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Can't swim in the rain; you might get wet!
Getting up in the morning is always tough for me, even when I am on my way to an amusement park. Partying until long after midnight, then reading rec.roller-coaster for an hour before going to bed doesn't help either. But when the park is in Indiana, I get a little assistance from the clock-shift. It is five hours of driving for me. Unfortunately, I got off to a late start. I also began to worry a bit because as I drove South, the weather deteriorated. In fact, in Louisville, I encountered a nasty thunderstorm. But I must admit, IR-64 is elevated along the river, and the view of the storm center ahead and to my right was quite striking.
By the time I reached Holiday World, the worst of the storm seemed to be behind me. For the first time, I approached the park from the east, which involves a drive past the park grounds, and gives a better idea of just how extensive the Koch Development operation really is. I know I normally think of Holiday World as a much smaller operation than it really is, and as a less popular park than it really is. Accordingly, the main section of the parking lot was nearly full when I arrived, and there was a not-insignificant queue just to buy tickets. But then, this is a theme park, and by theme park standards it really was a short line. And at the end of it was a nice surprise...I was granted a significant discount just because I happen to be an ACE member. Such hospitality!
Upon walking into the park, I failed to enter the crowded Raven line, and instead checked out the Skee-Ball machines. Holiday World has high-scoring machines...the wire on the top of the net is broken or missing, meaning that a hard roll will bounce the ball into the top net, which will then drop the ball right into the 40-point hole. 8-) Of course, Holiday World knows this, so the tiniest slum requires a whole lot of tickets.
My next stop, of course, was the famous Raven. I suspect that the crowd in the park was a little heavier than usual because of cool, rainy weather dragging people out of the Splashin' Safari waterpark. Whether due to the weather or the popularity of the Raven, the wait remained 25-30 minutes all day. This was also where I encountered some fairly extreme TPM. TPM? At Holiday World?! Well...actually, yes. What do you expect? It is a theme park. Holiday World moves at a relaxed pace, and loading the Raven is no exception. Only 24 riders are allowed onto the platform at a time, and then only after the train leaves. When the train returns to the station, the loading gates are not opened until the unload side of the platform is empty. The result is a very slow cycle time...about four minutes for a 92-second ride. In spite of this loading procedure, this is not Agawam...sit wherever there is space, and I was permitted to wait for my back-seat ride, though I had to wait behind the gate at the turnstile rather than in the loading chute.
But what a 92-seconds the Raven is. The ride still tracks beautifully, giving a smooth, fast, wild ride over the ride's terrain-twister layout. Raven is most definitely a back-seat ride. There isn't a bad seat anywhere on this CCI coaster; there is lots of air-time in any seat. But the back seat provides the best "outta dat seat" kick, particularly on the legendary fifth drop. This ride has a little of everything: a great first drop into a tunnel (shrouded in "Raven spit"), a high-G rise into a turn with a nice lateral kick, a great high-speed turnaround over the lake, a quick trip back up the hill, and around a second turnaround. This is followed by a pair of mega-airtime drops (one through more "Raven spit") that are really almost an extended double-dip. Finally, it is the S-curves which bring the train back to the station. If this coaster were longer, it would be darned near perfect. CCI has apparently figured out how to defy physics, because once the Raven blasts through the tunnel, it does not slow down until it hits the manually-operated trim- and station-brakes. All this, and the 6-car PTC train still has the traditional upholstered seatbacks and standard double-bars. We need more rides like this one!
I wandered all through Holiday World, and was slightly disappointed that the Firecracker (Pinfari Zyklon) was not running. But everything else was working. The Scrambler was a little sluggish (seems to be a common problem this season), the Banshee (Chance Falling Star) was running very well, and their Spider was running as well or better than the one at Camden Park. It is also worth noting that Holiday World also has a set of Flying Scooters with unrestricted sails. I also found it interesting that they have a Tilt-A-Whirl, called the "Virginia Reel". Interesting when you consider that the Virginia Reel ride is completely different from a Tilt... 8-)
It took most of the day to ride most of the rides and take a bunch of Raven rides, even with a chance to watch the diving show...twice...from the Raven queue. Holiday World is a lovely park, though not without a couple of rough spots (remember, it is a theme park...). For instance, the entrance to the Raven is at the bottom of a hill, and the exit is directly above. The two paths are connected by a long asphalt path (which, by the way, is slippery when wet!), and by a worn spot in the grass between the paths. Instead of putting in the stairway that they clearly need between the Raven exit and entrance, Holiday World did the TPM thing and put up a "Please keep off the grass" sign instead. But if that kind of nit picky stuff is all I can find to complain about, then the park is doing a pretty good job.
But there is only a limited number of coasting days in the season in this part of the world, and I had planned on continuing on to Kentucky Kingdom. That story is a little different, but that is the subject of another trip report. Meanwhile, Holiday World remains about the nicest little theme park anywhere, with a really good wood coaster. I do suggest that the best time to ride the Raven is during Stark Raven Mad, when the platform suddenly becomes efficient, but you can get a great ride out of it anytime in almost any seat. Holiday World is a park well worth checking out.
Next trip: Kentucky Kingdom
1997 Trip Report index
Dave's Adventures
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--Dave Althoff, Jr.