Holiday World and Surfin Safari: Two Great Parks for the Price of One

I was recently invited on a three day get-away by some friends of mine; to be entirely honest I wasn't in the mood to go anywhere given everything that has happened to me in the past few months...but that is another story for another time.

My sister insisted I go as did my friends, so before I knew we loaded up a few days worth of clothing and other basic necessities and made our merry way to Santa Claus, IN a town that fans of Christmas would go absolutely nuts over; it was literally Christmas in July, every aspect of Santa Claus, IN is named after or fashioned after Christmas, street names, shop names and of course the towns (possibly) primary source of tourist dollars: Holiday World.

I would make mention of the hotel that my friends and I lodged in whilst we were there...but I wouldn't give that hotel a mention to the suffering souls of hell, it was over priced and lacked pretty much every amenity that makes a hotel worth shelling out extra bucks for. So I won't mention this hotel but I will tell you this: If you are visiting Holiday world do not choose your hotel based on it's distance from the parking lot, you will regret it.

Onto Holiday World. The first thing I can tell you is that the ticket price of $40 is worth it, considering that drinks are unlimited and absolutely free, there are drink stations all over the park and you can drink to you hearts content. Every drink station also has air-conditioning, so relief from the heat is never far off.

Admission to Surfin'-Safari, a giant water park is also included in the ticket price and like Holiday World, Surfin'-Safari Provides stations; I will elaborate on Surfin' Safari a little later in this article.

Holiday World is a bit smaller than other theme parks that I have been to but I am actually glad, the lines were far shorter and you never really had to fight against the crowd...the line for the bumper cars was always long but that is to be expected, since Bumper Cars will always be a family favorite.

It's main attraction in my opinion, is The Voyage a roller coast which towers more than 140 feet, with massive drops that send you hurdling along at seventy miles per hour and whips you mercilessly around terrifying curves. I have been on many roller coasters; this is the first one to really send a chill down my spine. As my friends and I ascended to the top of the very first drop, we realized suddenly that this might not have been very wise after all, a though verbally affirmed my my friend Dave who said

"We are so stupid." and then screamed all the way to the bottom.

So after a day in Holiday World, we returned to our amenity free hotel to find we had been rained out the next, which was not a problem at all since Holiday World promptly gave a full credit for our next day tickets and made them good for the rest of the season, which wasn't necessary since we had planned on returning the next day.

Surfin'-Safari. If you are not a fan of long lines...well you can still have plenty of fun here, you can walk right into the wave pool and stay as long as you like, the very same for the lazy river, which I personally spent most of the day in.

If you are up for a long line however, there are a multitude of rather thrilling water slides. I only managed to slide down one before I lost patience for the lines but riding down a massive slide in a raft with three of your friends as fast as gravity can carry you is an experience worth the wait.

The only bad thing I have to say is really a matter of opinion: They are now "Smoke Free", meaning that if you are a smoker like me, you will have to find a smoking area which seem far and few between; if you are a non-smoker then you will probably be glad of this however.

This concludes my brief review of Holiday World and Surfin'-Safari, I hope you and your family have a safe and adventure filled summer!