Ivy says:
First, disclosure- I was not asked for or paid for this review. This comes purely out of the goodness of my own heart, though if the fine folks at Holiday World happen to see this review and want to send me some tickets, I’d be glad to take them and come back again, haha.
I am a big fan of traveling. I’m also a big fan of theme parks and roller coasters and all of those sorts of fun things. What I am not a fan of, however, is spending money. Whenever we go on vacation whether it’s a trip out to the beach or a trip to a theme park or even if we stay in town and go to something like the Renaissance Festival, on top of everything I’m having a great time. Underneath, in the dark recesses of my brain, my inner accountant is toting up every dime we spend. And every time I spend any money, my inner accountant tells me “Ivy, this is money we could have been saving. I am very disappointed in you.”
Last summer-ish, I started following @holidayworld on Twitter. Between the Tweets saying the water temp in Splashin’ Safari was 89 degrees (I like to swim in bathtub-like conditions) and my kids bugging me to death thanks to the approximately 8,971 commercials running daily in the Nashville area, I considered taking the fam. But oy! Ticket prices were 40 bucks for people over 52 inches tall, and since we come from a tall family, that meant 3 of us paying that price. And I had been to Holiday World when I was 13. I knew it had surely gotte better in recent times, but when I went, it sucked. No, I told everyone last summer. We are NOT going to Holiday World.
Then this summer came. More tempting Tweets and more begging from the kids. Then I happened to hear a ad for Holiday World on the radio. “Free unlimited soft drinks! Free unlimited sunscreen!” a cheery voice shouted at me from the speaker. “Hmm,” I thought. “Now, this might be worth it.”
As anyone who’s been to a theme park or two (and has been the one paying the bils) knows, they get you coming and going. Ticket prices. Parking. $5 for a soda that you either have to have someone stand around holding while you ride rides or set it down and hope people haven’t spit in it when you come back. Then 8.2 million dollars to eat lunch. By the time my inner accountant has totaled a day at a theme park, he is very disappointed in me, indeed.
So I spent some time looking at prices of hotel rooms in the area, and finally, I just said “whatever, dudes, I want to go somewhere this summer” and booked a room. “Kids,” I announced, “we’re going to Holiday World.” Commence massive joy and cheering.
Now, I used to live in Huntingburg Indiana, and I recall vividly the nightmare it was to drive anywhere. Highway 231 is a hilly, curvy road apparently designed by drunken monkeys. And there are no major interstates particularly close by, I thought, other than 64, which is fine if you’re coming from Louisville, but forget it otherwise. I was wrong on this score, however. The drive from Nashville to Holiday World is a pleasant, 3-ish hour trip made largely on 65 and the William H. Natcher Parkway. I don’t know who ol’ William H. Natcher is, but he must have been awesome to have such a fabulous parkway named after him. There was next to no traffic and it’s a real interstate with no stoplights, and it’s nice and flat and straight. You only have to spend about half hour on 231, and that part was designed by sober monkeys, so it’s not too bad.
Now, about Holiday World. My impression when it was 13 was that it sucked, but it has occurred to me that everything sucked when I was 13. Or, it might have really sucked back then, but it’s improved massively since. I don’t know. But what I can say as a mature, worldly 33 year old is that it definitely doesn’t suck. Nay, it actually rocks. It is the cleanest theme park I have ever seen. The employees were very friendly. And then there’s that frugal part. My inner accountant was actually happy with me.
That free unlimited drinks thing isn’t just clever marketing. Soft drinks are, indeed free. And there are free drink stations all over the place. Same with the sunscreen. But not only that, the food at the park is pretty tasty and VERY reasonably priced. There are 5 people in my family. 3 of us eat like adults. We spent…get this… $27.48 on lunch for all 5 of us. I regularly spend more on (SHHH!!! Don’t tell the food police!) fast food for all of us. Then we spent another $3.48 for a plethora of ice cream, making the total amount spent at the park on food and drinks just over $30. Spending only $30 for 5 people to eat and drink in a theme park for one day is unheard of. I was amazed. And happy.
Now, how are the rides and stuff? Pretty good, I must say. I’m an Opryland kid, so I’m always a little disappointed when there aren’t big, loopy roller coasters all over the place, but the wooden roller coasters that are there are pretty fabulous. The Raven was actually my favorite, but the men in my family were fans of The Voyage. But with Splashin’ Safari right there, I quickly forgot my dismay at the no-big-loopy-upside-down-rollercoaster-thing and discovered the 2 “rivers” that are in Splashin’ Safari. Yeah, yeah, waterslides. Fabulous. No, there are these rides called the “Bahari River” and the “Congo River.” THOSE are the rides I’m all about. You sit your bottom down in an innertube and float around them. That’s all. There are some waterfalls in them which you can choose to go under or avoid. I’m slightly embarrassed to say the little kids and I spent a good 2 hours floating around and around the Bahari River. We decided we needed one of these for the house.
I’m over a thousand words already in this post, and I could go another couple thousand, so let me just sum up for the tl; dr crowd: Holiday World is a theme park you will definitely enjoy. It satisfies your inner cheapskate AND your inner adventurer. If you’re in Nashville, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Louisville, etc, etc, etc.- drop everything and GO NOW. Heck, if you’re further away, come on and visit anyway. It is an excellent experience.
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
For those of us south of Nashville, Lake Winnepesaukah in Chattanooga (lakewinnie.com) has much of the same appeal. No, it’s not Opryland or Dollywood, but it’s got a good wooden roller coaster. You also have a choice of pricing — if there’s a family member who doesn’t plan to ride many rides, they can pay for admission and get their ride tickets separately, as opposed to the unlimited-ride pricing plan. Parking is free, and they have free concerts on Sunday afternoons.
They’ve added several rides since my visit, a few of which look like they’d be fun.
Whoa!!! I just checked out the Holiday World website and they’ve got GLUTEN FREE FOOOOOOD! We’re TOTALLY going up this summer! Thanx Ivy!
I have never been to Holiday World, but in my experience the smaller ‘local’ theme parks tend to be a better value. Sure they only have a couple of coasters, but if you are like me, that’s more than enough. Plus, many of them will stamp your hands so if you are even more frugal you can have a cooler with lunch in the car. Even kids, knowing they rode every ride in the park, will enjoy most of the smaller theme parks with only a couple of coasters.
Wow….what a great review! You had me drooling over this place from 100+ degrees Phoenix. I’m not off to google my local water park…..it won’t be Holiday World but it may have a lazy river!
That lazy river…..the one with the intertubes, we stayed at a hotel on the strip in MB, SC last year that had oen of those. After the Nurse Shark incident (long story, quasi traumatizing….not good to talk about it) we spent ALL of our time in that lazy river. There is nothing better than a lazy river with little kids.
Its too hot outside for one, here…..I want a custom built house that has this feature going throughout (tacky?)
Happy week, y’all!
I love Holiday World! The waterpark is awesome. In my opinion, it rivals those found in Florida.
It’s clean, affordable, and pretty good fun. Glad you liked it!
Well gosh, thank you so much for your kind words!
May I add that on Wednesday a big ol’ semi is headed your way (Nashville) to deliver about 35,000 food items to the Second Harvest Food Bank? Tomorrow’s the last day of our two-month Feeding Families Food Drive (http://holidayworld.com/give). It’s been great to see so many children helping to donate food to the needy, and at the same time receiving $5 in Holibucks to spend in the park that day.
Thanks again for visiting!
My family went to Holiday World in 2007. We are amusement park “freaks”. We were very impressed with the park and the employees. We had the opportunity to meet Mrs. Koch on our way into the park and saw her numerous times during the day. All of the staff was excellent with my stepdaughter (who is physically challenged). We loved the free soft drinks and sunscreen. We did take a few “souvenier refill” cups when we went in order to cut down on the waste.
Very accurate description of HW! We’re here now (camping at Lake Rudolph). This is our second year to visit and we love it (kids are 12 and 16). I would definitely suggest staying at the campground — five nites cost us $187.50 to stay in our gently used recently acquired 1992 pop-up camper. There’s 3 free shuttles to the park running from 9A-9P, great amenities, and friendly folks. Sun nite they had an awesome fireworks show at the lake, last nite they showed an outdoor movie, and there’s something going on every nite. We are from Columbia, TN, and for our money, HW and Lake Rudolph are a 10 out of 10!!!
We are definitely within driving distance, but we have never been to Hoilday World. My sister (who lives near Indianapolis) went about a year or two ago and was really impressed. Maybe it’s something for us to consider. With the economy and tough times at my husband’s employer, we aren’t really going anywhere, but this might be fun.
This is so odd, but I am in Santa Claus, Indiana working for the summer, and just happened upon your website a few weeks ago looking for frugal advice!! I live within walking distance from Holiday World, and get comp tickets from my job, and HolidayWorld/The Koch’s have been instrumental in my job/company. I will be sure to go now!
I love Lazy Rivers! No need to be embarrassed, I’d spend all day in there if I could!
One fun move is to hold one hand with someone else in their tube, both of you laying on top with your butts in the middle and legs dangling over the edge, and twirl each other around. You can get spinning pretty fast if you get good at it!
You forgot to mention the picnic area. There is an awesome picnic area outside the park, covered and has bathrooms. Bring your own cooler and you don’t have to eat inside the park. We participated in the JDRF diabetes walk in May. We had never done any JDRF walk but this one was wonderful and I’d highly recommend it!
Hi! Just discovered your blog and love it!! Well.. to answer your question.(I live in Bowling Green about 1 hour north of Nashville)
William H. Natcher was a congressman born in Bowling Green who served from 1953 until his death in 1994. He was very loved by Bowling Green and when he passed away former President Bill Clinton traveled to our small town in Kentucky to attend Natcher’s funeral. We also have an elementary school and Federal Court House named for Natcher.
— I know you were more or less bragging about our fabulous parkway.. but I figured I’d provide the backstory since we are so proud of Mr. Natcher.
PS… sorry! I know this was supposed to be about Holiday World- where I’ve also been.. Fabulous theme park!! everything you said is right on!!
I am not much into traveling; my bride and children are. However, Holiday World looks like fun and I may have to knuckle under and plan a little vacation.