Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari

Had a fun time for my wife’s company picnic. My son and I rode all 2 rollercoasters, one wasn’t working and the other one seemed like it didn’t compare to the other two so we didn’t ride it. Only issues we had were the 6.00 funnel cakes, and all of the hills. All in all we had a fun time.

I have been traveling to holiday world with my family for twenty years. They couldn’t afford leaving Indiana like most families so we grew to treasure our yearly family vacation. We would stay at Lake Rudolph, which is the campsite next door, and travel to holiday world in the mornings!
We have visited so many times that we know the park, tricks, food, and fudge like the back of our hands!!! They have rides to accommodate anyone! And let’s be honest, I am a thrill seeker. While some may say it’s too childish… I enjoy hopping in line at the scrambler, crows nest, THUNDERBIRD, raven, legend, voyager, wildabeast, Revolution, and the liberty launch! All personal favorites. At night we will ride all of the roller coasters over and over and over again for a thrill! The diving shows during the summer are epic and leave you jumping out of your seat for more!!!
The unlimited soft drinks are a plus because you can save a ton of money while staying hydrated. The free sun screen is also very important and sweet to do.
Goblin Burger and the Santa Claus Café are our favorite stops for grub!!!
You can easily park and walk to the front in a reasonable amount of time and never have to worry about long lines! Some days may be busier than others but again, nothing compared to everywhere else I’ve been!
Bring your family and friends :) fun for all!!!

What a great park. We went yesterday (10/​17/​2015) and had an absolute blast. Didn’t know there was a bunch of Halloween activities to do. The Holidog 3D Maze was very cool and so was the Egyptian Treasure Maze. The Carnival Chaos was fun, too.
As always, rides are great. Too bad the Legend was closed, but got to ride the Raven, which is a classic. Love the Voyage, but my new favorite is Thunderbird. I’ve rode the Wild Eagle at Dollywood and this is better.
The free drinks are great and I love how clean the park is and how friendly the staff is. They really take pride in their jobs and their place of employment. Keep up the good work!

I’ve never been disappointed in Holiday World. We live in Indy and try to make it a couple times per year. Family friendly, clean, free parking, easy parking, free soft drinks (if your in to that), and all kinds of food. The food isn’t something you find everywhere. If fact several members of my family have to avoid gluten in their diet. I couldn’t believe they have a stand alone GF restaurant. What a joy that our family can be together. Kudos to Holiday World for all the family memories. We will be back

I love this place !!! This was our first time and we went on August 15^th and they said about 20,000 people showed up that day and I was shocked taken that school had already started back. But this is a small country town and it look like nothing exist but long and behold HOLIDAY WORLD !!!
First Timers: be prepared for long lines for the theme parks, I think I saw about 5 roller coaster maybe six and those lines were an ass we didn’t ride any though, good walking shoes and sun tan lotion, if u have a bag and u want to store your stuff somewhere before the rides than u can because they have cubby holes to put your stuff on and once u get off the ride just pick your bag up. Be prepared to stay all day, Get there early like as soon as they open to get a good parking spot and get on the rides quicker, we didn’t get there until 12 noons and we Had to park all the way in the back!!! They have free soda, free drinks in like 3 locations and it’s all self served!!! Very easy to find a restroom, oh and please buy a bracelet for your child just in case you child gets lost, a 12 year old couldn’t find her mom and she was crying and she had a cell to call her mom but I think the mom phone was dead, please keep up with your kids !! If u know u have a child that can and will act up please have a pep talk with them or somebody else will, I seen it happen !!!
Water park: everyone is wearing a bikini skinny people, fat of the fattest people, no butt bikini people, my husband closed his eyes a few times, He said «Ive seen too many bikinis for one day,», LOL! YOLO so struct your stuff!!! Our six year old son got stuck at the first water lagoon and he didn’t even visit anything else, so please walk around first because when it started to rain they had to shut the park down and we started to walk around and we seen other places my son could have enjoyed as far as getting in the water. Watch your kids safely at the water park they can get Lost easily!!!
If u are married or have a jealous spouse this is not the place to wear a swimsuit (I witness this couple fighting and he got mad that she bended over to pick up her bracelet that fell in the water and she refuse to put on a cover up) I didn’t see anything wrong with what she did I mean she was in the water (Jesus Christ!!)
The café is always pack and I personally will bring my food next time, plus it’s really expensive.
They have lockers by the water park and it was really hard to get a locker and next time we will not get one. Because it’s hell getting in and hell getting out and it’s so many people taking and putting stuff in the locker it was so crowded in the locker room that I busted a sweat. The best thing to do is wear a backpack (small) or get a beach bag and put everything in and take it to the water park. Only get a locker if everyone in your family is gonna be swimming if you have 1 person who is not going into the water than its best to just leave your stuff with that person plus the lockers are $ 10 that was for a small locker and I’m not sure how much it cost for the large locker.
If you going there to ride rides only get a fanny pack or nothing at all. Just keep your money in your pocket that way u don’t have to worry toting anything.
They do have wagons to rent for about $ 7 – 8 dollars and we saw a lot of people with wagons to put their kids in so they don’t have to walk. By the time we were leaving my six year old was tired of walking, it’s a very big place and my son is very tall to be six and his weight is no joke trying to hold. That sun will make u tired really quick.
Check the weather before leaving because we did not know it was gonna rain and it did rain so we couldn’t really get to enjoy the entire park like we wanted to, but if it do rain they give u a credit I guess for another re-​entry .
The water park has a area you can rent and it look like little cubby houses and it can be reserved for you, there is no door just a curtain to give u privacy and u can stay in there until u get ready to leave, I’m not sure how u make reservations or the cost for that. I will do that the next time I go that way I can avoid the locker and the crowd, it look like a little house on the same property inside holiday world so don’t worry u don’t have to do any major walking. It look as if I saw about 15 of those little houses and all of them were occupied. They do not have any near the theme park it’s all inside the water park area.
If you are a Grouponer (I am too) I didn’t see any specials on Groupon. Also, we stayed in Tell City, IN at Holiday Inn Express and it was $ 122 compared to the cabins in Santa Claus, IN at $ 193 per night … Whatever floats your pocket. Tell City, IN is about 20 minutes from Holiday World. We had a Blast !!!

Recently spent 2 days at Holiday World with my family. It was my wife and I’s first experience here. There are quite a few unique characteristics about the park that you just won’t find anywhere else. Enjoy them while you can because there is no telling how long it will last!
As others have said before me, they offer free Pepsi products (includes Gatorade), free sunscreen, and free parking. I can’t imagine you will find that anywhere in the Midwest, maybe not even in the rest of the country. Ticket prices at $ 44 (or $ 68 for 2 consecutive days) are only appropriate based on these free perks. Travel to King’s Island or Cedar Point and expect to pay ~$ 15 for parking and $ 10 for one individual free refill cup.
Both sides of the park (Holiday World/​Splashin’ Safari) complement each other well. Holiday World (general rides and coaster) by itself is not worth the ticket price. There is just not enough to do to fill up a whole day, maybe not even if you have kids. The coaster lovers in us thoroughly enjoyed Thunderbird and The Voyage. The other 2 coasters were just OK at best. We rode these four rides in a little less than an hour first thing in the morning. What to do next? Go wait for the water park to open of course! Splashin’ Safari opens one hour later than the rest of Holiday World.
Over the 2 days we were here, my family spent about 80% of our time in the water park (it helped that it was almost 90 both days). In my opinion, this is where Holiday World shines. There are a ton of different slides, water coasters, two wave pools, and a couple of kid specific areas. Chairs are first come first serve and there is really only one area that has a canopy where multiple chairs can fit under and it is located next to the large wave pool. When the water park opens in the morning, many people make a bee line right for this area.
The Mammoth at Splashin’ Safari is the best water ride I have ever been on. It seats 6 people in a round raft and takes you on an up and down course for well over a minute. I believe it is considered a «water coaster» as they use technology to shoot you up the ramps without a track. You get soaked! It is a lot of fun. On buys days, however, expect to wait over an hour.
We most likely went on one of if not the busiest weekends at the park. It was right before a lot of schools in the area were starting. It was not uncommon to wait 45 mins to an hour for any of the big water slides. The lines at the non-​water rides were not that bad. When the queue for the Thunderbird was completely full, it only took about 35 minutes to get through the whole line.
All in all, it was a fun time. As a roller coaster tycoon, I was disappointed in the number of good quality rides. However, I would definitely be back for the water park as it was the best one I had ever been to… the free drinks also helped.

I love the recent reviews complaining about long lines during peak season, walking up hills and $ 10 cheeseburgers. You can tell some people just are never happy until they’re disappointed. Let me know when you find a park that doesn’t have long lines and food cheaper than the decent food at Holiday Word. Food prices have skyrocketed for everyone, but apparently HW should be immune to such market forces.
Maybe they could try Indiana Beach, which is $ 10 cheaper than HW and you get these «fabulous» reviews:
. I’ll save you the trouble: One of dozens of one-​star reviewers said «If I could give it a lower rating I would, This place should be burned to the ground.» I wonder how the cheeseburgers taste?
So, with that said, our trip to HW on ⁷⁄₃₀ was just as awesome as my first trip as a child in the mid-​70s when it was called «Santa Claus Land.» We went to the park on a Wednesday and the waterpark on Thursday. If you can take days off from work to go mid-​week it’s definitely worth the shorter lines. The Thunderbird wait was about 30 mins and the longest wait was about 45 mins for the antique car «race.» We always ride that for nostalgia. It looks brand new despite the fact it’s probably 40+ years old.
Free sunscreen in the waterpark, free Diet Mountain Dew everywhere! Plenty of places for us 40 somethings to sit and enjoy the sun. They treat smokers as equals instead of second-​class citizens, lol, with some of the nicest patios in the park. And I don’t even smoke!
If you go and are disappointed, you might need a therapist to help you examine your expectations of the world around you. Focusing on what’s important instead of finding something wrong with everything you encounter will ease your burden.

I used to have so many fond memories of Holiday World…
Well, all that has changed, unfortunately. The best thing they have going for them is the fact that Pepsi products are free. The friendly staff is a plus as well.
All I really experienced on my visit today was sheer disappointment.
First off, I was charged almost $ 10 for a cheeseburger and fries. The cheeseburger I bought was the same brand that went through my high school that we would pay $ 1.50 for at lunch and the fries were tiny. Not to mention that the burger was heavily charred and I was charged extra for the cheese. Also, I bought a $ 5 ice cream cone on my way out the gate, and 2 minutes after purchasing it, it cracked right down the middle and I lost the entire thing. Food isn’t really their thing.
Secondly, the lines are SO long. I feel like they don’t have enough rides close together, so people tend to gather and line up for any ride remotely close, so they don’t have to walk multiple dreadful hills. This leads to 1 ½ hour waits, and my only being able to ride 4 rides in a 6 hour period of being there.
I wish that today’s experience could’ve been like one of the past experiences I had had with this amusement park. It pains me to say, that Holiday World just isn’t worth the $ 45 anymore.

Holiday World has officially gone bad! What happened to the reasonable prices? The ticket price is now $ 44.99 per person (can get $ 4 off online). The food prices have almost doubled and the food portions have gotten smaller. Went to the Alamo for lunch and got a taco and there was barely any meat on it but yet it cost $ 9.00! Later on in the evening we went to Holidog and got a kids chili cheese dog ($ 5) and the bun was stale and hard, the dog was cold and the chili was pasty, Like it had been sitting on the counter all day long. I could not eat it and was wondering if they are allowed to sell food like that to people.
The kids loved the Thunderbird but waited in line for 2 hours. It was so crowded! Every ride had a ridiculous line that required at least an hour. One hour to ride on the Scrambler??? I agree with another reviewer that the older rides are like cattle herders. You are crowded weaving back and forth through rails. It’s awkward and weird.
Also they charge a non-​refundable locker fee of $ 10.00 at the Waterpark. There are also lines for the Pepsi Oasis throughout the park. Beware of the wave pool. People are downright rude there. I had a kid run past me and elbow me in the side and step on my ankle. I said ouch but he kept running and didn’t look back. During the waving people slam into you and jump on you. It’s crazy. Watch your kids closely here please. They will get hurt.
I know I went during peak season but was completely blown away by the crowd, the prices and the quality of the food.
It wasn’t all bad. The staff are super nice and for the most part the park was very clean. I just think it has gone too commercialize. It no longer has the fun family feeling. We used to leave the park feeling good and wanting to go back. This visit left us feeling empty and broke and quite frankly we will probably not go back here again. So sad. At least we have some great memories from past visits.

Great amusement park
— affordable
— clean
— good/​friendly employees
— free Pepsi products
— free parking
— rides for all age groups
— admission includes access to water park
Take my wife and 2 boys (4 & 10 years old) every year and everyone always has a blast!

A three hour drive from Indy and located in a small town that boasts Christmas every day of the year, is this Indiana gem.
We visited on a weekend in July and although the Saturday crowd was heavy, the Sunday crowd was very light. I’ve visited here several times over the years. The park has been here for many years, known then as Santa Claus Land, and still has some original signage and rides. The park is divided into holiday themes.
The Holiday World side has three roller coasters and other smaller rides but as far as «thrill rides», is pretty tame. Although the new Thunderbird ride this year was amazing. Definitely a thrill ride.
The water park, Splashing Safari is where it’s really at. This section is full of high water slides, water thrill rides, a lazy river (that I am in love with), wave pool, kiddie pools, and even private cabanas.
Pros:
–Free= parking, wifi, sunscreen, and soft drinks
–Always clean restrooms and changing rooms
–The park is extremely clean, no litter to be found
–Friendly staff and even the management staff are out and about
–Reasonable prices on food (pizza slice with two breadsticks was $ 6)
–Reasonable admission price– adult is $ 44 and coupons are everywhere
–Air conditioned pet kennel on site for $ 30/​day
Cons:
–Not enough shaded areas
–In Splashing Safari, the concrete pavement everywhere burns your feet!
–Lockers are always full (get one as soon as you arrive)
–Not many hotels near by. Most are 30 minutes or more away in other towns

Awesome place for family fun!
Complimentary drinks, sunscreen, parking and wifi :) Food is pretty good even though a tad expensive (on par with other amusement parks though). We’ve never missed out on renting a wagon if we needed it and this time I was injured so we rented a motorized scooter as well.
Everything is always clean and in good working order, which is incredibly important!

Well made my first trip to Holiday World and Splashin’ Safari yesterday. I have to say this is the best park I have ever been to. I’ve been to Kings Island and other parks during my life, and I have to say they really need to step it up. The hospitality at HW was awesome, the employees so friendly and happy to help you with anything. The park does so much to please their customers and provide a memorable experience. It is a night and day difference between this smaller independent park and the big corporate parks like Cedar Fair and Six Flags. The layout of the park is great, and I love how the water park intertwines with rest of the park. Yeah, it’s a little hilly, but I can deal with that. The food selection was awesome and prices were what it should be AFFORDABLE! It is truly a family park that I can’t wait to take my kids to someday. So Fair and Flags can count all the Golden Tickets they have, but you guys are light years behind what Holiday World offers. I will definitely be a returning customer.

Holiday World is by far my most favorite amusement park! Free parking, free wifi, free drinks and free sunscreen! Those things alone make Holiday World stand above any other place. We always visit on a week day and I have never been there when it felt too crowded. The park in incredibly clean. I have never seen trash on the ground. The staff is always very friendly. The Thunderbird is a phenomenal ride.

There is little that needs to be said than Holiday World is as good an amusement park as there is. Period.
They consistently blow us away with new innovative rides or attractions. The park is Spotlessly clean. Free drinks on hot days, free sun screen, free parking.
I could go on and on but anyone who needs to know if they should visit really just needs to go and see for themselves. Its always surpassing my expectations.
The Mammoth and Wildabeast are simply perfect water rides (use the single rider line and save TONS of time on both)
The Voyage leaves me speechless and breathless every time.
The new Thunderbird is incredible

This is another one of those places being from Spencer County that you don’t really appreciate, because you take it for granted for being in your backyard. However, once you’ve moved away from home, it is a place you find yourself talking about to new friends in other locations and remains on your mind from time to time.
This place is beautiful and will always have a special place in my heart, whether if I was a guest or just being an angsty and stubborn teenager there in the summer. This place does teach you a lot of values being around it everyday.
It is clean, it is fun, it is friendly and it is just a beautiful place to take your family, a date, or just gather friends and visit. I would recommend it to anyone around the nation to go and visit it. It’s one of those hidden treasures in Southern Indiana that is something worth to see.
You have to love a park that provides you with free soft drinks and sunscreen on an extremely hot summer day. There are so many options for food and the themes of each holiday will always put a smile on your face.
Don’t you dare leave that place without visiting the gift shops, especially the glassblowing beside Kringles Kafe and Mrs. Claus’s Kitchen. There are gifts for the whole family hanging out there!
Don’t like roller coasters or heights? Ok, I get it, but you should really just take a chance and live life on the edge and try all of them! I really want to go back home sometime this summer, so I can see what this Thunderbird steel roller coaster is all about. I’ve been waiting for years for something like that to be built and I am so excited to try it.
I personally hate getting wet. I don’t mind being rained on, but to purposely get wet just drives me insane. I’m certainly not a supermodel with a shirt off, but that waterpark is worth it. There are so many options for you to enjoy there. Also, the raging rapids and the log ride in the dry park are so much fun for everyone to enjoy!
What is also great about this park, is that the employees and the managers do really care about you and how your experience is at the park. That is something to really be appreciated. There is always someone around to help you and if they don’t know the answer they will do everything they can to find someone who will help you.
In the end, there is something there for everybody who visits. Doesn’t matter what age, where you’re from or who you are, you will enjoy Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari. So make sure to go this summer!

Best place for kids under 8. And THE VOYAGE IS THE BEST DAMN ROLLER COASTER I’ve ever ridden, and I’ve ridden many. Plus how can you beat FREE soda at an amusement park?
It’s not the biggest park, but it truly is the best park for families, especially ones with smaller kids. My grands are 4 & 2 and they loved it. Wagon rental is a great touch, and reasonably priced, $ 7 for the day!
And FREE parking.
It took me a while to go, as I don’t do outside water parks (redhead) and it’s in the middle of nowhere, but we decided to go this year in October as a not so scary alternative to most Halloween activities, and it was perfect for toddlers & young children. Everyone in the group had an amazing time.
**plan your trip here well in advance if you plan to stay the night. I booked a hotel in early August for our October weekend and couldn’t get a room, or camp site in town. Closest room I could get was about 12 miles away.

A spotless park, good food, exceptionally friendly staff, and tremendous value for everything (when compared against their peers) make Holiday World and Splashin’ Safari my favorite entry in all the theme parks I have visited across the United States.
They will never be in contention with the Cedar Fair or Premier Parks properties for overall coasters or the Disney and Universal properties as an overall destination and that suits me just fine. They are doing everything right and I sincerely appreciate how they have carved out a niche in southern Indiana as a great family getaway.
My basis of comparison is the mighty Cedar Point; I grew up near there and have watched that park grow and evolve from a 4 coaster pretender into an adrenaline junkies dream since I started going there in the late 1970s. Now it is a straight corporate cash cow and they charge exorbitant prices because they can. Still a cool place to go but HW & SS is such a refreshing change of pace and you simply don’t feel like you are nickel and dimed on everything.
So much has already been said on HW & SS but here is my take in list form. Pros:
1) Generally lighter crowds than other parks.
2) Friendly staff. Everywhere. Rides, food stands, everywhere.
3) Free soda, parking, sunscreen. Unreal.
4) Three world class wooden coasters. The Voyage is an insane rush.
5) Plenty of family attractions.
6) Splashin’ Safari… simply a great waterpark.
7) Owners/​upper managers telling people to have a nice evening and thanks for coming when leaving the park. So cool.
8) Crazy clean and tastefully landscaped.
Cons?
1) In about five years my family might outgrow the place for excitement levels, especially the HW side.
2) More shade is needed in spots of SS and Thanksgiving land.
3) No other options on coasters. The wood ones will beat you up and are an acquired taste.
4) Bad tattooing. My eyes hath seen some awful ink amongst the patrons.
But that is about it. We absolutely enjoyed our two days here this summer and can’t wait to do it again.

Only 2.5 hours from Nashville in the middle of nowhere– and I mean nowhere– is a clean, friendly theme park great for the whole family.
Prices are very reasonable. You can pick up a $ 5 off coupon anywhere which makes adult tickets $ 40 for the day and $ 35 for kids under 53″. Ample free parking, a tram that takes you to the entrance. We went first thing on a Sunday and lines were not bad at all.
We started with the Holidog Town area that is nestled in the back right of the park. It’s geared for little kids. A small coaster, teacups, a train and a splash pad. There was virtually no waiting.
We moved over to the 4^th of July section and my kids loved the Lewis & Clark Trail, which reminded me of the Tin Lizzy at Opryland.
They also have blue ice cream in this area. My son who is obsessed with blue went nuts over this. Granted it tasted like a blue raspberry icee, but in ice cream form. I suggest the fried reeses. Perfect balance of salty and sweet and fried. Heaven.
The Halloween section has swings, the scrambler (which was jolting) and the Raven — a wooden coaster that my husband loved. Apparently there is also the Legend and Voyager which are bigger and better, but didn’t ride those.
Santa Claus land also had a nice area for little kids right next to the Raven.
The food. Uggg. Why can’t theme parks prioritize this. It just plain sucked. The pizza was the only thing remotely good. Hot dog, fries, salad– blah.
I do appreciate the free drink stations. We’re not big soda drinkers, but anytime we got thirsty or hot we stopped in one of the beverage stations which blast a/​c when you walk in and grabbed a cup of ice water.
After a few hours of rides, we opted to change to swimsuits and head over to Splashin Safari. We loved the first few slide rides to the left, there’s even one in a tunnel in the dark. My 6 year old loved this one. There weren’t a bunch my 4.5 year old could do. You really need to be 42″ to do most. However, there is a Splash Land with little kid slides and all sorts of sprayers. By this time we were exhausted and realized there was no way to hit up all the water rides. We will have to return to conquer all the attractions.
Note: you can bring your swim stuff in and rent a locker $ 10 for small $ 15 for large. Small was plenty for us.
Everyone was friendly. Park was clean. Reasonably priced.
Definitely reminded me of Opryland as a kid. Ah, memories.
We will definitely be back! Modern day Wally World that is open and not crowded. Awesome.

Great experience! Went with a group on 6÷28÷14. This drive was fairly easy from Noblesville, IN taking just over 3 hours to Santa Claus, IN. We arrived just after the park opened, so parking was a breeze and free! I was surprised there was a very clean public restroom right before you arrived in the park making it easy for those that wanted to change and/​or giving people an option to change out of their wet clothes at the end of the day before getting in the car.
Once we entered the park, we purchased a large locker. This was $ 15 and there are plenty of places to choose your locker. You are given 4 wristbands with a barcode so that whenever you need to go back to your locker, you simply scan the barcode and the locker you chose opens automatically. Coolest thing ever. We walked all the way to Splashin’ Safari and chose the large lockers. I’m not sure, but I think this is the only area that has the large ones. If you have a lot with you, a large locker is smart. Plenty of room for 3 bags plus shoes/​phones.
We started the day in the main area of the park and wanted to knock out all the roller coasters. There are 3 wooden coasters, all are great, but the best is The Voyage by far! The Raven, The Legend, and The Voyage are the three and you must ride them all. Wooden coasters are awesome because you feel everything! Yes, you are sore afterwards, but it’s totally worth the thrill! The lines weren’t too bad at all and the park was very clean! After screaming my head off on the rides, it was great to walk up to one of the many Pepsi stations around the park and get a soda. I can’t tell you how many times I needed a drink in between rides and these Pepsi stations were a lifesaver! And, the best part is that they were free!
After spending the entire morning and most of the afternoon riding rides in the main part of the park, we ate lunch at one of the restaurants. Prices weren’t too bad at all and the food was good.
We then ventured off to Splashin’ Safari. There was a pretty large restroom/​changing room for both women and men near the water rides and this came in handy because it was closest to the large lockers. Our first ride in the waterpark was The Mammoth. This was by far our favorite. The ride felt like it was longer than usual water rides and it was full of surprises! I also loved that most of the water rides allowed up to 4 people on the same raft making the experience with my friends and hubby that much greater because we got to experience it together! All the water rides were fantastic and the lazy river was a welcome respite from all the walking and line standing.
All in all, the experience was terrific! One of the best I’ve had in a long time at a theme park. Great rides, free parking, free soda, free sunscreen stations, free wifi, and a clean park! What more could you ask for?