Spotty
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Posts posted by Spotty
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33 minutes ago, djrappa said:
Scooby is very reliable but there is just no way you can have what is essentially a high speed dark ride with so many blocks and cars and not have ride stoppages. Look at something like Space Mountain... same deal. Scooby's problem is it's non proportional fiction brakes which are not good at accounting for wear and car weight. So most of your faults are gonna be due to overspeed or stopping distance too long.
Yeah this is what was causing most of the faults when I was there... delays in the station causing stacking in the dark ride or the lift / turntable faulting out. 99% of the time that was what it was... or idiots misbehaving
I will admit in the last few years from what I have heard it's become a lot less touchy than when I was working there. Either that or it didn't like me -
6 hours ago, joz said:
Just on DCR, does it ever break down? I'm in the area a bit and I always see it going? Aside from a few minor things during the soft opening I haven't heard anything either
Never heard of any downtime myself... Seems Mack has got a lot more reliable since the Scooby Doo days haha. I still have nightmares of that bloody Fault light
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Yeah, I was very happy and excited to have one of my supervisors when I was working there telling me that he was going to Dubai to work at Waterworld with his wife. Have recently been in contact again and just keep hearing great things about the place. It did surprise me how many VRTP people over the years have gone over there haha.
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Wet Dreams? I remember that was a name that was thrown around for laughs back when the park was first announced...
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Yeah... you would think with two major rides closed they would want to be increasing the capacity a little bit especially on a weekend. Also seems to be a rather new (if not bizarre procedure) that you can't request to wait for the front row after 4:30pm anymore. I can understand once the park is closed and your down to the last few trains saying no because last thing you want is people asking to wait for the front row and having to run multiple otherwise empty trains.
I thought that it was a very strange procedure and IMO one that is just stupid. But hey, VRL are known for their operations... -
I feel similar TBH. I've never been that interested in golf personally, but I have friends that are so hey I'd likely give it a shot. Considering it's owned by VRTP and they are likely (hopefully) to offer some incentives to pass holders I see it as a chance to try it after a day at the parks with friends. And who knows I may end up liking golfing in the end and go back.
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I personally really liked the Walking Dead, Film Vault and Wyrmwood mazes the most out of all the years. They had IMO a combination of the best sets, and scares that Fright Night's have produced.
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They have been there for over a year... Just saying
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The one that was on the Gold Coast travel centre was a R50 model (50m tall) and not the R60 model like the Wheel of Brisbane and Sea World Eye. The one that used to be on the Gold Coast was actually the unit that was sent to Perth and was owned by World Tourist Attractions and only had 36 gondola's vs the 42 on the Brisbane / Sea World one.
The Sea World Eye was actually originally from London as the "Wheel of Birmingham" and was relocated to Sea World in 2006 after being brought by World Tourist Attractions and leased to Sea World. After all the issues with Sea World that particular wheel didn't operate in Australia again. We have had 3 Bussnik wheel's in Australia in total. 2 of the R60's (Brisbane and Sea World) and a R50 model which was the Gold Coast one later transported to Perth. The only model left is now the one in Brisbane. There was also another wheel that operated in Perth for a while which was a Mondial unit (SkyView) hope this answers your questions
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...funny thing about that. I call complete BS on the "Extreme" incident. The ride wouldn't start anyway without the harnesses down and locked in. Yes someone may have "forgot" to check the harness was locked in place but I seriously doubt that. I have full faith in the rides safety systems working, and it was shown that there was nothing wrong with the ride. WorkSafe even cleared it to operate and no faults were found at all with the SkyWalker but the decision was still made to close the ride.
As far as your comment on age of the operators, no different to the theme parks. They would be over the age of 18. Having personally worked for the company who owns the attraction I can vouch for them that staff training is second to none (same with the other carnival operators I have worked for in the past, and the theme parks for that matter)
As far as SkyWalkers harnesses go, yes they do loosen ever so slightly as the ride cycle goes. But most rides actually do loosen ever so slightly. Hell even the Wipeout at Dreamworld does as well. It's why they staple you in so much to allow for that minuscule amount. I'd say what's likely to have happened is just that... the harness loosened ever so slightly, someone freaked out and the operators likely shrugged it off (which IMO they shouldn't have... even if they explained what I did to the customer, or at least acted concerned) because they know what the ride does and knows what the harnesses do.
Kinda stupid if you ask me... -
1:30pm now, still no movement as far as operations. At this stage might be better off another day at this stage
And we are open
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12:40pm and we have movement on the ride. Hopefully not too long until it opens.
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1 hour ago, JaggedJanine said:
My first ride on this was backwards. Definitely a must do. It does feel a lot more smoother going forwards though especially at the front of the train as you aren't just being flung around at the tail end through the tight corners. I could only do backwards twice before calling it quits due to it giving me a headache. The bunny hops are the end are awesome going backwards, as is the ascent to the top. Looking out over to the Batwing, you can definitely see that you are just above it as you reach the top of the lift hill. Definitely recommend going backwards for your first time on it as it makes it a bit more thrilling when you cannot see what it coming up.
Nice shot of @Slick there!
Saw myself on there as well... right in front of Slick in the green shirt paying for backwards. Totally recommend going backwards first as well!
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Was on the back row on the 4th train... and holy crap it was amazing. Then later on got the front row... was awesome too. Then went in row 10 (last forward row) and the airtime was just insane. Hands down the best coaster i've been on, and great job to Village Roadshow. Greg looked happy operating it today haha.
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I was allowed on Pandamonium, Tailspin, Claw and Motocoaster with blindfolds. Wasn't allowed on Hot Wheels, Giant Drop or Buzzsaw... so don't see how you had any issues?
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And staff DO have evacuation drills on at least a weekly basis. When I worked at VRL each ride was on a rotation for an evacuation drill once the park closed (say for example... Scooby was on Mondays and Wednesdays, west was on Tuesdays, Superman on Fridays etc). It is one thing I will more than happily speak volumes of and commend VRL when I worked there, and that was the training. Just to be signed off on scooby I had 2x morning sessions of 3 hours just doing evacuation drills, as well as a whole day (8am - 6pm) of training with another cast member before being signed off to operate the ride as well as regular refresher days.
IMO this licensing stuff is complete BS and isn't needed, constant training and monitoring however is and from my personal experience isn't an issue in the slightest at least with VRL. I can't comment on Ardent's training as I have not worked for them, but I'm fairly sure it would be pretty darn similar.
Also, the main people behind the control panels are actually supervisors and as Greg Yong stated in a video that all of the supervisors have been in the business for at least 12-24 months. They are all trained as cast members on each attraction they are signed off on first, before being allowed behind the main controls so they know all the in's and outs. I can sort of see why a license could be beneficial for them... but honestly, with the right training (which they receive) it's still IMO redundant. Just another way for the govt. to make even more money.-
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I thought it was "chain links, fog machines and strobes - the experience" this year. Oh wait, that was 2006 at Dreamworld
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Looking forward to trying out the beast when I go to the EKKA this year. And of course Skywalker. Might have to pop in and say hi
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I think I did like 100+ rides on Superman: Escape on opening weekend. Back when they had 4 loaders, 2 unloaders, 2x entry hosts and a sorter... Most of the opening crew staff knew me by name... ah how it was to be 15
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AusFun is TPA shows. Same unit as well, several years ago there was a trucking accident involving the Crazy Coaster. As far as i'm aware a few parts needed to be replaced but not 100% certain. After this the whole unit was repainted, but we only have the one unit in Australia
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I will admit, I was very glad to see the operations side of things running very smoothly. Arkham had 2 loaders and a dedicated VR staff member. Superman was running 2 trains (which normally from after xmas holidays until Fright Nights it used to be 1 train operation only), Green lantern running with 2 loaders, sorter and an entry host. Same with Scooby as well. Staff were on the ball and despite a few technical difficulties (Scooby and Superman both went down on the Saturday) they were all doing a great job.
Was happy that the rides were kept open till 6pm as well which made for some great night riding on Superman with no wait for the front row. Overall I thought the parade was alright, it was good to see so many roving characters around as well and for a first attempt it was good but if it becomes a yearly thing I would hope that the standard would improve over time. But for a first run, credit where credit is due -
Would keep going i'm fairly sure. Lately i've been having the audio working approx 3/4 of the time on GL. Still wish they would get the audio going on Hot Wheels again though.
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With Bermuda if i'm not mistaken during the construction of Jet Rescue they damaged the gas pipe that powered the fire effects. Considering i'd say they likely knew that Bermuda was going to be replaced soon (even a few years is "soon" in theme parks where they likely have plans years in advance) and the sheer cost of replacing it for a relatively short period of time didn't seem worthwhile to them.
I guess it sort of makes sense given how much money Sea Viper / Corkscrew was costing to maintain in it's later years and they likely decided to keep that attraction running at whatever cost for as long as possible and sadly Bermuda suffered.
Does anyone know if El Loco at Adventuredome has the audio working consistently as it would be a very similar system to what GL uses. Just wondering if it's isolated to just the lantern or possibly a crappy design by S+S
I will admit in the last few years from what I have heard it's become a lot less touchy than when I was working there. Either that or it didn't like me 
Theme Park Maintenance Schedules 2017
in Theme Park Discussion
Posted
Yeah... I am still traumatised by that lift!!! The amount of times I had nearly fallen asleep up there haha... until one day I got a VERY rude awakening to a big huntsman falling on my head! Considering I have a huge fear of spiders I didn't work west for several weeks after that haha