Day 9 - Holiday World

Now this has got to be the most unique park of the trip! Located in a town called Santa Claus, Holiday World is actually quite an old park and is themed around, yes you've guessed it, Christmas. In more recent times, it has been expanded to include other American holidays, i.e. Hallowe'en and Fourth of July. Having said it's an old park, it doesn't look like that at all. Very immaculately themed and neat and tidy, and plenty of leafy paths to wander around. In some ways, it reminded me of Alton Towers in that you could spend a very pleasant day just walking around, hearing the gorgeous sound of gentle screams in the distance!

The old man himself was to be seen around the place and a very pleasant guy he is too! Apart from generally meeting and talking with the visitors, he would also provide story-telling sessions for children. It was actually very strange, in the middle of a scorching summer's day, to be talking with Father Christmas, and to see nativity scenes and Christmas trees all around the place. But the less said of the nativity scenes the better (Ryan!).

Even the restaurant, where we were treated to a dinner, was adorned with beautiful giant paintings, depicting days in the life of Santa and his helpers. There was also a museum of traditional toys from around the world, and a glass-blowing workshop.

A handful of spin rides were dotted around the place, together with a log flume and an obscenely wet river rapids ride. A water park was also attached, along with a very nicely done children's area complete with its own mini-coaster called The Howler.

But onto the main attraction, The Raven. Yet another CCI creation, this is a wooden twister that starts off in a very gothic-looking station and heads off into the woods. The first rides by day allowed us to familiarise ourselves with the layout, ready for the night session! The first drop heads down into a tunnel, the entrance of which is covered by a fine mist spray. Up the hill, then into a smallish drop that gives a suprising amount of airtime. Then down into a swooping curve that juts out over the lake, round another corner and then the "famous middle drop". As you progress along a coaster, the drops are meant to get progressively smaller and tamer. Not this one! A hidden, steep drop right down amongst the trees and into the depth of the woods, followed by a wild finale of sharp turns and long G-ridden helixes. A very nice ride.

However, this was a special night. We were to have a 2-hour ERS at night. What a buzz! This coaster was meant for night riding. The second half of the course is in complete darkness. And I do mean 'complete'. In the middle of the woods, there is no light. And this just happens to be where the famous middle drop occurs! I must admit, I screamed. But out of sheer delight, not fright. And it doesn't end there, for after that drop you just haven't got a clue which direction the track is going to take and you're thrown around like a rag doll. And as the night wore on, the ride became increasingly wilder as it was being run continuously, non-stop, we even had a few sessions of 2 or 3 goes without stopping.

It was also a special night for the staff too. They were holding their own "staff olympics" challenge. One of the events was to form teams and to ride The Raven (in the dark) holding cups of water and the team who came back with the most water would win. A fiendishly simple idea, but you just can't imagine how wet you can get from one cup of water. We watched in increasing disbelief as the (rather rowdy!) American staff went off train-by-train into the darkness and came back a minute later drenched to the skin. After all the teams had been, the coaster club were 'forced' to have a go! So I got into the car and was handed a cup of water. You then realise the first problem - how do you hold on? The welfare of the water is secondary at that point! I decided to tip out some water and then scrunch the top of the cup, I thought I could manage like that. But how naive I was!

I was feeling quite pleased with myself as we hurtled down the first drop. That is where you imagine it is going to be worst. But then, you hit the bottom of the drop and the ascent up to the next hill. You just haven't realised how rough that is on a wooden coaster! Well, that did it, everyone completely lost control of their water (!) and in a split second we'd all felt the effects. After that it was just one long relentless laugh and frantic grabbing onto the nearest thing (no matter what it was) in an attempt to stop yourself from being flung out of the car. This was probably the most fun we'd had on the entire trip!

Whilst at the park during the day, we had also witnessed the press announcement of their new coaster for 2000. Named The Legend of Sleepy Hollow it is to be another CCI wooden coaster, but bigger, better, and faster than The Raven. This is one machine I am looking forward to!

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