Small Town Mom, Wife, Teacher: Holiday World

We spent yesterday at Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana. I believe the former name of this amusement park was "Santa Claus Land." The first time we visited Holiday World was in 1999, when B1 was 2 years old. She spent a lot of time riding these little plastic canoes around a little path. She loved it. We loved the fact that not only did they have good rides for us adults, but a lot of rides geared towards the young kids as well.

Here are B1 and B2 applying sunscreen just before we went in Saturday morning.

We again visited Holiday World in 2002, when B2 was just 2 years old. Again, we spent a lot of time riding the little kid rides but also taking turns going on the adult stuff. Bruce and I both enjoy roller coasters and Holiday World has some that are supposedly in the top 10 in the US.

Here are me and Bruce waiting in line for the newest roller coaster, the Voyage (which is in the newest section of Holiday World, Thanksgiving).

One of the things that changed from the time we visited here in 1999 to the time we went in 2002 was that these little "Pepsi Oasis" buildings popped up all over Holiday World. The soft drinks are free! Yep, free! I think the park is owned by Pepsi now and so one of their draws is "free soda and free sunscreen (in the water park section). So, yeah, whenever you need a drink, you just go to the nearest Pepsi Oasis, grab a cup, and fill it up! They have a lot of choices too.....Pepsi products (of course), fruit punch, lemonade, tea, gatorade, and water.

Until this trip, we had not been back to Holiday World since 2002. This was not because we didn't want to go back, but simply because we do a lot of other things. Anyway, a few weeks ago, some people on B1's softball team asked us to join their group this year. We got our tickets at a group discount rate and we all stayed at the same hotel too, which was fun. I think if I counted correctly, there were 28 of us in all.....11 adults and 17 kids ranging in age from 4 to 17!

Here is B1 and her friend. They were some of the only "tweens" who would ride the roller coasters!

When you pay for admission to Holiday World, this also includes admission to Splashin' Safari.....their water park. We spent most of our time yesterday at Splashin' Safari (and no, I didn't take any pictures there). They have some new, neat water rides since the last time we were there. Bruce and I are adventurous when it comes to rides. We'll try just about anything as long as it doesn't spin (and he isn't real fond of heights like those "drop" rides have). Some of the other adults didn't walk around the water park like we did.....they were content to just sit, relax, and keep an eye on everyone else's stuff. I appreciate that! We, on the other hand, tried out just about everything, and enjoyed it all except for the family raft ride in the dark. Our boat (because of the weight factor) managed to really fling up onto the sides of the flume. At one point, I reached out to make sure that B2 was still with us because there was probably a real possibility that if she wouldn't have been holding on tightly, she could have been thrown out. There are several water rides there that the entire family can ride together (I think I counted 4 of them). We mixed and matched with other people and always rode with a different combination. We ended our day keeping our swimming clothes on with a t-shirt thrown over them, riding the ride called "Raging Rapids." This ride was not in the water park, but in the theme park instead. I always love these rides but I really hate getting my clothes all wet. I therefore usually skip it but I hate to do so. This time, it was perfect through, being already wet and in our swim suits. Since it was the end of the day as well, we were able to just stay on the ride for 5 consecutive rides! Yep, 5! Then, we just went into a restroom and changed back into our dry clothes.

We all ate dinner together at Santa's Lodge after leaving the park (which closed at 7:30).