A great theme park attraction almost never rests upon a single element. Like in a great meal, you need a mix of factors to achieve greatness.
Maybe it's a innovative ride system. Maybe it's the setting and decoration. Maybe it's the story, the characters, or some music. It could be any combination of those and other factors, but I especially love when parks throw in a bit of self-referential or tongue-in-cheek humor, as well.
You might say that's the gravy that completes a delightful holiday meal.
And that is what Holiday World has promised - figuratively and literally - with its new Vekoma Family Boomerang coaster for 2024, Good Gravy!
Sitting in gravy boat-inspired trains, visitors on Good Gravy will ride on a cranberry-colored track through Grandma's living room on their way up to a 77-foot-tall spike, and then back through the house again out onto the course. Along the way, they will pass decorations including a giant cranberry can, a 20-foot-tall whisk, and an 18-foot-tall rolling pin.
Holiday World consistently delivers great roller coaster experiences. The Voyage and Thunderbird both rank on my personal top 40 list, with The Voyage making Theme Park Insider readers' collective top 20. So when the park decided to add a true family coaster to its line-up again, I was pleased to see Holiday World amplify the fun around the coaster even as it created something accessible to more potential riders. (Good Gravy's height requirement will be just 38 inches.)
To keep up to date with more theme park news, please sign up for Theme Park Insider's weekly newsletter.
And to help support Theme Park Insider while saving money on discounted theme park tickets, please follow the ticket icon links our Theme Park visitors guides.
Good gravey another coaster - can anyone think of any other amusement attraction ?
I'm still not sold on this one. I got to ride a couple of these when I was over in Europe a couple years ago, and while there wasn't anything wrong with them I feel Holiday World could have done much better for the $10 million investment they're spending here. Perhaps it will be more popular than I expect, but I personally would have gone with something more in the vein of Arctic Rescue or Big Bear Mountain over this.
This article has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.
I think it will be an interesting year for family coasters. Vekoma has really established itself in this area with Big Bear Mountain (Dollywood) and obviously what they've done with Disney. However, B&M has begun entering the world of family coasters with Penguin Trek and Phoenix Rising. I really think the future of roller coasters is to make them more widely appealing with intricate themed, immersive experiences. Coasters don't need to break records to be great (look at Hagrid's and Velocicoaster at IOA), and if more parks realize the extra millions needed to break a record could get the same impact as spending on theming, we would have a coaster wars renaissance.