ZeroGravity55

One of the two guys who designed The Legend, Dennis McNulty, commented on that Holiblog and said "Legend has it that the survey stakes were high…" Don't know what that means, but thought it was interesting. Also, Paula commented on another site and said this wasn't a "keeping up with the jones" deal with KK and that this is something Will Koch always wanted to do on The Legend.

After thinking about what they might be doing, this is my prediction: While I was looking at the video, I kept thinking why the hell would they be stripping down The Legend's trains to freshen them up? PTC just did a rehab on both trains last year. Then they posted the reverse POV of The Legend, which was a bit curious. Then they stripped the drop of the track which would probably be one of the rougher parts, if they were to run the trains backwards in terms of forces exerted on the riders. So I guess what I'm getting at is that I think they're going to be running The Legend Backwards this upcoming season. I didn't think they would do it in a million years, but Six Flags is having a good amount of success with the whole backwards thing. It is a inexpensive way to draw people in especially after coming off a year where you spent 22 million on a single project and the two of the parks surrounding you are adding new coasters.

The Raven and Voyage. The Raven is a completely different animal at night.

When I was scouring the town of Santa Claus's website a while back, I noticed something that kinda made me raise an eyebrow, but now it makes sense. When I was looking at the town board APA group minutes for May of 2014, which is when they got the approval to start the footings for Thunderbird, I noticed that it said that the project (they never said what they were building) was an altercation to the masterplan presented to board previously.

You need to change the file format in which you're recording in. If it's mov. it'll play in quicktime player, but that's about it. It needs to be recorded in AVI.raw format. That'll allow it to play in almost any media player you want to use. Just a fair warning, if you're using a newer laptop or normal computer, the video will be kinda lagging, starting and stopping continuously if you're recording over 32 fps. If you edit it in windows movie maker, once you save the actual movie, you'll be able to save it in an actual format that will will allow it to play continuously without the starting and stopping. At least, that's what I've experienced so far. I can't seem to find out how to do that, is it a Pro feature only (I only have standard)? I didn't learn about it until I had already purchased pro, so it might be.

You need to change the file format in which you're recording in. If it's mov. it'll play in quicktime player, but that's about it. It needs to be recorded in AVI.raw format. That'll allow it to play in almost any media player you want to use. Just a fair warning, if you're using a newer laptop or normal computer, the video will be kinda lagging, starting and stopping continuously if you're recording over 32 fps. If you edit it in windows movie maker, once you save the actual movie, you'll be able to save it in an actual format that will will allow it to play continuously without the starting and stopping. At least, that's what I've experienced so far.

For anyone who is curious, Paula responded to someone on FB a couple of weeks ago and said that the announcement would be made sometime during the second week of January. This could have changed since then though.

The off-ride shots looked great, just try and get your cursor out of the video. I can relate to not being able to come up with names. I named one of my coasters "Soup" once because I couldn't come up with anything. There were a few shots my cursor was in and I didn't catch it until I was editing the video. Recording video is a bit of pain and takes forever on my laptop, so I decided to leave it as is. At least I didn't leave it in almost the whole video like I did on my Boss RMC video I was and still am a bit of a newb when it comes to this stuff As for the name, the literal filename I have for this coaster is called Barney. I almost uploaded it and put the Barney theme as the audio for it.

I've had this on file for a while now. Decided to upload it. It's my first attempt at off-ride shots. I have to admit it was bit tougher than I thought. Hopefully I'll get better at it! Btw, I know the name is totally original

This is absolutely fantastic:

I'm always surprised by how big these B&M coasters looks in person and this thing already looks huge from the webcam. It's going to be a very impressive sight walking down the midway and when you get next to and underneath this coaster.

^ I kinda modeled that after the first airtime hill on Switchback. I kinda get into the design of these coasters more than I should. I was thinking of what it might feel like to have your butt completely lifted out of your seat then get thrown to the left while your butt is still out of the seat. That's what I was going for. I probably shouldn't have used the term "family coaster" as the whole point of these smaller GG woodies is to deliver the thrills of a bigger coaster with a smaller coaster that's cheaper and easier to maintain. Almost all of the ones they've designed do that.

Just something small that I put together:

Cedar Point wins hands down. The difference between their skyline and let's say SFMM is that CP's skyline looks more thought out and way better aesthetically. SFMM looks like a bunch of rides plopped down with no thought whatsoever to me. Maybe that has to do with the perception of both parks. I'm not sure, but that's just how I see it. Photo Cred goes to ElToroMillieniumForce

RMCs actually lose speed quicker than traditional wood coasters. All of the conversions have shorter track lengths compared to the originals. That's because of the wheels. The nylon and polyurethane wheels lose friction faster than steel wheels. Outlaw Run is the only RMC woodie that has and is going to be using steel wheels. Lighting Rod and Wildefire are both going to be using poly wheels if I remember hearing correctly. Outlaw Run feels like a woodie because of the steel wheels. I've also heard that Medusa feels like one as well with the nylon wheels.

I'm going to quote this every time someone brings this subject up.

^ No one knows if there was ever a problem with the flywheel setup (seemed to work fine on Media Day and opening weekend) or whether or not they decided to use the generators since they were paying to have them on site (plus diesel was really cheap over the summer). There was several times this past season where the ride was down because the generators were down, but I imagine it isn't as easy as flipping a switch to go back to the flywheel setup in a day, so who knows. I guess we'll find out in April. Great Trip Report! I really like being able to compare shots of TB plaza while it was under construction and then be able to see the finished product in the same report. It really puts things into perspective.

They've been doing the same type of refurb on The Voyage in certain spots for the last few years.

I'll just leave this here. From HW's Twitter: And so it begins. #NextChapter Edit: I should say they're removing all the track from the drop. You can watch it on their webcam: http://www.holidayworld.com/webcams/thunderbirdcam/

There isn't a better skyline for an amusement park anywhere. It will look absolutely incredible next summer.

Oh they would, just for a laugh. And they didn't straight up say they were. Remember, it was a Christmas wish list to Santa and Santa doesn't alway bring you what you want Nobody's brought this possibility up, but I'm kinda wondering if they're going to add a VR experience to The Legend themed to the story The Legend of the Sleepy Hollow or something to that effect. Speaking of extra themeing, I always thought it would be cool if they played this in Raven's queue occasionally and re-themed it to make it more spooky, but since they're all about being family friendly, I don't think they would ever do it.

^ Could be for The Raven or Legend. The access rode for both coasters runs underneath The Raven. I honestly don't think there is going to be a new element on anything. As I've said before, it appears they're rebuilding the tunnel at the bottom on The Legend's first drop and I think they're extensively re-tracking all of the coasters for their 70th season. See, they're rebuilding the tunnel.

I think it's B.S. the park had to purchase the product before it had ever been fully tested. Take this for example. PTC fully constructed a whole PTCI 360 train and then tested it on two rides (Twister @ Knobels and Hades 360) before releasing the product to be sold. TGG on the other hand, tested a 4 car skelton train on The Raven and then sold a full train to HW to run on probably the most intense wooden coaster on the planet. HW let them test that train on The Voyage for nearly 4 years and TGG was able to take the results and make modifications to the design which allows all the Timberliners in operation today to run safely. I think TGG should have gave HW their money back and taken that train off their hands and modified it for one their next projects. From a business aspect, that's the right thing to do IMO. Edit: I should say the perhaps TGG did give them their money back and told them to keep the train, but I find that highly unlikely.

If I read correctly, Ghostrider had to be over supported with an abundance of bents due to the state of California's strict building codes due to possibility of an earthquake happening. If the structure doesn't have certain amount of give designed into it, it won't be able to absorb the forces the ride exerts and therefore the track absorbs all of the forces and takes takes a extreme beating. This is why woodies that use steel structures tend to get rougher faster than those that use wood structures. Hopefully with lighter trains, and some modern design techniques, GCI can get this ride running well and running for quite awhile.