

 

 

Oops. As we “spring ahead” to Daylight Saving Time this weekend, we got the Florida story backwards (#BlameRentz). Actually, the Sunshine State voted to stay in Daylight Saving Time year round.

Embrace “Fanny Pack Day” with dignity and pride, lifeguards!

Lifeguards

… and non-employees, be sure to enter this sweepstakes by 1:30pm CDT on March 12.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Corn Dog Day

Foot Long Corn Dog

It appears Eric’s sole tweet got the little blue bird all a-flutter:

Watching little Kevin grow has been a charming side benefit of this podcast.
Keep at it, buddy!

The Coaster Crew didn’t take a week off (uh, like we did); here’s their trio of holiday shenanigans:

Don’t miss the bacon in this one:

 

Thank you for joining us once again. We hope to see you in May!

Down by the Riverside

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Riverside Retreats

When we ask visitors what they enjoy the most during their day at Splashin’ Safari, not everyone says the water coasters.

Hard to believe. I know.

Wildebeest and Mammoth definitely top the list, but another favorite activity is floating lazily on the Bahari River.

If that’s your favorite hangout, you might want to make your day extra special by reserving a new Riverside Retreat.

Think of them as mini cabanas

 
Riverside Retreats

Riverside Retreats include two shaded chaise lounges, a table in between, and a great view of Bahari River. When you check in, we’ll give you up to four wristbands for access to the private area.

Reservations for the 30 Riverside Retreats are available on a first-come basis, with prices varying the same way our Pick Your Price ticket discounts work.

Splashin’ Safari opens for the season on May 10. We’ll see you soon!

 

 

Podcast glossary

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Podcast - Dole Whip

You’re expecting a new podcast episode today, right? Sorry, we’ve delayed #053 by a week. The good news, though, is that our guest will be Rick Hunter, the President & CEO of ProSlide Technology, Inc. Can’t wait!

Meanwhile, we’ve been talking for a while about starting a HoWoPo Glossary of Terms.

Because the inside jokes abound

 

  • Bacon – we work at a theme park, so there’s always food around. Over the course of the first dozen or so episodes, we quickly discovered we all like bacon. A lot. And so do a lot of our listeners. But we don’t (repeat: DON’T) like Bacon Cotton Candy. Bacon Soda either.
Matt and Bacon Cotton Candy        Lauren tries Bacon Soda
  • Big Green Foot – The story goes, when Lauren became our Director of Events & Entertainment, she “inherited” a costume character foot. There was no history involved, this was not a leftover foot from a past mascot. It was just a single Big Green Foot left in a storage closet. Lauren brilliantly offered the Foot as an auction item at HoliWood Nights and the world’s foremost devotees of park mascots – The Coaster Crew – quickly mortgaged their homes and submitted the highest bid. Since then, we’ve been delighted on nearly a weekly basis by The Coaster Crew’s Big Green Foot holiday-themed tweets (We had an enlightening call-in interview with their tableau artiste extraordinaire, Jon.) It’s impossible to choose a favorite tweet, but here’s a particularly good’un:

  • Bird Aversion – When looking for names for our wing coaster, we discovered Matt simply doesn’t like birds. Or feet, for that matter. Or the Tooth Fairy. Nearly every episode, we discover something new about Matt.
  • Cheezeball – have you ever received an email in error? Tagged incorrectly on social media in a case of mistaken identity? We do. All the time. For example, the email response sent in reply to a December e-newsletter: See you Friday; I’ll bring the cheeseball! I wasn’t sure if I should respond with a “Great! See you there! Uh … where?” or simply ignore it. Ultimately, I responded with a timid, “Did you mean to send this to Holiday World?” We get cheezeballed a lot on Twitter. A lot.
  • Dole Whip – there is no more perfect food, according to Matt, Lauren and Leah.
  • Eric’s Tattoo – Back in the spring of 2016, Eric, our Attractions Director, promised his lifeguards that if they got perfect scores on all of their third-party Safety Audits, he’d get a tattoo to commemorate the occasion. They did. He didn’t. Matt is particularly bothered by this as he believes promises such as this come with an implied deadline of less than two years.
  • Expidenture – Eric again. He blurted out this word before realizing it, uh, isn’t a word. We believe it is a combination of the words experience and adventure.

    … or it may be a dentistry term

    •  

  • HoWoPo – For years, employees have nicknamed Holiday World “HoWo.” And so we shortened the name of the Official Holiday World Podcast to HoWoPo. And even made a hashtag: #HoWoPo.
  • Leah’s Oboe – When pitching the whole idea of a podcast back in 2015, I mentioned that we could include a game. Eyes widened in delight at the thought of competing with each other on a regular basis (they’ve since changed their minds and think it’s a very bad idea). When I mentioned everyone needed to bring a sound-maker for the game, Leah Koch quickly offered, “I could bring my oboe!” Our listeners are clearly double-reed woodwind aficionados. Leah’s oboe even has its own Twitter account.

 

  • PodSquad – that’s us: sisters Lauren and Leah (4th generation owners), park president Matt, Eric, and me.
  • Saint Mick – Our ol’ pal Mick Foley has been our guest – twice! The WWE Hall of Famer is an incredible storyteller and a dear friend.

 

We’ll continue to add to this glossary in the coming months and years – what’s missing?

Meanwhile, please join us again next week for our Rick Hunter episode.

And keep sending that feedback …

… using the hashtag #HoWoPo

Sweepstakes: Spring Cleaning

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Congratulations to our winner, Teresa L. of Berea, Kentucky!

Thanks to all who entered!
—–
Welcome to March!

It’s time for spring cleaning and we’re out in full force getting the park ready for opening day.

It’s also time for a new sweepstakes. And who knows how to make a “clean sweep” better than our award-winning Cleaning & Grounds crews?

Cleaning & Grounds crews

What’s the prize?

You could win a getaway! The prize includes four one-day tickets to Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari. The winner also receives two overnights in a Rudolph’s Christmas Cabin at Lake Rudolph Campground & RV Resort!

Drone shot of Cleaning & Grounds crewsBefore you enter, please read through these instructions and rules:

  • You must be at least 18 years old to enter. Also, you must not have won tickets from Holiday World in the past 12 months.
  • Employees of Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari, Koch Development Corporation, Lake Rudolph Campground & RV Resort, Sun Communities, and Sun RV Resort (and the immediate family members of employees) are not eligible to enter.
  • By entering, you agree to be added to our e-newsletter list (you may unsubscribe at any time by following the directions in your email).
  • Use the widget, below, to enter daily. There are lots of options, so you can earn extra entries by posting here on our HoliBlog and tweeting about this sweepstakes. Earn even more entries by following us on Pinterest, and visiting our Facebook pages (we’d love it if you’d leave us a Facebook Review while you’re there!).
  • If you win, please note you must be at least 21 to phone in your two-night Rudolph’s Christmas Cabin reservation at Lake Rudolph. Here are the dates the cabin will be available for reservation: May 1 – 24 and May 28 – June 7, 2018.
  • All prizes are non-transferable and not for re-sale. Each winner is solely responsible for reporting and paying any and all applicable taxes related to the prize(s). Each sponsor will distribute respective prizes.
  • For the “post a comment on the blog” entry option, simply tell us your favorite spring cleaning tip. (Our comments are moderated, so as long as the content is HoliFriendly, it will appear soon.)
  • Did you know you can subscribe to our HoliBlog so that you receive all of our posts (including contests) by email? If you’re using a desktop computer or tablet, look for the “Subscribe to Blog” sidebar at the top-right corner of this page. On a smartphone? Just scroll down a tiny bit more to find it.

Ready to enter?

Simply enter our sweepstakes here from a mobile device; or if you’re on a desktop, enter by using the widget, below. And not just today – enter daily through Monday, March 12, 2018, at 1:30pm CDT, when we’ll email our winner, chosen at random.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck to all!