Episode 29: Holiday World (What a Voyage)

The final stop on my summer road trip was Holiday World in Santa Claus, IN.  This family-owned park is home to quite possibly the greatest collection of wooden roller coasters on the planet, the Raven, the Legend, and the Voyage.  They're also home to Thunderbird, the world's first B&M launched wing coaster, and the new for 2024 Good Gravy! Vekoma Family Boomerang.  Join me for my ravin' review of this legend of a park as I conclude my summer voyage in this episode.

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Transcript

Welcome Episode 29 of Coaster Redux.  My name is Erik, and this is the story of my revived roller coaster fandom.  For years, I’d all but forgotten my coaster obsession from high school and college.  Then during the pandemic, I started following the amusement world again, and for the last two years, I’ve been on a mission to ride as many new coasters as I can, and share my experiences through this podcast.

It all started with a week-long road trip back in 2022, and I’m now underway on my third road trip, this time for two full weeks.  Today, I’m visiting my final park of the trip, and it’s ranked pretty darn close to the top of my current bucket list.

I spent yesterday at Kentucky Kingdom, and I had a blast riding their hat trick small but mighty roller coasters.  The Storm Chaser RMC hybrid was my personal favorite, but honorable mention goes to the Lightning Run mini hyper coaster, and Kentucky Flyer family wood coaster.  Kentucky Kingdom is a park on the rise, and I have a feeling we’ll be seeing new rides in the coming years.  

My next stop was Holiday World, located just over an hour west of Louisville, and it’s home to what just might be the greatest collection of wooden roller coasters on the planet, the Raven, the Legend, and the Voyage.  Then Thunderbird was the first launched B&M wing coaster, and they just opened a brand new Vekoma Family Boomerang for 2024, Good Gravy!  In addition to the coasters, Holiday World is known for cleanliness and quality as it’s been operated by the same family since its inception.  I’ve heard so many great things about Holiday World that I couldn’t wait to experience it for myself.          

I know as a roller coaster fan that one of my favorite parts of the hobby is getting the reaction of somebody coming off of a ride they’ve never ridden before.  That’s what I want to share with you.

And with that, join me for my ravin’ review of this legend of a park as my summer 2024 voyage concludes at Holiday World on Coaster Redux.

Today was the day.  It was Day 14 of my road trip, and Holiday World was the final park of this adventure.  I hurried to get ready and grabbed a coffee from the Marriott lobby as I made my way to my car and settled in for an easy 72 mile trip across I-64 west.  My destination?  Santa Claus, IN.  If Silver Dollar City was my most anticipated park of this trip, Holiday World was a close second.

So the Town of Santa Claus happened upon its name through an interesting twist of fate.  The town was founded in 1854 as Santa Fe, however, they were unable to secure a US Post Office under that name as another township within Indiana had done so six years earlier.  Residents then decided upon the name of Santa Claus for their town which ultimately led to the Holiday World we know today.       

The park opened in 1954 as Santa Claus Land to fulfill the need for children to meet Saint Nick in the town that bears his name, as children were known to send their Christmas lists to Santa here.  The park was the brainchild of Louis Koch, and his family still operates it to this day.  What was originally a small kiddie park with little more than a Santa meet-and-greet and gift shop turned into a family amusement park, steadily adding attractions until it outgrew the Christmas theme.  In 1984, new areas themed to Halloween and 4th of July were added, and Santa Claus Land became Holiday World.  The Splashin’ Safari water park was added in 1993, and the park introduced its first thrill coaster in 1997, dubbed the Raven.  Despite modest statistics, it went on to be awarded Ride of the Year in the Golden Ticket Awards.  Ever since I first read about this tiny park in Indiana installing a compact wood coaster that captured international attention, I knew I had to visit.  

This was around the time of my peak coaster obsession as a teenager, and wooden roller coasters from CCI, or Custom Coasters International, were popping up all over the country to rave reviews.  The first one I rode was Boulder Dash at Lake Compounce, and I was floored by its smoothness, airtime, and relentless pacing.  

The Raven proved so successful for Holiday World, that they again tapped CCI to build an even bigger coaster, the Legend, a short three years later.  The Voyage followed in 2006, then Thunderbird in 2015, and finally Good Gravy! In 2024.  Holiday World has continued to be a sweetheart among coaster enthusiasts because they maintain their wood coasters impeccably, and they’re the antithesis of a corporate park.  Parking is free, and so are soft drinks.  It’s all about quality, and I couldn’t wait.

I exited the highway onto Indiana Route 162.  I rolled over the hills, and then out of nowhere, BANG!  There’s the Voyage towering above the treeline.  Its lift hill is 159 feet tall, but from this vantage point, it could be mistaken for a hyper since it’s perched uphill from the roadway.  Then Thunderbird’s orange loops are a stark contrast against the greenery behind it.  I’ve never heard anybody talk about the skyline of Holiday World, but this is absolutely breathtaking.

The road comes to a 4-way intersection with the entrance to the parking lot straight ahead.  I was the only car making my way onto the property even though the park was already open, a good sign.  I parked my car only a few rows back from a tunnel leading under the main road to the front gate.  Upon emerging from the tunnel, the lift hill and first drop of the Raven forms a backdrop to the gate before it disappears into the trees.

The front gate is quaint and prominently features the park logo, and I scanned my pre-purchased day ticket before being allowed inside.  The Christmas section comprises the park’s Main Street which includes German style buildings, a Santa statue for photo ops, and a fountain with Christmas ball ornaments at its center. 

Being most interested in the roller coasters here, I decided to start in the order in which they were built, which also corresponded to their locations within the park, meaning ride number one would be the Raven.

This was the park’s first major coaster, and it was instrumental in putting Holiday World on the map as a magnet for coaster enthusiasts.  New park president Will Koch was a coaster enthusiast and he drew inspiration from the Beast at Kings Island.  He wanted his wood coaster to use the terrain and be a wild run through the woods, and he got exactly that.

You turn left to leave Christmas and enter Halloween, descend a small hill, and find the Raven’s station building right there.  It’s shaped like a classical haunted mansion with gray clapboard siding, meant to elicit the vibe of the Edgar Allan Poe poem the ride is named for.  I joined the line as it headed upstairs into the station and my wait was about 15 minutes.  I queued for the back row and quickly took my seat in one of the red PTC two bench trains with ratcheting lap bars.

You leave the station and make a turnaround before passing through the maintenance shed and engaging the lift.  You climb to 80 feet and make a short turn with the parking lot off to the left, and dense forest to the right.  You drop down into the tree canopy and enter a tunnel, reminiscent of the first tunnel on the Beast.  While it doesn’t go underground, the drop is five feet longer than the ride’s height due to terrain.  You rise back up, turn right, and enter a bunny hop with some great float before the Raven’s signature banked turn over the waters of Lake Rudolph with good laterals.

You ascend back up into the trees, turn left, drop down again while continuing left, then rise up into the fifth drop.  This is the best moment on the ride as it’s a surprisingly tall drop and you get ejected in the back row.  From there, the Raven goes into Beast mode as it stays low to the ground, with a series of turns and hops that emphasize speed.  There are moments of good laterals and a bit of air through this section which concludes the ride.  

While the Raven’s track length pales in comparison to the Beast, this is an awesome coaster.  It’s got a little bit of everything you could want in a compact wood coaster, and I completely get why it made such an impression when it opened.  It’s got a perfect location, a solid beginning, middle, and end, and it’s beautifully paced providing non-stop action.  With this being the smallest of the three wood coasters at Holiday World, I clearly have a lot to look forward to.

I left the Raven and headed right next door to the Legend.  That this small park doubled down with a much larger wood coaster a mere five years after the debut of the Raven shows how successful the first one was.  The Legend is named for the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, in which Ichabod Crane is chased by the Headless Horseman, perfect for the Halloween theme and yet another high-speed run through the woods.

My wait for the Legend was about 20 minutes.  The station was completely full, with several narrow switchbacks before you approach the load platform.  As per usual, I selected the back row.  Again, the trains are PTC two bench cars with ratcheting lap bars.  This coaster originally opened with a single Gerstlauer train.  These were commonly used on CCI’s the early 2000’s and were maligned by coaster enthusiasts at the time.  After two years of operation, the park replaced the Gerstlauer with the pair of PTC’s that operate today.  

Properly secure, we left the station and took a quick right to climb the 99 foot lift hill.  You get an awesome view as you look over the waterpark with the Voyage rising off in the distance.  You make a 90 degree right turn at the top of the lift before a left curving drop down 113 feet, again, due to terrain.

There’s no real airtime on this drop, and it feels more like a GCI where you pick up speed and the laterals build as you rip through a left turning tunnel at the bottom.  The laterals are fierce here as you climb up and dip beneath one of the water slides in a mostly unbanked S-bend.  You rise up and get more laterals as the ride descends to the ground while turning around to the right with yet more strong sideways forces.  

You climb into a speed hill for some punchy airtime followed by a higher straight hill that provides a bit of float.  Next up is another drop into a tunnel leading into another mostly unbanked S-bend before a ferocious 540-degree helix to the right.  While this reminded me of similar elements on Twister at Knoebels and Ghostrider at Knott’s Berry Farm, I’m pretty darn sure this is more intense.  You’re glued to that left bolster for an eternity!

You exit the helix into a bunny hop, then get thrown into a hard left turn, another bunny hop, a hard right turn, another bunny hop, followed by a quick turnaround with some GCI-style airtime humps in its turns before slamming into the brakes.

So the Legend is super intense!  While the laterals are the star of the show on this ride, don’t sleep on the airtime either, because it’s got several good moments.  The back row was right on the edge of being too much for me as some of those laterals are accompanied by roughness as the train is so forcefully pegged to the side of the track.  That doesn't mean I didn’t love it, and I’ll be back to try the front later.

I continued along the main midway, and departed Halloween to enter Thanksgiving.  The entrance to this themed area passes directly beneath the final turnaround on the Voyage, and it’s beyond impressive!  This coaster is ever present in this plaza with trackwork and steel supports everywhere.  I paused opposite the Voyage’s station to take advantage of one of Holiday World’s best perks, free soft drinks and water.  There’s no waiting in line for a drink, or having to ask an employee for a free water cup here.  Just walk right up to the soda fountain and help yourself.  While it wasn’t quite as scorching as yesterday at Kentucky Kingdom, it was still critical to stay hydrated. 

I decided to save the park’s signature ride for last, and continued downhill to check out their latest addition.  

Good Gravy is a Vekoma Family Boomerang, though unlike the one I rode at Kings Island on Wednesday, this one is a custom layout.  The ride was built in the open plot of land that was once home to the Pilgrim’s Plunge Intamin Shoot-the-Chutes water ride.  Opened as the world’s tallest water ride, it was removed in 2013 due to reliability issues, and this prime real estate located directly across the midway from the Voyage remained vacant until this year.

I found myself asking how much theming does the Thanksgiving Holiday really lend itself to?  Well Holiday World answered by inviting guests to take a ride in a gravy boat through a can of cranberry sauce, around a giant box of stuffing, a rolling pin, a whisk that you can stand beneath, and a bottle of milk, just to name a few of the theming details.  It’s so corny, but it just works..

The queue and station building is massive, and the theming is top notch.  We’re going to Grandma Gertie Van Snoodle’s house for Thanksgiving dinner to experience her award-winning gravy.  You enter through the living room complete with a black and white TV, and a 60’s era fireplace.  Continuing to the bathroom there’s a clawfoot tub, and a toilet with a bright orange fuzzy seat cover.  It’s so hoaky and stereotypical, and the attention to detail is outstanding.  There’s a music room with the piano music open to “Over the River and through the Woods.”  

The switchbacks of the queue represent the dining room with chandeliers overhead.  The kitchen hasn’t been renovated since the 60’s with orange wallpaper and yellow countertops.  The doors of some of the dark wood cabinets open and close as you walk by.  Next you pass the dining room table with the turkey at the center.  A newspaper article pinned to the wall describes a seven-year-old Gertie winning a gravy competition at the county fair, and the recipe for good gravy is also framed.

You then enter the station which looks like grandpa’s garage.  The train we’re about to board is clearly Gertie’s finest china.  It’s a brilliant white with immaculate gold inlay along the sides.  There’s a spout at the front with gravy about to be poured out, and a handle on the back.  It’s ten cars long with two riders per row.  I took a place in the middle, and lowered the now familiar Vekoma lap bar. 

The station floor drops before we’re pulled backwards uphill with a tire drive lift.  We’re heading up to 77 feet, a foot and a half higher than Snoopy’s at Kings Island.  At the top, we’re released, and we careen back through the garage, bank right through the cranberry sauce, then zag left past the rolling pin, and enter an S-bend heading into the spike.  From there, we roll backwards through the whole course and back into the garage.  

So the roller coaster itself is a great family ride.  It’s smooth as can be, and a perfect stepping stone between the Howler kiddie coaster, and something like the Raven.  That said, Good Gravy perfectly sums up the Holiday World experience.  It’s so hoaky and cheesy, yet it plays perfectly into the theme of the park.  They didn’t have to take the theming nearly this far, but the fact that they did shows the kind of park this is.  Again, it’s all about fun, and Good Gravy delivers absolute joy by the gravy boat load.

Next I continued uphill to check out Thunderbird.  This B&M wing coaster cost a whopping $22 million when it was built in 2015, a figure that shocked the enthusiast community as the park had previously tripled down on wood coasters because of the bang for the buck.  This time, they went the complete opposite direction, opting for a new model from one of the more expensive manufacturers with a first of its kind launch.  Many attribute the nine year gap in new roller coasters between Thunderbird and Good Gravy to the immense cost of this ride, but man does it make a statement!

Located atop a hill at the far north end of the park, its massive loops contrast the wooden hills of the Voyage.  It stands alone in its own plaza with a snack and drink stand, and viewers get an up close look as the trains launch directly above the midway and soar into the first Immelman inversion.  The station looks like an old barn, and it looks great in this area.  Technically, we’re still in Thanksgiving, but I don’t think there’s much of a link here theme-wise.  The coaster’s announcement video depicts journal entries from pilgrims on the Mayflower who have entered a storm, and caught sight of the mythical bird.  Good enough.  

Like all wing coasters, you can pick your side at the bottom of the stairs. I chose the right side for no reason other than you twist up on the first inversion.  Thunderbird was literally a walk-on, and I climbed into the outside back right seat for my first ride.  Vest restraint in place, we glided forward onto the launch track.  We pause for a moment, and there’s a thunder sound effect accompanied by flashing lights.  Then the bird takes off launching from 0-60 in 3.5 seconds, and it’s got good zip to it.

You pull up into the Immelman, and because of the location on the hill, it feels like you’re way up there!  You pull out to the left and scream through a vertical loop.  It’s forceful and fun.  Then Thunderbird heads out in the woods to play with the Voyage.  You buzz the wooden track and bank right into a tight high-banked reverse, then break left and perform a similar maneuver to complete a figure-8.  There’s some pretty good whip in the direction changes, and the positives are strong.

You drop down to ground level feeling pretty isolated in the woods and blast through a gnarly zero-G roll.  It’s probably the best of these maneuvers on a wing coaster.  Next comes a twisting bunny hop before you burst through a barn in the ride’s first near-miss theming element, and it looks awesome!  Then Thunderbird makes a hard left wing-over 270, then enters an in-line twist where that left side has another near miss with the same barn before you enter the brakes.

What a great addition to Holiday World.  Thunderbird provides a smooth inversion-focused ride that couldn’t be more different from the wood coasters.  The launch adds another sensation you won’t find anywhere else nearby.  Having ridden it, I completely get why they chose this ride model here.  It’s well-integrated into the terrain, it looks amazing, provides a re-rideable experience, and is a ton of fun.  

So it was finally time for the main event.  The coaster that has enthusiasts waxing poetic over its ridiculous length and unrelenting ride.  One that’s been called a coaster enthusiast’s coaster.  Three coasters in one.  The only one in the world that truly feels long enough.  Then I decided to put it off just a bit longer.  You gotta understand that this was the last elite coaster I’d be riding this trip, and I wanted to savor that anticipation as long as possible.  Plus, I was hungry.  I stopped at the Plymouth Rock Cafe and quickly downed a turkey bowl with mashed potatoes and gravy.  When in Thanksgiving, right?

Now feeling well-nourished, I walked into the station for the Voyage to find a walk-on for any middle row, and only a two-train wait for the back, and I knew my first ride had to be back there.  As the next train rolled into the station, the ride op working the back right side of the platform was the hype man, getting everybody fired up after their ride.

Holiday World wanted to build the world’s best wooden roller coaster for the 2006 season.  While CCI had ceased operation prior to that time, many of their engineers had formed their own firm, known as the Gravity Group.  They pioneered wood coaster track with 90-degree banking on Hades 360 at Mount Olympus there year before, and used it here as well.  The Voyage was quite the ambitious project, and I’d be on the next train out.

A guy with an ACE shirt was in line for the second to back row.  I’d seen him get off the train before, and he clearly just walked back around.  As we sat down, I asked him how many times he’s ridden so far today.  “26,” he replied.  That’s impressive.

We left the station and began the ascent to 154 feet.  This is the tallest traditional wooden roller coaster in the world.  Those that are taller are either RMC topper track or Intamin prefab.  Today we’d be riding on good old fashioned PTC trains, the most ubiquitous choice for riding wooden rails, and there are 6,442 feet of them here, a voyage to be sure.  There’s nothing but forest up ahead, and the valley off to the right.  The top approaches, hands up……..

The Voyage begins with a 154 foot drop at 66 degrees.  It’s nice and smooth, but it’s not steep enough to wow me.  We pull out 4 feet off the ground and we’re immersed in the foliage.  Then we pull up into the second hill.  It’s straight, it’s tall, it’s smooth, and there’s tons of floater airtime.  

We dive beneath Thunderbird’s orange track, and the second big hill turns slightly left.  While the airtime comes on strong here, it felt unusual as there was some shuffle to the airtime.  It seemed it was so strong here that the up stop wheels had created waves in the rails.  It was a totally unique feeling.

We plunge into the first tunnel, and it’s actually underground this time, rise up into the light, turn slight right where the first dose of laterals kick in, and drop again into a second tunnel.  The next climb out is massive, as you careen out of the tunnel and over another huge airtime hill before tunnel number three.  

You maintain an incredible amount of speed to this point, and believe me when I say, that opening sequence of elements was just the warm-up. You rip out into daylight and over a twisting airtime hill that jogs left before beginning the turnaround twister.  The initial left hand turnaround provides violent sustained laterals before hopping down and into the first section of 90-degree banking.  You swoop under the structure and bank 90 degrees right before plummeting into the same tunnel number three to begin the return run.

There’s a brief pause on a mid-course trim brake, then you enter a triple down in the darkness, and where did this elevation come from?  The coaster just goes faster and faster.  It only seems to gain energy as it goes.  Next up is a glorious speed hill giving brilliant sustained airtime, and we get a lateral hit in a right turn and we’re only just now passing back under Thunderbird.  You rise back up to the left  and drop back right in another S-bend combining laterals and airtime, and we turn to cross just beneath the beginning of the first camelback. Are we out of the woods yet?  

You zigzag three times crossing the lift structure twice more with rapid-fire pops of airtime and laterals.  Then you scream up and fly over the start of the lift hill, drop beneath the entry ramp, and complete a figure-8 finale before entering the brakes.

We rolled back into the station and as the hype guy did his thing, I felt like I’d just experienced something.  Maybe more so than any roller coaster I’ve ever ridden.  The Voyage was exactly what its name implies.  I’m sure the pilgrims experienced the same feelings of adrenaline, exhaustion, and exhilaration when they completed their transatlantic voyage on the Mayflower.  Of course that’s hyperbole, but what a perfect name for this roller coaster.  Suffice it to say, it was a lot.  So what more was there to do than hop back in the non-existent line and ride in the front?

The visuals in the front row make this seat absolutely spectacular.  It’s like taking a hike through the woods on overdrive, and you get to soak up those views as the trees rocket past.  The one particularly jarring moment on the entry to the turnaround was much less so here, and the airtime and laterals were still present in spades.  It’s a quarter step less intense up front, but the views are a serious plus.    

The day was still young, and I wanted to get re-rides on everything here.  I meandered back to the front of the park to start over, this time taking a front row ride on the Raven.  I’ll echo my opinion of the Voyage here.  It is a bit less intense, but this coaster delivers no matter the seat.

Next up, I went back to the Legend, and again I hopped in the front row.  I should say that both this and the Raven were walk-ons at this point.  I’m assuming most guests stop here on their way into the park as I did, and then fan out into the water park and dry park mid afternoon.  Similar to the other wood coasters here, the Legend is still great up front, but just a little less intense.  As I walked down the exit, I met another enthusiast wearing a Kings Island shirt.  He’d been on a road trip similar to mine, visiting Kings Island and Cedar Point just slightly behind me, and we went around again for another back row ride on the Legend.  

This ride cemented my final opinion on this coaster.  It’s the forgotten middle child in a trio of overachievers, the first being the respectable one who made the family proud, and the last one being the popular one; the socialite who gets all the popularity by being the center of attention.  The Legend just quietly delivers one of the best wood coaster experiences in the world.  It’s bonkers intense in the back row.  I’d dare say it’s more intense overall than the Voyage.  While the focus is laterals, it’s got two or three amazing airtime moments as well, combined with a stellar layout and  flawless pacing.  Located in any other park, everybody would be talking about this ride.  It doesn’t stand out at Holiday World because it wasn’t the first, nor is it the best.  Still, don’t sleep on the Legend, because this coaster is world class.

I grabbed another ride on the Voyage, then headed back to ride Thunderbird again.  This time, I did left rear, and despite rotating downward on the Immelman, this was a better seat than the right because you get whipped over the top of the zero-G roll, and a pop of air on that twisting hill before the in-line twist.  Then left front was my favorite seat.  Somehow it was more forceful, and the views added even more to the experience as we flew through the woods.

So this might be my hottest hot take ever.  After riding all four wing coasters in the States this trip, I think Wild Eagle at Dollywood is the best.  The steep straight first drop on the Eagle is better than the launch on Thunderbird.  While the wooded setting at Holiday World is awesome, it can’t beat soaring atop a mountain, and I think Dollywood’s ride has better elements.  While there are no manufactured near misses, there are several with the supports.  There’s airtime on the bunny hill on Wild Eagle too.  So yeah.  Wild Eagle.  Best wing coaster in America.  Thunderbird is a strong number two though, and I love how it compliments the wood coasters in this park.

I then returned to the Voyage to finish out my day.  As I was hopping into a middle row, my friend who’d ridden 26 times earlier in the day asked to join me as he was exiting.  This would save him the time of having to walk around.  He’d literally been marathoning the Voyage all day long, and was over fifty rides for the day.  His goal was to beat his personal record of 76.  As we climbed the lift, I asked him what his favorite coaster was, and without hesitation, he said this one, and  I can completely understand that.  It’s the ultimate wooden roller coaster.  It’s got length, raw speed, amazing airtime, wicked laterals, and an idyllic setting.  What more could you want?

I rode twice more.  Once in back, then finally in the front.  I’ll say that the back is by far the most intense seat.  Front is still great fun, and a lot more re-rideable.  While Voyage is extremely well maintained, there’s that one spot where you enter the turnaround that’s pretty violent as you slam into the laterals.  Plus riding wooden track at these kinds of speeds for such a long time is taxing.  It’s not the kind of coaster I would be able to ride all day without taking some breaks.  I rode the Voyage six times, which for me is a lot.  Marathoning it all day?  That takes a special sorta passion.  

I should mention that Holiday World operates the Voyage at night with the mid-course trim brakes turned off during their annual enthusiast event called HoliWood Nights.  That second half is so intense operating normally, I can’t imagine what that must be like.  Enthusiasts have called it a religious experience, and I think getting to that event is now high on my list.

I returned to my car high off a perfect final park day, while also being exhausted.  It’s been a long two weeks of coaster riding and driving, and Holiday World’s three wood coasters took a lot out of me.  Still, I couldn’t have ended the trip on a higher note.  This park is such a pure joy.  It’s no nonsense with phenomenal coasters, great operations, friendly staff, and a beautiful location.  I don’t have a single criticism, I can’t wait to come back.

I returned to my hotel and prepared for the worst part of the trip.  Beginning the next morning, I had sixteen hours and just shy of 1100 miles to get home, and the trip I’d been looking forward to for months was basically over.  My return to work was looking me in the face as I woke up the next morning and headed south.  I stopped in Atlanta, and could have popped into Fun Spot for a couple rides on ArieForce One, but with all the driving, I opted to just relax at the hotel.  

The next day, I finished the journey, arriving home around 8:00 pm.  I clocked 4,371 miles, visited a total of eight parks, with five new to me.  I rode 36 new roller coasters, 51 total.  It was my best road trip yet.  I gave myself one more day to reset before returning to work on Tuesday morning, and I spent much of it excitedly getting to work on the first episode of this series on my return to Dollywood, and it’s been really fun reliving the whole experience as I create each episode.  Thanks for coming along for the ride!

Anyway, if you follow me on Facebook and Instagram, you know there’s still more to come this season.  In mid-October, I had the chance to travel west to visit three more new parks.  I flew into Salt Lake City to spend a day at Lagoon, then hopped over to San Francisco to check out California’s Great America and Six Flags Discovery Kingdom.

Join me for the next episode, for my take on my first visit to one of the most unique amusement parks in the country.  It’s a family-owned park home to one of the most unusual coaster collections out there, including three that were built in-house.  I can’t wait to talk about Cannibal, Primordial, Wicked, and more of the wacky rides at Lagoon.  That’s next time on Coaster Redux.