Having not been able to visit Holiday
World earlier in the year, I was able to find an opportune time to make a drive up
on Labor Day weekend. This would be a particularly short visit since I
wanted to be out of the park and driving before sundown, so I made sure
to hit the essentials immediately.
Upon
arriving and getting in to the park, I made my way to the lockers where
I would place my belongings (including camera), then made a bee-line
straight to Hyena Falls. If you're not familiar with the layout of
Holiday World, then you should probably know that the walk to there can
be, admittedly, quite lengthy. On your way there, you pass a wave pool,
two water play structures, a world class wooden roller coaster (Voyage),
and an Intamin shoot-the-chutes (Giraffica, previously called Pilgrim's
Plunge).
Eventually you make it to a more quiet corner of the amusement park where the new ProSlide complex was placed, along with a small splash and fountain area for smaller children, a new large restroom stall, an extra Dippin' Dots stand and a roofed area containing free Pepsi drink stalls and a pretzel stand. The area was fairly quiet upon arrival considering it was far from most of the other water slides in the park, but as the day went on, people began to migrate more towards it and that's when the lines really filled up.
Hyena Falls is yet another water slide complex built by ProSlide company for Holiday World Splashin' Safari. On the lower deck are three enclosed inner tube slides named Chuckles, Giggles, and Tee-Hee. The slides vary in having helixes or regular turns, but each one has a section that has riders coming out of an enclosed section and down a dip to gain a bit more speed before coming back into a tunnel. They're fairly short, but can pick up some fair speed when riding with a partner.
On the upper deck sits a specialty slide, the new ProSlide Wave named Laughs. This particular slide is longer than the three previous ones, and has a larger tunnel to accomodate ProSlide's special two-seater whirly wheel inner tubes and larger single-person inner tubes. It begins with an s-bend curve before coming down a fast drop into the slide's main centerpiece, which is a halfpipe element that is completely rounded to give a smooth, zero-gravity experience when riding up and down the wall. The exit from the element did have minor jarring due to the inner tube riding over rough waters at the bottom and coming quickly towards the edge of the flume before slowing down, but nothing to cause any discomfort from the floating sensation one receives on this slide in particular.
All four slides make a very nice addition to the park's already impressive lineup, especially with Laughs. I was able to try each of them at least once (Laughs twice) before going back to the water park and re-riding other slides.
Right after Hyena Falls, I was able to hop in the single rider's line for the park's largest Hydromagnetic Water Coaster, Mammoth, and had an experience on it that definitely beat my first time on it (when the water was freezing cold)! It's safe to say that the water this time felt especially warm, and the raft almost felt as though it moved quicker on the course! With the excessive amount of water that was thrown around during the quick course, it still made for a very, very wild ride that must be experienced before leaving the park!
The only other slides I was able to hop on were Wildebeest and Jungle Racers before taking on thedry-side of the park. Coming from the Thanksgiving area later in the day, I noticed that the park had silently removed two inner-tube slides that used to sit near the entrance of the water park, their names AmaZOOM and Bamboo Chute.
All in all, the day visit went smoothly. The coasters were still running wonderfully, and the same could be said about the rest of the park; especially considering the crowds on a Labor Day weekend.
(*Edit [May 7, 2014]: It has been confirmed that both AmaZOOM and Bamboo Chute were relocated to the Lake Rudolph campgrounds next door where it now operates as Santa's Splash Down.)
(*Edit [May 7, 2014]: It has been confirmed that both AmaZOOM and Bamboo Chute were relocated to the Lake Rudolph campgrounds next door where it now operates as Santa's Splash Down.)
*Chuckles: 7/10
*Giggles: 7/10
*Laughs: 8/10
*Tee-Hee: 7/10
Jungle Racer: 7/10
Mammoth: 10/10!
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