Richard

That error should now be fixed so as far as I can tell everything is as it should be, at least with the forums. In the bottom left corner users can switch their forum style from the default fixed width to 100% page width. The 100% one has the benefit of database and photo search boxes and I hope to add a few more functionalities like that over time which there's unfortunately not room for with the fixed width. If anyone's still getting any problems let me know.

I'll probably introduce two forum layouts; one which is full browser width, and another fixed to match the site and then let everyone choose which they'd prefer. The fixed version will be the default most likely. This has been something I've always wanted to do but have never gotten around to because I also prefer the bigger width -- doesn't make sense having a 1680px wide screen res and only be using about half of it. Should have these both available within the next few days I hope. Attachments and avatars are back to normal. There are still a few lingering login issues which I'm hoping to get resolved as soon as I can.

The final switch is currently underway. With that the forums will now be accessed from http://www.parkz.com.au/forums/. All user accounts, posts, personal messages etc. remain totally unchanged. You can login with your regular username and password. The transition isn't totally completed. Forum uploads including avatars and attachments are still on their way, so if your avatar isn't currently working you don't need to reupload; it'll be sorted out shortly. The forums will also be styled to fit in with the new Parkz site design. If you're encountering any problems with the forums (not the main site) post in this topic and we'll get things sorted out.

Just in case everyone isn't already aware, this is a theme park website not a Big Brother site. I think you'll find the majority of members here are indifferent to or even dislike the show. With that in mind, you need to understand that if you participate in a Big Brother topic here, you will get others participating who are against the show; if you can't deal with that then don't bother posting in Big Brother topics.

Easy guys. Let's cut down on the personal insults and condescending attitude. At the very least one of you could have answered the original poster's question like mattcrombie did.

Roller-Coaster.com.au Community Guidelines (http://www.roller-coaster.com.au/guidelines.php) Spelling, punctuation and grammar should be correct and proper at all times. Take the necessary time to properly form your posts, because if they are not up to standard they may be deleted. Many Browsers these days have built-in spell checkers so there is no excuse for not making the effort. Chat shorthand is not permitted at any time. The Roller-Coaster.com.au Forums are not a strictly real All members, as a condition of being a member at Roller-Coaster.com.au, are expected to follow our Community Guidelines. This applies to all members new or old and no one is discriminated against; all members are required to follow these rules. If anyone is incapable of writing proper full sentences, then simply put they are incapable of being a member here. This is not to be offensive or anything like that but in the six years that this site has operated, it becomes clear that the most effective way for this community to work is for intelligent discussion to take place. Why do we have these rules here? Because if you are using the resources here, you should be contributing something meaningfully to this community. This is not a chatroom or MSN. You have all the time in the world to foarmulate proper words and sentences. If you post something unreadable because it's nothing but chat shorthand, lacks sentences etc., then other members can't read what you're saying. We are NOT asking anyone to be perfect. Everyone makes mistakes. We are asking that members don't waste everyone's time by posting unreadable nonsense. We're asking for the sort of thing that an eight year old kid could quite comfortably handle. Simply put, if you're not going to show other members the respect by posting in full English sentences then don't waste your time posting. It's insulting to other members and it's insulting to me who pays for this site.

That's not really correct; there are a few points that should be cleared up. The bottom of each boat is lined with a layer of non-magnetic alloy (i.e. an alloy with no magnetic properties) topped with a ferromagnetic alloy (i.e. one which is attracted to magnets), most likely a steel. The purpose of the magnetic alloy is to create a magnetic field between the electromagnets under the surface of the slide and this top alloy. The non-magnetic alloy is sandwiched between the top alloy and the surface of the slide and is therefore within the magnetic field. It's important that it is a non-magnetic alloy within this field as regular magnetic attraction is not what is wanted and is not what propels riders forward. As the name LIM suggests, they are induction motors which work on the principal of electromagnetic induction; when the alloy enters the magnetic field it is propelled perpendicular to the direction of the magnetic field. Obviously we have a magnetic field running between the surface of the slide and the steel, so the boat is propelled perpendicular to that, which is straight up the slope. There is no magnetic attraction or repulsion taking place to make the boats travel forward. All that happens is while the alloy is within the magnetic field, a force is created in it that propels it forward. There are a few other things at play but check the earlier Wikipedia article for the more on the technical side. Essentially you can think of it simply as a reversal of Giant Drop's braking system, which also uses induction to slow the gondolas. As for the makeup of the alloys, so long as the magnetic properties of each is right then it's right. You can guarantee the alloy on top would a steel with strong magnetic properties. Coppers would factor highly in the makeup of the other, as probably would aluminium for its corrosion resistance.

News to me that I preferred 'land' parks to water parks. Can't imagine where I've given this indication but each has their place and I'm just as keen on both. At the end of the day, I'm really just not convinced that this is a concept that is anything but a gimmick and an unpleasant ride experience at best given the speeds that'll be attained. Given it's also a lie-down body slide I'm not convinced there will be anything to see - transparent/translucent or not; you all know how little you see thanks to the rider position and how much water you get in your eyes on the average enclosed slide. If the potential for a looping waterslide was there, I'm sure we'd have seen something developed by a more reputable water slide company by now, and I'd guarantee you they'd have all worked on such concepts at one stage.

There are two different kinds of sleds which these rides can have. The first are the sliding version, which utilise two rubber wheels and a pair of runners at the back which are basically plastic blocks. The second are the rolling version which have just four wheels. The benefits of the sliding ones is they're almost impossible to tip because the sleds can roll sideways just as easily as they go forwards so they'll naturally bank the turns with very little effort on the rider's part. The second kind because they're running on four rubber wheels rather than slide pick up some mean speed but in order to get them to bank they require some cajoling on the rider's part. The faster you go on the rolling version of course the further you have to bank, the harder it is to bank and the less time you've got to do it in, which makes them quite easy to tip. The rolling version is also significantly faster than the sliding version and this is why you'll see a lot of rides with these with signs every turn urging riders to slow down. To give you an idea of the added friction of the sliding ones, they can't operate on a slope less than 12%. A lot of the rolling ones need to be be fitted with in-built brakes that cap the speed because they're capable of insane speeds. Jamberoo uses the sliding sleds, most other toboggans around Australia use the rolling. The difference is immediately noticeable to anyone who's ridden both kinds - Jamberoo's are impeccably smooth around the turns but the speeds are never huge. I really like Jamberoo's two as enjoyable intermediate sort of toboggans. They're far from the most intense or fast we've got but the sacrifice you make with the faster rolling ones is the ever-present threat of taking a spill -- which in itself I suppose adds to the ride a bit, but it is far from enjoyable when it happens to you. In my view Merimbula's is the fastest and most intense toboggan we've got. No others here compare to the final few turns if you're taking it without brakes. I've only ever taken a stack on the one at Corin Forest which I'd rate as number two.

There's no sensation of going upside down other than what your brain creates, normally due to the visual cues available on looping rides. The only sensation will be that of high g-forces for the duration of the loop. Visually I guarantee all you will see is what just a constant upward curve and likewise the physical feeling will match this. I would expect that the water will make it through the loop the same as riders do so there shouldn't be any need for additional water. This whole concept really doesn't impress me at all. I believe there are much more exciting things being done with water slides than loops.

Prior to Wet'n'Wild being sold by its original owners they were in fact planning to build a looping slide. A gimmick of epic proportions if there ever was one. You won't be able to see anything other than the slide around you so the effect of being upside down will be totally lost. Ever closed your eyes on a coaster's loop? That's all this will feel like. Not to mention it'd be a capacity nightmare.

On that subject, Village Roadshow refers to their theme park division as Village Roadshow Theme Parks however the company still trades and refers to itself as Warner Village Theme Parks. It's quite correct to refer to the management or parks collectively as WVTP.

You'll have to go and re-upload those photos (click the edit button at the bottom right) because for some reason these photos appear to have not uploaded correctly. There is an ordering problem with ride galleries at this stage which I hope to get resolved shortly. The site is launched more or less, but the forum changeover is basically just on hold until I get enough spare time to change the database over which is a fairly lengthy manual process. Once everything is 100% in place we will be holding a photography competition so stay tuned!

Article: Dreamworld, WhiteWater World report six month growth Tuesday 22 January 2008 - By Richard Wilson. Despite South East Queensland's first truly wet summer in a number of years, Macquarie Leisure's theme parks have performed admirably against the same six month period a year ago. Related Parks: Dreamworld, WhiteWater World

You'll rarely find me without thongs at a park (or anywhere else) as I'm not really a fan of shoes. Most rides you'll be fine to wear them on. With certain inverting rides, especially those without floors (inverted or floorless coasters for instance), the common practice at parks over there is to sit on them. Just remember to call them flip flops if you decide to ask an attendant if it's OK to wear them on a ride. Asking if you can wear thongs will probably be met with odd looks in the States.

My personal gripe with Movie World's system is the lengths they go to clearly in the interests of revenue raising. They go well beyond general safety into borderline obsessiveness. A pocket with a zip or button should clearly be exempt as should a park map. We've discussed ad nauseam how the average pocket contents (excluding bigger things like phones or cameras) are extremely unlikely to cause any injury or damage. The most perplexing thing however is despite all this, if you're wearing thongs or sandals then that's totally fine to ride in. At the end of the day, Movie World obviously has spent a significant amount and need to justify that capital expense by maximising their earnings from it. On paper such a system creates a better experience for the guest by maximising safety on rides and reducing load/dispatch times so making queues shorter, but to me these benefits have been lost along the way and it's become a totally money driven operation that I think has a more negative impact on guests than anything else; we've all seen people arguing with the attendants over things in their pockets, right? I do quite like the term 'bouncers' though; seems quite an appropriate term for the job.

WVTP have in the past few years added Superman Escape, Batwing and Surf Rider. Of course they're going to take a break from adding thrill rides for a while so they can focus on other important markets their parks cater to. They've also already announced their major attractions for this year so it's really nothing new that there won't be any "giant thrill rides" in the immediate future. There is a trend at one park towards cheaper (often money-driven) attractions while at another they continue to add world-class traditional theme park attractions. You might have had a better argument if you at least paid some notice of the fact that the first company also said they're no longer interested in innovation nor thrill rides. I think most people who have been critical here have been so based on the information that was available in the article and I don't think anyone has been deliberately omitting that WVTP said there are no thrill rides on the cards to present a biased argument so much as they have been simply because this is a topic in the Dreamworld forum about Dreamworld.

I don't know about those Tornado ones. The guy that hit the tube in the second one probably got a good shakeup but it doesn't seem that there were any injuries. Regular teenage water park fun I say; who didn't do this kind of thing at the local water park when they were that age and surrounded by mates? I particularly like the whistle that blows a few seconds in as the attendant actually tries to stop them.

I hadn't read that article until now (http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0...95-8362,00.html). It certainly amazed me how plain uninspiring Gregg's comments were. He has said straight up that they want to move away from conventional attractions into cheaper skill-based attractions (which are typically upcharge). To top it off he's even gone and said that they don't even want to take a gamble on new technology. Certainly a change from the quote attributed to him in the Motocoaster press release, "This new attraction shows Dreamworld’s commitment to introducing cutting-edge ride technology and new experiences to the Australian market". For what it's worth, I think if Dreamworld were so confident in experiences like FlowRider as the future of theme parks, we'd have seen them install half a dozen of them and have it included in the admission price. The other thing of interest is the comments by IAAPA chief Charlie Bray have absolutely nothing to do with digital/interactive attractions; those comments were entirely about utilising social networking sites and Web 2.0 style technology to its fullest to engage with and communicate with the market. On that I couldn't agree more with the comments of AJ of East Brisbane. It won't be long now before the market cottons onto these slick marketing techniques and dismisses them completely. It is refreshing that WVTP at least understands the market well enough to know that the time-tested theme park model will deliver them long term success in a much more reliable manner than cost-cutting new age fads.

Well that's about the ugliest thing I've seen. Great idea and certainly something long overdue for our parks, but I find it a bit ridiculous that the best they could do in this day and age is a whiteboard with magnetic dots. I find it hard to believe they couldn't spend a few hundred bucks on signs to go with some LED screens. It also couldn't cost too much in the scheme of things to set up a wireless network between them all so they can be synchronised with minimal effort. This kind of thing is not just a benefit to the guests but it can also be a very valuable tool in altering behaviour to ensure that the crowd is evenly distributed and thus be a key instrument in the park's yield management, but it can only work in this manner if it's a true realtime system. They'll have to replace these signs out the moment they add a new ride as not only is there no room but they're ordered in terms of overall popularity. The names of the rides are devoid of the correct formatting that WVTP are typically very conscious of and strict about. Using the logos rather than written names would have made reading this chart much easier to follow. I'm all for this type of signage, but it seems to be something that has avoided any consultation with marketing or design people within WVTP judging by the fact that it looks more like a classroom whiteboard than something you'd see at a world-class theme park. The ideal solution would be a neatly designed sign with the ride logo/name printed and a 3 digit LED display for the wait time followed by "min" and the ability to add more attractions as time goes on. The time and money it'll cost to have an employee running around keeping them up to date and ensuring that no one has tampered with them would surely quickly escalate beyond what centrally-controlled, scalable (i.e. able to be added to and changed with new attractions) digital signage would cost to install and maintain.

In regards to the overwhelming response to the ride, I don't think it's because they hyped the ride. I don't think it's because of confusion between a teen thrill ride and a family thrill ride. I think it genuinely falls down to the fact that it's a poorly designed coaster that completely lacks pacing. I put our on-ride video of it up on YouTube and the response there is presumably largely from regular park goers rather than theme park fans as it has been here. The general concensus is overwhelmingly that it is not a terribly enjoyable ride and that it has comfort issues that could have easily been addressed within the R&D phase of its development. The comparison I like to make is one to the Rugrats or Roadrunner coasters, both rides that are targeted more so at younger children rather than families and teens like Motocoaster. Honestly, aside from that initial launch and first turn or so of Motocoaster, there is absolutely no denying that both these children's coasters have a more enjoyable layout which is more exciting from start to finish than Motocoaster.

Attrocity? Give us a break. Why not instead of complaining here about something on Wikipedia you actually take some action and fix what is obviously vandalism that exists solely to rile up people like you? Half of what's written on that Dreamworld page is garbage. Is it just that when someone writes negative stuff you get offended and for some reason take it persoanlly?

Yeah I want to play around with the design of the login box; for now I'm just happy it's working as it should.

Interesting fact. But also a load of nonsense. You're actually saying that in every circumstance a ride that is popular and able to be justafiably maintained will eventually be removed? Simply because "the world moves on"? If you look at it on a world scale, the average regional theme park does not work on the model you have described. Most parks keep attractions until they are, as you said, unserviceable, unpopular or they are in the way of future expansion. Whichever it is, when an attraction needs to be removed, you'll see that it is removed swiftly and more often than not replaced with something else. There's no time when "the world just moves on"; most US parks feature a range of attractions dating back to when the park first opened. These attractions add much-needed depth to theme parks. The way I see it, new attractions promote growth in attendance, while the number of attractions justifies ticket price. We see ticket prices going up every year yet at the same time we've seen the park's number of attractions actually decrease. This is a totally unacceptable situation. I can assure you I couldn't care less either way with Eureka. It was a good ride but I'm not losing sleep over a theme park attraction. The point most people here are making is that either it should be removed and replaced with something new or brought back into service within an appropriate timeframe. The ride has simply been boarded up and we've seen no action since. I also struggle to see how anyone at Dreamworld could see its closure as beneficial to the park's image. We've got the remnants of a water park, a faded, disused chairlift and now a roller coaster cheaply boarded up. Guests do notice these things, and there's no denying that they reflect incredibly poorly on the park.

The system now features a popup calendar so you don't need to manually enter the date at all. This was always my intention, just never got around to it until now. Yeah? That used to be the case; in the latest version of Firefox and IE I can type the full name. I'm also looking into those errors you're getting on the profile page; one of them should be resolved now. The new forums will use the exact same username/password as you have here. If you've registered a new account on Parkz it will be wiped when the switch happens. The forums should open on the new site some stage in the new year.