Podcast: The one with the year of feedback

We’ve missed out on a lot of feedback in one year. In fact, we dedicated an entire episode to feedback.

We heard about bacon hour at McDonald’s. We don’t want to brag, but every hour is bacon hour at Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari.

We heard from the Coaster Crew. A few times.

Including this wonderful Airtime GIF that isn’t the Tweet we deserved, but is the Tweet we needed.

And Theme Park Families Podcast posing as the Coaster Crew:

Those may be the highlights, but there’s lots more, so give it a listen:

TRANSCRIPT

INTRO with energetic music

Man’s voice: You are next in line for the Official Holiday World Podcast.

Man Speaking through a P.A. system: Welcome to Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari.

Man’s voice: Dropping in from Santa Claus, Indiana

[Tech sounds, sonar, typing]

Man Speaking through P.A. system: Riders will experience swift acceleration, high-speed turns, and sudden stops

[roller coaster break sounds]

Man’s voice: With park president and CEO, Matt Eckert.

Matt Eckert: After that bacon soda, I’ll try anything.

Man’s Voice: Fourth Generation Owners, Lauren Crosby…

Lauren’s voice in a short clip: I came back, I’m here

Man’s Voice: and Director of Communications Leah Koch

Leah’s voice in a short clip: ha ha ha ha uhhhhh [drawn out]

Man’s voice: Now still your loose articles and buckle up, keep your hands and legs inside the car at all times.

[Rock music intro music and roller coaster ride sounds]

LEAH: ANND WE’RE BACK! Welcome back to season two of the Official Holiday World Podcast! We haven’t talked about this but season one was a really long season!

MATT: I was wondering why this was “season two”. Wasn’t our first season like seventy-seven?

LAUREN:  Yes, yes it was

LEAH: It was through seventy-five episodes technically, but we decided since it’s a fresh format we would take time to say “It’s season two now”. So.

MATT: It’s like the rebirth

LAUREN:  Yeah!

LEAH: And then also depending on how the calendar goes, you know, I hate to say it, but if we fall off at the end of the year or something like that, then we can start fresh and see what kind of season works for us. Everyone’s got full disclosure here.

MATT: It’s our podcast we can do whatever we want!

LEAH: This whole thing is an experiment, maybe it works, maybe it doesn’t. You’ll tell us I’m sure. SPEAKING OF!

MATT: We love feedback!

[laughter]

LEAH: Speaking of you telling us, we are Holiday World and we love feedback, okay it’s not holiday’s

LAUREN:  Nope!

LEAH: This is Season 2 Episode 3, “The One With the Year of Feedback”. We’ve officially announced the return of the podcast so we can start a new concept-one in every three episodes is going to be a feedback/Q&A episode. We are trying it, we’ll see how it goes.

[LAUGHTER]

MATT: We reserve the right to change it.

LEAH: We got a bunch of compliments on Facebook, SO, this is all feedback, yeah..shall we begin? We have a lot to cover!

MATT: Let’s dive in!

LEAH: Let’s start off with Bob Green, @bob05, “Thinking of our friends @HolidayWorld with what we found in the store #howopo”. This was back to the 26^th of December in 2018 and there’s a whole bacon display, it’s kinda hard to see. But it’s a whole display of bacon flavored products. Guys, we can’t escape the bacon!

MATT: This is the fourth episode, and this is the first time that bacon has been said.

LEAH: But it’s in one of the spots we’ll be recording AFTER this. Sorry to everyone, because everything is a little bit out of order. BUT.

LAUREN:  For US, but not the listener

LEAH: No, I’m sorry it’s just in our teaser, not in the ads. So this is..

MATT: This is the first time we brought up bacon, this is like a record for us

LEAH: GUUUUYS!

LAUREN:  We’re you counting?

LEAH: It’s like the podcast B-Word, we don’t use any other words that start with that. The next one [feedback post] is from Lindsay-Sir Graffis, I’m sure I butchered that, my apologies, @LY_Entertainment from December 30 of 2018 she said “@HolidayWorld Happy Bacon Day #HoWoPo”.

MATT: Is that really bacon day? I feel like we’ve had lots of bacon days.

LEAH: I feel like bacon day is every day.

LAUREN:  AMEN!

LEAH: That said, there are two different bacon days isn’t there? We’ve always had this issue.

LAUREN:  I don’t know, maybe bacon day should be when you bust out the holiday bacon, versus the casual bacon

LEAH: I feel like bacon day though, there is a tweet that I live my life by, “You don’t let a recipe tell you how much garlic to put in, you heart tells you how much”.

MATT: That’s awesome!

LEAH: It’s literally my favorite thing in the world.

MATT: To validate that everyone loves bacon. We had a breakfast for our employees this morning and by the time we got to the food all the bacon was gone.

LEAH: It was a bacon-less day for us. We were all at the end of the line.

MATT: The three of us around the table here…didn’t get bacon.

LAUREN:  I had bacon.

MATT: HOW DID YOU GET BACON?

LEAH: Did you have it this morning?

LAUREN:  No, I went to Wendy’s and got bacon fries.

MATT AND LEAH: AHHHHH!

MATT: FOR BREAKFAST?

LAUREN: NO! After!

LEAH: Can you see me seething from here?

MATT: Because you didn’t get your fix in

LAUREN:  Yeah-I didn’t get my bacon for breakfast so…

LEAH: Can you get just a side of bacon at Wendy’s? What would they do to you if you just asked? Just curious, asking for a friend.

[LOUD LAUGHTER]

MATT: They give you a cup full of crumbles.

LEAH: Probably.

LAUREN:  Take it like a shot.

MATT: A shot of bacon.

LEAH: Kevin Wilson on December 31 said “5 MONTHS UNTIL HOLIWOOD NIGHTS!!!! @holidayworld #HoWoPo” Thank goodness we’re reading it now.

MATT: It did happen. It did happen, Kevin. I think congratulations are in order, Kevin just got married recently. So, congratulations.

LEAH: Aww, he did! Congrats! That’s awesome! Next, we heard from Ribsin Bacon, Baken, Bacon, I’m already trying to take bacon out of the conversation. On January 1 he said, “@holidayworld Happy New Year! Can’t wait to drive down in my new car in the spring to get those passes activated before Holiwood Nights! #HoWoPo”

LAUREN:  Allllll riiiiight

LEAH: More of the Holiwood Nights feedback, thank goodness we are getting to it now, but the important thing is we are getting to it.

MATT: You haven’t been forgotten.

LEAH: Alex Wheeler, @_alex_wheeler said “I’m all caught up on the #HoWoPodcast…@HolidayWorld is @MattEckert caught up on twitter?

MATT: It’s funny you say that because I still have twenty little unread, what do you call them? Tweets?

LAUREN:  Notifications?

LEAH: Notifications! That red dot

MATT: Yeah that was January 1, so that was last year, I’m still not!

LEAH: [continues reading tweet] Ready for another season of laughs and sun, can’t wait to see the new Merry Marketplace and how the H.R. Lobby area looks with the new offices.

LAUREN:  It’s pretty.

LEAH: It’s been really nice

LAUREN:  Both are pretty!

LEAH: Alex I’m sure you’ve seen it by now.

MATT: So, tell us what you think!

LEAH: hopefully you like it! Next, we heard from Alex Chubokas, we always struggled with that, @Alexc-h-u-b-o-k-a-s there we go, on January 5^th, “@HolidayWorld Listening to old #howopo and wondering if Eric ever got his tattoo? Working the inaugural crew at Steel Vingance this past summer I had to make sure I made my mark” He’s got a Steel of Vengance tattoo. That’s pretty cool!

LAUREN:  That’s fun!

LEAH: To our knowledge, we just asked Lori Cotton, because things are all out of order here, so Lori Cotton will be featured on our next episode which we have already recorded, welcome to the time warp everybody.

MATT: The next episode which was our last episode.

LEAH: YUP! Annd we asked Lori Cotton our director of attractions now and she does not believe that Eric ever got his tattoo

LAUREN:  Tisk! Tisk!

MATT: This raises my blood pressure.

LEAH: Everybody, he’s still on Twitter, so you know where to find him

MATT: He’s caught up

[laughter]

LEAH: He’s probably all caught up too on Twittter. We’re still harassing him, he tries to get away, but we still harass him on social media.

MATT: That’s hilarious

LEAH: That will never go away! Alex Sabatka, @magnumxl89 on January 7 said, “It’s big, it’s bad, it’s what you’ve been cravin’. Hang on tight and enjoy your ride on The Raven. @HolidayWorld.”

MATT: Awwww, I like it! I like his last name, that’s a cool name.

MATT & LEAH: Sabatka

LEAH: That’s fun to say.

MATT: Yeah, mine’s not.

[laughter]

LEAH: We may have taken a hiatus, but The Coaster Crew, thank goodness was still around, so I hope you all read this one

MATT: I miss them so much.

LAUREN:  I know[sadly]

LEAH: I tried to actually reach out to them ahead of time, but I don’t know if the message got to them in time, so there’s nothing on Twitter last I checked.

LAUREN:  Rude.

MATT: I wouldn’t know.

LEAH: Hopefully we’ll hear from the big green foot soon.

LAUREN:  Okay [starting to read]

LEAH: I’m sorry did you want to read something, or do I just keep stepping…

LAUREN:  YOU TOLDDDD ME TO READ IT

LEAH: Read it, I’ll shut up

MATT: She was just kidding, not really……GO!

LAUREN:  I’M AFRAID NOW TO SPEAK.

LEAH: We’ll stop now.

LAUREN:  Just got back from using my Trans American Airlines points to fly around the world (Thanks Kareem)

[LAUGHTER FROM ALL]

LAUREN:  Searching for the missing #PodSquad & look what came in the mail! Gues they needed a break to work on the flyer for the best event of the year! #HoWoPo #HoWoPoNo @HolidayWorld

LEAH: With a crying emoji, I love that it’s addressed to, I know I shrank the image so this is my fault partially, but I love that it says “Mr. Big Green Foot”

LAUREN:  That is hilarious

LEAH: I think it does, I need a vision check.

LAUREN:  It’s from the Ho Wo Postal Service

LEAH: Yup

MATT: Coaster Crew, please come back!

LAUREN:  Ohhh, because, okay. Sorry I have to describe, I’m out of practice.

LEAH: This is on January 16^th, by the way.

LAUREN:  Yeah, sorry. So kitty is dressed up like a mail woman, with her little hat and on her little bag it says HOWo Postal Service and she’s got a letter in the bag and I believe George the Eagle is on the stamp in the bag. With the Big Green Food holding his letter, there’s an Airtime poster in the background.

LEAH: Oh yeah, by the way. We mail flyers out to enthusiast, so we, where do we get that list? Is that past attendees?

LAUREN:  Past purchasers, because that’s the only data we currently collect.

LEAH: I’m sure if you want to be added to the list, we might be able to find a way, maybe not for this year, but next year. So let us know on that, but yeah, thank you to the coaster crew for that.

LAUREN:  Yes, as always

MATT: We came back so you do too!

LAUREN:  I love Kitty as a mailwoman

LEAH: Then we heard from Kevin Wilson on January 20 said, “I know it’s too early to pack for Holiwood Nights at @HolidayWorld, but I can still make my “to pack” list and not seem weird, right? #HoWoPo #flightplan”. I think it’s too late now, sooo

LAUREN:  I thoroughly support that though

LEAH: So, go ahead and start making your list for next year.

MATT: Kevin, you do whatever you want.

LAUREN:  I make packing lists for every single trip

MATT: Do they ever change?

LAUREN:  Yeah.

MATT: Or are they pretty much the same?

LAUREN:  I mean there’s parts that stay the same but they’re, like I take different clothes

LEAH: I have a packing app

MATT: You have a packing app, really?

LEAH: Yeah, it puts, you check off little things that say, you know, leisure, business, and then you say if you’re going to go swimming, running, things like that so it gives you lists for the things you might do. It’s kinda handy.

MATT: I feel like my wife would like that, she makes lists of lists she needs to make. Like she is a list maker

LEAH: Yeah, I like a list, mostly because my brain only half-functions at any given point in time and also, I have a scattered brain and that’s just my reality. ADD its great guys!

MATT: But you’re self-aware, so that’s great.

LEAH: Yeah, so I’m self-aware, so I do that, and the packing list helps me a lot it just helps me forget things, like the basics.

LAUREN:  I make my own.

LEAH: A lot of times, the toothbrush

MATT: So, you’re saying she’s lazy

LAUREN:  No, I just like to be really thorough and have my own lists, where I literally outlines, “Monday I will wear this”, “Sawyer will wear this”, I am thorough.

MATT: And you stick to that?

LAUREN:  YEAH!

LEAH: Meanwhile, I’ve forgotten toothbrushes.

[ALL POD SQUAD LAUGHTER]

LAUREN:  If it makes you feel any better, this last trip I went on, granted I went on, granted it was just a few weeks ago, so pregnancy brain, I forgot a number of things even thought they are on the list. My bad was that I put baby monitor on the list, as in the unit, not the separate pieces of the baby monitor. So PART of the monitor made it, not all of it.

LEAH: NICE!

LAUREN:  Nailed it!

LEAH: And that’s why you make a packing list, so smart call. Start early and work at it often, am I right?

LAUREN:  YES.

LEAH: Next we heard from Seamus Heaney, @heaney_seamus on January 22, “A worthwhite visit if you haven’t been-what a year ahead for #Youghal @youghalonline ….” I could finish this but ya’ll, we got cheeseballed again on Twitter.

LAUREN:  [IN SINGSONG VOICE] CHEEEESEBALLED!

MATT: We haven’t been cheezeballed in a while have we?

LEAH: We have not, but I wanted to include this because we responded, “Greeting from Santa Claus, Indiana! Thinking you tagged us by mismake” …. mismake….you know, it’s been that kinda day. Winky face, but the theme park families podcast came in and said, “Don’t think so. People in Ireland LOVE @HolidayWorld and are coaster starved with only one park”. I just needed Theme Park Families in this section for that one. Then we responded with, “….and so the eternal-and international-cheezeballing continues. #HoWoPo

[DEEP SIGHS FROM LEAH]

LEAH: In case you guys don’t know what cheezeballing is, because you know we may have some first-time listeners tuning in

LAUREN:  That’s fair

LEAH: And there’s seventy episodes to go back to, seventy-one episodes.

MATT: You HAVE to go listen to them.

LEAH: Yeah, some of them are pretty long, so I’m going to warn you now, but cheezeballing is something that happened to our past Communication Director, Paula Werne. She had the fun@holidayworld.com email and she had from one of our emails, accidentally responded to that email instead of another family members email and responded that THEY would be bringing the cheeseball. So it’s become kind an inside joke that we share with everyone on the podcast that when somebody accidentally tags us wrong or sends us the wrong message, that’s a cheeseball. Coaster101.com @Coaster101 Tweeted on January 23, “Is there a @McDonalds in Santa Claus, IN? Asking for our friends at @HolidayWorld! #HoWoPo #Bacon” and it is a special called “bacon hour”.

LAUREN:  I DID NOT KNOW THIS WAS A THING!!!

MATT: I WAS ABOUT TO SAY, IS THAT A THING??

LAUREN:  I DID NOT KNOW THIS HAPPENED!

LEAH: It was January 29, so we missed out

LAUREN:  4-5 pm! FREE BACON WITH ANYTHING!!

LEAH: They’ve got bacon coming out of an Oreo McFlurry

LAUREN:  WHY DID PAULA NOT TELL US THIS?? I FEEL SO CHEATED

MATT: Can we take this back to our McDonalds and say, “Hey we missed this”

LAUREN:  WE DIDN’T KNOW!!

[ALL POD SQUAD LAUGHTER]

LAUREN:  I don’t even know what I would put bacon on at McDonalds. [gasps in surprise} THE BREAKFAST SAUSAGE BURRITO’S!

MATT & LEAH: OHHHHHHHHH! [both intrigued]

LEAH: Taco Bell’s burrito’s with bacon are the bomb.

MATT: I wonder if you could ask them to add bacon to it if they would.

LAUREN:  You might be able to do that. Do it!

MATT: I’ll do it and see what they do.

LEAH: Do it and report back, I expect a full report on our next recording date

MATT: Which will be last week but tomorrow.

LEAH: Next we heard [ laughter], Alex Chubokas  tweeted @LeahsOboe #howopo  I don’t know how I feel about this, but I still included it. Apparently January 28 was Kazoo day and he was thinking of my oboe and the podsquad. I’m a little offended.

LAUREN:  Same thing!

LEAH: I’m a little offended.

MATT: Has the oboe tweeted lately?

LEAH: The oboe hasn’t tweeted lately

MATT: That’s good, so I’m all caught up

LAUREN:  I mean, same thing.

LEAH:

OUCH, OUCH, ouch, ouch! I’m just going to be leaving the podcast.

MATT: The kazoo can be your new sound bite since you lost your squeaky toy.

LEAH: HOW are they going to be able to tell the difference in an oboe and a kazoo??

LAUREN:  [laughing] Because they sound the same

LEAH: RUDE! Sorry to steal your tagline, Lauren. Next, we heard from Bob Green, “This post made me laugh on the air plane yesterday but I struggled in explaining why it was so funny. I told them to download the @HolidayWorld podcast #howopo

MATT: Word of mouth advertising

LEAH: It (a tweet) says “Yutzy’s Farm Market, it’s going to be a SUPER weekend! Why not add a cheese ball to your festivities? Zach Yutzy made a fresh batch this morning! Get them while we got them! With a lovely cheeseball spread, it looks great with the pretzels and crackers. A cheeseball sounds lovely right now.

LAUREN:  It’ does, with bacon.

MATT: It’s been a while since we’ve eaten, so.

LEAH: Ain’t that the truth.  Lindsay-Sir Graffis @LY_Entertainment we have “No @HolidayWorld podcast would be complete without #howopo” and it’s a picture of Degrees of Separation and we’ve a fire queen and….

LAUREN:  No, just no.

MATT: NO.

LEAH: I’m sorry to you, but we plan to discontinue the game BUT you do have a chance to reach out and suggest a new game

LAUREN:  YES.

LEAH: We’re looking for a new game.

MATT: I do love to win.

LEAH: Sure, we’re looking for a new game and it cannot be seventy degrees or 100 degrees or whatever degrees of separation, that’s my only rule.

LAUREN:  Yes, we were thinking Pictionary.

LEAH: Something visual, if you’ve listened to the first episode already you get it, you know. Bob Green tweeted to us on February 20^th, eating dinner, oh @bob05 by the way, “eating dinner in Columbus, OH wearing a @HolidayWorld hoodie and get stopped by a non coaster fan who asked how e knew about the park being 4 hours away. We explained that we are coaster crazies. #howopo”.

MATT: Fair enough.

LEAH:  I love it, I appreciate it, and thank you for representing.

LAUREN:  I love that’s the entire tweet. I feel like there should be another sentence to it, but I love that that’s it.

LEAH: That explains enough

LAUREN:  Thank you.

LEAH: CoasterRadio @Coasterradio on February 20 said, “This week, EB talks with Paula Werne from @HolidayWorld to hear stories about how they decided upon the names for classic rides like The Voyage, The Legend, The Raven and Thunderbird.” And this is an episode of CoasterRadio obviously with Paula in it and the Theme Park Families Podcast said #howopo and Coasterradio at the same time? Coaster minds around the world might” and It was gif, but it’s a head exploding type of gesture going on. Chris @s-c-h-n-e-i-daddy,[snicker]

MATT: Schnei-Daddy?

LEAH: “I just happened to see an official holiday world company car in Seymour today and got so excited. I hope big things are coming and we can’t for you guys to open! I check daily for new #howopo”

 ALL PODSQUAD: AWWWWW!

LEAH: Next Sammy Naas @naas_samuel on February 25 said, “Hey @holidayworld, listening to Episode 061: The One with the Sharkey from #howopo and cinging because its not a tuba 9it’s a sousaphone).” I had to include this one out of correctness, they’re talking about ROY G BIV I believe and they’re right, tuba is the upright thing and the sousaphone is thing that wraps around you.

LAUREN:  Ohh, oops.

LEAH: It’s a common mistake I believe, but

MATT: Now we know, I like that hashtag band geeks.

LEAH: yeah, “ #bank geeks, #imabandstudent #c’monman, #ineedtocatchuponthepodcast”. We’ll we gave you plenty of chances, so I hope you got caught up. Trent Burton on February 28^th tweeted, “Whatever happened to the podcast? I’m having withdrawals”.

MATT: We’re here for you man, we’re back.

[LAUGHTER]

Matt: We won’t miss seventy or twenty-five or however many degrees of separation. But we will be accepting new game ideas.

LAUREN:  Want to make a suggestion? Or have questions for the podsquad? There are more ways than ever to reach out to the podcast!

8: Find @holidayworld on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and use hashtag H-O-W-O-P-O to let us know you’re talking about us.

Matt: You can now CALL US! Dial 812-937-4401 and type in extension 8081 to get the HOWOPO voice mailbox

Lauren: Leave your questions and feedback for us there OR you can email us at podcast@holidayworld.com either with a written message or with a voice memo

Leah: again, reach out on social media to @holidayworld and use the hashtag HOWOPO, or call us at 812-937-4401 extension 8081, or send us an email to podcast@holidayworld.com

LEAH: When’s the best time to buy a Season Passes? Right Now! You can sign up for easy pay options through February 15. For more information about our passes and perks go to holidayworld.com/passes

[ROCK MUSIC]

LEAH: On April 6 we heard from Theme Park Families Podcast @themeparkfam, replying to @coasterradio and @lisavclarkshow, “SO proud of EB with his answer for favorite theme park which was of course @HolidayWorld! Indiana representing! #howopo” We are proud to be that for ya. This person’s name is all emojis, looks like a unicorn, an octopus, a carousel, and a candle @akweihe.

MATT: Is that Alyssa?

LEAH: It must be Alyssa, but @Akweihe on April 21 said, “I spotted my favorite sign of spring the other day, but couldn’t get a picture til today @HolidayWorld #howopo #bigredicee (which we didn’t get to have last year, Icee wouldn’t let us have that) #canseeitfromsixflagsparkinglot

LAUREN:  That’s funny!

LEAH: We do enjoy that, I’d like to say we don’t, but we do. Matthew David @Shagalang said, “Pigs in blankets I the UK are wrapped in bacon…seems more fitting based on #howopo”.

MATT: That would be pretty good.

LEAH: I think that sounds like an amazing idea, apparently it was also brought up on our facebook page but the European bacon lovers were out in force that day.

[LAUGHTER]

LEAH: Someone responded, “PROVE IT”.

[LAUGHTER]

LEAH: To which Matthew David sent us a picture of in fact little tiny hotdogs wrapped in bacon.

LAUREN:  Interesting

LEAH: And the same guy, Jonathan @lepolt said, “ I thought you were great already but that solidifies that feeling”. I’m with ya! I think we’ve been doing it all wrong! On April 29, Ribsin Bacon @RibsinBacon tweeted “R.I.P. #HoWoPo?” WE’RE BACK! Only several months later, it’s fine! Arielle tweeted @Coastergirl23 on May12 “@HolidayWorld is #howopo coming back?” to which we replied “#HoWoPoDunno”.

LEAH & MATT: WE’RE BACK!

LEAH: Sorry it took so long, we were trying to make some decisions and that took a while. We had to dream up the new format, but we’re excited to be back.

MATT: It’s like Sally Field, “They love us, they really love us!”.

LAUREN:  All five of you……kidding!

[laughter]

LEAH: RaptorGirl @RaptorGirl94 on May 15 said in response to our newest Made to Thrill design from our gift shops said, “That’s so on my shopping list for #HolliwoodNights #HoWoPo”.

MATT: Right there with you RaptorGirl!

LEAH: I don’t know if many people know this, but we collaborated with this artist Made to Thrill to create a T-shirt, and we’ve got, [whispers] SPOILER ALERT, we’ve got some more stuff coming from them. We’ve got some incredible art.

LAUREN:  It’s pretty awesome!

LEAH: They’re incredibly talented and they created a shirt that says, “Land, Sea, Airtime” and I just love it so much. ThemeParkfam from Theme Park Families podcast on May 24 said, “After a long off season, the five buddies, including the Big(brown)foot are making travel plans to get to Airtime at @HolidayWorld’s Holiwood Nights! They’ve secured two planes but might need a few more! Who’s psyched to go? @Coastercrew #howopo And they got, I don’t know, Lauren, I know it’s not the coaster crew but, if you want to describe the picture they’ve got a little big foot in there. They’ve got their little kitty stuffed animal who is in an orange dress.

LAUREN:  Yes, there’s a dalmatian and I think there’s an alligator…

LEAH: They did their best of a Holidog, I think that’s a but a duck maybe but eagle, we’ll call it an eagle, their best version of the Coaster Crew and I really like that.

MATT: A for effort!

LAUREN:  There’s an Airtime! Poster and a park map, and a brochure. It’s so cute!

LEAH: It was so good to see the Theme Park Families at Holiwood Nights this year. I love it. Annnd next, I have this image but it’s actually a gif that I’m going to slide across the table for Lauren to describe. Do you want me to read it while you watch the gif and describe?

LAUREN:  Go.

LEAH: The Coater Crew on May 29^th tweeted, “Excited for #HoliwoodNights? Yes! First Time? No, we’ve been excited for HoliWood Nights lots of times! Just practicing a few Airtime! Moves. What our parody lacks in parity, we make up for with sincerity. With a airplane and coaster emoji #HoWoPO and #HoWoPoNoMo with a little sad face. Ummm but in this gif we have some disco dancing going on

LAUREN:  Yes, I think I actually did see this prior to this. So yes, we have Kitty and the Big Green Foot are dancing in his seventy’s suit/vest something. They’re on the dance floor with a disco ball and they’re dancing away and Kitty flies ….

LEAH: Flies away, just like an airplane.

LAUREN:  And she returns and lands on the Big Green Foot, very à la airplane  

[Group laughter]

LEAH: Looks like we heard from Alyssa @Akweihe on June 30^th, “I didn’t know something like this was a option, I expect them at every drink oasis @HolidayWorld this summer #howopo #bigred #freesodaparkingsunscreen. It’s like a Big Red Tap!

LAUREN:  That’s what I was going to ask!

MATT: It looks like Big Red on tap, which I support.

LEAH: Oh, yeah, I didn’t include the whole picture, it’s a screen shot.

LAUREN:  That makes A LOT MORE sense-It IS Big Red on tap!

MATT: I wonder where she found this-where is this?

LEAH: We’re going to need more details on this, Alyssa please!

LAUREN:  The two of you are probably deeply moved by this, I’m like gross.

LEAH: Next we heard from Thrilling Moments Photography on July 19^th, “Racing the hills of the Voyage”. And we’re going to have to include this photo in the podcast blog about the episode, but the paper doesn’t do it justice. It’s a lovely photo of The Voyage. Next we heard from Coaster Dean @CoasterDean on August 16^th, “Today is national rollercoaster day so I’m sharing my favorite from @holidayworld The Voyage” and he shared our POV video, so thanks for calling The Voyage your favorite. Then we heard from Bob Green @bob05 on August 30, “It’s back! The Bacon vending machine has returned and has a new home at Ohio Stadium A new product idea for @Holidayworld? That bacon machine is there. That sure is a picture of one.

MATT: That is ridiculous and awesome at the same time.

LEAH: They also have  a hashtag of we miss the podcast.

EVERYONE: AAWWWWWWW!

LEAH Dean Chauvin @CoasterDean on September 5th tweeted “Goodbye Paula” because Arthur Levine wrote a lovely tribute to her and we just retweeted and said, “There are no words for how much Paula Werne shaped our industry and Holiday World, so all we can say is, “Thank You.”” We already did our podcast tribute to Paula, but we miss her. We miss you, Paula!

LAUREN:  Very much.

MATT: I was laughing at this picture already

LEAH: Dean Chauvin, @CoasterDean shared our picture, it’s like an award show picture…

MATT: OF all the pictures.

LEAH: All of my pictures from the Golden Ticket Awards look like this…HERE’S what’s happening. I’m accepting the Golden Ticket Award for Best Water Park Ride out at Silverwood Amusement park out in Idaho and I have so many chins.

[ALL POD SQUAD LAUGHTER]

LEAH: I have multiple chins, I have nothing left. It’s all neck, straight from teeth to neck.

MATT: I’m trying to figure out what you are doing here?

LEAH: It’s just multiple rings around my neck. What’s happening..

MATT: It’s not THAT bad…

LEAH: someone took a picture, Lauren and I received our 5 year service awards TODAY and if someone took a picture of me doing that today accepting that award, you would see me with 18 chins. It’s what I DO when I’m being recognized because I’m very, I’m not, If I’m not myself, if I’m acting in a show I’m all about being the center of attention. When I’m just me and getting recognition, I do not like that, I do NOT want to be the center of attention. So I tend to scrunch up my chin. In that situation, it was SO AWKWARD! Some people had been accepting awards at the center of the stage, then all of a sudden they were like “Come over here to the podium”, and I was just like I don’t know what to do, I don’t know where to take the picture, I don’t know where to stand, I don’t know what’s happening. People were changing it up and it and God Bless the Amusement Today staff tried so hard to have that organized and then WE industry people come through whatever they plan and wreck it, no matter what they want us to do. Whatever.

LAUREN:  To make matters worse…

MATT: I can attest, she did not look like this in real time

LAUREN:  To make matters worse, your eyes are closed.

[ALL POD SQUAD LAUGHTER]

MATT: That’s why, I don’t know what you were doing here.

at you were doing here.

LAUREN:  Did you already say that Dean said “Yaay”

LEAH: and now we have come to our announcement where we had Stephen create our same Cheetah Chase graphic.

MATT:  Which was great.

LEAH: With the hashtag HoWoPo and we posted it in a few places with “Season 2 Coming Soon”. And David Weihe tweeted at us “I miss #HoWoPo” and so we got to share that it was coming soon. So, her responded “YAY!!!” with a Rapunzel from Tangled GIF with “I promise, I’ll behave”. Ribsinbacon tweeted at us, “@HolidayWorld Did I hear correctly? The Podcast is coming back!?” and we responded “A little birdie told me that you can expect Season Two soon. But don’t tell Matt about the bird. He hates birds”.

MATT: True Story.

LEAH: We have to share this one because this one cracked me up we heard on November 29 from Carlos Arney Jr. said, “I’ve been asking for months and keep getting the same response of “No decision has been made” Time to make a decision. It’s been almost a year since #HOWOPO last entertained us. Why did you quit it? Why hasn’t it been brough back? Is it dead?” And I just responded with a simple “Stay tuned” with a little winky face.

MATT: Nice.

LEAH: That’s a year’s worth of feedback guys. Congratulations, you’ve feedback..fed back..retweeted your way to the end of another episode of our podcast. You’re listening to the final of our special binge-worthy drop of three podcast episodes. Please join our next episode which will be season 2 episode 4: The One With the Shiny New Toys, which we already recorded. It’s fine.

LAUREN:  SPOILER.

LEAH: It’s great, you’re going to love it! Thank you also to all of our behind-the-scenes podsquad: Stephen Rutherford for making us sound good and telling us all the new technology available for podcasting. Josh Moore for helping me collect questions and feedback, and Sabrina for creating the schedule that we WILL follow. Someday. Special thanks to Josh, Sabrina, and Stephen for pretending my jokes have been funny this week. It won’t be getting better anytime soon. And thanks to all of you for listening! Please subscribe and leave a review on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play Music, YouTube, Facebook, etc. and tell all your friends. On behalf of our PodSquad-Matt, Lauren, and myself-thank you. Please be sure to send us your feedback and questions by calling us at 812-937-4401 and dial 8081 or emailing us at podsquad@holidayworld.com or reaching us the traditional way on social media by using the hashtag HOWOPO

 [Rock music much louder]

Outro music: You’ve been listening to the official Holiday World Podcast, 

Man on Speaker: Welcome back! Did you enjoy your flight?

Man Speaking: A production of Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari in Santa Claus, Indiana. Check out the latest episodes at HolidayWorld.Com/Podcast

Thanks for taking a ride with us and please come back to see us again soon.

[music fades out]

LAUREN: Did you know if you pick our pick your own price tickets online, you can save money? You can save a little bit more by using the official Holliday World podcast promo code HOWOPO. Simply go to Holidayworld.com/save and drop in HOWOPO and let the savings begin!

If you’d like to reach out, send us an email at podcast@holidayworld.com, leave us a voicemail at 812-937-4401 extension 8081, or tag us on social media using the hashtag #HOWOPO.

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