Special Features: The Voyage: a review

Posted at 10:50 PM EDT (0250 GMT)

May. 4th, 2006 -- When Santa Claus Land changed to Holiday World in 1984, the focus began to shift at the quaint Southern Indiana theme park. In 1993, Splashin’ Safari was added, which is currently ranked as one of the world’s best water parks. Holiday World made its first big splash with the addition of The Raven in 1995. The Raven quickly became a favorite of coaster enthusiasts and was considered a hidden gem. The Legend was added in 2000, and it also earned rave reviews. Since then, the park has been working to add rides that would help increase variety and capacity.

During my first visit in 2002, I favored The Legend with its laterals and spots of airtime compared to Raven’s airtime smorgasbord. One thing was clear: The park couldn’t possibly build a new wooden roller coaster. They had two fantastic wooden coasters that did two different things well. Perhaps this is why I will never be a manager of an amusement park.

Fast forward to July 2005; Holiday World was ready to make its announcement. The day after I rode The Gravity Group’s impressive first coaster, Hades, I heard that Holiday World was building a Gravity Group roller coaster. The numbers were staggering, but one thing stood out: 24.2 seconds of airtime. That’s a drool-inducing number.

I found myself staring down The Voyage at 6 a.m. today. The caffeine I needed for my four-hour drive with two hours of sleep had worn off. I needed my adrenaline pumped up. There isn’t much to gawk at when it comes to The Voyage. The final turnaround is entirely visible and so are the lift hill and the crest of the second hill. Outside of that, it’s all trees.

As I walked up to the station, the back seat was an easy choice for me. Because I preferred every Custom Coasters ride and Hades in the back seat, I figured this ride was follow suit … and did it ever.

The ride departs the station with a jog to the left as the return run jumps above riders’ heads. The lift hill is steep (in the same style as Hades) and fairly quick. I took time to look to my left and take in a great perspective of Splashin’ Safari and most of the layout of The Legend. As quickly as I did, the ride began to crest the lift. My heart started racing in anticipation as the shiny blue Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters trains began to sink … and sink … and sink from underneath me. I was pulled out of my seat as we plunged 173 feet and hit a maximum speed of 67 mph. The train screamed up and crested the 107-foot hill and dropped back down with another sweet kick in the rear. The final moment of flying among the treetops comes in the form of an equally juicy 100-foot hill. As the train came up to the top of the hill, I saw what was ahead of me and had no idea what to make of it. Twisted track runs in every direction. Sensory overload might be a fitting term.

Before I had time to compute, we rushed down the hill and into the first tunnel, we flew back out into the open only to be ripped out of the seats as we plunged back underground. That tunnel whizzed by as well, and I flew up to a larger hill. Once again, I was pulled out from my seat as the ride headed into the third tunnel. As the train pulled out of the tunnel, I flew off to the left and was grabbed back to the right with another sick jolt of airtime as the train barreled into the turnaround. Sweeping left and making a 180-degree turn, trees whizzed by as the ride sprinted into the strangest part of The Voyage -- a “wrongly banked” tiny airtime hill in the middle of the turnaround. That brief second of slanted airtime is marvelous. The train continued to gather steam as it charged into the first 90-degree banked left turn. As soon as the train leveled out, I was whisked to the right into another 90-degree banked turn. Another quick pop of airtime leads into a left turn, and the train drops out into another tunnel. The train rose up into the midcourse brake run, and I got my final moment to catch my breath.

The rest of the ride was a blur and felt like a slalom run or an Olympic bobsled ride with tons of airtime with heavy positive and lateral G-forces. Coming off of the break run, the train plunged into darkness. A tiny drop to the left was followed immediately by another drop and then another long drop with a heavy toss of airtime. The triple-down left me wondering what just happened, but I didn’t have any time to think about it as the train hopped back up another hill into the sunlight. Another quick airtime hill with a jog to the right set up another airtime hill that pulled me to a sharp dive left and quickly again to the right. Bewildered, I noticed the train crossed back under the "out run." A quick turn to the left and two quick pops of airtime brought us back underneath the structure. The ride rose sharply into the third and final 90-degree banked turn, which wrapped around to the right and once again back underneath the out run. Another sharp left turn with airtime caught me off guard as we whizzed up another hill that jumps over the beginning of the lift hill. The ride jumps up and turns right at the same time, slamming me to the side as we plunge under the exit path and down under the station. With the station just a blur, the track rises over the final brake run with a sharp rising right turn. Another quick dive to the left slams me again to the outside as I’m pressed down hard into my seat as we plunge under the new midway. The train screams into the final right turn with two more small hops of airtime, and it finally hits the brake run.

“What just happened?” was my first thought, and “Wow!” was my second. If that blow-by-blow description of The Voyage confused you, it should. I don’t think anybody who rode for their first time had a true idea of what just happened. The ride was a unanimous hit among everyone who had the privilege of attending media preview day.

While the park hyped up the airtime (and rightfully so), I found the ride to have tons of positive and lateral G-forces. The ride has a ton of quick changes in direction; from side to side and top to bottom. The airtime is enhanced more than a few times by immediate slams as the ride bottoms out.

The Voyage is an unholy (or holy, depending on your view) blend of every single element you’d want from a wooden roller coaster. Tall hills, plentiful airtime, hard positive G’s, a jaguarlike nimble pace, fast changes of direction and tunnels are all blended together in a quick two minutes of thrills.

After riding Hades last year and now The Voyage, The Gravity Group has joined the premier names in the industry. That’s saying a lot for a team that has officially only put out two roller coasters. The Voyage is a wild and wicked ride and easily jumped to the top of my favorites. I even feel comfortable enough to call it the best wooden roller coaster in America; something I usually don't like to do. Even after a few laps, the ride wasn’t predictable and was out of control. Holiday World again has a winner on its hands.

This now begs the question: What can Holiday World possibly do as an encore?

For more pictures of The Voyage, visit the gallery.

For even more pictures of The Voyage, visit Negative-G.com.

For a Videos (including Point-of-View) of Voyage, see Holiday World's Voyage Video Page.