Wednesday, May 21, 2014

This Post is Not About Kentucky Kingdom

By E.B., Co-Host of CoasterRadio.com

Why is this post not about Kentucky Kingdom?  Because Holiday World has brilliantly decided to drag out their big 2015 announcement for a full two months and it's driving the CoasterBoys wild, that's why!

What better way to thwomp a park in its first year of operation that
to do a massive publicity stunt?

As we all know, this one started with Holiday World's PR guru Paula Werne inviting card-carrying coaster club members for a walk-back on Voyage.  They journeyed into the trees and found little boxes with a website printed on a little slip of paper, 66daysatsea.com

Around the same time, a press release went out explaining the campaign and declaring this new expansion will be the largest in park history (so, over $13 million if that's a reference to a dollar amount).  Also stated was that the decision to hype the countdown was made because once the secret project begins it would be immediately known.  Those were some great clues, and several other small clues were sprinkled over some Holiblog entries and Paula's twitter account, but perhaps the biggest clue has been overlooked...


Unknown to the "GP," select members of the media received a package in the mail the day the 66 Days campaign began.  It contained a yummy piece of fudge, a magnet, and a little wooden box with the same website inside.  There was also a small invite to visit the website that included Paula's contact information.



But perhaps most important was the packing material - shredded paper. Which we have assembled and are sharing with you here.



Over the years we've made some friends here at CoasterRadio.com.  So, we're sending this image out to our designer, industry expert, and architect friends to see what they can make of this.  When they get back to us, we'll pass along their thoughts.

But right away, we wanted to share this with you guys, too.  We've always taken pride in being an open show, pulling back the curtain and letting the listeners in as much as we can.  This discovery is no different. We're telling you as soon as we figured it out ourselves.

Perhaps it's just a cute clip-art background.  Maybe these are old Frightfull Falls drawings and Paula simply shredded some old paper laying around the office.  Or perhaps she's having a a good laugh
after seeing this post and learning that I spent an afternoon reassembling her red herring.  Or perhaps it's the biggest clue of all.

It looks like a bit of a blueprint or construction document siting the footers for what could be assumed to be a major steel roller coaster.

The footers are named and there is even reference to specific "FOOTING" and "PIER."  There's dimensions and numbering for each item, giving a sense of scope and scale. There's elevation lines that are too blurred to read, but perhaps they match the rolling hills of Santa Claus?  The "NORTH" marker seems to confirm the speculation that this new ride will head off into the woods, alongside Voyage...



So, what do you say?  Leave a comment below, or find us on Facebook
and Twitter to share your reactions!

8 comments:

  1. Similar footer labels as Intimidator at Carowinds, for what it's worth. I'd guess a B&M.

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  2. Anything steel would be a welcome change!

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  3. Guess how many days the Mayflower was at sea?

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  4. The background of the shredded document (the old paper look) looks to be the tops of trees with a possible service road in the bottom right corner. Has anyone else who received this package assembled their strips? Are they different sections of the same map/blueprint?

    Also, layered over the helix/loop is a..."candy cane" type shape. Any ideas to what this could be? Comparing to other ride foundation layouts, this one seems to be missing a track path.

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  5. What do you think about it possibly being a steel coaster/dark ride with water features. We can only dream.

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  6. What do you think about it being a steel coaster/dark ride with water features. We can only hope.

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  7. The only reason I think it is not a full steel coaster is the stack of wood and the wooden box.

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  8. I'm thinking something closer to a monorail linking Hworld to larger tracts of open land on the East side of HWY 162.

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