Trip Report: Holiday World Splashin Safari (August 31, Hyena Falls Review)

Posted on by Marcus
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.
So how about the new slides?

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 the
dry-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.)

*Hyena Falls:
   *Chuckles: 7/10
   *Giggles: 7/10
   *Laughs: 8/10
   *Tee-Hee: 7/10
Jungle Racer: 7/10
Mammoth: 10/10!

Atlantis Clarksville Trip Report (July 12, 2013)

Posted on by Marcus
Because I wasn’t able to visit another water park since May, I did another visit to Atlantis in Clarksville, Indiana but made it a surprise visit since I wanted to see how the water park was doing, and would be like on a busy day.

A very sunny morning about an hour after the park had opened had some light, but very good crowds. The majority of visitors were large groups of very excited children on field trips, but the rest were mostly teens and adults looking for a very nice day out in the sun.

I spent about a few hours in the water park and had myself a pretty good time. I spent most of my time sliding down the slides since I didn’t really feel like bothering with the wave pool. With this visit, I was able to compare what the park would be like with a crowd. The splitting of the staircase for body sliders on the left, inner tubers on the right was a very nice idea and allowed for body sliders to bypass those with inner tubes and head straight to the slide of their choice. The top of the complex was much less organized though, with people standing in random locations unsure what line they might be in for the slide they want. It takes a bit of squeezing-by other people sometimes to be able to reach the slide of your choice.

The slides themselves were just about the same as the last visit, except that the slide surfaces were cleaner and smoother, and the water felt slightly warmer than my first visit in the cold. One very noticeable change was in the enclosed body slide where I had mentioned that the second helix on the slide previously had back-scratching, which wasn’t felt on this visit!

So, I’m happy to say that this visit turned out to be a better visit compared to the last, and the water park was doing much better than it was earlier this summer! I can definitely recommend this water park if you’re ever in the Louisville of Clarksville areas and want to get your feet wet, just be sure to avoid weekends since those are the busiest times for the park. Also, if you want to avoid additional charges for locker use, bring your own locks!

Body Slide (Closed Flume): 7/10
Body Slide (Open Flume): 6/10
Tube Slide (Closed Flume): 7/10
*Tube Slide (Open Flume): 7/10
Overall Water Park Rating: 6/10

Splashin Safari Review

Posted on by Marcus

Splashin Safari

I would like to first say that Holiday World has to be one of the cleanest parks I have ever visited. Even with free sodas and people drinking them from plastic cups, there is almost no litter to be found on their ground. Holiday World also gives off a great family feeling with the owners, Pat and Dan Koch, walking around their park often to greet guests. These factors I especially enjoyed about their park.

I visited Splashin Safari during an annual roller coasters enthusiast event called Holiwood Nights which contains exclusive riding times on their roller coasters and a few of their water slides, including the world record holder for the longest water coaster, Wildebeest.

 

The Wildebeest is a thrilling water coaster with seven upward hydromagnetic sections. The water slide starts with a conveyor lift to the top while you sit in the inline raft. Once you reach the top, you are greeted by a ride operator, and a flood of water coming in from the sides of the tunnel. The slide races towards and over each hill at a very fast pace and soaking you at the same time. Because of the fast pace, you can get airtime on most of the hills. This water coaster always leaves people smiling and completely soaked by the time they reach the station at the end of the slide. The only downside to this amazing water slide is that the water temperature on it is the coldest throughout the entire water park, but this never kept me from riding it more than 5 times during the Holiwood Nights event.

Wildebeest Wildebeest Wildebeest Wildebeest

Zoombabwe is a very tall and long dark family raft slide. This slide is pretty fast for a dark raft slide, and with all that speed it’s surprising how long it lasts. The slide has air holes in it punched out in shapes of tiki faces and there are areas in the slide where extra water is added to slow down the rafts. This water slide also sits between the tracks of the Legend roller coaster, giving a unique view of passengers riding it. The downside to this water slide is that the walk up to it is pretty long.
ZOOMBabwe ZOOMBabwe ZOOMBabwe ZOOMBabwe

Zinga is a purple and blue ProSlide Tornado that also sits in the area of the Legend roller coaster. This water slide starts with a speedy drop into a large tunneled helix, then it drops out into the Tornado section where you ride up the walls. This was a very fun slide to ride because of how fast you enter the tornado section and the floating feeling you get when you ride up the walls of the element. The downside to this slide is that it also has a long walk to get to it.
Zinga Zinga Zinga Zinga

The Jungle Racer is a normal 10 lane mat racer water slide with three dips. This slide seemed to have one of the shorter lines in the park because of it’s higher capacity and short slide duration. The slide simply completes three drops, the third giving slight airtime.
Jungle Racer Jungle Racer

Otorongo is made up of three black tunneled inner-tube slides. Each slide is named from part of the slide complex’s name: Oto, Ron, and Go. Oto (right) is a normal dark slide that does a few turns before landing you in the pool. Ron (Middle) is the dark slide with two quick drops before making a big splash in the pool. Go (Left) is the slid that completes a helix before dropping and landing into the pool. Each water slide has a water curtain where the tunnels end before you hit the pool.
Watubee and Otorongo Signs Otorongo

The park’s ProSlide Behemoth bowl, Bakuli, is a very large water slide and the hardest water slide to miss. It consists of a few left and right turns before picking up a lot of speed going down a large drop and into the bowl section of the slide. When done in the bowl, you go down a much smaller, but steeper drop then forwards into the pool. This slide is quite thrilling because of it’s entrance speed into the bowl element. The only problem with this slide is that it sits within a lazy river and has only one way to get to it.
Bakuli Bakuli Bakuli Bakuli

Splashin Safari was easy to enjoy because of their selection of water slides. Unfortunately the water park did not seem to have enough shade to go around. The majority of the water park is out in the sun, and this causes the pavement to become very hot on sunny days. Luckily Holiday World offers free sunscreen in many places throughout the water park so you can avoid sunburn. Along with this is the free drinks available throughout the entire park, including the water park. This is good so you can stay hydrated.

Splashin Safari was one of the best water parks I’ve ever visited, and the reason why is not just because of the water slides. Along with the great water slides are the nice staff, clean facilities, and the free sunscreen and drinks.

Water slide ratings (N/A= unavailable)
Watubee
Watubee
AmaZOOM: 6/10
Bakuli: 8/10
Bamboo Chute:6/10
Jungle Racer: 7/10
Otorongo (3): 6/10
Safari Sam’s Splash Land (8): N/A
Watubee: 6/10
Wildebeest: 10/10!
Zinga: 8/10
ZOOMbabwe: 7/10

Other Rides/Attractions
Amazoom and Bamboo Chute
Amazoom (Blue) and Baboo Chute (White)
Bahari River: 7/10
Bahari Wave Pool: 7/10
Congo River: 6/10
Kima Bay: 7/10
Monsoon Lagoon: N/A
The Wave: 7/10