Photo TR: Another Holiwood Nights + Rumblefest TR

This weekend Holiday World held a little event called Holiwood Nights. Since I had heard how amazing their woodies are at night and I had been aching to take a spin on the Voyage, I convinced my mom and neighbor to join me on the 16-hour trek out there.

 

While it was tiring just getting there, from my first ride, I knew it was worth it. I first engaged in the blasphemy that is stopping at Raven and Legend before the Voyage, but I didn't see much point in walking right past them.

 

As far as the ERT went, the lines were much shorter than I expected with my average waits being 20-30 mins for Voyage, and 1-2 train waits for Raven and Legend. As far as the rides went, Voyage is a great ride that really comes into its own during night rides. With the only light on it being one on the brake run, much of the ride is in pitch black. The brakes under that light seemed to only be there for show during ERT as the train didn't even slow down through them. All of this made it one of the most intense rides I've ever been on.

 

Raven and Legend were both running great for ERT as well. The Legend seemed dull during the day but became very intense at night. It was the only ride where by the end of it, no riders still had their hands up. On Saturday night, we got about 5 straight rides taking up the second to back car of Raven.

 

By the end of the two nights, however, I was spent. I lost my contacts Saturday night due to allergies. I had bruises on my legs from Voyage's lapbars. I was sunburned from the morning water park ERT. I was exhausted.

 

On to the photos!

After one long drive, two days of intense sun, two nights of intense rides, and an added bonus of allergies, I was exhausted. Nonetheless, I had a ton of fun.

The Raven still delivers at night and had short lines, a great combo.

Best night ride I've ever been on.

Soon, the sun set over Santa Claus and another night of insane ERT began.

While it probably wasn't a great choice late in the day, the rapids ride is a great break from the coasters.

The most interesting thing about this photo is that the people in the second row have their Nights name tags on. They got the best view of the photo walk back.

Sometimes, I also found what was behind us more interesting than the Voyage. I bet no one else has this shot.

I found it more amusing to take picture of the other people taking pictures, because a good deal of the shots of Voyage will look identical.

Most of the obvious good picture places had at least ten people with cameras pointing at the track.

During the walkback, they had orange lines painted on the ground to keep us safe.

It just does that up and down really fast.

Like many roller coasters, the Voyage goes up then down.

It would have been quite interesting to see the army of cameras from the Voyage.

If you're tired of pictures of the Voyage, skip a little bit.

Whenever a train came near, everybody would stop in unison and point their cameras toward the skies.

The Voyage towered over all of us.

By that time, it was time for our exclusive walk back. As you can see, not many people showed up.

We did head back to an operating Voyage. I bet you haven't seen this picture before.

It is also home to a credit. Unlike the Voyage, they let you go around twice. (I'm not sure I'd survive going around Voyage twice in a row.)

It is home to the world's greatest see-saws.

We decided to take a voyage to Holidog's Fun Town instead.

As we walked out, Voyage was temporarily broken down, which was a common sight. On Friday, I sat on the brakes for 10 minutes. At least they were nice enough to send someone to let us know what was up.

In the hunt for more food, we headed to Gobbler Getaway, which is a really fun ride if you're competative. My top score is 1930, anyone beat that?

I thought these looked more tasty. #3 on the list of threats to diabetics. Right behind the oversized Pixie Stick and 40 oz. bottle of Insulin.

Apparently they make their own fudge or something.

The next day, I didn't bring my camera to the waterpark, but luckily I did have it when we stopped by the fudge shop. I told them to look like fudge.

After Raven, we headed to get some food. Unlike I had feared, there was no line for food. There was, however, a large line for fudge.

We opted out of following the crowd to the Voyage and rode the Raven first. Once it got dark we did end up on Voyage, though.

Once ERT started we walked past the Holloswings. Too bad they weren't up for ERT.

We then headed to the picnic grove where I got this exclusive shot of the Voyage including hot volleyball net action.

We ended Friday off with a ride on the Spider which like most Spider rides was not a short ordeal. It was still fun, however.

Once we had ridden all the coasters, we started in on the flat rides like this S&S that knows what country it's from. (Voyage photos omitted untill later.)

After the Raven, we hit the Legend which was sort of a let down, at that time at least.

It wasn't.

The next day we arrived at Holiday World. It looked pretty crowded.

After that, we started in on our long drive through beautiful Kansas scenery.

We started the trip off with a stop at McDonald's (the first of many stops at one). There I got out of the car to take this picture of flowers my mom liked.

After Holiwood Nights, we were exhausted so we slept in the morning after before making the trip down to Beech Bend for Rumblefest. There was quite a turn out for the park's first event (480 people when they expected 200.) Despite the crowds, none of the waits were horrible and there was enough food. (I got food at least.)

 

It was a nice smaller park, and like many small parks, had some cool flat rides. The SCAT 2 was probably the most intense spinning ride I've ever been on. It's the cheapest alternative to a face lift.

 

The reason I was there, the Kentucky Rumbler, was a surprisingly good coaster. The ride is in a different league as the Voyage. It has really comfy trains and rides very smooth. Despite that, it is still fairly intense and delivers a hearty amount of airtime. Unlike most woodies, however, the ride is by far the best in the front of the train.

 

The coolest part of the event was that the guys from GCII were ther operating the ride. My mom asked them a ton of questions while I just listened to their answers. It was really great to hear about their rides from them directly. They also brought along headlights for the ride which although they didn't light up a ton, created a cool effect. As they were designed to do, the headlights light up a small section of track in front of the train and make you focus on a point much closer than you normally would making the ride seem faster and more intense.

At the beginning of ERT, they also ran the mouse and Looping Star. I really hope there wasn't a line at the Looping Star; there was one at the mouse.

Later the sun went down, the GCI guys came out, and ERT began.

You can even ride the cock. Behind the cock, is one of the most confusing dark rides I've been on.

You can also ride in this mouse. If you're unbalanced enough, it even spins (very fast).

They even have a scenic sky tower. This drop ride inches up and provides a cool view of the raceway. It also drops.

They also have a portable log ride. People always look goofy when they don't want to get wet.

They also have Scat 2, most insane spinning ride. It's just cruel, but fun to watch.

After the Rumbler, we rode a few of the flat rides like this mix between tea cups and swings. There is never a lock on spinning so you can start spinning the second you sit down.

Mmm...signature GCI beauty.

Even though it has one train, the wait never seems bad because the train is always hurdling past the station during the ride giving you something to watch from the station.

Next up was the Rumbler and a chance to take the photo everybody has.

The next credit, something you also don't ride for fun. Unless you love pain.

Add an influx of enthusiests and you have a line made up of credit whores. They're definetely not riding it for the thrill.

Unlike many rides of this nature, there is no maximum height.

The first ride we rode when we got there was this beast.

Excellent trip report...With all of these popping up, I'm starting to line up a trip for late-July...I'd like to get some night rides, but I'd say shorter lines are more the priority, so we'll probably go on a weekday...

 

Love the fantastic photos, though. Particularly nice one of the dirt path in the woods,

 

LOL THATS MY FRIEND ZACH!!!! He's riding with my other friend Ernie in the second row, I think I followed the train after that one. Good PTR, look for mine soon!

 

Colin"Who made it in ONE shot on this one!"C

Beautiful photos!