The Voyage (roller coaster)

The Voyage is a wooden roller coaster located at Holiday World & Splashin' Safari in Santa Claus, Indiana.

Designed and built by The Gravity Group with the help of designers Mike Graham, Korey Kiepert, Larry Bill, Chad Miller, and former park President Will Koch, the roller coaster is themed to the famous voyage of the Mayflower by Pilgrims to North America in 1620.

In 2006, it won a Golden Ticket Award for "Best New Ride" from Amusement Today magazine, which also ranked The Voyage as the "Best Wooden Roller Coaster" from 2007 through 2011.

[2] The Gravity Group (a company formed from the remnants of Custom Coasters International which went bankrupt in 2002) was contracted to build the new ride.

The first twenty-eight seat reservations for the ceremonial first ride were auctioned off on eBay, with proceeds donated to Riley Children's Foundation in Indiana.

The Raven needed to return to normal rider capacity in the meantime, so Holiday World purchased an additional five PTC cars.

[8] In addition to routine track maintenance, Holiday World worked with The Gravity Group in the 2011-12 off-season to rebuild and reprofile portions of the "spaghetti bowl" turnaround near mid-course.

[9] In August 2013, Holiday World officially resigned from the Timberliner project, thanking Gravitykraft for their efforts but announcing that they were no longer pursuing the new trains for use on The Voyage.

[citation needed] The Voyage's station is themed as a 17th-century ship, with the basement being the cargo hold, the second level being the deck, and the ride operator's controls being the "Captain's Quarters".

[11] The second floor of the station holds the roller coaster's loading and unloading areas, as well as the two transfer tracks and maintenance bays.

On the unloading side of the station there are free shelves and lockers that riders may use to hold their belongings for the duration of the ride.

[12] Unlike Holiday World's other two wooden roller coasters, The Voyage has a gift shop which is located near its exit.

Guests can also visit this gift shop to view and purchase their photo that was taken by the on-ride camera, located right before the drop through the station building.

At the top of the lift hill the train immediately plunges down the ride's initial 154 feet (47 m) drop at over 65 miles per hour (105 km/h).

At the bottom of the drop the train crosses under the exit from Thunderbird's vertical loop, and then over a 100 feet (30 m) airtime hill.

[13] The train's return trip begins with a triple-down drop into an underground tunnel, picking up considerable speed in the process.

This portion goes under the supporting steel for the first three hills, creating multiple headchopper effects, once again crossing under Thunderbird in the same places as on the outbound journey.

After the train passes the on-ride camera, it flies over the base of the lift hill before making a diving right turn into a tunnel under the station.

This underground tunnel goes under the entrance and exit walkways to the ride; it is also located right next to the basement queues, where there is a viewing window where waiting guests can watch the train fly by.

The Voyage roller coaster
The Voyage's station, maintenance area, and transfer track (rightmost building), gift shop (building to the left of the station), and brake runs (behind the station), as seen from the roller coaster's lift hill.
An overview of the first three drops of The Voyage in 2006, as it looked prior to the construction of Thunderbird
One of The Voyage's three 90° banked turns.