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Steel Curtain has just had its first test run at Kennywood. I don't care if it looks like someone's first Roller Coaster Tycoon design, it looks like a lot of fun and I can't wait to ride it.

The weather in Perth is pretty lousy, this weekend, but I did manage to get to Outback Splash for a couple of hours. Not a lot has happened with the slides. Someone has been playing around with the different parts, assembling them over the grass, although a lot are out of view. It appears some concrete has been poured for the slide footings/footers. A fence and or trees have been removed from the front of the park. A couple of piles of bricks have appeared near the west side, and there’s 50% off merch - bonus!

Why does DW have keys to a property on land they do not own? Not that you really need keys, as shown countless times in the last few weeks

The water savings from the water restrictions were much later in the rides life, and well into the 2000’s. These were the same restrictions that saw the waterfall near Billabong turned off, and yes the fountains in the Main Street fountain were also turned off. With Wipeout, the restrictions saw them empty the pool altogether. The waterfall effects were turned off very early on the rides life. I’ve found some awesome photos and video footage of the ride in its infancy on the Dreamworld Golden Years Facebook page, Photos - https://www.facebook.com/537015473442196/posts/627161057760970?s=520611312&sfns=mo Video - https://www.facebook.com/dwgoldenyears/videos/736929256707236?s=520611312&v=e&sfns=mo

I'm sorry to sidetrack but is that RONALD MCDONALD riding Wipeout?!?!?

During the week, Outback Splash posted that survey markers have gone up for their 2019 expansion. I visited there, this rainy afternoon. They were playing computer simulated POVs of the new waterslides in the cafe. Despite the temperature being in the mid to low 20s people were still taking advantage of the water playground. The park has cleared away the scaffolding that was there during the summer and it looks like ground clearing is well underway. There’s new road access around the back of the hedge maze for construction vehicles.

should I get the popcorn?

Ice skating at Luna Park Sydney's Winterfest is just included in admission

Don’t miss the Thunderbolt one bit, but Bermuda Triangle... 😢

That took 2.5 seconds. unfortunately I can’t fix the massive shadow cast by Push’s hand and phone..

6 kids aged 9-15 have been arrested From my back patio.

I believe you have indeed been hearing that.

Could be Goldie, Casey, Ronald or an early photo of the Ariadne CEO

Could be Goldie or Casey. I can't remember when each of them were there. The rumor i heard about the water off the wave was that the constant water was damaging the structure.

I absolutely remember that and glad to hear someone else does too.. pretty awesome wasn't it? How rude of me... thanks so much for sharing! What a fantastic find of the ride at it's absolute best!

For someone always talking about theming and elements that make an experience special and unique that is a surprising comment and just completely wrong. Top Golf is closer to a bowling alley than KDV driving range. Why ride the monorail at SW when you can go on the G:link for the same experience, and it has air conditioning and takes you somewhere useful

Spectacularly wrong.

Precisely. The simple fact is that if you close down what is effectively an entire land worth of staff, including front gate, attraction operation, food and bev, and custodial, you've gotta take a hit - either a financial one by redeploying them elsewhere, or a recruitment one by letting them go and hoping they come back next season. Let's be real - The April holiday period is still warm enough to swim, as is the september period. If you're going to close down, you're only shut from May to August - just 4 months. It's too long for your staff to survive, and they'll 'find work elsewhere', and then if they do - would they come back, knowing they'll have to do it all again next year? I know WnWS had return staff - @StingRay is a testament to that - but its a job, not something that you'd sustain long term. This means that for the next season, you have to recruit. And four months to recruit staff for an entire park is about what is needed for application periods, group interviews, training etc... and there's a lot of lost knowledge as your new staff are going to be relearning the lessons last season's staff already knew... so basically you're advertising for next season the day your staff finish up for last. Most staff are casual, so simply cutting back shifts in the winter time (when it's to be expected anyway) is a far better way to keep most of your workforce on board for the following season - instead of 6 shifts per week, they get 3. They might supplement another job in the winter to boost their income, but they're still 'connected' to the park for the next year.

After Outback Splash’s post yesterday, I was keen to get up to the park and check things out. @Tim Dasco also managed to meet us for lunch and go exploring. Luckily for us, they had their slide bits littered all over the place, in plain sight. It’d been awhile since Tim had been there and he really noticed how faded the original water playground is. The park was really quiet, despite the beautiful weather.