Leading into the 2024 offseason, the park’s maintenance director reached out to ask for my assistance in recreating a long removed effect from the attraction’s original 1991 debut season, despite my having relocated out of state by this time.

Initially before diving into technical details, I developed concept art and renders to visualize the completed effect and secure approvals. Once approved, I drafted detailed schematics and cabinet layouts to ensure the limited installation window I had went as smoothly as possible. Once on site, I had one week to assemble, install, and thoroughly test the system.

I wrote the logic for the effect in ladder within Rockwell’s CCW suite. Before initiating the splash sequence as trains approached, inputs from multiple sensors were crosschecked and verified to be in safe states.

Once the project was “in the can”, it was incredibly rewarding to see the park fans’ reactions online to the effect returning. Many shared positive comments, but my favorite was: “That was my favorite part of the ride when I was a child. Now my kids are finally going to enjoy the ride like I did!”