ZeroGravity55

^ Just because RMC builds the ride from scratch, doesn't mean that it will use RMC trains. Gerstlauer trains are proven and the fact that they opened back up on IRAT means that they passed the inspection stemming from the Texas Giant accident with no defects. The ride is going to use polyurethane wheels, which is what Gerstlauer trains use. Six Flags just had a horrible accident and they're going to probably go with the proven trains. Remember, Outlaw Run is the only coaster with RMC trains.

So am I..... And correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't RMC say at some point (IAAPA?) that they wouldn't do any high-G inversions (ie any sort of loop)? EDIT: Found it (starts at 22 minute mark) HOWEVER, he doesn't specify whether that's Topper Track, Iron Horse, or neither that they will do high-G inversions with. It may look like a high-G inversion, but you have to remember that the speed you take the inversion at really determines what the forces are. My guess is, the ride is going to climb up a pretty good incline, slow down between the 20-30 mph range, then it is just going to twist like the 153 on Outlaw Run and dive under the structure. It's not going to be TGG. It's going to be a RMC topper-track and I would guess the ride is going to use Gerstlauer trains. Unfortunately, that probably means we're going to see seat-belts.

Did you not know that this is how Six Flags is financing the ride?!

^lol It's going to do a dive over Lake Rudolph and your feet will come very close to touching the water! I actually think that would be really cool!

^ That's what I'm trying to figure out! Paula has said on Facebook that they plan on talking about 2014 next month, then she told somebody yesterday that the announcement day would give away what they're doing. It's all confusing! The name might have something to do with Friday the 13th though. The naming of the rides in Halloween section has been a little bit more elaborate than the rest of the dry park. The Raven was named after Edgar Allen Poe's poem The Raven and The Legend was named after Washington Irving's short story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

^ I just thought that might be a good area for them to be hiding something like footers. Who would ever think to look over there while riding The Legend? You really never know what might be going on behind the trees at Holiday World. They were able to hide what little work that was being done on The Voyage behind the trees, before they announced it.

Does anybody know if Holiday World owns the land out by The Legend's double helix? https://www.google.com/maps/preview?hl=en#!data=!1m4!1m3!1d371!2d-86.9153976!3d38.1210154!2m1!1e3&fid=7 That's a pretty good chunk of land and they could easily run a pathway from Frightful Falls.

I just thought of this, but there is room where the old first-aid building used to be. If they removed that building and moved the entrance sign for Splashin' Safari down the path, they might be able to put something there. Edit: after looking at the google earth images, it doesn't seem feasible to put anything in that space.

I think it's going to be next month. If it's in Halloween, any idea of where it could go? Seems like they've maxed out all the space available in that section, unless they remove something to make more room.

Paula told this to someone on Facebook in regards to 2014 "Yes. If all goes as planned, though, our announcement date sort of gives it away. Hence, no announcement of an announcement date. Yet."

^ My family has chosen Holiday World over Six Flags St. Louis for over 20 years and that's the case for a lot of families around here.

I can surely see why it's frustrating for the locals of Six Flags St. Louis when the park seems to get passed over year after year. Of course, it makes it even more frustrating when a park like Six Flags Great America is getting two new coasters in four years, and SFStL gets a Boomerang. If I've learned one thing from watching Holiday World grow over the years, you may not like what the park adds or what their area of focus is, but you just need have a little faith. These people know what they're doing. It's really intriguing that SFStL supposedly has a 10 year plan. This is probably something the park lacked under previous management.

I've read that the coaster was supposed to go to Six Flags New England, but they couldn't get the building ordinances passed or something along the lines of that. I'm sure glad Six Flags St. Louis got American Thunder, seeing it's my favorite ride in the park.

It also helps that the park has all their coasters running top notch during Holiwood Nights. He still owns 40% of the company, and he's told me that overall, both parties share the same vision for the park itself. Also, he's working with Lori on the park's future with that NY Theme park board member acting as the messenger between them if I'm not mistaken. This is exactly why I think they're going to have eventually work things out. They can't spend the rest of their lives in 60%-40% partnership and not talk to each other. The NY Theme park guy was also a good friend of Will.

NTAG and IRAT both have polyurethane wheels. Sandor will build anything you ask for if you have cash in hand. I know GCI has a woodie with polyurethane wheels, and RMC could very well put them on their train with topper track. If that's the case, it's a wooden coaster. But if this is a I-Box track and Six Flags is trying to claim it as a wooden coaster (which they've done with Texas Giant), then isn't a wooden coaster. I say that because neither NTAG or IRAT are voted as wooden coasters, but as steel coasters. Personally, I really don't care if it's wood or steel, as long as it's awesome. If the RMC rumors hold true, I'm going to ride my first two RMC's next year!

American Thunder is clone of one GCI's rides over in Europe. They needed a flat piece of land to put the coaster on and I'm assuming that was the only place they could find. Six Flags St. Louis isn't exactly the flattest park out there.

^ I just remembered something along the context of they didn't want to put an inversion on a wooden coaster, because they thought it would lose the wood coaster feel or something like that.

^ That sounds like Intamin to me. RMC's whole argument on why Outlaw Run was a woodie was the steal wheels the train utilized. But Intamin said they were not going to do any inversions. I'm starting to wonder if this is going to be a I-Box track. Edit: I wouldn't put it past Six Flags to claim it as a wooden roller coaster. This is their tidbit on the Texas Giant. "The legendary new Texas Giant delivers beyond vertical banked turns and the world's steepest drop. This new super hybrid boasts a state-of-the-art track of steel fabrication, with the steepest drop of any wooden coaster at 79°. The lift hill is 10 feet taller than the original Texas Giant. The new ride also has a record-breaking bank of 95°, steeper than any other wooden coaster on the planet."

This might sound crazy, but maybe the park found a way to fix the Freedom Train? That ride means a lot to Holiday World, because it was the only original ride left from Santa Claus Land. This is probably right though. That's what Paula does best!

It'll be interesting to see what the inversion actually looks like. I know Alan Schilke said that they were not going to do any high-G element, because once you go high-G, the element will control the ride and structure. As for the rest of the ride, it looks like both turn arounds are going to be overbanked. As for the idea of a launch before the inversion, which was thrown out there by Lance over at Screamscape. If the ride utilizes steel wheels and holds the record for the fastest woodie, the ride should carry that speed throughout the whole ride and should not need to utilize a launch. If it uses those hard polyurethane wheels (which can be found on Intamin woodies), those wheels will absorb most of the energy the ride carries and might require a launch to get it through the second half of the ride. Should be interesting to see how much airtime this ride has. I'm hoping all those straight parts of track that go to and from the turn arounds are filled with camel backs or bunny-hops.

^ Or maybe Paula was playing her tricks on you? You never know with Holiday World. I think Dan may have said that when comparing these projects to this years expansion. Like I said, you really never know with Holiday World. The fact that their going to talk about next year next month tells me that next years expansion might be bigger than this years expansion. Either way, I absolutely love the speculation!

Nerd fact, Alan Schilke, lead designer for RMC, used to work for S&S. He actually did help head up S&S's brief wooden roller coaster division.

^ He works at the park and meets with the park president monthly.

If they add the kiddie coaster where the go carts are, I hope they redo The Boss's queue. That has to be one of the most ridiculous queues I've ever seen, along with Batman's.

^ Did you visit earlier in the year? In May, I thought the coaster was riding like it did in 2006 and 2007. When I was there at the end of June, it had gotten rougher, but I still got some great rides. August is usually the Voyage's worst month of every season. I've yet to ride it in the fall, but I'm going to this year.