Why I Hate Wooden Roller Coasters

But Enjoyed My Visit to Holiday World Splashin' Safari

Last week, the family and I (along with my parents) took a two-day excursion to Holiday World Splashin' Safari in Santa Claus, Indiana.

We'd never been there but had heard rave reviews from other locals. I can't say enough about how much we enjoyed our visit to Holiday World Splashin' Safari.

We liked it so much that we decided to buy tickets for a second day.

I love amusement parks and I've been to several - some of them more than once. Opryland in Nashville, Tennessee was always my favorite (lost track of the number of visits there), and I've also been to King's Island in Cincinnatti, Kennywood in Pittsburgh, and of course Six Flags in St. Louis (several times).

I have to say - everyone in my group agreed that Holiday World Splashin' Safari is tops and that we will definitely be making more visits in the future.

As a parent, the most fun for me was seeing how much fun my kids were having. They were all smiles the whole time and the four adults loved watching them enjoy the visit.

One caveat for me, though: I hate wooden roller coasters.

Several years ago, I visited King's Island and rode my first ever wooden roller coaster - The Beast.

To put it bluntly, it was simply beastly!

The loud and jarring clack-clack-clack of the wooden slats and parts of the roller coaster flung my head around and rattled my teeth. I stepped off of that roller coaster with a severe headache, a nauseated stomach and a desire to find a trash can for a personal pukefest.

I decided then and there that I hated wooden roller coasters and never wanted to see another one.
The first amusement park ride my group wanted to try out at Holiday World Splashin' Safari was - wouldn't you know it - a wooden roller coaster called The Raven.

I decided to give it a try - after all, the incident at King's Island had been about 14 years ago.

I should have listened to my gut which yelled loudly "Don't do it Stupid! Do not do it!" but I didn't.

I exited that roller coaster and with my gut now saying "I will make you pay for not listening!" told my husband Sam, "Don't you dare ask me to do that again!"