Wormy said I had some good pics and I should share them here. Hopefully I picked the good ones.
Today was the media event for finishing up the lift hill. When we got there they were finishing up the first section from early in the morning.
Here's a close up shot of 'Big Bird's' counter weights For reference, each of those weights is 10 tons for a total of 140 tons of counter weight. It took 33 tractor trailers alone to transport this one crane to Carowinds.
Close up of a support.
Looking up from under the first drop. It took three tries for me to get this as I couldn't keep my balance.
The bottom of the first drop.
It is actually only 4-5 feet off the ground.
The fearless crew that is going high in the air to bring us this great coaster.
Here they are back on terra firma. I thanked them for their hard work to build this for us. At least they didn't try to make me go up in the 'basket.'
One view of the first drop.
The last section staged and ready to be lifted complete with tree, flag, and memory to Max.
More people who are working hard to bring us Fury 325. They are helping to stabilize the track as it is lifted.
And it's in the air! High in the air.
It's almost in place.
There were lots of media on hand from most of the networks.
The last piece of the first hill is nearly in place.
These 'small' forklifts look much bigger from ground level.
So now I realize this picture is out of order. Well, here's a shot of the lift hill without the final piece.
A wider shot to show all 3 cranes working together.
You'll be doing around 95 mph at this point...
Under the lift hill. I'm glad nobody dropped a bolt while I was looking up...
A view exiting the station.
A shot of the other end of the station.
The tour comes to an end. Thank you, Carowinds, for the opportunity to document part of the construction process. I'll be putting more information in my travel blog but wanted to share this with all the great fans at Carowinds Connection.
