ZeroGravity55

Picture from HW's FB. Pretty sure those are y-ledgers on the turn next to the station. That was a flat turn for the most part so that's one modification. It looks like they're redoing the final turn as well as there are several bents missing.

Just because it's highly banked doesn't automatically mean higher positive g forces. If anything, I would almost bet in some type of crazy feeling lateral force (which is not a bad thing) on the right side of the train at the peak of the turn. B&M has been doing this a lot lately where they design a turn that almost or does bank at 90 degrees + at the peak. They did this on Fury (Treble Clef), Thunderbird (the turn into the inline twist) and Baron 1898 (the helix after the Zero-G roll).

One of three nitros from Sam Adam's . This one is pretty good.

I'm pretty sure that they're removing most of the structure from the bottom of the drop on The Legend. It's hard to tell as the camera either has a really bad glare from the sun or it needs to be wiped off. It also looks like they've started adding some new catwalks on the turn by the stairs going into the station.

Lightning Rod has had me thinking of several ways you could launch a coaster up a mountain side and this one idea I've came up with.

Been awhile since I posted an update. I'm on the home stretch with the supports now. Hopefully I'll have a video uploaded next week! I have to adjust some clearance issues, but it's pretty much done.

I don't know if they've previously listed a month that they planned to open Wildefire, but according to the latest video, they're shooting for June.

I really hope they do this as well. Of course, they won't make it too scary, but it would be really interesting to see what they come up with. 1.) The crowds should be very manageable. The only rides that will pull big lines will be Thunderbird, Mammoth, and Wildebeest...Mammoth more than Wildebeest. I've seen Mammoth pull a 25-30 min wait when it was 60 degrees out with 20 mph wind gusts. That ride is VERY popular among the gp. 2.) Honestly, Jasper is probably the best option out of all the towns surrounding Santa Claus. It's about 30 mins outside of HW. I would recommend the Days Inn. I haven't had one bad stay there.

I'm really interested to see how Joker looks once it's finished. GCI is really prides itself on designing a structure that is very aesthetic while these RMC Iron Horse conversions are kinda known for their unfinished look.

It won't get painted. The new wood will eventually fade in that California sun and look like the old wood.

^ I think it also has a lot to do with advances in technology/learning more over time. It happens all the time in roller coaster design. The engineers figure out ways to support things using much less supports, ext. To be quite honest though, the question we're answering is probably a question the higher ups at CP can't answer, as that answer lies with the engineers at B&M. My question would be how long was this ride in the planning stage and how long did it take to get to the final design? I'm curious to see if it was a long drawn out process or if it came together rather quick.

Looking at that picture and based on the footings, the lift and drop structure will look like this with wooden supports on the turn at the top. Excuse the horrible animation and box track. I just put this together real quick as an example based on the footings in the picture.

B&M has been trending up since Banshee was built and I've had this thought that perhaps some younger engineers are starting to get into the mix in their company and are starting to push the limits a bit more. I mean Walter and Claude are getting pretty old, and if they want their business to continue after they're gone, they're going to have start grooming their successors. That's my random thought for the day.

Just a couple more bits of info. Someone asked on FB if they were going to be designing all the laterals out of The Legend and Paula responded and said that they should know the park better than that. But, Paula also said on the HWN FB page that the coaster cats were modifying the PTC cars on The Legend so they can articulate more (see this to see what I'm talking about) which can only me one thing, higher banking. Now it could only be limited to the turn they're lowering, but I did notice all of the track was missing from where the double down was going to the brake-run. So that is something to keep an eye on.

Paula just said on the Holiwood Nights FB page that The Gravity Group and GCI both put a bid in on the project, but GCI can do both the engineering and offer a team to get the work done while TGG only offers engineering. So this is why they went with GCI. With it being this late in the off-season, I'd say it would have been hard to get the amount of contractors/carpenters together to get the project done by opening day if they went with TGG.

^^ New trains rarely ever make a ride better. Those heavy PTC's are going to carry a lot more speed through the double down, which means more airtime I'm interested in the podcast, but I'll decided what my interest level is after I listen to a couple of shows. I think their primary audience is going to be enthusiasts, so it'll be interesting to see what they talk about, since they're so secretive about what they're going to do in the future.

^ Paula just said on FB that they're staying with PTC's.

If they were switching trains, they would have announced it. They're lowering the turn right after you come under the lift and that turn already had some very strong laterals, so most definitely it'll get banked, but I'm guessing it'll carry about the same amount of laterals while getting more airtime going into the new tunnel.

Wonder what this could be for? "Yes, I gave the sisters permission to wear their "head things" for this afternoon's video shoot. #Brrrr"

A lot of parks do teasers, but HW has always went to the beat of their own drum. In a lot of ways, HW probably sets the standard with their teasers and I can promise you that I'm not saying that because I'm a fanboy (Trust me, sometimes I wish that wasn't true...kinda like right now lol).

From RMC's Facebook:

HW's coaster cats will be doing the re-tracking/whatever else they're doing from everything I can see, but if GCI is indeed involved, they were brought in for the engineering. I would venture out to say that the PTC's will stay. If they were doing Millennium Flyers, the ride would be getting a reprofile much like Ghostrider's as GCI has requirements that the structure of the ride must meet before they would put their trains on said ride. GCI did do the engineering on the re-profile of Boulder Dash a few years back and it still uses PTC's. It seems that ride as held up really well since they did it and it didn't get neutered one bit (I could be wrong on that). Here's another little note: HW has relationship with Skyline Attractions and the guys at Skyline Attractions are the former lead engineers at GCI and they still do engineering work for GCI from time to time.

^ Watch this video And then watch this video And it'll make sense why they're talking about Christmas and Santa in January.

I have no clue. Paula, you win.