Recent Trip Report to Kentucky Kingdom and Holiday World

I posted this from Kbin previously but looks like federation is broken so trying again from Lemmy:

Well since Reddit pulled the plug on 3rd party apps, and I had already written up a trip report that I can no longer post there, I figured I'd begin posting here. Hopefully trip reports are welcome!

I am at the tail end of a coaster road trip, and as part of it I pulled a same day double header at Kentucky Kingdom and Holiday World, starting with Kentucky Kingdom. It's a small park with an interesting layout, being bisected by a road and with the water park smack dab in the middle. Their coaster collection is small but there's no major duds here now that T3 is closed.

• Lightning Run - This is the only extant Hyper GTX model as of the time of writing, and after riding it I really have to wonder how more haven't been sold. It's an ejector airtime machine in a compact package from the deceptively intense first drop to the thigh crushing run back to the station. There's also a couple off axis hills to switch things up and deliver both airtime and laterals at the same time. My only complaint is the painful RMC-like shin guards. I'm excited for the one in Arizona to get built and hope this model catches on some more.

• Storm Chaser - This is in my opinion one of the milder RMCs out there, but even with that said it is still chock full of ejector airtime. I really enjoy getting flung around by the barrel roll first drop, though this one doesn't hit quite as hard as Twisted Timbers. That and the zero G roll are the only inversions, which I don't necessarily think is a bad thing as the rest of the course is a flurry of airtime plus a couple overbanks, which are the weak points for me. I've ridden 11 RMCs now and I have Storm Chaser ranked in the bottom half at 7th, but it still slots in as my 15th overall coaster which is a testament to RMC's mastery of design.

• Thunder Run - I was expecting the worst from this Dinn woodie after having the misfortune of riding Hurler earlier in the week, but honestly this wasn't too bad. The turnarounds jackhammer to hell but the coaster is bearable besides that with some nice floater airtime at points.

• Kentucky Flyer - This was a big surprise for me. For a family coaster, Kentucky Flyer sure is a wild little thing. Airtime is in abundance, even a couple quick ejector pops, as are laterals as this lives up to its name and flies through the course. I wasn't expecting much, but it provides a genuine thrill.

We managed to get all the credits (except Roller Skater which broke and we weren't going to wait around for it) plus a couple rerides in about an hour and a half as the park was fairly dead. We could have stayed longer but I was already beginning to feel the effects of the horrendous wildfire smoke, and we had the main course still to come so we packed up and hit the road for Holiday World. Thanks to the timezone change we made it to Holiday World having only lost 20 minutes, and had plenty of time to enjoy the rest of the day at the park.

Holiday World is in a nice wooded setting out in the middle of nowhere, and as we pulled up we were greeted with mild crowds and a closed Raven :( It was disappointing to miss out on that classic, but any sadness was quickly forgotten as the park is a joy to be in. It's clean, some sparse but fun theming, friendly employees, and the free drink stations are a nice touch. The small but strong ride collection is the cherry on top. Going through the rides:

• The Legend - This was our first ride of the afternoon and honestly left a poor impression at first. The ops on this coaster are really slow for some reason, leading to slow dispatches and constant stacking. I'm not sure why because the other coasters had excellent ops. We rode in the back row for our first ride and man was that ROUGH. Legend has some of the craziest laterals out there, possibly better than even Knoebel's Twister and Kennywood's Thunderbolt, but it was impossible to enjoy it due to the brutal jackhammering. I actually came back to the station with my chest in pain, which probably should have been a cue to stop riding, but alas I tried Legend again in the front and it was a much better experience. What small amounts of airtime there was in the back was now gone, and the lateral forces toned down just a bit, but I was actually able to enjoy and appreciate them without feeling that I was going to die.

• The Voyage - This thing looks pretty intimidating as it towers over the park, and thankfully it's not all bark and no bite. What an incredible experience rushing through the woods at breakneck speed seemingly out of control. There's good airtime at several points as well, twister sections, tunnels, all with that woodie edge and intensity. What more could one want? The ride seems like it lasts forever too. My only complaint is that there are a couple rough spots, but nothing deal breaking. It immediately went into my top 10 and I NEED to come out for Holiwood Nights one day to experience some of those legendary trimless night rides.

• Thunderbird - This gets bonus points for having a unique layout compared to a lot of other wing coasters, and really a launch is a perfect way to begin a wing coaster. I also love the inline twist at the end which is taken slowly and provides hangtime. Thunderbird will never be the star of the park, but it provides a nice foil to the park's woodies and adds some variety to the coaster collection. As an aside, I'm amazed by how much undeveloped space there is around Thunderbird and how the ride is so separated from the rest of the park. It's good that Holiday World has so much room to grow.

After some rerides on all three coasters we had to pack up and head out to begin making our way north to Indiana Beach. I was skeptical that doing two parks, both over an hour apart, in one day would be possible but it ended up being totally doable with proper planning. I loved Holiday World and hope I get to visit again for longer in the future.