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Park News - (6/25/09) A great new video featuring Holiday World’s Gobbler Getaway dark ride experience has been posted to the official Sally Dark Rides channel on YouTube. I’ve embedded it below for your enjoyment!

  (6/18/09) A report from this year’s Holiwood Nights event has been posted to Negative-G.
  (6/8/09) ThrillRide has posted their own review of Pilgrims Plunge that is worth looking over. You can also check out the Season Pass Podcast which has just posted their own Holiday World episode (#82) that features a chat with Will Koch
  (5/15/09) Holiday World donated nearly $20,000 to the Easter Seals Rehabilitation Center of Evansville, raised during the park’s 17th annual Play Day event for children with mental and physical disabilities. Holiday World is donating the day’s discounted admission proceeds to the Easter Seals Rehabilitation Center, to be used to purchase a “Wii-habilitation Therapy” video system and a new therapy gym mirror. The balance of the donation will be used to provide therapy for local children with disabilities, including a five-day workshop that will help them learn to ride a bike. The admission price for “Play Day” is an $8.00 donation to the Easter Seals Rehabilitation Center.
  “At Holiday World, we strive to be a park where children and adults with physical and mental disabilities can feel comfortable and safe, and have a really fun time,” says Koch. “On Play Day, we open our gates to 2,500 very special Guests—and see some of the happiest smiles of the season.” Over the past 17 years, Holiday World’s Play Day has raised more than $211,000 for the Easter Seals Rehabilitation Center.
  (5/9/09) Sally Corp. has uploaded a great POV video showing off the Gobbler Getaway dark ride added to Holiday World a couple of seasons ago. I’ve embedded the video below for your viewing pleasure.

  (5/8/09) According to the official Holiday World website, the park will be delaying their plans to add the HoliWatch program for the 2009 season.
  (4/16/09) According to the video embedded below, Gravity Group brought in their new prototype wooden coaster trains (Timberliners) to Holiday World not long ago to test them out on The Raven. The trains have since gone back to the shop, so don’t plan on taking any rides on them soon, but it’s nice to see them in action here.

  (4/14/09) Holiday World has announced a new two month long Feeding Families Food Drive event. In May and June, each ticket holder who donates two or more canned food items will be given $5 in Holibucks to spend in the park. The food items will be donated to nearby region food banks. All questions about the event can be answered here.
  (4/8/09) Holiday World was awarded the national “Making a Difference” Award from the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network. Holiday World was actually the only business to be honored this year after they rolled out a new allergen-friendly menu last season. This year, several of the park’s restaurants will offer an expanded menu of pre-packaged food items which do not contain eight of the most common food allergens, namely: wheat, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, milk, soy and eggs.

2009 - Pilgrims Plunge - (7/2/09) Holiday World reports on Twitter that they have added 2 new boats to Pilgrims Plunge this week, increasing the ride’s capacity by 40%.
  (6/2/09) An interesting video about Pilgrims Plunge has been posted to YouTube and embedded below. Not only does it give you a new unique look at the vertical lift hill, but you can also see how the boats drain out all that water while taking the trip up the lift. Then check out the next video clip after that featuring our good friend Justin from the European Coaster Club... soaked beyond belief and tells us what he thinks about the Plunge.


  (6/1/09) Screamscape recieved a few reports about Pilgrims Plunge being down for a few days last week, which we did confirm, as the park was apparently awaiting a spare part needed to repair the ride. The good news is that it came in and they got the ride back up and running again this weekend, and even moved the webcam to a new location where you can see the splashdown it all it’s glory.
  (5/7/09) According to Holiday World, the previously mentioned “tunnel” that was to be built on the approach to the lift has been cancelled. According to Paula Werne, the tunnel would have blocked the rider’s view of the elevator lift as they slowly approached it, and the final result is more “scary” without it. Look for more changes to come to Pilgrims Plunge over the coming weeks as they adjust the ride to increase the size of the splash as well as add “onboard photos and guest-controlled geysers.”
  (5/2/09) More photos and videos of Pilgrims Plunge can be seen at the HoliBlog, including a video of Will and Santa taking the Plunge, which shows off the splashdown from an off-ride point of view. As you can see… unlike what many were expecting, it doesn’t create a huge tidal wave of water. While some may be disappointed in this, I actually kind of like it… it allows time for the boat to hydroplane across the top of the water, much like the fun Jet Stream at Six Flags Magic Mountain and other Arrow boat style flume rides. More thrill… less wetness…
  (5/1/09) The first Pilgrims Plunge POV video has been found and embedded below for your viewing pleasure.

  (4/28/09) Holiday World will preview the World’s Tallest Water Ride in a media preview on this Thursday afternoon, two days before the ride opens to the public. The park’s webcams will stream the event and various Twitters will “tweet” about the experience following their rides which you can follow here.
  (4/22/09) BlockBrake has posted an interview with Holiday World’s own Paula Werne where they talk about the Plunge and about the park in general.
  (4/17/09) Holiday World has put up seats to be one of the first riders on Pilgrims Plunge onto Ebay.
  (4/6/09) Check out the latest construction update on Pilgrim’s Plunge at the HoliBlog this week. They’ve got water in the flume now and say that they will likely perform the first big splashdown test on Monday afternoon. Not the elevator mind you, so I can only assume they’ll be getting the boats to the top by crane or something. Holiday World also reports that details about how the first riders will be picked for the Media Preview day will be announced, tweet by tweet over the next week or so, so stay tuned! For everyone else, you’ll have to wait until the season’s opening day on Saturday, May 2nd.
  (3/25/09) Awesome new pictures of Pilgrims Plunge being topped off are on the HoliBlog this week. Take a look at that last photo in particular and you’ll see just how HUGE this ride is, towering over the rest of the nearby empty landscape. Very impressive to say the least, though I still think the most scary part of the ride is going to be the elevator lift to the top. Meanwhile they have also posted a couple of videos showing Will doing the Unboxing thing on one of the new boats at first, and then he gets on his hands and knees to show you the underside of the boat up close.
  (3/16/09) Holiday World topped off the massive Pilgrims Plunge water ride on Friday afternoon, as a giant crane was brought in to put the final piece of steel up to the top of the structure. A news article confirms that the lift ride to the top will take just 22 seconds to reach the top before the boat locks into place and begins the long drop back down to mother Earth. Will Koch’s also confirmed that they are working on new ride ideas for 2010 and 2012 already, but of course no more details were given. Even more photos and a video of the ride being topped off have been posted to the HoliBlog.
  (3/12/09) Holiday World has posted all new construction photos of Pilgrims Plunge on the HoliBlog where you can see the vertical lift going up.
  (3/4/09) Holiday World has posted some new construction pictures to the HoliBlog as the start of the chute takes shape. They also promise that a new construction video is on it’s way soon, so keep your eyes peeled.
  (2/26/09) Holiday World has posted some new construction updates on their Facebook page that you don’t want to miss. This includes the arrival of one of the massive pieces that will be part of the elevator lift system.
  (2/24/09) Holiday World has posted new updates and a video to the HoliBlog of the first steet going vertical at last, as well as some new photo updates posted to the official Facebook page.
  (2/18/09) According to Holiday World a 200 foot long tunnel will indeed be part of the ride experience on Pilgrims Plunge. In fact they’ve updated their Facebook page again with new pictures that mention that the old tunnel they were showing was just a water conduit, but then show off the construction area where the new curved tunnel will go. The boats will pass through the tunnel just before loading onto the elevator lift.
  (2/17/09) As a few of you have asked so far this season, just what is the plan for Pilgrims Plunge in case a boat ever got stuck on the elevator style lift hill. I posed this very question to Paula Werne, the Director of Public Relations, who responded that the ride will actually have a hand crank. Yep… a Hand Crank… which will lower the elevator back down to the ground with good old fashioned human power.
  (8/27/08) A quick update about Pilgrim’s Plunge. For anyone wondering, the ride will be built by Intamin and according to Paula the ride will have “individual, double-hydraulic valve, overhead lapbars.” So by the term, “overhead lapbar”... I can only assume that this will be the same style over the shoulder restraint system that was installed onto Hydro and Perilous Plunge. I’ve also added some artwork from the park today.
  (8/26/08) Holiday World made their big announcement today and revealed that they will be building the world's tallest water ride. The ride will feature a 131 foot drop at a 45º angle, creating a wave of water 90 feet wide and 45 feet tall. For comparison’s sake, the current record holder is Perilous Plunge at Knott’s Berry Farm which drops riders 115 feet, though it does it at a jaw-dropping 75º angle. While the angle here will be similar to what you might have been on at other parks, the height will change things quite a bit for you. If that wasn’t enough, the ride will also feature a brand new lift concept in the form of a freaky very open-air elevator system. Just take a look at the artwork and animation just added to the park’s website... this thing looks creepy!
Also that new bit of 'technology' they also hinted about adding next year is a child locator system that uses RFID technology that they are calling HoliWatch.