Memorial Weekend Madness 2K17 - Kentucky Kingdom and Holiday World

[Imagineer Josh]

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, 2017

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

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 in the evening

Lightning Run looked very nice when I got there

Gotta admit, Kentucky Kingdom was a very clean park and looked pretty darn good

It was a smaller drop tower, but believe me, it came down FAST!

Our 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, over there, would be my first SLC

Thunder Run is what we attempted to ride next.

It's definitely easy to spot the new trackwork 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.

Random Thunder Run sign photo.

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

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

Uh oh, we're getting closer to the demented contraption known as T3!

Luckily, despite everything being down for weather, T3 was stuck on the lift hill, so it would have been broken down anyway.

Random Ferris Wheel photo.

This is where we ate dinner. Some good pulled pork, but that was about it.

I also didn't expect the park to have such a good collection of family rides.

Because everything was closed, we checked out the Sea Lion Show.

Lots of people were there, considering everything was closed.

Needless to say, it was a fun, entertaining show that should be used as a time killer at the park.

Never got to try the 5D theater, but I don't really care that I didn't.

The enterprise was down all weekend, unfortunately :'(

Random Thunder Run shot!

I don't want to bore you with all my Storm Chaser shots, so I'll just give you my few favorites then describe the experience.

Story Time Part 1: 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

This was an interesting control panel. There were a lot of buttons missing from the control panels seen in NL2, however, a lot of those were featured on the digital screen you see.

Story Time Part 2:
After some questions, he told us to tell him our names so we could GET FIRST RIDES ON STORM CHASER TOMORROW!

That's all for Part 1! KK Part 2 coming soon!

 

[Hixee]

Why everything in italics?

Sounds like both an eventful, and uneventful day! I was getting worried that you'd only planned those few hours in the park, and hadn't been able to get Storm Chaser!

Lightning Run is a funny one - I still don't understand why they've only sold one of them, but I do think the ride type is really good and it would be great to see their designs developed. They aren't perfect, but they're a lot of fun.

 

[peep]

Some good pulled pork, but that was about it.

What more could you asked for? Pulled pork is the best.

Sounds like quite a disappointing start to your weekend, agree about Lightning Run, it's ok for what it is but I wouldn't say it's amazing or anything. Look forward to reading the next part of your report!

 

[Coaster Hipster]

Sorry that you've had a spiteful day What a really cool ride operator though! Great customer service to compensate for the coaster being closed.

Looking forward to Holiday World too!

 

[Mysterious Sue]

That's amazing. Ride closed Backstage tour
Is it just because of the wet weather or are all the rides in the park really bold colours? The reds and blues really seem to stand out in your photos.

 

[Imagineer Josh]

^^^^ Thank you to everyone who has replied! I'm sorry for such a late reply. I've been so busy, and I still have HOLIDAY WORLD to write a trip report for!!! Lol

Since I posted the first part, I've been camping, packing, and been on my SoCal trip! I now have a Disneyland and SFMM trip report to write as well. Thank you for your patience!

I'm very glad to report that the next morning and drive up was very pleasant! With first rides on Storm Chaser in mind, it was easy to keep a good mood. Unfortunate however that I only had an hour to spend here because Holiday World was only an hour and a half away.

Unfortunately, yes, Enterprise was closed both days I was there.

I always thought it was interesting how Kentucky Kingdom was split into two halves.

I couldn't fit in Roller Skater so I skipped on it.

Is it me, or is Kentucky Kingdom just a really nice park to walk around?

Finally, first rides of the day on Storm Chaser? And what did I think? STORM CHASER DID NOT DISAPPOINT!

I got a total of 5 back-to-back rides on Storm Chaser, because nobody came until then. Back row was easily my favorite. And it really is unfortunate that there are so many good coasters out there, Storm Chaser would have been a fantastic #1 if I had never ridden any of those other fantastic rides in my signature. The drop, the airtime, the pacing, there was a ton to like here. Definitely a much better coaster than Lightning Run. 9.5/10

Thunder Run was next.

While the coaster overall was fine, it was hard to it just got new track and trains. I never even rode Thunder Run before this year, and I could tell the updates didn't really do anything. Still a fun coaster though, gotta admit. 6.5/10

I never have any desire to ride Super Loops.

This "sculpture" never made sense to me. It either was very stiff genitals, or a pile of dead smurfs. Not sure what the park was thinking when theming the Rapids ride.

Unfortunately, I had to ride T3, my first SLC as well. Oh well, you have to ride an SLC at some point. This one had new restraints as well.

Did the park even bother much when they transitioned it from T2 to T3? Even with the supposed better restraints (Yes, I did experience the unlogical tightening), I still got headbanging. The trains were shaking so bad, my head kept hitting back on the restraint. Especially the sidewinder. If this is a better one with these restraints, I'll think twice before my next SLC (unless it turns out to be Great Nor'Easter, which is "so smooth your granny can ride"). 2.5/10

I'll finish out this update with a photo of park benches. Overall, despite the only good rides being the Top 2, I enjoyed Kentucky Kingdom. The park looks nice, it's very clean, and their staff are amazing.

Holiday World coming soon!!!

 

[Hixee]

I too thought Kentucky Kingdom was quite nice during our visit. Feels quite green and like it's only going up from here. Glad you liked it, and were able to get the rides you'd missed the day before!

 

[Imagineer Josh]

^ 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, quite frankly.

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 much 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 airtime and drop are 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, here's an example of that.

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 was probably a crack whore at some time in her life.

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!

"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 to 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 almost 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 renovated.

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, 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 fights, 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 couple random Raven shots 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!

 

[Coaster Hipster]

That sounds like a fun trip! Love your enthusiasm shining through the report. I have to confess I tend to overlook Voyage because of Intamin prefabs and the new RMCs coming around, but your overwhelmingly positive review surely makes me tick. Holiday Park as a whole looks like a very nice place, and hmmm the food Actually makes me hungry haha!

 

[Hixee]

Also that old lady animatronic thing in the queue line was probably a crack whore at some time in her life.

Wow, brutal. That poor old lady.