With you there Capler, but I should point out that from ground level, it doesn't look as if the mound is getting
higher, but it is getting
longer. Time to get out the ex-Madden telestrator:
At first glance, it looks like they've moved the dirt on the left to the spot on the right. Except that the dirt on the left isn't dirt. It's the pile of trees that were removed, which looks clearer here:
Not that this matters; it seems that the dirt on the right seems to be coming from other areas of excavation, and it looks more ominous from the ground here:
The point is that they are specifically adding to the mound for some reason, rather than leveling it. I too, assumed that the mound would be leveled and installation of a B&M cookie-cutter hyper would commence. That doesn't seem to be the case, because if their intent was to level, my guess is that they would started this already, perhaps by filling in the low areas around the basin, which appears to be drained, rather than carefully extending the mound on the right as they have. Of course, I could get over there in the next couple of days and the whole thing could be flatter than a pancake. But this theory is more interesting -the existing topography seems to be factoring into the ride layout, which is highly intriguing.
Could they take advantage of this mound for boosting the height of the initial lift? Maybe; that manmade hill has been there for 36 years, should be sturdy enough. Could be for a helix, or some other element that hasn't yet been conceived of here, I can think of a few ridiculous ones. But I agree with what's been said about B&M certainly being creative with their use of the landscape for Afterburn - hopefully the same thing is happening here.
