Photo TR: Memorial Day Weekend Madness

Hello everyone. I'm back with yet another trip report, this one from this past weekend. I had some interesting experiences at these two parks. Enjoy!

 

Kentucky Kingdom, Day 1, May 27th

 

So the first day wasn't that good. We only got on Lightning Run, and it rained on and off. However, at the very end, I had an awesome experience with Storm Chaser! Read on to find out.

 

Rides...

Lightning Run - 1

 

Lightning Run - This was a very good roller coaster. Don’t get me wrong. The airtime was good, the pacing was good, the layout works, but there are other problems, namely some stapling, the actual experience wasn't that intense, and the duration. Some people say it feels long, not really. To finish off, I’d give Lightning Run a 7.5/10. I know some people may get triggered by that, but I honestly think Lightning Run gets a bit too much credit.

 

Ok, quick story time. So about halfway to Indiana from West Chicago, we realized my sister forgot to grab SHOES. Yes, you read that right. So we spent 45 extra minutes in Blue Island, IL at a Target looking for good shoes for her. Finally, we went on the road. Here, you can see that we found a Holiday World thing at a McDonalds.

Luckily, we got a free park map and promo codes! Awesome! Kudos to McDonalds for this Holiday World loot

It was rainy on the way down. We got a bit nervous heading down, hoping the park would have their rides open.

Ha ha! We conquered the storms! We made it... at 5:15 on Saturday, May 27th

Lightning Run looked very nice when I got there!

Gotta admit, Kentucky Kingdom was very clean and looked nice during my visit

It's a smaller drop tower, but it came down FAST!

First, and only coaster ride, of the day! Lightning Run!

Overall, it was a very good roller coaster, but I don't understand the hype from people like Coaster Studios. It really did have some of the strongest ejector I've ever experienced, but I thought the rest of the ride was, just, fine. 7.5/10

Ugh, that will be my first Vekoma SLC

Thunder Run is what we attempted to ride next

I can definitely see the new track the ride received over the off-season!

Turns out, right as we got to the ride, an employee told us everything closed for a storm that was 10 miles away. Not quite as bad as Over Texas, but I'm still not that big of a fan of their rain policy either.

Here's a photo of the sign

"Pretty much a coaster". Rob House, Director of Operations at Kentucky Kingdom, No Coaster Co 2017

Yeah, what was going to be my first RMC Hybrid was closed too.

Uh oh, we're getting closer!

Luckily, like everything else, it was down.

Actually, it was probably down before the storms. We came by to see a train stuck on the lift hill.

The ferris wheel looks pretty at least

We ate dinner here. Some good pulled pork, but that's about it

They didn't have a bad collection of family flats

With everything closed, we went to that Sea Lion Splash show.

Lots of people here, considering everything's closed

Needless to say, it was a fun, entertaining show to kill time

Never got to try this, but I'm not really upset that I didn't

The enterprise was down unfortunately, even when it wasn't stormy

This looked like an interesting carousel

Random Thunder Run shot

That one flume ride from the SFKK days

Towards the end of the day, me and my family were just staked out in the Storm Chaser plaza taking photos and talking. You're about to see a Storm Chaser photo montage

Okay, quick story time. An op came down and told us the ride unfortunately wouldn't be open for the day. However, he took us up into the station, and we got a BACKSTAGE TOUR! These last few photos are from that.

Up close and personal with some of my favorite coaster trains!

They even showed me the control panel. Really cool! It was pretty similar to NL2, however Storm Chaser's has a digital board, which is used for everything missing on the actual control panel

 

That's all for now! Kentucky Kingdom Day 2 coming soon!

Very Nice TR!!! Sorry you didn't have the best of first days

Very Nice TR!!! Sorry you didn't have the best of first days

 

Ha ha, at least it looked up in the end.

 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Kentucky Kingdom Day 2

 

As you could probably guess, day 2 looked up from day 1. And it surely did!

 

Ride Count...

Storm Chaser - 4

Thunder Run - 1

T3 - 1 (wish it was 0, but the only reason I rode was to get the credit)

 

Something I forgot to tell you-- because I couldn't ride, the nice op that took us into the station actually took our names so we could get in for free tomorrow and be the first on Storm Chaser! So we got up bright and early that morning for about 45 minutes to get the last few credits then we would head over to Holiday World in hopes of getting there by 11:00-11:30

Ugh, stupid tree blocked my photo

Ah, that's much better!

Today, I will finally get to ride my first RMC Hybrid!

Some more Storm Chaser

That drop is SEXY!

Wanted to get the credit, but I didn't fit in the cars! LAME!!!

Been there to the Sea Lion Splash, done that. No need to again

Once again, Kentucky Kingdom is a pretty good park! Especially their fantastic staff!

RANDOM BUILDING PIC!

There's that 5D Theater again

Enterprise was still down :'(

Staff doing their thing

HAHA!!! WE GET TO CROSS THE ROAD WHILE YOU HAVE TO WAIT!! Don't worry, I'm sure you'll find a good parking spot closer to the Expo Center

Other side of the park

Another credit I missed that I'll ride today

Still a pretty funky water ride. The track doesn't look natural, but that may be just me

Shining in all it's glory

Thunder Run is one of the louder wooden coasters I've heard

And guess what? STORM CHASER LIVED UP TO THE HYPE!!

It has awesome pacing, a great layout, lots of INSANE ejector air, and a barrel roll drop! Could easily be a 10/10 ride for me, made my Top 5 as a matter of fact! It was so good, in fact, I rode it 4 times! Twice in the front, twice in the back

Here's another random Thunder Run shot

RANDOM FLUME RIDE (forgot the name) SHOT!!

There are lots of random Thunder Run shots here

The water park looked interesting as well

Unfortunately, even though Thunder Run supposedly got new track and trains, it didn't seem to do anything. Not a bad ride though, for being a Dinn woodie, it was fairly smooth, and there was some nice floater as well. 6.5/10

RANDOM SIGN SHOT!!

Meh, I passed on this

I don't know what the park was thinking here. It was supposed to be decoration for the rapids ride, but it turned out to look more like either girl food, or a smurf orgy. Take your pick.

This was my first SLC. If this is one of the better ones with the restraints, that makes me worried for the rest

Because this was just AWFUL! Dear gosh; this devilish contraption shakes like hell, tried to make my thighs extra meaty, and continuously smacked my head back against the restraints. Seriously, this is the second worst steel coaster I've ridden, only under the original Ninja at Six Flags Over Georgia. 2.5/10

Well, that's that! Day 2 of Kentucky Kingdom was only 45 minutes to get to Holiday World, but minus P3 (pain cubed), it was a damn good 45 minutes. See ya soon for Holiday World!

Wow, we were there the same day apparently. We were there first thing in the morning on Saturday though so storms weren't an issue yet, sorry they put a damper on your first day.

 

I agree with your assessment of basically everything. I found Lightning Run to be fun but overrated also, I was impressed with the park and the staff and thought Storm Chaser was amazing. That's really cool that they took you up to the platform and offered free tickets the next day. It sounds like they really went above and beyond. Great report!

 

PS: OMG we took a picture of that rock fountain thing also. I don't know what they were thinking it would look like when they built it but we thought it looked like exactly what you thought it looked like and it was VERY excited to see us.

Fun read, thanks! I also got a photo of that rock formation and captioned it about like you did. It's just so...excited.

 

KK is a great little park with some great rides and great staff. They have a solid foundation that they can build on for a number of years.

 

I must be one of those who overrate Lightning Run.... I actually liked it better than Storm Chaser.

^ Thanks

 

Holiday World time!

 

Okay, it's time to be honest. I don't like this park. I LOVE this park to DEATH! No doubt about it! Just behind Dollywood, this is the second best park I've been to! And yes, that means Cedar Point is now only the third best I've been to! To be honest though, compared to Holiday World, Cedar Point is La Ronde! The park is managed with great care, everybody has a smile on their face, and I really don't have anything bad to say about this park! I could say LOADS more positive about this park, but I'm about to do that in the trip report. Here we go!

 

And by the way, I'm not going to bother with attachments because they generally take way too long and are pretty frustrating.

 

Ride Count

- Voyage: 7

- Legend: 3

- Thunderbird: 2

- Raven: 1

 

Almost there!

 

That looks like what was my 4th and final B&M Wing Coaster!

 

Man, that's a fantastic skyline!

 

I see our next destination!

 

That must have been #1 Wooden Coaster at some point, right?

 

Legend Lot is where we parked.

 

Park entrance had a very nice appeal to it.

 

Well, at least the fountain has a better shape than genitalia *cough* *cough* Kentucky Kingdom *cough*

 

Halloween comes before Thanksgiving, right?

 

Holiday World has many vintage flat rides, I like that.

 

I really did visit the park on a fairly empty day, and it showed in every line I waited in (except Thunderbird, I'll get to that later).

 

Random Legend shot is random.

 

I've waited to see this view for a long time

 

Splashin' Safari was, for some reason, not much busier than the park that day.

 

We magically jumped a few months from Halloween, and it's Thanksgiving now! Enroll me in Hogwarts, and I'll jump to my birthday (assuming Holiday World would allow that).

 

*Heavy breathing*

 

My first ride was in the front row. And while I thought it was good, it didn't have the same intensity people made it out to be. The airtime was a bit stronger than expected, and I loved the drop, however, it wasn't terribly forceful. Still, even the front row was excellent. Front Row Rating: 8.5/10

 

I rode this for some reason. Didn't get many to any laterals, disappointed.

 

My 4th and final B&M Wing Coaster was next!!! *More heavy breathing*

 

Pilgrim's Plunge looked excellent. Sucks that they couldn't fix the issues.

 

The walk up to Thunderbird can provide some interesting photo opportunities for Voyage!

 

Thunderbird is perhaps the second most photogenic Wing Coaster behind GateKeeper.

 

This might be my all-time photo I've taken! I just love everything that went into it!

 

It will most likely come as no surprise that Thunderbird was my favorite wing coaster. While all of them are forceful (except GateKeeper), this one is the most forceful (sorry X-Flight). Plus, the launch is tons of fun, it's the only one to go out into the woods, and my only real negative with the ride is the duration. 8.5/10

 

Have I mentioned yet how awesome the interactions are between Thunderbird and Voyage?

 

Fairly decent immelmann. Could have had more hangtime though.

 

Riding Voyage in the back row however... man... did it blow me away. Voyage literally has everything, and every part of it blew me away! The drop was better than most people make it out to be, every element was perfectly placed, none of it felt repetitive even though it could have, the restraints were more open than expected, especially for PTC trains, the airtime was more and stronger than people make it out to be, the roughness just added to the great intensity, it's long as crap, and don't even get me started on the triple down. 10/10, if someone gives it lower than that score, they must be smoking crack. Immediately beat Lightning Rod as my #1. Sorry, but Voyage just has so much more to it.

 

It almost astonishes me how underrated the first drop is of Voyage.

 

5 words... Best... Theme... Park... Restaurant... EVER!!!! If you are at Holiday World, you HAVE to get your ass to Plymouth Rock Cafe and have a meal there!

 

It may not look great here, but we sat next to a window with some pretty interesting shots of Voyage.

 

Finally getting my camera to zoom and focus properly, lol.

 

Gobbler Getaway was pretty 'meh'. Not much to it, and the story didn't make a whole lot of sense. Also that old lady animatronic thing in the queue line looked like she was about to shoot herself.

 

Want more Voyage pics? You got 'em!

 

Turnarounds are delicious...

 

But it's pretty hard to beat dives under the queue line and station!

 

This thing still has loads of energy when it hits the brake run! It's like voodoo physics how much speed was left unused, despite already well over a mile length of track and a MCBR which did kill a good bit of the pacing!

 

"All clear! Voyage, set sail!"

 

Even the lift hill is pretty darn good.

 

I took a couple more rides on it, then called it a day so we could check out the last two woodies.

 

We're heading for you next, Legend!

 

OH NO!! My magic didn't work and I went BACK in time to Halloween! How is that possible!?

 

The new track on Legend is just as plain-as-day as Thunder Run's new track. However, like Thunder Run, I hadn't ridden Legend until Memorial Day weekend, but I could ACTUALLY TELL that it was recently re-tracked and not running like usual.

 

My family behind the Legend sign. Yeah, I have a Mom, but she doesn't ride coasters.

 

And with the new track, that just added to how fantastic the experience was! I must say, unless Cornball Express turns out to be super amazing in early August when I ride it, the laterals, first drop, little pops of airtime, terrain, and duration make Legend my current favorite CCI. 9/10

 

Next, we went to see that diver show sandwiched between Raven and Legend.

 

I must say! It was a very entertaining show. Not just for the divers, but it was funny!

 

There were some humorous arguments, all with family friendly humor, and I just really enjoyed it there.

 

You'll see some random Legend shots in the mix because of how great the views were from the amphitheater.

 

Hey! This is supposed to be a family friendly show, not a male night club! Stop showing off! Being in character gives you no right to do that.

 

Ya know what, scratch that.

 

Okay, in all seriousness, you can kinda see what I meant in terms of impressive diving.

 

Crap, this Legend shot didn't turn out as great as I hoped.

 

FIRE!!!!! I LOVE FIRE!!!! (Now that I'm posting this trip report after my SoCal trip, while X2 shot off fire, unfortunately, the divers had more fire than X2 did. That says something)

 

I hope you like my random Legend shots, because I have a random Raven as well!

 

Ooh, NOW things are getting interesting!

 

Great way to end out the show!

 

Finally, the one, the only, extremely hyped, Raven!

 

Dang, Raven is seriously hyped. #1 Wooden Coaster in the early 2000s AND an ACE Landmark? This better be good. (That's not quite true, unfortunately. Read on to see what I mean!)

 

NOTED!

 

My dad got my camera so he could put it with his backpack, but he took this random shot of me for no apparent reason (as far as I know, at least)

 

Hellooo, cardinal.

 

I'm sorry if I trigger you, but... *sigh*... Raven is overrated. I REALLY want to like Raven, and I enjoyed the first half, but after that second drop, my lap bar came down two more notches, and I couldn't enjoy it AT ALL. Really disappointed. I don't blame Holiday World, I blame the op that stapled me in the first place. 6/10

 

Well, that's all from the excellently fantastic Indiana park! See ya soon for some photos from the SoCal trip!