- May 14th, 2009, 11:48 pm
#27431
I googled it, and found that I posted a trip report to RRC (the oldtimers will know what that is) about a visit to the park on August 10th 2003, in which I talked about riding the Sternwheeler on it's last day of operation. I mentioned that the only sign of anything going on was some orange markers on the island. Stealth / BORG was only a rumor at the time.
So they had done no real work on BORG that late in the season, and it was up and running on opening day 2004. Well, one train, at least. Also remember we had a significant snowfall in February that year.
This is one of the reasons that I can buy into the hyper theory. The flume could have run until the park went back to weekend-only operation at the end of summer, and they still probably would have had enough time to construct a 150-foot floorless or something similar. Remember too that CF kept Saturator around an extra season, or at least part of one, until they finalized the plans for a replacement. They could have let it go SBNO, or removed it, but instead used it as long as they could.
Starting as early as they have on the flume site hints at something "big". It doesn't guarantee it, of course.
KenB