New for 2006 - Skyhawk

I'm thinking they took advantage of the mild weather whilst it was there... there's nothing more to theorize about.

If you had to be up on a crane 100+ feet in the air, wouldn't you rather do it on a 40 degree day versus a 10 degree day?

Well they were also working on it in 10° days. The topping off day was really cold for the workers from what T&T said.
They didnt have "much" mild weather to work with. But any warm weather is good and worth going for. We've had some really warm winter days too.

TTD 120mph said:
Well, I kind of intend it to be a joke Grovite18, but I'm thinking this. maXair construction starts early because it's easy and quick to assemble. Skyhawk is easy to assemble as well but is started early to get as much of it's construction out of the way so they can start eary (like April) on the 07 ride. Why else (besides weather) would they want to get WWL out and SH in soo soon? I mean it's obvious that they took WWL out for the new ride, but why soo early and not, say now or back in January?
Again, I'm not all serious about this....just a thought.

WT was a being built while TTD was started. It doesn't make a difference. New rides just have landscaping and testing to do by April. Skyhawk was started early in case of any sort of delay they might run into. Weather on the Great Lakes can be very weird in the winter. (See January 2003 and January 2006) *** Edited 2/15/2006 5:24:27 AM UTC by Gomez***

Weather on the Great Lakes can be very weird in the winter.
I think we both know that all to well.:)

TTD 120mph said:
They didnt have "much" mild weather to work with.

Well, I can't speak for Sandusky, but Cleveland had the 3rd warmest January on record, with the month's average temperature at 37 degrees. Sandusky's weather isn't too much different than Cleveland's. So my guess is that the SH crew was very lucky to have the weather they did.

As far as temperatures go, you can pretty much say Cleveland = Sandusky for such comparisons. They are ahead of schedule for sure.

This weather has been strange for winter this year. Adam you make good points as far the planning and building of Skyhawk. I was actually surprised they annouced it when they did and started construction when they did. I know you said that they'd start construction on it in April, but I think if I was in charge I would start in June. Usually in April, the park is still preparing to open for the season, with ride testing, training employees and staff, and maintnance. If they started construction on it June, I think they'd be better prepared.

My guess is that they wanted to make sure they had plenty of time to make sure all the landscaping would be done by opening day as well.

Let me just say that I was referring to the end of 2005 not having "much" mild weather to work with. By the time the end of November rolled in, the weather turned cold. So at the start of construction till the topping off, they had mild weather in October, and a bit of November. Heck, I'll acknowledge that weather so far this year has been quite warm. Perfect for building a ride....and to start construction on other rides. ;)

Oh and Shawn I never meant to say that they WILL start construction in April. It's just that the evidence is pointing to an early construction....at least from my point of view it is.
When did construction officially start on Millennium in terms of land clearing? I know land clearing for Dragster was started in April 1, 2002 but I'm not sure about Millennium. *** Edited 2/16/2006 9:36:18 PM UTC by TTD 120mph***

For the 1999 season, the CP&LE RR line running from the Funway Station to the Frontier Town Station near Perimeter Road was moved over several feet "to give riders a better view of the lake" or something like that. Serious land clearing didn't occur until late August or early September from what I can remember.

Jason Hammond said:
My guess is that they wanted to make sure they had plenty of time to make sure all the landscaping would be done by opening day as well.

Ahh, I remeber a few days before maXair opened. Everyone was all "OMG THEY NEED TO HURRY FOR OPENING DAY AND GET THAT SIGN UP OMG!!!!1!!1"

They should have plenty of time to do other things to help prepair the park for opening day, as well as media day.

I didn't say anything about a sign... Landscaping is grass, bushes, trees, etc. And it is just my Guess, I didn't say that was exactly the reason. No need to jump down my throat.

Plus, the sign is already up.

Jason Hammond said:
I didn't say anything about a sign... Landscaping is grass, bushes, trees, etc. And it is just my Guess, I didn't say that was exactly the reason. No need to jump down my throat.

Who's jumping down your throat? All I was stating was that since they have gotten construction done so early, they'll have plenty of time to do other things, such as landscaping, cleaning up, and improving other areas of the park.

When maXair was being built, people on the boards were getting worried that it wouldn't be ready for media and opening day. I was just using an example of the sign that is infront of maXair. Everyone freaked because they didn't think it would be put up in time.

Plus, I see nothing in my post that implies that I was "bashing" you.

Everybody has a bad day, just kiss and make up.

MrScott :)

Jason Hammond said:
My guess is that they wanted to make sure they had plenty of time to make sure all the landscaping would be done by opening day as well.

I think they need to wait till a specific date to start planting things around the area. Frost is still a big threat until the last few weeks of April or even into May.

TTD 120mph said:
I know land clearing for Dragster was started in April 1, 2002 but I'm not sure about Millennium.

I wouldn't call the small little boxed off area where TTD would stand as land clearing. Dodgem 1 stood there and was removed and the footers took its place.

The weekdays between Labor Day and the first bonus weekend was when the actual land clearing started for TTD. They took out two rides, knocked down just about every tree, and drained the creek in one week.

Sorry if I misunderstood Krazy, but If you don't want me to think your yelling, Don't use caps.

But I wasn't yelling at you, I was tryin....

Nevermind, no point in arguing over this.

I think that they started early because they wanted to debut it early, a publicity event. Xtreme Swing debuted in December as a publicity event. T&T stated that there would be "invitations to the Media Preview of Skyhawk (that’s where you get to ride it before anyone else)", in their prize give away announcent. Sure would be cool to win that prize. Maybe they'll open it up early for season pass holders as a SP promo, that'd be cool too!

Only 77 days left 'til it's time to swing!

See this is why I think construction won't start until like middle of summer. Becuase they know how much work they have to do to get ready for opening day. I think an annoucement will come towards the begining of August because whatever is going in is big. I wouldn't say 500 ft but I'll say it's big. I hope whatever they build in White Water Landings spot, they make the landscaping just as beautiful as it was.