DaptoFunlandGuy

As I recall - the very first episode was Jon re-hiring a driver he fired six months prior... so it seems there are second chances when Jon's in the shitter...

Yeah - considering the episode showing HHA getting certified Tier 1 took up the whole episode, I don't think Jon Kelly would tolerate any of his staff flouting WH&S regulations...

That's one way to look at it Kev - i think some of the comments come from the fact that no other park employees seem to be having the same trouble...

Actually a break would be worth far less as bones are easy to fix by immobilisation. Soft tissue, tendon and muscle damage is far harder to repair, and much more painful.

I'm curious how well the floats etc hold up when they're saturated?

^as well as on top of the justice league store...

can't wait to give that a go...

the figure may include medical costs etc. I've had an RSI wrist injury (Think they call it OOS now) covered by workcover. Between physiotherapy, medical specialists, MRI scans, as well as claim for time off work to attend tests and appointments, those bills rack up easily. What some people don't know is doctors, hospitals, radiology and physiotherapists charge more for a workcover claim.... not because it's gouging a captive market (*cough) but because the work that goes into workcover claims on the paperwork side - writing reports, finding liability etc takes time... the 300,000 figure sounds a lot more like a 'total settlement' rather than just pure cash compensation. If she's been out of work for the time it's taken for this to get this far, she'll probably lose a fair chunk of the 'cash' component in paying back Centrelink.

welcome to the forums danny i think it is wonderful that you took your fiance to carnivale i'm sure movie world put on a hell of a show for you guys they generally do a really good job every time they put on one of these night events i also think its really cool that you used absolutely no punctuation whatsoever because it makes it really easy to read it all in one go

Actually, for a brand new park with the quality level of attractions they have, I'm surprised at how low their ticketing was. I don't want to start a big discussion on WNWS ticketing - it's been done - but the simple fact is that despite half of western Sydney proclaiming 'we won't go at that price - we'll go to Jamberoo' the park's debut season was an oversold success... and thats because the park panicked, and started offering Buy 3 get one free (including to people who had already bought and paid for it!). They've had their introductory season. it's time for them to put the price up a little (and pick up their game on food price and quality - they've got to improve on one or the other at the least). It's time they recognised that they are not on the gold coast fighting for market share with 5 other parks. They're in a league of their own and Jamberoo does not compete purely because of distance. They can set the rules. They can charge whatever they want and people will pay it (Regardless of what the Shalvey Mother's Club Association has to say about it)... they can have a 'coupon day' or something. Doing this solves the 'overcrowding' issues they've experienced as well.

Of course they were extreme examples.... because the idea that Dreamworld would be reducing the speed of a ride for reasons of safety - when other rides of the exact same type around the world continue to operate at the higher designed speed (including in far more litigious jurisdictions) is an extreme idea. The cost cutting makes perfect sense. And i'm sure limiting openclose times in things like rapids, autos, etc would fly with most guests - they're not exactly flagship attractions, and most people wouldn't care if it were open on one day or the other. (ok they'd care but few would have a cry about missing a ride in a lawnmower). I'm sure in it's current position the Antique Autos don't get a lot of love at all... which is why DW have been reducing it's operating hours, including not running them midweek. Same for the train - it doesn't really serve it's purpose as a 'transport method' (thanks Noxegon) which is hence why they get away with operating it in the sporadic nature that they do. But... Can you imagine the uproar if the "Big 47" didn't open until later, or closed earlier than the rest of the park? I mean - Wonderland used to delay Goldrush opening until an hour after the park opened, which was designed to stagger maintenance shifts to ensure Bush Beast was ready to open on time... but short of opening it an hour later than the rest of the park (wouldn't that please everyone?) can you imagine if they closed it earlier than the park did? (And do you really think if they did that, they'd speed it back up? Or continue to run it slowly to save even more?) You can run low-popularity attractions on a shared-operations schedule. One ride-op, two rides, and they alternate every hour (it won't make you popular on these forums, but you can do it). This saves costs - but it's wage costs saved, not operations costs. On average, the rides would probably still run as many times as they would if they both had staff - they'd just run less frequently per hour throughout the whole day, rather than more frequently for an hour and then nothing. But you can't do that with your "Big 98". That's what you market yourself on. To have those closed will earn you a poor reputation. So - you run them in such a way as to reduce the operation and maintenance cost. Run them slower to save power, wear and tear. Use more 'economical' cycle programs for rides with variable programs like Wipeout. Reduce the actual cycle time from say 3 minutes to 90 seconds. Who would notice? Who carries a radar gun on ToT with them? Who starts their stopwatch when the ride starts? very few... and even fewer would have the 'previous data' to compare it to to confirm if there actually was a difference in time. I appreciate you're looking for other plausible explanations but you're wasting your time. Dreamworld are not running a ride slower for safety. They're doing it because it costs less money, both in power and in maintenance, and most people wouldn't notice the difference.

Well the Justice League store has Superman, Batman, Green Lantern.... somebody better tell the park they aren't allowed to have him appear in more than one place at the same time...

I don't think you'd get Ardent and VRTP agreeing to staggered closures like that - they'd effectively be 'agreeing' to share market share. Disney and Knott's did back in the day based on friendships between Walt and Walter. as they were both "family" owned and operated - whereas neither of our parks are. That said - if one of them went that way, the other would probably recognise the financial savings of closing on the same day as they wouldn't lose their market share to the competitor if they were both closed - but i doubt they'd stagger it so that neither park was closed at the same time... they'd effectively be sharing a market that is wayyyyy too competitive to just 'give up' to the competition.

Although many of us dislike the roof, and the effect it has on the overall 'theme' of main street - you have to admit that the Park has come leaps and bounds in it's many nighttime events and activities - many things that they could not have done whilst being slave to unpredictable queensland weather. With the roof they have some guarantee that they can run consistent night events, fully and immersively lit - we wouldn't have White Christmas, or Carnivale, and Fright Nights would not have been as big - without it. All MW needs is one more nighttime seasonal event - They have Halloween for Spring, White Christmas for Summer, Carnivale for Autumn - now all we need is a winter festival of some sort, and they're set (they can even use the fake snow facade additions from white christmas)... what franchises are available that would suit (or better yet another generic franchise like carnivale?)

The minimal losses they would take on a week-day would be worth the hit to retain full-time, seasoned (not seasonal) employees, maintaining a wealth of knowledge, experience and training. Quiet operational days also give departments opportunities to do on the job training, re-skilling etc. It's obviously not costing them that much otherwise they'd have taken steps to fix it. The alternative, rather than closing for two months straight - is to close on say - a tuesday or wednesday mid-week for one or two days. It would still keep their full-timers working full time hours, let them keep some of their casuals on-shift, and a full days closure every week would let them get a big jump-start on lots of maintenance activities they couldn't do mid-week. It'd also allow a thorough 'one-over' of each attraction each month (not an annual maintenance, just a more thorough inspection than what one would do on an operational morning). I could see Dreamworld doing that - and potentially even offsetting the days - close DW on tuesday, and close WWW on Wednesday - that way you could also balance your staff around between gates where possible.

Yep! I've got one - but i've been holding it back until somebody asked for the info in case nobody wanted to know it. /sarcasm

I totally get how closing the park down for a month or two in the offseason would allow the park the convenience of being able to carry out preventative maintenance and upkeep on non-attractions such as shops and food outlets. But how exactly would it make it easier for them to do maintenance on attractions? If the ride is closed - it's closed. Allowing them to space out their ride maintenance across the 8-non-peak months of the year means they need less maintenance staff at once. If they had to do annual maintenance on every attraction in only the space of 2 months - it would require a far larger (temporary) workforce - and with it would come the problems of retaining those staff until next year, or having to retrain all of them each time, plus the higher wage costs associated with hiring contract, casual or non-permanent labour. Parks overseas can do it because literally nobody would visit the park in the offseason... you know - snow and all... But Dreamworld is established as a 364-day a year park. If they're going to change operations like this - they're going to need to buy an 8 foot tall talking moose, and take out insurance against armed holdup.

I mean no offence OG - but what a crock. If dreamworld are reducing the speed of their 'thrill' rides in order to ensure safety - I can't wait to see what they do with other attractions: Pandamonium will now only offer the 'gentle' cycle The Air Race (tailspin) will be removed and replaced with an "Air Gentle Stroll" The Antique Autos will have their lawnmower engines removed, and replaced with bicycle pedals GD will be fitted with parachutes (this will reduce capacity to only one ride per hour whilst staff repack the parachute) Cyclone will continue to be loaded at the same speed, which is considered the 'safest' loading speed in the park. Operations wise, they'll add block brakes on all down hills to keep the train speed to walking pace. Inversions will be cut out, and new straight sections welded in. Wipeout will become a 'scenic viewing platform'. No inversions will occur in this new 'safer' ride program, and the ride will consist of a slow, level rise to the top of the ride, followed by a slow level descent back to the bottom. Full three point harnesses will still be required. The claw seats will be replaced with horses. The gondola will spin slowly. The arm will not swing at all. It will become the worlds most expensive merry-go-round. MDMC - no changes required. If you have a ride, designed by a manufacturer to do something at a particular speed - and that happens to be a 'world record' speed. You run it at that speed. always... well - unless of course it costs too much money to run it at that speed... and then you dial it down a bit... to save money. to save money save money money money money money

Those trailers look like they're from parade floats...?

Typical maintenance break down of attraction blown out of proportion by media Well - thats how the headline should read. instead - it says 'US roller coaster mishap strands riders' It just stopped. This 'breaking news' is proudly brought to you by #slownewsday

^Yeah - because they use the flaps all the time!

Possibly why they're advertising to another target market...

Considering airlines around the world are still required to demonstrate how to put one together - there must be some people out there that don't know how. As for affecting capacity - i believe it may - a 'good tug' on a harness to ensure it is locked could be done from either side of the train. I haven't seen the modifications to Buzzsaw, but i'm assuming the belts are either both mounted on the outside, or both mounted on the inside. Either way it's going to need more time for the belt to be checked either by needing them to traverse both sides, or to bend lower to get visual on them. How much fun did they have with Arkham's new seatbelt latches? So much so they had to tell you NOT to do up your seatbelt so that the operator could do it for you to avoid causing a malfunction! It's a little more than a humble little seatbelt.

Probably hearsay, but I recall something being said about the reason why he doesn't appear is because of some incident overseas where a park guest ?shot? Superman given his apparent powers. Of course a cast member in a costume wasn't fast enough to stop it. So on that basis the character doesn't appear... that's my recollection anyhow.

Is there anything wrong with it hitting the 'W'?