Holiday World & Splashin' Safari

If you've never been, I highly recommend it! We won free tickets from Indianapolis Woman's Magazine so we decided to have one last family fun day before school starts back up.

This park has so much to offer...I think you could visit 4-5 times before you were able to see & ride everything available. I'm not getting paid for this blog so I'll keep this review short & sweet. Free parking, free sunscreen, free life jacket use for the water park, free unlimited sodas, and as many rides as you can squeeze into the day! We stayed for about 9 hours. We're tired, and burnt (note to self-must remember to apply sunscreen multiple times for such a long day!), but we had a great time!

The kids knew we had arrived when we saw this Christmas BLVD street sign. I thought it was cool, since every other street sign in Indiana is green, not red. Yea...I'm observant like that. ;)

This was our 1st visit to Santa Claus, Indiana as well as to Holiday World. Santa greeted us when we arrived, and I was shocked to see he wears that suit in the extreme heat of this sunny day!

We decided to start our day in the 4th of July. Each section is named for a Holiday here at Holiday world.

Nadine wanted to ride the midnight ride. It's one of her fave rides at the Indiana state fair, so she had to see if this one was as fun. Jon rode with Aiden, and Nadine rode with Dane.

Andrew and I stood on the sidelines because...we don't generally do rides.

We don't do water either.

I don't know why they even brought us!

You cannot see little Aiden next to dad because...

he's so little on these rides!

Nadine gave this ride her stamp of approval.

Next we stopped at the Indian river so Aiden could take a canoe ride!

We decided to skip to Thanksgiving because the 2 rides on the must-ride list for Nadine and Dane where here.

Nadine wanted to ride the voyage. For real. I don't know where she got the kahunas...it certainly wasn't from her momma!

It took her and dad an hour to get onto the ride!

Aiden got fussy as we waited, so I pulled out the good old redirection technique and bought some time with this fun sucker. He obliged.

Nadine was hard core ready to go until they got to the top.

That's her and Jon in the very back seats!!!

While Nadine and Jon rode the Voyage I took the boys to ride the Turkey Whirl.

Aiden is too small to ride w/o an adult so I made Andrew ride w/Dane.

He actually liked it, for the most part.

After Jon & Nadine got off of the Voyage I took the boys to the Gobbler Getaway while they recovered from their near-death roller coaster ride. Haha!

This ride was fun. We had to shoot at targets while in a dark cave with lots of black light paint!

Next it was time for big dog ride #2.

Andrew wasn't having it.

Aiden was to short to ride, even with an adult so Jon waited with the boys while I rode the Pilgrim Plunge with Dane & Nadine.

Yep. You read that right. I faced my fears. My fears of water, and heights, and speed all wrapped into one. I gotta say...I only feared for my life for about 1.5 seconds. It was fun! I got pretty soaked too, and that water was COLD!!! That's me (below) 2nd seat from the rear in black. My boy & girl were in the 2 seats in front of me. I am seriously proud of myself. This made my day. Could have gone home at the moment I got off of this ride.

We decided it was time for lunch after the pilgrims plunge.

Next time I will be packing a lunch. I wasn't sure what the rules were on bringing in food, but lots of people went to their cars for their lunch and for the price of the food, and the average quality...I think we'll save our $20 next time.

The kids had been fussing over a bee fluttering around their sodas. Did I mention you get unlimited free sodas here? I think it's a HORRIBLE idea. I was so sick by my 3rd root beer! I'm not used to all that sugar! Stick with water, or gatorade. Trust Lety!

Anyway the bee fell into a coke, and dad told the kids "There, now he wont bother you anymore," and Nadine just wouldn't hear of it. She sacrificed a nacho to scoop the bee out of her soda and he flew away. She yelled "Yay! I saved a Bees life today!" How hilarious is that?

After lunch we walked to Splashin' Safari. Jon & the kids enjoyed the Bahari wave pool for well over an hour.

Brotherly love!

Ms. Nadine.

After we drug them out of the wave pool the kids enjoyed the splash grounds.

After the kids were good and pruned we headed over to Halloween town. Everyone that knows me should know that Halloween is my Christmas!

The boys wanted to ride the scarecrow scrambler.

Jon took a ride with Aiden and Dane again. Mom was at her limit!

Most of Halloween Town was skipped over because I was feeling near heat stroke and this area was mostly games and another roller coaster (The Raven) that Nadine had decided to save for our next visit so we hopped into Christmas Land!

Rudolph's Reindeer Ranch was full of rides appropriate for kiddies 54" and under. It truly was like Christmas for Aiden. He rode more rides than any of us!

He & Dane rode Prancers Merry-go-round.

Aiden rode Comets Rockets

The big kids sat on the sidelines because the kiddie rides are obviously too lame for them now.

Dan & Aiden rode Blitzens Airplanes.

The boys rode Thunder Bumpers Jr. bumper boats!

These would be so fun for our pool at home!

We got Nadine to ride the Reindeer Games with Dane.

I don't think Dane realized how high this ride went!

We visited the gift shop, and shared 2 funnel cakes before we called it a day.

I really look forward to going back again. Next time I think I will rent a locker or leave my camera and cell in the car so I can enjoy more of the water park!