kyleparks77

I heard today that the crates in the thunderbird station were replaced with large cabinets for stowing loose articles. I was happy to hear this because when I visited a couple of weeks ago the congestion between riders exiting and boarding trying to get to the crates was pretty bad.

^ thanks! As far as I could tell, they would be perfectly content just riding Thunderbird all day long! They love it!

Just got word from a friend who is at the park today that Thunderbird only has one train running and Legend and Voyage are both currently closed.

^ a support in that location is most likely what is referred to as a "zero-force member" in structural engineering. It's mainly there to make it a continuous structure while all of the force is being transferred through the columnar supports and the internal lateral bracing. Sure, there is some force transferred through that piece of wood but it's negligible in terms of the amount transferred by other members and the redundant design of the structure. In short, no it's not a big deal structurally, but I'm sure it'll get replaced

It appears Thunderbird is back to being fully operational

Wow that's a huge disappointment for a busy Saturday. I wonder what the issue was with Thunderbird? With a new ride, maintenance issues are to be expected, but an all day closure seems like what the park was trying to avoid by going with a reliable manufacturer like B&M. I'm not trying to put the blame on anyone; it's just really unfortunate.

Random thing I noticed when I visited last weekend: there seemed to be a lot of rides down/maintenance issues. I don't know if it was just because it was during opening weekends and they're working out the kinks, or they don't have the full lot of ride operators yet. - Voyage was initially running two trains and then was "temporarily closed" for a few hours and resumed operation with one train - Mayflower's left rear seat had caution tape across it - Hallow Swings closed for a couple of hours - Crow's Nest appeared to be operating for the first hour of the day but closed around 11 and never reopened - Gobbler Getaway was "temporarily closed" late in the day and I'm not sure if/when it reopened - Legend closed for about an hour (speaking of, it's nice to see it back to two train operation again) It's not a huge number of rides but they're some of the most popular so it seemed to have a big impact. At one point during the day, the only three rides operating in Thanksgiving were Thunderbird, Mayflower (less a seat), and Turkey Whirl

^ I noticed those in the stations and thought it was really neat. I was trying to figure out how exactly they work though

I highly suggest that anyone visiting the park ride Voyage BEFORE riding Thunderbird. It's just awesome peaking the second hill and see that huge, beautiful B&M track sprawling out through the woods. You'll be in awe and it builds the anticipation even more. Also, during a ride on The Voyage we went under a Thunderbird train perfectly as it was coming out of the vertical loop. Just awesome.

I can't wait to see how this footage turns out. From @HolidayWorld on Twitter

^ oops.

Leaving the park yesterday, I got to talking to Cathy (Director of Cleaning), and we started talking about Thunderbird, naturally. I asked about the Cummins generator trailers, and she said they are just a back-up and the coaster is running fully from the substation. She said the back-up generators are a requirement from the state of Indiana in order to be certified to have a launch coaster.

^ it's really not much different. For the most part it just gives you a breather for a few seconds As far as Thunderbird goes, everything I could possibly say about it has already been said. It is absolutely incredible. I couldn't believe the amount of different forces throughout the ride and the launch was much more forceful than I anticipated. It was about a 10 minute wait all day so I was able to try all different spots (10 rides total) and I have to agree with everyone else, front outside left is the best. However, every different seat provides a new riding experience. The last thing I'll say about it is this... I got on one of the first rides of the day and most, if not all, of the riders were riding it for the first time. By the end of the ride, I don't think I have ever heard so many happy and joyful riders of a roller coaster. Everyone simply loves it.

It was almost a full brake and I was in the very front so the first triple down hill was dead but the rest felt the same. It was running very well and Legend surprised me with how well it was running

Yep, picked a great day to visit. Walk-on for every ride Beautiful day

I'll be at the park Saturday. Pretty excited. If I notice anything that hasn't been mentioned already, I'll be sure to post about it.

If you're willing to do some airport hopping and fly small planes, Evansville regional airport is only 45 min away

I must be an oddball because I've always found Legend to be rougher than Voyage. I'm relating "roughness" to the feeling of bouncing across the track and "hexagonal" feeling turns. Voyage feels more like it's going to throw the train off the track but that's what happens when you have 25 seconds of airtime over the course of a 2 minute ride. In my opinion, Voyage glides better than Legend

I stumbled across this documentary by accident of YouTube. Its from 2005 about the building of El Toro, The Voyage, and Kentucky Rumbler. I found it to be extremely interesting and a great throwback after seeing Thunderbird built at HW. They really go in depth about the engineering and construction process of Voyage, definitely more so than the other two. You can also see how the layout changed slightly from the original plans during the design-build process. [youtu_be]https://youtu.be/8t8j955Psfo[/youtu_be]

Anyone else concerned that a 15 year old is saying "drown my sorrows"?

David DeLong of the channel 14 news in Evansville tweeted (@DeLong14News) that CNN has requested his story on Thunderbird. So I think its launch (pun) is going well

Pardon my lack of knowledge of the usual workings of MCBRs, but why trims on some cycles and none on others?

Oh okay, I've been staring at the cam waiting the see it go by. Guess I didn't wait long enough

Pretty sure the Voyage isn't running today?

Wait, what? As in the train will come to a complete stop before the triple down tunnel?