NARRATOR: Support provided by the Glick
Fund, a CICF fund focused on inspiring philanthropy.
Additional support provided by the Christel DeHaan Family
Foundation, in honor of the children and families
of Christel House.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Ever wonder how creativity, innovation, and theater
make their way into roller coaster design?
We're here at Holiday World to get a behind the scenes look
to find out why.
Follow me.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
LAUREN CROSBY: My name is Lauren Crosby,
and I am the Director of Entertainment
and Events at Holiday World, as well as I
am a fourth generation owner of the park.
Whenever I was at Florida State University,
I majored in retail merchandising and product
development.
And I fell in love with Anthropology and their windows
and how they display merchandise.
So I ended up doing two internships with them.
The way they do their windows, you don't just
get a sheet in from corporate and it tells you
what you're doing.
They say, OK, the theme for this quarter's windows are flowers.
And you do with that what you will.
Doing that with the retail merchandising
was kind of bringing all of my loves together.
And so whenever it came time to come back
home and work at the park, we started looking at the park.
And we were like, you know what?
We're a theme park.
We need to-- we kind of lost sight of that a little bit,
and we need to get back to that.
We need to make sure that it's clear that we have a theme
and this is it.
Our president looked at me, and he said, you know what?
He was like, you're that person.
He's like, you're gonna do that.
He's like, you're gonna take your experience
with the visual merchandising and the art and the theater.
And he was like, and you're gonna apply it to the park.
And then, what do you know?
We start building a coaster.
This was exciting, being the first post
where I got to coordinate all of the many pieces that
go into making a huge project like this happen.
My name is James Oliver, and I essentially
coordinate all of the maintenance, construction,
and grounds activities here at Holiday World.
My whole life, I have always wanted
to be involved with amusement parks.
When I was young, when I went on my first roller coaster,
I got hooked.
And I knew this was what I wanted to do.
So when I was in, I think around eighth grade,
I wrote a letter to, actually, a roller coaster designer.
And he gave me a list of things to focus on,
going to engineering school, the experience to get.
And so from the time I was young,
this is what I wanted to do.
And everything I've done has been
to try to get to this point.
So Holiday World is the world's first theme park.
We opened as Santa Claus Land back in 1946.
And we're proud of our heritage, of being a theme park.
And so when building Thunderbird,
we wanted it to be more than just a roller coaster
and we wanted it to be a completely immersive experience
that our guests loved.
And so all of the little theming details
come together to make it more than just a roller coaster.
LAUREN CROSBY: There are a lot, a lot of details.
And with those details come a lot of options.
We had concrete colors.
We had the type of fence that we put up,
the type of shingles that go on the roof, the type of stones
on the side of the buildings, the colors of paint
on the side of the building.
I mean, you don't know how many types of lanterns there are.
Not everyone who comes to Holiday World
is going to ride this ride.
And so we've designed it, as well, for the non-riders.
If you are not going to ride and you're standing in the plaza,
you're immersed in the experience,
from being able to see the train launch out
of the barn to being right in the middle
of the first and second loop on the ride.
Creativity is so important to my job.
I mean, creativity, as well as innovation, are,
I think, crucial to this park.
We have to keep it true to Holiday World.
So this coaster starts off right here in the plaza,
and then goes into the woods.
So whenever it's in the summer and all the leaves are out,
you can't really see what happens after the Thunderbird
crosses over the voyage.
It's gone.
It's in the woods.
You don't see it until it comes back.
Now, did you build the barn first, or put the coaster,
then build the barn?
You have to set the coaster first.
And then our carpenters had the-- see,
when I talk about the challenge our carpenters got to have,
we already had the track there, and we
asked them to build a barn around the track that
stayed out of the clearance envelope of the ride.
HOST: You're talking about theater and the feel of it,
close calls.
So what is this whole idea about, this concept, then?
On the wing coaster, since you're
on either side of the track, whenever
things are close to you, they seem really close.
Right, right.
And so that chimney is just outside of the rider envelope.
So there is no way you're going to hit that chimney,
but whenever you're riding on there,
it sure does feel like you're gonna hit it.
JAMES OLIVER: So Thunderbird, like many roller coasters,
in a lot of ways, are like large pieces of art.
With the placement of Thunderbird
on top of the hill here at Holiday World,
you have incredible views of the surrounding community,
of the forest that the ride is built in, of the rolling hills,
of other attractions.
And it all comes together.
And it truly is a beautiful piece of art.
Not only is this the first steel coaster for our park--
so it's a huge, huge milestone-- but it's what my dad wanted.
So it feels really, really awesome to me and my family
to see it come to reality.
Seeing people come up here and experience it
for the first time was the best feeling.
It made me feel like hey, your hard work's paid off.
You did something good.
As a kid, this was my dream.
And to end up being able to fulfill that dream
and be involved with such an incredible project,
it's just-- it's hard to describe.
And really, it's sort of cliche, but it
proves that if you work hard, you can achieve your goals.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
We are here in Indy to meet one of those amazing artists--
not just artists, but also art educator and lawyer.
His story and his hard is going to amaze you.
Let's go meet him.
My name is Justin Vining, and I'm a full time artist,
and I work out of the Harrison Center for the Arts
in Indianapolis, Indiana.
I grew up on a farm, and--