Holiday World Does It Right

Recently, our family went to Holiday World in Santa Claus, IN for a day (HoliBlog). Not only did we have a wonderful time at the amusement and water park, we were also able to observe some impressive business practices.

• Park admission price was reasonable and parking was free. Go two days and the price is gets better (adult - $32.95 one day admission, $45.95 – two day admission).
• Free and unlimited drinks for guests. Every area of the park has what are called "Pepsi Oasis", where guests can get free drinks. My wife became reacquainted Diet Caffeine-Free Mountain Dew that day and you would be correct in guessing that we now have this beverage in our refrigerator.
• Reasonably priced food. We packed enough food for the trip so we could eat lunch and dinner at the hotel. When we saw the food prices, we decided to eat both meals at the park. My wife, daughter, and I were able to eat each meal for approximately $15.00. It was refreshing to be at a theme park that doesn’t gouge their captive audience on food and drink prices.
• Free suntan lotion. The gift shop in the water park sells suntan lotion. However, there is a sign next to the lotion informing guests that they could get it free at designated areas in the park.
• The park was clean and litter free. We witnessed an employee, who was opening a gate to access a break area, turn around and pick up a piece of trash he spotted. We only saw one piece of litter on the ground the day we were there.
• The park was smoke-free, except for designated areas.

There is one additional business practice we witnessed that I want to tell you about. We left at mid-day so our daughter could take a nap. There was a woman near the exit stamping hands so guest could be readmitted to the park. We struck up a conversation with her and she told us that she had been there all morning and made the mistake of not bringing water (the temperature was over 90 degrees that day). As we exited the park, we saw a sign with the woman’s picture. She was Pat Koch, one of the owners of the park and the spokeswoman in Holiday World’s television commercials. This was very impressive.

How many times have you seen an owner or executive work on the front-lines like this? Maybe the reason that Holiday World is such a consumer friendly theme park is because its executives have face-to-face contact with its customers.

My family and I plan to make Holiday World a regular destination for weekend getaways. And we’ll bring some water for Pat.

BTW, we only had one negative experience on our trip. My daughter was terrified of the giant Santa Claus located outside of our hotel. Below is a picture capturing her fleeing from the 15 foot Santa. Oh well, I guess you can’t make every customer happy :).

Comments

[Bill]

Great picture! You'll have to pull this one back out in December.

[George]

Holiday World definitely does it right. That is my favorite theme park...period.

From top notch customer service (which starts from the top-Pat and Will Koch) to great rides and food they have shown how a park can be great in so many different ways and still post profits and double-digit attendance growth each year...