Hello everyone and welcome back to another edition of RCPro: Blogged! I am back at home from a great trip to Holiday World for CoasterBuzz’s Fall Affair, and man, was it great! I have been looking forward to finally getting to the park since construction on Voyage started way back in 2005, so in addition to being my first enthusiast event this was a pretty major trip for me. Raven, Legend, and Voyage make for an impressive though short lineup on paper (or rather the screen if you look at RCDB), but would the park and its famous wooden coasters live up to their fame and hype?

Pulling into our very close parking spot next to Raven provided me a great look at the lift hill and first drops on Raven, and honestly; I didn’t really get the feeling of looking at a world-class coaster. But of course I was only looking at a small part of this ride, but initially I was underwhelmed by what I could see. However I didn’t let that initial thought stay in my mind for long, as the excitement of actually walking in the front gate and seeing the park for the first time took over. This park has two iconic features in its entry plaza, the always-popular Santa statue and the Applause Award fountain, which are certainly both beautiful in their own way. We decided to hop into the gift shop there at the entrance so one of our group could grab a Voyage shirt and to look around at what merchandise was offered. With a new shirt on one of our group’s members it was off to our first coaster of the day, Raven.

Walking towards the entrance I was taking in as much as I could of the surroundings, and I can’t forget to mention the awesome music in this part of the park. The entrance and station for Raven are pretty cool for its small park setting, and definitely fit the spooky feel of the Halloween section. My friends had told me that the seats on all the coasters were padded, but I wasn’t expecting what I sat down in. The padding here made every other coaster seat seem like the crappy chairs at my high school (that includes Michigan’s Adventure, because while the seats look padded, there is very little substance). The first drop was fun, and pretty comparable to most any coaster of similar size, but that’s where being comparable to the Raven ends. That turn over the lake is extremely forceful, and the next drop is one of the best out there because its like the bottom just drops out from under you very quickly. The rest of the trip back to the station was a wild and very fun ride. We stayed on the train for one more lap before getting off to head to our next stop.

Legend was one of the three that I was really curious about, as it has a first drop that is pretty much exactly the same as Rampage at Alabama Adventure. My expectations for this coaster were higher than they were for Raven, since I had heard more of a mixed bag about Raven rather than Legend. The first half was very fun, but then we got to the back half…My friend said that it was a lot slower than usual that morning after we once again stayed in our seats for a second lap, so I tried to keep the initial impression about the back half out of my mind until I could get back to it later in the day. After the second lap it was time to hop off and head for the Thanksgiving section of the park.

Walking back to this part of the park Voyage and Pilgrims Plunge hold your attention very strongly as they are both two of the tallest structures in the park. Seeing the Voyage in person is very intimidating, especially the last turns around the station. They seem too large for the last turns of a ride, but then you see the train screaming through them and realize that this coaster means business. If you haven’t already figured it out, the park was dead, which meant no line even for Voyage, especially running two trains. I didn’t get the chance to watch the train fly-by down under the station, but then I’m not complaining because it means there was no line.

My first ride was a few rows from the back, and I was guessing that being close to the back meant I was going to be in for a rather insane ride. In as short a phrase as possible, it was like getting hit by a Mack truck. That first drop is great, throwing you out of your seat from the start. You really don’t feel like you lose much speed over the second or third hill, and then the ride starts throwing the proverbial book at you. Now you’re popping in and out of tunnels that are insanely deep, seeming to gain even more speed. You are also starting to head to the left, and the ride isn’t doing it gently; it is letting you know you’re going to the left. Emerging from the third tunnel you get thrown into a slight but jarring right as you once again head downhill into the twisted back-end of the ride. These turns are insanely intense you will get tossed like a rag doll if you do not hold on. After another left turn, its your first 90* turn to the left, quickly followed by another 90* to the right, rocketing you back up over that hill before you drop back down into the third tunnel starting your return trip.

The return trip starts with a quick drop into the third tunnel, and then you come up into the mid-course brakes, providing a much-needed chance to catch your breath. Then the insanity starts back up again. Dropping down into the third tunnel I knew what was coming, but the triple down was still somewhat surprising because it drops a bit to the left on the second drop. Coming up out of the second tunnel and I was thinking this wouldn’t be quite as insane as the first half up to the brakes, but man, was I wrong. It was at least as insane, if not more. You get hit with one more 90* turn, quick jumps to both sides, and plenty of airtime. Getting close to the station you think its got to be almost over despite having seen that last set of turns. If you thought it looked like the train flew through there, you won’t believe how fast it is once you’re on the ride experiencing it. It moves just as fast through that last section as it does the back-end turnaround. You hit the final brakes feeling like you just got hit by a Mack truck, in an oddly enjoyable way. My first reaction, “What just happened!?” My second, “Let’s do it again!” We did it twice more before moving on.

Next up on the list was Gobbler Getaway, which I was actually really looking forward to because I absolutely love these shooter dark rides. This one is very well done, and even more entertaining than the Scooby-Do one at Kings Island (the only other one I’ve experienced). It has purely entertaining show sets at the beginning and end of the ride, letting you sit back and enjoy the scenes or trash-talk your opponents in the car. I personally never got over 300 in all three trips, which really ticked me off as I usually get over 1,000 on Scooby. Overall a great ride that shouldn’t be missed, and is well worth taking a break from Voyage to ride.

Despite it being on the cool side (it was still before noon, the park opened at 9:30) I wanted to check out Pilgrims Plunge, specifically for the very intriguing elevator lift system. Watching a few boats go down the drop it looked like the boats went impossibly slow, but it still looked fun. The station is rather large, and the moving loading system is something I’m not used to except when standing on a rotating platform, so that was a little odd. The ride out to the lift resembles more of a river rapids ride than a leisurely float on a flume, which was nice and unexpected. Like many people, my main interest on the ride was the lift, and it was certainly an interesting experience in itself. I only rode it once so I didn’t really get a great look at the mechanics of it all, but the interesting shape translates into an interesting ride up the lift. When you tilt to the side as it goes through the curve it is rather disconcerting. The top of the lift is very similar to Demon Drop (for me, at least), waiting for that drop to finally happen. When you do drop, you think the same thing you thought on the ground, that it is taking impossibly long to simply drop. The spray coming up throughout the drop is something different, and evidently if you sit in the front keeps you from having your eyes open during the drop. I sat in the back, so it didn’t really bother me and I had my eyes open the entire way down. Of course, sitting in the back rows does have one very big disadvantage, side-spillage on the run out. You hit the bottom of the drop expecting the big splash, but instead you start going the length of the run out, losing speed but not getting a splash. And then at the end when you’ve slowed back down to almost a calm float, the “splash” finally happens. If you’re sitting in the back it isn’t much of a splash, but the side of you facing the wall of the channel (my left side since I sat on the left) gets soaked, and the other half of you stays mostly dry. Unless you like walking around with a half-soaked body, you may want to opt for a second ride sitting on the opposite side. Based on my one ride, it is certainly a fun ride, but the lift is far and away the most interesting feature. Definitely worth the ride if you’re there on a day with temperatures exceeding 70 degrees.

After Pilgrims Plunge it was back to Voyage for two more insane rides. That ride is addicting, but will quickly get the best of you. By now the rest of our group had arrived, so we went back up to the front gate to meet them. After running back out to the car to change out of my wet socks and shirt, it was back down to the Voyage. We got in five more rides, and then they did the unthinkable, went down to one train operation. Transferring took forever, so we decided we would leave Voyage for a while and do other stuff. First up was Turkey Whirl, their Tilt-A-Whirl. Our group of eleven took up four of the seven cars, and we were all competing for who could get the most “death spins.” I don’t think we really compared who won at the end, but I know my car got an awful lot, including a nice couple spins right at the start of the ride. Then it was across the midway to Gobbler Getaway again, where once again I failed to break 300.

We got off the ride and saw that Voyage still had a full station with a few standing right outside the station, so we passed and opted for a quick drink break. Free pop is amazing, and something that sets this park apart from the bigger parks when it comes to customer satisfaction. Never once paying for a drink was very much appreciated. After quenching our thirst, we hit up their Revolution ride, which proved to a very entertaining. We decided that we wanted to be credit whores and ride the kiddy coaster, Howler, which ended up being surprisingly painful, although I’m sure being big didn’t help that at all. Playing around in the kids area resulted in a video that ended up posted on YouTube (of course), though I’m not really in it, so feel free to watch it if you find it. We then proceeded to take up most of the bumper cars, and then overloaded the S&S combo tower (they actually had to let three of us off to get the weight down), something they said had never happened before. I guess I should feel special…maybe? Anyway, after that I split off to go get pictures (which will hopefully be posted later tonight) and some food while the rest of my group went off to ride some more.

When I met back up with my group they were headed to the log flume, Frightful Falls. This ended up being a pretty fun flume, and reminded me just how much I miss White Water Landing. Everyone agreed that it was a pretty good ride, but it was time to get back to coaster riding. We went back to get a few more laps on Voyage. I finally snagged a front-row ride, and it was fun, but the back was just a little more intense in my opinion. After about four more laps (I started to lose count about this time) we decided to move on to the other two coasters some more before dinner and then ERT since it was getting close to three. Legend was first up, and we took four spins without getting off. This time around the back half was much faster than this morning, but I still just wasn’t as impressed with it as Voyage, and soon, Raven. Then we moved up to Raven since most of us had people waiting in our row in the station for Legend.

Time was passing by more slowly than we anticipated, but then again, we didn’t have to get off the rides to go around, so our rides were adding up very, very quickly. Nine rides in a row on Raven was the magical number this time, and were also those rides which really got me to love Raven. That course, though short, is very powerful. A few of our group wanted to get off to do some shopping, and one had to go to the restroom. The rest of us stayed on for three more rides after going back around, bringing that time slot up to twelve total. That was the end of Raven that day for me, leaving that count at fourteen, and Legend at six. All but three of us decided to take a break (several to get some Aspirin/Tylenol). We made our way back down to Thanksgiving where we took three in a row on Turkey Whirl and another spin on Gobbler Getaway before hopping back on Voyage for two more rides before dinner. I finally got my back row ride during this short slot, and it was easily the most insane ride of the day.

It was time for dinner, which consisted of pizza, fudge, chips, veggies, and more free pop! The park had officially closed for the day, and the only people left in the park besides employees were the Buzzers. Unfortunately the weather was starting to look questionable. After a few quick words by Jeff, Will Koch said a few things and said that ERT had officially started on all three coasters due to the apparent incoming bad weather. The original schedule was for Raven and Legend ERT first, followed by Voyage for the end of the night, but we ended up having as much time as weather would allow on all three. At this point there was an employee standing at the door of the dining hall handing out ponchos to everyone, and it was obvious that it was going to rain before too long. As I’m sure you can guess, most everyone that was left went to Voyage.

The first few rides were dry, but it was getting cooler and darker very fast, so I could tell that rain wasn’t too far off. The tunnels in the increasing darkness were even better, especially during the triple down. Despite knowing the course after 12 rides so far, the quick cut to the left in the middle of the triple down caught me off guard in the increasing darkness. The real hilarity during the first three “dry” rides happened on the second ride, as my friend I was riding with and I had discussed what kind of crazy stuff we could do while on the coasters. For Voyage we decided to use the ever-popular rowing/paddling motion often used on Gemini. About halfway through the course, the couple riding behind us caught on to what we were doing and started singing Row, Row, Row Your Boat as well as paddling along with us. It was quite possibly the most hilarious, laughter filled coaster ride I have ever had, and well worth the extremely tired arms I had afterwards. The third ride remained mostly dry, but it was starting to sprinkle ever so slightly on the return trip. By the fourth ride it was a steady drizzle, but it wasn’t too bad…yet. Almost as soon as the train hit the final breaks, it started raining harder, and it was close to a downpour by the time the two of us had gotten of the train. We ran back up to the station, and it had officially reached a heavy rain, and saw a train full of cheering enthusiasts roll out of the station. I was thinking that surely that would be the last trip, but they made no signs or mention of closing the ride. That train returned in what had turned into a torrential downpour, full of a bunch of wet enthusiasts.

Now when most people see a torrential downpour and lightning, they leave the park, or at least get off a ride or leave the line. Of course, the people riding Voyage weren’t “most people,” and that includes yours truly. The following two rides – yes, two more rides in very heavy rain – can only be described as chaotic and sadistically amazing. My friend and I sat down in the train and I turned and asked him why I’m doing this. It was hard to see the top of the lift from sitting in the station, and it just kept coming down harder and harder with every second that passed. Our train left the station and within seconds I was already rather wet by the time we reached the top of the lift. From that point on it was the definition of insanity. The rain felt like people were shooting automatic BB guns at your face, you couldn’t keep your eyes open (or in my case couldn’t see out your glasses so it didn’t matter) so it was very difficult to anticipate the direction changes. The rain was also helping the ride to move faster than usual, and the tunnels that seemed so long when it was dry were suddenly too short in the driving rain.

Our train came back to the station, everyone cheering and yelling while Jeff and everyone else standing on the platform were laughing. Since there were a few people still waiting in the station, they got on and right before they went to dispatch the train there was a bolt of lightning. The crew hesitated, those of us on the train started cheering, and they decided to send us out for the last ride of the night. Defying all logic and reason it was raining even harder during this ride, and almost everyone was trying to shield their face from the driving rain. Once again, the ride was the very definition of insanity. The train returned to the station with everyone once again yelling and cheering while those on the platform were still laughing. Paula later said on the CoasterBuzz forums that “I have NEVER seen people so wet ... even in the water park!” That statement could not be more accurate. Even though we had ponchos, the majority of us had not had time to put them on. The walk back to the car was cold, wet, and miserable; but more than made up for with an absolutely awesome and insane session of ERT that put me at 18 rides for the day.

Overall my first visit to Holiday World could not have been any better. I was with a bunch of fellow Buzzers and enthusiasts during what basically amounted to an entire day of ERT and free dinner. Ending with what will likely stand as the most insane ending to an ERT session ever on Voyage. What better way to spend a day at a park for the first time? As always, I have to thank my friends that got me there, same as my last big trip. Chris and Bryan, you guys rock and I really appreciate you having me along for another amazing trip. If my “riding buddy” for the day, Ryan, is reading this, those were some absolutely hilarious rides on Voyage and Raven. The rest of group, it was great to meet all of you, and hopefully it won’t be too long before another great event at a park. Last, but definitely not least, a very big thank you to the great folks at Holiday World (Paula, the Kochs, and their amazing staff) and Jeff for putting on an outstanding event!

That about does it for this (extended) edition of RCPro: Blogged! Pictures from the trip will hopefully be up by tonight, tomorrow night at the latest, so make sure you check back for those. As always, thanks for reading and get out there to enjoy some last rides on your favorite coasters before the season ends!