Holiday World (HW) Discussion Thread

[Raven Maven]

^ So our first podcast is in the can. (In this instance can is *not* synonymous for restroom. Although the acoustics in there are pretty good.) Stephen needs to add the opening and closing music and it should be available later this afternoon. We'll also embed it in a HoliBlog post.

 

Uh, hope you have a long commute. We thought it would be 20-30 minutes. It ain't.

 

Our on-the-ground copy of the Legend howl is not the quality we want to release, so we may need to wait until all the king's horses and all the king's men put Legend together again and we can grab a live recording from up top (well, not *me*). But, rest assured, it's on our list.

[bluestreak]

Podcast is up!

http://www.holidayworld.com/holiblog/2016/02/12/podcast-premiere/

[ratdogg68]

Really enjoyed the Podcast, they were having so much fun with it.

[HolidayWorldFTW]

Ack!!!! Just now getting to listen to podcast but I got mentioned in the beginning! So honor and awesome to be mentioned in the first ever Holiday World podcast!!!! And yes Paula FTW= FOR THE WIN lol nothing bad or vulgar I promise!!!! This is SOOO awesome! You guys made my day!

[HolidayWorldFTW]

Ok just finished listening! AWESOME podcast!! The energy and happiness and fun really show through. I was laughing and smiling right there with you guys! Really enjoyed hearing what each person was currently working on, and the game at the end was a hoot! I'd keep a game in there somewhere for sure! Maybe theme the game to the closest Holiday coming up as a suggestion? Awesome awesome show though. I'll be listening to every single one no doubt! Also, I know you were going for a shorter length, but I actually think the hour long length is PERFECT!

[bluestreak]

I haven't found the time to listen yet. Looks like I'm gonna have to make time. Sounds awesome!

[iheartHW]

I finally got a chance to listen to the podcast and it was great! I was so happy for the update on Freedom Train! I am always super excited about the new rides at Holiday World, but the older rides will always hold a special place in my heart. I can't wait for the next podcast.

[bluestreak]

Finally got time to listen to #HoWoPo and loved it!

It's very easy to see the amount of passion everyone has for the park. It's really cool to see that. Can't wait till the next one comes out!

[Raven Maven]

Glad you enjoyed it! We'll have another episode next Friday.

[ShaneH]

^Can't wait

[HWLover]

I wish I could be someone that made the decisions at Holiday World. I love the park so much and it would be incredible to be like park president haha. I used to be a nerd to the point where I designed a park for my hometown called Holiday World Over Princeton, and I designed flat rides and over 60 roller coasters themed to multiple holidays. I envy Matt Eckert and the Koch family for the wonderful job they have been given, and you too Paula, the brains behind the whole business

[ZeroGravity55]

The freedom train is going to be place where The Sparkler and Strike-U-Up ride was located according to the latest Holiblog.

 

 

Also, pulled this quote from the latest Holiblog:

 

"Another 70th Birthday project for this season will involve crowd-sourcing, so please be sure to tune in to next week’s podcast for all the details."

 

 

http://www.holidayworld.com/holiblog/2016/02/18/back-on-track/

[ZeroGravity55]

Hate to double post but here's a bit of an update on The Legend. I took these screenshots from this video

 

This turn looks like it will still provide some very strong lateral force. Remember that this turn was lowered.

Anyone have any idea what those anti-rollback looking things are? I'm assuming they might be for the workers to walk on?

[Lareson]

Hate to double post but here's a bit of an update on The Legend. I took these screenshots from this video

 

 

That second pic shows what a drastic change GCI is doing to that corner. Expecting high laterals still and looks like the speed should be even higher going into that. Looks like it was raised a bit as you enter the turn, but levels out pretty quick when compared to where the old ledgers were.

 

And those anti-rollback looking things, I even have no idea what they are. They're wood so I find them a bit strange.

[ZeroGravity55]

Something is going on with Thunderbird. They took all the views off both webcams of Thunderbird today. I noticed they were doing some work up there the last two days. I think something is going on with flywheel/substation/generator. Hopefully a permanent fix to whatever was wrong with the setup last year. The ride ran off those generators almost the entire season. I'm sure they caused the ride to have more downtime than the park probably would have liked. Either with parts breaking on them, or the launch not getting enough juice and causing rollbacks.

[iheartHW]

Something is going on with Thunderbird. They took all the views off both webcams of Thunderbird today. I noticed they were doing some work up there the last two days. I think something is going on with flywheel/substation/generator. Hopefully a permanent fix to whatever was wrong with the setup last year. The ride ran off those generators almost the entire season. I'm sure they caused the ride to have more downtime than the park probably would have liked. Either with parts breaking on them, or the launch not getting enough juice and causing rollbacks.

 

 

On season pass holder preview night there was a very loud motor noise coming from the Will Power building. I figured it was probably the flywheel, but I don't know for sure what it was. It didn't bother me too much, and it didn't sound like anything was wrong. I was just surprised at how loud it was. I got stuck in line near the Will Power building for almost 2 hours, so that might be why it sounded so loud that night. I have gone back several times since then and have not heard the sound at all since that first night. I have been curious what happened to the loud sound. Was it not really as loud as I remembered? Did they sound proof the building to reduce noise? Was something different about the flywheel that night that made more noise? Maybe the noise was from a generator? Did they move a generator farther away? Why? What's the significance? I don't know! It really doesn't matter. I am just curious what it was.

[ZeroGravity55]

^ You heard the flywheels. Those things are VERY loud. For some reason, they stopped using the the flywheels in May and started using the "back-up" Cummins generator trailers (there was three), which were located down the hill from Thunderbird. Every time there was a launch, those generators would rev up and smoke would come out of the exhaust vents on top of the trailers.

[iheartHW]

^ You heard the flywheels. Those things are VERY loud. For some reason, they stopped using the the flywheels in May and started using the "back-up" Cummins generator trailers (there was three), which were located down the hill from Thunderbird. Every time there was a launch, those generators would rev up and smoke would come out of the exhaust vents on top of the trailers.

 

 

Thank you! That makes sense. I saw the generators running all season, but I never knew if the generators were being used to power and/or backup the flywheels, or if they were using the generators instead of the flywheels. I noticed that the generator trailers were gone (or moved) when I drove by in December.

[rwilliam62521]

Just before the views were changed, there was a large, heavy-duty crane parked next to the station with the boom over the Will Power Building.

 

Looks like they were going to work on the flywheels.

[iheartHW]

This is not as exciting as flywheels, but I just noticed that they renamed the canoe ride Tippecanoes. (Sorry if this was something that was already announced. It is possible I missed it.) 2016 is Indiana's bicentennial year and the name change is related to that. They could put the kids bumper boats next to the canoes if they are still planning on bringing them back and renaming them Water Bumpaloes. I think Water Bumpaloes would fit the bicentennial theme. I saw a holiblog post not too long ago about a bicentennial themed carousel horse. 4th of July is also getting the Freedom Train / 70th Anniversary display. My imagination is running wild thinking of what else they could be planning for 4th of July for next season and also in the next few years.

 

There is a bicentenial torch relay that will be going through every county in Indiana in September. I read that the torch relay was going to stop at Holiday World when it goes through Spencer County, so they might have some kind of bicentennial event for that. I also read that the Town of Santa Claus was wanting to build a trail between Holiday World and Lincoln's boyhood home as a bicentennial project and they planned to have rental bikes for the trail.

Edited February 28, 2016 by iheartHW

[iheartHW]

Double post. Sorry!

[ZeroGravity55]

Some Legend progress shots in this video of the double down. Interesting note from the actual podcast last week, Jeff Pike, (former GCI lead designer and now President of Skyline Attractions) did the engineering work on The Legend's drop. I'm expecting it to look a bit more twisty, but I could be wrong.

 

 

Also, look what was up and running today! I should also mention it was running without the assistance of generators as well.

 

[Zach Fuller]

Let's start speculating what the theming will be on the Legend's new tunnel.

[Infinity]

Maybe the theme of the tunnel will be that it's so low that your head gets chopped off. Then you will be like the headless horseman.

[kyleparks77]

Holiday World is crowdsourcing 7,000 photos for a Memory Mosaic.

Link here: http://www.holidayworld.com/holiblog/2016/03/01/enter-our-making-memories-sweepstakes/