April 2012
Looking Back... April 2012
6 April 2012 - 6:35pm
A slice of our life
(First posted 6/22/05)
Our Call Center staff is still chuckling over this call that came in today:
Hello...I just bought a loaf of bread and saw your coupon on it, so I thought I'd call. Are you a bakery?
That really got a rise out of the Call Center.
My response would have been: "Sorry, sir...we don't get to loaf around enough to be a bakery."
I guess that's why I'm not allowed in the Call Center.
6 April 2012 - 6:27pm
A Friend from '62
Wow. It's not just my Mom reading this thing.
An email came in late yesterday afternoon from a lady asking about discounts. When I emailed her back with the information, she replied with this sweet story (I have her permission to post this):
I remember my Aunt Deanie (who had come home from California for a couple of weeks with her kids) reading about the "new park called Santa Claus Land." She piled all of us kids in the car (she must have been crazy!) and we headed all the way down there. Long drive then, but less traffic, too. So, I was 8 years old and we were there one of the first years it opened. I almost cried when I saw on your website showing the very first sign! I ran the video and I swear I saw myself, but everybody back then had pony tails and white blouses. Ha! I would love to see some more old pix!! Thanks! K. Flynn-Spires
(Originally posted 4/8/05)
6 April 2012 - 10:09am
Frank, Vamp, or Pumpkin Head?
As our Director of Special Events, Eric is having a blast planning our Happy Halloween Weekends. His office is overflowing with Halloween paraphernalia and his brain is at the point of leaking, what with all the ideas for our family-friendly event.
Eric is big on consensus-building and does a lot of opinion-gathering with our staff.
Often, all it takes is some fact-finding and lively discussion to arrive at good decisions, but sometimes an issue is so subjective we have to take a vote.
Once in a while, the vote ends in a tie. Dan, as our president, is always available as a tie-breaker, but when we hit an impasse regarding which combination of trick-or-treaters to use for our Goblin Grove logo, we thought it would be fun to poll our readers and let you make the decision for us.
So what exactly is Goblin Grove? Geared to families with children under the age of 12, Goblin Grove will feature pumpkin decorating, hay-bale mazes, face painting, magic shows, and a trick-or-treat trail during our Happy Halloween Weekends.
So here are Graphic Artist Rick's three designs, and the opinion poll is beneath them. Voting runs through (when else?) Friday the 13th!
First there's Little Vampire:
Next, ol' Pumpkin Head:
And finally, Little Frankenstein:
Thanks for voting!
4 April 2012 - 1:07pm
Seven-year hitch
Saturday marks the seven-year anniversary of our first HoliBlog post.
Did you know we were the first park to blog?
The feedback we've received over the years has been humbling. And every once in a while a reader will say to me or post "It always snows in April." This happened recently on our Facebook page and I was just stunned (and more than a little bit pleased). "It always snows in April" was the title of our second HoliBlog post.
When we moved to our current website, the older HoliBlog posts were left behind. (I still have close to 700 to sort through and re-post as appropriate.)
Since it's "snowing" like a blizzard this week, it seems the appropriate time to re-post this one:
It always snows in April
It’s a shame we’re not open this month.
Now that’s a dangerous statement to make 29 days before opening.
Everyone is focused on getting rides ready to go, employees trained, new stuff publicized and advertised. Lots of painting and cleaning to do.
Time is of the essence.
Tempus fugit.
Nerves can get frazzled.
As an aside, this is when Mrs. Koch’s sense of humor swings into high gear. I think it’s her background in nursing kicking in. We may get a little rattled, but she’s there to tease and kid around. And a good belly laugh doesn't hurt a bit.
In April, the Bradford Pear trees are in bloom in the park. The dogwoods aren’t out yet, nor are the redbuds. (Not so in 2012!)
The first sign that spring is really here is those pretty trees. (Thus ends my knowledge of trees. I think I could recognize a maple leaf and the bark off a birch tree, but that’s it. Heaven help me if we ever decide to open an Arbor Day section!)
All it will take is one blustery storm and the lovely white blossoms will swirl to the ground. Our last snow storm before opening. And blossoms don’t conveniently melt as snow does. It’s one more clean-up process.
Every spring, I think how it’s a shame our Guests don’t get to see our lovely Bradford Pear trees. So here’s a look. Springtime is in the air today … and our last snowfall is not far away.
Epilogue: Ah, yes. A Gobbler in a Pear Tree. Holiday World historians will know this wasn't the original photo used for this post back in April of 2005, as Gobbler Getaway didn't open until a year later. And I'm frankly not even positive that this is a pear tree in the foreground (although Nathan is nearly certain and he's pretty much a Nature Boy, so I think we're good).
Thanks for reading and commenting all these years. By all means, please don't hesitate to post a comment here with your ideas for future HoliBlog posts.
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