Thursday will be a special day for area children with disabilities.  About 2,500 along with their teachers and adult chaperones will visit Holiday World Splashin’ Safari for Play Day 2013.

School groups (preschool through high school) from throughout southern Indiana, southern Illinois and western Kentucky will participate in the event.

For their 2013 season, Lake Rudolph Campground & RV Resort in Santa Claus is investing approximately $4 million in additions and improvements.

Lake Rudolph is adding five new water slides in a complex called Santa's Splash Down WaterPark. Two are fiberglass slides that were previously owned by Holiday World & Splashin' Safari. In addition, an inflatable water slide called the Trippo® will feature three slides. The water slides will open during the 2013 summer season.

The first fiberglass slide will be open and partially enclosed with a length of 344 feet. The second slide will be enclosed and 296 feet long. Both fiberglass slides will use inner tubes. At three stories tall, the Trippo is the world's largest inflatable water slide. It will be a wet slide in summer and may be used as a dry slide during non-summer months. The longest and center slide is 136 feet in length and the side slides are 113 feet long.