Jamberoo Fan

Some key quotes from today's Chairman & Chief Executive Officer addresses of the Annual General Meeting of Ardent Leisure: Remember, the key word in the quote above was 'plan' and this was said just after 10am this morning - 'plans' may have changed since then but the phase about Thunder River Rapids is definite. It does give a sign that, depending on the Coronial enquiry's findings, they may re-open the ride. Plans did change though as there are media reports from approximately 12pm today that Dreamworld's re-opening is now Monday at the earliest. Lastly, Ardent Leisure has changed it's name to Main Event Entertainment with 99.5% of shareholders/investors voting in favour of the change In good news, their share price went up by 8% today - the biggest gain on the ASX today. Village Roadshow's also went up by 0.2% so I think the immediate effects on the sharemarket are slowing down but may be affected again in the future depending on the outcome of the investigations and future visitation to the parks. Also, some good signs about Dreamworld's future reported by The Australian:

Not speculating but it does depend on whether official ride operational rules allowed it on that occasion. Since I've posted a lot of the sensationalised news articles in this thread, I would just like to point out that I do agree that this level of sensationalism is nothing new in the media generally - this is normal practice for them even back to the 1970's. I'm only pointing out that they've going too far this time for a theme park incident - even if it involved fatalities - as like I pointed out in one of my posts 2 days ago, the sensationalism for this type of news event was non-existent in articles from 1979 about the Ghost Train fire. I've avoided mentioning this so far for a few reasons but when I first rode Thunder River Rapids just over a decade ago, the way the incident has rumoured to have occurred was the only fear I had about the ride. I can't remember (yet) what made me think that it was a possibility (one reason why I haven't mentioned it in the past few days) but everytime I rode the ride since, I always prepared myself for such an incident. I didn't ask DW the possibility of it occurring as my faith in their safety standards was very high. The possibility of it occurring also seemed too obvious to me that I assumed manufacturers noticed the possibility too & put some sort of prevention mechanism to avoid it occurring (like a computer algorithm that stops the conveyor belt if the unload station is occupied for unusually too long). All theme park rides have these sorts of prevention mechanisms (like rollercoaster block brakes) so I believed Thunder River Rapids was the same particularly since I didn't know what mechanics could be located underwater - this is what probably heightened my fear as I couldn't see any underwater prevention mechanics for myself particularly with the water pumps operating right next to the unload station. There were also other reasons why I didn't ask DW. It is kind of haunting me that one of the only fears I have had about a theme park ride has actually occurred. Media Report Clarification:

I think those flowers were mulched and incorporated into a new memorial garden. DW could possibly do the same.

Here we go again...The Sydney Morning Herald: The ride referred to is the Flowrider. I wish someone on Parkz could find the 100+ page document from Workplace Health and Safety Queensland that is the source of all these incidents to the media. It would be an interesting read and allow us to confirm the severity of these reported incidents. Amongst other incidents already mentioned, according to The Australian, the document also does: Back to The Sydney Morning Herald article - DW must be so over all the media inquiries they are getting about past incidents now particularly when they have to remind the media that counselling is still ongoing: This quote from the same article is interesting (if true): The Sun has done an article on past DW incidents too - probably the 1st international publication to do so. Whilst pointing out they are unrelated to DW, they also mention The Smiler incident as well as roller-coaster fatalities from around the world in past years. I'll just leave this article here. And I'm unfamiliar with Thunder River Rapids' operational rules but could this Daily Mail article be classified as sensationalised or an actual breach of operational rules? It doesn't look like much in itself & DW might have more specific rules but DW's Thunder River Rapids webpage does clearly say maximum 6 people per ride. At least there is one unsensationalised non-theme park media news article....

Today's ASX release from Ardent Leisure said:

Like discussed earlier in this thread, it seems in 1986, Thunder River Rapids was built by Dreamworld & externally contracted engineers including Masterglass, who built the original rafts. Since then, Intamin has supposedly helped in installing a ride computer as well as provided new rafts, spare parts & manuals so the ride can work in conjunction with the new features supposedly from Intamin. I'm not sure now if it is the same story or 2 stories being mixed together but The Guardian article I referred to earlier (about air compressors) is probably what you are referring to.

Regarding the ASX, Ardent Leisure's share price did drop even further today and can now be considered a significant drop (yesterday was an 8% drop - today a 15% drop) as it is now out of trend with the share prices of the past 2 years. There is a possibility the share price will drop even further in the coming days. Also, everyone should note tomorrow is Ardent Leisure's Annual General Meeting - no doubt something will be done to acknowledge the Thunder River Rapids incident. Apart from that, the main point of interest in tomorrow's AGM is a potential name change in the Group from Ardent Leisure to Main Event Entertainment. Village Roadshow's share price also dropped today by 4% - whilst it could be linked to DW's incident, it is not that as significant a drop. And from The Sydney Morning Herald: ...and The Guardian: Also, some notes about earlier posts: Just to add some clarification, their complaint was unrelated to Thunder River Rapids. I believe it was just with issues related to general park operations which may have involved some rides but not Thunder River Rapids. Nevertheless, the timing of the Australian Workers Union expressing this to the media is suspicious. Like others have said, if it was really high risk, they would've brought it up to the media immediately ages ago. Can someone clarify whether this is a 1 day only opening or will it be open everyday after Friday? I'm reading it as only opening on the Friday for the Memorial Day but will close again until further notice after the Memorial Day finishes but I feel the media etc. are interpreting it as 'normal operations have resumed'.

That one is not the media saying it. I read that article a while ago - it is a concerned father who is saying that & he is not blaming the velcro straps. He was just pointing out that he feels the velcro straps are ineffective when they become wet & that he thinks the velcro straps don't secure infants in their seat well enough.

Regarding the Intamin or not issue, I think Thunder River Rapids was built in-house while Intamin has helped with improvements & maintenance of the ride since then such as installing a computer, providing new rafts & spare parts and manuals so the ride can work in conjunction with these new features. Simply, judging from the information I read so far, I think Intamin is involved with the ride but they were not involved in any way back in 1986 and they might be using that fact to distance themselves from it. In the end, time will tell - there will be a huge investigation after all. @AllegroCrab, I was looking at old newspaper articles from the Sydney Morning Herald when Luna Park Sydney's Ghost Train caught on fire. It mentioned briefly (without sensationalising) at the end of one of the articles that the Big Dipper crashed and injured 13 people 2 months prior (similar to The Smiler incident but injuries were not as bad & the cause was different) but there was no sensationalised reporting in the rest of that day's newspaper or in the days afterwards. Just compare that with the articles I've posted - 1 serious rollercoaster crash from 1979 2 months prior at the same park vs lists of endless minor incidents (most reported incorrectly) spanning 15 years from multiple parks that are owned by separate companies! The media reports I've posted just show how desperate the media are in trying to remain relevant in today's society where there are more informed (like Parkz) and quicker (like Facebook) sources of information. The 24 hour news cycle (which started in 1980 - 1 year after the Ghost Train fire - with the introduction of CNN), to the media, requires new news instantly as a means of getting viewers/readers (by being 'first!') and in turn, revenue. Not surprisingly, this leads to lower journalistic integrity. It just shows how different the world is between 1979 & 2016.

I noticed Parkz database also says: ...while also saying Intamin is the total manufacturer. Is the 'manual' just for the rafts or for the total ride? They don't. @www worker 2.0 was making a joke.

I was reading this NBC article because of the Parkz reference but according to it, Intamin didn't build Thunder River Rapids?: @www worker 2.0, who is right? NBC/Intamin or Parkz/Dreamworld?

The helicopter crash didn't involve any fatalities.

Now the Sydney Morning Herald... ...and even the ABC!

Now news.com.au is doing a story focusing more on recent comments of concern to DW's Facebook page as well as writing lists of incidents that happened mainly at agricultural shows & fetes (yes, you read that right). At least, the list included Luna Park Sydney's 1979 Ghost Train incident. It was interesting reading in that same article that a US Olympic gold medallist was on Thunder River Rapids shortly before the incident occurred. news.com.au are also saying Nine News reported earlier today that Thunder River Rapids was closed earlier in the day & drained completely at one point as a result of the need for that temporary closure. They even refer to Parkz's review of Thunder River Rapids at one point. I also don't like how the media are making out that Thunder River Rapids's listing as a 'moderate thrill' ride as something that is inaccurate. Thrill level does not equate to chances of injury or death.

This is the story I was referring to but it is from Nine News Brisbane (it is an 'extended version' to the one I saw - more incidents than what was reported on Nine News Sydney but it is edited differently at times - very minor changes though - and has a different reporter/script):

I can also still see Thunder River Rapids on that webpage?

I can't see this on DW's maintenance webpage. It has no 'maintenance' for Thunder River Rapids but (I don't know if this has been on DW's maintenance webpage all afternoon) it does say: Like I posted earlier, it is closed until Thursday morning at least.

Dreamworld's website home page now: See my post above. See this post I made - it actually was literally less than 4 hours after the incident - not days/weeks - before scrutiny happened. Even if it did 'plummet' like you say, it is no higher than what the share price was 2 years ago - which has remained roughly the same since and after the incident. Any 'plummet' would have to be way worse to have such an effect on the park's finances. Given trading finished a couple of hours ago and the incident occurred close to end of trade, expect any real effect of the incident on the sharemarkets to occur tomorrow.

I don't understand that - clipped on the way down yet needs meshing above the riders? I'm also reading news reports that Ardent's share price has dropped heaps as a result of this incident but after looking at the ASX, it is not a significant drop so ignore those reports. After reading all posts so far, I don't think this has been posted from Ardent Leisure's ASX announcement regarding the incident:

I read this in an IAAPA article on permanent panic rooms a while ago: Remember, MW's panic rooms are temporary so operators won't be as flexible in extending time in the room/providing hints.

Thanks for embedding that photo! I looked for a photo but couldn't find one clear enough. It definitely looks identical (minus the hand)!

That's what I thought?

Nine News Sydney are really giving it to the Gold Coast theme parks sadly - a story dedicated to nearly all previous incidents in ALL Gold Coast theme parks from pyrotechnic mishaps to minor ride malfuncations to passengers misbehaving on the rides. They reported in 1998 a piece of metal fell from the Giant Drop - is that true?

Press Conference Live (now finished)

Due to cost, I also doubt it will be the longest rollercoaster ever (my current guess is 1.9km after all) but in general, the rollercoaster's construction site size doesn't necessarily equate to the rollercoaster's length. The more complex the rollercoaster can be in that site, the longer the rollercoaster can be. Example: Alton Towers' The Smiler. It's 14 inversions gives it a length of 1,170 metres yet is only on approximately 6,000 square metres of land. MW's rollercoaster construction site currently (that is, excluding any track going over the swamp) is approximately 24,000 square metres in size.