The Voyage — Attraction in Santa Claus

TL;DR Edition: As a coaster enthusiast, The Voyage is my favorite coaster of all time because of its length, air time, relentless pace and raw intensity; but it’s only for experienced coaster riders or people with higher nausea tolerance. For a less brutal experience try sitting in the odd rows of the train/the front part of each car, this will drastically reduce the amount of shakiness and jolsting whilst riding The Voyage. Holiday World is a steal of a deal and it’d still be worth it for coaster enthusiasts to ride only The Voyage. Go and visit Holiday World as soon as you can!

This is my favorite roller coaster that I’ve ever ridden, out of 139 across many states and two continents. Everything that makes up my dream coaster is on The Voyage. The Voyage combines the best elements of my former, long history of favorite roller coasters— the incredible lateral forces and raw intensity of Intimidator 305 in Virginia; the balls-to-the-wall ejector air-time of Skyrush in Pennsylvania; the long, relentless pace of Fury 325 at my local amusement park; and the phenomenal terrain usage of the very roller coaster that started my addiction, Kumba. But this insanity isn’t for everyone, however, as The Voyage is not a family ride; it requires a higher tolerance of nausea and being thrashed around relentlessly than some cannot handle. The Voyage is one of the tallest and fastest wooden coasters in the world as well as the second longest; and it blows every single other “woodie” that I’ve ever ridden out of the water for me. Not once before in the time as an enthusiast, had a wooden roller coaster become my number-one favorite.

I remember watching the point-of-view footage of this coaster three years ago (when I was just starting to really enjoy roller coasters), and thinking to myself, “Wow. That’s a heck of a long ride. Maybe I could get there someday?” A year later, hearing one of my favorite vloggers’ rave review on it only increased my desire to experience The Voyage. Finally the opportunity was found last summer when I discovered an event known as Holiwood Nights; a mass gathering of roller-coaster freaks like myself, that let only us have the once-in-a-year opportunity of experiencing Holiday World’s main coasters in pitch black skies for two consecutive nights. I begged and pleaded my father to let us go, and so we did this year (2018). The grueling nine hour drive from home was well worth it, I can gladly say. Along with a new favorite roller coaster and a second favorite amusement park, I was able to share discussions with the fantastic owner of Holiday World as well as a famous roller coaster clothing designer (He actually noticed me wearing a shirt he designed, hilariously enough) and vlogger.

Read the TL;DR section for tips on how to reduce your chances of nausea while riding The Voyage. Thanks for reading my praise to...

In my personal opinion, this is the best woodie in the US, if not the world. What a phenomal and fantastic wooden coaster! Whether you're an enthusiast like me or an average GP. You. Will. Love. This. Coaster!!The next thing you know the ride ops press you into the restraint, and you've left the station going up the chain lift hill as you are about to set a 'Voyage'. The amount of floater airtime on the drop is nuts and the ejector airtime on the transitions coming out of the tunnels is outstanding. The lap bar is also really comfortable. Also, the MCBR does not slow this thing down! It's literally an airtime machine of adventure. The Gravity Group nailed this coaster, as well as other numerous coasters. The layout was well planned and the recent retracking of 650 feet (Which is about 1/10th of Voyage's track length!) of it proved to be really smooth. They really went to great measure to redo the track. Also, I'd recommend this park for just in general. If you are looking for a great family park, with some legendary wooden coasters, and one of the best wing coasters in the world head to this park! Not to mention, they also have free sunscreen and drinks. Great park, legendary coasters -Zach Scott, A Coaster Critic, Founder and Owner of The Coaster...

I maintain the philosophy that if this roller coaster operated at any other theme park, it would run horribly rough and would be tough to re-ride. However, Holiday World takes great care in the maintenance of this beauty, and therefore it is easily one of the greatest roller coasters (wood OR steel) to have ever been built. I have ridden 194 roller coasters in my time and I would probably say The Voyage is my favorite, if not somewhere in my top 5. It is an incredibly long ride, extremely smooth, has extraordinarily great airtime, LOOKS magnificent, has the height, has the speed, has the intensity and has the exhilaration. Combine that with the world-class operations by the passionate and motivated employees at Holiday World and you have a remarkable, unmatched roller coaster-riding experience. It's crazy that this coaster is located in the middle of absolutely nowhere, but I'd travel hundreds if not thousands of miles to ride it (and I did)! If Holiday World isn't on your theme park bucket list, add it immediately for The...