Holiday World Announces Thunderbird Coming in 2015!

It's been 66 Days of traveling with the crew and passengers of The Mayflower. Their journey has been a long and arduous one, filled with many curiosities along the way.

Now that journey is over and we finally have our answer to what Holiday World will be adding to their already impressive collection of world class coasters and rides.

Let us be amongst the first to introduce you to, Thunderbird ,the world's first B&M launched wing coaster! 0-60 in 3.5 seconds and have a total of 4 inversions as it hugs the ground and soars through the forest. This is the first launched coaster from B&M, ever and will be open in Spring of 2015.

Here's the official announcement video from the park:


Thunderbird marks the largest investment in the park's 68 year history at $22 million dollars and definitely is going to be a worthy addition to the park. Now for the animated POV to see just what it'll be like to ride Thunderbird!



The coaster will feature a launch, using LSM technology, an Immelmann loop, 125' Loop, Horseshoe, Elevated Spiral, Zero-G roll, S curve, 2 “headchopper” keyholes, a Carousel, a 360 in-line twist (barrel roll) and 2 Crossovers with The Voyage as it screams over 3,000+ft of track. In a nice touch, the pulley building will be named "Will Power" after Will Koch, who passed away a couple of years back. This was his dream to build and now it's a reality.

For those curious, here's what the layout of this ground breaking ride will look like after the break.

A Few More Hints Before Holiday World's Big Announcement

Okay, so yesterday I said it was the final hint, but apparently a few more interesting tidbits have come out from the HoliBlog, Holiday World's official park blog.

This time there's a bunch of messages from park staff that seem to be hinting whatever they're planning out there and even a little translation fun!

UPDATE: Thunderbird, Launched Flying Coaster Announced, click here for the details!

First up, quotes from the park's upper management that may have a few clues going on and a few odd little tidbits about shows and the like, but probably just to throw things off and be funny. Anyway, here's the full list of quotes:

"Bellyaching and moaning won’t get you any closer to announcement time"
“Still wanting that birds of prey show.”
“My clue was in the title. Try misspelling Bastille.”
“One mammoth of an announcement.”
“I’ll get you a clue as soon as I finish up these 22 million other tasks on my list.”
“I always wanted a younger brother.”
“They usually keep me in the loop for this sort of thing … guess I need to catch up on reading my emails.”
“I’m too busy mocking the birds of prey show to think of a clue.”

The key words to focus on here are definitely; Bellyaching, Birds of Prey, Bastille, Mammoth, Younger Brother and Loop.

Now, as far as the translation goes? Here's what Google Translate spit out:

"I believe that this key should be in German. (I'm sorry. I have not spoken German for a year.) Our designers designed our project in a German speaking country. Unfortunately, there are many good designers in German-speaking countries. One should remember that it is great. Very large. It is also unique. That's all! Have fun with Google Translate! "

The thing that jumps out immediately is the "German speaking country" bit and while most think that's only Germany, there's actually 6 countries that German is the official language for. So, what ride manufactures does this cover? A lot actually. The list includes Mack Rides, Bolliger & Mabillard, Gerstlauer, Maurer Söhne, and Intamin or even Vekoma as well. All of these could be suspect and leaving any off the table right now is hard to do. They all are big names but the biggest of them all are B&M and Intamin.

Either way, just a little under 7 hours until we finally get answers to all the nagging questions!


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h/t to BehindtheThrills.com!

One Last Clue Before Holiday World's Big 2015 Project is Unveiled!

We're just 24 hours out from the official announcement out of Holiday World of what their 2015 project will be. The clue for Day 65 is definitely one that has us scratching our heads a little.

While we know that the ride is most likely a new roller coaster and will contain inversions of some kind, what the type is and who's building it exactly is a complete mystery.

UPDATE: Thunderbird, Launched Flying Coaster Announced, click here for the details! 

However, with latest clue we may be onto just what they've planned. But, before we get to that, here's a run down of the clues that we've been given so far.

• ‘Upside Down’
• ‘One.Big.Thing’
• ‘When you find out, you’re gonna flip’
• ’truly unique’
• ‘The first of its kind’.

I think at this point it's safe to say it's probably going to be a steel coaster as the park doesn't have one yet and it's been something Leah Koch has been dreaming of for the park for quite a while now. We also know that the original plans for this were drawn up not long ago by Will Koch, but the technology wasn't exactly up to snuff. What exactly that means is anyone's guess and really unclear of what it could've been. So, now onto the latest clue!

As you can see we're talking about something with wings, soaring and a flying monster. While it's not a dead giveaway by any stretch, it does seem like they could be talking about a B&M Wing Coaster (Gatekeeper, Wild Eagle) or a Flying Coaster (Superman: Ultimate Escape, Manta, Air).

Personally, I don't see it being a wing coaster. For starters, they cost a bit more than the $22million figure that we've been given and I just don't like the things. If it's going to be a B&M, I'd much prefer it to be a ground breaking flying coaster of some kinda. Maybe a Terrain Flyer, that'd be pretty awesome.

So, what could they do that was new and different? Well some sources say that whatever it is could include a launch, or maybe even multiple launches. There has been a long running rumor that someone out there would finally commission B&M for their first launch coaster, maybe this is right time and place? There is all that track that's been spotted at the Clermont Steel Fabricators lot, not all of it has a home, so possible for sure. Either way, it's hard to say and I wish I could be more definitive with all of this, but only 24 hours to go right?

Still, there's the possibility that we could be getting ready for something else entirely and this all only speculation and way off the mark. Fun to do, but can't wait to see what the actual announcement will hold. Keep it here as we follow all the news out of Holiday World!

New Details Emerge About Holiday World's 2015 Project

With the end of Holiday World's "66 Days at Sea" campaign, teasing their newest attraction, coming to an end, a little bit more info has come out regarding their 2015 project.

There's been a ton of speculation around this one over the past couple of months. Everything from a B&M Wing Coaster or Dive Machine to steel/wood hybrid coasters that contain loops, over banked turns and other elements not possible with just wood. It's really anyone's guess but with a $22million dollar price tag on the expansion, it could be just about anything.

However, with that number floating around out there, it's unlikely to be a wing coaster or giga coaster from B&M since they tend to run a wee bit north of that. It does, however, leave the door open for pretty much anything else from any manufacturer though. However, I'm doubtful on the steel/wood hybrid coaster idea here as well, even if something from Gravity Group or Rocky Mountain Coasters would be cool. Why? Simply because they already have one with Voyage and while it doesn't do any of the nifty tricks the newer ones do, it's something I don't see them revisiting with this new project. Additionally, neither would be very "family friendly" at all and cost way under the amount we've been given.

The only clues we have are the vague ones from the 66 Days campaign and possibly a recent blog post from Leah Koch, daughter of Holiday World's Founder, Will Koch. In it she reminisced about a ride that never came to be and her father saying that they'd never build a steel coaster due to it not being "family friendly". In the end though, she said that the new project would see her father's dream become reality but that he'd moved on from the technology in his first idea presented. So, take that however you want to as it could mean just about anything yet again.

Other clues from the past couple of months have included; ‘Upside Down’, ‘One.Big.Thing’, ‘When you find out, you’re gonna flip’, ’truly unique’ and ‘The first of its kind’. Certainly sounds like it's going to be something that's gonna upside down at least, so there is that.

Again, we only now know the price tag of $22million and that it's a "first of it's kind" ride. Holiday World will be making their official announcement on Thursday night, at least we're getting closer to an answer!

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