About a month ago, before the amusement parks were fully opened to the public, I took a Friday off of work, piled in a friends mini van and took off for Santa Claus, Indiana way too early in the morning on a day off. Why you ask? Because we were a crazy enough bunch to get our little “coaster family” chosen to be extra’s on the Travel Channel show Bert the Conqueror!
Bert and Dan Koch, HolidayWorld President, before being sent off on the Voyage. Photo courtesy of Travel Channel.
Bert Kreischer, is a comedian and Host of his own show, in which he Conquers his fears by doing different, crazy stunts. On a sunny, yet still sort of chilly spring weekend, he traveled to Holiday World in Santa Clause, Indiana to conquer The Voyage roller coaster, as well as Wildebeest, the water coaster. And myself along with a bunch of fellow coaster enthusiast friends, were there to cheer him on.
Our crazy group with Pat Koch of HolidayWorld, early in the morning in front of Voyage
We were told right off the bat, and for the few weeks heading up to it, that there would be waiting, as everything is dependent on the camera crew and getting their shots. They told us to bring all sorts of stuff! I smartly brought along a blanket I was crocheting 🙂 and already that morning, an hour after being let into the park… we were still waiting.
Bert going over some specifics with Pat... or just flirting with her 😉
Finally it was time to load up some trains! And wait in those said trains…. more photo ops!!
Notice the camera guy in the background checking feeds and odds and ends and whatsits while we waited.
Part of group chillin in the back seat... which seat do i take?? (sorry >.< )
I really wish this came out better but thats Bert and Dan Koch (from at top) on their ride, notice the camera mounted in the front seat.)
After only one ride for everyone (almost a few people still hadn’t gotten a ride) it was time to break for lunch. HolidayWorld was awesome and provided a great spread of pizza and desserts for all of us “working hard”. They were very gracious hosts! Free food free Voyage rides, free hanging out with Bert, and a free ticket to come back and enjoy the park when it was actually open to the public! 🙂 This is part of the reason I love this place.
After lunch it was time for a little Q & A and meet and greet with Bert! For the record, if you’ve never seen is stand up comedy show, go see it! He’s hilarious and a real down to earth person. What you see on the show is pretty much him (well actually its a little more tamer family friendly version) But he really is a great guy!
Me and Steph with Bert. (She's madly in love with him btw) 😉
Coaster Family shot with Bert!!!
He was great and really took the time to talk to everyone there and get pictures with whoever wanted them. Much to the exasperation of the production manager who would have to tear him away from time to time. To let everyone’s stomachs settle before more rounds on Voyage, they did the interviews next. A few of our friends were interviewed while the rest of us were to inconspicuously walk through the background once or twice to make the park seem open even though it wasn’t.
butt cheeks were shakin!” (Sorry Brad I had to) Notice the crowd on and off camera.”]
Dave's crew being interviewed. Unfortunately they didn't make it on air either for either 1. knowing just too much about the coaster or 2. The little girls that were being annoying in the background and staring directly at the camera even though they were told to ignore them *sigh*
Finally it was time to ride again. Only this time with no camera on board, and no Bert 😦 This was more waiting as after every train or 2 the cherry picker back in the woods would have to move to a new position to get all those awesome shots and angles of the coaster. This is also when Bert did some talking about the coaster, and talked with the Koch’s.
Me and my "coaster boyfriend" gearing up for an intense front seat ride! Winning!
Awesome shot of us headed back for the station fly-by
Me and Steph and the gang ready for ride 3, or 4, or 6. We kinda lost count 😛
Just minutes after the above pic was taken we whooshed by Bert. Photo credit of HolidayWorlds HoliBlog.
All in all it was a great way to spend the day with great friends doing what we love! If you caught the show last night, yes most of the shots with us were cut (booo 😦 ) but its to be expected. But the bonus is is that if he comes around again to shoot another time I’ll be able to do it since i really didn’t get any camera time!
We did manage to slow mo the show after we watched it to really zero in on us, and those pictures of a paused tv are as follows. So if you DVR’ed it you’ll know what to look for 😉 The awesome thing is most of the bright pink you see on the coaster shots are all of me and my friend Steph 🙂
3rd seat the blur of pink and red 🙂
3rd seat the blur of pink and red 🙂
I'm easy in this one. I'm in between the guys in red
Close up of the previous pic.
Another quick shot of us all.
Here's one I missed that I guess they showed at the begining. This area got a lot of face time, but they always managed to cut me out of it 😦
I think one of my favorite parts of the whole show last night was when Bert came back and was talking about a bug hitting him in the face. I’m not kidding you this went on for 20 minutes in the station. We were all cracking up and rolling on the floor.The best part? They actually found that part on video and pointed it out!!
"a BUG it my FACE!!" lol
Which leads to this shot that I'm also in the back of 😛
Close up of previous
So that was my very brief stint at stardom. Sure I wasn’t on for more than say 20 seconds total. Was it worth it? Totally! I got to lap one of my favorite coasters, with some of my best friends, get out of work, mingle with celebrities, and enjoy part of one of the best amusement parks ever! Seriously, if you’ve never gone to HolidayWorld, get there! Its only like a 3-4 hour drive, free parking, free sunscreen, free drinks, and the nicest awesomest people will you ever encounter! 🙂
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