Thursday, September 29, 2016

Major New Launched Coaster Headed to Blackpool Pleasure Beach in '18


© Blackpool Pleasure Beach
The trend of earlier and earlier announcements of new rides continues, this time for "Construction 2018" - a brand new, custom-designed Mack double-launched roller coaster at England's Blackpool Pleasure Beach.

Obviously that won't be the final name of the new roller coaster, but until the park releases that the ride is just Construction 2018.  The coaster is billed by the park as having the "most interactions" at 15, involving 5 different rides at the park and two tunnels.  There will also be one inversion along the 3,740 feet of track.

The experience will start with a launch featuring a top speed of 50 miles per hour directly up onto a large air-time hill.  The ride twists and turns around the park's attractions until it hits another launch that will get the trains through the remainder of the course.  The maximum height of the ride is 88.5 feet and the largest drop is 82 feet.

Blackpool Pleasure Beach released this footage of the ride, both off and on-ride, showing all the elements packed into the layout.  It allows us to follow the track as the coaster interacts with rides like the Big One, Steeplechase, Big Dipper, Pleasure Beach Express and the park's Grand Prix.

Blackpool's Managing Director, Nick Thompson, commented that the park has "been working on this concept for five years now and are delighted to be able share news of our plans.  Construction 2018 will be fast, adrenalin fuelled and exhilarating but also smooth and comfortable – an entirely new ride experience."  The park is spending around $21 million (at a current conversion rate) to bring the massive new ride to life.

Blackpool Pleasure Beach looks like they have a winner on their hands, at least judging from the above video.  I can't wait to follow the ride's progress over the next year and a half!


Wednesday, September 28, 2016

SeaWorld Orlando Adding a Variety of New Offerings for 2017 Season


© SeaWorld Orlando
Following up on the addition of the hyper roller coaster Mako, SeaWorld Orlando has announced a wide variety of new offerings for visitors in 2017.  First up is the addition of virtual reality to the park's popular Kraken roller coaster.  The first digitally enhanced coaster for the SeaWorld Parks, Kraken rides will travel far below the depths of the ocean on the attraction.  The journey will include "sea creatures inspired by extinct and legendary animals of the past, including the mighty Kraken."  Saying the ride will have "uniquely designed headsets," the park will incorporate them both mechanically and electronically into the coaster's trains.

© SeaWorld Orlando
Also inside SeaWorld Orlando, major renovations of the park's Dolphin Nursery will delight visitors and make the attraction more interactive.  The park will add "large-scale acrylic windows" to the exhibit so that visitors can see mother and baby dolphins in all new ways.

© SeaWorld Orlando
The Dolphin Nursery will include multiple viewing levels, both above and below the water's surface.  Improvements to the exhibit will also allow easier access for the park's extensive veterinary and animal care teams once the dolphin calves are born.  Educational components, such as digital displays and live educators will help visitors better understand dolphin behavior and conservation efforts to protect the animals.

© SeaWorld Orlando
Another addition will be a new end-of-day spectacle event known as Electric Ocean.  With plenty more details promised to come, the park is describing it as full of "lights and energy, offering guests a different kind of fun after dark."  Inspired by bioluminescent lighting in nature, the park will come alive with music and pathway entertainment that will change the atmosphere of the park.

But that's not all, believe it or not.  A new Seven Seas Festival will occur that celebrates food from Asian, Caribbean, South American and Mediterranean areas.  The unique food offerings will also be paired with local and seasonal craft brews.  That fits in perfectly with the park's new for 2017 dining location, the Flamecraft Bar.  It will fit nicely with the nearby existing SeaFire Grill in the waterfront area of the theme park, and offer a spot for a casual drink and a bite to eat.  Finally, the Nautilus Theatre will debut a "new experience" on Memorial Day weekend, running for the summer.  More details about the show's content will be released soon.

© SeaWorld Orlando
Starting this holiday season, and then continuing in 2017 as well, Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer & Friends will become a part of the park's Christmas Celebration.  Already a popular event during the winter months, visitors will now be able to meet Rudolph in several seasonal themed attractions.  Other characters that will be at the park include Clarice, Bumble, the Abominable Snow Monster and Yukon Cornelius.  The 2017 Christmas Celebration is promised to further expand the Rudolph themed fun.

© SeaWorld Orlando
Over at Aquatica, annual pass members will find a brand new Passmember Pavilion just for them that will open for Spring Break.  Featuring concierge service along with complimentary sunscreen, the Pavilion will have a private entrance to Banana Beach, special animals encounters throughout the day and other perks.

Sounds like a busy year for the Orlando SeaWorld Parks!


Tuesday, September 27, 2016

New Roller Coaster - Wave Breaker: The Rescue Coaster - New at SeaWorld San Antonio in 2017



A brand new roller coaster, the first of its kind in North America, will open at SeaWorld San Antonio next summer.  Named Wave Breaker: The Rescue Coaster, the ride will be the first in the SeaWorld family to be themed around the company's animal rescue efforts.  Described as "combining the thrill of the sea with the adrenaline rush of a roller coaster," the new coaster will let riders "feel what it's like to race alongside SeaWorld's heroic animal care team and veterinarians as they spring into action at a moment's notice to help rescue animals in distress."

 “The new coaster promises a ride of a lifetime that’s also unique to SeaWorld’s mission,” said SeaWorld San Antonio Park President Carl Lum.  “Replicating an adventure limited to only a few trained professionals, Wave Breaker will launch riders into an exhilarating experience similar to going on an animal rescue mission.  The coaster is sure to thrill, but also brings awareness to the brave efforts of our animal teams as they join forces with organizations around the world to help ill, injured, orphaned and abandoned animals.”

© SeaWorld San Antonio
The roller coaster is inspired by how jet skis glide across the water at high speeds, and will utilize a design by Intamin using fully themed cars - the first time they are being employed in North America.  Intamin previously created Jet Rescue for Sea World in Australia (unrelated to SeaWorld San Antonio) which gives a good idea of how the new ride may look.  Riders will be in a "straddled seating" position that is depicted in the concept art above.

Wave Breaker:  The Rescue Coaster will utilize two different electromagnetic launches to send the trains moving at a maximum speed of 44 miles per hour.  The track will extend 2,600 feet long and hit a maximum height of 61 feet above the ground.  The trains will have eight coaches each seating two riders for a total of 16 riders per cycle, with a theoretical hourly capacity of 886 riders.  Best of all, the ride comes with a low 48 inch height requirement so many members of the family can ride.

The loading area and queue for the ride will be across from the Penguin Plaza.  Once the trains depart the station most of the ride will take place over the park's central lagoon, adding to the theme of the coaster.  The above video has some flashes of ride animation in it, along with a quick look at half the layout - but it seems the park will just leave the full ride track as a tease for now.

The park promises more updates via their social media soon, but for now check out the Wave Breaker website for more.


Monday, September 26, 2016

Howl-O-Scream Turns Up The Scares in Tampa Bay



Back for another year of bone-chilling thrills, Busch Gardens Tampa's Howl-O-Scream is now open for its 2016 season.  The event is billed as "Tampa Bay's premier Halloween event," drawing thousands of thrill seekers each fall to test their fright limits.

This year the event will run for 21 nights, giving visitors over 300 acres of "terrifying horrors and merciless roaming hoards" to explore.  This year the event has seven different haunted houses, with two of them being brand new.

© Busch Gardens Tampa
The first of the two additions is named Motel Hell, whose name probably gives away a lot about its theme!  Set in a super creepy deserted motel, the park is promising that nightmares will become reality for those who dare to enter.  "The paranormal presence of its former owners still lurks on the untouched property, mysteriously preventing the brave souls who are attempting to tear it down. Guests who dare to enter will find themselves face-to-face with their worst nightmares and inescapable fate."

© Busch Gardens Tampa
Also new this year is The Black Spot, a bit of a mysterious maze that centers around pirates - mainly Saw Tooth Silas.  The story goes that he was a pretty bad guy, and once he decided that a person was to be removed from his crew, they were sent to The Black Spot - and never seen from again... at least not in one piece.  The maze allows guests to enter Saw Tooth Silas' world and the results of his terrors.

While the mazes are always going to be the big draw of Howl-O-Scream, Busch Gardens Tampa has worked to make the entire park a bit more scary in 2016.  The property will now have Inescapable Roaming Hordes of monsters and ghouls which will freely roam the park, proving that no area is truly safe.  Essentially this makes the whole place a scare zone, keeping visitors on their toes!

All the fun also comes with the park's rides such as the brand new Cobra's Curse and the face-first free fall, Falcon's Fury.  For more on the event, click here.


Saturday, September 24, 2016

Doomsday Destroyer + New DC Villain Themed Land Premier at Movie World



For the start of their summer season, Movie World on Australia's Gold Coast, has opened a new themed area and thrill ride.  A part of the DC Comics Super-Villains Unleashed area, the new ride is named the Doomsday Destroyer.  The park's new expansion will allow visitors to "embark on a journey with some of the most iconic DC Super-Villains in an interactive themed area, where it's good to be bad."

© Movie World
The star attraction of the area is Doomsday Destroyer, a "monstrous looping ride like nothing else ever seen" at the park.  Rider are seated in floorless cars, some facing other passengers, and then looped up and around in a giant circle to nearly 70 feet above the park.  The ride goes up to 23 miles per hour and gives riders a 2.4 negative g-force, according to Movie World.  The above photo shows that the ride (which appears to be from Zamperla) received a nice theming package.

“There has always been a focus on DC Super Heroes at Warner Bros. Movie World but this new precinct will showcase the Super-Villains from the DC Universe,” said the park's General Manager, Greg Yong.

Another neat element of the Super-Villains Unleashed precinct are the "interactive elements where guests can assist Super-Villains such as The Joker and Lex Luthor in their mission to cause mass destruction throughout the park with the use of innovative RFID technology." 


Thursday, September 22, 2016

Parts Arrive for Major New Roller Coaster at Casino Pier



I've heard no previous rumors about a major new roller coaster being built at New Jersey's Casino Pier, but it would seem fairly certain that one is happening for 2017.  That's a nice surprise, no doubt!

© Shorebeat / Daniel Nee
Parts for a new coaster have already started to arrive on site at the park, featuring lime green track and a brilliant blue support color.  The above photo is from a Shorebeat news article that detailed some of the efforts Casino Pier is undergoing to expand.

It sounds like the park has been working on a land swap deal with Seaside Heights that would allow them to build additional boardwalk space to the North of their current operations - which were rebuilt after Superstorm Sandy destroyed much of the park in 2012.

As for the roller coaster, it's being reported by RCDB that it will be a Gerstlauer custom-designed "Infinity" ride.  The track and supports also match the style of these rides, and also make it seem like there will be a vertical lift hill.

A ride of the same style opened this year at Adventureland, the Monster.  While I would expect Casino Pier's to be a bit smaller than the Monster, there's still a lot of potential for an interesting ride to go up.  I can't wait to find out more!


Wednesday, September 21, 2016

The Patriot Coming to Life at California's Great America


© California's Great America
Sheesh, they're wasting no time on the transformation of Vortex into Patriot at California's Great America!  The stand-up roller coaster just closed for good on September 5th, and the theme park has already started the work of the physical transformation of the coaster.  The bigger task of adding new floorless trains from B&M and making the station and service areas accommodate them is still to come, I would assume.

The above photo, shared by the park in a gallery on social media, shows the Patriot/Vortex mash-up in one.  The new blue paint on the left is quickly replacing the faded purple and yellow combination that Vortex featured, on the right.

© California's Great America
And fast forwarding just a bit from when the top photo was taken, you can get a real feel for the new look of Patriot in this shot.  The ride is striking in its electric blue track with crisp white supports.  From the looks of just this section it seems that at least half of the coaster has already been repainted, if not more.  The blue is also a nice compliment to the bright red track that was painted on California's Great America's other B&M coaster, the inverted ride named Flight Deck.  Stay tuned for more on the ride's changes as the winter months roll by.


Monday, September 19, 2016

2016 To Be Bowcraft Amusement Park's Last?



While not officially announced by the park yet, it seems as though the 2016 season very well may be the last one for New Jersey's Bowcraft Amusement Park.  The family style amusement park isn't the largest in the area, but it's still always sad to see a park close its doors - especially when it's for new apartments!

According to local news, the Scotch Plains Planning Board will be considering next week a plan that would see 190 apartments and 10 townhomes built on the site of the park.  That would imply that the land the park sits on must carry a great value, and also means that when the park closes at the end of this October it will probably be for good.

© Bing
Still, official confirmation should come from Bowcraft soon, though there have been signs of this coming in the past.  The park has had its Zierer designed coaster, Crossbow, listed for sale for a couple years now.  The custom designed ride features a 55 foot tall lift hill, 1,260 feet of track and a top speed of 40 miles per hour.  Other larger rides at the park include a pirate ship, musik express, paratrooper, scrambler and a decent selection of family and children's rides.

The park has also commonly been known as Bowcraft Playland and dates back to 1946 when it operated as an archery/ski equipment store complete with a small ski hill.  It was expanded decades later to include the amusement rides and family entertainment-style fun offered today.


Sunday, September 18, 2016

Exciting Additions for 2017 and Beyond Coming to Legoland California



Legoland California has announced new additions for both its upcoming 2017 season as well as the future beyond that.  Let's take a look at all that is coming to the resort and theme park.

© Legoland California
Legoland California will expand its water park offerings in time for summer 2017, with the addition of Surfer's Bay.  Seen above, kids will be able to "surf" their way down a six-lane mat slide, competing to be the first across the finish line as they go.  The attraction will be a part of a "California beach themed" expansion to the already diverse Legoland Water Park offerings.  There will also be a new "spray ground" with "multiple water jets splashing on and off and plenty of new Lego models to create a fun place to cool off."

The excitement of Star Wars will be felt at Legoland California next year, with the addition of Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens miniland model display.  The display will feature six scenes that represent the first 30 minutes of Star Wars: The Force Awakens - and will be focused mostly on the planet of Jakku and its inhabitants and a 16 foot long model of the Star Destroyer Finalizer.  The expansion will open in March of 2017.

The existing Legoland Hotel will also create new Lego Ninjago themed rooms, allowing them to "sleep in the company of Cole, Nya, Kai and Lloyd" in 18 of the hotel's rooms.

© Legoland California
The park also gave a first look at their next big expansion, a brand new Lego Castle themed hotel.  The 18 Ninjago themed rooms in the existing hotel will be replaced because they currently hold a castle theme.  The new hotel's entrance is seen above, showing how the "premium themed" resort will immediately immerse visitors into another world as they arrive.

© Legoland California
The castle themed hotel will hold a total of 250 rooms, complete with this expansive pool area, restaurant and other amenities.  The park plans to break ground on the expansion in early 2017 with no opening date yet announced.


Saturday, September 17, 2016

Wild Adventures Expanding Splash Island Water Park in 2017



Wild Adventures's water park, Splash Island, will open an new family area in 2017 named Ohana Bay.  The word Ohana is Hawaiian for "family," so the name of the attraction is perfect when considering its offerings.

Ohana Bay will be located in a previously undeveloped area near a couple of the park's larger waterslides.  The expansion will feature a large lagoon area that is filled with different attractions, surrounded by a new seating area for more than 100 guests.

There will be a total of 7 new body water slides built in Ohana Bay, of varying sizes.  The largest two will stand 27 feet high and feature more than 200 feet of slide each.  Five additional slides will be built that are meant for smaller kids.  The lagoon will also have several spray and splash features to keep kids busy, allowing parents to easily keep tabs on them while they do.

Ohana Bay will represent a $2 million expansion for Wild Adventures - more details on the project will be released over the winter.


Thursday, September 15, 2016

Morey's Begins Heavy Renovation of the Great Nor'Easter for Summer 2017


© Morey's Piers
Morey's Piers, located in Wildwood, New Jersey, has started the process of totally renovating the park's Great Nor'Easter roller coaster in time for the 2017 season.

The plan was actually announced way back at the start of the year, but the park has stayed mostly quiet about the changes until recently.  The park will be replacing 90% of the Great Nor'Easter's track, using new track fabricated through Vekoma in the same layout that will provide a smoother ride.  Many riders have commented on the coaster's rough ride experience, but Morey's appears to still see value in the attraction - they're spending around $4 million for the replacement!

Along with the new track the park is expected to give the coaster a brand new name, paint scheme and overall look.  New trains were added to the ride several years ago, so I'm not sure if a brand new set will debut in 2017 or the old ones will still be used.

The Great Nor'Easter opened in 1995 and is one of the earliest installations of Vekoma's Suspended Looping Coaster model. 


Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Nickelodeon Theme Announced for American Dream's Indoor Amusement Park


© American Dream
The indoor amusement park at the upcoming American Dream mega-mall in North New Jersey, just outside Manhattan, will be named Nickelodeon Universe, it has been announced.  Much like the theme of the indoor park at the Mall of America, Nickelodeon Universe will be home to popular characters such as "SpongeBob SquarePants, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and new hits like Blaze and the Monster Machines."

Located on 8.5 acres in a climate controlled enclosure, the park will feature a variety of rides and attractions.  Its size will make it the largest indoor theme park in the Western hemisphere.

New concept art for the park, seen up top, was released but appears to be very general in nature and contain several different types of roller coasters.  The park states that it "will break numerous World Records with state-of-the-art rides as well as live shows, retail, games, entertainment, food establishments and themed party rooms" when it opens.

American Dream, after many years of delays, is now said to be opening in the second half of 2018.  It will also include a DreamWorks themed water park, a Lego Discovery Center and aquarium, 4-D attraction theater and plenty more.


Monday, September 12, 2016

Legoland Castle Hotel Coming to Two Legoland Theme Parks


© Legoland
Continuing to expand the roster of amenities that help to transform their theme parks into destinations, two properties have new Legoland Castle Hotels planned for the near future.  The concept art featured in this story is from Legoland Windsor, which has already announced the new resort and actually started construction on it.

The hotel is firmly centered in the world of Wizards and Knights from epic Kingdoms, and visitors become kings, queens, princesses and princes when they stay at the property.

© Legoland
The hotels will be fully themed from the outside in, but I think that's fairly evident in these concept drawings.  It will be the second hotel at both Legoland Windsor and Legoland California, though the addition is still in the planning and approval states for California.

Features include 61 rooms at Windsor at 250 in California that are decked out in the style of Knights and Wizards, with additional themes being planned - especially at the larger California property.

© Legoland
As with the already successful regular Legoland Hotels, these new developments will feature other amenities such as their own restaurant and play areas both inside and outside.  At Legoland California, the addition will go up near the main entrance, similar to what was done with the first resort.

The Legoland Castle Hotel is planned to open in July of 2017 at Legoland Windsor, and if all approvals are gained construction may start at Legoland California in early 2017 with an opening date not yet announced.


Sunday, September 11, 2016

Conneaut Lake Park's Bankruptcy Plan Approval Paves Way for Future


Conneaut Lake Park's Board of Trustees has received approval of their Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan in court, giving the park hope that they can continue their recent rebound in upcoming seasons.

The bankruptcy filing was a way for the park to avoid being sold off piece by piece to pay creditors what they were owed, and until a judge approved the plan the park's future was in question.

In total the park owes creditors, including several local school districts, around $3.4 million.  Up until this season the park regularly lost money, but news stories about the bankruptcy plan approval show that 2016 has been different.  The reopening of many parts of Conneaut's water park has been a major factor in the success.

So far through the end of August the park has a net profit of $95k, with projections of that being up yo $150k when the season is over.  The park still has its Fall Pumpkin Fest left for the 2016 calendar year.

The plan to keep the park going involves a slow and smart increase of amusements offered, and also the selling of excess lakefront property to make a big dent in the debts.  If the park continues on the positive cash flow it did this year, remaining profits will be delivered to creditors as well.  It sounds like the Hotel Conneaut has also been put up as collateral in the deal.

Congratulations and good luck to the current Trustees of the park, it sounds like they're giving it the best shot it's had in many years.  


Saturday, September 10, 2016

NewsPlusNotes Summer 2016 Poll Results


This summer we extended our usual poll to allow for a longer voting period - makes sense so that everyone could get out and ride all those new coasters! We wanted to know what our reader's favorite new North American roller coaster was, and here are the results.

© Dollywood
Although the roller coaster had a bit of a slow start and only recently ended "technical rehearsals," our number one finisher was Dollywood's Lightning Rod with 34% of all the votes.  The custom designed Rocky Mountain launched wood coaster comes with impressive statistics, and an equally impressive amount of air-time for riders.  Reviews of the coaster have remained overwhelmingly positive, with most saying it's a wild out-of-control feeling experience from start to finish.

In second place was Cedar Point's big B&M dive coaster, Valravn.  The ride received a healthy 23% of all the votes.  It never hurts to be located at one of the U.S.'s most popular amusement parks, but Valravn's immense size, inversions and that vertical plunge seem to have made their own mark on fans.

Sunny Florida saw the addition of Mako at SeaWorld Orlando, a B&M hyper coaster that gives a reliable air-time filled experience to riders.  While not pushing any design boundaries, the coaster lived up to the B&M hyper's before it, and that resulted in a 3rd place finish with 13% of the votes.


Here are the full results from our Summer poll.  It's worth noting as well that the 4th place spot went to Storm Chaser at Kentucky Kingdom, another intense Rocky Mountain creation.  Fans seem to react quite positively to all the rides they've been creating!

We're launching a poll this month that's taking a look at the already announced 2017 additions from all Cedar Fair and Six Flags parks.  The announcements have been heavy on new flat rides, shows and other interactive experiences - a certain change from years past - especially with only 4 new coasters between them!  That makes me wonder which 'new direction' has the attention of our readers.  Vote over on the left!


Friday, September 9, 2016

Scott And Carol Present - The 2016 Fort Wayne Air Show





So  if you like to see things in the sky like this,

or maybe even this 


If you prefer a Korean era dogfight re-enactment with an F-86 


and a Russian designed Mig. You need to be in Fort Wayne, IN this weekend. Here's an invitation:




You can see an F-18 hide behind a cloud of its own creation, provided the humidity stays high. And here is just a glimpse of how things looked during practice:

 

You can find all the details at the website (Link). because due to the world we live in today, you can't just show up at the airport. We have even found some coaster enthusiasts that we will introduce to you later.  See you at the show.


New Multi-Launch Custom Designed Gerstaluer Coaster Opening at Slagharen in '17



Attractiepark Slagharen, located in the Netherlands, has announced a brand new, custom-designed, Gerstlauer Infinity coaster for its 2017 season.  Named Gold Rush, the ride will feature three launches - two forward and one backward - that will blast the trains at 56 miles per hour up and around the course.

Gold Rush's track will span just over 1,300 feet, but with only a launch track there will be no lift hill track to account for.  The park reports that due to the multiple launches just over 2,000 feet of track is covered during the experience.  The ride's single train will feature five rows of four passengers, for a total of twenty riders per cycle.

After the forward - backward - forward launch, the train will head up a 102 foot tall top hat, and plunge down into a highly overbanked turn.  After that comes a large air-time hill, another helix and finally a dive loop back to the station area.  CoasterForce shared this animation of Gold Rush, including a point of view ride:

The new coaster fits in perfectly with the park's overall wild west theme, as indicated in the themed queue and station seen in the video.  The new coaster will replace Thunder Loop, a classic Schwarzkopf Looping Star.

Attractiepark Slagharen is a part of the Parques Reunidos family.


Thursday, September 8, 2016

Scott And Carol Present - A Look At Mystic Timbers Construction



While we do not know what's in the shed, we can show you what's behind the wall, thanks to the Eiffel  Tower and a 750 mm lens. 


Zooming out a bit, we can see a couple of rows of footers. If you look closely at the closest pair, you can see how they are connected below ground level. That will be backfilled soon, probably with dirt generated from drilling out the next footers.


So here is the first vertical construction for Mystic Timbers.


Hard at work on Labor Day, we appreciate the construction efforts while we get a day off to play.


If you look closely, you can see how the last vertical is tied off to the rest of the structure, because it doesn't have anything on the other side to give it support. Once it is all assembled it will be rigid.



You can see Diamondback's track next to the former Huss Giant Topspin ride building, which is used for a Haunt maze now. Just past the curve is the new path to Whitewater Canyon.


There is still a little clearing to be done, but they are taking their time because they want to save as many trees as possible.


If you look at the footers in the background, nothing is mounted on them yet. They are  attached to each other underground, which allows Great Coasters to provide one of the longest wood coaster guarantees in the industry, as well as a very smooth ride.


That's because this guy has to mark the correct location for the attachment brackets to be mounted. It's all done with laser triangulation, so these guys actually use the geometry they studied in high school. It sure didn't seem important at the time.


The long square rebar is used in the connecting concrete pieces that are placed below the frost line that tie the footers together.


You just need to keep bolting the wood together per the plan, to make the verticals. And then add the cross pieces to hold the verticals together, When you add the ledger, it is ready to set it up next to the last one you installed. Repeat until you have on on every set of footers and you can start tracking.


It looks like they already have enough wood, but it takes an amazing amount of lumber to build a wood roller coaster. They are using wood that is both insect repellent and fire retardant.


Not your average post hole digger, this is what they use for the vertical portion of the footers. It chews through everything, that is everything but a large rock or sewer line. They have to know what is supposed to be below ground because it works so fast.


Here you can see how Diamondback and Mystic Timbers will interact with each other, although Diamondback is way above its wooden counterpart. They have a long way to go, but it is a long time until spring. Keep your fingers crossed for good weather.