Bemusement - The Attractions Industry Blog

Will Koch

When you grow up in a park family, you learn it all. And Will Koch has done it all, from performing as a costume-character elf (yes, he wore green tights) to running sound for shows (where he met his future wife) to designing wooden roller coasters (The Voyage, awarded the “Best Wooden Coaster” Golden Ticket Award). For 20 years, Will has served as president of Holiday World Theme Park in Santa Claus, Indiana, USA. As the third generation to run his family’s park (originally called Santa Claus Land), Will has created Splashin' Safari water park, added Thanksgiving--a fourth holiday-themed section--to Holiday World, instituted the family-friendly “Free Unlimited Soft Drinks” program, and won the highly coveted Applause Award. Will, an avid reader, strategic thinker, and all-around nice guy, is on a tireless search to discover the Next Big Thing.

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Saturday, February 21, 2009 Amusement Parks: The Economy and Regional Theme Parks. 2009. It’s the economy, stupid. Some days I feel pretty stupid because I can’t envision what effect the economy will have on us as a regional theme park......View more

Friday, October 10, 2008 Amusement parks: Off Season - Free, Unlimited Bon Bons Well, it’s October 9 here in Indiana. The trees are starting to turn. We have just one weekend left in our season, and then it’s the “off-season.” For those of us who operate seasonal parks, the off-season is the time of year when we get very tired of answering the question, “What do you do all winter?” as though we had nothing better to do than sit around, tell jokes and eat bon bons....View more

Tuesday, June 03, 2008 Focusing on Families Hi. It’s Will again. I said I’d try to share the benefits of what I’ve learned through a life lived in and around a theme park, Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari. I’d like to kick off with a lesson I learned nearly 20 years ago about focus. Twenty years ago (OK, 25 if you’re keeping track), we were a smaller family park called Santa Claus Land. ...View more

Tuesday, April 29, 2008 Living the Tradition: notes from a Family Owned and Operated Theme and Water Park By way of introduction, I’m Will Koch, the president of Holiday World & Splashin' Safari, a small theme park and water park combination in Santa Claus, Indiana, USA... ...View more