Holiday World
Riding Raven For Discovery Channel's Top 10 2002
Sunday August 05, 2001.
Holiday World! Wow what a place this is indeed. This is our second trip to Holiday World this year with our first trip being last year. I am guilty… I didn’t write a trip report for the previous two trips so I promised myself that I would write this one up ASAP.
The trip to Santa Claus, Indiana from Newmarket, Ontario is close to 1200kms / 12hours and very trying to do it all at once. For 2001’s Stark Raven Mad(SRM) we did the trip all at once getting up at very early hour in the morning. But for this trip we broke if up by first stopping at PKI on the way down.
Just like SRM we stayed at Santa’s Lodge which is basically across the road from the park. Santa’s Lodge gets the PCW Junkies seal of approval. We arrived Saturday evening around 11:00PM EST from SFKK. Driving by the HW’s parking lot you could tell that in indeed Holiday World had a very good size crowd on Saturday. Now if we only had HW season passes we could have dropped in for some nighttime coaster rides. I probably would have been overruled in lieu of getting to bed early.
We adorned ourselves in our Raven and Legend t-shirts and pulled into the front row of the free parking lot along side John Keeter. The Ries family pulls in along side us . More on our choice of parking spot a little later . Went up to front gates near 7:30AM CST. Paula Werne informs us that the Discovery shoot were ready for us around 8:00AM.
It was very neat indeed to be invited to a coaster enthusiasts dream. A roller coaster Top 10 shooting. It was very interesting to see how the camera was strapped to the second and third car of the train. Seat 1.1 was empty while 1.2 was being used as place to store the VCR. The VCR was stored in a custom designed riding dummy. (Foam and a utility knife) Seat 2.2 and 3.1 had a specially designed steel bracket that attached to the front grab bars that the camera was mounted on. The shoot was not only for Discovery Channel but also for NHK Television in Japan. The crew was using a new High Definition (HDTV) Camera which is much better quality than our North American version (NTSC). Seat 3.2 was occupied by the person (Jim ?) chosen by the park to give the on ride commentary. Only for the first few ride were seat 4.1/4.2 ; 5.1/5.2 occupied by the same riders. The rest of seats were open to the rest of us. The crew explained to us how good the HD Camera would be and that it would actually be able to get the rear of the train in the frame. Donna and I were able to ride 6.1 for the first two shoots. We needed very little coaching to be enthusiastic on our Raven rides. The only thing they told us was not to look into the camera and make lots of noise. Each time the train would come back into the station the crew would run a cable to VCR to view the shooting. They probably did the same run about 7 times with Jim in the front of the camera giving his commentary. I am sure each time they were doing things a little different to be able to get the best parts.
After they were happy with Jim’s rides they changed the person in front of the camera. Donna and Nolan were asked to ride in front of the camera. I was riding behind Donna and Nolan in seat 4.1 and Adam behind me in seat 4.2. The camera was pointed to the person on the right side of seat 3.2. Nolan was sitting in front of the camera and it was shooting right over his head. So Donna and Nolan switched sides so Donna would be right in front of the camera. Donna was asked to scream and not to raise her arms because it would block the rest of folks behind her… mainly me! Donna normally is not a screamer when she rides a coaster. They switched the front seat one more time before calling it a wrap. The Discovery’s "2002 Top 10" may show a 3-5 minute feature on the Raven and you might see one of the Reid’s hands or glimpse of their face. It was a honor and a fun experience being involved in this shooting of the Raven.
After the Raven shoot we went down to the Pepsi Oasis across from the Legend for some refreshments. While there we had a quick chat with Jeff Hammersley, Legend Caretaker God. Adam and Nolan thanks him for the Legend bolts they had previously received from Jeff. Only coaster enthusiast kids would appreciate a broken bolt. After a few Pepsis Jeff offered to open Legend up for ONE warm up ride. Quickly we were up the Legends exit stairs and filling in the seats. John and I got into the back seat while the rest of the Reids filled in other parts of the train. Jeff is a coaster enthusiasts best friends because as he was checking our lap bar he says, "We pull up on the lap bars… not down here at Legend." What a bonus here it twenty minutes before park opens to general public and we have already had Raven rides and our now getting a very special unplanned ERT on Legend. Well! our ONE warm up ride turned into three. FANTASTIC! What else can you say about one of the best roller coasters on the planet?
Reality check time…. After our Legend rides we are asked to join the rest of guest behind the ropes. I don’t like using the word GP … Rather than rushing to ride something we return to our cars to retrieve hats and change shirts… This is when I should have noticed there was something wrong with our parking spots. Jeremy (hostly1) rented mustang was behind us and a few other enthusiasts’ cars. More on this later…
Rather than ride the coaster we decided to ride some flat ride. Our first ride was the log flume. Donna, Nolan and Jeremy were in one boat while I was suppose to ride with Adam and John. After seeing at least four inches of water in Adam and John’s boat I bailed and took the next boat by myself. The water pouring out of the back of their boat as they were going up the lift was large indeed. The flume itself is a nice gentle ride and you don’t get very wet. Except for my butt which came into play a little later. After the Flume Adam, John, and Jeremy rode the Tilt-a Whirl. I have not ridden one since I forced to when I was very young. John and Jeremy tempted the Roundhouse while the Reids stood on solid ground and watched. We went over to ride Howler and play on the Jungle Jim stuff. Tip!…. Do not go down a metal slide with a wet rear end. If I was still eight years old I would have remembers that the two don’t mix. So here I am stuck in this enclosed slide attempting to get my wet butt to slide to the bottom. Before lunch we all tried HW’s new bumper cars.
Time for some lunch so went and had some of Holiday World’s great tasting pizza and FREE pop. The Discovery crew were also there and after finishing our lunch we went over and thanked them for providing us with such great coaster videos that we so much look forward to watching each year. After lunch we looked at the queue for Legend and it was full so we decided to go for a stroll through the water park. Adam and Nolan spent about 45 minutes getting wet at Monsoon Lagoon. This was my first time in the water park which is quite nice and has a large selection slides, wave pool, etc…
After some shopping at the gift shop we were ready to leave and head back towards our hotel near PKI. I purchased a nice new embroidered Legend T-shirt and a Green HW golf shirt. Donna gave me the evil eye when I picked up a embroidered Raven shirt. While I was checking out the new washrooms at the exit Donna went to the van to get dry clothes for the boys. It was on her return that she says, " We are going nowhere because our van is completely blocked in". Here is what happened we parked in the front row… but there is a row of wheel chair spots in front of us. But people parked directly behind us which were not legal spots. Then more cars were legally parked in the second row. Donna was able to get a very nice young gentleman to come out and assess our parking dilemma. He informed us that they do have a PA system but only used for emergencies. While the young gentle went back to the office the people who were parked directly behind John’s Neon showed up to put something in their car. The young woman driving this car was unsure if she could squeeze out. I knew she could get out if she backed out rather than the way she wanted. With some coaching and directions from yours truly we got car #1 out. John was next and was little nervous and I confirmed he could get out the same way. After a few cuts and directions John was out. It was around this time that the local Santa Claus police showed up to help and Mr. Will Koch and other members of HW came out to help. I ask you this? Where else would the president of the company come out to help a guest trapped in a parking lot? Nowhere else except for Holiday World. I tried to pull the van out but no go! So we were able to and I do mean squeeze a the car parked on the other side of John’s Neon in between two vehicles that were parked legally in the disabled spots. I didn’t think it could be done but with coaxing of Will and other staff the car got out. This gave me my opportunity to actually get the van turned around in the two vacated spots and drive out with a few extra cuts. Will Koch noticed my SOB hat on the dash of van and said to Donna, "Now if we can only do something with hat?"
Regards,
Kevin Reid
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