I nearly had a heart attack when I came across this old Santa Claus Land photo. It was in a folder marked "children's roller coaster." But those boys in the rebel caps don't exactly look buckled in…or even sitting down. The track in the photo (I've cropped it some) is quite flat. So maybe it's…
Read More »Posts Tagged: Santa Claus Land
“I’ll be a lady of leisure”
Today, our staff bid a fond farewell to this sweet face: After many, many years of helping to make Santa Claus Land and then Holiday World & Splashin‘ Safari an especially lovely place, she’s decided to become “a lady of leisure.” Over the years, she’s appeared as a calendar girl, won a state-wide honor, been…
Read More »Please remove your sunglasses before riding, sir…
If you follow us on Twitter, you know I'm a member of the IAAPA Communications Committee. Chair, actually, as of this week. We had our first teleconference yesterday afternoon and I must say it was great fun. Although we did our best to be strategic, forward-thinking and professional, an occasional pun or park story…
Read More »Now … and then
Well, actually, then and way back then. These photos have been in my "HoliBlog photos" folder since last summer. Oops. What a sweet family photo, taken in August. Siblings who now live in Indiana, Ohio and Mississippi. Want to see something even sweeter? This is the same family back in 1970. Clockwise from top: Robin,…
Read More »You betcha!
It didn't take too long for our readers to recognize Baked Alaska. Here, as promised, is a peek at one of the very early menus from The Christmas Room at Santa Claus Land: …along with the pricing: Does anyone remember ordering Baked Alaska long ago? Joe remembers it was quite a challenge to make. (Thanks…
Read More »Christmas dining, long ago
Sylvia is plowing through all our old photos as she doggedly, determinedly works on getting our archives organized. She makes discoveries. Every so often I hear her laugh. It’s a great laugh. Sort of like a bell pealing. Or a gong. Today, it was the discovery of this photo that got her going. “What’s this?!”…
Read More »Any clues to this Claus?
This is the new background photo for our Twitter page. I guess I watched too many episodes of Monk this weekend. I'd love to figure out what year this was taken: Okay. So we know this was shot before we became Holiday World, so it's 1983 or earlier, right? I think two clues are the…
Read More »Collect much?
We occasionally hear from folks who collect Santa Claus Land memorabilia. Mrs. Koch is always interested to find out what's out there, and has even been known to place a bid or two on eBay to add to her collection on display in the Santa Claus Museum here in town. The one thing that galls…
Read More »Here it comes
There is a sigh of relief around here as we complete our last day of "daily" operations. We're still open weekends, of course, but not Monday through Friday (with the exception of Labor Day Monday). The sighs continue as we start receiving phone calls, emails, and even an occasional visit from folks who are nearly…
Read More »Ben there, done that
This is Ben: This little fellow, from Berea, Kentucky, just enjoyed his first visit to Holiday World. His mom, Missy, was just a little bit older than Ben when she rode the same ride back in 1982, when we were still Santa Claus Land. We just love these generation-to-generation photos. Does anyone have a three-generation…
Read More »Photo i.d.
It's always a delight when someone emails an old photo asking if it was taken at Holiday World. …or, in this case, Santa Claus Land: Indeed, this ride was in the Pleasureland section of Santa Claus Land (in the area where Rudolph's Reindeer Ranch now exists).
Read More »Photographic memories
A lovely email from longtime friends: My family has been going to your park for many, many years. My grandparents used to visit back when you were called Santa Claus Land. Generations have come and gone to your park. For the second time we will be taking my daughter to your park to celebrate her…
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