3. The experience

© Holiday World

Thunderbird is most certainly in the third category, featuring 4 inversions along its 3,035 foot circuit and just one signature near-miss moment. Of course, the striking winged trains will immediately grab the attention of the general public. The five-rowed trains feature seats suspended out from each side with no track above or below.

The ride begins with an LSM-launch from 0 - 60 miles per hour in 3.5 seconds that will send the train blasting up a 140-foot tall Immelmann loop. Coaster enthusiasts will already be stunned by that. The ride's manufacturer, Bolliger & Mabillard, stresses reliability and uptime. While competitors push the limits with launches, drop tracks, tilting tracks, backward sections, and more, B&M simply builds fast, smooth, reliable coasters that have near-perfect uptime and rarely break down.

In fact, B&M has constructed 96 roller coasters, and only 1 contains a launch. (That would be Islands of Adventure's Incredible Hulk Coaster... Even then, B&M famously wanted nothing to do with the physical launch mechanism itself, building the track alone and insisting Universal outsource the launch to an outside company.)

© Holiday World

But, Thunderbird will be number two, blasting into that 140-foot Immelmann that serves as the ride's highest point. As it pulls out of the inverting manuever, it'll soar down and over a pilgrim's farmland and up into a massive 125-foot tall vertical loop, jumping over the park's Voyage coaster (just like the bird recorded in the journal). Two massive, exhilerating banked turnarounds will provide weightless moments before the coaster crosses over itself and leaps into the air for an oversized zero-g roll.

Then comes the ride's defining moment. The wide, winged train will snake through the forest and come upon an old, tattered barn. Pulled downward, the train will slide through a just-right-sized barn door that will no doubt cause riders to retract their limbs for fear of losing them in-flight. Then, the train will circle back around and approach the barn again, this time twisting onto its side and sliding through a narrow crack in the barn's ceiling and into a graceful in-line twist that signals the ride's end.

Our Thoughts

© Holiday World

Few could've predicted that Holiday World would enter into the steel coaster world, and certainly not with such style! Thunderbird is everything that riders could want. With launches, inversions, unique winged trains, and a terrain-hugging layout all set among Holiday World's forested scenery, Thunderbird is simply beautiful. It's got the grace of Wild Eagle with the power of Swarm.

It's not the longest or most intense steel coaster in the world, but it will bring Holiday World into the steel coaster game in a big way and satisfy a whole lot of fans. Secretly, we're still hoping that a few more near-miss moments get placed along the ride's course. But even as is, this is a stunning addition for the family-owned park, and yet another ride that'll bring well-deserved fame and admiration to a regional Indiana park.

Left Seat POV:

Flyaround Video:

Tell us - do you think Thunderbird is a nice first steel coaster for a major park that's specialized in wooden creations? Would you make the trek to Santa Claus, Indiana for Thunderbird's launched-B&M innovation?