Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana may be in the middle-of-nowhere, but this family-run
amusement park is one of my favorites in the United States. While this park may not have the
quantity of some of the corporate mega parks, Holiday World focuses on quality and customer
service, which are the two things that keep me coming back year after year. So in this video,
I will be reviewing Holiday World and explaining why this park should be on your bucket list.
Holiday World originally opened in 1946 as Santa Claus Land. Louis Koch was dismayed a town called
Santa Claus didn’t actually have a place where kids could meet Santa Claus yearround. So Louis
Koch opened Santa Claus Land, as a small Christmas themed park with some children’s rides. The park
would be passed down generation to generation in the Koch family and while the park would
retain the same family-friendly atmosphere and charm, the park would start expanding in 1980s.
In 1984, the Koch family realized the theming possibilities beyond just Christmas,
so the park was renamed Holiday World and that coincided with two new themed areas-
one themed to Halloween and one themed to the 4th of July. These new lands were accompanied
by an assortment of flat rides and water rides, several of which still operate at the park today.
The 1990s brought two more influential additions to Holiday World. 1993
saw the opening of Splashin’ Safari, Holiday World’s attached water park.
This water park started off small, but it would eventually grow into an award-winning water park
that occupies roughly 1/3 of the park’s overall footprint.
The water park would receive several award-winning and record-breaking water slides from Proslide
from 2002 onward including Zoombabwe, the world’s longest enclosed water slide, Zinga, one of the
first Tornado slides, and a trio of water coasters in Wildebeest, Mammoth, and Cheetah Chase.
With such a robust slide lineup, you could make an argument the water park is more popular than
the amusement park for a majority of guests. I have a separate review that goes into more
detail on Splashin’ Safari, but from a high level, this water park is not to be missed.
The other influential addition in the 1990s was the Raven, a Custom Coasters International
wooden roller coaster that opened in 1995. The park previously had a Herschell kiddie coaster
and an off-the-shelf Galaxi coaster, neither of which was anything special.
But Raven was immediately anointed as one of the world’s best wooden roller coasters.
It put Holiday World on the map with coaster enthusiasts. The coaster won the award for
the world’s best wood coaster in Amusement Today’s Golden Ticket Awards from 2000 to 2003.
Raven was built in the midst of the Coaster Wars when parks were going bigger,
taller, and faster, but Raven served as an inspiration to small parks worldwide
that wanted a headlining attraction. And Raven spurred Holiday World’s future coaster additions
over the next two decades- in the Legend, the Voyage, and Thunderbird.
Today, Holiday World is still owned by the Koch family and this 125 acre park
includes two additional themed lands in the Thanksgiving area and Holidog’s Fun Town.
That is a high level overview of Holiday World’s history, but if you want an even more in-depth
look, I strongly recommend visiting the Santa Claus Museum just down the road.
This is a free attraction with several displays from the park’s history.
It feels like a small scale version of the Town Hall Museum at Cedar Point.
Holiday World is located in Santa Claus, Indiana, which is 3 hours south of Indianapolis, 1.5 hour
west of Louisville, and 3 hours east of St. Louis. Santa Claus is a small town and Holiday World is
the main reason to visit. And one thing to note is that the park and town of Santa Claus are in
the central time zone, even though several of the neighboring towns are in the Eastern time zone.
the park’s Holiwood Nights event. Open to card carrying members of select roller coaster clubs
and organizations, Holiwood Nights is a 2-day event with special walkback tours of the park’s
roller coasters, auctions on park memorabilia and used items, lots of food, and exclusive ride time,
or ERT, on many of the park’s attractions. And much of this ERT occurs after nightfall,
so it’s the best opportunity to get night rides on the park’s acclaimed roller
coaster collection. That’s especially the case for Voyage, which runs untrimmed for the event.
As I mentioned earlier, Holiday World has 5 themed areas. However, Holiday World isn’t a
highly themed park. Each area has some light theming from atmospheric music,
holiday-themed names, and holiday-appropriate color schemes. But that’s not much of an issue
for me because the park looks fantastic. Everything always looks in tip-top shape
and the park routinely wins awards for its cleanliness; the park is immaculate. Plus, a
majority of the park is wooded. This is something the major coasters all take advantage of,
but it also provides some much appreciated shade over the midways on hot days.
The other things that help keep guests cool are the free sunscreen and drinks included
with park admission. This is a perk very few parks offer, but it’s extremely popular.
The largest sunscreen station is located in Splashin’ Safari by the changing rooms.
And then there are drink stations in all areas of the park. It’s super nice being able to just walk
right up and get yourself a drink with no line as opposed to most parks where you can
be stuck behind a lengthy food service queue. While I’m touching on the drinks, I might as well
touch on the food. There are a few food items at Holiday World that I strongly recommend.
First is anything at Plymouth Rock Cafe, the Thanksgiving themed restaurant with hearty meals
such as turkey and ham. This is one of my favorite meals at any theme park because of the uniqueness
and quality. Second are Uncle Ben’s Pretzels, which are severed by the Voyage. This stand
has been closed in a majority of my visits to the park, but these freshly baked pretzels are
fantastic and very doughy. I know a lot of people who also love Holiday World’s pizza,
but it’s just ok to me. The park also has an extensive collection of sweets, but I was born
without a sweet tooth so I can’t help there. Holiday World is renowned for their customer
service and I have had nothing but positive encounters with their employees over the years.
They are exceptional. They’re super friendly and extremely helpful.
This is another area where Holiday World routinely wins awards and I understand why.
It really makes guests feel welcome. Despite the park’s reputation, wait times on
the amusement side are usually quite manageable. I have visited on both Memorial Day and Labor Day
weekend, as well as other summer weekends. And the longest line I have encountered on the dry side-
excluding 2020 due to covid restrictions- was a half hour for one of the wood coasters.
But typically, I have to wait no more than 15-20 minutes for any of the park’s roller coasters.
The park consistently runs two trains on Voyage and Thunderbird,
but they will often run just one train on Raven and Legend. Because the latter two are
located towards the front of the park, I strongly recommend coming back to them later in the day
unless you’re on one of the first trains of the day before the queue builds.
Splashin’ Safari typically sees longer wait times than the amusement side. If you plan to visit
Splashin’ Safari, and you should, I recommend heading in immediately after the water park.
This is usually an hour after Holiday World opens. I then suggest you try to beat the
crowds and knock out all three water coasters as soon as possible. Wildebeest and Mammoth offer
some of the best airtime of any water slide and Cheetah Chase, the park’s newest water coaster,
is a unique racing water coaster. All three slides can get lines exceeding an hour on busy summer
days. Although, Wildebeest and Mammoth have single rider lines that can save you some time if you’re
alone or willing to split up your party. One trick you cannot use at Holiday World
is entering a line right before close. Holiday World is one of those parks
that closes their queue lines early so the last train goes out right at closing time.
Just keep that in mind if you’re planning the last ride of the night on something like Voyage.
Dispatches at Holiday World are pretty good, especially since the park allows guests to
bring all bags and loose articles onto the ride platform. Not only that, the staff encourages
guests to hand them their belongings to help save time while they’re boarding. It’s a friendly touch
you don’t see at many other parks. Moving through the ride lineup,
Holiday World only has 5 coasters, but 4 of them are award-winners and some of my favorites.
That goes back to the park’s focus on quality over quantity. The original wood coaster in
Raven is still a ton of fun. This wood coaster may be short, but it’s a jack-of-all-trades.
It’s fast-paced and has a wonderful setting in the woods. Plus it has a few strong airtime moments-
particularly on the legendary 5th drop if you’re in the back row- and some good laterals too.
While it’s no longer the world’s best wooden coaster, and honestly it’s my least favorite wood
coaster in the park now, it’s still a great ride. Legend is another Custom Coasters International
creation and this has an argument as the world’s best coaster for laterals.
You get a mix of abrupt laterals and sustained laterals, particularly on the insane double
helix. This coaster also mixes in a few airtime moments, holds its speed incredibly well, and also
has a lovely setting through the woods. That’s a theme with all of Holiday World’s coasters.
Voyage is the park’s signature attraction. One of the first coasters built by Gravity Group,
Voyage is a statistical monster. It’s the tallest and fastest traditional wood coaster in the world.
And it’s the second longest wood coaster in the world. But Voyage isn’t all about stats. It also
features one of the best layouts in the world. The first third is like a hypercoaster with the
giant hills and camelbacks. The second third is a twister with the highly banked turns and
twists. The final third feels like a traditional out-and-back coaster on steroids with the pacing
and transitions. The coaster has a smorgasbord of airtime- over 24 seconds of it in total-
consisting of ejector pops, floater pops, and some sustained airtime. The coaster also has elite
pacing, as it’s always doing something and never slows down, and it also mixes in some laterals.
Holiday World also takes incredibly good care of this coaster, which is no small feat.
I have a separate review on Voyage, but this is one of the best coasters in the world.
The park’s only major steel coaster is Thunderbird,
the first and only Bolliger and Mabillard launched wing coaster.
This coaster compliments the park’s trio of wood coasters perfectly by doing what those coasters
don’t. Thunderbird’s launch is surprisingly powerful and the coaster has four graceful
inversions with the latter two being the standouts because of the near-misses and hangtime. I also
have a separate review on this coaster, but it has a legit case as the world’s best wing coaster.
The final coaster is Howler, a small Zamperla kiddie coaster
themed to the park’s mascot, the Holidog. And yes, adults can ride this one for the credit.
Howler is part of Holidog’s Fun Town, which is one of two kids areas at Holiday World.
The other is Rudolph’s Reindeer Ranch in the Christmas area. These lands are small, but
they’re very appealing to kids with their colorful paint schemes, play areas, and ride collection.
Beyond the coasters, the most notable ride is probably the Gobbler Getaway dark ride.
This interactive shooting dark ride from Sally tasks riders with calling-
not shooting- turkeys. The stylistic cartoony scenes bring a smile to my face
and all of the effects always work, which is why this is a solid dark ride.
I was fortunate enough to go on a tour on this ride on a prior Holiwood Nights and
I have a separate review on this ride as well. Complimenting the water park are two water rides.
Frightful Falls is a fun log flume with a long, dark tunnel at the start and a decent drop at
the end that passes through the Legend. Raging Rapids is a river rapids ride
that is actually very weak on the rapids. Instead, it uses geysers and waterfalls to drench guests.
Plus, it has some nice western-themed buildings along the course. However, this ride often seems
to be closed in my visits to the park. It has only been open half the time for me.
Holiday World’s flat ride lineup isn’t particularly strong. The most notable is a
small S&S double shot in Liberty Launch. While it may not offer stunning views or thrilling drops,
it does offer two abrupt pops of airtime at the top. The rest of the park’s flat ride lineup
consists of your average pendulum and spinning rides, none of which are standouts in my opinion.
However, these rides are almost always walk-ons so they’re not
bad to hit walking between the signature rides. One of the things I love most about Holiday World
is their weather policy. As long as there isn’t thunder and lightning in the area,
they will run their attractions in pretty much anything. I have had multiple visits
where I have ridden the park’s roller coasters in heavy downpours, which is quite the experience.
The biggest negative about Holiday World in my opinion is the park layout. I understand
why the layout is how it is, but it’s still a frustrating park to navigate. The park has
several dead-ends with the most egregious being the long pathway to Thunderbird. The park is
also extremely hilly. You enter the park atop the hill, travel down the hill as you make your
way through the Halloween area. And then you have to climb back up the hill to reach Thunderbird.
Just know you may have to do a lot of backtracking and hill-climbing when you visit this park.
So do I recommend Holiday World? Absolutely! I love this park’s coaster lineup and the customer
service is among the best in the world. I always leave this park with a giant smile on my face.
If possible, I would recommend visiting during Holiwood Nights to maximize your opportunity for
night rides and because the comradery between the other coaster enthusiasts is incredible.
In terms of the time needed, I would recommend a full day for Holiday World,
especially if you plan to do the water park as well. Just make sure to hit the
water park early like I recommended and you’ll be able to avoid the longest waits,
which will allow you to maximize your rides on the roller coasters later in the day.
So those are my thoughts on Holiday World, the wonderful family park in Santa Claus, Indiana.
Have you been here? Or is this a park on your bucket list? I would love to hear your thoughts
about this family park down in the comments. If you enjoyed this video, I’d appreciate it if you
gave this video a like and you considered subscribing since there will be a lot
more roller coaster and amusement park videos here at Canobie Coaster. Thanks for watching!