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Screamscape Ticket Giveaway - (7/28/10) This week the 2010 Screamscape Ticket Giveaway has two free tickets to the fantastic Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari theme park. At the end of the week Screamscape will hold a random drawing to give away the pair of tickets good for the 2010 season.

Entering yourself into the drawing is easy. Just send in the answer to an easy trivia question (see below), using answers currently found within the Screamscape website, along with your NAME and a VALID and WORKING e-mail address where we can contact you if you are the winner to tickets@screamscape.com.

I’ll start the week off with a trivia question below, but will add more questions to answer at random throughout the week as well. You can answer each question only once. Special additional entry questions may also be posted exclusively through the Screamscape Twitter, so be sure to follow us to increase your chances to win.

Entries will be accepted up through 11:59pm EST on Saturday night, with the random drawing taking place on Sunday when we will notify the winner. We will make three attempts to contact the winner, and if contact is not made a backup winner will be selected. You must be 18 and have a valid mailing address within the United States to win. Please ensure that incoming e-mail from our Screamscape.com domain is allowed by your Spam Filters otherwise you may miss out on your chance to win.

I’d like to thank Holiday World for supporting Screamscape and our Ticket Giveaway program over the past few years. Now on with the trivia question:
Question 2) What famous Disneyland attraction closed this week?

Park News - (7/12/10) Holiday World has issued an update on the Timberliner status for The Voyage. The Gravity Group are continuing the final test and adjust process on the new trains  but as the park is in the middle of the busy summer season, there just isn’t enough spare time to devote to testing the trains on the track right now. On site testing will begin again after August 15th once the park goes back to weekend only operations.
    (7/1/10) Holiday World has now launched an official iPhone App for the park. The free App can be found in the iTunes App Store. Meanwhile other smart-phone users (Android, Blackberry, Palm, etc) can access much of the same information through the park’s mobile website.
    (6/23/10) Holiday World has named Dan Koch, the brother of Will Koch, as the new President and CEO.
    (6/15/10) Tragedy struck the Holiday World family yesterday when Will Koch, the park owner and President, was found dead in his home at the age of 48. It is believed that Koch passed away as a result of a complication from Diabetes. According to the statement issued by the park, the Koch family wanted to ensure to everyone that the park will continue to be owned and operated by the Koch family, which is how Will would have wanted it.
    Under Will’s leadership, Holiday World underwent “an aggressive growth program” which saw the addition of Splashin’ Safari in 1993, The Raven, The Legend, Voyage, and many other popular new attractions over the years up to this year’s new Wildebeest.
    “Will was not only our leader, he was our dear friend,” says park spokesperson Paula Werne. “Our park family is in mourning for this sweet man who worked tirelessly to bring fun and happiness to so many families in the 20 years he ran the park.”  We at Screamscape send our deepest sympathies and condolences to the entire Holiday World family in this time of loss. Without a doubt Will was one of the most respected men in this industry today and his loss is a great tragedy for all.
    (6/9/10) Check out this report from Holiday World’s HoliWood Nights event at Theme Park Review.
    (6/3/10) Holiday World has confirmed that the Timberliners will not be ready in time for this weekend’s HoliWood Nights event.
    (6/2/10) According to the latest rumors the new Timberliner trains on Voyage are unlikely to be ready in time for the HolliWood Nights event this weekend. I’m working on getting a confirmation on that right now so stay tuned.
    (5/21/10) A great photo trip report from Holiday World can be found over at Theme Park Review this week. There is also a new video report at CoasterRadio showing off an interview with Will Koch as well as a great on-ride video run on Wildebeest! Check it out!
    (5/18/10) A few new pictures from Holiday World showing off The Timberliner train as well as some Wildebeest can be found here.
    (5/17/10) You can find a great close up photo of the new Timberliner train at Holiday World on The Voyage on the Coaster Warriors Facebook page.
    (4/20/10) Slightly bad news from Holiday World… depending on how you look at it. Voyage will still be running an original train during the park’s opening weekend (May 1-2) due to “an unanticipated delay in the manufacturing process”. Translation… the new Timberliner is shipping into the park a week later than expected, so the word from Holiday World is that the new trains should be up and running by May 14th at this point, unless something changes.
    (3/13/10) A couple of new Timberliner train seat pictures have been added to The Gravity Group Facebook page. I can only assume they are going to The Voyage.
    (2/10/10) Got an off-season craving for your favorite Holiday World goodies or need a special unique gift for someone? Then the new online HoliShop has your answer, making various souvenirs and even Mrs. Klaus’ Fudge available nearly anywhere and anytime.
    (1/27/10) Holiday World has posted a new piece of artwork showing off the colors that have been chosen for the new Timberliner trains coming to The Voyage this season.
    (11/10/09) Holiday World has confirmed that the first set of Timberliner trains from The Gravity Group will be added to run on The Voyage in 2010. In addition to this new train design built to allow for a more smooth and extreme ride on The Voyage, they were also designed to put less wear and tear on the track. Even better, the padded seats have been ergonomicially designed for greater comfort as well as being designed to accommodate riders with wider hips and longer legs! Two new 28 passenger trains, will be made in Indianapolis and should be ready to roll when the park opens in the spring. You can see the artwork showing off the new train design at the HoliBlog. 
    (10/12/09) Now that the final weekend of the season at Holiday World has come to a close, they have reported that they finished their 63rd season with an all time record attendance high of 1,039,359 guests. This is also the fourth season in a row that the park has had over 1 million guests.

2010 - Wildebeest - (5/3/10) Ready to ride the Wildebeest? Check out this POV video clip below of the thrills that lie ahead posted to Youtube by Holiday World. I’ve got to say that this looks like an incredible ride experience.

    (4/15/10) Holiday World has posted a video showing off Wildebeest testing with empty boats… and getting air time too. In the infamous words of George Takai… “Oh my!”
    (3/31/10) The latest word from Holiday World is that the water has started flowing on Wildebeest, and they’re scheduled to begin “testing” (or would that be playing?) on it on Thursday… yep… April Fools Day.  No seriously… they tell us to keep an eye on the webcam on Thursday to check in on the action.
    (1/4/10) Check out this awesome new construction picture of Wildebeest here! I think you’ll agree, this certainly does look quite a bit like the world’s best waterslide.
    (11/10/09) Holiday World will be the setting for an episode of World’s Toughest Fixes on the National Geographic channel as they come to shoot some footage in the park during the construction of Wildebeest and more.
    (10/20/09) Holiday World posted some new Wildebeest construction pictures on their Facebook page the other day.
    (8/14/09) As rumored, Holiday World announced the addition of a new ProSlide HydroMagnetic Rockit slide. However, this is no run of the mill ordinary slide... the Wildebeest is the world’s longest water coaster slide, one third of a mile in length. The slide is so long it will take riders 2.5 minutes to experience it all.
    One look at the layout and I think I know where Will got the idea... I think he stayed up late playing with the Soaked expansion on Roller Coaster Tycoon a bit too much, because it’s crazy looking. It had to have been one of those, “Let see how long of a slide I can really make...” kind of nights.
    Wildebeest looks to feature separate load and unloading areas, a lift hill and more drops than you’ve ever seen on a waterslide before... including some that drop below ground level into tunnels. The rafts are huge as well, holding up to four riders at once... and all without having to climb 40 floors of stairs! Very impressive! Check out the official site for some artwork right now or go for a virtual spin on the video’s we’ve embedded below!


    (8/10/09) Did Holiday World just slip us another ProSlide hint in their lastest HoliBlog update? If you check out the “Will reveals a sweet secret” entry it talks a bit about him sneaking cookies in a paper bag labeled “Apples”. Now forget all the text here... scroll down a bit to the last picture where we see the actual cookie and look what it’s sitting on top of. Down in the lower left corner of the photo you can clearly see a ProSlide logo through the plastic wrap. Mmmm.... a sweet secret indeed Will!