Length of Project Maverick

One thing I have not seen much discussion on is how long they have been working on it and how much more time is left before the 2007 season starts. I suspect this ride is going to be much bigger than anyone thinks and it will likely move into the frontier town area once the park closes for the season. I cannot think of any other reason unless they fill the entire area up with water which may take some time to do. Does anyone have an idea on why they need to spend nearly 10 months working on this. I do not recall them taking this long for Millenium Force. TTD only took as long as it did due to the footings having to cure for a long time due to depth.

Um, hi. Welcome to Pointbuzz.

FWIW, They're probably doing this because it will need a fair amount of testing to make sure everything's cool.

I think that they may be building a second ride somewhere else in the park. Might be hoping to get rid of Demon Drop to put in a new ride there.

I think they're doing it early because they could. OMG, what were they thinking?? They have a plot of land, out of the guests' way, and its summer!! Why on earth would they build something in the summer when they could build it over the harsh Ohio winters??

Its that simple people.

Tim might be on to something... Maybe the question is why didn't they start previous coasters sooner?

The way I look at it is that they must have a real reason to be doing it this early. Most people are looking at it as "oh, they have this space of land, so they can start early." I, on the other hand, look at it like this: If they thought they could do it and get it done in one offseason, then the likely would have left White Water Landing for another year. As much as I understand how harsh the Ohio winters are, it's not like they haven't worked through them before. I don't think that this ride will be done any earlier than anything else they have built.

Well see I dont buy into the arguement that its because they have the land available- otherwise WWL would have been in operation this summer.

The testing issue is another thing I dont buy, they have build extremely complex rides without delaying opening yet. This is NOT six flags great adventure.

This ride has to have an element that no other park has, it must be a complex build and/or involve much more real estate than we know about already.

TTD, as said before, only started this early to pure large footers to support the tower. When I visited the park that summer, I thought it was going to be a little flat ride based off of the size of the area that was fenced in. Little did I know that it was going to be the tallest roller coaster in the world.

Uncommon Outcomes...

I think it's because there is something major that still has yet to be figured out by people not "In the Know". Working in the winter has never stopped them before and I don't see why they would all of a sudden start construction in the summer.

I don't believe the "extensive testing" theory either. The winter can hit hard in late November and I don't think they want to be running rides with ice and snow buildup or in the freezing temperatures. So, the testing theory gives them maybe a month of extra time, and thats if they finish the ride by November.

In any case, I am sticking with me theory that there is something major that has yet to be revealed, and when we see it we will all understand why it has been started so early.

Michigan's Adventure Freak said:
I think that they may be building a second ride somewhere else in the park. Might be hoping to get rid of Demon Drop to put in a new ride there.

Wait a few years.

Um does anyone remeber the interview kinzel did at the start of the year where he said maxair was a last minute replacement becuase of the new watercoaster ride they were gonna build the technology wasnt ready yet. Maybe this is the project that was suppose to be built then and now the technology is there.
Just my thought

He said "water ride;" I don't believe he said "watercoaster," and I don't recall anything regarding technology.

I've said it a thousand times this = Phase one. theres somthing else going on in the winter.

They wouldnt pour footers without first putting in necessary drainage collection systems if it were a water ride.

For once, I agree with tony. It's really not making sense as a water ride.

Perhaps this ride will utilize a new "technology" and they don't want to get stuck with another TTD, so they want more time for testing previous to opening to the general public??

I think there are several reasons, being: there will be some serious landscaping and building going on even after the ride itself is finished, more than just the station and queue. Enough that testing will be going on 24/7 for at least a week. Also I believe that they will be relocating/taking out/changing a few rides and/buildings after the end of the season. WWL was the biggest and most challenging obstacle, so they got it out of their way first. As we've seen, footers are still being poured, and I believe they will continue pouring into December, possibly January. Another reason is a complex ride structure. We've already seen that there will be two layers of track traversing the same trajectory, and if not done properly, could cause clearance issues. As happened with MF, they need time to modify supports because of clearance issues, because messing with the physical layout would alter the precise forces of the ride. There may very well be extensive clearance testing (i.e. more than a few runs through). Maybe the trains on this coaster will also be modified to allow for America's expanding waistline, and they need to test with larger, heavier test dummies, as well as the normal ones to make sure the seats are suitable for both large and small body types.

Another thing to consider is this: Skyhawk is a part of the Frontier Town to be, not the current Frontier Town. Could the majority of the area revamp be planned for 2007? I've already heard that Jitney will be expanded and Heading West will be out. Could there be more in the works that we aren't away of? New buildings, utilities, a dark ride similar to Gobbler Getaway and Spiderman? Only time will tell.

If they were putting in 2 rides for the 2007 season they would not need to start the first one early in order to complete it in enough time to build the second ride. That is silly to think that is the reason for the 14 months of construction. Why would they have one construction crew build two rides? When they could have two construction crews build two rides in half the time for the same amount of money.

Bluestreak, I could be wrong because I do not know much about construction, but I do not think that concrete can be poured in the snow. I say this because there is no road construction in the winter.

halltd said:
I think they're doing it early because they could. OMG, what were they thinking?? They have a plot of land, out of the guests' way, and its summer!! Why on earth would they build something in the summer when they could build it over the harsh Ohio winters??

Its that simple people.

I agree with this. it is that simple. The land needs to be cleared and level before the season starts (can't have clouds of dust going into the air during the season). Maxair and Skyhawk were built on public area's plus didn't need much time. TTD- They did the most important part during the summer. But also would have needed public area's for the crane and the trucks to bring in parts. I think safety would have been an issue.

MF- During the building of this ride, I didn't know much about CP (I live in Chicago so SFGA is closer to me) so I can't say. But I do remember the hype of the ride starting a long time before it was built. Seeing the crazy 5-6 hour lines on TV reminded me of when the American Eagle opened at Great America. They had 4 hour lines under the big tent then.

Mikeybo2004 said:
Bluestreak, I could be wrong because I do not know much about construction, but I do not think that concrete can be poured in the snow. I say this because there is no road construction in the winter.

It doesn't snow every day. Concrete for the queue of Skhyhawk was laid in January, the foundations for maXair were still being poured in January, and in the Dragster construction gallery they have a picture from 1/13/03 of the crew pouring some station concrete with snow on the ground. In the last two cases there were tarps covering the areas in which concrete was being poured or was still curing.

As for the two rides thing; if they are going to do a dark ride of the kind I mentioned, they would need more building space back there. Not only would they need to get the extra indoor space up, but they would also have to pass the numerous inspections on fire safety, etc...as well as putting the ride up inside.

Concrete can be poured in any season, though it is not cost effective to do so when it's cold outside, which is one reason there is very little road construction in the Winter months.