Everything You Need to Know About the Guide to Ride Guided Tour

Calling all ride enthusiasts! If you love the thrill of riding all the rollercoasters and rides but loathe the time waiting in lines, then you, my friend, are in the right spot.

What if I told you there was a way to jump to the front of the line for all your favorite rides. We have all heard of Fast Passes, but did you know Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari offer the Guide to Ride Tour that allows you to skip to the front of the line on your favorite rides?

Sharing all the details next so hang on tight!

What is Holiday World Guide to Ride Tour?

The Guide to Ride Tour is where a Holiday World staff member takes you to the front of every line for 4 hours. You can even pick your preferred seat!

My boys and I always choose seats at the very front. That’s how we roll!

The tour starts as the park opens for the day which is typically 10am. So, arrive at least 15 minutes early to check in. There is a minimum of 2 people per group and a maximum of 8 people (participants under 18 must be accompanied by an adult). The Holiday World staff member walks your group to the exit of each ride and signals to the operators how many riders will be going on the next turn. You choose the order of which you go on each ride.

The only stipulation is that you can’t ride the same ride twice in a row. You can visit another attraction or wait 15 minutes. We opted to jump to a nearby ride then come right back.

How do you sign up for the Guide to Ride Tour?

When purchasing tickets online, you will see a prompt with “Some other items that might interest you…”. Next select ‘more info’ and add the quantity of riders of your group. Finish by selecting the date that your group would like to go on the Guide to Ride Tour. There are limits to the number of groups each day.

What is included with the Guide to Ride Tour?

You get four hours of escorted front-of-the-line privileges at all attractions in Holiday World and the three water coasters in Splashin’ Safari – Mammoth, Wildebeest, and Cheetah Chase.

You also get a souvenir lanyard with a gift card loaded with $15 HoliCash and All-Day Digital Photo Pass. We each got a wristband with a QR code that the staff members scanned at the end of each ride to load photos. Once home, we just downloaded all our photos for free.

What are the tips to maximize your experience with Guide to Ride Tour?

Our family rode 22 rides in 4 hours! That is right, we were moving and loved every minute of it. To maximize your time, here are a few suggestions:

1. Eat a good breakfast and maybe even a snack before 10am. You will not want to stop for lunch until after the 4 hours. We only stopped for drinks to stay hydrated and ate some ice cream between rides. Also, if you were to eat a heavy meal, it might not sit well during all the back-to-back rides.
2. Pre-plan your itinerary with your favorite rides. We suggest riding all the rides in one section before moving onto the next section.
3. Save Splashin’ Safari for last. We split our time up into 2.5 hours in Holiday World and 1.5 hours in Splashin’ Safari. It will likely be hotter later in the day so the water park will be perfect.
4. Have your wristband for your Digital Photo Pass ready to go at the end of each ride.
5. Travel light during the tour with just the minimum number of personal belongings. Each ride has a place to store your belongings, but you will be moving quickly from ride to ride, and items could be left behind accidentally.

Is the Guide to Ride Tour worth it?

Our answer is yes, ABSOLUTELY!

The park can get pretty busy especially during weekends and some lines can be an hour long or more. If you want to make sure you don’t miss out on any rides, then this is the way to go. This would be especially useful if you only had one day available to visit the park.

We realize that this may not be for everyone, but you do have a few options to help maximize your day on rides. One is to arrive early and start at the back of the park first. Also take advantage of the single rider lines and parent swap option if you have little ones.

A secret tip is that the Games Playbook contains one single-rider, single-use Quick Access Pass. It is presented at the ride exit to skip the line. The Games Playbook is $20 and comes with $25 Games Bucks. You can even play the game Pumpkin Planko to win up to four Quick Access Passes.

Be sure to check out the other EarlyBird Guided Tour too. During this tour, you can walk to the top of the Voyage and spend 2 hours behind the scenes with coaster technicians of both Voyage and Thunderbird. We highly recommend this Guided Tour too!

We hope you have a thrilling time at Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari!

Enter to Win A Pair of Tickets to Holiday World!

Be sure to follow the adventures of the HoliBloggers. Each of their blog posts will have a giveaway where you can enter to win two tickets to visit Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari.

There are several ways you can be entered to win. Click any option below to get more details to gain those entries. You can enter to win through some options daily!

Entries accepted through Tuesday, October 10 at 8pm Central.

Reminder: Holiday World will never comment on a social media post telling you that you’ve won our giveaway. When our giveaway is over, the winner’s first name and last initial will be displayed in the giveaway above. Winners will be contacted at the email address they provided while signing in to earn entries.

This blog post was written by HoliBlogger Trina H.

Trina Hopkins is a Midwest-based lifestyle blogger, content creator, and photographer behind Coffee and Confetti Mom. She aims to empower women and families to be intentional in creating memories and a home that they love.

As a mother of three boys, Trina created a blog in 2019 to share holiday traditions, home decor, party planning, and DIYs. She quickly realized she wasn’t the only one trying to create memories that last a lifetime. Through the years, she has also incorporated local family-friendly businesses and family travel destinations. Her goal is that you feel encouraged and confident to try new ideas and places too.

When she isn’t working or creating the next project, Trina enjoys the chance to get away for date nights with her hubby, long walks with her dog (or, let’s be real, snuggling on the couch), watching her boys play sports, and golf cart rides around the neighborhood visiting friends.