Lightning Rod Documentary

So Devin Olsen released another fascinating and beautiful video about a month ago on Lightning Rod and I just watched it today. A couple things stuck out to me... One: At 12:20 he says that the ride is 206ft high making it world's tallest wooden coaster. This also marks the return of the wooden hyper. This is a stat that I haven't seen anywhere else. Two: At 18:25 he says that he can't wait to start the '17 project in the fall... We all know that the only ride RMC start working on in fall 2016 is Mean Streak... So if this guy isn't mistaken it appears 2017 RMC Mean Streak is confirmed... Or it'll be closed all opening season long. :/

Am I the only on that (erroneously, apparently) refers to these topper track coasters as hybrids?

It's too bad the park has had such a hard time getting this ride open. It seems that Cedar Point is giving themselves a long time safety net with the new Mean Streak.

There's no indication at this point that Meaner Streak will be launched, and all the non-launch RMCs have opened on time. The long timeline is most likely a result of the size of the ride... New Texas Giant was under construction for two years as well.

The long safety net is very odd to me. There is no indication that RMC Mean Streak will be launched as Phantom said and I would assume NTG took so long because it was RMC's first project. Have any RMC I-Box taken as long to build since then?

i305freak said:

The long safety net is very odd to me.

Perhaps that is not an issue. A new type of marketing campaign? The desire for a looooong drool period watching the new ride go up? Whatever it is, they're having fun with it.

That much is for sure. This makes me want to go to Winter Chill Out more than ever before.

The guy who is excited about the 2017 project starting in the fall is a Dollywood employee, not RMC. At 1:51 they show his name & title. He's referring to getting started on Dollywood's 2017 project.

Damn. I was looking forward to that 9-pack of beer.

By the way, that's how you do a mini-doc. Still wish these guys using DSLR's would put ND filters on them and not use the obnoxiously high shutter speed. Not just because it makes everything look like a Michael Bay movie, but also because it doesn't compress as well by the time it's on YouTube.

ShaneDenmark said:

The guy who is excited about the 2017 project starting in the fall is a Dollywood employee, not RMC. At 1:51 they show his name & title. He's referring to getting started on Dollywood's 2017 project.

Dang... That is so disappointing

Trust me, I jumped on that link looking for RMCMS 2017 confirmation, too...

Maybe they are referring to the new rmc that Kennywood is building for 2018? :)