Family Travel,  Indiana

Holiday World 2020 – Post Quarantine Re-Opening

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For the past 16 years, we have lived an hour and a half away from Holiday World and Splashin’ Safari and have never been there. Well, that all changed this past weekend! We finally made it to Holiday World and Splashin’ Safari in Santa Claus, Indiana for a visit.

For the past few months, we have been wanting to get out and travel somewhere, especially since our trip to Europe and Disneyland Paris was canceled back in May, but instead, we’ve been staying healthy at home. I’ve been keeping an eye on all things travel-related since things started shutting down in March, trying to gauge when it might be safe to travel again.

I’ve been watching to see what guidelines are being put in place to clean and sanitize, as well as encourage social distancing. We knew that for our first trip post quarantine we wanted to go all out – hotel stay, indoor attractions, outdoor attractions, and dine in restaurants.

The only thing we didn’t want to do was travel too far from home. We thought it would be better to stay within our state (mostly) and be within driving distance of our house. That way if anyone got sick, or any new regulations/restrictions were suddenly put in place, we could just head back home.

We purchased our tickets online and drove to Santa Claus, Indiana on Friday morning. On the day of our visit Holiday World was open from 10:00-8:00, but Splashin’ Safari was closed. Splashin’ Safari was scheduled to open the next day, so we were hoping that everyone was planning to visit on Saturday and that crowds would be low on our visit. We were right! Crowds were relatively low, and it was so nice.

If you’re not familiar with Holiday World and Splashin’ Safari, you’re in for a treat. Holiday World is an amusement park that is divided into 4 holiday-themed areas – Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, and 4th of July. Splashin’ Safari is their water park. Your ticket gives you access to both parks (assuming they are both open.)

When we got to Holiday World’s FREE parking lot ten minutes after opening we were wondering if they were open because there were hardly any cars in the lot. We quickly grabbed our clear backpack and stroller and made our way up to the entrance.

As we approached the entrance we could hear a man on a megaphone giving instructions. Everyone was to line up and stay 6 feet away from other groups by standing on the yellow footprints that were painted on the ground. He was also instructing everyone to take their phone, keys and anything metal out of their pockets/bags, set them in a bin, and then walk through the metal detector with your bag in your hand.

We like to take our clear backpack with us when we travel anyway as it tends to speed up security checks. They were very efficient, and it only took a few minutes to get through their security checkpoint. Then we stood in line, again on the yellow footprints, waiting for our tickets to be scanned for entry.

When our tickets were scanned, we were each given a yellow wrist band to link to Holiday World’s new InLine Reservation system. There are instructions printed on the band to guide you through the process of linking your bands to your InLine Reservation account on your phone. It was a very easy process and took about 2 minutes to get all 6 bands linked to our account.

Not all of the rides were linked to the InLine Reservation system, which was a good thing. Most of the rides that required an InLine Reservation were the roller coasters.

These are the rides that required an InLine Reservation –

  • The Raven
  • The Legend
  • The Voyage
  • Thunderbird
  • Liberty Launch
  • Raging Rapids
  • Frightful Falls
  • Scarecrow Scrambler
  • Gobbler Getaway

I knew that Rob, Silas, and Micah were wanting to ride a roller coaster, so I consulted the map to see which one was closest to the entrance of the park. The Raven was the closest one, so I went ahead and placed them in the virtual queue via the InLine Reservation system, and we went to look for the FREE sunscreen station.

I burn easily, so sunscreen is a must! We found one of the FREE sunscreen stations and lathered up. Holiday World and Splashin’ Safari has several FREE sunscreen stations located throughout the park, and they’re also labeled on the map. There are also FREE hand Santa-tizer stations located throughout the park as well.

The Raven is located in the Halloween section of the park, so we headed that way to see what other rides we could ride while waiting for our turn on the Raven. After you join the virtual line, you will see a countdown start on your phone letting you know when you can physically go over and get in the line. Once your countdown has finished you have 15 minutes to get in the physical line and get your wrist band scanned otherwise you lose your spot in line. After scanning your band, waiting in the physical line would only take about 5 minutes. Only one person in your party needs to scan their band, so there isn’t a long line of people waiting to have their bands scanned. You can only be in a virtual line for one ride at a time.

We had 30 minutes so we went to ride the HallowSwings, which did not require an InLine Reservation, but there were yellow footprints on the ground encouraging everyone to social distance while standing in line. The wait for HallowSwings was less than 10 minutes.

While Rob, Silas, and Micah were in line, Cullan, Hadassah, and I went to the FREE soft drink station. Yes, you read that right, FREE soft drinks! FREE unlimited soft drinks! I wasn’t sure how this area would be set up due to sanitary restrictions, but I was pleasantly surprised. The drink stations were still self serve but were set up to be accessed in a one-way direction, and there were signs telling you to get a new cup for each visit. Throughout the day we also noticed that they were cleaned and wiped down quite regularly.

Cullan’s favorite ride in the Halloween area was the Scarecrow Scrambler. He was wearing his Wizard of Oz bracelet and was so excited to go on a scarecrow ride.

There was a Dive show in the Halloween area, and on the day of our visit, they were still rehearsing. But we got to see some really impressive dives – even one from 80 feet up! I love it when amusement parks offer more than just rides.

Cullan is our big fan of all things holiday related, especially Thanksgiving. He has a stuffed turkey that he got from Build-a-Bear a few years ago, and Turkey has been on many travels with us. So Cullan was looking forward to checking out all of the Turkey themed rides.

One of our favorite rides in the Thanksgiving area was the Gobbler Getaway, which is a calm indoor ride that all 6 of us could ride. You use your “turkey caller” laser gun to round up the missing turkeys for Thanksgiving.

The Turkey Whirl was also a fun ride. Hadassah was a little scared the first time she rode it, but she wanted to be “brave” so she rode it one more time after that.

The theming throughout the park is so much fun! Cullan loved getting to take his picture as a turkey.

Even the food areas are themed. The restaurant in the Thanksgiving area is called Plymouth Rock Cafe and every other table was blocked off with a tent card that read: “Reserved for Mayflower Passengers.”

Rob, Silas, and Micah’s favorite roller coaster was the Thunderbird, which was also located in the Thanksgiving area. There are 4 roller coasters at Holiday World, and 3 of them are wooden. The Thunderbird is the only steel roller coaster, and Rob, Silas, and Micah all said it was so smooth, which is why they preferred it to the others.

My favorite ride in the 4th of July section was the Raging Rapids. All 6 of us were able to ride in the same raft together and we had a blast getting soaked.

Silas and Micah really enjoyed the Liberty Launch. They love any kind of thrill ride.

Cullan and Hadassah liked Holidog’s FunTown where there are several rides for kids. The Holidog Express is a Mother Goose train ride where you see the characters along the route. Cullan has a Mother Goose board game and has all of the nursery rhymes memorized, so he was very excited and was reciting them on the ride. We rode this one multiple times in a row.

The Christmas section is a special area designated for kids under 54″, so it was perfect for Hadassah. Micah is only 52″ so she was able to ride with Hadassah. Cullan was so disappointed that he was too big to ride Rudolph’s Round-Up. He really wanted to ride in Santa’s sleigh.

Hadassah’s favorite ride was Dancer’s Fish. You could just see the look of pure joy on her face as she rode the ride. She was giggling and laughing every time the ride came around.

As a parent, it’s so helpful when all of the kids rides are all together in one area of the park. At Holiday World it was nice having two kids areas – one in the Christmas section and one in the 4th of July section. There were plenty of rides in the park for Hadassah to enjoy at 42″.

One of our goals for this trip was to eat our way around Holiday World and Splashin’ Safari and enjoy some food in each of the themed sections. Our first meal was at the Plymouth Rock Cafe in the Thanksgiving area. We ordered chicken and dumplings, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, cornbread, and a broccoli salad (not pictured). We also got a pretzel with cheese from a food cart right outside the restaurant. The chicken and dumplings and broccoli salad were our favorites for this meal.

In the 4th of July section we stopped at the Alamo and ordered a burrito bowl where you can choose your own fillings/toppings. We ordered ours with rice, beans, ground beef, lettuce, queso, sour cream, and shredded cheese. We asked for pico de gallo on the side because they kids think it’s too spicy, and also got an order of chips and queso. Cullan gave it two thumbs up. Actually, we all did! It was SO good.

We popped into Santa’s Marketplace for the third stop of our food tour to see what food options were offered in the Christmas section. Santa’s Marketplace had the largest indoor seating area of all the food places we visited. Plymouth Rock Cafe had a decent-sized indoor area, but Santa’s Marketplace was bigger. The Alamo only offered limited outdoor seating.

We ordered a whole pepperoni pizza and had a hard time finishing it. It was a lot of food! But it was hot, fresh, and delicious.

Cullan loved the added touch of the signs on the tables that read: “No seating. Reserved for Santa’s Elves.”

Our last stop was supposed to be Goblin Burgers in the Halloween area, but by the time we got there it was 25 minutes before closing and they had already closed up for the day. I guess we will just have to plan another trip back to Holiday World and Splashin’ Safari.

We had such a great time on our first visit to Holiday World and Splashin’ Safari and I know we will be going back. The kids have already asked when we can make a return trip. I was thoroughly impressed with the accommodations they have made to increase their cleaning and to ensure social distancing.

We also really liked the InLine Reservation system, and personally I’d like to see it stay around permanently. It was so nice to be able to physically be in line for one ride while having a place in a virtual line at the same time. Usually, our family doesn’t get to spend a whole lot of time together at amusement parks because our kids have different interests, and we split up so that everyone can ride the rides they want. But on this trip, we spent the majority of the day together because the 3 roller coaster riders only had to leave us to stand in a physical line for about 5 minutes, then ride the ride, and come right back to us.

And let’s not forget about the FREE parking, the FREE sunscreen, and the FREE unlimited soft drinks that Holiday World and Splashin’ Safari offers. I definitely felt like we got more than our money’s worth on this visit. The tickets are reasonably priced, and they pack so much value into their park. It’s also one of the cleanest parks that I’ve ever been to. If you’re ever near Santa Claus, Indiana, you should definitely plan to visit Holiday World and Splashin’ Safari. It’s only 1 1/2 hours from Louisville, and 3 hours from St. Louis, Indianapolis, Nashville, and Cincinnati.

For another look at our first visit to Holiday World and Splashin’ Safari post quarantine, check out our YouTube video below.

If you’re not ready to get out and travel yet, check out this post on 9 Outdoor Toys That Your Kids Will Be Begging to Play With.

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