Our Holiday World Trip : The Big Day

After returning from yard sales, we headed to Denny's for breakfast. I had never ate at a Denny's and it was pretty darn good. Two important things about breakfast:

1. There was a transracial family next to us at breakfast. I thought it was cool. There little girl was about 2 and her name was Fran. She was adorable. They, too, had a plethra of kids.

2. Every family that was heading to Holiday World was also eating at Denny's. That's because the only restaurant in Dale, IN is Denny's.

When we arrived at the park, there were several things to make those of you reading this that have never been and might be planning to go aware of:

1. Holiday World is in the middle of nowhere. Seriously. Like, you are driving through corn fields and bam, there's Holiday World. While driving there, especially if you driving straight up the morning of, if you need to pee, you might want to stop in Owensboro. Otherwise, there is a bush on the side of the road in your future.

2. Although this park is wonderful, clean, fun, etc., etc., etc. the people that visit are not necessarily of the same descriptive adjectives I just used. You know that song, "Jesus loves the little children, ALL the children of the world..." Well, whoever wrote that was thinking of Holiday World. As we pulled into the gravel/paved parking area, I immediately realized that I was going to have the best day of people watching in MY LIFE!

3. Everything at Holiday World is priced cheap. Parking: free. Food: cheap. Drinks: free. Life jackets to use while in the water park: free. Lunch for the five of us: under $20. So, yes, you can do this little mini-vaca on a small budget.

Ok, so back to the day of fun. We had decided before heading up that we were going to spend the majority of our day at Splashin' Safari, the water park portion of Holiday World. Our kids have never been to a REAL water park. Killer pool at Beach Club Resort at Disney? Yep. Water Park? Nope.

We went through the entrance gates, rented a wagon to carry beach towels, etc. and rented a locker to store valuables. Then we walked to Splashin' Safari, which is kind of at the back of the theme park. Now, for those of you that are reading this and have never heard of Holiday World, I should explain that it is in Santa Claus, IN. I'm not kidding. Hence, the name. AND, yes, when you walk in the gates, they ARE playing Christmas music. We're talking Silent Night and Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree. Did I mention that I had a migraine during this little adventure?

Anyhoo, we got to the water park, changed into our swimsuits, locked up the goodies, and headed to Kima Bay, the newest part of Splashin' Safari. Let me also take a minute to tell you that this water park is ginormous, as in HUGE. Now, I have never been to Nashville Shores, but this sucker is AT LEAST 6-7 times the size of Wave Country near Opryland. It has two wave pools which our kids loved, multiple water slides, a small water area for babies and toddlers, two larger areas for kids (including Kima Bay), two lazy rivers (my personal favorite), tons of food and (did I mention) some of the best people watching I have EVER seen.

Seriously, and I say this with all due respect, as I have a tattoo and I don't have a problem with any person that has a tattoo....but if you didn't have at least 10 tattoos at HW, you stood out. If your bathing suit wasn't at least 3 sizes too small, you looked abnormal. If you weren't pasty white turned hot pink by the end of the day (like ME!), then something was just plain wrong. If you are reading this and weigh 900 lbs and haven't left your home in a year, trust me, you will feel loved at Holiday World. No one cares. I LOVED IT! I walked around with my thunder thighs all day and I actually felt good about myself. Diet? Who needs to diet? Go to Holiday World and have a BIG OLD ICE CREAM. Life is good at Holiday World.

We rode tons of water rides, even the scary ones. Our kiddos LOVED the wave pool. The great thing about their wave pool is that it stays pretty shallow most of the way out and their waves ARE HUGE! Our kids could stand about half way out and felt comfortable jumping waves because they could touch the bottom which was nice.

After a fun filled day, we decided we wanted to do one non-water ride, so we rode the biggest wooden roller coaster at Holiday World, The Voyage. Well, Isaac and I rode it and Jonathan and Luke rode it. Anna was hysterical and decided against it. It was really good and I was sore for a few days and it especially didn't help the migraine. But it was great.

We finally remembered to take pics as we were leaving. Here's my crew:


Here's Robert, Angie V. and Alexandra. Can you tell Alexandra was ready to go home?


So, all this to say, it was a WONDERFUL trip. We will be back and next time, we will probably spend two days at the park. One day back at the water park, one day at the regular park riding rides. Definitely worth the money AND the scenery! :)