The Santa Claus, Indiana-based Holiday World has confirmed on their HoliBlog that the Voyage is getting a completely new type of train in the 2010 season.
The new trains, called “Timberliners,” sport a new lightweight design as well as a new wheel system designed to curve along with the track, giving the coaster a smoother and faster ride. Other features include ergonomic seats with exclusive suspension in each, the ability to accommodate wider-hipped and longer-legged people, and a side-mounted lap bar. There will be two trains, each holding 28 passengers. The new trains were developed by Voyage’s creators, the Cincinnati-based Gravity Group. Read the whole news release here.
The Voyage, consistently rated as the #1 wooden roller coaster in the world by coaster enthusiasts, takes riders through a 1.2 mile ride while giving them a record total of 24.2 seconds of airtime. Currently, the coaster reaches a top speed of around 67 mph; however, the current speed may change with the new trains according to Will Koch, president of the park.
Holiday World is set to open May 1 of next year. The new trains are expected to be ready for use before the beginning of the season.
it kind of ruins the look
Thanks for the update! Just a tip, when writing an article try finding some interviews with park owners, park mangers, etc. and use quotes from those.
Sarah, getting an interview whith the park owner isn`t that easy, but maybe You (I`m talking to the writter now) should at leasty mention some things said on the press realease.
CC, would you mind making the writting in the writting box a little bigger, i can hardly read it.
You’re right, that is pretty small. I’ll see what I can do.
I hope they don’t do it. It will just ruin the capacity and the lines are long enough, arn’t they?
I don`t think they`ll take off any seats, why would they?
Actually Tom,the new trains are supposed to improve capacity and wait times since they don’t have seatbelts that need to be checked. The process is just pull the lap bar down, a quick tug by the ride op to make sure it’s secure, and you’re out on the ride. And Quil and Sarah, I did mention the quote from Will Koch saying that the ride would be faster. I also based the whole story off of the press conference. You’d be surprised how many times I had to switch over to the HoliBlog just to make sure I did it right! Thanks for the feedback though. I’ll try to add more quotes from now on if I can get them.
sorry Austin , i couldn`t tell.