Richard

LOL, something tells me that after a few months working there you won't be heard saying that too often. I don't know if I'll be able to squeeze in a trip then. It is a matter of whether I can find time, and if I feel like it. I'll see what I can do though.

I don't think available land is the question. They have more cleared, open land all around that could be used for almost any description of coaster or ride.

Congrats! If only you were working in Food, then I could use you as a source to get my Cat Burgers cheap, from Gotham City, which are the best chicken burgers I've ever eaten. I must admit, I've done hospitality work before, and it certainly isn't the sort of work, short term or long term, I'll ever get back into. Hope I've not ruined your new job . If there's one thing that Movie World needs, and that is efficient emplyees, as a frequent park guest, I'm sure you know how 'unfun' inefficiency is - especially when you're queuing for ages for something as stupid as a few donuts (from Yosamite's down near Roadrunner - best donuts from a Gold Coast park).

As of today, October 12, the site is as follows. They've put down a lot more footers. I'm going to have to wait until they lay the final ones before I can get an accurate idea of the orientation of the ride, but I've got a hunch that the lift hill will run parallel to the Tower of Terror launch track, in the direction of the station. Concrete has been put down in the old area that was once occupied by the stage by Central Cafe. They've put down some 'fancy' concrete, which will be the main entrance into the area no doubt. It is a earthy coloured concrete, with stones mixed in it, and looks very fancy. No parts etc. are yet on site, and no coaster parts. My best guess is that parts won't be kept out front, such as with Cyclone, rather, they'll be in the maintenance area down by Thunderbolt. This is very close to the site, and has very easy access to the site through a temporary gate near the Tiger Island main entrance. The park's actual written stance, from the top of the park, is that no information regarding the specific details of the new area are to be released until an unannounced date. However, common sense, visual proof, combined with 'leaked' information (failing to find a less-harsh word) leads most to believe that there is definite coaster of some description coming. It doesn't take much either, to realise what kind it will be.

I think this is all very exciting! A rumour at one stage said that the new attraction to go to Wonderland Sydney, was a ride that is only the second of its kind. At the time, there were two rides that there was only one of each. Incidently, both in Southern California, and both had names beginning with X - the Arrow 4D and the Intamin Rocket Coaster. The sheer magnitude of either of these rides is amazing. If I needed convincing to go to Wonderland, either of these rides would be the ideal ones to do it. Heck - the two in California were much of my decision to start planning a west coast trip for next year.

Arrow Dynamics recently updated their page, included in this, was a new Links page, where they have links to some of their clients. I'm guessing that it is only recent clients, as there is no mention of parks like Sea World, which is home to one Arrow coaster. Well, in case you hadn't guessed it yet, Wonderland Sydney is on this list. Wonderland doesn't have any Arrow rides to my knowledge. Their is no Arrow ride at the park to my knowledge. Demon is Vekoma, who got a majority of the technology for all their rides from Arrow Dynamics, however, that is the only connection the two have, especially in the Boomeran ride. http://www.arrowdynamics.com/links.php?D=8 Wonderland Sydney also uses Vekoma spare parts for the ride; just by looking at the restraints the ride uses is a dead giveaway (At least it runs damn smooth, else you'd certainly be reminded of how hard the plastic restraints are, such as on Lethal Weapon). Arrow Dynamics specialises in coasters. Their current selling ones are the Mad Mouse design, which looks a lot more 'dynamic' and flowing than the Mack design, which was just a steel copy of the traditional wooden wild mouse. They've recently constructed X for Six Flags Magic Mountain, and they've finally worked out most (all) of the kinks with the system. Similarly, they've also improved the quality of their Looping coasters, and now they are said to rival the best Intamin or B&M coaster for smoothness. Aesthetically, the Arrow Looper is by far the best looking coaster on the earth (in my humble opinion), especially their change from square braces to rounded ones, in the past few years. Could it be that Wonderland Sydney's mystery, semi-confirmed ride that was all the hype this time last year, is something from Arrow Dynamics. Look at Cyclone, a ride that is in reality nothing special (except front seat in the S-bend, at dusk) that has provided Dreamworld with a very inepensive way of increasing attendance, even despite being second hand, and very cheap. Their rides are well and truely under the standard rates companies like Vekoma, B&M and Intamin charge (all average at around $16m per ride - regardless of currency).

I read about that park just a few weeks ago. It seems good for the tourism industry in general, but nothing for thrill seekers to get excited about, unless you're like me, and a passionate skier. Also, in the future, it would be very handy if you register before posting, it'll give you more of an identity, rather than 'Guest'.

I'm also trying to get out there once a week, but it'll be more than likely be 2 or 3 times a month. I currently go on Sundays, because weekends is the only time I'm available, and Saturdays are significantly worse for crowds. I'm thinking of having this week off though, but I'll keep you informed.

The story with the chipping paint. A majority of the theming is merely polystyrene with a hard fibreglass coating. They then add the details, such as the roughness for the stone effect, similar method to concrete rendering and paint it. Media Day (15 July I believe), they opened the ride to the public late in the day, just to give it a real dress rehearsal (before that, it had only taken some staff, and media) before the opening. The ride's supervisor, who's name slips me at the moment, said to the few queueing, jokingly, having people give the wall a bit of a look over, "Try all you want; the walls are un-pickable". I have never seen so many people dash towards the closest wall and then frantically try and rip it to shreds. Needless to say, when I had a look over it later that day, it was obvious that his claim that they weren't unpickable was obviously false. If it were truely Disney quality, then it wouldn't have been possible to chip in the first place. And if it were, it would be fixed by the next operating day. However, you must keep in mind that Disney have a much larger budget to begin with, and I'd imagine that their maintenance team is more than likely double what Movie World's would be if it were the same size. You really hit the nail right on the head there. They need to add some good coasters, or just high capacity rides in general. The hypercoaster is almost a given, and with the way they are heading, if this isn't one of the next few investments, then I'll go ahead and say that they missed out on the most blatantly obvious complimenting additions. I deliberately tried to stick away from ride additions in my original post, because straight up, the park need A LOT more than a new coaster or two to really improve.

At a recent visit to Warner Bros. Movie World, there is one thing that is immediately obvious. The park is incredibly more popular since the introduction of Scooby-Doo Spooky Coaster, there is no denying that. Movie World has spent the last 10 years trying new things to boost attendance significantly enough, and they've finally found it. It is clearly evident that Scooby Doo is what is attracting thousands more families through the gates. Wild Wild West (now Wild West falls) didn't do it when it opened, neither did Lethal Weapon, Looney Tunes Land didn't. They've finally managed to increase attendance dramatically, and personally, it is for the worse, at least short term. Movie World was designed clearly without capacity in mind. The park itself has narrow paths, no real open areas and is notorious for uneven distribution, thanks to the 'T' shape of the park, and the inability to get crowds flowing. They have added rides that aren't designed to be really high capacity, simply because there has never been the need. Scooby Doo, which runs quite consistantly at 1000pph, had an hour thirty queue today, to give you an idea of the crowds. Lethal Weapon, a ride that I have never queued for, other than waiting for the doors to open etc. Today, it had an hour queue. What really irritated me, was the lack of a second train on the track. The ride has two trains available, since the Blue train recently returned from a big rehab. Movie World has proved that two trains can be run effectively ont his ride earlier this year, when there was no queue. What does it take to utilise this when there is a desperate need to? If Movie World really wants to take this increase in popularity to their benefit, it won't be as easy as sitting back and taking in the profits, as other parks are able to do. Quite the opposite. The park should hit the ground running, so to speak. If the park is smart, they will do their first major expansion since opening, within the next few years, at the latest. An expansion, not necessarily consisting of giant B&M and Intamin creations. Just an area, that has some signature attraction/s, which not only draws crowds, but manages them effectively. Not another dead and area, like EVERYTHING currently in the park. No, they will have to make it lead somewhere, make it possible to exit the area a different way to entering. Honestly, when you're at a park, you get hungry, and decide to eat, you head usually to the closest food outlet. Movie World only has two real fast food shops, both very close to each other. As I entered the Gotham City Cafe today, I was rather hesitant to order, for the simple reason that in the surrounding area, where they have tables and chairs, there was not a single table free. If they are to expand the park. They will need more than attractions, and some amazing theming budget. They need facilities: toilets, various shops, food of course and anything else of this nature. Anything to relieve the stress put on the few of these facilities that already exist. Scooby-Doo Spooky Coaster is a ride that certainly has changed everything. But unless they can expand to meet the current demands, I see little point in further promoting the park. Comments, personal or similar experiences are more than welcome.

Visit www.totalthrills.com for a sneak preview of some of the pages on the new Total Thrills page. We're looking at an early November release, at the latest. It will have full photo galleries from: Aussie World, Dreamworld, Warner Bros. Movie World and Sea World to start off with. New galleries, such as a Luna Park Melbourne one (By February 2003), will be added as time goes on. Currently, there are around 50 Dreamworld photographs, and about 30 Movie World photographs all ready. All photos, I guarentee, will be the best you've seen of Australian parks. I have taken around 300 Dreamworld photos this year alone, and only the best are going online. The site will be added to frequently. There will be construction updates, and general Australian theme park news. Videos may be possible within the next few months. I'm hoping to have at least 25 members of this forum, before we go live. Once the site is up, I'm hoping to attract many many more Aussie thrillseekers to this community - so finally we can have a place of our own to sit and talk about exclusively our parks. To quote a good friend of mine, Kev, "I'm Excited!". 8) Feel free to add comments suggestions to this topic.

They have indeed improved loading times on most of the major rides. Back a few months ago, when I photographed Cyclone, it would take about 10 minutes to get two of the same photo. Today, there would have been ride time +30 seconds. They now have two ops on the entrance side, including one in the booth, and one on the exit side. This is a million times better (well, 3 ), than much of this year, where they had only 1 running the ride, who did everything from check the restraints, to getting a new trainload of people, and dispatching and monitoring the ride. Now, one attendant checks the left side, one the right, one operator dispatches, and while the ride is on the course, the left side attendant gets the next load ready. They were/are aiming for 500pph on the ride. Boxing Day, when it opened, it was running at a pretty consistant 288pph. Over the summer, they got it up to about 350, max. Then, for the rest of the year until now, they went down to under 288, probably closer to 100 (yes, at times they were only getting one dispatch every 15 minutes). I am very very happy to say that they are currently running at easily 350, if not more. :!: Just a quick point. If you've got a question to ask about something that isn't totally to do with the topic of the thread you're in, don't hesitate to start a new one. The more on the topic the posts are, the easier it'll be to find answers. In this case, let's keep it to do with the Nick Central construction as much as possible. :!: Nick Central, as of today, they've laid a huge slab of concrete at the old Kenny Koala show area, next to the Swamp Gators. Over at the back - they've got some new footers up, which look very suspiciously like coaster footers. That's all the major news. Over by Thunderbolt, they're repainting the Seaplanes, probably to be rethemed for Nick Central.

They took a ride down for rehab, and its taking a bit to get it back into top running condition. There is not a ride I know that is able to bounce right back from rehab, and perform as a ride that has been operating in its current state for an extended period of time. Tower of Terror experienced a large spell of downtime, over several days, after recent rehab. Giant Drop has been similar. Same with new rides, as just like after rehab, it takes time to warm up to any changes Cyclone was quite moody for much of the summer, it was having lift and sensor problems. Scooby-Doo Spooky Coaster was down for much of the Media day. We were told to come back later. Guess what - little to no communication was made for either when it was down. Not only would guests loose faith in the park or ride's safety, but 99% of the time, they don't really care about the problems, or they simply wouldn't understand. I've found myself before, watching Tower of Terror's car being winched back in with a cable, because the sensors aren't letting them bring it back with the magnets, explaining to people who were obviously wondering what was happening, using language that they were unfamiliar with. (They usually end up more confused than before after I've finished with them. ) Guests who want to know, will enquire with somebody on duty. It is expected up here, from the park's view, that they give as simple yet accurate answer as possible. Surely you would be instructed to do the same at Wonderland, or at least it would be common sense. I severly doubt the park is instructing you specifically to be hush-hush about this sort of thing. Last time I was at Wonderland Sydney, they were having troubles with the buzzbars on Bush Beast. After a lot of excess 'buzzes', and some rather frustrated ride operators (quite understandable under the circumstances), they closed the ride down, at about 2pm, meaning the ride had 3 ours of 'unscheduled' downtime. Somewhat related, but quite interesting I think: I consider Wonderland Sydney, in its current state, to someone like me (a thrill ride enthusiast), a 5 or 6 hour park, before the park gets uninteresting. The park operates the standard 7 hour day (10-5). I'd consider Dreamworld a 7 hour park, because of the wide variety of thrill rides. This doesn't mean that guests get ripped off, because there isn't necessarily a true full day of fun available in the park. You must remember that the park is only $46.20 to enter, as opposed to $54 for all the parks up here. That is only 85% of the cost of a day at a park here. And what is 85% of a 7 hour day? It is under 6 hours. The park is therefore, the most valuable. Needless to say, this is also not including the warmer months, where you could easily fill a full day with the waterpark combined with the theme park. A family with younger children could easily fill a full day of activities at Wonderland Sydney, with the wide variety of shows, as well as rides, wildlife park, and the waterpark if available. A family with younger and older children (say, 5, 9 and 14), would probably struggle to do everything that is offered, while remaining as a family group.

Well, I stand by my claims, which are backed by statistics and figures, that Wonderland is performing at the forefront of Australian theme parks. They are attracting crowds that make the park not just viable or profitable, but it is performing well above expected. Wonderland has said they're building a 'Wonderland Business Park' over the next few years. I say, that this would be pointless, especially with such a name, without the Wonderland Theme Park also operating. The selling point of this Business Park will undoubtedly be the exclusive use of the theme park at non-public times. It isn't a case of Wonderland being given a period of time to shape up or disappear, the park has developed tremendously over the past few years, and attendance has reflected this improvement in park quality. I don't think the park has poor public relations. Quite the contrary, they always give out information freely without any problems, unless they've been instructed to keep hush-hush, such as with the forthcoming thrill ride that was confirmed last year (nothing since, however), or who knows, though highly unlikely, the eventual demise of Wonderland Sydney as a Theme Park. :?:

Personally, I'd like to see the whole ride knocked down. The ride design isn't paced well, and it, as well as the rides it was a clone of, are generally spoekn of fizzers. It has some good points, but none are anything that you don't find on other standard wooden coasters. Still - I can't argue that the ride is any less that fun. Wouldn't you agree that it would be a bit pointless to continue upgrading their facilities, in this manner, if they were to close for good, in under about 4 months? Just one of the many many good arguments against this rumour.

The new Total Thrills Site, which will have hundreds of high quality original photographs of Australian thrills, as well as some park guides and all that sort of stuff, is well underway. Currently, the site design is completed, and it is just a matter of filling in the gaps with information etc. Expect it out, if all goes well, by some time in October. Australia's Premier Guide to Thrills is closer than ever!

By the looks of things - construction is just about ready to go vertical, after about a month or so of the groundwork. Can't imagine that they're too far away from some real construction. Like the sound of that, you say they've got lots of bricks, that's rare, after the past few structures have been made from aluminium and wood. Gotta love those sheds! Let's keep an eye out for that Vekoma family coaster now! They'll either be keeping track in the overflow carpark out front of Cyclone, or they will be moving it in behind Thunderbolt, or further along to the actual construction site. Hopefully the first one so we can all take a good gander. How'd you find that Double Shot promotion? I for one was surprised at how well it works. You might have noticed too that they've improved efficiency on Cyclone by about 400%, which is good to know, particularly after a very lazy past 6 months.

Well, I dared take my camera on the ride for one ride, turned off the flash, and all but one or two were duds. This one is on the turntable, just after you turn around (before it started moving again). If anything, it just gives you a bit of an idea of the lasers, and a pretty poor example of what they do. Although this particular laser effect is my second favorite on the whole ride, photos don't do it any justice (when riding, it looks like a vortex that you're about to head into - you can't see the track). If Movie World asks, I didn't take this photo. :twisted: I want to get some of the station, as IMO, it is the best themed part of the ride. It is just that I've seen the stares that others (myself included), give to people who blind the whole queue with their flash.

Well, that is interesting to say the least. I'd like to see one of them some time, I'm sure I'd laugh or cry (probably both). Well, day or night, it'll be great - the lights make it feel like night time anyway. And the whole ride is indoors.

Yes. This (relatively) unawaited coaster has finally opened at Warner Bros. Movie World. I was given the chance to ride it last Saturday, at a press day, and to be frank, it was the best ride I've ever been on. Just because it isn't a thrill ride, doesn't mean it can't be good. At around 5:30 long, the ride has length, EXCELLENT theming and some amazing effects that simply can't be beat. Kudos to Movie World for this fantastic ride, and if you haven't checked it out yet, or are a bit bored one sunday, head down (or up) to Movie World for this fantastic ride. You won't regret it. And here's to Movie World's bright future with B&M's, CCI's and Intamins galore!

The forums database was lost while transfering hosts. I have completely restarted the forums, and will be eventually launching a redesigned front webpage to go along side the forums. If you lost your registration, please go ahead and re-register to start posting again. I apologise for the inconvenience.