nev

It's actually available at a higher resolution than it has been in the past - the image was obviously shot before M7 construction started. If you haven't checked it out, go look now before the image gets updated.

It's entirely possible that while the park has the rights to create and market a ride with a Superman theme, they may not have the rights to tie their ride to the current movie. Rights ownership and permissions are not simple things - my guess is that the reason why the coaster isn't included in the promotion is because Movie World isn't allowed to trade off the movie's name to promote a ride.

I love it, read the last 6 or so posts and it's just descended into an all out bashing session. Attendances were quoted in that article as being "up and down" and also "lower in the usually quiet month of May" Attendances are rocked by even the slightest occurences, and I hardly think that a few thousand people decided they were going to boycott the park for a month because of customer service. I'm sorry, but in reality, customer service is only a TINY part of the theme park experience. Think about it. Over the course of a day at any theme park, when do you have substantial interaction with staff on a 1-1 basis? When you buy your tickets, and your food and drinks. What do you define as rudeness, and what is merely the staff operating in an efficient manner? It's a pretty major generalisation to say that all of the staff are rude or don't care. As for the SE comments, please give it a break. So now it's too fast, too tight, oh and it's also apparently "crap and boring" as it was so eloquently described. If this is the case - don't ride it - there's a great Loony Tunes coaster next door that isn't quite so intense. Sure, the theming is a bit below par, but hey, at least they're not playing Nascar races in the queue line (ToT) and the queue line doesn't smell like a public toilet (Cyclone). If it was slower, you'd be on here whinging that it was too slow. If it was less intense, you'd want it more intense. How about you take a step back for a minute and realise that one theme park company had the guts to go and spend a bunch of money on an ORIGINAL track layout that does a damn good job of fitting into the space they wanted it to go into and does a great job at packing some serious punch. And I'm sorry, if you can't get even the slightest thrill from a 0-100km/h launch then I feel sorry for you So how about we here some justification behind these generalisations. Sure, it would be lovely to have a 300ft high hyper coaster roaring around the park, but it ain't going to happen any time soon. Might be time to stop throwing stones and actually just make some intelligent posts about things. Generalising that an entire park is 'crap' or that a ride is 'crap' doesn't do anybody any good and really just makes yourself look like a fool.

Is it really nessecary? I really can't think of any parks here or abroad that have a fantastic appearance from outside the park with maybe the exception of Blackpool's Pleasure Beach in the UK. If you're on holiday at the Gold Coast, you know which parks you're going to. If you're driving up the highway, you know they're there and will have already made a decision to stop if you want to. WetnWild probably has the most impact because it's the closest to the freeway - MW has its huge carpark, as does DreamWorld. I'd rather have the park spend the money making the place look fantastic inside rather than trying to spice up the sides of a freeway. Just my 2 cents anyway

Go on everything at Disney - everything is unique and bigger and better than everywhere else! Bear in mind that there are three night time shows (Illuminations @ Epcot, Fantasmic @ MGM, Wishes @ Magic Kingdom) and that they are all so good that you want to see each of them. Plan each of your three days so that you end up at one of the above three parks each evening. When over there last year, we found that we did Animal Kingdom in just over half a day, which left us time to go back to see an evening show. We spent 4 days at the Disney Parks and still didn't see and do every attraction. There are the water parks (not sure if they're open at the moment) and Downtown Disney is more than worth a visit. If you really want to do it justice I'd say spend 4-5 days down there, if nothing else than just to take in the whole place. Other than that - Disney must sees in Florida: - The three night time shows (as above) Get to Fantasmic @ MGM around 1hr before the show to get a good seat. - Animal Safari @ Animal Kingdom - it's pretty damn amazing - Bug's Life @ Animal Kingdom - probably the coolest 3D / 4D film you'll ever see in a fantastic theatre - Mission Space @ Epcot - wow! - Go to all the villages around the lake in Epcot, no matter how boring it may appear, you'll find lots of little surprises - Rockin Roller Coaster + Tower of Terror at MGM, that's a given I suppose - Lights, Motors, Action! at MGM - Arrive early to get a good seat, this stunt show makes Police Academy look like your local shopping centre car park - definitely not to be missed. - MGM Studios tour - heaps of interesting Disney trivia that I didn't know before and a cool conclusion in Catastrophe Canyon. - The ride inside the ball @ Epcot - can't remember what it's called, but it's pretty cool and the view in the top of the dome is awesome (not going to give it away) - Festival of the Lion King @ Animal Kingdom - Not as good as Hong Kong Disney, but more than worth seeing. - Lunch @ Sci Fi Theatre @ MGM Studios - you need to book, but this is quite possibly the coolest theme park restaurant I've been in. - Night @ Downtown Disney - the place goes off and is all lit up. Go check out the clubs if you're over 18 - one even has a revolving dance floor! - Jungle Cruise @ Magic Kingdom - if you haven't done this before, don't be deceived by the tame look of the ride. You'll wet yourself laughing and go more than once because all of the guides add their unique humour to each trip. - Disneyland Hong Kong exhibit in the Chinese pavilion @ Epcot - great little exhibition that goes through all of the construction plans, etc for DHK. Well worth a look. - The lovely cast members of the Norway Pavilion @ Epcot - the Maelstrom ride is nothing mind-blowing but the girls who push the buttons are worth the trip alone These above are what really impressed me last year, but as I said, the place is packed with things to do. You'll really push it with only 3 days there and will need to plan your days pretty well. I hope for your sake none of those days are weekends or peak days at the parks! If it all goes to hell - things that didn't really impress me: (Maybe skip them if you're stuck for time) - The ride inside Manns Chinese Theatre @ MGM - queued for ages, then a pretty average tour through some fake scenes which were not more than brightly coloured flats. - Dinosaur the Ride @ Animal Kingdom. There's a lot of hype (both good and bad) about this ride which is supposedly based on the same tech as Indy over at DL. If you want to bounce up and down for 5 minutes in the dark, get a friend to push you around on a chair in a dark room and shine a light in your face. - The rides park @ Animal Kingdom. We have spinning coasters that travel around Australia, and everything else in the kids park is just your average carnie ride. - Pirates of the Carribean @ Magic Kingdom. People are gonna shoot me down for this one, but I didn't find it a patch on the DL version - shorter, seemingly out of order, no where near as bigger scale, etc. If you have done DL before, you could happily skip the DW one. Go have a ball, cram it all in! There is more to see and do there than you could ever imagine. People always used to say to me how big it was, but you don't realise the size, scale and greatness of the place till you get there. Hope this helps! nev

While I don't agree with the decision to charge for lockers - has anyone ever thought that you need to keep $1 in your pocket so you can pay for your locker at the end of the ride???? Consider the fact that Superman spends a lot of its time directly above the heads of park guests. Lethal Weapon's most intense, pocket-emptying sections are done in fenced off areas, while Superman rips around tight corners only metres above people. This is surely enough reason to warrant the strict rules.

There is one new laser on Scooby Doo - it's a full colour YAG from Oracle Laser that is located next to the first (reverse) drop as you enter the laser room. It looks like there are more new lasers because they all seem to be working at the moment!

Hey all Thought some of you might be interested in a gig a few of us did at Movie World the other night for a big corporate party. I was the lighting designer / tech manager, and fellow board people djrappa and slick came along to help out. We lit up the Wild West area and courtyard of Rick's Cafe, so here are a few shots including a few random Movie World at night photos. We all thought the park looked amazing at night - it really is a pity it's not open after dark. That said, the extra lighting brought in from another lighting company to illuminate the WWF ride area nothing short of sucked. Any idiot can put some flood lights on a ride... Edit: It would appear my photos that I attached aren't showing up,,, can anyone help me out here?

Back on topic, I had the pleasure of visiting MW today and riding Superman. The ride was closed for the first half hour with Channel 10 filming on the ride. Kinda sucked, but when you're the second person in the queue it didn't matter cause I got on the first train of the day anyway! This review contains spoilers, so if you're wanting the full experience, be a good person and look away now. The OTSRs are the best of a bad situation - the only part of the restraint that actually makes contact with you at any time during the ride is the lap bar part - much like the other larger brothers of Superman I'm told. The restraints are in no way restrictive, and I don't think I ever touched the shoulder parts at any time during the ride. The queue area was handled well - there's a few temporary air con units in there at the moment which is a great idea. The loose items rule is being enforced to the point where if a staff member even sees an outline of something in your pockets you are refused entry and directed to the lockers. While I'm not going to re-hash the locker debate, they're not well thought out, break down frequently and the $1 thing sucks too. I came back to ride a few times during the day and ended up spending about $5 on locker hire - not much but still a pain finding change and remembering you have to be back within an hour to get your stuff out. Load times are pretty good - they were running 2 trains, with a train leaving the station every 90 seconds. This, coupled with a queue that rarely reached the exit of the building (even today during school holidays) meant my longest wait was about 20 mins. By 2pm however, the queue disappeared and I was walking on for the rest of the afternoon. Onto the actual ride - I felt the initial themeing was sub Scooby to put it simply - while there are some great ideas (the water, station, police cars) it just feels incomplete with no roof, concrete floors and lots of empty space with randomly and very visually placed subs all over the place. The arrival of Superman is pretty lame (I'm a lighting guy and one rotating gobo doesn't do much for me) but the fun really starts from here on in. I will say however I was suprised at how long the pre-launch experience is - it's probably comparable to the length of the pre-elevator part of Scooby. There's a good few 'rooms' that you go through, and the audio is excellent with the building nothing short of shaking as you move through the earthquake scenes. The launch is unbelievable - ripping up the straight and through the cloud of mist is something I'm never going to get tired of. The ride crests the main hill at a pretty slow pace, but it's still damn exciting to experience. If you're riding in the back, you get sucked over the top, but if you're riding in the front, you get thrown down into the first hill - try riding everywhere - each seat gives you a different but equally as good experience! The drop into the first turn is intense, and if you do get a chance to look around you realise you actually are pretty high up - more than enough to give you those first drop stomach sensations! From the bottom of the drop, you do a sharp turn at ground level and rip up over the first camelback, getting literally sucked out of your seat with the airtime. As I said, with only the lap bar holding you in, it's a fantastic experience. Down the camelback the train careens back into the building through a hole which makes you realise why there is a height limit on the ride There's more smoke on the building entry and exit, which adds to the disorientation. The second camelback is just as good as the first, with heaps of airtime. After that, its back down to the ground for another ground hugging 180 degree turn, a small hill, and down into the final break run. The entire coaster is smooth as glass and quiet - in fact the loudest thing you'll hear is the mist / smoke cannons at the building exits. All in all, it's easy to say that Superman is by far the best roller coaster experience in Australia. Sure, I've been on bigger, faster, longer, more intense things oversees, but STE really gives you the best of both worlds - think of an adult Scooby Doo experience and you're well on the way. So, with the lack of queues I found in January, don't hold off going to MovieWorld - I was dreading hour long queues but found nothing but fast moving queues, if they existed at all. The abridged version: What rocks: - The entire fast bit of the ride - The non-restrictive harnesses - The quick turn around of trains - The unique layout that makes the most of the site What doesn't rock so much: - Lockers - Unfinished feel of internal theming Get off your butts and go ride this roller coaster, regardless of cost or nagging parents! Cheers Richard

Just heard that SDSC will be beginning the tender process next year for a full revamp of the lighting inside the 'coaster' section of the ride. Amongst other things, the plan is to remove the existing lasers and control system and to investigate replacing them with newer Solid State lasers which, in a nutshell, consume less power and allow for full colour effects. There's also talk of integrating moving lights into the installation. Sounds good to me, as many will know the lasers don't always work in the ride, the smoke machines were tacked on to the design with them just sitting on the floor in the middle of the room, etc. Would be great to see a more integrated, reliable and advanced lighting system in there. Will let you know more as I hear it!

If you complained on this thread, you need to leave your computer and take a good long look at yourself. 'Nuff said.

Pleeeeeeeeease stop pulling figures out of thin air. When you consider that around 3/4 of the crew and almost all of the production gear is shipped up from Sydney for the show each year and crew are accomodated in apartments for the entire production season, my bet is that Sydney would be a more attractive option financially. However, the location of Dreamworld, the show's image and setup makes it perfect in the current location so there's really no need to move. Of course you would have got this from an official source too? I find that comment pretty hard to believe when this year's logo was blue and white. Let's try to get some facts straight before we run on and quote things as being official.

It's worth considering that the BB complex takes full advantage of the amphitheatre - not only for shows but also as the base for all the studios and production offices, therefore the house needs to be as close to the amphitheatre as possible. I had the pleasure of visiting the BB house this year as the waters began to rise in the Queensland floods, and I think if the house was any closer to the theatre and DW (ie - closer to the creek) we would have seen a flooded BB house on our televisions. It's only 300m from the theatre to DW anyway - stop whinging! I can name half a dozen rides overseas that have longer queue lines!

Given that the highest tower listed on the funtime website is only 72m, I think you need to check your facts matey. A 200m high tower is nearly twice the height of GD, and IMHO would be almost logistically impossible to build to support such pressure. Also, their site says construction of such a ride takes around 12 weeks. If it was going to open in January, there'd already be some serious work going on. I'm going to wait for the official word on this.

I'd be interested to know then Paul, what exactly is your definition of a theme park?

I've been beta testing it and found it a bit of a disappointment - the animal side requires constant attention with fences breaking, animals complaining and getting lost, escaped and stuck and trainer problems, etc. The buildings are corny - the reptile house looks like an enormous 6x6 wombat poo. The most fun I've had yet with this pack is dropping a zebra into the lion house and watching the fun! The new rollercoasters are beyond believable, with 'splittable' trains that detach mid course, some stupid robotic arm coaster and just some really unbelievable coaster types. That said, the new theming elements and track developments make the game worth buying - there are now a heap of added track elements that let you place track on all sorts of different angles instead of relying on the old RCT2 and 3 methods of only putting big elements at 90deg angles. I'm really not a fan of the animals things, but the theming and track stuff makes it a good pack to have in your collection.

If it had the same music, I think "Its a Small World" would lose the record for the most annoying ride music in the world.

I know the queue area of SDSC can be hired as a function space, but it's probably not the best themed area for an awards night! Maybe inside the old Maverick theatre? I'm not sure what is sitting in this space at the moment. I think the name Roxy is used because it's pretty much the traditional generic name for 1920's - 30s cinemas in a lot of movies. There are heaps around - some people will remember the old Roxy cinemas in Parramatta, Sydney which are styled in a similar art deco fashion.

I'm sorry, but nowhere in that reply does it say "I need you all to go back and tell everyone on behalf of ING that we aren't going to assist with anyone else's requests - could you all do this for me?" A simple "sorry guys, but they cant' help anyone else out" would have sufficed, we don't need three wannabee company spokesmen taking 'official' ING lines. Well done guys, you're one of three people in Australia who now owns a bolt. After that last round of posts, I need to suggest that you remove the bolt from whatever hole you seem to have it wedged in

Hey Richard, Have you got any way of updating the timestamps to Aus EST? All my times - and I think everyone else's - are of some weird time zone. Any way you cna change it or do I have to do it in my personal prefs?

Infinity is great, but the last time I went there in February it's really starting to show its age - few cracked mirrors around the place. That said, there's really nothing else like it and it's a bunch of fun - especially the music in the ball room SpaceWalker is cool too - they've obviously spared no expense with the attraction and like Infinity, I was pretty amazed how big the place was once you get inside. I won't ruin it for anybody, but my day was made more embarrassing than usual when I hit a wall at full run in the exciting conclusion to the experience. At least the space cadet hosts got a laugh on their CCTV! One notable thing about Space Walker - the cast there were amazing in the way that everything they did was in character - from the bar staff through to the reception hosts. I'll be the first to admit it's probably gonna be hard to keep a straight face when you're a young person telling two twenty-somethings they're about to travel through space, but they kept up the act all the time. I've never had the pleasure of visiting SnowWorld - though the view from the apartments at Sun City really doesn't make it look attractive. If I want to stand in a freezer I'll go see my friend at Castle Hill Bi-Lo

Matty, have you ever seen the movie "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" ? It's probably one of the funniest and well done combined animation / live action films created, and it features characters from pretty much every major animation house. If preserving a brand name in its purest form is of the upmost importance over profits and commercial sense, then why the hell did Coke lower themselves to bring out Diet Coke with Lime? Get over it. I couldn't care if it's the interactive Steve Irwin 3D crocodile hunt - the place needs a change after so many years of Marvin, and getting the best 3D animated experience in the world to replace it is a pretty damn good move.

I vaguely remember being at the SegaWorld Auction and the auctioneer stating that their indoor rollercoaster was worth about $700,000 initially. For anyone who ever rode it, you'll remember the tight space it was packed into and how much of a fun ride it was... I know it sold at auction for less than $100,000, maybe there's a small chance it's still floating around in Australia?? Something like the old SegaWorld coaster would be great.

Considering that Rita doesn't have a tophat, has no indoor dark ride section and has racing car theming instead of Superman branding, my guess is no. If by that question you mean that it's also a rollercoaster, has a red track and has turns in the track layout, then yes, I spose it's just like Rita.

Fox still does own the Backlot area, it is just now closed to the public. The main street is promoted as being a outdoor film location. The Simpsons stage is now the Trackdown recording studios, the Titanic experience is now the 2nd largest sound stage in Australia, and the Lights Camera Chaos Theatre still exists as a 'venue' with audience seating and the like, but without any of the old LCC technical equipment or sets. Basically, Fox has just expanded the professional studios area to include the old Backlot. Pretty much every part of every ride (from individual light fittings right through to the Titanic ride's boats and motion control base) were sold at Auction at the start of 2003 following the closure of the park. There was even a considerable amount of movie props and memorabillia sold at the auction. It's highly unlikely that any of the original rides would be recreated because they simply don't exist any more.