Good Gravy! , a $10 million first-of-its-kind family roller coaster opened to the public last weekend at Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari in Santa Claus, Indiana. The family boomerang roller coaster takes riders in a train shaped like a giant gravy boat on a 1,500-foot journey through a giant cranberry sauce can and up a 72-foot spike, before repeating the whole ride backwards.
“After years of planning, it’s heart-warming to see Good Gravy! come to life,” says Fourth-Generation Owner Leah Koch-Blumhardt. “This isn’t the tallest or fastest coaster to open in North America this year, but it certainly has the most heart. We’ve loved hearing feedback from the thousands of Guests who have already ridden with their whole family. Family fun is what Holiday World is all about.”
Holiday World theme park is divided into four holidays: Christmas, Halloween, Fourth of July, and Thanksgiving. Good Gravy! is an addition to the park’s Thanksgiving section, including Plymouth Rock Café which serves Thanksgiving dinner every day, a tilt-a-whirl ride named Turkey Whirl, Mayflower swinging ship, and new this year: the Perky Turkey Coffee Shop. The Thanksgiving section also boasts The Voyage, a world-famous wooden roller coaster, which was just ranked in the top 10 roller coasters in the nation by USA Today, and is home to Thunderbird, America’s First Launched Wing Coaster.
The Good Gravy! addition includes a Stuffing Springs area, complete with Cranberry Corner playground for kids who do not meet the 38-inch minimum height requirement, or those who aren’t quite ready for the thrills of Good Gravy! A 1967 Airstream Dippin’ Dots stand anchors the section, nestled amidst giant kitchen ingredients and accessories, including a 15-foot-tall whisk, 13-foot rolling pin, 13-foot milk bottle, 10-foot stuffing box, and 6-foot chicken timer.
The immersive queue for Good Gravy! takes riders on a journey through Grandma Gracy’s house—which is frozen in the year 1965. A Sears catalog greets Guests in the living room, where Grandma Gracy’s living portrait asks them to wipe their shoes.
“It’s the little details that make all the difference,” says Fourth-Generation Owner Lauren Crosby. “Our team paid great attention to detail in selecting the tiniest of items for the queue. We made sure the cord for the phone in the kitchen was nice and long, and the sheet music on the piano is ‘Over the River and Through the Woods.’ We hope our Guests enjoy it all as much as we enjoyed making it happen.”
Also new in 2024, Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari will be running an all-new drone show, Holidays in the Sky, featuring 500 drones. The show runs nightly, weather permitting, from June 22 through August 4.
The park has a Kids World event weekends from August 17 through September 15, and its family-friendly Halloween event, Happy Halloween Weekends runs from September 21 through October 27.
Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari are open daily from May 24 through August 4, when the park changes to weekends-only operations through the end of October. Visit HolidayWorld.Com for tickets, lodging packages, and full operating calendar.