Once More to Lake Rudolph://My Last Holiday World Splash Summer 2026

                        Date:6/21/2026

Destination: Santa Claus, Indiana

Goal: Holiday World

Distance: 234 Miles

Means of Travel: Flying, Train, Tour Bus

Potential Credits: 40

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A wooden roller coaster with blue trains reading "THE VOYAGE" in gold letters navigates a turn and hop over the lift hill.

Seasons change, holidays come and go, and one celebration fades into the next. Such is life! Hot summer days of pool parties, barbecues, and fireworks slow to cool, smoky fall nights. Families gather 'round the turkey for celebrations of gratitude, only to a month later gather 'round a tree for a celebration of giving, and the calendar rolls and rolls and rolls. And as I've grown up in Ohio, and become a traveling roller coaster enthusiast here at my four home parks and beyond, that rolling calendar now demands me elsewhere. And as I plan to pack my life up and relocate, unfortunately I cannot take my four wonderful home parks with me. Today, I went to Holiday World for the last time as someone living within day trip distance.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A Christmas village with a fountain of red, green, and gold Christmas ornaments.

Hello, Holiday World! While I always hated that Christmas didn't have a dedicated, nice Christmas-themed attraction for all ages, I love entering the park to the soundtracks of Bing Crosby and other holiday crooners.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A wooden construction fence is painted with red, white, and blue flip flops in a curving path.

The Cannonball construction wall is wrapped in a white tarp, so no peeking through the slats, but they at least made it look nice. I love the red, white, and blue flip flops!

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A wooden fence shows a band listing with band names referencing rocks and barbecue fare.

You know Holiday World is kicking up something special when they're publicly posting brain rot like this for our entertainment.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A wooden fence holds a flyer with QR codes for the Town of Boulder Canyon website, torn into faux pull tabs.

This was the website for the Town of Boulder Canyon, which we know know is cooking up a Mack water coaster themed as a Cannonball competition.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A dusty hillside construction site shows a cement basin and footings on cleared ground.

While this was before Cannonball was announced, you could see footings and a sort of cement basin taking shape.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A blue train navigates an upward turn of wooden coaster track.

We rocked up to the park around 1, and Drew wanted to go straight for Voyage, so that's what we did. After not being able to ride this at all during my last time at the park in 24, I was itching to laugh and scream on the Pilgrim's Pride! 

Saw a life ring in line??? No photos but it was there. 

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Down a wooden dive of coaster track curves a blue train reading "THE VOYAGE; HOLIDAY WORLD" on the front panel of its lead car.

"THIS IS NOT THE VOYAGE I REMEMBER!!!" Drew screamed as he hung on for dear life. While it's not been my number one for eleven years, it's a timeless ride that'll always be among the very best wooden coasters ever built. Yes, it beat the crap out of me, but it was more due to sheer length on wooden coaster track than the ride being excessively rough. Airtime's great, aggression's great, it mixes up elements so well, this is the world class terrain wooden coaster that Beast wishes it was!

Fair warning: It rides about as it usually does, but there's a bit of a crunch coming out of the triple down.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A construction site with a cement trough and small, round footers sits hillside as viewed from Voyage's station.

From the brake run, you could see work done on Cannonball. That isn't where I took this photo, but that's the best place to see it. Since this visit, I am aware that it's been painted swimming pool blue. Maybe the paint won't peel off into the algae and peroxide this time!

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A set shows a Thanksgiving hearth and living room with a creepy old lady animatronic wielding a sort of wooden gun and stroking a cat.

We then went from Holiday World's best ride to one of their goofiest: Gobbler Getaway! Featuring scary murder granny! Drew the Dark Souls gamer cooked me like that CEO's wife in Thanksgiving the horror flick, but the absurdity of this ride will never not be funny to me.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A donut sprinkled life ring attached to a fence.

These life rings were hidden all over the park, which I now think was a tease for which boats were on Cannonball. Donut, red and white, 'Murica colors etc.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A roller coaster with orange track has blue and yellow winged cars go through an Immelmann, with a swinging tower ride in the foreground.

We headed up the hill next for Thunderbird, which was amazing as always. 2015 was kind of B&M's last year as a top tier manufacturer, and while I've enjoyed later projects of theirs like Orion and Yukon Striker, Thunderbird and Fury are among the best in their portfolio. And to have crafted such a well-performing, beautiful machine in such a nice location is a feat that deserves to be celebrated.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: An orange and brown steel coaster swoops through the trees, with an electric blue and yellow winged train.

Over ten years old and it's day and night smoother than brand new Rapterra.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A barn-themed coaster queue has a covered wagon, loaded with an inflatable life ring.

Spotted another hidden life ring in the queue!

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A wall of license plates from various states has one license plate reading "4TH OF JULY; FLIPFLOP; 07" in blue with a little red flip flop insignia.

We went to ride Good Gravy next, where Drew broke the ride. After he got off, and tossed his gravy in the trash like a good sport, the ride went down behind us. And it wasn't a minor thing, like, there was a sign out front for the rest of the day. But amid the license plates that decorate the station, this was also displayed, clearly a tease for Cannonball.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A large dining room is decorated with autumn wreaths and red buntings hung from the ceiling.

With weather on the way, we grabbed food at Plymouth Rock. I always loved the vibe here and how it feels like one of those big dining halls you find in the Midwest. I feel there should be a church banquet here with an old conservative grandma who makes amazing potato salad.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A tray holds a plate of stuffing, mac and cheese, cornbread, and chicken and dumplings, next to a dish of fried apples.

Had a bit of an issue billing my food, but got it sorted out. This chicken and dumplings was great, bonus points for the inclusion of apples and stuffing, and what's summertime without a little mac and cheese?

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A large steel truss lift hill with wooden track rises into the sky, with a train halfway up.

After the incoming storm came and went, I hit Voyage. And with no line, I hit it again. No line, I rode it a third time and that was enough. What I could do 20 times when I was a dumb college kid I could only do three, my magic row was open a fourth time and I didn't bother taking it. Play Fleetwood Mac, I'm getting old.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A rubber duck dressed like a scarecrow sits in front of a Halloween-themed chairswing.

Aaaand it was also Duck Days! They played all kinds of songs about ducks, including the duck asking for grapes at the lemonade stand, and the park was all decked out with more inflatable ducks in seasonally-appropriate costumes. It was so cute!

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A wooden roller coaster enters a schoolhouse-themed station, with a sign reading "The Legend" against a logo of the Headless Horseman.

This hunk of junk was next, which was incredibly painful and beat me beyond reasonable wooden coaster roughness. Last time I remember The Legend being tolerable, good airtime in the hops up and down in that helix, but this was just inexcusable! Please RMC it, I know this is kind of one of those coasters where it's sacrilege to suggest it, but this is awful. The last beating I ever took on Legend will be a legend for the ages!

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A rack of boxes read "Good Gravy!" And shows a cranberry-colored roller coaster with gravy boat trains.

We went shopping next, where notably they had Good Gravy Nanocoasters on clearance! Insane a possession as this would be, I have too many of them, so I passed.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Jarrett and Drew make a cringe muscle pose with a man in a patriotic eagle suit.

Me ageing and getting older means I need more cringe Patriotic nonsense with no self awareness to put on my social media. Like and share or you're a Commie!

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A wooden coaster dives and turns off a grassy bank against the surface of a wooded lake.

My last ride at Holiday World living in the area was a park icon: The Raven. This small, punchy coaster is so scrappy, with some great dips of airtime in the back and a wonderful little dive along Lake Rudolph. And to our surprise, much of the ride's forest run in the second half had been nicely retracked, making the roughest part of the ride one of the smoothest.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A wooden coaster has a bird-themed sign reading "RAVEN" and some flags as a red train heads down the drop.

We rode it twice. The first and last coaster you see at Holiday World, the first one I ever rode here if I remember right, and the last one I will probably ride for a long time. Such a good, underrated ride that gets slept on!

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A blue Voyage train dives down a drop between Thunderbird's supports in the woods.

I've been coming to Holiday World about every other year since 2014, and honestly, it's one of my better home parks. Not an all day thing at all, but when you have a 4 hour drive round trip, it's nice to be able to just get there and chill before heading back. I've seen them build an incredible above and beyond coaster for them in Thunderbird, and I've also seen them build "Jarrett plays around in RCT2 at 9 years old" in Good Gravy. And it's been wonderful to have around, I'm going to miss it. Thank you, Holiday World, for being my home park.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A plastic bag holds an apron, oven mitt, and potholder decorated with Holiday World logos, Good Gravy logos, and kitchen tools.

But hey, I got this stupid nonsense for Keely and I's future home, so it'll always be a part of our little newlywed pad!