ZeroGravity55

^ This photo? From SFNE's Twitter:

^ It depends how much I'm able to finish before I go back to school. I don't wanna do a video unless everything is completed, which is going to take me awhile.

HW just re-tweeted this photo. Not sure how to cite this, so I'll just go ahead and use the direct source. From Nathan Nelson's twitter:

This is something I've been working on for a couple of weeks now. It's a inverting terrain woodie. After I settled on the final design, I felt as though this is what would happen if RMC and TGG had a baby. The supports are still a work in progress, though. As I said, supports are still a work in progress. Any ideas on what this inversion should be called? I sort of wanted to do a double barrel roll finale, but somehow I ended up with this.

I love how Thunderbird isn't even open yet and HW seems to be making a killing off of TB merchandise. I wouldn't be surprised if testing started by then.

Been awhile since I posted on this thread, but here are some my thoughts as the bowl season gets ready to start. I think there will eventually be a 8 team playoff as well. As for now, I like the four team playoff, although, I wasn't that big of a fan of the four the committee chose. I feel as though they didn't show any consistency in their rankings for at least the final two weeks they released the rankings. I don't understand how TCU drops from 3 to 6 when they won their final game by 45. I can sort of understand why they got jumped by Ohio State, but then again, Wisconsin was completely one denominational and their defense wasn't as great as the numbers indicated. I really don't understand Baylor jumping them, as they didn't really show anything against Kansas State to show that they deserved to jump them. The committee said that is was because of head to head, but why didn't that matter in previous weeks when TCU was ahead of Baylor in the rankings? Obviously, the lack of conference championship game hurt the Big 12, it'll be interesting to see if the conference tries to add more teams or if they can figure out an alternative way to work a conference championship game into the schedule. As for the coaching carousel, it should be interesting to see who Michigan hires, as it looks like Jim Harbaugh wants to stay in the NFL. I feel as though Auburn made the hire of the year in Will Muschamp as their defensive coordinator. This Auburn-Alabama rivalry is going to be fun to watch for the next couple of years. Oh and what in the world is going on at Wisconsin? That should be a top job, but how do you loose your head coach to Oregon State?

And here is the first of the 10 cars that will be arriving at HW in the next few months. From HW's Twitter:

^ If there is enough wind blowing in from the south, it could definitely cause a roll back. So I was looking at the parks website and saw that the 2015 calender was up and then I noticed this awesome photo of The Voyage and Thunderbird back in the fall: Also, looking at ThunderbirdCam, the station is far from done, but looking at the construction cam, it looks like it is almost complete:

First, at least the station should still be there, as I'm sure the park and a manufacturer can figure out a way to re-use it. At last check, somebody has said on here that they seen them adding pipes in the splashdown area back in October, which tells me they're going to fill it with water and sort of make a huge fountain out of it for now. Now as for 2016, it's going to take a pretty hefty investment to replace Pilgrims Plunge/Giraffica, whether they try and reuse as much as possible and put in a similar style ride, or tear everything out and put in something different. Coming off of a 22 million dollar investment, I wouldn't expect them to be spending a whole lot again until 2017. No they don't, but honestly, that type of slide doesn't seem like something that would fit at HW (in terms of what they're about), but I wouldn't be surprised if they decided to put one in either.

They seem to be coming mostly from the greater Massachusetts area. Actually, they seem to be coming from both sides. It's stupid to speculate on which ride looks better when neither are not completed yet. It's also stupid to speculate which ride is better when nobody can ride them yet.

I could look at these all day:

^ Oh they've certainly made strides over the last 5 years to vastly increase capacity (mostly in the waterpark) and prepare the infrastructure of the park for a greater intake of guests. The majority of their guests are always going to spend most of their time in the waterpark, so that's where their capacity demands will always be. I would expect the number to be more around 1.5 rather than 2 million, but I don't think you can underestimate how big of a statement HW is making and how big of a marketing tool Thunderbird is going to be for them. They're continuing to expand the areas they're marketing in. I honestly wouldn't be surprised to hear that they have billboards up in Dollywood territory, because that's who I believe they want to compete with. So I won't say that 2 million can't happen now, though they're more realistically 2-5 years away from reaching that goal. To answer your final question, yes they still have free parking and free soft drinks, and those things will never leave the park. They're a vital key to the success of their business, as is their other freebies, which is what will help them compete against the Dollywood's of the world.

Somebody should buy up that land and build a theme park on it. Perhaps that might be close enough for corporate to consider them competition.

^ Honestly, Holiday World is a special case when comes to smaller parks. They're independently owned, which means they can spend their money as they choose, and they have a business model that work for them and only them. This model makes them a lot of money (obviously), just look at how much money they've been spending on expansion projects over the last 10 years and you have to have money to spend money. The one thing that I love about Holiday World is that they're not content with just making money, they're always taking the money they make and using it to invest in something that makes the park better. So with that being said, I don't think you're going to see a lot smaller parks purchasing B&M's, as they're simply not in the same position HW is from business and financial standpoint. I'm interested to see what will be coming to HW in 2016. Obviously, something to replace Sparkler. I also think it will be wise to continue to increase the capacity of the waterpark, especially with the expected attendance jump that Thunderbird is going to bring, which hopefully will be in the 1.5-2 million range.

Checked the webcam and the framing for the roof on the station is almost completely up.

Even Alan Schilke has said this. The bigger the ride is, the less elements that can be designed into the ride, because that space is taken up by pull-ins and pull-outs of oversized elements, which are designed that way to accommodate the high speeds and high forces. The perfect example would be Goliath at SFGA. More elements can added to the layout of a smaller ride, because less speed means less forces, which means that there doesn't need to be long drawn out pull-outs and pull-ins. This is what allows for the small airtime hill immediately after the first drop, which is probably going to have ejector airtime.

Paula said on the HoliWood Nights Facebook page that the color changes will be explained on the Holiblog in the next few days. Looks like they grabbed some shots of Crow's Nest and Thunderbird with a drone. From HW's Facebook: Oh and here is the logo for Crow's Nest:

It's definitely Sparkler. They just moved the tower into view of the camera. Not at all. If anybody's learned anything, it's that you and everybody that help run Holiday World are the masters at teasing. That's worthy of an award or something! They should get a industry award for their 66 days campaign.

The ride that is being moved will be announced Tuesday. There are pictures that might give some hints to what the ride and new theme will be on the Holiblog Also, http://www.holidayworld.com/holiblog/2014/12/07/66-hours-see/

Love this shot of Thunderbird and The Voyage. Oh and that's WWE Hall of Famer, Mick Foley in the picture. From HW's Twitter:

I'd say a tunnel where the track is really close to the ground is more likely, than seeing one where the track is higher off the ground. Here are a few potential spots:

^^ Check around the 40 second mark in the video: "We will also be adding a few new elements that we haven't necessarily announced yet to the ride. A few near misses that will make the ride extra exciting."

It's Eagles Flight. That clue at the end of the video seemed like a dead giveaway. It would also make sense as well, seeing it's easy to move, and easy to re-theme to fit in Thunderbird plaza. It also gives something for the kids who aren't quite tall enough to ride Thunderbird something to ride in the plaza as well.

A ride is being moved up to Thunderbird plaza and more near miss elements are coming for Thunderbird.