Memories of coaster names

Posted February 21, 2019

We call it The Name Game here.

Whenever we have something new, it needs a name.

Over the years, we’ve spent untold hours coming up with themed names for attractions, restaurants, shops, and games.

When our friends at CoasterRadio podcast asked me to call in to talk about how we came up with our coaster names, the memories started swirling. (Please keep in mind these are my memories; other memories’ mileage may vary.)

To illustrate a few of my stories, let’s start off with the ride simply called Roller Coaster:

When I shared this photo with Duane from RCDB.com (check out the site if you don’t already have this great roller-coaster resource bookmarked), he determined it was a Little Dipper coaster made by the Allan Herschell Company.

By the way, that was a posed photo with Santa Claus while the coaster was not in operation.

Someday I’ll take the time to figure out when that coaster graced the grounds at Santa Claus Land and for how long.

Here are a few seconds of the coaster from a film shot in the late 1960s:

While talking about naming The Raven, we discussed our 1995 brochure cover photo.

Notice anything different about the train?

When we chatted about naming Thunderbird, our 66 Days at Sea teaser campaign was mentioned.

More memories …

Before we finish up here, I’d like to share the link to CoasterRadio’s “The Greatest Roller Coaster Name of All Time” poll. There are some outstanding names in the running (including our Raven and Voyage). Please take a look!
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‘Daily Deals’ are back!

Posted February 20, 2019

Daily Deals are back for the 2019 season.

… including the ever-popular Dole Whip Wednesday.

You remember Dole Whip, right?

You don’t need a coupon to get your Daily Deals – in fact, you don’t even need to ask for the discount, it’s automatic!

The Turkey Bowl deal for Thanksgiving Thursday was a hit last year:

Here’s the full list of our Daily Deals (click here for all the details):

Meal Deal Monday*
$2 Tuesday Games
Dole Whip Wednesday
Thanksgiving Thursday
Float Friday
Spooky Saturday*
Sweet Sunday*

*Season Passholders can combine their regular discount with the Daily Deals discounts on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.

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It’s Love Your Pet Day

Posted February 20, 2019

We have some very recognizable and lovable faces here at Holiday World. No, I’m not just talking about our staff – I’m talking about our mascots!

Safari Sam, Holidog, Kitty Claws, and George the Eagle pose for a lot of pictures every day.

But our mascots aren’t the only important animals in the lives of our staff.

To celebrate National Love Your Pet Day, we want to share pictures of our pets and tell you why we love them.

On to the pictures!

First up is Amanda from Entertainment and her dog, Bama. She has a big personality and loves her toy Santa. Bama even likes Amanda enough to take selfies and use Snapchat filters during playtime!

Bama and Amanda

Angie from Sales shared a photo of her cat, Sally Whiskers. Sal Gal is 14 years old and loves Angie, bacon, and broccoli! Angie has to eat quickly when she doesn’t want to share her bacon and is very happy that Sally chose her to be “her person.”

Angie and Sally Whiskers | National Love Your Pet Day 2019

Sally Whiskers and Angie

Anthony from Maintenance has two pets to share! First up is Haven. She’s a chihuahua but nobody told her that. She thinks she’s a miniature golden retriever. She loves going for car rides and snuggling up for naps.

Haven getting ready for a ride and napping with Anthony

Up next is Sprinkles. Anthony and his wife, Kristi, found her abandoned when she was a few weeks old. She loves helping clean out the cars.

Sprinkles helping clean the cars and being bottle fed by Kristi

Ashley from Marketing shared a photo of Pax. He met Holidog! He’s 11 years old; Ashley loves that he gives hugs.

Ashley and Pax

Barbie sent along a photo of her granddaughter, Sadie, posing with her sheepadoodle, Ollie. Barbie thinks that they’re both adorable!

Sadie and Ollie

Cathy with Park Services wanted to make sure we included Willow. She loves playing tug of war with Cathy’s favorite pair of socks! Cathy loves how Willow’s face and ears are outlined in white fur.

Willow relaxing and posing for the camera

Next, DeeAnn from Accounting sent this photo of her “third child,” Sampson. She says he’s 150 pounds of unconditional love.

Sampson

Painter Joe with his black lab, Moose, who is 143 pounds and doesn’t really care for exercise.

Joe and Moose

Here’s me with my little one, Luna. I love when she brings me her favorite toy when I get home from work. She enjoys playing tag with her sisters when we visit family.

Luna and Josh

Lori from Attractions sent in this photo with her cat, Elsa. She says Elsa is spirited, unpredictable, fiercely independent, and a bit clumsy. (Some say she’s the cat version of Lori.)

Elsa and Lori

Up next is Lori with Cooper. You may have seen Lori at Holiday World Services. She loves that Cooper is soft, cute, sweet, and cuddly. He’s extremely playful and tug of war is his favorite game.

Lori and Cooper

Last on our list is Vanessa from Retail with Tator and Taz. She says they’re always ready for an adventure!

Tator, Vanessa, and Taz

Thanks for celebrating Love Your Pet Day with us!

If your pet enjoys travelling, they’ll want to relax at the Holidog Inn on your next visit. We have indoor and outdoor kennels available for rental. We’ve hosted all types of visitors, even a pot belly pig!

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The Eagles have sanded

Posted February 19, 2019

Every decade or so, our Eagles Flight ride gets a serious makeover.

Those birds get plucked.

Sanded down, actually.

You know, like those high-priced treatments at a fancy spa.

Here’s Joe in the Paint Shop, assuring the eagles that he’s a professional. He knows what he’s doing.

He won’t wing it

Let’s start with a sunny yellow base coat for these two birds.

Our Eagles Flight ride is starting to look better already!

Next, some fire-engine red.

A bunch of fussy detail work comes next and then a layer of clear coat.

Now the shiny birds just hang out and dry.

Pleased with all the pampering?

That relaxed smile says it all.

Eagles Flight is a classic Flying Scooter ride. It made by the Bisch-Rocco Amusement Company of Chicago. We added the ride in 1976, back in our Santa Claus Land days.

We hope you’ll bring your little eaglets to try out our Eagles Flight ride this season!

Happy Birthday, Santa Jim!

Posted February 18, 2019

He was born on February 18, 1894.

Santa Jim.

Countless children whispered in Santa’s ear over his decades wearing the red suit here at Santa Claus Land.

The story of how Jim (a great grandfather of our fourth-generation park owners) became Santa will quite possibly bring a tear to your eye.

And here he is in 1954, in a Chrysler commercial! (Be sure to turn up the sound for the full effect.)

Click over here for more Santa Jim stories, photos and videos from over the years.

Do you have a Santa Jim memory? Please post it below in the Comments section.
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Top of the … mushroom?

Posted February 15, 2019

It’s not close enough to Saint Patrick’s Day for us to be greeting each other with Top of the mornin’! just yet …

… so “Top of the mushroom” definitely needs an explanation.

This, as you probably know, is our Revolution ride.

It’s a classic Round Up ride.

That piece in the center is called the mushroom.

Just because it’s a classic ride doesn’t mean we won’t make an update or two.

Such as a new lighting package.

… with LED lights.

That’s the top of the mushroom, with its new lights. And below, we see Clint and Trenton working on them, all aglow.

Clint and Trenton working on Revolution's new LED lights

You may recognize their temporary workspace – that’s the queue area in Gobbler Getaway.

Want to see a snippet of the new lights in action?

Take a look:

We can’t wait to see what Revolution looks like this summer when we’re open after dark!
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Construction update

Posted February 14, 2019

Are you familiar with the concept of parallel play? (It’s when children are playing together – yet individually. There’s peaceful coexistence as each one works on his or her own project.)

That’s happening right now at Holiday World as we work together – yet separately – on Santa’s Merry Marketplace.

First of all, our Food & Beverage Team is planning new treats:

At the same time, our Construction Crews finished up with interior framing. The drywall work is nearly complete, too.

In all, more than two dozen carpenters and other professionals are getting it done. That’s what we like to report in our construction update!

Here’s a 360 photo of Santa’s Merry Marketplace

Just tap it and take a look around:

This second 360 photo shows the beginnings of our new Party Rooms, available for catered Birthday Parties, Family Reunions, and other gatherings of 15 and more.

Another department that’s keeping busy as we prepare to open Santa’s Merry Marketplace?

Logos are crafted by our Marketing Team

You’ve probably seen this Santa’s Merry Marketplace logo already.

Here’s the logo for our new candy store and bake shop, Candy Cane Confectionary:

With a cupcake in hand, the next stop is – toot-toot! – our new Polar Expresso coffee bar!

There’s always room for ice cream, right?

Our Foods folks are working on some magical treats to feature in the Sugarplum Scoop Shoppe. We’ll let you know more as we get closer to Opening Day, May 4.

Meanwhile, here’s what the Scoop Shoppe looks like in mid-February.

We’d love to hear your feedback! Please post a comment and let us know what you’re looking forward to the most about Santa’s Merry Marketplace.

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Sweepstakes: What’s your cure for Cabin Fever?

Posted February 12, 2019

Congratulations to our winner: Misty L. from Lawrenceville, Illinois. Thanks to all who entered!
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It’s that time of the winter when we’ve all just about had it, right? Whether it’s snow, ice, frigid temps, or our current monsoon, we’re all craving the first signs of spring.

Dogwood trees blooming and roller coasters soaring …

Thunderbird and Voyage with Blooming Tree

Let’s lift our spirits a bit with our annual Cabin Fever Sweepstakes.

What is your best cure for Cabin Fever? Post it below and you could win four free tickets to Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari plus two overnights in a Christmas Cabin at Lake Rudolph Campground & RV Resort in May or early June*!

And that winner will be chosen at random.

Rudolph’s Christmas Cabin at Lake Rudolph Campground & RV Resort

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 Recommendation 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 – 23 and May 28 – June 6, 2019.
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 cure for Cabin Fever. (Our comments are moderated, so as long as the content is HoliFriendly, it will appear soon.)

Ready to enter?

Simply enter by using the widget, below. And not just today – enter daily through Wednesday, March 6, 2019, at 2:30pm CST, when we’ll email our winner, chosen at random.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck to all!
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Color me Holidog

Posted February 11, 2019

There are so many holidays each day that entire websites exist just to list them.

Today, it’s Get Out Your Guitar Day.

Presumably, this is to chide the majority of us whose guitars are gathering dust (now that adulthood has taken over).

Happily, Holidog will never grow up!

This rockin’ Holidog was so fun, we made it into a downloadable coloring page. So maybe if your guitar isn’t exactly in playing form these days, you can still celebrate today’s holiday by rounding up some crayons and coloring in this pup:

Please tag us (@HolidayWorld) when you post your masterpieces on social media so that we’re sure to see them!

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Safe to say: “He won!”

Posted February 8, 2019

What do we do during the seemingly endless off-season?

Well, we:

Build things
Hire our seasonal team
Catch up on all the things we don’t get accomplished during the season
And … take lots of off-season training

Much of our off-season training involves keeping up to date on safety. That’s safety for our Guests and safety for our staff.

Lori and Adam have been at International Ride Training school this week. Lori’s our Attractions Director and she very proudly texted me a few minutes ago that our new hire, Adam, just won their Best Student Award:

Adam may be a “new hire” on our full-time team (he’s one of our Attractions Managers), but he’s a familiar face around here. He’s worked at Holiday World seasonally since 2012.

Adam was one of close to 100 students in training this week, from 26 parks in the U.S. and Canada. (And yes, I asked: there was only one Best Student Award.)

Lori kept busy this week, too. She’s in the front row, second from right, in this faculty photo.

You might recognize Eric, to the left of the podium. He was Lori’s predecessor here, as head of Attractions.

We talked at length about this great training course on our podcast a year ago.

Would you like to listen?

Congratulations to Adam, and to all the students who learned a lot this week and will make their parks even safer as a result.
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Good Gravy! Family Coaster

Mammoth Water Coaster

Monthly Archives: February 2019

Memories of coaster names