nev

I'd make that sweet-as salt and vinegar chicken that they sell next to Wipeout available all over the park. That's all Dreamworld really needs to do to get on top.

Looks like someone had a free afternoon and $50 to spend at Officeworks.... my favourite bit is the stuck on logos Adding to what Richard says, it'd be pretty simple to integrate the digital version into the screen on Main Street as well - although that might actually give it a practical function rather than being an advertising eye sore hey

Ok, so excluding the LPM one which is more Scenic Railway than true wooden coaster, you've been on one 'real' wooden coaster. So the comment you are making can be said to be the same as someone who has ridden Lethal Weapon as their only steel coaster, and then makes a post saying "Steel is Crap". How can you even think of making a bold statement that includes a generalisation for a few thousand coasters? I've ridden about 50 around the world, and I think I'm in a position to safely say that wooden coaster quality differs significantly more than steel coaster quality. You can get some truly woeful wooden coasters, but others give a ride experience that in my opinion beats the hell out of the majority of steel coasters. When you say "plus a few more" - what are they? You don't forget, or if you have just tell us where you've travelled and it won't be hard to work out. To make a statement like that just screams ignorance to everyone on this board who have ridden any significant number of woodies. A more suitable post might have been "I rode the Bush Beast and thought it was crap - is this the same experience for all woodies?" - That would have at least provoked some intelligent discussion. I honestly think that so many fights start on here because people make massive generalisations and think they are a world authority on coasters, when it turns out they've been on one, two, or even only a handful of actual rides, and often none in Australia.

Perhaps there are actually a heap of "pro-Dreamworld" people on this site, just plain and simple, for no reason, at all costs...

There's a few things you really need to consider here and I'm going to bring a heap of my TPR experience in here. - Talks with park people A few people have already mentioned the ability for such an event to "turn ugly." The reality is that on both of the TPR trips I've been on, any time we've had with the park operators is more a cosmetic meet and greet session as opposed to a question and answer session. At the end of the day, a bunch of 50 teen-young twenties roller coaster enthusiasts passing judgement openly and often without tact is going to come across really bad, so I think it's people that a QanA session is realistically going to be more of a talk about the park rather than an opportunity to ask why Movie World doesn't yet have a B&M / Huge Woodie / 5,000 Room Hotel / Private Airport / whatever. - Massive amount of money and benefits to the park On an event bringing in $10,00 or 200 people, bear in mind this is the equivalent of four bus loads of tourists coming to the park for a day, without any hassle or special parks. These numbers almost pale into insignificance - yes, we'd get the usual group treatment, but it certainly isn't going to make them go all out for us. I think one of the best lines that Robb and Elissa take is that it's totally the park's goodwill that makes these events happen. The moment anyone starts saying "they have to take notice of us" or "they can hardly dismiss this amount of money" or "they should take notice of our importance" etc... is the moment it becomes a bit of a joke for the parks and we lose the event as well as the credibility. I'm still of the opinion that the best way to do it would be to tack this experience on to an extra day in the park. So we all go in, and then the event takes place say from 5pm - 6pm with dinner afterwards or something similar. As for ERT, I'm sorry, but personally unless we're talking about Superman I really wouldn't be interested in trekking up there for ERT. You're probably going to get the same response from family and friends as well. I've done ERT on WWF and that was OK, but the idea of paying $40 to shoot up and down on the Bat thing really makes me sick. The whole idea of ERT is to go on something you wouldn't normally get to ride over and over. I can go to MW at any non-peak day of the year and sit on the Batwing, WWF or even SDSC. Superman's really the only major drawcard for me. One other thing.... if people are talking about making it a weekend long affair, then the meet up or trip really needs to be turned into a longer event than just an hour of ERT. I don't know if this becomes an RC event or a casual meet up, but that seems to be the way people are heading. My 2 cents worth anyway...

What time is that? I tech directed a corporate party up there last year and we had WWF open till 10pm all lit up with 1000 guests screaming their way around it...

Did you not look at his username? It's Superman

I went on that snail coaster last year... it's at one of the seaside piers in the UK. A somewhat screwed up ride is probably the most forum-friendly way to describe it

So after spending the day at Mitsui Greenland (on the TPR Japan Trip) and riding a Vekoma SLC the same as Lethal Weapon (without the final turn though) I had to take a picture of the restraints. The ride is just as headbangingly-awful as its Australian sister and it left the US guys who were looking forward to riding it somewhat sore and disappointed. However, the Japanese guys have gone to painstaking lengths to help ease the problems.. They've fitted additional padding to every harness, and the piece d resistance - they've stuck sheets of velcro (the soft side) to the inside of the padding so you get a nice soft surface to rest your head on. Unfortunately, while it's a bit like wearing wooly ear muffs, it actually works. Just a little note that its something obviously done in house to make the experience slightly more bearable... hint hint.. nudge nudge...

Not bad when you consider that the LondonEye costs 25 pounds a ride.... that's about $AU63... but then again, the London skyline is somewhat more, ahem, worth looking at I guess Went past the wheel last week and was surprised how far away from the CBD it is... bit of a wasteland at the moment... is the area around it planned for development or what?

The sparks looked like the kind you get when you hold a piece of metal on a grinding wheel and they made a similar sound - my thought is that this is how they achieved the effect. Certainly wasn't an electrical arc so to speak. They had small grills around them, and I'm pretty sure they're still there on the lift hill, it's just so dark you can't see them.

In all honesty, until I see someone's signature on these boards with a Dreamworld logo and the contents of their business card that gives their official contact details, nobody on here can be taken seriously as Dreamworld management or legitimately and legally representing the official line of the park. It's as simple as that.

Nice what are you doing on it DC?

Yes, I know, I was referring to the actual technical production of the show which is what the original post was referring to. SSE contract Global to deal with all the television production. SSE have very little to do with the hiring and placement of crew on the job.

I was stating the viewpoint the media would have on the situation, not mine, and yes, the media is uncaring and indifferent, so thanks for agreeing with me. And the backing off comment had nothing to do with that statement, hence the new paragraph - I was backing off from the topic as a whole because I could see an argument brewing.

Because, quite simply, it wasn't a western, 13 year old little girl who sustained the injuries, and that's the sad fact about the media. We're also talking about a spinning carnie ride, not a 100m tall drop ride. Don't really want to get into an argument so I'm stepping back

Almost a week later the Sydney Morning Herald just rang a story in both print and on the front page of the online version at www.smh.com.au regarding the fact that Cedar Fair has closed all it's drop towers... so yes, it is an issue that other parks are taking seriously. And the article even states that the closure have occured with the full knowledge that Intamin don't make all the ride's components, which I think makes it even more relevant to discuss why Dreamworld hasn't taken any action. We all know that while the car size, type, theme, height or whatever, all Intamin drop towers use incredibly similar designs, just as theirs and other manufacturers' roller coasters do. I'm going to agree with Richard here and say that even if they closed it for a couple of days for an inspection it would have saved a lot more face from the public point of view.... Here's the SMH article if anyone's interested... More rides shut down after horrific accident Six Flags and Cedar Fair shut down eight more thrill rides around North America on Friday after a teenage girl's feet were sliced off during a ride in Kentucky. State inspectors were at the Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom to examine the Superman Tower of Power, where the accident happened Thursday. The ride lifts passengers 177 feet straight up, then drops them nearly the same distance at speeds reaching 54 mph. It was unclear at what point in the ride the 13-year-old was injured, said Wendy Goldberg, a Six Flags spokeswoman. The girl was taken to a hospital, where her condition was not immediately available Friday. Six Flags shut down similar rides at parks in St. Louis; Gurnee, Ill.; and near Washington as a safety precaution, Goldberg said. She said Six Flags Over Texas, near Dallas, also has a Superman Tower of Power, but it is not the same ride. There had been no reports of injuries on the ride before Thursday, she said. "Millions of people have safely ridden this ride in our parks," Goldberg said. Cedar Fair Entertainment Co. also shut down drop tower rides at five of its amusement parks for inspection, company spokeswoman Stacy Frole said. Frole described it as a precautionary measure. Intamin AG, a Swiss company, made all the rides but did not supply all the parts, said Sandor Kernacs, president of the company's American operations, Intamin Ltd. in Glen Burnie, Md. The five Cedar Fair rides that were shut down are at Kings Island near Cincinnati; Canada's Wonderland, in Toronto; Kings Dominion in Doswell, Va.; Carowinds, in Charlotte, N.C.; and Great America in Santa Clara, Calif.

Hey Robb, Perhaps you could fulfil the reverse role of all the guys from this forum who come to yours and say "You should come to Australia cause Dreamworld rocks and we have this ride, that ride and this which is cool and awesome and fun" You could just swan in, post something that's already said and then we could all bitch about you too just stirring, as always richard

I don't think I've ever had a more wild experience - and djrappa will probably agree with me here - on Thundercoaster at TusenFryd in Norway in the rain, barreling around corners at a ridiculous speed with unbelievable force - to the point where the ride op told us we were completing the track 7 seconds faster than the normal dry run time... Woodies have their place, just as inverts, hypercoasters, accelerators, and floorless coasters do. It's another type of coaster, and I much prefer to compare them to different types of coaster as opposed to simply saying "wood or steel". And for anyone who hasn't ridden a BIG, good overseas woodie like Balder, Ghostrider (even though its gotten rough recently), Thundercoaster, or even the Blackpool coasters, you really don't have the knowledge and experience to comment . Bottom line is a well made woodie can be just as smooth as steel - Balder was smoother than a lot of steel coasters I've been on.

I'm pretty sure Luna Park is actually a public thoroughfare, anyone can walk thru it at any time as it includes part of the Rose Bay walking path. I've walked around there a few times late at night and been all over the site. The lights are always left on at nights. I've also had the pleasure - or not - of dealing with Luna Park security on a heap of gigs there and can assure you the place is more than secure...

I'm aware of the basics of projection, but there's no difference between a moving head or a moving mirror in this situation.

I hardly think people just sit back and say "theme parks belong on the gold coast so we won't build one in Sydney" Land values are infinitely higher in Sydney than anywhere else in the country. Even on the Wonderland site - an hour's drive out of Sydney - land prices have skyrocketed with the new M7 Motorway - arguably the main reason why Wonderland was sold off. The simple answer is there is no space for a large theme park. At the moment, the most vacant land, closest to the Sydney CBD is in the Norwest Business park which is a 40min drive from the Sydney CBD. There's no major public transport infrastructure there, so tourists getting there would be a similar exercise to Wonderland - a mix of buses and trains. Even then, the land in Norwest is expensive, surrounded by residential devlopments and not near any other major retail or consumer centres. On the Gold Coast, there's cheap land within 15mins of the city centre. Heck, even the land prices in the middle of Surfers Paradise aren't as expensive as many of Sydney's suburbs - let alone the city centre. Then you've got the problem of exactly who is going to build a park. It's more or less an accepted fact that Disney don't have a current interest in Australia, so that rules them out. Mac Leisure and WVTP have poured millions into the Gold Coast parks, which are accessible to all Sydneysiders for less than $100 in a one way plane flight. Investing in a Sydney park is only going to take part of their Gold Coast market away. Even the two closest Disney Parks in one country - the USA - are built on their equivalent of Sydney and Perth - about 5,000km away, and that's with a largely immobile population of 250 million, compared to our measley 20 million or so. So therefore any new themepark is probably going to have to come from a new player, and at the end of the day, there are far more profitable avenues in business to explore than a theme park in an area which has tremendous land costs, higher staffing costs and tax rates than any other state, and apart from any other factor, the fact that the city simply doesn't have the land close by. At the end of the day, there's nothing wrong with Sydney's weather or people, it's a few basic business rules and fundamental stumbling blocks that really are going to prohibit any major theme park development in Sydney. The only way we'll get a park is if a major international player decides to gamble a lot of money on a pretty insignificant city in a pretty insignificant part of the world in terms of global economic value.

Oval projection? Wow in all my years with moving mirrors that's never been an issue to me Main reason for a moving head is that any fixture with the same lamp is always going to be around 30% brighter solely because there isn't a mirror in the way. At the end of the day, none of the major moving light companies currently produce a professional series moving mirror - the output and extra range movement has really won over speed.

So what do we get out of having a ride exactly the same as one down the road? Absolutely nothing other than a different view from the top. It's not even worth arguing about! There is absolutely nothing to be gained from building an identical attraction in a neighbouring park - one ride doesn't massively sway attendances unless its a major attraction - and the Scream / Batwing towers really aren't. You said it best - 'waste' money on another drop ride. They already have two, why do they need another one? Why not diverse and get something different and new - hmmm.... like a Booster Bike hey? Your calculations fail to take into account any profits from food and merchandising, and they also neglect the fact that Mac Leisure is a publicly owned company. The number one goal of a publicly listed company is to produce dividends for its shareholders for the least expenditure - it's not as simple as saying "let's up that by 3.9mil" because that means 3.9mil this year that's not in shareholders' pockets.

Mate, there's one of those 5 minutes down the road nev