Love it!

Wow! That looks like a hell of a head-chopper!

Have to give Holiday World a hand on that one. Although, to be fair it is more of a hand chopper than a head chopper.

Hmmmmm.........

http://www.holidayworld.com/thunderbird/construction-cam-2/

Testing, Testing, 1...2...3...???

For future reference, and for those without Flash, the live construction cam feed has been replaced with this still image:

(from Holiday World's Thunderbird Construction Cam)

Sounds like they're testing!

It looks like they were testing earlier today. A friend of mine who was dropping off paperwork to the park, saw a train on the launch track. Not sure if it did a full launch test today or partial launch.

Also, I confirmed with Holiday World via Twitter that the control booth would be above the track like at Cedar Point on the roller coaster, Gatekeeper.

What park will be next to purchase a B&M launch Wing Coaster?

HMmmmm?

It won't be Conneaut Lake Park.

Helpful Terp.

Likely won't be Kentucky Kingdom either

Likely wont be Coney Island either.

Nor Camden Park...

It'll be Kings Island! The launched-wing coaster will transform the front gate of Kings Island!

...wait....am I in the wrong thread?

I thought Camden had a winged coaster...oh never mind, they just had one that flew off the track! Just joking

If Kings Island gets a launched B&M Wing Coaster in the future, it should be a combo ride. Start the ride up with a climb up the lift hill and introduce a launch later in the ride cycle, only because it would be a much more unique and different Wing Coaster ride, rather than choosing one version or the other, and out of the two B&M coasters currently at Kings Island, neither have the iconic B&M pre drop effect, found on Cedar Point's Gatekeeper, Raptor, Mantis (now Rougarou), and Kings Dominion's (formerly Geauga Lake's) Dominator.

Combo would be very cool. Would love to see that . Three train capacity monster to add to the lineup like the other B&Ms in the park.

Latest update...

Front of the line passes will be available as an "occasional prize at a game" this year, and are also included as part of a current Thunderbird Fun Pack they're auctioning off right now. More details and link to the auction at http://www.holidayworld.com/holiblog/2015/02/27/front-line/.

Last year, they had a Plinko game in a corner of the Fourth of July section, near The Alamo food stand. One of the slots at the bottom earned you a set of front-of-the-line passes. The catch, IIRC, is that you got two pucks, but had to decide after the first one whether to take that prize or drop the second one. If you dropped the second one, you forfeited the first prize and had to take the second. (That's if my memory is working correctly.)

I didn't really pay any attention to the games when I was there last year as I was too busy riding stuff and trying not to melt, but that sounds like something they'd do.

It certainly does.

Terp, who means what he says and says what he means. Particularly this time: It certainly does.

Launch video. I'm loving the sound of this ride.

Man that's going to have a wonderful sound back in those woods. The echoing once the trees fill in is going to be awesome!

Wow. That looked a lot faster and more intense than I was expecting it too. If the rest of the ride maintains that kind of speed, then this will be a real smash hit for Holiday World. B&M may well have yet another hit on its hands...

Huh? From Batman: The Ride to Kumba, Raptor, Montu, Nitro, Chang, Medusa now Bizarro, to Tatsu and so many others, B&M has long "made some awesome coasters right now."

Most importantly, their customers, the parks, think so, too. Reliable. Safe. On time. Crowd pleasing.

Holiday World & Splashin' Safari on Facebook:

Photo : Holiday World & Splashin' Safari via Facebook

Huh? From Batman: The Ride to Kumba, Raptor, Montu, Nitro, Chang, Medusa now Bizarro, to Tatsu and so many others, B&M has long "made some awesome coasters right now."

Most importantly, their customers, the parks, think so, too. Reliable. Safe. On time. Crowd pleasing.

Oh...sorry. I brain-farted on that a bit. I was thinking more about their more recent creations and kinda forgot that B&M has been doing this since the early 90's...fun, crowd-pleasing coasters with great reliability. I've edited that post.

^

Also that picture is incredible. In addition to being crowd pleasing and reliable, B&M's are also IMO pretty...usually. Unless the park that builds one goes for a hideous paint job or something. Thankfully not the case for Thunderbird...

Everything just looks so fluid on a B&M. That's why they look so pretty. Smooth transitions and beautifully banked turns come to mind

Details have been released on the First Flight Auction, to benefit Give Kids the World:

http://www.holidayworld.com/holiblog/2015/03/23/rides-thunderbird-first/

Yep I've been bidding. I have $200 I can bid up to. Hope I can get a seat.

So, for those of you who may have been hoping for this, I emailed Holiday World (over a week ago, I might add) asking whether or not coaster clubs would be invited to Media Day. I get a canned response today from their Marketing Director (funny, I figured Paula would have answered this) giving me all the information I didnt want or need about their first rider auction without a word regarding my actual question. So, I replied back stating "OK, in other words, the answer to the question I initially asked is 'no'. 'Thanks' for your prompt and direct response."

In short, what I am stating is A)No invites for coaster club members to Media Day B)Gotta "Love" the new management style down there and C)While I am VERY rarely one to toot the horn of any one park chain, let us all remember how good we as Cedar Fair enthusiasts have it for the Company to graciously invite us to the Media Days for Gatekeeper and Banshee!!