HolidayWorld and Splashin' Safari, you have probably heard of this amusement and water park if you have ever seen any of the Travel Channel's amusement park shows or even on National Geographic's Tough Fixes. This small amusement park located between Louisville, KY and Evansville, IN in the hills of the Ohio river valley, is the major highlight of Santa Claus, Indiana. Even though it is in a small town in Indiana, this park should be a highlight for any family, amusement park industry worker, or amusement park owner across the United states. Why you might ask? Just for starters, at this park,the owners greet guests on the way in and thank them for visiting upon exiting the park.....IN PERSON. Something that only Walt Disney had been to known to do at Disneyland when he was alive. The hospitality doesn't just stop with the owners, all of the employees seem genuinely glad to work there are take pride in keeping the park "the cleanest amusement park in the world."
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| Beautiful Saturday afternoon, not a cloud in the sky! |
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| Matt's Firehouse Family Vacation Troop posing for a Picture. |
HolidayWorld is smaller than many Six Flags or Cedar Fair parks(Cedar Point, Michigan Adventure, or Knott's Berry Farm) that dot the the United States, but they have world class coasters and record breaking water rides that make any journey to this park worth the trip.This park is divided up into the holidays of Halloween, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, and Christmas; all the rides are themed to the specific land they are in.
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| The Raven |
HolidayWorld's star attractions are their three World Class Wooden Coasters, The Raven, The Legend, and the wooden Roller Coaster with most airtime in the world, The Voyage. Guests catch their first glimpse of The Raven at the entrance of the park. This coaster is very well laid out and a nice jaunt through the woods and over a small section of a lake. This coaster starts out kind of okay, but once you hit the second hill, this coaster shows why it was voted #1 Wooden Roller Coaster between 2000 and 2003; a very nice accomplishment for a small amusement park to have for its ride inventory!
HolidayWorld didn't stop with The Raven; The Legend was the next coaster to be built, running through the woods and beneath the water park attractions with amazing tunnels and tight turns. This coaster was able to lay claim to the #1 wood roller coaster graciously borrowing the title from the Raven. This is a truly amazing coaster. The tunnels add dark thrills and as an added extra touch, there is a wolf howl as you crest the first hill. The Legend truly lives up to its name, this coaster is legendary.
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| The Legend |
The Legend's reign as #1 wooden coaster was short lived until The Voyage arrived in the park. This is truly one of the best wooden roller coasters in existence. The combination of extreme air time, speed, forest environment, 90 degree banked curves, and massive tunnels easily lets this coaster top any coaster enthusiast list
(I am going to have to update my list!), and that is just the first half of the coaster! The return trip is just as exciting and when you catch a glimpse of the station and think the ride is over, you are surprised with another tunnel and more 90 degree banked turns. This Coaster takes hold of you and doesn't let go of you until the final brake run. These coasters are something any coaster fan should not miss!
Add the element of the dark night sky or silhouette of a full moon and you have pure coaster magic!
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| The Voyage #1 wooden roller coaster in the United States if not the world. |
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| Matt's Firehouse Family Vacations Coaster Crew having a blast on the Voyage. |
Now in the valley of the hills of HolidayWorld is Splashin Safari. In the shadows of the Voyage and over the top of the Legend lies this world class water park which is included in your admission. There are many standard water park slides and attractions here, all of which are worth riding. The stars that have graced this valley in recent years are the brand new water coasters. That's right water coasters! They aren't just any water coasters either; they are longest and second longest water coasters in the United States! Wildebeest was the first built and held the title of the longest water coaster for about 2 years until its big brother Mammoth opened right next to it this year(2012). Both of these rides are marvels to look at and a marvel of technology using
LIMS to power riders up hill in rafts. We were only able to ride Wildebeest this trip because of the long lines both of these rides quickly gained once the the water park opened; at one point Mammoth had a mammoth of a line at 2 hours long. A nice tip if you are going to ride either of these water coasters, wear a pair of goggles so you can see where your going. Also in the water park is ZOOMbabwe, the World's Largest Enclosed Water slide. This was a treat to ride and there are interesting holes punched into the slide's enclosure that make different masks designs that zoom by.
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| The Voyage as seen from the water park, Tubes are free also!!! |
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| One of two wave pools, man this place is clean |
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| Wildebeest is hiding behind Bakuli , it is the red and yellow slide in the background. |
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| Entrance to one of the two lazy rivers. Notice how clean this park is? |
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| One of the several kid's areas Kima Bay |
The water park and amusement park share a record breaking ride that can be accessed from both parks. It is the world's tallest water ride; The Pilgrims Plunge. It is in the Thanksgiving area of the park kind of off by itself currently(maybe that will change with future expansion of the park). It has a very unique look to it and fun elevator ride to the top. The splash down is disappointing, but you will get wet. The view of the park is spectacular from the top and it is worth riding just to feel the un-natural tilt of the boat on the lift to the top. If you don't want to get your belongings wet there are free lockers available, all of the coasters also had free lockers to store stuff as well, another perk this park offers that many other parks don't.
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| Pilgrim's Plunge the world's tallest water ride |
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| Disappointing Splash down, I was hoping to get more wet than we did. |
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| Looks more spectacular than it is |
Long lines were not generally present on either of the 2 days we were at this park. As matter of fact when we arrived at the park on Friday afternoon, we had absolutely no wait on any of the Roller Coasters in the amusement park section. The longest wait we had was for the Turkey tilt-a-whirl and Hallowswings because of load times. We didn't attempt to go to the water park on Friday at all to use the water slides, but did a quick walk through on our way to ride The Pilgrims Plunge.The lines appeared short and manageable at that time. Saturday was a different beast all together. Locals from Louisville, Evansville, and surrounding areas descended on the park quickly filling the water park and lines got long within a half hour of the water park opening( the water park opens an hour after the amusement park). We were able to ride several of the water slides but eventually gave up and headed back into the amusement park. The lines in the amusement park for the Roller Coasters were about a half hour wait and the other rides were pretty much walk-on until the water park closed. Another great tip about this park, visit during the week, the crowds should be shorter.
So you’re not a roller coaster or water ride fan? HolidayWorld, which is built on a hillside, has something for everyone in the family. Relaxing antique cars, classic swings, merry-go-round, many children's areas, live shows (music and diving show),
FREE soft drinks, shaded pathways, home-made fudge, bumper cars, Santa Claus,
FREE soft drinks, train ride, water splash areas,a dark "shooter" turkey ride, turkey tilt-a-whirl, and did I mention
FREE soft drinks? For you entire stay at the park, you get
FREE unlimited soft drinks and Gatorade!!!!At other amusement parks you are lucky to walk away with an overpriced $6 small pop. Oh and if you forget your sunscreen, they've got you covered there as well with
FREE sunscreen.
Lodging can be an issue when it comes to HolidayWorld if you plan on visiting for more than a day. We made the mistake of choosing to stay in Jasper, Indiana. Jasper is about 30 minutes away and there is no need to travel to this town for lodging. Located right next door to HolidayWorld is
Lake Rudolph Campground. This campground offers many different lodging options from tent camping sites, RV sites, and nestled amongst the woods very nice cabins. The cabins can be kind of pricey but are worth every penny. We have stayed in similar cabins at
Cedar Point and enjoyed them very much.You can walk or take the shuttle from Lake Rudolph to the front gates of HolidayWorld, which is a great convenience. Just down the road there is another establishment called
Santa's Cottages, these also are cabins/cottages that are pricey, but well worth it for any family. Both Lodging locations book fast, so make sure you get those reservations in early! We will be staying at one these establishments on our next trip to HolidayWorld(yes we will be going back there again; the 7 hour drive for us, is well worth it). There are a few other lodgings near HolidayWorld which we didn't have time to check out, but once again there is no need to head Jasper for lodging.
If you haven't heard about HolidayWorld by now, that may change in the near future because they were shooting a 'Sizzle" reel recently to possibly have a reality show filmed there. Film crews and TV shows will continue to showcase this place based on its record breaking coaster collection and water rides. The theme park industry as a whole can learn from HolidayWorld and follow their examples in hopes to win some of the awards they have won. Here are few examples of what has been bestowed upon them:
Friendliest Park1998–2008,
Cleanest Park2000–2011
Best Wooden Roller Coaster 2000–2003 The Raven
Best Wooden Roller Coaster 2007–2011 The Voyage
Best New Ride 2006 he Voyage
Best New Waterpark Ride 2006 Bahari River
Best New Waterpark Ride2007 Bakuli
Best New Waterpark Ride 2010 Wildebeest
Best Waterpark Ride 2003 Zinga
Best Waterpark Ride 2010–2011 Wildebeest
We truly enjoyed our visit to HolidayWorld and plan on returning to not only enjoy the parks, but to explore many other of the area's attractions. Seeing this park on TV really doesn't do the park justice.Their collection of record breaking rides, scenic location, and amazing hospitality needs to be experienced in person to understand how amazing this park really is.
Enjoy some of our other pictures and share your stories about HolidayWorld!
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| Scenic drive from the Louisville area to Santa Claus, IN |
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| We are almost there!!!!! |
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| Our first view of the Voyage and Pilgrim's Plunge! Two Record breakers soooo close! |
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| Once in the entrance it becomes Christmas... Look how clean this place is! |
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| Granny tells you how to call turkeys in the "shooter" dark ride |
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| Pilgrim's Plunge splash down pool and station |
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| Turkey Tilt-a-Whirl, our girls decided to name their turkeys...yea they are weird like that. |
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| Holidog! |
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| Splash area for kids.... and adults |
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| Nicely themed bumper cars |
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| The Sparkler New for 2012 |
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| wow, this place is clean! |
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| HallowSwings nicely themed to Halloween |
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It is always Christmas at HolidayWorld.
Hope you enjoyed our pics. |
