Holiday World and Splashin' Safari

I made my first trip to Santa Claus, Indiana this week to visit the area's main attraction Holiday World and Splashin' Safari. The amusement park is located just off I-64 in southern Indiana.

It's kind of in the middle of nowhere, but at the same time, it's within easy driving distance of several midwestern cities. It's about 3 hours from Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Nashville and St. Louis, and one hour from Louisville. It's a fun and slightly less expensive alternative to some of the parks in those areas.

Regular admission is $39.95 for adults, although pre-purchasing tickets online cuts $4 off that price. We purchased discount tickets at a CVS on our drive down and got the tickets for $32.95. Regular price for kids and seniors are $29.95, although we found plenty of $2 off offers for those tickets.

At Holiday World, the price of admission includes some nice extras - free parking, free Pepsi soft drinks and free sunscreen.

The parking was very convenient. We got there at 9:30 CT when the park opened and were close enough to the front gates to walk, although there is also tram service. The free soft drinks are a nice benefit. Drink "Oases" are located throughout the park, loaded with cups for the Pepsi fountain drinks. I thought it was great that the machines also included water and orange Gatorade - great ways to stay hydrated on a hot summer day instead of slurping down sugary soft drinks. There is bottled water for sale at the concession stands, but why buy water when you can fill a cup for free at the Oasis.

The free sunscreen was also a big plus. I thought the stations inside Holiday World were a bit few and far between, however I think there was a station outside every restroom inside Splashin' Safari.

We picked the perfect time of year to go. The second full week of August meant that about half the schools in Indiana had already resumed classes for the fall. That translated into a very uncrowded park. We never waited more than 15 minutes in line for any ride, and most of the rides were more like 5-10 minute waits.

Traveling with two young kids, we stuck to mostly pretty tame rides, although the park has a great selection for real thrill seekers.

Just off the entrance to the park is Rudolph's Reindeer Ranch, a collection of rides for very young kids. My boys enjoyed this area last year, but a quick ride on the bumper boats was plenty of time for them this time around.

Our first stop of the day was in the Halloween Section for the Frightful Falls log ride. We also hit the Scrambler.

Also in this area of the park is The Legend, a wooden roller coaster with three dramatic drops and a top speed of 65 mph. It's consistently voted one of the top roller coasters in the country.

Next up, the 4th of July area with the Raging Rapids and Liberty Launch. Raging Rapids was great. We got soaked. Our silly mistake was to do it right before going to Splashin' Safari, so our wet clothes got stuffed into lockers and didn't have a chance to dry.

Past the 4th of July area is another great area for kids - Holidogs Funtown. We rode the Doggie Coaster several times, as well as the Funtown train. There's a great playground here with slides, climbing nets and fountains.

The final section of the park is the Thanksgiving section. The boys almost got their grandmother sick on the Turkey Whirl, another ride similar to the Scrambler. Fortunately, right across the way is Gobbler Getaway, a slow-moving indoor ride. Each person in a four-person car has a laser "gun" to try and shoot turkeys as the car moves from room to room.

At the back of the Thanksgiving section is the park's newest ride - Pilgrims Plunge. It's the log ride on steroids, billed as the world's tallest water ride. Riders board a large boat that is lifted 135 feet into the air on an open-air elevator. Seconds later they hurtle down 131 feet at a 45-degree angle, reaching 50 mph.

My five-year-old really wanted to go, but the rest of us breathed a sigh of relief when we found out he was too short to ride even with an adult.

We ate lunch at Plymouth Rock Cafe, and I must say my overall impression of the food at the park was very favorable. Our group of six ordered a family meal. We got eight pieces of chicken, three sides (mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, and strawberrry glazed bananas) and four rolls for $30. The drinks, of course, were free. According to the staff at the cafe, a hot seller introduced this year has been turkey legs.

As we ate, we watched riders on The Voyage zoom past us. The roller coaster features several tunnels and 24 seconds of weightlessness. Too much for my queasy stomach.

The other half of the day was spent in Splashin' Safari. We took several inner tube trips along one of two lazy rivers, played in a wave pool, rode down water slides and raced each other on a five-story slide with 10 lanes. The area also features several tube and raft rides.

The wave pool had free life jackets for the kids to wear - another nice extra included at the park.

Lockers are available in the water park. It's $10 upfront with $7 of that refunded when you return your key. We learned quickly that the lockers are pretty small and our nice big beach bag was a very tight squeeze. We, and a lot of other people, ended up putting our shoes and towels on top of the locker cabinet and using the locker itself only for our valuables.

One nice extra - the water rides inside Holiday Park offer free lockers to stow your valuables before you get soaked.

Because we picked a date near the end of the season, Splashin' Safari closed at 5:30 and Holiday World closed at 6:30. Normal summer hours are several hours later.

On our way out, we stopped at Kringle's Kafe for pizza.

Overall, it was a great day for everyone.