Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Holiday World Completes Thunderbird's Track


© Holiday World
Weeks ahead of schedule, Holiday World and Splashin' Safari has completed the track for Thunderbird, the Nation's first launched wing coaster.  Today the 77th piece of bright orange track, seen above, was carefully lifted into place, completing the 3,035 foot long circuit.  The last segment was located just after the ride's finale, a 360 degree in-line twist.

© Holiday World
The park's Vice President of Development & Maintenance, James Olliver, has only great things to say about the team of more than three dozen workers who assembled the ride.  The crews forged on through both end of summer heat and recent snowfall to get the ride's track in place an impressive three weeks early.  The team celebrated by signing the final piece of track, forever leaving their personal mark on the ride.

© Holiday World
Thunderbird will be Holiday World's first major steel roller coaster, and it's going to make quite an impression on visitors next year.  The ride features a 60 mile per hour launch immediately into a 14 story Immelmann inversion.  The trains will then encounter a vertical loop before heading into the woods for several more elements, including a horseshoe, elevated spiral, corkscrew and several near-miss interactions with thematic structures.

As if the ride as already announced isn't enough, the park is promising to release two additional "ride enhancements" in the coming weeks!

Holiday World will open for the 2015 season on April 25th - just over 5 months from now. 


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