Raven Maven

^ Sorry, the free-ornament promotion ran through December 22. You're in Connecticut? My folks live in Madison.

^ We'll have those two services in the Thunderbird plaza area, but not in those buildings. The screenshot above shows two small support buildings for Crow's Nest (ne Sparkler). One is the electrical building and the other the ride operator's shaded control area.

^ Fun fact: In a former life, I was editor of a trade magazine called "Pizza Today." I remember running a column about specialty coffees and using "Ssssspresso!" as the headline, as the first "e" is not pronounced, plus it captured the sound of the steam. Thought I'd take a shot. Random, I know. #SorryNotSorry

I don't understand - on Polar Express the movie? Yes, The Gravity Group (who designed The Voyage) served as consultants for the movie Polar Express (if you've seen it, you'll easily guess which part). Our Christmas animation, created by Steven in IT, includes an elf holding a mug with the design: Polar Expresso.

No, that was Steven in our IT department.

I thought it was a clever play on the movie title. (Did you know The Gravity Group guys - who designed Voyage - were consultants on that flick?)

The rest of the first train is now on site. Watch here: http://www.holidayworld.com/webcams/thunderbirdcam/ (If you have Control of the webcam, select "Maintenance Building" to catch the action.)

Have to ask - what subject does he teach?

Are you the Ambassadors I yelled, "Hey, don't touch!" at by the B&M booth? I had too much fun scaring people that week. Heck of an icebreaker, though ...

^ It wouldn't surprise me one bit.

The unexpected arrival of the Thunderbird car which was (not actually ) unveiled at IAAPA last month caused a bit of a scurry to load it onto the storage track before the weather gets wintery again. The rest of the first train should arrive in the coming week. As James told us this morning, "The train is on a train."

^^ Watch the maintenance building from this angle and you might just see something: http://www.holidayworld.com/webcams/thunderbirdcam/

^ That's not what the film is about. It's a behind-the-scenes look at a series of less traditional Santa's Helpers.

^ I haven't seen it either. But no, we're not part of it.

^ I know. I should be ashamed of myself.

For 2015, we'll add seating to that area, in anticipation of something else taking that spot in 2016.

^ No "announcement" per se; the ride is being moved as we speak (write), if you want to check out our webcams: http://www.holidayworld.com/webcams/ We'll have a timelapse video, hopefully later today. Thanks!

^ Yup, that'll do just fine. Thank you!

^ Very cool, Nic! (Would you mind posting a photo credit - Photos courtesy HolidayWorld.com works great - when you use our photos, please? Thanks.) Btw, the ride we're moving? Happens this coming week.

Regarding who signed the last piece of track - it was members of the construction crew. Gotta love traditions like this!

Yes, mid-month. The second train will arrive in January or February.

^ Track piece #75 went up today; #76 and #77 will be put in place first thing Tuesday morning. The flywheels arrive Wednesday. Christmas comes early to all the good little boys and girls at Holiday World!

Yes, because karma would never come back and bite us! Just because the track is all up (or will be soon) doesn't mean we're done - still a lot of work as we prepare B&M's first launched coaster for testing. That will be the topic of the next Hard Hat Chronicles. But thanks for the good thoughts - our team has been incredible!

^ You do know that Thanksgiving is the day after tomorrow, right? No, the track won't be completed tomorrow.

I can assure you, we're full-steam ahead with Thunderbird. The original construction schedule showed the last piece of track going up before Christmas, but if we're working ahead of schedule we're certainly not slowing down!