The Mini Vacay--Holiday World Day 2

   

Hey, thanks for your patiencia.  The day I was home this week with time to type up Part 2 of the story, our computer wasn’t working.  So, now here it is, finally, so many days later that I’m sure I’m going to have to work the brain harder to even remember what all happened. 

This was taken the second night (see how nicely the campground cleared out after Memorial Day) after we came back to our campsite.  If I didn’t mention it in the last post, the campground is called Lake Rudolph.  I was there as a little kid.  My grandma decided we should take an extended-family vacation, so me and my folks and my uncle and aunt and their two kids and the grandparents all went camping at this very campground and went to what was then called Santa Claus Land, now Holiday World. I wish I had the pictures from that trip, but I don’t.  I know there is a picture of me and my cousins, Donna and Shawn, standing in front of this Santa Claus statue that is still there today. 

Donna and I were wearing cotton halter tops my grandma sewed for us.  They were so perfect in the hot summer.  It would have been about 1974 or so.  I was probably the age Caroline is now. 

The two things I remember from the trip is 1) swimming in the lake at the campground and learning the side stroke, and 2) my dad somehow getting ash all over the back side of his clothes from our campfire which seemed to fuel even more fervently his saying something to the effect of “never doing this again when he’s got a good bed at home.” 

And camp again as a family, we did not.  : ) 

See this?  No wonder we needed an extra big trailer.   

It’s just our shoes.

How does this happen? 

Wait, stop.   Don’t answer that.

Hmm, I don’t remember taking a laptop with us in 1974. 

We enjoyed our second day at Holiday World even though it was as hot as any Fourth of July.  Smart folks were doing the water park that day to help keep cooler, so in a way it worked out well for us to do the amusement park.  It was one of those get-off-a-ride-and-hop-right-back-on days because so few people were riding the rides and there we no lines.  That made it fun, and once we had our clothes sweat-saturated, the baking sun didn’t feel so bad.  

We rode the log flume about six times in a row and no matter how big Ross plays it up as an awesome ride, it is fairly lame, but I will say it’s pretty enjoyable when it cools you off on a 98 degree day.  

Jack has been to Six Flags twice and that has basically been our kids’ exposure to rides, minus the local fall festival Ferris wheel-type rides.  For never having ridden any kind of major ride before, Grant and Caroline sure took to them.  Caroline rode anything the boys did except for two roller coasters, The Legend and The Voyage.  I didn’t even ride that one (Voyage). 

Click the video for the Honorable Mention here for The Legend and jump on at 1:56 to see what’s like. 

Now, The Voyage (you can read about and ride it here,) Gary rode it once and told me NOT to ride.  That says a bunch because usually he is trying to talk me into doing everything.  I think he has no plans to ride it ever again.  The boys rode it three times and after the last time, they just sat in the park for a couple of hours and did literally nothing else.  I take that as, it’s pretty intense.

This is them as they’re getting off, taken with Gary’s phone after their first run on it, back when it was still fun:

We rode all kinds of things really, including driving tin lizzy cars and watching a musical performance (a little lame but fun).  I will say had a total blast on the Raging Rapids.  The inflated boat-thing holds 8 passengers, so it was us six and two older ladies.  They were sitting there with their hair sprayed white-hair hairdos and makeup and glasses, clutching their purses on their lap.  A worker kid came by and finally talked them into letting him lock up their purses in a locker while they were on the ride.  They really did not want to relent on holding their purses, but finally did. 

OMG, I have not laughed so hard in so long. 

They were so unsuspecting somehow, these ladies.  It was obviously a water ride.  We were in a boat on water.   I guess they thought it would be a cruise around a calm pool of water or something.  Half way into the ride, which I will point out is called Raging Rapids and actually has some, they got caught under a waterfall for several seconds and got completely drenched.  Completely.  Wet shirts revealing their grandma bras and everything.  They screamed before, during, and after, and I just cackled. I know it sounds so heartless, but it was truly so funny and I just could not not laugh.  Anyone else sitting across from them would have been, too.  And if you don’t already know, I have a certain laugh that  really gets going and I can’t shut it off until it just runs its’ course, and it was that kind of laughing.  I can’t help it, honestly.

One of the ladies looked at me at the end of the ride and said (I quote):

It wasn’t really that funny.

Which made me get started laughing again. 

That was a really fun part of the day.

We had an excellent lunch in the Thanksgiving section of the park (like real food: turkey, ham, prime rib, real mashed potatoes, baked apples, etc.) and then separated by two’s for the afternoon.  That’s when the boys rode the Voyage again for their final time and then had to sit for a couple of hours, Gary and Caroline changed into swim stuff to do more of the water park, and Sam and I did some little kid type stuff. 

We regrouped around 4:00 and then headed out of the park for the long drive home.  Caroline was very unhappy because we were leaving without getting her one wish which was for a funnel cake.  I had told her we’d get one later in the day and then totally forgot, but then we were already out of the park and she was more than a little upset that there was no funnel cake that day. 

Once we got into the van and got the a/c on and cruised down the road a few miles while they rested, everyone’s mood improved.  It had really been a long, hot day and we were all really tired.   

So, the Short Report on Holiday World:

It is a great place!  Very clean, with just a nice feel to it for families.  A huge range of things to do across all age ranges of a toddler to teen/adult.  Free drinks and sunscreen and life jackets and parking and shuttle rides.  Even buying food at the park is not out of hand.  Our pizza and chicken strips/fries lunch was $25 the first day.  That is fine for feeding six.  The tickets for the park weren’t inexpensive at $40-$50-some each, but for the cost, it seemed so much more worth it for such a nice set up, say, versus Six Flags that just seems run down and old and with a crude crowd these days.  Second day tickets are just $22 at Holiday World and that is totally reasonable for all the fun. 

The RV rental seemed a little pricey, too, but the convenience was worth quite a lot.  The campground is literally right by Holiday World and you can shuttle there lickety-split.  The campground has the pool and playground and probably other fun things to do that we didn’t even have time for, so that adds to its value also.  Plus, we rented the most deluxe of the RV’s for the additional space for the six of us, so it really wouldn’t have to be so expensive. 

This Gill Family recommends it!