Today, my family and I did something we do once or twice every summer and visited the closest amusement park, Holiday World. I enjoy riding roller coasters and almost always enjoy amusement parks, and even though Holiday World is not one of the major parks, and does not have an extreme number of rides, I enjoy going to Holiday World more than almost any other park (except probably Disney, but I cannot go there that often). Will Koch (pronounced Cook), the president and owner (along with his family) of Holiday World who passed away this past Sunday at the age of 48 is the person most responsible for my enjoyment of the park. I also admired the man as a person and a businessman.
I am going to describe my day with some digressions to discuss why Mr. Koch made the day more enjoyable.
We arrived right around opening time and pulled into the parking lot we were directed to. The first pleasantry is that I did not have to pull out any money to park. I am sure Mr. Koch wanted to maximize his profits as much as anyone, but he seemed to feel that he could do that better by creating loyal customers as opposed to gouging the ones that were there. We bought our tickets, which honestly are a bit more expensive than at comparatively sized parks, though not overwhelmingly so. With a coupon discount the tickets were $36.95 apiece.
We headed toward some rides that we knew the 4-year-old enjoyed and I and the older kids stopped to ride the swings. I forgot to remove my hat and put it in the rack before I got on, so I was just going to hold onto it during the ride. When the ride-op saw me holding it though, she offered to put it up for me. Now, it might be policy that you cannot hold onto things during the ride but it definitely felt as if she was just doing me a favor.
After the ride we met up with my wife at the kiddy ride my son was on. We spent a few minutes putting on sunscreen from the free sunscreen station that was right next to the ride. Mr. Koch realized that sunburnt guests would not really be happy guests and at first started offering free sunscreen in the water park. The park now has a few places in the non-water section to get sunscreen also.
After the slathering the older boys and I went to ride The Voyage. The Voyage is the third of the parks three major wooden roller coasters. It opened in 2006 and since 2007 has been voted the number 1 wooden coaster in the world by Amusement Today. Mr. Koch has a background in engineering and was one of the designers of the Voyage. In the fall of 2005, I attended a special event for coaster enthusiasts at the park. Part of the event was getting to walk back and look at the Voyage construction that was in progress. Mr. Koch led the tour and you could tell how excited he was about the ride. His face seemed to really light up as he talked about the 24 seconds of “airtime” on the ride, the 3 90 degree banked turns including the one when you were almost back to the station, and how they had used the terrain of the land to allow the coaster to keep its speed up on the way back to the station. It did not take spending a lot of time with him to see that not only was he a businessman, but also a fan of the parks and the rides.
I wear a hat to the park, but I don’t want to lose it on the rides. At most parks, I have to find somewhere to put the hat and then rush back to get in my seat and get buckled up. At this park the ride ops make a pass either once you are on the train or while you are waiting on a train to specifically collect items that people need stowed. It is just one more little thing you notice that tends to make your experience more enjoyable.
After the ride we were a bit thirsty so we went to the drink stand to get something to drink. This is probably the one thing that has done more to win the goodwill of the public than anything. In 1999 Mr. Koch made two major announcements for the 2000 season. The first was the opening of the parks second major wooden coaster, The Legend. The second, though, was what set the amusement park industry abuzz. Unlimited soft drinks would be included in the price of admission. The price increase for entry tickets was the largest in the parks history, but the public did not mind when it meant that at any time, they could wander into a nearby soft drink stand (and they are plentiful) and serve themselves a soft drink or water. Also when you walk into a drink stand you will see at least eight spigots offering eight different options including two or three diet drinks, Gatorade, and non-carbonated beverages such as punch. Coffee is also free, but you sometimes have to go to a food stand to find it.
After the Voyage, we met up with my wife and youngest (and for those wondering, my wife doesn’t really enjoy the big rides so she volunteers to stay with the young one) and headed for the water park. The older boys and I rode the parks newest ride, The Wildebeest, which is the worlds longest water coaster. I then took the young one on the family water slide and he had a blast. He insisted that we ride it again later. We ate lunch in the waterpark. I have read an interview with Mr. Koch and he said there goal is to price their food within 20% of what you would pay at a comparable restaurant. The boys and I got a pizza where we each got two pieces, a couple of breadsticks, and a couple of Oreos for 27 dollars (for four of us). Not really cheap, but not stadium prices either.
After leaving the waterpark, we rode The Legend. When the ride op collected my hat, she asked if I had ridden the Hallowswings earlier. Turns out she was the one who had taken my hat there and she recognized it. She thought my Real Deal Brazil hat was cool. After some bumper cars with the whole family and a double-shot ride with the older boys, we got a snack. Two waffle cones with ice cream for the boys and a dreamsicle float (ice cream in orange Icee) for me. Total cost: under 8 dollars.
I had never ridden the Pilgrim’s Plunge, a shoot-the-chutes ride with a 130 foot drop and an elevator system to take the boats to the top. So we rode that. On the coasters they take your hats and glasses and put them on a shelf for you, but on the water rides, they realize that you may want to keep more valuable things such as your wallet or cell phone dry. They provide lockers for that. The lockers are free.
We rode a few more rides and watched the youngest one ride some also. Before we left we rode the Raven. The parks first major coaster. While it has since been eclipsed, it did spend some time atop Amusement Today’s list of best wooden roller coasters. If I were told I could only have one more coaster ride the rest of my life, I would ride the Voyage. If I were told I could have any coaster put in my back yard to ride over and over again, I would pick the Raven.
All in all it was a very pleasant day.
I first visited Holiday World in the late 1980’s. Even though it had officially changed its name in 1984, many people still referred to it as Santa Claus Land. It had a few rides, but no coasters. Since then I have seen it add a water park which has since become the largest in Indiana. They have added three major wooden roller coasters that have all spent time in the top 10 and 2 of them have occupied the number one spot. I am glad that Mr. Koch got to see his vision come to life and see the park break the million visitor mark the last three years and win the industry Applause award in 2004, joining the likes of Disneyland, Epcot, and Cedar Point and becoming the smallest park to win the award. It saddens me though that someone with his passion and vision will not be able to continue to see his vision grow. The park is family owned and says it will stay that way, so I am not worried about the philosophy of the park changing, but I am worried that whoever takes over will not have the vision or ability of Mr. Koch. Outside the world of sports and performing arts it is not always obvious who the real talents are, but I think it is obvious that Mr. Koch was a talent in the industry. Even though I didn’t know him personally, I would like to thank him for making a small part of my life a good bit brighter and I wish the best to his family.