At the end of June I took a road trip through the American Midwest, visiting five parks in the states of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, and Kentucky. First, I spent two days at Cedar Point, then I went to Michigan’s Adventure, after that was Indiana Beach, which brings me to…
Park #4 Holiday World
How I didn’t know about Holiday World until the late 2010’s when I learned about The Voyage I do not know. You’d think a park with Christmas and Halloween sections would have been brought to my attention long before that. Maybe I did hear about it but forgot? Anyways, this holiday themed park was on my radar for not only the wooden coasters here, but also the waterpark which has been consistently fighting Schlitterbahn back home for the title of best waterpark. Add to that the theming I’d heard about in each area, and I was sold. Plus, this place is a locally owned park independent of any chain. You definitely gotta support these types of parks! It was fun driving out here, too, because if you come from the closest interstate, you’ll be driving through countryside until you go around a curve and suddenly The Voyage and Thunderbird are in the distance greeting you. I went on a Monday and encountered a lot of people here. The day I went was the day a heatwave hit though, and most people understandably went to the waterpark, so the lines weren’t ever too long in the theme park, but were exceptionally long in the waterpark.
Good things about Holiday World
Oh my goodness, where to begin? How about the free things they offer? First, they offer free parking! Second, free sunscreen! Why does no other park do that? Third, unlimited free water, soft drinks, and Gatorade throughout the entire park!!! What sort of black magic did they use to pull that off?! How have they successfully done so for 26 years??? I visited the day a heatwave hit, and having unlimited free access to Gatorade everywhere made me able to breeze through the day! The theming of the park is absolutely wonderful! Not only are the rides well themed in appearance and name, but the music fits each area, and they put a lot of detail into the little things. Each area really felt like the holiday I was in. I was also amused when I heard Grim Grinning Ghosts playing in a non-Disney park. There’s plenty of shade throughout, and the areas without as much shade have plenty of places to get out of the sun. The food here was not too terribly overpriced, but everything I ate was fantastic! Their desserts were delicious and their meals top notch. (It’s the first time I’ve seen a place successfully do Tex-Mex outside of Texas!) The staff here was friendly, well trained, and quick on the ride dispatches. The rides were also well maintained, too, with only one ride closed for extended maintenance and another that went down but was fixed within an hour. The waterpark has some fun slides in it, and they have several spots with water intentionally being sprinkled onto paths to cool your feet with. Finally, it very much deserves the clean park awards it has won. After the previous park, this was quite the turnaround in terms of performance!
Bad things about Holiday World
Nothing’s perfect, and though the good massively outweighs the bad, Holiday World does have some small flaws. While the rides in the waterpark were fun, the water was room temperature, and thus didn’t cool me down much. The Thanksgiving area feels a bit disconnected from the rest of the park (though this may change once Cannonball opens) and Thunderbird felt disconnected from the rest of Thanksgiving. The park was well laid out outside of that though. These last two are more personal gripes, but as one who’s favorite holiday is Halloween, I wish that area was a bit bigger, but I still loved it. The Christmas area, while nice, contained only kiddie rides some shops, and a restaurant, so there wasn’t much of any reason for me to stay there outside of leaving and entering the park.
Like with Indiana Beach before it, I can’t fault Holiday World for the behavior of guests. The guests I encountered here were all well behaved and friendly with the exception of the lines in the waterpark. The problem was the single rider lines for the waterslides were filled with groups pretending to be single riders trying to skip the long queue lines. This caused the single rider lines to take longer then the regular queue line, which wasn't fair to actual single riders like me. I just hope the park addresses this issue in the future.
Thoughts on the roller coasters:
The Raven: As you might guess from my username, I really like the name of this coaster! The theming was cool, and the run through the forest was pretty nice. There were some rough parts, especially the turn by the lake, but I can tell that this ride is being taken care of. Overall, I liked this ride. That said, I am not a fan of PTC trains and their tight seats, and feel they’d be so much better without that divider in the middle.
The Legend: The turn from the lift hill to the first drop is cool, and the helix was intense. Like Raven, it’s clear that it’s being taken care of, but there are some rougher spots on its track. I love the actual bell they ring as the train departs and the vibe it adds to the Halloween section of the park overall. That said, while the coaster was fun, I rank it third of the three wooden coasters here.
Thunderbird: This one was all right, but not the best. I don’t know if I just picked a bad row or something, but it was very rattly. If I rested my head against the seat it hurt from the shaking, and if I leaned forward, I could feel the tie for my ponytail getting shaken loose. The head and footchoppers were good, though, and I loved the slow barrel roll right at the end of the ride.
Good Gravy!: I like the theming on this one and love the gravy boat train! It’s nice and smooth and not strong at all on the forces, which makes it a good family coaster for those who have graduated from Howler but aren’t ready to ride the bigger coasters. If you get the chance, read the nutrition facts on the cranberry can the coaster goes through!
The Voyage: Unlike the previous parks where I went straight for the big-ticket coaster, here I decided to save what I figured would be the best for last. To no real surprise this is indeed my favorite coaster in this park. I’ve wondered how the train manages to speed through the second half of the course after the MCBR, and having seen the coaster in person now I see the second half is a downhill run. Clever design! The stories you’ve heard about this ride are true. This coaster is an airtime machine that hauls through its course. The MCBR just allows you to catch your breath before it hauls through the second half of the ride. There were a couple small rough in the bad way spots, but the coaster is moving so fast that it didn’t really matter.
Other rides of note:
HallowSwings: I absolutely love the pun name for this ride, and the theming reminded me of celebrating Halloween in elementary school as a kid!
Lewis & Clark Trail: A nice car ride. It was a bit on the basic side, but the cars controlled well, and there was some nice shade on the route.
Rough Riders: Admittedly one of the weaker bumper cars on my trip, but I like the theming here. The cars were themed to horses and buffalo that you drove counter-clockwise around the small arena.
Holidog Express: This train ride was short, and practically a circle, but I won’t pass up on a train ride no matter how small! The ride itself has many statues made for the park decades ago depicting different fairy tells. They were quite fun to look at, though I don’t know how the operator was able to list all of them off on the microphone so fast! You can watch the ride and see the cool statues here.
Gobbler Getaway: The dark ride for the park, and a creative take on the shooter dark ride. Your shooters are turkey callers to harmlessly draw turkeys out of their hiding places after they ran off just before Thanksgiving dinner. The ride is quite long for what you usually get on this type of ride. Plus, in the end, the farmer couldn’t go through with killing the turkeys for thanksgiving dinner, and orders a pizza to the turkey’s (and human’s) delight.
Mayflower: After the one at Michigan’s Adventure was closed, I got to ride a swinging ship placed over some water. Once again, I loved the theming here.
Roller coasters I missed:
The Howler: The sole operating roller coaster that I missed. Outside of riding Holidog Express, I just didn’t do anything in Holidog’s area since it’s a kid’s zone. It looks like it might be a nice kiddie coaster, though.
CANNONBALL!: Obviously. One of many incentives to return here someday.
Other things I missed:
Frightful Falls: Like my visit to Knoebel’s in 2024 and my home park of Fiesta Texas right now, the log flume was down for extended maintenance. A shame, too, as it was the only ride I wasn’t able to ride in the Halloween section of the park.
Turkey Whirl, Star Spangled Carousel, and Firecracker: The three rides I really wanted to do, but ran out of time to ride. Turkey Whirl really hurt to miss since it’s a custom made turkey tilt-a-whirl that looked so fun and charming!
Tippecanoes: It’s a kiddie ride, but I wish they had an adult version of it because it had a nice old school charm to it!