One of the great ironies of Holiday World, the Indiana theme park in the can-you-believe-the-name town of Santa Claus, is that the park isn't open to celebrate most of the holidays it features. While nearly all major parks are in the midst of their Halloween events, Holiday World will close after this weekend without unleashing even a single chainsaw-wielding lunatic. And it won't reopen until next May, bypassing the Christmas holiday that first inspired the park. In the off-season, however, the park will be building the world's tallest splashdown water ride, Pilgrims Plunge. See the incredible attraction:

• Pilgrims Plunge Preview Photo Gallery
• Pilgrims Plunge Preview Video

Photo: Pilgrims Plunge rendering. Holiday World. Used with permission.

Here's news of yet another indoor water park on the way. Waves of Fun, now under construction next to the Best Western Timber Creek Inn & Suites in Sandwich, Illinois (about an hour from Chicago), will feature the country's first Surf Stream surfing ride. Like the FlowRider surfing attractions at many water parks, guests will be able to use body boards and modified surfboards to ride the simulated waves. The new park will also offer a wave pool, lazy river, water slides, and the usual assortment of water park fun. Read more about Waves of Fun.

• Boogie Bear Surf FlowRider at the Six Flags Great Escape Lodge Indoor Water Park
• Find More Illinois Water Parks
• Find More Indoor Water Parks

Photo: The interactive water play center at the Waves of Fun Indoor Waterpark. Waves of Fun

Connecticut got its first indoor water park when the CoCo Key Water Park Resort at the Holiday Inn Waterbury held its grand opening last week. The 50,000-square-foot water park features an interactive water play center, a lazy river, body and tube slides, and other ways to get wet in a climate-controlled setting. All of the CoCo Key water parks (there are eight open in Illinois, Ohio, Massachusetts, and elsewhere and two more on the way) share a similar layout. They lack marquee attractions such as water coasters, simulated surfing rides, or funnel rides that other indoor water parks feature. Without the thrills, the new Connecticut park is ideally geared to families with children under the age of 12. Read more...

Here's an announcement that seems apropos for the Halloween season. The dark ride mavens at Sally Corporation, known for designing wild attractions such as Hard Rock Park’s Nights in White Satin--The Trip, has signed on to develop rides based on the popular Goosebumps book series. Geared to young readers and featuring toned-down horror with a hint of humor, Goosebumps have generated sales of over 350 million books and spawned a Cartoon Network TV show. The Sally folks will be pitching the concept to parks and say that they plan to use animatronics, black-light features, and 3-D elements to immerse guests in the Goosebumps world. 3-D goose bumps? That's an interesting concept.

• Theme Park Dark Rides
• Revenge of the Mummy at Universal Studios- A hybrid dark ride and coaster.

Photo: A rendering of the Goosebump ride. Sally Corporation. Used with permission.