20 in 2020: Legend at Holiday World

Welcome back to another installment in our “20 in 2020” series where we’re highlighting 20 coasters that opened in 2000 and therefore are celebrating 20th birthdays in 2020.

Up next is Legend at Holiday World

In the late 1990s, Holiday World began planning a followup to the park’s highly acclaimed wooden coaster, Raven, which opened in 1995.

But this planning wasn’t done completely behind the scenes. While some parks have given guests the opportunity to name a coaster, Holiday World invited guests to give feedback on the design of the coaster.

A drawing of Legend’s layout when the coaster was announced on June 15, 1999. Image © Holiday World.

According to an archive of the park’s website, coaster enthusiasts from around the world were invited to share their thoughts on a preliminary draft of Legend’s layout:

When a initial draft of The Legend’s design was posted on Holiday World’s website along with a request for input, hundreds of emails arrived from coaster enthusiasts of all ages with suggestions ranging from “more air time” and “add an underground tunnel” to ideas for theming and naming the new coaster.

In total, then Holiday World park president Will Koch reviewed over 200 suggestions gathered as part of the engagement effort.

Legend is inspired by and named after Washington Irving’s classic story, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, which centers around the notorious Headless Horseman.

Below, watch a video of the late Will Koch announcing Legend to coaster enthusiasts and members of the media in June of 1999.

However, the Legend construction had already begun two months prior in April 1999 with the pouring of concrete footers.

Watch a video construction tour led by Will Koch below:

Photos © Holiday World

By spring 1999, the coaster was nearing completion:

Legend opened to the public on May 6, 2000. The coaster’s $3-million price tag represented the largest ride investment’s in the park’s then-55 years of operation.

The coaster’s track stretches 4,042 feet in length — over 1,200 feet longer than Raven.

Each train’s departure from the station is signaled by the ringing of a school bell. The train dips and turns toward the towering lift hill.

Legend stands 99 feet tall with a 113-foot first drop followed by a 77-foot drop and a 64-foot drop.

Sources differ on the coaster’s top speed, with Holiday World’s website claiming 65 mph while RCDB listing 59 mph.

The coaster’s second major drop (at 77 feet) was the world’s first “spiral drop” where the radius of the descent increases to provide guests with a constant lateral force.

Compared to Raven’s “famous fifth drop” into the woods, Legend’s fifth drop (at 64 feet) plunges riders into an underground tunnel, one of the coaster’s four tunnels (at the time).

Fitting for a ride themed to the Headless Horseman, the coaster’s layout is packed with “head-chopper” moments where the train appears to barely clear horizontal wooden beams of the support structure.

In addition, the first half of the coaster’s layout weaves under some of the adjacent Splashin’ Safari waterpark’s slides, creating even more near-miss moments.

In its first several years of operation, Legend maintained a top-10 spot on wooden coaster ranking lists, reaching as high as #4 in the 2002 Golden Ticket Awards.

Legend has undergone several changes in its 20 years of operation.

Bill and Pat Koch sitting in the original Legend train, made by Gerstlauer. Photo © Holiday World.

In 2002, Legend’s original Gerstlauer train was replaced by two Philadelphia Toboggan Company (PTC) trains similar to the train used on Raven. The addition of a second train would significantly increase the coaster’s operational capacity. Both new trains included six cars, seating four riders each for a total of 24 riders per train.

But to accommodate a second train, several modifications to the track were needed.

The park constructed a transfer track on the straight span of track between the station and the pre-lift drop. This would allow the park to revert to a single-train operation if needed as well as a space to perform maintenance on the trains.

In 2016, the Legend was “reborn,” as Holiday World partnered with Great Coasters International (GCI) to replace nearly 1,400 feet of track, strengthen the coaster’s support structure and incorporate a double-down element following the coaster’s final helix.

But that wasn’t all, the park also installed a new themed tunnel under the Frightful Falls log flume’s lift hill.

The park selected some of the most durable wood known to mankind, Ipe, a wood three-times as dense as the yellow pine wood the coaster was originally constructed with, and seven times as hard as cedarwood. Because of these attributes, the park was required to pre-drill every single nail hole.

The video below further explains the benefits of Ipe:

While an intensive effort on the front end, the new wood will help ensure that Legend remains smooth for years to come.