Past Winner Stories
Holiday World and Splashin' Safari
www.holidayworld.com
For three generations, the Koch family has been in the happiness business, ever since Evansville industrialist Louis J. Koch decided in 1946 to launch a theme park in Santa Claus, Indiana, as a retirement project With nine children of his own, Koch loved youngsters and was troubled when they would visit the village of Santa Claus only to end up disappointed when they discovered Santa wasn't there.
Santa Claus Land originally included a toy shop, toy displays, children's rides, a restaurant and, of course, Santa Claus. When Koch's son, Bill, returned from World War II, he worked with his father and before long became head of Santa Claus Land, eventually marrying Santa's daughter, Patricia Yellig. The couple had five children; the eldest, Will, now runs the park that includes the full-scale amusement park Holiday World, as well as Splashin' Safari water park.
Will Koch, president and general manager of Holiday World & Splashin' Safari, knows he's in a terrific line of work.
"It's great to be in a business where our chief product is making people happy,” Koch said.
But it just wasn't enough to have a great product. With more and more independent, family-owned theme parks being gobbled up by corporate Goliaths, Holiday World had to choose a direction and focus on it, noted Koch.
"We couldn't be No. 1 to everyone," he said, "but we could be No. 1 to a segment of the population. We chose families."
As a "David" park, Koch said, Holiday World & Splashin' Safari couldn't compete with the $25 million roller coasters offered at the Goliath parks. So the family studied what it could do that big parks couldn't or wouldn't.
Holiday World decided it could be friendlier, and after adding hospitality training to its employee-training regimen, readers of Amusement Today magazine voted Holiday World the friendliest park staff in the world for six years in a row.
The park also decided it could be cleaner than the big parks. "We've trained all of our employees to be clean freaks and purchased loads of trash cans," Koch noted Amusement Today readers noticed and voted Holiday World the cleanest park in the world.
Koch likes the creative challenges of taking on the big guys and continuing to improve Holiday World.
"I really enjoy getting to work every year with ride manufacturers and our staff on creating new attractions, building them and seeing the reactions from our guests when they open," he said "We've also enjoyed trying new things and have enjoyed great success with some of our' experiments,' such as free unlimited soft drinks."
That innovation is a hit with the target family market, which appreciates not having to shell out more cash every time someone gets thirsty.
"Surely this stings the Goliaths a bit," noted Koch. "It really puts them on the spot when they're charging $3.50 for a Pepsi, and we're giving them away. And you know what? Hydrated guests are happy guests."
Attendance soared in 2002, up an unprecedented 20 percent over the previous record season. Koch attributes much of the park's success to its focus on safety and taking care of its rides. Wooden roller coasters the Raven, which opened in 1995, and the Legend, which debuted in 2000, were instant hits, he said, and have been featured on Discovery Channel specials.
"It's very gratifying to hear positive comments from our guests regarding the friendliness of our staff and the cleanliness of our grounds,” Koch said. "Knowing how hard our staff works to accomplish these things, it is great to know that our guests appreciate their efforts. We have an outstanding team of employees who are simply great at their jobs and extremely dedicated to going above and beyond expectations in serving our customers."
Santa Claus Land originally included a toy shop, toy displays, children's rides, a restaurant and, of course, Santa Claus. When Koch's son, Bill, returned from World War II, he worked with his father and before long became head of Santa Claus Land, eventually marrying Santa's daughter, Patricia Yellig. The couple had five children; the eldest, Will, now runs the park that includes the full-scale amusement park Holiday World, as well as Splashin' Safari water park.
Will Koch, president and general manager of Holiday World & Splashin' Safari, knows he's in a terrific line of work.
"It's great to be in a business where our chief product is making people happy,” Koch said.
But it just wasn't enough to have a great product. With more and more independent, family-owned theme parks being gobbled up by corporate Goliaths, Holiday World had to choose a direction and focus on it, noted Koch.
"We couldn't be No. 1 to everyone," he said, "but we could be No. 1 to a segment of the population. We chose families."
As a "David" park, Koch said, Holiday World & Splashin' Safari couldn't compete with the $25 million roller coasters offered at the Goliath parks. So the family studied what it could do that big parks couldn't or wouldn't.
Holiday World decided it could be friendlier, and after adding hospitality training to its employee-training regimen, readers of Amusement Today magazine voted Holiday World the friendliest park staff in the world for six years in a row.
The park also decided it could be cleaner than the big parks. "We've trained all of our employees to be clean freaks and purchased loads of trash cans," Koch noted Amusement Today readers noticed and voted Holiday World the cleanest park in the world.
Koch likes the creative challenges of taking on the big guys and continuing to improve Holiday World.
"I really enjoy getting to work every year with ride manufacturers and our staff on creating new attractions, building them and seeing the reactions from our guests when they open," he said "We've also enjoyed trying new things and have enjoyed great success with some of our' experiments,' such as free unlimited soft drinks."
That innovation is a hit with the target family market, which appreciates not having to shell out more cash every time someone gets thirsty.
"Surely this stings the Goliaths a bit," noted Koch. "It really puts them on the spot when they're charging $3.50 for a Pepsi, and we're giving them away. And you know what? Hydrated guests are happy guests."
Attendance soared in 2002, up an unprecedented 20 percent over the previous record season. Koch attributes much of the park's success to its focus on safety and taking care of its rides. Wooden roller coasters the Raven, which opened in 1995, and the Legend, which debuted in 2000, were instant hits, he said, and have been featured on Discovery Channel specials.
"It's very gratifying to hear positive comments from our guests regarding the friendliness of our staff and the cleanliness of our grounds,” Koch said. "Knowing how hard our staff works to accomplish these things, it is great to know that our guests appreciate their efforts. We have an outstanding team of employees who are simply great at their jobs and extremely dedicated to going above and beyond expectations in serving our customers."