Holiday World announces Thunderbird, a launched B&M wing roller coaster
Posted
[Ed. note: The following is an excerpt of a press release. -J]
The nation’s first launched wing coaster will take flight over Holiday World in 2015.
Named Thunderbird, Holiday World’s first major steel roller coaster will feature a zero-to-60 miles-per-hour launch in 3.5 seconds, followed by multiple inversions - including a 14-story Immelmann loop, Zero-g roll, barrel roll, and a loop soaring 125 feet in the air.
Continuing Holiday World’s tradition of sending roller coasters through its thickly wooded and hilly terrain, Thunderbird will at first soar and loop high in the air and then hug the ground, surprising riders with rapid-fire “near misses” such as keyholes, themed elements, other rides, trees, and even the ground.
“A wing coaster creates a feeling of incredible freedom – you ride beside the coaster track with nothing above or below you,” says Holiday World’s president, Matt Eckert. “Thunderbird is the first launched wing coaster in the nation – we can’t wait to ride it!”
Eckert calls Thunderbird’s manufacturer, Bolliger & Mabillard, the “Cadillac of roller coasters, known for their safety, quality and reliability. We’ve dreamed of adding a B&M steel coaster for many years and are excited that Thunderbird will be B&M’s first launched coaster.”
Thunderbird’s $22 million price tag is more than twice the amount of any other single-ride investment at Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari in the park’s 68-year history.
Read more from the official site: Holiday World's Thunderbird
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You know what they say about throwing enough poo against a wall...
I'm sheriff of this here rollercoaster.
Rickrollercoaster said:
I've had goosebumps for hours now.
You should see a doctor.
My main prediction was whatever it would've ended up being.
There, fixed that for ya. ;)
What Gonch is saying is that you made so many predictions that one of them was bound to be right, a la Sylvia Browne. It would have been much more impressive, and you would've been much more entitled to your "told you so" comment, had you only predicted a wing rider and stuck by it the whole time.
But anyway, glad you had fun at the event.
Holiday World has never been my kinda park, but now that we have kids our family was definitely going to make it down there sometime in the near future. This announcement further cements it for me. It looks like a really fun ride. I like the blend of big B&M loopy elements that we've all become familiar with and the ground hugging, terrain style that is really HW's m.o. when it comes to coasters. I'm sure the entire HW family is very excited about this project, so I'm very happy for them.
Chris Baker
www.linkedin.com/in/chrisabaker
So all of this goes to Holiday World, a park located in the middle of nowhere that continues to amaze, yet everyone keeps saying that doing these things at Michigan's Adventure doesn't make business sense. Why is Holiday World so different? They appear to have taken the risks and it's paying off.
MiA has seven coasters. This will be 5 for HW. Looks like MiA is where HW is trying to get to to me...
Holiday World is far from the middle of nowhere. I see it in the middle of St. Louis, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Lexington, Knoxville, Nashville, and Memphis.
Muskegon is bordered by Lake Michigan.
CharlieW said:
As for the Wing Rider aspect, Dollywood has had much success with theirs' as another "family park"
I had the same thought. Thunderbird should be a great addition for HW. The ending sequence in particular looks fantastic.
"We need more 'Bort' license plates in the gift shop. I repeat, we are sold out of 'Bort' license plates."
Michigan's Adventure continues to bring Cedar Fair a lot of money even if they add nothing year after year. Why add something to a park that is still going to make a lot of money without it? Michigan's Adventure makes money so that Cedar Fair can improve their other parks. If it didn't make as much money, they would add what they felt necessary to make more of a profit. Holiday World is not owned by a larger chain like Cedar Fair or Six Flags and so all of its money goes back into the park. Also, what happened with the whole Dan Koch thing? I know he is now down at Alabama Adventure, but is he still involved with Holiday World?
slithernoggin said:
gamerguy said:
The park could use some thrilling flat rides which they don't have.
Weird how Holiday World management would decide to spend $22 million on some roller coaster when the park could make gamerguy happy by adding flat rides.
They could've added a kickass coaster like outlaw run for 10million and some awesome flats for the money they spent on a low capacity maintenance nightmare!
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Really? We have gotten here? Michigan's Adventure? And whatever gamerguy is going on about.
Anyway, will definitely be at Holiwood Nights next year to check this out.
This ride looks fantastic.
I was so happy to see the long, drawn out inline twist at the very end. Out of all the wingcoasters in the US, that roll on X-Flight is by far the best element... Excited to see Thunderbird will have that element to finish the ride off strongly.
Looking forward to next year. Congrats to HW on the amazing addition!
The timing on this is particularly good because their former competitor for markets east is back in business. No idea what impact Kentucky Kingdom really has, but I do recall the park saying it really helped them when it closed.
Jeff - Editor - CoasterBuzz.com - My Blog
I definitely think KK has something to do with Holiday World stepping up their game. Kentucky Kingdom got a new steel coaster this year.. and will be getting T3 next year.. then possibly an RMC (or some other revival of the ride) out of Twisted Twins.. serious competition for thrillseekers.
Rickrollercoaster said:
I don't regret anything I thought or posted...
Too bad you're the only one who feels that way.
Seriously, I'm really happy to see this. It amazes me to think back to the days when I started going to Holiday World, and it ended basically at Legend.
It's great to see the vision coming to life. My, how this little gem has grown up over the years. :)
DragonRider said:
I definitely think KK has something to do with Holiday World stepping up their game.
I don't know about that. The plan for this ride I'm sure has been in the works for years. If I'm not mistaken, KK's future was very much up in the air until recently.
Chris Baker
www.linkedin.com/in/chrisabaker
Truly awesome intro video. The music, the pacing, the way the bird "creates" the coaster as it flies, very exciting!
My only complaints - the name seems a bit lame and too Cedar Pointish and the fact that this park that is very difficult to include in vacation plans because of its location keeps adding rides I want to go on!
BTW, if they run the ride as well as they did GateKeeper opening season, capacity should be high - they really moved the cars out of the station quickly on GK. But HW is a bit over the top with safety, so they'll probably be just a bit slower. But the coaster design itself lends itself well to quick dispatchs.
Bakeman31092 said:
DragonRider said:
I definitely think KK has something to do with Holiday World stepping up their game.
I don't know about that. The plan for this ride I'm sure has been in the works for years. If I'm not mistaken, KK's future was very much up in the air until recently.
This is probably true. Just good timing as Jeff said.
decil76 said:
BTW, if they run the ride as well as they did GateKeeper opening season, capacity should be high - they really moved the cars out of the station quickly on GK.
GK's capacity is exactly 50% higher than TB's. Though that may be fine for HW.
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