TR: Fall Affair at Holiday World - 9/17/11
Trip Report: Holiday World - Fall Affair
Santa Claus, IN
September 17, 2011
The weekend started with good intentions. The night before,
Rideman and I exchanged a series of texts that read like
a Star Wars script, and he noted he was going to TRY to get to my place by 10,
which would get us to the park by noon. Well, that didn't happen. In fact, I
had time to grab a Chipotle lunch, and then Rideman
picked me up around noon. Things got worse when I-75 through the cut of the
hill was a parking lot for no apparent reason, then we hit Louisville. The I-64
bridge is closed for repairs. Adding to this I-71
through th city was down to
one lane for road construction. Toss in a fuel, and restroom stop, and we were
considering ourselves lucky to be entering the park at around 3:30. Did I note
the park closed at 5:30?
We managed to get
our usual spot in Raven lot by the picnic shelter, got to the front gate,
checked in, got our packets, and headed into the park.
We knew we had the
coasters during ERT, and being so late, wrote off Wildebest
already. We headed to Fourth of July, the line for
Midnight Ride was almost a full queue, so we skipped that and instead rode
Rough Riders, followed by a ride on Liberty Launch. From there we skipped the
carousel, train, Howler, Revolution, and instead took a ride on Eagles Flight.
We decided to skip Thanksgiving for now, and headed right to Halloween where we
took a ride on Legend (a bit sluggish today), and Raven (top form as always).
From there we headed up to the main gift shop to buy our Pat Koch bobble heads
($10), which, of course, needed to be taken out to the car. On the way back
into the park, I picked up name tag #2 from Guest Relations, as Legend ate my
first one. The second one was actually stapled shut, unlike the first one. From
there we headed to Thanksgiving to grab our ride on Gobbler Getaway. Did
Grandma really say it was either the 1700or1800's and we were going to ride
through the farm in a car. Anachronism,
much? We then went to Voyage, where something happened, that I don't
think has happened since the year the ride opened. We were directed to basement
level queues for the ride. None of the giant queue maze was open,
we just had to go down the stairs, straight through, then back up the stairs.
When we got to the Voyage platform, the back car was closed off, oh no, it
wasn't but the temporary back seat fence was back. Insection
of the train revealed the 7th car was again missing. Out on the ride, that does
seem to have helped as the ride isn't quite as violent, that and I think they
had the mid course brake functioning as a trim. The
brutal turnaround didn't even seem as bad. By the tie we exited, the lower
level of the queue was closed and we took another ride. I figure we caught the
ride at the worst time, as the water park had just closed. After some Voyage
rides it was time to hike back up to the Kringles, no
wait, check your ticket - the pizza party is in the picnic grove.
We headed to the
picnic grove, and had the usual pizza, chips, veggies, and fudge. The pizza
didn't really survive its cross park trip from Kringles
to the grove very well, but at least it is food, and it will get us through
until we can get better food. The park was also hosting the Amusement Today
Golden Ticket Awards today (think Oscars, Emmy's and the like for amusement
parks), so that group had a big ceremony in the Holiday Theatre all day, follwed by dinner at Kringles.
Anyway during the
announcements before ERT, it was announced that the Amusement Today group would
be joining in on our ERT, and although I don't think it was every announced I
think the ERT was extended. So yes, you now have coaster ebthusiasts
riding rides alongside park presidents, PR reps, ride salesman, and other high
ranking industry figures.
ERT started out
with Raven and Legend ERT. We joined the group heading to Raven
and started ERT with several Raven rides. We left Raven just in time to get two
Legend rides before that part of ERT closed. We were advised to enjoy some free
soft drinks while the park moved ride crews from the other coasters down to
Voyage
We headed down to
Voyage, and capped off the night and event with a Voyage ERT. I don't have a
count, but we pretty much rode continuously until the end of ERT, owing to very
short lines. After that, it was time to make the long hike back to the main
gate, and then the parking lot. We next headed to Denny's Diner for dinner.
After dinner and all that, we still had to deal with getting through the mess
that is Louisville, and home. So all said, I didn't get home till almost 2am.
We put in the back of our minds maybe next year driving down to Santa Claus the
night before and getting a room.