From IDS reports
The bright orange Thunderbird, a much-anticipated roller coaster addition to Indiana’s Holiday World theme park, was completed Dec. 2, making the installment the amusement park’s “first major steel roller coaster,” according to a Tuesday press release from Holiday World.
The roller coaster in the Santa Claus, Ind., theme park was completed three weeks before expected.
Thunderbird is “the nation’s first launched wing coaster,” according to the Holiday World website. It was designed by Bolliger & Mabillard, a Swiss company.
Seventy-seven pieces of steel had to be put into place to complete the full circuit of Thunderbird, according to the release. Before the 77th piece was lifted into place on the coaster, the ride’s construction team signed it to celebrate.
James Olliver, Holiday World’s vice president of development and maintenance, said in the release that more than three dozen construction workers contributed to the building effort, sticking to their schedules despite difficult summer and winter conditions.
Thunderbird measures more than 3,000 feet of steel, according to the release.
The ride will consist of a zero-to-60 miles per hour launch, taking three and a half seconds in total, a 14-story Immelmann loop, a zero-g roll, a barrel roll and a loop, the release reads.
According to the Holiday World website, the ride lasts one minute and 18 seconds in total.
It reaches 140 feet at its highest point, the Immelmann loop, and can hold up to 1,140 guests per hour.
“Continuing Holiday World’s tradition of sending roller coasters through thickly wooded and hilly terrain, Thunderbird at first soars and loops high in the air and then hugs the ground, surprising riders with rapid-fire ‘near misses’ such as keyholes, themed elements, other rides, trees and even the ground,” the press release states.
Holiday World also makes it clear in the press release that there will be additional ride enhancements in the near future. While the roller coaster itself is completed, construction of its “themed support buildings” is ongoing, according to the release.
According to the Holiday World website, the total investment in Thunderbird was $22 million.
Holiday World opens for the 2015 season next spring, on April 25.
Anicka Slachta
