ZeroGravity55

Perhaps they have to remove the trim and the other breaks to paint them? Maybe they're replacing it with a magnetic trim, who knows? It could really be anything.

^ They didn't put topper track on the ride. They either did structural work or traditionally re-tracked the ride like they did for Thunder Run at KK last year. We really have no idea exactly what they did or when they did it.

As I said, it's only stuff I've read, so different people have experiences. Answer: It's. Worth. It. Here's the thing, if you're going to spend money on the ride, you might as well spend the money to get it done right. If cutting out a part of the ride means getting something that is a better ride, of course it's worth it. Anything RMC touches is gold right now, so there is no way it wouldn't become the best attraction in the park, IMO.

That Immelmann is already towering over the entire park! Awesome! This is the best web cam set up for any ride construction project I've ever seen.

I took a couple of screen shots of a video the park posted on Facebook.

Unless Boss gets new trains, I wouldn't expect topper track to change the experience really. I've read several reports about where nobody was able to tell there was a noticeable difference in the original track and topper track. That's probably why most of the rides that have received topper track have eventually had the I-box conversion.

Paula, I saw your tweet earlier about the "Dash cam" and I might know a few people over here in Southern Illinois who can make that happen. By a few people, I mean rednecks..

even though its smaller than the first hill of voyage in the animations it looked much bigger than the hill so it'll be interesting to see if it looks taller than Voyage's drop. With the elevation differences, I'm going to guess the Immelmann on Thunderbird is sitting a good 20 feet the above the bottom from the valley of the first drop of The Voyage. Of course, that's measuring from the ground up. So with The Voyage being 172 feet tall at it's peek, Thunderbird should be about 10 feet lower and will easily tower over the rest of the park with The Voyage.

^ 140 feet.

Construction isn't moving quite as fast as the wing rider at Heide Park did last year, but they're building it faster than most American parks would! Edit: From HW's Twitter page:

And they're lifting the next piece of track into place. Edit: Never mind, they set it down and unhooked it. They did that to flip it over (it was upside down) and they should be lifting it into place soon.

^ Might wanna fix the link.

^^^ Welcome to the forum! Nice to see the pathway coming together. Appears there will be some brick work and hopefully some nice landscaping, which wasn't in the concept art from what I can remember, so that's nice. As for the second picture, wish we would have had that shot back in late June/early July. Proving to some people that those were B&M footers would have been a whole lot easier for some of us.

^ My personal favorite was when Thunderbird was announced and somebody commented that Cedar Point already has a wing coaster. REALLY? That's nice to know, but does this look like Cedar Point? Also, it seems the public education system has failed some of the GP, or maybe they failed the system? Anyways, they need to go back to school and learn how to read. It says the NATIONS FIRST LAUNCHED wing coaster, not the first wing coaster.

If I can get a Sunday off from work this October, I'll be visiting the park then. $24.95 for Happy Halloween Weekends (I believe that is the online price) is a bargain, IMO. On a curious note, Paula, do you know if there will be any type of netting placed over The Voyage's track where Thunderbird crosses it? I was watching the animations last night and it kinda dawned on me that there might need to be some netting there. If there is, I'm kind of hoping that they build it in a way that it creates an added head-chopper effect on The Voyage. Edit: For those complaining about the webcam right now and not being able to see anything, just check HW's twitter page every now and then. You'll find these kinda creepy, yet cool photos of Thunderbird!

^ Paula said that they don't have any plans to move it. I'm not too worried, Paula will give us all plenty of updates! ^^ Love it! Like most other loops, honestly. I'm not saying that's a bad thing. I've decided that I'm not going to look at this, or any other wing-riders for that matter, and pick apart how much force each element is going to provide. Yes, force will be a nice added feature, but I'm going to try and appreciate the art of the design and the freedom of riding on a wing. With this ride being themed to a bird, I actually think I'm going to enjoy the back to back overbanked turns the most. I know these two elements took a lot of flack, being called filler elements, by some people, but when you truly think about it, they fit the wing-rider concept. When I look at birds flying, and I look at the design, I think those two elements are the ones that are truly going to give me the sensation of riding on a birds wings. That's merely a subjective opinion, so I know others feel differently than I do, but that's alright.

Hold on, did the flywheel get put in place?

^ Exactly. ^^ Um well if that is what you're wondering, nothing is backwards from the artist renderings. The building that is the current flywheel building was always supposed to be the flywheel building. They've said that since the announcement and the renderings are corrects. The first building from the break run is the maintenance building and the station has yet to be built yet.

^ We've already addressed this. There reason there is a gap in the roof is that's where they're going to lift the flywheel into the building.

These big cranes are very expensive to rent, so you'll probably see them have the four tallest points on the ride assembled in the next month. Those being the immlemann, loop, and both over banks. Also, we probably won't see the big crane on the webcam until tomorrow at the earliest. They need to assemble the supports before bringing the crane up to the sight. It makers no sense to have it up in their way unless they're actually going to use it.

^ By using the footings and structure already present. Just look at the TC's layout, then look at satellite image of Colossus. It will make sense.

Sort of looks like The Gravity Group and GCI had a baby and this was the result. Should be a pretty good test woodie to see if these Timberliners can keep a ride smoother for a longer period of time. There are plenty of high baking speed turns.

The construction crews are working Saturday's now (well at least today)!

My first coaster was The Raven at HW, and I would like it to be my last, if I had my choice. Not the best, nor the tallest or fastest, but it has always been consistent. Can't say I ever had a bad ride on it.

Maverick! Not bad for my first launched coaster. Edit: Actually, I just remembered I rode Top Thrill Dragster before Maverick, so that was my first launched coaster.