originally posted on 8/12/2023
All Renderings: Courtesy of Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari. View full-sized image.
Following a period of typically brilliant social media teases from Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari (Santa Claus, Indiana), on August 1 the park announced its much-anticipated, new-for-2024 serving of amusement goodness. Next season’s parkgoers are well-advised to show up with an appetite because Thanksgiving is going to be extra heavy on the gravy.
Long ago there was a joke that ACE members loved gravy, but Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari is betting on its widespread appeal because Good Gravy! is being promoted as a coaster for riders of all ages and experience levels.
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Filling a family-coaster-sized hole at the park’s scrumptious dinner table of thrill machines (and one kiddie focused machine) will be Good Gravy! – the first of Vekoma’s Family Boomerang coasters to be constructed in North America. According to Director of Communications Leah Koch-Blumhardt, selecting the park’s new addition was as easy as gravy.
“A few years ago we approached Vekoma for a pie-in-the-sky meeting. We had heard great things about many of their projects in Europe and were interested in pursuing something larger. In our first meeting, they showed us their entire catalog, including the family boomerang, and the concept allowed us to wow the whole family and leave room in the budget for the outlandish theming we had in mind.”
Intended as a stepping stone to Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari’s larger, more thrilling roller coasters, Good Gravy! nonetheless leaves its mark on the park’s sky line with a 72-foot spike.
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Advertised by Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari as properly seasoned for hungry thrill seekers, yet silky smooth enough for the less-experienced palates of children at least 38 inches tall and their grandparents, the custom layout will feature a 72-foot spike and maximum speed of 37 mph. As is to be expected of a boomerang coaster, the lone 10-car, 20-passenger gravy-boat-themed train will travel 1,500 feet along approximately 722 feet of track while traversing forward and backward sections.
Like Vekoma’s original Boomerang roller coaster, its new line of Family Boomerang coasters begins by climbing backward up a lift hill, followed by a forward and backward journey through a twisted layout punctuated by a 77-foot-tall vertical spike.
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Good Gravy! will traverse a site with landscaping elements such as cooking utensils and a Koch Dairy bottle — a nod to the park’s founders and longtime owners.
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With Good Gravy! the park will present a healthy portion of the playful theming for which it is known following an unorthodox path from the kitchen to the dining table.
“Our marketing team developed hundreds of combinations of Thanksgiving-themed words, including one favorite of mine: Gravy,” said Koch-Blumhardt. “When Chat GPT rolled out to the public, we even requested hundreds of ideas for a Thanksgiving-themed roller coaster name. Among my Chat GPT favorites were Parsnip Pandemonium, Turnip Tornado and Au Jus Journey. After all the Chat GPT consultation, we landed back on one of our human-developed names: Good Gravy! It struck the perfect balance of cute, charm and total absurdity we were looking for.”
Always thinking outside the box, Holiday World wanted Good Gravy! to feature theming elements unlike any other roller coaster.
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Tasked with assisting Grandma Gracy in the making of her popular Thanksgiving treat for Grandpa Galvin, riders will navigate a landscape filled with oversized kitchen accessories and ingredients, including a timer, whisk and can of cranberry sauce, as well as creative nods to the park’s ownership such as a Koch Dairy bottle and a box of Ruth’s Stuffing. The adventure will begin in Grandma Gracy’s house, which longtime Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari guests will recognize as the former loading station of the Pilgrim’s Plunge Intamin Megasplash, sitting dormant on the outskirts of the Thanksgiving section of the park since the ride was removed a decade ago.
Situated near The Voyage and Thunderbird in the Thanksgiving section of the park, Good Gravy! will utilize the former Pilgrim’s Plunge loading station.
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When it opens next season, Good Gravy! will complement Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari’s well regarded collection of roller coasters, including the pint-sized The Howler and Bolliger & Mabillard Thunderbird Wing Coaster, as well The Raven, The Legend and The Voyage — its trio of highly rated wood coasters. It was deemed a necessary addition by the park.
“We have five roller coasters, and the jump from The Howler, our kid coaster, to The Raven, our mildest wooden coaster is massive,” added Koch-Blumhardt. “With Good Gravy! and its 38-inch height requirement, we’ll finally have the perfect stepping stone to get from The Howler to The Raven.”
Good Gravy! will operate not far from the park’s Bolliger & Mabillard Thunderbird, its family-friendly thrills juxtaposed to the larger coaster’s appeal to thrill seekers.
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While success is never guaranteed, Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari has a track record of serving up popular park additions, and it’s likely Good Gravy! being well received will lead to more North American Family Boomerang Coaster installations in the future.
“The track layout for Good Gravy! was custom designed specifically to Holiday World and to nicely fit within the available space,” said Ricardo Tonding Etges, vice president sales and marketing — Americas, Vekoma. “We are extremely excited to bring this highly successful product to the States because the Family Boomerangs are super fun to ride, eye-catching, compact and very unique given the combination of elements: two drops, forward and backward runs and quick maneuvers.”
— Rob Ascough, ACE News Editor
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