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Holiday World Wood Coasters to get some love for 2016


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A bargain at 1/10 that price.

Maybe.

I wonder who the seller is....

Based on the timeline, and the color of the cars, would these not be the prototype trains that were tested on the Voyage?  It is hard to tell, but it looks like it could be the Voyage in the background of those images...  Wooden Warrior was the first coaster in the US to open with Timberliner trains and it opened in 2011, and only has 6 rows for a total of 12 riders.  The Twister at Gruno Land in Sweden also opened in 2011, a couple weeks after Wooden Warrior opened, and also features the Timberliners.  I believe that these were the first installations of the Timberliner trains.

 

So is Gravity Group the one selling this train?  Did Holiday World ever have the train purchased, or was it still Gravity Group`s train when they were testing it on the Voyage?

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  • 3 weeks later...

It looks like the wood on entire first drop of The Legend is going to be replaced.

MissingTrack-1164x1500.jpg

Also a Youtube video has been published as to what Santa brought to the Coaster Cats and HW this Christmas! 
 


Photo and video are provided courtesy of Holiday World

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The announcement was just posted on the HoliBlog: http://www.holidayworld.com/holiblog/2016/01/14/the-legend-reborn/

 

Video:

 

 

Basically, all three are getting track work to make things smoother in spots, and Legend is getting a new double down element for increased airtime and a new tunnel where it crosses under Frightful Falls. No inversions, thankfully.

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This looks pretty cool. I always thought that Legend after the helix was pretty much out of control (in a good way). Throw in a double down AND lower the track for more speed and Legend's finale is going to be an animal! I cannot wait to ride it later this year! 

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Well, this is interesting. Hopefully these modifications improve Legend while keeping everything the ride was before intact- aka I hope the laterals are still nice and strong in the modified areas. More speed and airtime in that second half sounds like a plus though- so one of my favorite coasters so far might be even better in the future. Also interesting is that GCI is helping Holiday World with this, so it really looks now like Gravity Group and Holiday World have truly fallen out with each other.

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A couple thoughts:

 

1. I'm curious to know what the double down will be like. That's one of the two slower moments on that ride where it isn't throwing something intense at you, and it was one of the better aspects of Legend's pacing for me. The pacing is (was?) almost a more condensed version of Voyage's pacing--wide turns, a pause (the top of the high-lateral turnaround under the water slides), the airtime and helix, a pause (the stretch of track to be replaced with the double down), and then the intense last three turns. For me, it's a bit like them announcing that Raven's fifth drop will be replaced with a double down--maybe it could work in its favor, or maybe that will change the ride's identity (for better or worse.) Or both? I don't know. Alls I'm saying is that lack of action can be just as important to pacing as action. (See also: Beast, Iron Rattler, Magnum XL-200.)

 

2. I'm confused about the change to the dip under Frightful Falls. Why is it being lowered, again? The graph thing doesn't totally make sense to me. It's showing airtime on the original design of the preceding turn, but... there isn't, right? That's not just me, right? It's appearing that the shape of that turn will be changed significantly to increase the airtime, and the shaping looks really different. If the original profile is straight lines and circles from above, the new profile is an eccentric arc. According to the video, the turn has been lowered... Hmm. I've never ridden a GCI with laterals like Legend's, so I'm curious to see where this goes. I'm a little bummed that that photogenic turn is going to look different, but obviously, it could end up better. We'll see how things go. :)

 

3. I'm also very curious about the Legend changes vs. the Voyage changes. I've wondered for a while what the state of the relationship between Holiday World and The Gravity Group is, and the fact that they are going with GCI for the Legend changes makes me think that relationship is nonexistent. (It also begs the question: if these plans were originally Will's, then who had he originally considered to make the changes?)

 

TRFTW, not trying to be whiny, honest. I just love my CCIs, and I'm wary when they change.

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Ok, so right after they said Will called The Legend the Y2K Coaster, I was like "I have to ride this!" (and it looks pretty darn cool too) And apparently, It's going to be better than ever! Only 5 more months...

 

EDIT: Also, I got excited when I heard GCI is doing the trackwork!  :D

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Also interesting is that GCI is helping Holiday World with this, so it really looks now like Gravity Group and Holiday World have truly fallen out with each other.

I've wondered for a while what the state of the relationship between Holiday World and The Gravity Group is, and the fact that they are going with GCI for the Legend changes makes me think that relationship is nonexistent.

 

According to Paula Werne in the HoliWood Nights Facebook group, both GCI and TGG submitted bids. More specifically:

 

Keep in mind that GCI offers engineering work plus a team to get the work done. That's what we needed. Both companies bid on the project.

So it sounds like Gravity Group's bid just came up short.

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^ Interesting! Thanks for posting Paula's response. That does make sense--this is above and beyond the typical work that their Coaster Cats do.

 

On the other hand, that does make me wonder who did the actual work of modifying Voyage's spaghetti bowl a couple years ago. Perhaps the smaller scale of that project had something to do with it.

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Just because two companies submitted bids does not necessarily mean two companies' bids were given equal consideration. On the other hand, one of the two companies does far more of this type of work than the other.

And park "PR goddess[es]" are good at what they do. Convey a message in such a way that what is meant to be communicated is what is heard. I believe that is called spinning.

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  • 2 weeks later...

CaO1Eo4UEAARU_R.jpg

 

https://twitter.com/HolidayWorld/status/694597860055080960/photo/1

 

Photo courtesy of Holiday World's Twitter Page.

 

 

Wow they are removing TONS of wood from Legend! This is going to be almost an entire revamp of this ride! The track appears to have been removed from the exit of the double helix to the station. I feel like Legend may be a completely different (More Smooth!!!!) experience when they are done. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

In addition to the coaster projects, HW announced they are bringing back the Freedom Train, an original ride when the park first opened.  It will replace the Holidog Express, which replaced the Freedom Train when it was retired a few years' back:

 

http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/story/31241150/freedom-train-returning-to-holiday-world

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I was very excited for the announced changes.  As a traditional wood fan and an airtime fanatic, this change should be great!  I have been waiting for several years to have Legend get a massive amount of attention like the others have gotten.  Raven has been running amazing for the last several seasons, and I hope that continues.  Now hopefully it's Legend's turn.

 

 

Voyage, oh Voyage.

 

 

As far as decent wooden roller coasters go, after a good off-season rehab last year, the ride was impeccable this season. I'm not sure I've ever been on The Voyage with it running the way that it did this season. I was overly impressed.

 

Did we ride the same Voyage.  I was overly disappointed, irritated, disgusted...I can go on.  But...of course the trim brake hater would think the ride ran like absolute crap last year because the pacing was completely destroyed after the spaghetti bowl.  Hopefully after this year's rehab, it will run like it has in previous seasons - "trim free and not for the weak of heart."  Personally, I think its absolute best season was right around 2013 after its massive overhaul.

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In addition to the coaster projects, HW announced they are bringing back the Freedom Train, an original ride when the park first opened.  It will replace the Holidog Express, which replaced the Freedom Train when it was retired a few years' back:

 

http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/story/31241150/freedom-train-returning-to-holiday-world

 

The article doesn't say that the original Freedom Train is replacing Holiday Express. Instead...

 

Park President Matt Eckert says "the Freedom Train is an important part of our history - we were determined to bring it back and put it on display for generations of riders to see."

 

Sounds more like the original ride will only be a small display.

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Paula is incredible at what she does!  I never want her to retire because she is too entertaining just to see what stunt she tries to pull next!

 

Very much so!  So much so back in 2009/10 I actually believed the sincerity of it.  From someone who is as pro-PR person as dare-to-fly is trim brakes (a sentiment we both share) and is ALWAYS looking for the angle/spin to every word out of their mouths, that definitely attests to her job proficiency.

 And to think, after coming back from a long break from KIC, it took me three whole days to mention the wretched things!  I'll try to keep that under control.  :)

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though I don't like their "no single riders" policy for the antique cars and Scrambler.

 

They have that policy for the Scrambler now? Last time I was there it was just on the antique cars. (Though on a cool May morning when I estimated total park attendance to be less than five hundred, they weren't enforcing it.)

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When I went to ride Scrambler a couple years ago there was a sign saying single riders would be paired. I rode it with my sister last year so I didn't pay much attention then.

A sign saying singles will be paired implies that they will put single riders together to shorten long lines.  Unless it specifically says no single riders, it's just that they reserve the right to make the 4 teenagers who all want their own car ride 2 and 2, or for them to put two strangers together to get extra people on.

 

I have ridden HW's Scrambler solo before.  It's not a formal policy.

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