Richard

Good review. I think you've summed it up very nicely. The thing people need to understand, especially with the comparisons between Tornado etc., is that a water park like WnW, with the attendance growth it has seen in recent years, needs to expand to simply stay on par with attendance (which they haven't in recent years). For the simple sake of variety, not everything can be, nor should be, a record-breaking blockbuster attraction. From all accounts, underestimating Kamikaze as a cheap/tacky ride is your own loss.

I think the mystique and hype around media events in the enthusiast community is bizarre... kinda makes sense in the US where they often use enthusiast groups as TV camera fodder, but here it's a bit different. You know the last time I think I asked for an invite to anything was back when Shrek opened. They obliged but I don't think we were able to make it anyway. These days if I find an invite in my inbox, it's relevant (e.g. not a haunted house) and I can arrange coverage (myself or others to attend) we might cover it but that's about the extent of effort/time I'm willing and able to put into sorting these things out. The parks know who we are and what we do, so the rest is up to them if they want the coverage.

Grey-outs are fairly common coasters with high sustained g-forces. Granted it's not a pleasant feeling but it's not inherently medically dangerous. It's a long way from losing consciousness or even blacking out, which requires far greater prolonged g-force exposure than any coaster can provide. Normally it comes down to dehydration and tiredness more than anything else, both of which are fairly common in a day at a theme park. That helix on Goliath is definitely up there... can't think of any coasters off the top of my head, yet I found its sister Titan at Six Flags Over Texas wasn't nearly as forceful through the helix. Thunderbolt at Dreamworld used to be pretty bad, owing to its large circular loops.

Excuse me?!? The only posts that have been removed from this topic are those which had absolutely nothing to do with this topic. I'm sorry if we're not ruling with an iron fist when it comes to posts making fun of someone incapable of composing sentences at a primary school level. You seem to think that everyone here owes you respect, despite doing nothing to earn any, and showing no respect to fellow members. If you want to derail every single topic by whinging whenever someone disagrees with you then I'm sorry you should probably not waste your time on this site. Further to this, Clint (djrappa) has said nothing that isn't totally appropriate. He was good enough to answer the initial question, and if you're somehow offended because you were politely told that your speculation was wrong then again, reconsider your participation in this forum.

Granted it's been five years or so since I last rode GhostRider, but back then there was just as much hatred of it for being rough/painful as there is now. Despite this I found it to be well within the realms of what I'd call acceptable for a wooden coaster. Yeah it's a wild ride, but isn't that what wooden coasters are all about? In fact of all the wooden coasters in the US that have a reputation for being rough/painful/badly maintained etc. that I've ridden, the only one that lived up to it for me was Gwazi at Busch Gardens. Collossus and Psyclone at SFMM were both incredibly smooth (more so than most of the park's steel coasters). Belmont Park's Giant Dipper had not a moment of roughness. Even Coney Island's Cyclone, though not smooth, was by no means rough to the point where it was painful or unenjoyable. I don't know, but it seems to me that a reputation has been formed in certain enthusiast circles which eventually just become fact because it becomes cool to just bash the ride. Dreamworld sucks. Only wooden coaster I've ever had a 'painful' ride on was Bush Beast back in about 2003 or so. It was always a ridiculously rough ride due to its maintenance (or lack thereof) but the next time I visited it seemed to have improved. Likewise, Luna Park's Scenic Railway is also way too rough, but I find it pretty funny that a ride with almost no significant speed can be so badly kept to the point where trains are bouncing around as much as they do, even on flat, slow sections.

Paradise Country was never intended to be a drawcard for the domestic market. It's sole reason for existence is to cater to international tour groups that are bused in and out and this is where the majority of its business lies. That's why you don't see it advertised -- it just does its own thing catering to its own market. Theme parks are intended to make money, that's not an issue, nor is cross-promotion. It's the sheer corniness of carting a tram-load of suckers, err guests, through the back-of-house of the park and over a hill to see some kangaroos and sheep... and charging them $10 for the privilege. The opportunity so plainly exists for WVTP to vastly expand on the Paradise Country concept to build a proper third gate at the Oxenford property based around a more traditional zoo experience, but I guess that'd be a discussion for another topic.

This is Paradise Country: http://maps.google.com.au/maps?ie=UTF8&amp...mp;t=h&z=17. Scroll to the right for the other parks. Charging $10 to take a tram ride to a petting zoo is about the tackiest way to make money I've heard. I'd sooner endorse bungy trampolines or minigolf -- or an unthemed tin shed filled with arcade machines in the middle of a nicely western themed area -- than an idea like this.

Good old human error once again. I saw that they said Soarin' but forgot to change it... should be right now.

Eventually there will be a system to report images etc. with incorrectly tagged photos etc. When there's say a dozen or more photos to be approved, sometimes things do slip by. The system has been updated recently to better highlight potential mistakes, but they still get by occasionally. At any rate I normally try to fix them shortly after uploading but it's not hard to miss something. I can't see that line 331 error anywhere. What's the URL to the page you're using and can you post a screenshot? As far as the new construction box on the main page, the way it finds and orders them is a little complicated to explain. Suffice to say, 99% of the time it will display them in order of most recently updated, but every now and again, based on the methodology, one may appear slightly out of order. Once attractions are listed as 'Operating', or haven't had an update in the past 60 days they drop off the list.

The 26th has traditionally been the opening day for attractions at Gold Coast parks but in recent years they haven't followed this pattern as much, I think largely because it's ridiculous to not have publicity efforts at full bore from the start of the busiest period of the year rather than halfway into it. It's evident that Sea World have made sure to get well underway with plenty of time to spare. Dreamworld were roughly at this stage of construction two months out from opening (which was delayed by a few weeks), so in this case they're evidently playing it safe and anticipating the usual technical and weather delays that are inevitable. I think we'll be seeing a lot more of this style from Intamin. I think they've obviously found ways to reduce their costs by utilising prefabricated components wherever possible, which is where things like the girder supports and disappearance of the welded bolt plates come into it. Seems a shame too because it's only in the last 10 years or so that companies like B&M, Intamin and even (gasp!) Vekoma have been able to really get on top of coaster design in terms of aesthetics. It does seem a bit of a step backward, but I guess it all comes down to cost and functionality.

Hang on, you're saying that the fact that there's a roof that'll be decorated makes this event worth the asking price? $40 for a three hour event is ridiculous. There's no two ways about that. Most US parks include the event with admission (which for most is already significantly less than a day at our parks) and use it as a way to boost attendance during the slow end of the season. Meanwhile they're charging $69 for a day ticket plus $40 for Halloween and people here are saying it's good value? Well... I suppose they've got a roof, a couple of mazes and as a bonus they've even been good enough to open all the rides this year?

John Longhurst? A guy in his late 70s whose theme park 'achievement' was building a cheap Disneyland knockoff and then selling it for a killing? Dreamworld didn't become successful until long after it was out of his hands. Kevin Bradley? "Nice guy" stuff aside, he was as much a part of the problems that have seen Dreamworld become what it is today. What, was he was out of the office the day these decisions people are lambasting Gregg for were made? Stephen Galbraith? This guy lost most of his credibility for running a sound theme park operation when he was put at the helm of Wonderland's systematic destruction. Though undoubtedly acting on the wishes of the park's owners, it's nonetheless a huge blemish on his record. Steve Peet? I think his departure from WVTP is clouded in a bit of mystery and has a lot to do with the addition of new international management who, with the company's overseas expansions, which to me would probably impact Peet's chances of eventually taking over from Menzies. If he stays in the industry it'd have to be a step up, not a step down as going to Dreamworld would be. Tony Braxton-Smith? Going back to Dreamworld would be a step down for him. Also, sound management is one thing, but someone with diverse and long-term theme park industry experience is what's needed. I honestly don't think Stephen Gregg did a bad job of running the park in the short term, but there is no question that there was no foresight; the park is simply not positioned to build on any of these minor successes into the future. Each year seems to be a battle to barely outperform the year prior. In an location that is achieving huge population growth (2.5% per year), a theme park that can barely average this in attendance growth seems to point to something fundamentally wrong on a managerial level. WhiteWater World was a noteable achievement, but to be fair give anyone the financial resources and a Pro Slide catalogue and they could pull it off.

Yeah, I mean it's not like there's such a thing as responsible service of alcohol or other safeguard measures associated with its sale. As soon as alcohol is sold -- no matter where -- the place becomes a drunken biker bar.

WVTP won't have had anything to do with the quote -- it's clear from how it's written that the reporter has gone fishing for more information with a few Google searches after Menzies declined to elaborate. It seems to be an increasingly common practice in journalism -- and not surprisingly, because it's an easy way to quickly get quotes without having to do any of the legwork normally required.

Yeah I'm really not buying all the fanfare about how great this is as an addition to the park. I've compiled all my thoughts on this in an article I may or may not publish on the site down the track (depending my thoughts on the finished product) so I'll keep it brief for now. Make no mistake, this is an addition solely to facilitate events after hours. The simple fact that the area it covers contains only one attraction should make that pretty clear. Of course that's not to say they won't use it as a selling point -- calling Movie World an undercover theme park for instance. This wouldn't be a problem in itself if the roof wasn't so damn ugly and completely ruined any semblance of a cohesive theme this area of the park once had. Simply put there were vastly superior ways they could have gone about this.

Looks like everyone's on the same page here with the track comparisonsn -- I wrote an article last night and by the time I published it today all the same image comparisons had been done. Of the same track pieces no less.

I'd go further as to say it's the best thing to happen to Gold Coast parks in general in a long time. Wet'n'Wild is no longer the cash cow it once was. WVTP have to put some effort in to keep on top. The net result is that now around 1.5 million people are paying to visit GC water parks each year. Two or three years ago we were looking at around half that figure. You're right that as a standalone it's definitely not performed terribly well. Their overall strategy has been pretty weak in that the park they've built is clearly capable of a lot more, but piggybacking off DW was their strategy from the start. It's hardly the stuff entrepreneurial legends are made of, but they're making the money they expected to so I guess ML are happy.

Yeah that's definitely something that's needed. I have a put that feature on the Articles page but still have to do the same for the index page and also places like database pages.

It should be working fine now...

Yeah the photo was chosen because of the Tornado and rocket slide. Who knows what happened to the rocket slide though... would be nice to see the ride given another shot here after the dysmal SuperTubes.

This is a feature I've long wanted on the site -- the ability to seamlessly comment on articles both via the site and forums -- and I'm pleased to announce that the system has been (more or less) perfected and subsequently launched. The Latest News & Updates link seen at the top of the forums is now an active forum where you can read a summary of the latest articles, and comment on them as you please, as well as visit the article in full. In addition, if you are browsing the site and logged in you can comment on the article via a form at the very bottom of the article. You are then redirected back to the article where your comment now appears. Unfortunately the system isn't retroactive; apart from the previous 10 articles or so, the feature will only work on future articles because to get it working for all would require manually going through the 200-odd articles we have. I hope this system brings a new level of interactivity and closes the gap a little more between the site and forums to make them more one in the same. If you encounter any troubles along the way then do let us know -- either in this topic or via PM/email.

I should remind everyone that it is a rule to which all members agree when posting at Parkz, that every effort should be made to write posts that are grammatically correct. This includes capital letters at the start of sentences, full stops at the end and all other necessary punctuation. If you are a typically weak speller then I'd recommend any of the commonly available spell checkers for your browser. We aren't asking for perfection, but we do expect that everyone show other members the decency and respect of making posts easy to read. If you can't do this then don't bother posting. http://www.parkz.com.au/about/FAQ/Communit...idelines.html#5

Haha you'd have to excuse some for not seeing the subtext of such a statement... it wasn't until I re-read it that I caught on. I for one am eager to watch this unfold some more. Schadenfreude is the German term I believe.

To me it's the other way around. Unless klassen24 can prove the existence of a device that exists on no other similar ride in the world then I see no reason for members to be anything but sceptical. I don't think anyone is being rude or accusive; most of the comments so far have been intelligently presented counter-arguments. The plausibility of a motor fitting in an area no more than about 20cm across, being capable of moving a multiple-tonne train and working in unison with the ride's existing PLC/computer systems is implausible to say the least. Then there's issues of getting power to it and of course what exactly it tracks on to provide this propulsion. Then of course the fact that the track is equipped with a perfectly adequate system for moving trains in and out of the transfer track.

With parcels it's more to send to the other side of the country or regional areas. I think it was about $7 to east coast locations but around $13-14 for places like Perth or Alice Springs. Of course I later realised that it could probably just go in a prepaid satchel for around $10 anywhere... It's mostly the same parks you've already added. I hadn't thought of that... definitely a good idea for future database additions.