Holiday World + Beech Bend Park: My Jam-Packed ACE Spring Conference 2014 Trip Report - Part I

Howdy. :}

WELCOME TO MY JAM-PACKED ACE SPRING CONFERENCE 2014 TRIP REPORT!

Get ready for 4 parks in 4 days, jam-packed with countless adventures, antics, and good times!

Our adventure starts the day before the conference at Santa Claus Indiana's Holiday World! The park was kind enough to throw together an event at the last minute, which included free admission, a meal, Voyage ERT, AND a behind-the-scenes tour!

Good morning Holiday World! Can't beat this parking space, can we?

As you may have heard, the last few years have been tough for the owners of Holiday World. The Koch family has plunged into series of tough times since the passing of Will Koch, the park's long-time general manager. 

Sadly, Will's brother Dan (who managed the park from the time of Will's passing until 2013) and their mother Pat are no longer part of Holiday World. Their absence is immediately noticeable and they are sorely missed. Pat Koch, daughter of the founder of Holiday World, no longer graces the entrance of the park with her warm smile and good tidings. This alone put a damper on my experience, but I was optimistic that Holiday World would still have some cheer to give. 

C'mon, Raven! Let's brighten up this day, shall we?

But first, it's time for a Santa photo op with a few of the stars of this trip report: Steve, Dan, Jeff, and John! This was Jeff's first visit to Holiday World, so we were very excited to introduce him to the park's woodie Holy Trinity!

Hey, look! We found Alec on the Raven!

Poe agrees: Raven is running GREAT this year! In fact, all of the woodies have received some fresh track. :}

We then took a satisfying ride on Legend, after which
 it was time for my #1 wooden coaster...

…and the crowds were just atrocious!

My first rides on Voyage were at HoliWood Nights 2010. The ride was a little rough around the edges, but I was thoroughly blown away. Since those initial rides, the Voyage has seen a lot of changes. The modifications to the ride's spaghetti bowl have noticeably improved the experience, and the choice to return to PTC trains permanently seems to be the ride's best fit. In fact, we were told that the trains' 7th cars should be returning in a couple of weeks!

I was pretty bummed to hear that Pilgrim's Plunge/Giraffica was being retired. I found the ride to be quite remarkable, but if the problems with Cedar Point's Intamin flume are any indication, this decision was probably for the best. 

The park's new swinging ship is…well…a swinging ship. Nothing to write home about. In addition, the ride's location adjacent to the vacancy left by Pilgrim's Plunge feels a bit awkward.

None of that really matters, though. This right here is what we're here to see!

Before another ride on the Voyage, we decided to take the turkeys for a whirl. Unfortunately the turkeys weren't feeling particularly cooperative this morning, so not a lot whirling actually took place.

Todd, on the other hand, looks like he's had a few too many whirls on the Voyage!

As you might've guessed, it was a very cold day in Santa Claus.

Not too cold for Voyage to kick some ass, but still pretty damn cold. 

Okay, boys! Let's check out the rest of the park.

We'll be back for more later, Voyage.

Jeff is ready for some Flyer time!

Here's the face Dan made when I made an inappropriate joke about his flamboyant rooster. :}

We also hit up HoliDog's Fun Town for a shameless ride on the Howler!

Who's up for a train ride?

XTREME KIDDO TRAIN REVERSE POV!

After the train, we worked our way back to the front of the park. Liberty Launch packs quite a punch! It's that second drop that gets ya!

We hit up a few more flat rides before checking out the new Mrs. Claus's Cafe!

Not sure how I feel about this. None of us were brave enough to try it.

We planned on hitting Raven again next, but we got distracted.

Suddenly we all felt like taking in one of Holiday World's shows. :}

I've never noticed how nice the scenery is here at Holiday World. 

An obnoxious park-goer played by one of the divers helped provide some surprisingly hilarious antics!

The park-goer challenged Heath the diver to a dive-off.

The park-goer cheated a little.

It doesn't matter, though. Heath still wins as far as I'm concerned. ;}

Holiday World's divers are incredibly talented.

They're also incredibly silly! :}

The divers then demonstrated some flight techniques that they learned from the Raven, but they still need some practice.

Seriously, the dive show was excellent. Pleased to see that Holiday World has attracted such talent!

Okay, enough men in Speedos for now; back to the coasters!

Who's ready for a Voyage walk back tour?!

*swoon*

ACErs in their natural habitat. :}

Even though it had been raining off and on, the road along side Voyage wasn't *too* muddy.

You really get a feel for just how much they lifted part of the spaghetti bowl up off the ground when you're walking back here. What was once at ground level is now closer to 2 stories high!

On our way back to the park, the park orchestrated this strange little PR stunt involving a box buried in the mud next to the Voyage. Park representatives dug up the box and opened it, but then elected not to tell us about what they found inside until two hours later for some reason (it turned out to be a diary).

The box also had little strips of paper with a web URL printed on them, which takes you to a thread on the HoliBlog teasing about a new ride. The whole stunt was kind of a head-scratcher, but at least they tried. The REAL topic of conversation was all of the trees that were downed next to Voyage, which we were told were the result of "termites." ;}

After the Voyage walk back, we were paraded across the blank stretch of midway that connects the new waterpark expansion with the rest of Holiday World.

As you can see, Hyena Falls is a little far-removed from Splashin' Safari.

*a moment of silence for the Intamin*

Seeing all of this up close really begs the question of whether or not it will play a role in Holiday World's new attraction.

To top off our Voyage walk back, we were treated to a VIP tour of Voyage's station!

We were given the opportunity to not only walk inside of Voyage's train bay, but under it!

Nerd shot! Today I learned that Voyage's train bay actually rests the cars upon their upstop wheels, for easier access to the other sets of wheels.

XTREME UNDER-VOYAGE TRAIN POV!!!

Thank you, Holiday World, for a wonderful event! You sure know how to get the coaster nerds salivating!

After a quick drive to Bowling Green and a good night's sleep, it was time for the official start of Spring Con!

Beech Bend is a park that is very close to the heart of our ACE National Events Director, Paul Blick. After seven years of wonderful service, Paul has decided to retire as our events directer, but not before rolling out the red carpet for us at his wonderful home park! In fact, Paul loves Beech Bend so much that he now serves as Park Operations Manager along side his good friend and General Manager of Beech Bend, the fabulous Charlotte Gonzalez!

Hoo! It's like a great big party with 500 of my closest friends! :D

Most of us headed for Kentucky Rumbler as soon as the park let us in, but the Rumbler wasn't quite ready for showtime.

That means it's time for everyone to get their Dragon Wagon credit!

Just LOOK at all of these credit whores. ;}

Now it's time for John and Jeff to get their credit!

And we've got Bill and Donna bringing up the rear!

And wouldn'tcha know it, this particular trainload of 10 grown-ass ACErs just could't quite make it to the top of Dragon Wagon's tire driven lift hill. Back down the hill and through the station they came!

Mark Davidson helped the ride operator push the Dragon Wagon back into the station...

…but they pushed it too far! John and Bill had to get out and push the train the other way to line it up with its sensors!

Shortly after we received our Dragon credit, the Kentucky Rumbler opened up!

Here we have what is by far the longest line for the Rumbler I have ever seen!

Everyone loves the Rumbler! It's tracking beautifully this season!

Last but not least is Wild Mouse, which, like the turkeys at Holiday World, were reluctant to spin this early in the morning.

Scat 2, on the other hand, was happy to spin us around.

I swore I'd never ride one of these horrendous attractions again, but I just couldn't pass up the chance to ride with Bill! :}

For breakfast, we decided to skip Beech Bend's Luau (it was a little cold for all that anyways) and score the out-of-towners a local culture credit: WAFFLE HOUSE! :D

After breakfast, the sun was out and we were all feeling a bit warmer.

Power Surge! Great ride, disappointing cycle. 

And of course we have to ride the Antique Cars! I was Driving Ms. Daniel and John was Driving Ms. Randy! ;}

Oh? What have we got going on here?

Ahh! I see our humble Events Director Paul Blick is chasing after Beech Bend's goats!

In fact, Beech Bend was hosting a conference first: a goat-hearding contest!

It was a rare opportunity to see ACErs run for something other than food. ;}

Looks like the Harpers found Beech Bend's adorable Kiddo Whip!

This trip report is brought you to by refreshing RC Cola: The cola you didn't know still existed!

By mid-day, we were already running out of rides to hit, so we decided to check out the mini golf course!

And look who it is! It's MICHAEL! :D :D :D

The golf course was fun, but it could probably use a little TLC.

'CUZ THIS IS THRILLER! THRILLER NIGHT!

Each time I walked by the Dragon Wagon, a difference set of ACErs were getting their credit. :}

A lot of shenanigans took place during the conference's opening ceremony. First was a gleeful performance of a Bon Jovi song by some of Beech Bend's performers, after which Paul erupted out of a box. 

Then professional vocalists performed The Star-Spangled Banner while the Bowling Green Coast Guard Color Guard saluted our nation's colors.

Then, the county sheriff arrested ACE President Dave Altman on several counts of roller coaster enthusiasm. 

The chief county justice was prepared to make a ruling, but Dave was then pardoned by the Mayor of Bowling Green. With that, the event had officially begun!

After the ceremony, Tom joined the group for a ride on the Haunted House.

And then Kentucky Kingdom PR representative Mark Brunner joined us for dinner!

Who's up for some twilight rides on Rumbler??

An event such as this is a unique opportunity to see the park during the twilight hour. Many of the park's rides have lighting packages, but are very rarely used. 

Thank you Reed Gonzalez for risking your life fastening these letters to the Kentucky Rumbler. I would've pissed myself. 

Vortex is Beech Bend's newest ride, but I opted not to ride it. Those things make me nauseous.

I was quite pleased, however, to look at it from afar. 

The first night of the conference culminated with a game show!

And what's a game show without a little fire-eating? Goodnight, everyone!

Well the Con's off to a great start, but we've only just begun! Get some sleep, y'all! The most jam-packed day of the conference is tomorrow, during which we'll be hitting the NEW Kentucky Kingdom AND Kings Island! 

Are you excited?? I'm excited. :}