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Thunderbird has launched!


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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!!

If you have a Facebook account (I know some people don't have or don't want an account) join the holiwood nights group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/325861871036/

Paula runs that Facebook fan page and she answers questions on their directly and promptly. (She answered my question about if Thunderbird could add a car to their trains if they felt the need) If you don't have a Facebook you can usually get a similar response on their twitter page as well.

I think also with the limited capacity (1,140 PPH, 500 PPH less than Banshee) HW should limit it to only media members. I remember that the Banshee Media day was fun but I only got to ride Banshee 3 times the entire time I was there. I waited longer on Media Day than on a Sunday in July. It was a walk on for almost the entire day. Not that I am not unappreciative for CF allowing us to ride before the public but other than being part of the first couple thousand people to ride the ride it wasn't anything special if you were just a card carrying member and not a media member.

As for the new leadership yes Pat and Will are no longer with the park. I for one hope that Pat is welcomed back and comes back at some point. But Paula, Matt, and Lori are constantly at the park as well. I have seen one or all of them every time I have been to the park. The change is different but I think it was the best one out of a terrible situation. You still have the people that were with the park at the time of Will's death in their same positions. Its just disheartening that money and greed for it caused this whole situation from the beginning.

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I mean we took a couple hour break and went back to the car. Rode The Bat and Delirium multiple times and talked to people. We even watched all of the ceremony and left early. He makes it sound like he didn't get but only three rides because the wait was long. I just don't see how that's the case.

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I only got 3 rides in because I left a little bit after the announcement because I had to go to work. But the line was at least 30 minutes each time I went through the line. That crowd was huge. But that is because Banshee is a world class ride and many people including myself took advantage of the media day invite. Plus I ate brunch at the park with a couple of buddies.

I almost added an edit that I know media day is more than just riding. I talked with both Greg and Don for about 3 minutes as well. But most of the time you can have those side convos when you see them in the park on a normal day. Again I know it was a privilege (I was and still am thankful the park invited us to the event) and I had fun but IMO unless you were part of a news crew or a leader of a coaster club (get on the record interviews, separate food and entertainment, front row perks, etc) it was a some gifts, an announcment, and being among the first to ride a new ride. That's my opinion of the day. I know it's different than others on here but I'll chalk it up to "your results may vary." To me that's okay because different people can experience the same thing differently.

I hope this didn't come off as rude because that is totally not my intention.

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Bidding for Train 1 row 1 left side is at $1500, Right is at $400

I think that is one of my complaints about this ride. The Left side is far more intriguing than the right side (especially for the keyhole on the barn.) The only other complaint is capacity. The ride only gets about 1100 pph. And it cannot be increased due to the trains being capped at 5 cars per train. Other than those two issues I really think this ride is a fantastic addition.

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Holiday World actually got a blip on my local 24-hour news channel today, and it wasn't about Thunderbird. They actually mentioned how Voyage was #3 in a poll, and not the Amusement Today Golden Tickets for once (aka the one that is almsot always used by news media). They actually mentioned...the Coasterbuzz Top 100!?!? Wow. Must be a very slow news day. They did also mention the #1 and #2 rides though, which ATM (March 30th, 2015) are El Toro @ Six Flags Great Adventure and Leviathan @ Canada's Wonderland with some footage of each, so those parks also got a bit of "air" time via this spot. :P

Oh, and via that same poll, Kings Island's Banshee was able to be ranked as it had enough votes as well (they used seasoned rider votes of users with at least 80+ coasters, and then the rides need at least 45 riders to rate them from that group) and it was #8. That's incredible for an inverted coaster. Sadly it seems a lot of the RMC Coasters (save New Texas Giant) do not have enough votes to be ranked yet...even Outlaw Run or Goliath. So...the poll has some holes in it.

Full List:

http://coasterbuzz.com/RollerCoasters/Top100

I just found it odd a local TV station would even bring up a fairly small poll this this one. And it's not even annual- CoasterBuzz has it running all the time and updates every week...

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