Holiwood Nights Roll Call

[tvdu...@gmail.com]

I will be there with my fiance and this will be her first coaster event. She was hooked on Voyage from first ride last year.

[Dave Althoff Jr.]

tvdu...@gmail.com wrote:
> I will be there with my fiance and this will be her first coaster
> event. She was hooked on Voyage from first ride last year.

I'm planning to be there. It remains to be seen whether anyone is coming
along with me or not.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.
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[tvdu...@gmail.com]

The stars...I mean clouds might align for another epic ERT similar to 2009.

[tvdu...@gmail.com]

If you didn't make it, all three coasters were running great, especially after the off and on rain during the day and then the greasing of the track the coaster crew did.

[ansley]

On Sunday, June 2, 2013 10:15:27 PM UTC+1, tvdu...@gmail.com wrote:
> If you didn't make it, all three coasters were running great, especially after the off and on rain during the day and then the greasing of the track the coaster crew did.

Any Trip Reports, happened this last two days right?

Ted

[tvdu...@gmail.com]

I am sure Dave Altoff will do one eventually as he was there. It was Friday and Saturday. I didn't ride too much, but had fun meeting up with friends.

[Dave Althoff Jr.]

I'll get to it eventually. At the rate I am going with my trip reports
this season it may be Independence Day before I can get it posted, but I
am working on it... 8-)

The short version--
o They are now doing a bag check at the park entrance, even though
Disney demonstrated just last week what a total waste of time and
effort bag checks really are.

o The pizza is still not cooked well enough.

o The Raven is still worthy of always being named with its definite
article. Short but fantastic, a nice mix of ride styles in a
diminutive package. I took most of my rides in the back seat.
"1...2...3...4...and you know what comes next!"

o I had a hard time "getting into" the Legend this time around. It's
running as well as ever; it's just that I guess it's too much of the
wrong things. I never cared much for the helix and the "Four Corners
of Death" seem more violent than exciting. Am I getting old?

o The Voyage, like The Raven, really should always be identified with
its definite article. It's still quite possibly the best wood coaster
ever built, and I still stand by my comment on International
television: http://vimeo.com/67619540 . The redesign of the turnaround
last year did nothing but make it better and more re-rideable. The A
train ran slightly better than the B train, and the track was in
excellent condition. The really nasty pothole that was left over last
season just before the last 90-degree-banked curve has been fixed, and
a few other areas got some significant retracking. Do I really need to
say much more about this ride?

o Giraffica (formerly Pilgrims Plunge) was down for the count. The flume
has been pumped out, and the ride is undergoing some kind of
mechanical work at the base of the drop. Making that officially a
Splashin' Safari ride means the midway has been reconfigured a bit, so
the Gratuitous Extra Walking Path under the midway from the waterpark
has been blocked off and the Damned Gate has been opened.

o I only rode one of the three new slides in the waterpark expansion,
the one that features a neat little half-pipe for which I was real
close to the maximum weight limit. It's actually a lot of fun.

o This year, the photo walkback for The Voyage didn't stop at the top of
the hill. We walked on down and around the turnaround, ending on the
return side where the track crosses over itself. There, Holiday World
set up a small tent and served us light snacks before our return hike
down the hill to the park. I must say, that is a really cool place for
a picnic! Also of note, while riding The Voyage on Saturday morning I
saw a crew dumping gravel at the "picnic" site, so they clearly
improved the path back there specifically for the HoliWood Nights
event.

o The forecasts all agreed that the weather on Saturday would be LOUSY
with a capital L. An inch or more of rain, thunderstorms every hour,
and generally crummy conditions. As it turned out, the weather was on
the cool side, but humid, and the rain ended by mid-morning. By late
afternoon, the sun actually came out and warmed things up a bit. Once
again, the meteorologists prove that they aren't that good at
predicting the future.

o The Freedom Train is, as has been reported, gone. A sign at the ride
entrance indicates that the new train is supposed to open "in late
May" but as of the first of June, no track had been laid. The new
train will follow the same path as the old one, at least for the time
being.

o From the Sparkler (mini tower-swing) I did spot a single Timberliner
car sitting in the maintenance yard...

o Holiday World still really knows how to throw a party!

I'll eventually flesh out some more of the details. 8-)

-- Dave Althoff, Jr.

[Joe Schwartz]

dalloff....@sbcglobal.net (Dave Althoff Jr.) wrote:

> o The Voyage, like The Raven, really should always be identified with
> its definite article. It's still quite possibly the best wood coaster
> ever built, and I still stand by my comment on International
> television: http://vimeo.com/67619540 . The redesign of the turnaround
> last year did nothing but make it better and more re-rideable. The A
> train ran slightly better than the B train, and the track was in
> excellent condition. The really nasty pothole that was left over last
> season just before the last 90-degree-banked curve has been fixed, and
> a few other areas got some significant retracking. Do I really need to
> say much more about this ride?

I agree The Voyage was running extremely well, even better than I
remember from my last visit in 2006. How was the turnaround redesigned?
I don't remember it well enough from 2006, but this year the trains just
HAULED ASS through it.

[Dave Althoff Jr.]

The most obvious difference is that the hill after you drop into the
turnaround (I guess this would be The Voyage's sixth drop) was
reprofiled, and completely rebuilt. That whole hill and curve is a
little shorter and a little wider, if I remember correctly. Gravity
Group did the redesign, so it basically incorporates more of the
refinements that they have been working into their designs and carries
them back to The Voyage. It's interesting to see how the Gravity Group
designs are evolving; I first really noticed it when Ravine Flyer 2
opened and I noticed some transition details on that ride that I hadn't
seen on The Voyage. It seems to me that they are getting better at
putting the track where the train wants to go, if that makes any sense.

Saturday night, I was talking (along with several others) with one of
the Holiday World maintenance crewmen, who was detailing some of the
unusual things they have come up with for The Voyage, things that I had
never heard of on any other coaster, involving the strategic
installation of extra track steel and UHMW strips. He also mentioned
that as they maintain the ride, they are also surveying it, in
particular measuring the locations of the ledgers and the track stack,
sharing the data with the Gravity Group, and getting back instructions
for repositioning the ledgers to better maintain the ride profile. We
can see the results of that in the first three drops, where the violent
banging that used to happen in weird places entering and leaving the
valleys doesn't happen anymore. I knew they had been correcting the
ledger positions, but I hadn't been aware that Gravity Group had
basically been tweaking the engineering of the ride all along.

I guess that's what happens when you've got the best wood coaster in the
world: you work hard to keep it that way!

[Surf Dance Chris]

On Jun 4, 12:48 am, dalloff.gcfn....@sbcglobal.net (Dave Althoff Jr.)
wrote:

> tvdud...@gmail.com wrote:
> > I am sure Dave Altoff will do one eventually as he was there.  It was
> > Friday and Saturday.  I didn't ride too much, but had fun meeting up
> > with friends.
>
> I'll get to it eventually. At the rate I am going with my trip reports
> this season it may be Independence Day before I can get it posted, but I
> am working on it... 8-)
>
> The short version--
> o They are now doing a bag check at the park entrance, even though
>   Disney demonstrated just last week what a total waste of time and
>   effort bag checks really are.
>
> o The pizza is still not cooked well enough.
>
> o The Raven is still worthy of always being named with its definite
>   article. Short but fantastic, a nice mix of ride styles in a
>   diminutive package. I took most of my rides in the back seat.
>   "1...2...3...4...and you know what comes next!"
>
> o I had a hard time "getting into" the Legend this time around. It's
>   running as well as ever; it's just that I guess it's too much of the
>   wrong things. I never cared much for the helix and the "Four Corners
>   of Death" seem more violent than exciting. Am I getting old?
>
> o The Voyage, like The Raven, really should always be identified with
>   its definite article. It's still quite possibly the best wood coaster
>   ever built, and I still stand by my comment on International

>   television:http://vimeo.com/67619540. The redesign of the turnaround

The Freedom Train is the old small train ride, correct? Surprised its
being removed, doesn't that date back to park opening (or am I
confused with something else)? I'm guessing, like High Speed Thrill
Coaster, it was simply impossible to maintain anymore if that's the
case.

[tvdu...@gmail.com]

It is the old, small train. It does date back to the start of the park. We were told at the event that when the season ended, they were going to try to restore the coaches. Ended up one of the coaches (the enclosed one) was so far gone it would have gone beyond a normal restoration and basically been all new. The park decided instead of doing that and defeating the purpose of basically a whole new coach, they would make it so they are a picture thing and buy a brand new one.