ZeroGravity55

^ I always thought it was the chain dogs, but Thunderbird doesn't have any, so I'm wondering the same thing. Paula, I saw where you responded to a comment on FB where you said the height requirement was 52" is for Thunderbird. Did B&M change this since the announcement? For some reason I remember it originally being 54". Edit: Never mind, I dug back through the Holiblog posts. It's always been 52". Speaking of height requirements for wing coasters. I find it interesting that X-Flight is 54", Gatekeeper and Thunderbird is 52", and Wild Eagle is 50".

First time using this, but here's a video HW posted on their Facebook. I think going from 0 to 60 is really going to help the launch feel more forceful as opposed to a ride like Helix where the train hits the launch with some speed and doesn't feel quite that forceful. We shall see.. [fbvideo] [/fbvideo]

I think it's possible, especially if they get a strong wind blowing against the launch. I know this is Cedar Point and the wind there is a different story, but I think of that vine TPR tweeted of the wind almost causing Gatekeeper to valley while entering the dive loop. These wing rider trains are not very aerodynamic. I almost forgot how wide they were until I saw TB testing on the webcam the other day.

^ The one down fall to having launched coasters. This is probably the lowest capacity coaster B&M has ever built. The ride time is going to be less than a minute and HW will have their most experienced crew members running it. I know The Raven has one more car per train (four more riders) than TB, but they're similar in track length and ride time. When The Raven is running two trains, that line never stops moving.

I don't think they're using them for the coaster. They were running a two train operation earlier and those trailers were sitting there the exact same way they arrived. It looks like they haven't even been touched.

^ Yeah I almost forgot that it was barely 45 degrees today. It should only get faster. Since they're testing without dummies, they should be about ready to let humans ride now. Edit: Really looking forward to seeing this in person. From Thunderbird's Micro Site:

^^ It appears we were watching at the same time! I will say that the webcam was a bit glitchy while they were readjusting it. I also just realized that they were launching empty trains with no test dummies.

I was finally able to catch a couple of test runs on the webcam and it happened to be when someone was re-adjusting the camera and it had an overall view of the entire coaster. Thunderbird absolutely flies through the course and appears to pack a punch through the inline twist. April can't get here fast enough!

For those of you asking for sustained ejector air from RMC, here it is. From Our Mountain Thrill Park FB page:

It's either shadows or the Instagram filter. The blue on the trains is not that dark in real life. Or maybe they have different colored trains? It's the Instagram filter. Looks like they've switched from the white wheels back to the original yellow. I'm interested to see if this will dampen the roar at all. This looks like it is the second train as the first train has the car from IAPPA with the TB logo on the each side of the last car. From HW's Twitter: The TB logo is up on the station. I believe it was completed when I checked the webcam around 2:45 today. From HW's Twitter:

A new photo from HW's Instagram:

Mine would have to be Thunderbird. This is mainly because HW is my home park. I do have to the say that lead up to the announcement with the 66 days at sea and the hints in the blog posts made it that much better. My 2nd favorite would be Banshee. The video package Kings Island and Cedar Fair put together for the Banshee announcement was awesome.

^ Oh they know what they're doing, HW's the best at this type of stuff. They're going to give it to us in little bits and pieces. We won't get the full thing until Media Day. It's actually quite smart, as this will ensure that there is always talk and speculation about T-Bird all the way up until it opens.

Right before they switched the views on the camera, I was a minute off from seeing the train go through the Inline Twist, twice! Both times I pulled up the webcam as the train was rolling into the station.

Yes, but Goliath also suffered set backs in testing due to the polyurethane wheels disintegrating during the course, a problem they had even on Media Day. This will be the second or third I-Box with Nylon Wheels (depending on weather or not TC opens 1st). The last piece of track was put in place on Medusa on May 23rd and the the ride opened to the public on June 14th. So they really only need 3 weeks to test, maybe less since this one won't be a prototype (in regards to the wheel type and trains on I-box track) anymore. Honestly, painting the structure is going to be more of a setback, because that is dependent on there being good weather.

^ If you're talking about the same type of magnetic braking (not sure if you are, since I'm no engineer), they did use it. It's just in that part. The rest is friction brakes and wheels.

Wow... Congrats to everyone at Holiday World! I should also note that the train appears to be running with a different set of wheels than the ones that were on the train on the previous page. Perhaps a harder set to help it complete the course? From HW's Facebook:

It would appear that Thunderbird completed it's first complete test run today From HW's Twitter:

^ A Google Image search should reveal several pictures of the original concept art and show several spots where the design was changed. Also, go to The Gravity Group's YouTube page. Their Voyage POV video was editied together with some clips from the animation POV to show how accurate the final product was to the original animation.

Looks like we will be getting a test run POV whenever testing resumes. From HW's Facebook:

^ Which won't be until next week. More snow and ice sometime today and single digit temps (possibly in the negatives) on Friday. Mother nature hasn't cooperated quite as well as she did when Thunderbird was under construction.

Fiesta Texas seems to have a one of the better upper-management teams in chain.

This

This is a engineering marvel and the ride isn't even completed yet.

When I first pulled up Thunderbird Cam, the cam was flipped towards the Legend Lot entrance coming off Highway 162 and the sign was up on the other webcam. I cam here posted what I did and went back to the webcams and everything was normal. I could have needed to clear my cache, but everything is normal now.