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Kiddie Rides

Holiday World

Holiday World does not have a Kiddieland as such, as a specific area of the park. HW began as Santa Claus Land, a Winter location where kids could come to visit the fat man in the red suit, sit on his lap, get an autograph, pet a few reindeer, and ride a few rides. The park grew across the hilltop for two decades, adding kiddie rides with plenty of space in between for an open, relaxed feel. By 1960, as HW began evolving into an adult park, it went back and filled in those empty spaces with buildings and rides more suited to older patrons. That leaves the park today with a haphazard mix of rides. Indian River and Salmon Run are by the Alamo, while the minibumper boats, ball pit and circle rides are next to the Raven. Up on the hill, Fun Town opened in 1999. However, that does not lessen HW's kiddie experience. This is a neat collection of rides, many of which would be fine additions to formal Kiddielands elsewhere. And best of all --- the fat man in the red suit still spends his summer vacation at Holiday World, giving hugs on demand before heading back North to prepare for the annual sleigh ride in the sky.
Fun Town. A very elaborate hilltop playground built in 1999. Kids can climb the towers and swing, crawl or slide around a horseshore shaped apparatus before returning to the ground. Water sprays liven up the center. Good for at least an hour. Lots of benches for adults and a concession stand. A cool breeze usually drifts across the hill on hot summer afternoons and the mist from the water sprays helps. This is designed for ages 6-10. Howler and Dog Gone Trail load just off this plaza, and the Freedom Train loads at the base of the hill and circles Fun Town. Over around the towers, slides, stairs and bars, the ground is a soft rubber foam.

Howler. Basically a Roller Skate, this is a tubular miniature coaster with quick turns and sudden drops. It's a little tight for adults, but a great ride for kiddies too young for HW's big coasters. They give you two laps around the twisting, dropping layout. As is needed for kiddies, this is very, very smooth. It's better than the Lil Phantom at Kennywood and Traffic Jam at Kings Island and Carowinds, but not as good as Woodstock Express at Cedar Point or the Barnstormer at Disney.


Mini Bumper Boats. Scaled down power donuts navigate a smaller pond. Cute. This pond is surprisingly big and the boats pick up more speed than you might expect. Steering is very quick. Your biggest problem here will be getting the tyke off. They usually want to ride it over and over and over.
Indian River. Rugrats ride miniature canoes around a meandering water course. We’ve never seen one of these anywhere else. It's reserved for the youngest, as the canoes are too small to hold anyone over about 10. It looks like a log flume without lifts. The only problem with this ride is it's too short and too flat. If this were lengthened and given a little hill where a conveyor belt pulled the canoes to the top before sending them down a gentle slide, it would be one of the better kiddie rides anywhere. It also looks cheesy, a metal channel sitting on gravel and concrete. While they're enlarging it, they should dig a proper in ground channel and landscape it.

Freedom Train. As a kiddie train, this works fine. It's a tight squeeze for adults in the undersized cars, but perfectly proportioned for kids.. The train sets off on a long loop around the hill, offering views of the back side of the park. It's just about the right length of ride for little ones, and once around the hill is as long as adults want to be squeezed into those cars. Technically, this is a high quality R gauge train set. Model Railroaders will love it However, HW should install a full sized train, using it for moving people from one part of the park to another, and run it around the parking lot, campground, lake, underneath the Raven and Legend, behind the water park, out and back with Voyage, up around the hill and down the front of the park. A full sized steam engine pulling open air passenger cars through the forested scenery here would be one of the best train rides in the country. HW should look at Disney, Kings Island, Busch Gardens and Cedar Point, which use real trains to move crowds. They could install stations at the hilltop, front entrance, behind Zinga, and at the Pilgrim Cafe.

Carousels. Neither of these is too big, so Holiday World offers two. The first is a standard miniature Merry go Round. The other is a circle of Seahorses (see top right). We don't like this merry go round, even for a kiddie collection. Holiday World is becoming a major park, and as such, we think it's time to bring in a full sized carousel. This model belongs in a shopping center. It's a narrow two row model with limited up and down motion. However, we do like the Seahorses. They're almost like a miniature Flying Scooters, getting the kids up off the ground, angling them out slightly, and giving them 12 times around with the wind blowing in their faces. It's probably the most aggressive of the HW collection, since the kids have to hold tight on their own.
Circle Rides. Fish, Rockets, and Airplanes. These are new versions of the old 1940s classics, in which tykes sit in vehicles of one kind or another and travel about 12 times around in a fixed circle. Parents and attendants can hover close by. Pictured here is Salmon Run, in which the fish go up and down and a dozen times around. The brightly colored rubberized nylon cover hides the gears and struts. Top left are the Rockets. We're pretty impressed with them : sleek, comfortable and eye catching, gaining enough altitude for a thrill without danger.
Ball Pit. Very few amusement parks have these, which are more common in McDonalds and Holiday Inns. Basically, it's a huge pit of hard plastic balls the size of tennis balls. Kids can jump in and swim around, going deep enough to cover themselves, and just have a great time for 15 or 20 minutes.
The Dog Gone Trail is a simulated Jeep trail out through the woods. The six miniature cars are modelled after jeeps. Each seats up to four, but the usual load is one kid and one adult. In this photo four of the cars are lined up bumper to bumper while the mother in the lead vehicle shows her son how to work the gas pedal. This is a pretty slick little ride but would be even better if it were longer, perhaps crossing over a bridge and doubling back on itself. They could double the length and double the number of cars and end up with a kiddie turnpike in the trees. Once they tear that fence down, they've got the whole hillside to expand across so there's no reason to cram this ride into a small space.
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