While on a recent visit to the park, I picked up a copy of Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari: 75 Years of America’s First Theme Park book by
The hardcover book is an easy read and includes numerous color photographs. Besides the multiple authors listed above, there are also interviews and stories with several other individuals who contributed to the park’s growth or attractions, like Chad Miller from The Gravity Group and Rick Hunter of ProSlide. There are many fun facts and stories throughout. To give you a brief taste, here are a few tidbits of information I found to be quite interesting:
75 Years of America’s First Theme Park Preview
The town of Santa Claus, Indiana was originally named Santa Fee but the post office rejected the name because there was already a Santa Fe, Indiana.
Holiday World claims they are “America’s First Theme Park” and the book explains why. First, they acknowledge Knott’s Berry Farm got its start as a berry farm in 1920, started selling chicken dinners in 1934, and added a Ghost Town in 1940. Opened in 1946, Santa Claus Land “was different, as it represented the first time an amusement park had been built from the ground up revolving around a singular theme with a selection of attractions supporting that story – the first theme park.”
As early as the 1950s, the park felt they needed a new name that was less seasonal and more fitting for year-round operation. A naming contest was held and the winner, “Pleasure Park” was modified slightly to Pleasureland. No explanation is given but in the end the park remained Santa Claus Land and only the kiddie area was named “Pleasureland” (and is now called Rudolph’s Reindeer Ranch).
There was no admission fee until 1955, when adults were charged 50 cents.
In 2000, admission prices were raised by $4.00 from the previous year: $1.00 for Legend, a new wooden roller coaster, and $3.00 for the new unlimited soft drinks program.
Holiday World was the champion of our annual “Park Mania” bracket in 2020 and I was pleasantly surprised to see C0aster101 mentioned in the book under the awards section in Appendix B!
See a few more Holiday World fun facts in the video below but for more you’ll have to read the book yourself!
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Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari: 75 Years of America’s First Theme Park is a must-read book for theme park fans. You can pick up the book inside the park or from Amazon.com.
Check out more of our favorite theme park books here.
It’s a great read, full of interesting stories about the park’s history and its transformation over the years. I loved learning about the quirky origins of Santa Claus, Indiana, and how the park evolved from Santa Claus Land.