Holiday World & Splashin' Safari

A few people have asked me what is "Holiday World"? and since Scotty and I get to go for free and more than one person asked I decided to just do a post about it so everyone who wanted to know or doesn't know about Holiday World & Splashin' Safari will know by the end of this post.

Holiday World & Splashin' Safari is a family-owned and -operated theme park and water park combo, located near Interstate 64 and U.S. 231 in Santa Claus, Indiana, USA.

The theme park celebrates Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July with rides, live entertainment, games, and attractions. Holiday World is known for its wooden roller coasters, The Raven, The Legend, and The Voyage. The water park includes a number of family raft slides, two wave pools, two lazy rivers, two family "tipping bucket" water-play attractions, various water slides, plus water activities for children. Holiday World & Splashin' Safari offer guests free unlimited Pepsi products (since 2000), free parking, free use of inner tubes and life jackets, plus free sunscreen. The parks are smoke-free, with designated smoking areas available in each themed section of Holiday World plus one by each wave pool in Splashin' Safari.

The Voyage wooden roller coaster at Holiday World was voted Best Wooden Coaster on the Planet in 2007 2008, and 2009

Holiday World opened on August 3, 1946; it was founded by Louis J. Koch under the name Santa Claus Land. Holiday World was the first themed amusement park in the world, preceding Disneyland by nine years. The park had rides and activities for children and their parents. It was a small park themed around Santa Claus and Christmas. The park still remembers Santa Claus with a large statue at the entrance of the park; it includes a large Christmas Tree and Nativity Scene as well.

In 1984, in order to appeal to a wider age group, the park expanded to include Halloween and Fourth of July sections, and the park's name was changed from Santa Claus Land to Holiday World to reflect the emphasis on additional holidays. Frightful Falls, a log flume ride, was added in 1984. As the park's name changed, so did the names of some of the rides, to reflect the new holidays. For example, the round-up ride called Arctic Circle became known as Roundhouse and later Revolution in the new Fourth of July section.

In 1993, Splashin' Safari was added. The water park area initially included Crocodile Isle, a children's water-play area with some animal-themed water slides, an lazy river called Congo River, plus two large water slides. In 1994, a wave pool was added.

Holiday World gained national attention in 1995 when wooden roller coaster The Raven opened at the start of the park's 50th season. It has been rated as the first, second, and third best wooden roller coaster on the planet by Amusement Today and Inside Track magazines and continues to be named a top-10 wooden coaster in the Golden Ticket Awards given out annually by Amusement Today.
Additional water slides and attractions were added to Splashin' Safari in the following years.

The wooden roller coaster The Legend opened in 2000 for the park's 55th season. It has consistently been rated in the top dozen wooden coasters in the Amusement Today Golden Ticket awards. This was also the first year for the parks' popular free soft drinks program.
In 2002, Splashin' Safari opened the largest enclosed water slide in the world, called ZOOMbabwe.

In 2006, Holiday World added the Thanksgiving section and additions to Splashin' Safari for its 60th Anniversary. This marked the largest expansion ever for Holiday World and cost over US$13 million. These additions included a new wooden roller coaster, The Voyage. It won the Best New Ride Golden Ticket Award for 2006. On September 13, 2006, the park's owner Will Koch taped a segment for The Colbert Report pitting Santa Claus against Abraham Lincoln, another historical figure with ties to southern Indiana. The park's 60th season concluded on October 8, 2006, park broke its all-time attendance record as more than one million visitors came through the gates that year.

In 2007, a $4.5 million expansion included Bakuli, a ProSlide Behemoth Bowl water slide, in Splashin' Safari and Turkey Whirl tilt-a-whirl in Thanksgiving. Also that year, The Voyage was given the Best Wooden Coaster award at the Golden Ticket Awards and the park once again had over one million visitors pass through its gates which broke the attendance record set the previous year.

In 2008, a $6 million expansion included Kima Bay in Splashin Safari as well as the Star Spangled Carousel in Fourth of July and the Reindeer Games spring ride in the Christmas children's area. The park also retained its crown of Cleanest & Friendliest park at the Golden Ticket Awards. The Voyage also remained the #1 Wooden Roller Coaster at the awards.

In 2009, a Shoot-the-Chute ride called Pilgrims Plunge was added. The ride's 131-foot drop broke the previous record for world's tallest water ride. Rather than the traditional sloped ride to the top of the tower, an open-air elevator lifts the 10-passenger boats. The Intamin Mega Splash ride is located in the Thanksgiving section and is also accessible from Splashin' Safari.

2010 events
Holiday World & Splashin' Safari's 2010 expansion, Wildebeest, is the world's longest water coaster. The ProSlide water coaster is 1,710 feet long. Wildebeest's ride lasts two-and-a-half minutes and include hills, drops, twists, and turns.

Wildebeest begins with a conveyor ride up the water coaster’s lifthill. Following the four-story drop at a 45-degree angle, linear induction motors (LIMs) propel the four-person boats up seven additional hills, through two tunnels and around a helix. Top speed is 24.5 mph. Wildebeest’s tallest elevation is 64 feet higher than its lowest drop; the conveyor-style lifthill replaces any slide-tower stairs.

Located in Splashin' Safari, to the north of Bahari wave pool, Wildebeest cost $5.5 million, the second largest ride project in Holiday World's 64-year history.

Also in 2010, new trains for the Voyage will be added. GravityKraft's Timberliner trains will be added on the Voyage's track.

Mascots and characters
Rather than sign licensed characters for the park, Holiday World has developed several mascots and characters including:

Holidog - A brown dog who is the mascot of Holiday World

Safari Sam - A green crocodile who is the mascot of Splashin' Safari

George the Eagle - A bald eagle wearing American flag-themed clothing

Park layout and current rides
Holiday World's attractions are divided into four sections: Christmas, Halloween, Fourth of July, and Thanksgiving (Holidog's FunTown is part of the 4th of July section). Splashin' Safari water park is connected to Holiday World.

Christmas
The Christmas section is at the entrance to Holiday World and is the oldest section. It includes a Christmas tree, the Applause fountain, a nativity scene, Rudolph's Reindeer Ranch (a collection of kiddie rides), Holiday Theater, a small museum with antique toys and Lincoln memorabilia, as well as Kringle's Kafe. Since the park opened in 1946, Santa Claus has been available daily throughout the season to chat with children. He also invites children on stage with him at Santa's Storytime Theater.

Rides & Description
*Reindeer Games Three-story spring ride
*Dancer's Thunder Bumpers Junior Junior sized bumper boats
*Comet's Rockets Children's rocket ride
*Dasher's Seahorses Seahorse ride
*Prancer's Merry-Go-Round Junior-sized carousel
*Blitzen's Airplanes Children's airplane ride

Halloween
The Halloween section includes the High Dive Theater which features daily high-dive shows, each including a fire dive and ending with a high dive from 80 feet (24 m) into 10 feet (3.0 m) of water.

Rides & Description
*The Raven Wooden roller coaster
*Frightful Falls Log flume
*Scarecrow Scrambler Scrambler ride
*The Legend Wooden roller coaster
*HallowSwings Swings ride

Fourth of July
The Fourth of July section is the largest area within the theme park. This section features live music shows and the Betsy Ross Doll house, a walk-through attraction with a collection of antique dolls.

Rides & Description
*Star Spangled Carousel Carousel
*Paul Revere's Midnight Ride Octopus/spider ride
*Rough Riders Bumper cars
*Revolution Roundup ride
*Liberty Launch 8 Story S&S power double shot
*Lewis & Clark Trail Tin Lizzie antique car ride
*Eagle's Flight Flying scooters
*Raging Rapids in Boulder Canyon White water rapids raft ride
*Indian River Children's canoe ride
*Salmon Run Children's spinning ride with fish themed cars

Thanksgiving
The newest section, the Thanksgiving themed section of the park premiered on May 6, 2006, to commemorate Holiday World's 60th anniversary. In addition to the rides below, this section also has a gift shop and Plymouth Rock Cafe.

Rides & Description
*The Voyage Wooden roller coaster
*Gobbler Getaway Sally Corporation interactive dark ride
*Turkey Whirl Turkey-themed Tilt-A-Whirl
*Pilgrims Plunge Intamin mega splash.

Holidog's FunTown
Holidog's FunTown is a play area geared toward children, located on the east edge the Fourth of July section and encircled by The Freedom Train where the defunct Firecracker rollercoaster used to be.

Rides & Description
*The Freedom Train Miniature scale train
*Doggone Trail Children's car ride
*The Howler Family/children's roller coaster
*Holidog's Treehouse Three-story play structure
Just for Pups Smaller version of Holidog's Treehouse, designed for toddlers
*Magic Waters Spray park area

Splashin' Safari
Splashin Safari has the distinction of being the largest waterpark in Indiana, as well as one of the top water parks in the nation.

Rides & Description
*Bahari Wave Pool Wave pool featuring geysers and water jets
*Bahari River Lazy river
*Congo River Lazy river
*Kima Bay Whitewater West AquaPlay RainFortress
*Monsoon Lagoon SCS interactive discovery treehouse with a 1000 gallon water bucket dump
*Otorongo 3 individual intertwining pitch black water slides (Otto, Ron, & Go)
*Watubee Family water slide with rafts that can hold up to 5 rider
*The Wave Wave pool
*Jungle Racer Five story 10-Lane racing water slide
*Zinga Eight story ProSlide tornado water slide
*ZOOMbabwe Enclosed water slide; rafts can hold up to 4 riders
*Jungle Jets Family "sprayground"
*Butterfly Bay Children's gentle wave pool adjacent to The Wave
*Crocodile Isle Children's play area with small water slides and fountains
*AmaZOOM Enclosed water slide
*Bamboo Chute Water slide that can be ridden either individually or in two-person inner tubes
*Wildebeest ProSlide Rocket hydromagnetic water coaster. Currently billed as the world's longest water coaster.

Defunct rides and attractions
Rides & Description
*Thunder Bumpers on Chesapeake Bay Bumper boats; removed after the 2007 season and replaced by Star Spangled Carousel
*Kids Castle A children's soft playland; removed after the 2007 season and replaced by Reindeer Games
*Banshee Chance Falling Star; removed following the 2003 season and replaced by HallowSwings
*Firecracker A Pinfari model Z47 steel Roller Coaster; removed early in the 1998 season and replaced by Holidog's Fun Town in 1999
*Virginia Reel Tilt-a-whirl; removed following the 2005 season (and replaced by the Turkey Whirl) to make way for the entrance to the new Thanksgiving section
*Roundhouse roundup ride; replaced by The Revolution, a larger version of the roundup ride

Stormin' Norman's Tank Tag Classified as a game, Tank Tag was a series of miniature tanks in the early 1990s that could be ridden by patrons; replaced by The Alamo restaurant
Hall of Famous Americans Wax Museum with an emphasis on American Presidents and American History; replaced by Liberty Launch in 2003
Petting Zoo Petting zoo with a collection of animals, including reindeer
Bungee Jump Fixed crane-based bungee jump show and attraction; the popular high-dive show returned in 1993.

For ticket prices, maps, park schedule and more you can go to Holiday World Website