nev

A full colour glass gobo for a moving light would be about $500 - $600 to produce as a one-off image... this could then go in pretty much any moving light and get projected. I think the idea is to create a blue flash more than an actual superman image however - I think a projected Superman would look a little naff, especially considering the amount of ambient light in the launch area..... The orbital head isn't spectacularly fast... yeah itd need to be in a moving light methinks The orbital head is about $US8k for memory... and then you've still gotta buy the projector - HighEnd built the unit for the ChristieLites 20K projector which is a tad more expensive than your average home cinema unit

The fixture in Superman is an iSpot which is a pretty cheap, garden variety moving light... not an Intellabeam I'm not wanting to re-hash the good 'ol "smoke detectors in Scooby Doo" argument, but my guess is that the sensors in there are CO2 or heat based as opposed to particle based sensors. CO2 or Heat based sensors are not affected by fog machines and are installed in areas such as theatres, clubs, etc so they can still be monitored even with concentrations of artifical atmospherics in the air.

Nup. Hasn't been in a long long time.

OK time to post my point of view... this has got to be one of the most themed Space Shots around, right? IMO Doctor Doom's doesn't count for much because at the end of the day it's still an outside, tower with boring load area, just with a pretty poorly themed building. I think the fog could be better if it was actual fog as opposed to water vapour, but that's probably the only thing I'd change theming wise. The cladding is great - makes a welcome change from the standard canvas or plastic tied to the frame, the signage and linking with the rest of the Batwing area is well thought out, the sound effects are on par, if not better that the ones that go with the DCA towers, and the tower looks cool with its different paint job. At the end of the day, despite the fact that's its got airtime, brings on a huge adrenalin rush and is certainly a ride worthy of a 'serious thrill' title for marketing, it lasts a few seconds. Adding stupid amounts of extra theming is really only going to enhance the queueing experience, not the ride experience. It's a short thrill ride that's designed to do nothing more than make your head spin for a few minutes. I really think it fits well within the park - it doesn't try to be another massive attraction - and you can see that in the way it opened with much less fanfare than SE did last year. It's almost time to start considering our ride additions in the same way that many people do for Disneyland - you have 'fast pass' style attractions like Indy, Splash Mountain, etc that are show piece rides. At Movie World - these are WWF, SDSC, LW, SDSC... Then you have the B-list rides - at Disneyland these are the Teacups, the Fantasyland rides, etc. At Movie World - these are Batwing, Road-Runner.... I'm going to suggest that we're not seeing Movie World 'slacking off' as such but rather looking to grow the park by adding more attractions that are just rides - good thrills or experiences, nothing more. There's NO themepark anywhere that is full of perfectly themed, massive ten minute ride experiences with awe-inspiring queuelines. All the Disney parks have attractions that are just walk on, walk off rides. It's impossible to have a park that's full of A-List attractions... so don't attack MW for spending slightly less. If anything, I think it's an indication of their desire to grow and follow what other parks are doing. Of course it's going to be marketed as an Australian first - the whole point of marketing a product is to capitalise on any new or unique parts. And as for me... I'd rather see a good, new attraction every year than waiting 4 or 5 yrs between drinks for major attractions. My 2 cents, richard

Most of the the production is handled by Global Television. Many of the senior crew have been on the show since it began.

Just checked this rumour with a mate on the show's production team and he's certain the show is staying in Queensland for at least the next three years.

People don't seem excited because for some reason they have instantly dismissed this is as a small, slow, un-thrilling ride, despite the fact that nobody knows anything about it.

I think there are something like 3 different jet boat operators on the harbour now including this one. Rather funny to see them racing about on the huge harbour - if you've ever been on the original Shotover River Jet in New Zealand through canyons that are only a few metres wide, the Sydney experience doesn't even rate a mention

I've seen people on rides at Cedar Point who wouldn't fit through most doorways. You've got nothing to fear when you're in the land of the fat!

Yay for my prediction, thanks Joz... At first look the Flamingoland Booster Bike appears tame, but the launch and the G-Forces you experience during the ride whilst sitting in an unusual position makes it all the more thrilling, different and enjoyable. Having ridden the one at Flamingoland, I think it's pretty safe to say that I haven't been on any other coaster either here or overseas that creates a sensation that's quite the same. It's really not possible for anyone to comment about how lame it or its layout might be unless you've experienced what it's like to actually be on one of these coasters...

^ Total of 2 people so far who don't understand the basics of sarcasm. Any more takers?!

Ok guys, now you're only allowed to post in this thread if you've had NO EXPERIENCE at all with the Batwing. The best thing to say below is to voice your expert opinion on how ANY part of this ride is crap, sub par, below average, more suited to another park, etc. Remember, the less you have to do with MovieWorld and the fact that you haven't actually seen the ride yet will make your posts carry even more weight and really support your argument. I'm really not a fan of those flowers. Any enthusiast would know that flowers suck, especially around rides. And you know what really gets my goat? That the ride is taller than Superman. I mean, that's like the ride trying to say that it's better - but it's so not. And the fact that it's a square tower - it's like S&S are trying to copy Intamin track by being all square and everything. You wanna know what else is really bad? That it's not inside. All rides should be outside, otherwise they suck. I don't really know why, but they do. So don't let me stop you all.... like most of you I've never seen the ride, let alone been on it, but the fact that I have a mate who actually works next door and went to the launch more than qualifies me to post my expert opinion here. Please - rant away!

I'm sorry, but having been to HK Disneyland twice and being able to compare it to both WDW and DL Anaheim, I'm more than in a postion to say that HKD is a fantastic park with a potential future that is probably second to only that of WDW. The park is spotless, beautifully created, has a range of great attractions, includes the best Autopia I've seen, has a brilliant jungle cruise and is staffed by the friendliest Disney staff of anywhere. I'd go and visit the new Chinese one in a heartbeat. Please don't bag the parks if you haven't been. If there's one sweeping generalisation that I can make with absolute confidence, is that Disney haven't made a bad park yet. They pick places with potential for growth as well as with a view of the existing market, and I'm sure whatever goes in will be nothing short of fantastic. It comes down to what I've said before. I think that Disney recognises that Australians are some of the most comfortable travellers in the world. We think nothing of overseas trips and holidays, and a huge number of families travel to the US parks each year to the point where the trip to Disneyland as a kid is almost a rite of passage for Australian kids (not that I ever did it ) Building an Australian park for an immediate local population of a few million with national tourism only adding another few million to that number? Sorry guys.... but Disneyland Australia is nowhere in the foreseeable future.

All the LED does is provide a visual representation that the sensor is active. The LED actually goes out when it detects a car. The green LEDs are only indicators - they don't have any active role in the actual sensing of a car.

Ok so this is something EVERYONE should watch because it really sums up the entire Disney experience. Everything from the fact that they sent the imagineers to Tibet to get ideas and purchase props through to the complete re-design of the anti-rollback system on the lifthill to avoid the clicking noise is just amazing. Aside from being a stunning ride from every point of view, what this program does is show how everyone is so excited to be a part of the project, how everyone is committed to the story the whole way through and just how much of a team effort it really is. You've really got to wonder what other parks think when they watch something like this, it really does leave every other theme park company for dead. This is a must watch!

Hey guys Just saw an ad on Discovery Channel for an hour long special on the creation, construction and technology of Expedition Everest. It's going to be on Monday 13th November, I think the time said 11pm but make sure you check your local guide to confirm it. The promo for it looked really good and included interviews with imagineers, etc. Thought I'd throw a heads up on here.

I swear Mike Goldman's voice has just popped up again on the video voiceovers - is he really the only guy in Queensland who can do this?? All looks cool, can't wait

http://australianamusementlowdown.blogspot.com/

Despite the fact that this has already gone beyond a joke, think of the following hypothetical. If your plane happens to be delayed or cancelled, airport staff will always only tell you there is a delay, or that the flight has been cancelled. They're never going to go into technical reasons about why the plane isn't able to fly. Most of the time, when you hear anything further, it's either born of rumours or media reports. When it comes to flying, I've done my fair share of it but I consider myself to be a member of the public. Therefore, if someone at the airport tells me "we can't operate your flight because we've found a technical problem with the aircraft" I'm naturally going to be wary about boarding a similar flight due to the faint possibility that the problem might also exist in the other plane. (Hehe especially on some of the dodgier US airlines!) Translate this back to the coasters. If an attendant says "SE's 2nd train isn't operation because the harnesses didn't pass their morning safety check" Then people are immediately going to assume the worst about the other train. A company, be it an airline or theme park, can not afford to differentiate between enthusiasts and other customers. I'd love to see this at an airport "Ladies and gentlemen, flight 123 is cancelled. For airline enthusiasts or industry workers - this is due to a failure in the plane's landing gear which could result in an emergency situation. For everyone else - just don't worry - you'll be fine... no huge problem" And I'm sorry, it's not a joke. There have bee countless reasons here other than train maintenance - staffing, time of day, bad estimations... running a theme park isn't as simple as saying "wow, lots of people just rocked up, lets put every train on the tracks now" And at the end of the day, this entire thread argues over the fact that somebody had to wait a pretty normal amount of time for a popular ride during school holidays.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh! I'm all upset so I'm going home, screw the world! I didn't get my way and people came up with a dozen good reasons why I may have been mistaken but the main thing is I didn't get my way so I'm gonna throw a tantrum anyway. ^ That's how your last post has read to pretty much everyone else. Honestly man, grow up. This is by no means a personal attack but when you come on here acting like a kid, you should be grateful that people have wasted their time trying to help you with logical, sensible explanations.

Did you throw your ice cream on the ground and have a cry at the mean man who wouldn't put the second train on the track?! Honestly man, why are you getting angry at a guy who holds a height stick? There are reasons for running multiple trains, and I'm sure they didn't run only one train just to spite you. You ever consider that adding a second train to the track takes time to load it on, do all the safety checks, do test runs, etc?? Let's take a look at this right - you're there at 3pm, so the park closes in barely 2hrs. Why would they want to waste say 20mins at the minimum in closing the ride, dealing with a huge queue that builds up, assigning extra staff to deal with queues and questions from the public, and waste all the time and effort when the park closes so soon? It's more than possible that they didn't anticipate a heap of people to hit SE so late in the day, which is quite possible given the fact you said the rest of the park was pretty easy queue wise. So perhaps this one time they got their theories wrong, a few more people hit SE than usual, and the result was a slightly longer queue than usual. Maybe you just need to step back and consider reasons like these before you throw a temper tantrum at the park and on here hey?

How a rapids ride works in three easy steps: 1. Pump water to high start point of course. 2. Let water flow through course. 3. Go to point number 1. All that's at the bottom of the course are concrete wedges, hills and ledges and logs designed to churn the water up along the course. "Reprogramming" a rapids ride would essentially involve moving, adding or removing elements to the concrete channel to change the flow of the water. I believe that when Wonderland advertised 'reprogrammed' rapids a few years ago it was reprogramming the water jets that shot up as you passed them so they were more likely to hit the passing raft.

I was there last week - it's in a small hokker (tent) between the carousel and scenic railway. Didn't venture inside... as far as I'm concerned it was in a tent so therefore not really worth the 45 minute queue

Go the booster bike! After riding one in the UK earlier this year... can certainly say it was a good, fast, smooth ride that I'd love to see in Aus. Or perhaps an inverted SLC giant boomerang? Deja Vu rocks

Loses viewers every year? I think not... BB has been a steady performer throught its years, viewers decrease as the season progress but for at least the last few years the show has maintained a reliable audience. After the turkey slapping incident this year, BB got its highest ratings since the Season 1 Finale... Can only be good for 10