Spotty
-
Posts
2,005 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
28
Posts posted by Spotty
-
-
2 minutes ago, jhunt2 said:
Valid point when it comes to why it isn't in operation now, but I said I don't understand why they wouldn't bring it back, not why they haven't. I completely understand the reasons behind the current closure.
Whether bringing it back entails a complete replacement, or new trains on the same track, or a different form of transport ride, or just a minor renovation, I can't see any reason that demolishing a full circuit of monorail track would be more financially viable in the medium-term than spending a bit of money on getting it operating again. It's obviously not a drawcard attraction in itself, but it does make the entire resort function much more effectively.
But no one has actually confirmed that it's NOT coming back. Not officially anyway so it still could be for all we know.
-
39 minutes ago, jhunt2 said:
I really don't understand why they wouldn't bring it back. It links the resort and the rest of the park nicely, it's a good ride to get a scenic view of the park. They could maybe add another station around New Atlantis and that would bring the whole thing together as a brilliant transport ride. It's sad to see it in this state but the fact that it's still there gives me hope that they've got plans.
Because the cost to maintain it in its current state is too expensive and was too expensive as parts were very hard to get. Then covid happened and they were spending truckloads on Atlantis, and the delays cost even more money. Combine that with the fact that most manufacturers have a multi-year wait for new rides... yeah that's why they aren't bringing it back. Even if they were to, they would likely be waiting a few years at least before they can even start building a replacement so no point removing it until that time comes sadly.
I remain hopeful that in the future they add something to replace it, but I don't think we will for a few years yet. At least not until after WOO and Scooby have been finished at Movie World. -
Sky Voyager running 2 out of the 6 cars isn't the end of the world. Often when it's off peak they will only run the lower level instead of the top level. One of the perks I guess of the ride gondola's being independent is that if one of them faults (depending on the fault) the rest of the ride can still operate. Either way hopefully it's fixed soon
-
Yikes... the whole watch breaking thing seems like total BS that it happened. If that had been me as the staff member I would have been more than happy to put it in the basket that glasses etc go in. A watch is normally worn on a wrist, so the fact that it broke is NOT the guests fault at all. Sadly seems like the operator was either on a power trip or having a very bad day. Sadly it's becoming more and more frequent from what I have heard from friends who have visited the properties in the last few months.
I really do hope management reads these sort of things and takes a long hard look about what its doing to their brand before it's too late...
-
1
-
-
2 hours ago, rappa said:
And to be fair that was really version 2.5 after Next Gen was terrible, there was a change in GM and some effort was made to make it a bit better.
Ah yes... Scooby Doo Spooky Coaster, Next, Next Gen.
As trashy as it was for a while, I kinda did like "Shed: The ride" as something a little bit different lol -
Just now, DaptoFunlandGuy said:
Yes. Right now.
Not in whatever timeline we're working on where it should have been september, then Summer 2023, then April and now the equivalent of 'in the coming weeks'.
Clearly they've had a problem commissioning it. the fact that they built it, then pulled half of it down only to put it up again a few days later shows that something didn't go the way it should have. They've proceeded with this project making a lot of assumptions and the changed dates prove that they got them wrong.
They would have done better commissioning a brand new flat ride, or bringing in a trailer mounted travelling ride to alleviate movie world's capacity issues. It has now officially been one year since Scooby Doo went down for this extended rehab - and we don't even have an opening date for Flash - (something we had last year, though it has now come and gone) and Flash is something that we've all agreed was most likely something they did to boost the park's capacity issues while Scoob was down.
At this rate, Scoob will open before Flash does.
In before Jungle Rush opens first...
-
19 minutes ago, aaronm said:
The broken mirror turntable makes zero sense in the context of the ride. Rides shouldn’t rely on people having seen a low-budget sequel to be coherent.
I was taking about the original mirrors... not the train wreck that next gen was. There was only ONE good thing that came out of next gen, and that was the upgrade to the laser show but other than that... yeah no.
-
1
-
-
8 hours ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:
Considering by all accounts this was supposed to come into the park to alleviate the pressure felt by the loss of Scooby (lol) Scooby is going to reopen before this thing does.
Should have just sent it to Sea World.
Before Atlantis opened I would have said yes to this but Movie World -really- needs the capacity boost (even if it's a small boost) right now. I think Sea World actually has one of the more rounded attractions lists for the Gold Coast parks right now. That's assuming that Trident is actually open...
-
On 22/1/2024 at 10:00 PM, aaronm said:
I hope someone from VRTP has visited Prater and tried out Insider. The absolute gold standard of how to theme an indoor mouse, no unnecessary weird mirrors, broken screens, mistimed audio or other gimmicks, just a very well thought-out series of lights, plenty of fog, and a banging soundtrack. It really shouldn’t be too hard to get right.
Thing is... the Mirrors actually work well, as it causes the lights to bounce off it and fill the room up more. Scooby opened with just a simple green and red laser set up, smoke machines and mirrors and it worked incredibly well.
-
I don't think it will be a simulator, purely because running a ride like that requires lots of staff... and that is something that Village really doesn't like spending money on. As far as timelines go, I'd say they will keep Doomsday till 2026 which is when it comes up to its 10 year strip down. If they decide to keep it after that, they are honestly incredibly stupid.
As much as a Gyro Swing would be a good fit (size wise) for the area, I really hope they don't go down that route however another flat ride is really needed purely for the capacity and for something that isn't a roller coaster. I don't think Wild West Fall's days are numbered just yet as someone mentioned, but maybe when it's time for the next 10 year rebuild they may decide to go with something new in that space. Really, I think what Movie World needs to round out the park is another 2-3 flat rides, a decent family high capacity ride (Potentially a replacement for JL in 5-10 years), an overhaul of the kids rides and another thrill coaster to replace Green Lantern when the time comes. For coasters they have most of the categories filled (Thrill: DC Rivals, Superman, Green Lantern and Flash. Family: Scooby, Wizard of Oz coasters, Kids: Road Runner).-
2
-
-
19 minutes ago, STRAWS said:
Let's just say they did get rid of the Green Lantern ride Is the next ride they put in going to be themed Green Lantern or would they change it? theoretical question what do you guys think.
They wouldn't build another ride themed to a ride they just replaced. That would just be silly
-
1
-
-
5 hours ago, CR4ZE said:
Neither Doomsday nor GL or on their "last legs" per se. Village could keep them both going for a while; it's simply a case of whether the operational costs are worth the effort. In the former's case, probably not; it's a pretty unpopular ride at the best of times, and they could've made a much better effort with making the area worthwhile to spend time in.
I'd say Doomsday is on its last legs, given it can not operate the way it's meant to without being even more of a problem than it is. I'd say Green Lantern's days are numbered as well, but not to the extent of Doomsday. I'd say once Scooby, WOO and Flash opens, they will look at a replacement for Doomsday that will take up that space and the space that the Showcase takes up as that will be able to connect the western area to the Wizard of Oz / Superman area quite nicely. Once that is done, I'd say Green Lantern or maybe Superman will be the next ride to go. I only say Superman because the Hydraulic Launch coasters are harder to get parts.
Really I'd say Doomsday has 2 - 3 years tops (maybe even less) and Green Lantern has 3-5 years left in her.
-
1
-
-
5 minutes ago, Ashley Jeffery said:
So no screamin swing then ? ☹
Doubt it very much so, S+S really left a sour taste in the park's mouth. I doubt Dreamworld will touch them either given that the current management team were at Movie World when those rides were brought.
-
3
-
-
I will also tell you right now Village will not work with S+S again after all the issues they have had with Green Lantern. Even Batwing had lots of issues when it first opened up. As much as I'd love a free spin and I think it would be a great replacement, I don't see it happening. The only way it "might" happen would be S+S giving them a very big discount due to all the issues it's had but I doubt it.
-
1
-
-
On 15/1/2024 at 8:56 AM, DaptoFunlandGuy said:
Yeah I imagine if Village was going to cut a hole in the load station wall facing the old Arkham entrance to have unload occur on the same platform as load, they'd probably get intamin in to do some reprogramming of the PLC. So you'd program out that heart attack as if you're going to stop in unload to undo all the seatbelts you're kinda defeating the purpose.
That would work in theory... if Intamin still supported the model. They basically don't really want anything to do with the Hydraulic launches anymore, as seen with TTD2 and the one going to Playland in Canada. It's a shame as the smaller ones are actually fairly reliable, with Superman not really having any major downtime issues in its lifetime. I don't see Village wanting to spend any major money on the ride system in its current incarnation. I'd say in the next 5-10 years (once it hits 20 years, like Scooby, West and Road Runner) if they decide to keep Superman around it may get a similar LSM conversion like the other Hydraulic's are having.
it's one of the older hydraulic launches too, with only Xcelerator, Storm Runner, Rita, Kannoen (now in the US) and Kingda Ka being older than it. I'd say Superman likely would only have a few more years before Village has to decide what to do with it. I'd say after Wizard of Oz and Scooby re-open's, Superman will be the next ride they really look into its future with. Unless they finally decide to put Doomsday or GL out of its misery. At least Green Lantern is a good ride, when it works.-
1
-
-
21 hours ago, CR4ZE said:
Makes sense but even if Village wanted to do that, I don't know that the automated systems would allow for it. I imagine the train physically can't enter the load station with the restraints down.
The ride can, as long as the seatbelts are undone as the ride detects if the seatbelts are open or not. If the train comes into the load platform with a seatbelt done up the seat can not be used as the system basically has a heart attack if it's opened up again. No idea why it does this, but yeah... really annoying if the unloader forgets to undo a empty seat and it comes into the load station locked... especially if the group is already sorted.
-
15 minutes ago, New display name said:
Biggest fear with this ride is, The Flash joins the list of MW's unreliable rides.
It wasn't too bad at Wet n Wild. It was just closed for half the year because the whole park was pretty much dead... although having water blasting at it constantly in its earlier years probably didn't help it too much. The SurfRider models in general don't seem to have many reliability issues, and anything's better than Doomsday.
-
4 hours ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:
I've observed some ops that are just clearly dead inside. I often wonder whether it's the idiot guests or the draconian management and company culture, but it matters not. it happens. you have to hire the right person to work in a theme park. When you aren't attracting the right people, you're not offering enough, and you end up settling for bums on seats, so to speak.
But i've also observed some ops who absolutely bust a gut to deliver the best guest experience they can. they are shining stars in a sea of darkness. A long time ago I stopped offering negative feedback about poor experiences with cast members as I just couldn't be sure I knew what that person was going through that day. Instead, I try to make an effort to identify anyone who is delivering a great experience, and I offer a cast compliment whenever I can to recognise them. Disney makes it easy as you can do it there and then on their app. I try to stop into guest services on the GC on my way out to offer the same sort of feedback, but i'm not sure what they do with it. Hopefully those cast are recognised or rewarded in some way, though clearly it is not enough of an incentive to revive the others back from the dead.
Not sure if they still do it, but back in the 2000's Village Roadshow had what was called a "Shining star" program. If good feedback was received about a staff member, or a supervisor noticed something out of the ordinary you would be given one. You could accrue them over the year towards prizes and whoever got the most in a year actually got a pretty decent prize. One of the years the winner got a 7 night cruise for 2 people.
One of the really good ones I received was a guest provided feedback about me on an attraction to guest services. A few days later I got the feedback in writing from the attractions supervisor as well as a thank you note from John Menzies (CEO at the time) as well as 2 of these "shining stars" and a $50 voucher for lunch in the staff cafe (meals were about $3.00 back then, so that was a decent amount of lunches). Little things like that really did boost morale, but I'm not sure if this is still done.
Dreamworld used to have a similar thing called "dream dollars" which would randomly be given to guests coming into the park. They were encouraged to hand them to staff members who went above and beyond. Similar thing, you collect them to trade in for prizes.
-
3
-
-
1 hour ago, New display name said:
The item might have been stuffed into a pocket and the operator had no idea the person was carrying a loose item.
If I had $1 for each time someone tried to do that when I worked at MW... I'd be rich. And if I got $1 for each time I spotted someone trying to do it... and then made them leave the line and put it in a locker and then re-join the line... I'd be even richer lol. Especially if I was at Superman entry and they tried to tell me they had nothing in their pockets... and then I got switched to load / sort and after they waited an hour and they ended up with something in their pockets... you can bet I wasn't letting them come back to the front of the line once they had given it to a non rider or in a locker.
"I told you so..."
-
1
-
-
6 hours ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:
I am aware that GC based ride operators will have a conversation with a guest if they are wearing anything for religious reasons (i've seen it occur in both parks). The conversation is discreet, and asks the guest to ensure it is secured adequately for the ride experience, and this should be sufficient... I'm sure someone like Spotty could elaborate further.
I can confirm there are procedures in place for sensitive topics such as this. For rides with an entry host, the entry host would generally explain to them the rules for each ride. Otherwise the operator would. The general rule of thumb is that it needs to be tucked in if non removable (hijab etc). However if it is unable to be tucked in and is deemed too long or too much of a risk they will be declined the option to ride.
It's very uncommon for an operator to reject a rider for this, and I only personally had to do it twice as it was an exceptionally long one and the guest refused to even tuck it in or secure it in a way that wasn't a risk. The operators will do what they can to ensure guest comfort as well as safety is ensured but sometimes it's just not possible. If it's anything around the neck it's a no go, but for the most part Hijabs, turbans and burka's tend to be okay as they are around the head mores and less likely to get lodged in a wheel assembly.
A scarf 100% shouldn't have been permitted on the ride though, but without actually knowing exactly what kind of scarf it was or the full circumstances it's hard to really say what happened. But at the end of the day, the operators are only human and sometimes things do get missed. At least in the end it was handled well and no one was hurt.
-
1 hour ago, Baconjack said:
As pointed out by other people waiting more than 2 hours for tower of terror was normal 10 years ago. Same goes for Superman before Rivals got built
I can tell you right now 10 years ago a 2 hour line for Superman Escape during peak time was pretty much un-heard of. Unless the ride was running 1 train for whatever reason. When I was working there the line would maybe max out at 75 mins with a full queue building. However staffing was much better back then (2 loaders, 1 unloader, entry host and a sorter). It also helped having decent supervisors and staff to work with that actually encouraged and rewarded staff to increase efficiency (gift vouchers for the crew that could get the most numbers through a ride in a day, as well as other challenges).
Oh how the times seem to have changed. I still remember I think the record that we got on Superman when I was working was on a fright nights with 2 trains was 32 dispatches in a hour and each train was fully loaded which is 640 a hour. You'd probably be lucky to get 20 - 25 dispatches a hour with 2 trains these days now. The rides are more than capable of the capacity, it's just the staff / management don't seem to have any sense of urgency. Ride reliability would play a -small- party in dispatch times but not much. I'm not even going think about the numbers that Wild West Falls could pump through with a good crew before the ride was butchered. (approx 800 a hour with 13 boats and a sorter). Scooby was similar too.I really hope that management wake up and realise how bad things are getting and do something about it sooner than later.
-
2
-
1
-
-
On 20/12/2023 at 11:28 AM, New display name said:
The Trident became a bad idea, the day SW cheaped-out and went a fair model.
Some of the fairground models are alright (like the Zamperla one that is often seen at the major shows). The biggest issue was they went with SBF Visa... not exactly the best manufacturer around.
-
Given this was from 2019... fairly sure a lot of this stuff was actually cancelled.
-
12 minutes ago, Whombex said:
I don't get it - what about their post made you lol?
Anyway, I've joined SDSC's queue in the past with no staff at the entry point.That's really strange that there was no entry host at the entrance. They are meant to have one at all times unless they were behind the bench where the CCTV monitor was. Very odd.
Sea World Monorail removed from website and park map
in Theme Park Discussion
Posted
I'm not trying to argue with you, and I'm sorry if that's how it came across. I've just seen so many people posting like it's gospel that it's not coming back when there has actually been no confirmation of that. I really would hope that if they did replace it and it followed a similar layout that a station would be added near the Atlantis area. It would be downright insane if they didn't, but the question is where would it go. I think adding another ride or 2 to that location (and to the flume site) would be great as all the rides could be in a central area with a monorail station at either side of it.
I will admit that most of the modern monorail manufacturers rolling stock looks ugly as all hell, especially the modern Intamin ones. There is just something about the Von Roll units that looked timeless and actually still quite sleek even by todays standards.