Guide to Holiday World with kids – scream, splash and save

I have been to Holiday World with kids a few times (and its predecessor Santa Claus Land when I was a kid a thousand years ago), and have always had fun. I used to take my niece and nephew when they were young, but it’s been several years since visiting. After navigating four Disney Parks earlier this year, I wondered how Holiday World would compare in Alex’s eyes. Turns out, he thinks it is just as good (their epic waterpark definitely helped), and we maxed it out with an 8-hour day.

What’s great about Holiday World is that there are a variety of rides and experiences that appeal to all age groups – as they say “child, mild, and wild” options. 

At 9 years old, Alex’s adrenaline level is in between doing some younger kid rides and bigger rides, which was awesome because he had more to choose from. One thing about doing one-on-one trip to a theme park – you may need to ride all the rides with your kiddo if they don’t want to fly solo! Perhaps, I should have considered this before we went. My 16-year old rollercoaster loving self no longer adores the stomach dropping, whiplashing and G-force. He dragged me onto Liberty Launch which is a free-fall type ride that had my hands shaking even 15 minutes after riding, but darn it, I was creating fun memories with my sweet boy!

He’s still getting his “rollercoaster chops” but there was a kiddie one we rode as well as three nationally-known wooden coasters at the park. There are a bunch of traditional-type rides that you might see at a state fair, as well as the hairier thrill rides. The Holiday World/ride part of the park is categorized into holidays – Fourth of July, Halloween, Christmas and Thanksgiving.

For us, though, the best part was Splashin’ Safari, the waterpark that’s located within Holiday World. With nine water coasters, including the two longest water coasters in the world, according to Guinness World Records: the Mammoth and the Wildebeest. The waterpark has dozens of slides, several extreme splash areas and three wave pools.

Alex was pretty darn content doing the tamer water slides, but kept eyeing the more extreme rides. Finally, he was ready for adventure. Ride lines were longer than I had hoped, so we didn’t get to all nine. After seeing an hour wait for the Mammoth, I hesitated, but Alex was undeterred. “Mom, it’s worth it to wait for this one.” He was right! It’s the longest water coaster in the world – and is three minutes long! It was hair-raising for sure, but lots of fun. We loved the other water coasters, too, and I haven’t screamed like that at a ride in years (the middle coaster at Otorongo).

In keeping with the family friendly approach, the park is smart to offer a ton of offers a number of different options for kids of all ages – we saw toddlers to 75-year old thrill seekers enjoying everything from a splash pad to the water coasters.

The penny-pincher in me also loved the value of Holiday World – it was $40 for me and $35 for Alex for a one-day pass plus free parking, sunscreen, and drinks. A variety of Pepsi products – soft drinks, tea, Powerade, water and Alex’s fave, lemonade, are available at beverage huts all over the park. While the food lines were horrifically long even at 2:30 p.m., treats weren’t super expensive. After experiencing Disney prices, I was pleasantly surprised by the reasonable prices at Holiday World. A pretzel, Dole Whip (yes, Disney lovers), ice cream and french fries was less than $25. They were definitely not healthy choices, but hey, it was our special mother-son day – and I did have an apple earlier in the day! I even saw a snack hut in the Fourth of July area that promoted gluten-free food. You cannot bring food into the park, though, so plan accordingly.

Another thing that this ever-cautious mom loved is that safety at the park is front and center. I was so impressed at each worker’s attention to safety and the checklist of items that they performed with each new group of riders, checking straps and restraints, locking gates, ensuring kids were an appropriate height, etc. You can tell it is ingrained in their training and it offered some comfort when strapping into your kid into a ride that goes 40 mph!

Holiday World also has live entertainment (I recall watching a crazy high dive show several years ago that I was really cool), but our focus was rides.ee tips are related to Splashin’ Safari:

Three tips for Splashin’ Safari

1. Head to get a locker in the Splashin’ Safari area as soon as the park opens. They are self-service, and by the time we got to them, it took 15 minutes in line just to get one. Plus, you can go ahead and unload your backpack with towels and swim stuff instead of carting it around to the regular rides.
2. They do not provide towels, so be sure to bring some. On our crazy hot, summer day, we almost didn’t need one, but good to have anyway.
3. Bring or buy a waterproof mini case for your money, phone or anything else you’d like to carry while at the water park. It is not conducive to dragging a purse or bag with you as many rides start one place and end at another (unlike a rollercoaster where you can easily leave a bag during the ride). Plus, they would get wet and you are required to hang on to the handles on the rafts that race you around the coasters.

Bottom line: Visiting Holiday World with kids will have you and them screaming, smiling, splashing and saving. It is an awesome park with a variety of traditional, thrill and water rides. The value cannot be beat and it made for an epic one-on-one day with my son filled with memories.