Thunderbird at Holiday World

[Iron Wolf 90-11]

So what do you guys think about Holiday World's 2015 roller coaster, Thunderbird? It's a launched B&M wing rider that goes 0-60 MPH in 3.5 seconds and cost $22 million. It only has 5 cars/rows of 4 seats so 20 people per train. Here's the rides website http://www.holidayworld.com/thunderbird/

[Iron Wolf 90-11]

Logo

Overview with Terrain

Layout
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyXvz-swfMs
A cool video that the park made for Thunderbird.

[B&MGuy35]

Looks amazing! Looks like I'll be taking a trip there next summer for Media Day! Can't wait!

[coasterlove]

The ride looks very good and nice to see a launch on it. I'm not sure what they mean by a launch using a "flywheel", anyone know? It looks like LIMs/LSMs to me. The other thing I'm not sure about is why they use such a short train of only 5 rows. The elements don't seem to be very tight so it wouldn't seem that it couldn't have used a longer train like they do with other B&M wingcoasters. Not that the capacity is bad since it's listed at 1,140pph if I remember correctly. This coaster could have really moved people through the queue line if that had been the case.

[Guy_With_A_Stick]

It is a flywheel launch.

So happy B&M can finally make launch coasters!

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[Guy_With_A_Stick]

Video:
http://m.youtube.com/?#/watch?v=NkNMZAl2mqk

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[Jacklw6499]

I asked Holiday World and thankfully there will be Two trains. The videos were a bit misleading to make many think there would only be one. Considering it's a quick ride, I expect capacity to be pretty good! Holiday World is lucky, getting the very first Launched B&M coaster in the world! (Yes Incredible Hulk is excluded here, considering the launch itself wasn't built by B&M).

[UWW-10]

The elements don't seem to be very tight so it wouldn't seem that it couldn't have used a longer train like they do with other B&M wingcoasters.

Wingcoaster trains are heavy ride vehicles and my guess is that they are probably the heaviest of all their ride vehicles with the kind of weight they have to support. So I can imagine that 0-60 in 3.5 seconds isn't going to work with a 8 car train.

I get this is probably what HW wanted and they'll do whatever, but it does question why B&M would want to enter the launching market with their heaviest train design?

[tp41190]

While this looks like a good ride, and probably the best looking installment of a wing coaster in the US, I still don't understand why Holiday World went with B&M.

As far as it's length, it seems pretty good.
This Chinese wing rider is probably shorter then Swarm.


Flug der Dämonen has a shorter train too. And from the reviews, the shorter trains produce a much more intense sensation.

[RaceBoarder]

I'm not sure what to think of the design here... When I think of a wing-coaster, I want something fairly tight and twisty... Speed is nice, but it's not a priority with this style of coaster for me... Thunderbird seems to be a fairly open design... I do like how they are going to incorporate the natural terrain in the design however...

[Guy_With_A_Stick]

This will have a 5 car train, with 4 riders per car, making for 20 riders per train. And another train makes 40 riders per whole cycle.

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[sfgam-fan]

Flywheel launch is an interesting choice. I'm guessing B&M went with it for the reasons they make many of their design decisions: maintenance and reliability. The design has been around since the late 70's.

In the promo video, I don't see a typical flywheel launch (flywheel, clutch, cable, catch car), so either B&M is doing something new or HW didn't include those graphics in the video.

It could be that the catch car sits in between the track rails, under the train. A bit like a cable life hill but with a clutch and at high speeds. Otherwise, I'm not sure why we don't see a catch car in the video.

[FParker185]

Personally I think they could have done so much more with the land available and the same budget, but it's not my park, and I'll gladly take the credit. But they went with B&M so they can have a reasonably high capacity coaster that is reliable, unlike Intamin and Pilgrims that came literally within a couple boats of potentially killing 10 people

Also, the flywheel isn't to physically launch the train, The launch itself will be LSM, the flywheel is linked to a generator through a clutch which when it's engaged supplies a good amount of the power needed for the launch, so mainly it just helps reduce the peak power demand from the ride on the utilities and saves a little energy in the process. Most Gerstlauer Launched Coasters have one, it looks something like....

[tribar]

What exactly happened with Pilgrim's Plunge?

[Guy_With_A_Stick]

What exactly happened with Pilgrim's Plunge?

From what I understand, bad reliability, lots of downtime, and low ridership.

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[Iron Wolf 90-11]

What exactly happened with Pilgrim's Plunge?

From what I understand, bad reliability, lots of downtime, and low ridership.

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I think he means how the one user posted about it came within a few boats of killing riders.

[tribar]

What exactly happened with Pilgrim's Plunge?

From what I understand, bad reliability, lots of downtime, and low ridership.

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I think he means how the one user posted about it came within a few boats of killing riders.

Yes that's what I meant

[FParker185]

They were cycling boats though at the end of the night after closing to get everyone off and one of the first empty boats was, from what I understand basically impaled by a piece of the track that had broken/come loose right at the bottom of the drop. Was the night before Holiwood Nights last year, you could see them using cutting torches to get rid of what was left on the friday of that event.

[Coaster Justin]

Shoot the Rapids at Cedar Point probably really scared them too.

[skibum101184]

The ride looks very good and nice to see a launch on it. I'm not sure what they mean by a launch using a "flywheel", anyone know? It looks like LIMs/LSMs to me. The other thing I'm not sure about is why they use such a short train of only 5 rows. The elements don't seem to be very tight so it wouldn't seem that it couldn't have used a longer train like they do with other B&M wingcoasters. Not that the capacity is bad since it's listed at 1,140pph if I remember correctly. This coaster could have really moved people through the queue line if that had been the case.

Here is video I found on YouTube of a Schwarzkopf shuttle loop that uses a flywheel (actual flywheel footage). Pretty cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSvXKPbQx88

[sfgam-fan]

^ that's friggin awesome. thanks for sharing the video!

[Dan The Coaster Man]

It's nice to see B&M with their own launching mechanism. As for Thunderbird itself, it looks like a pretty good ride! I like the overbanks and inversion selection. My only complaint is the keyhole element, it's more like half a keyhole. Maybe if that building (barn) is a two or three story barn it can be a true keyhole. Maybe it is and the animation just showed it only half.

But in other words, apparently the ride layout is complete. That's ridiculously fast!!

[Guy_With_A_Stick]

Track is now complete!

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[FParker185]

Yep, parks that lack Six Flags in the name traditionally like to have new rides open on opening day of the season. A novel concept, I know!