Set in the land of Thanksgiving at Holiday World, The Voyage has roller coaster fans who thank the Indiana park for its wild wooden roller coaster, and we mean wild. With its considerable height, speed, steep curves, underground dives, and scales – and we mean scales, of airtime – you’ll probably want to wait for the turkey dinner available at the nearby Holiday World restaurant until after riding The Voyage.
- Type of coasters: wooden coasters with steel frame.
- Thrill Scale (0 = Wimpy !, 10 = Yikes!): 7.5- No inversions, but with high heights, wild speed and extreme G-forces.
- Height: 163 feet
- First drop: 154 feet
- First angle of fall: 66 degrees
- Other drops: 107 feet, 100 feet
- Top speed: 67 mph (The Voyage is one of the top 10 fastest wooden roller coasters).
- Track length: 6442 feet or 1.2 miles (one of the longest wooden roller coasters in the world)
- Height requirement: 48 inches
- Travel time: 2:45 minutes.
The journey is a Heckuva journey
Like Holiday World’s two other wonderful forests, The Raven and Legend, The Voyage sends roller coaster travelers deep into the park’s forest in search of a host of thrills. Unlike the other Holiday World attractions, and indeed, unlike most other roller coasters anywhere, The Voyage offers a world-class ride packed with record-breaking and near-record features.
The journey begins with a 163-foot climb up a traditionally elevated hill. That ranks as the fifth tallest wooden roller coaster in the world. And it’s a spectacular 154 foot drop (the sixth longest in the world) to 66 degrees (pretty steep for a lumberjack) and a top speed of 67 mph (the sixth fastest in the world). As it climbs its second hill, The Voyage delivers its first dose of airtime, that glorious out-of-seat feeling that roller coaster fans can’t get enough of.
If you can’t get enough of it, consider hopping aboard The Voyage. According to Holiday World, the ride features 24.2 seconds during which passengers float above their seats, a world record for the wooden roller coaster when it debuted. After descending 107 feet, The Voyage delivers its second airtime pop. Flying down the third 100-foot hill, The Voyage enters its first underground tunnel.
Multi-sensory journey
The Voyage’s total of eight tunnel dives yields another world record. Passengers may not be prepared for the sudden disorientation of underground experiences. Even on a typically hot, muggy, and bright Southern Indiana day, they feel giddy from the jolt of fresh air they feel as the roller coaster momentarily descends into the dark bowels of the earth. It’s cold down there! And the multi-sensory experience (it even smells a little different underground) helps make The Voyage a wild ride.
The roller coaster soars in and out of two more tunnels to weave a tapestry of blinding light, blackness, temperature fluctuations and pulse-pounding luscious air time. The Voyage then does some very steep turns (thank goodness for the seat dividers) as it turns and begins to head back to the station. There are more tunnels on the return trip, including a truly impressive triple-down dive in which the roller coaster descends underground, then suddenly drops a second time into total darkness, followed, incredibly, by another subterranean dive.
During the last quarter of its circuit, when The Voyage enters and exits its steel frame, it loses a bit of its thrust. That, and its sometimes rough ride (particularly on the back of the train, though the back offers heavier periods of airtime), leaves a 1/2 star of a 5-star wooden mountain experience. Still, The Voyage ranks as one of the best wooden roller coasters.
So what are you waiting for, pilgrim? Book your own ticket to Holiday World for a trip aboard The Voyage.
