DaptoFunlandGuy

A simple transition - like you refer to between the warehouse and the ship would be all that is needed... but the story appears to show that we've entered the ships boiler room (hence the fire etc). Because there is no separation between the stations, you arrive back at the point you left so the question is - has the storm passed or are you returning back because the storm was too rough? Although mechanically difficult, I think they needed something like SE - an unload station that was visually separated from the load station - black curtain or whatever, so when you arrive you are 'evacuated' from the lifeboats, rather than just 'back where you started'. They've done a great job with the theming but it would be nice if it just made a little more sense... I mean - take a look at Jet Rescue - even though the theme is pretty loose, the unload station concludes the story with Trevor Long on screen explaining how you rescued the ?sea lion? from the blowhole. I realise the station is quite small, and by combining it means they can use the grouper as the unloader... i'm just saying it would have been nice.

Unlike ToT2, where the forces all flow in the same direction, and the ride is just one long acceleration, in one direction before decelerating and going vertical, I don't think you could take a conventional coaster, and turn it backwards - the track would have been designed with forward facing riders in mind. I don't think the transitions or forces would be appropriate for a backwards facing train. I could be wrong - it's only an opinion. I also don't see them doing standup - it increases the rider envelope, and I think they've built a few things (headchoppers etc) too close for a standup to be viable.

heating units elements are present. piping is present. Although I haven't seen an actual 'flame' it's all there - so once school holidays settle down and they can test it in a quieter period, we should see them come online. I imagine that Storm will probably go down for maintenance pretty much as soon as school holidays are over, and we'll see the finishing touches added to it then. On another note - not that it matters really - but I would like to see the park update their site to reflect current ride lineups.... eg: http://themeparks.com.au/~/media/Images/ThemeParks/Sea%20World/Attractions/viking.ashx

To go REALLY off topic - have you discussed this sort of thing with APRA?

Then shouldn't the sign be upside down, like the rest of the ship?

Every attraction brand new + brand new staff + cheap passes = many pissed off people. We don't notice the issue on the GC because if the new ride on the block malfunctions, the park is still plenty big enough for everyone... in sydney, they're all new rides, so they're all going to have issues from time to time. But I do think they rushed it open a little to avoid missing peak season... that was a mistake on their part that hopefully they can recover from (and they most likely will, but will need to do a lot of goodwill marketing to get across the line)

I hate to be the pic whore, but seems like quite a few people have seen the latest additions - how come we have no pics yet?

I love their wording 'will benefit from maintenance'... nicely spun, movieworld! You kind of expect SE to have a longer maintenance period, but it's interesting that Arkham, Green Lantern and Batwing all have a shorter maintenance period than a kiddie coaster. I'm also curious - Justice League isn't here at all - naturally maintenance wise it's a bit different to the rest of the park, but surely it would need an annual maintenance period too... is this just the first half of the year and we'll see Scooby, WWF, JL3D and other WB kids attractions in the second half? does that fit with previous schedules?

awesome POV's slick... now if only you could get away from cheesy production music... and wear a lapel mic whilst talking through noisy mechanical sounds... I daresay they're much better put together than a lot of TPR vids i've seen... good job.

It's been annoying me for a while now, and Slick's video has just reminded me... The final splashdown is in a ship an UPTURNED ship (it's upside down) this was a freak storm and it all just happened suddenly but someone was smart enough to install a 'DANGER' sign, after the storm hit, right way up?

SOME asians don't care for thrill rides - Disney did their research and concluded that the Hong Kong demographic didn't want thrill rides, which is why HKDL was built featuring more stage shows, character appearances and sedate family rides than most other disney parks. They later realised that catering to the hong kong demographic was stupid because most visitors to the park weren't from Hong Kong... They then expanded the park to include more thrilling rides and experiences. No. I hate to break it to you - but that horrible looking wind turbine thing in the exit... USED TO BE THE ENTRANCE!!! :mind=blown. another different turbine.

They haven't been acknowledged for that Zacsta, They have been elevated WELL ABOVE where they should be by any independent poll. For them to rank this high is enough to prove something dodgy is going on. Although I don't think they rank top 20, if they were top 20 it would raise less eyebrows... but FOURTH??? it just doesn't cut it.

^Agreed

I think we're going to need more than a grain for that one...

Alex, i'm fairly certain budgets and funding are generally held separately for each of the parks - ie: the costs and operating budgets for WnWS would not rely on an increase to ticket prices at MW to compensate - the park would need to stand on it's own, and pay back its own debt or else it is unprofitable and needs to be closed. Among all the reasons you cite Slick, I cannot believe you would forego the biggest one of them all - Labour costs. Our minimum wage is one of the highest in the world. I don't have stats or figures to prove my point, but a comparison to USA parks is just not fair - they have lower wages, poorer conditions, less health and safety legislation to comply with than Australia does - which is the biggest reason (in my opinion) on why it costs more to visit a park in Australia. That said if you can buy a VIP pass for an extra $10, it may be the plan to get people to sign up for a pass (I'm pretty sure on one of Gazza's USA trips he pointed out the annual pass was better value than a day ticket at a universal park). I've stated previously that a day-trip ticket doesn't get the park the MARKETING BASE or repeat business than a pass does. Tourists might only plan to spend one day at a park, but when they can spend an extra $10 for an extra two parks, as many times as they want while they're local - the perceived value is better, and naturally they'll go that way - which then gives VRTP another name in the marketing database for surveys, or demographics purposes. Hell - if they're from Hawaii or Las Vegas or anywhere they're thinking of building a park in the future - they've already got a customer base they can target advertising at! Exchange rates also play a big part in the comparison - and they change daily.

they've said that for about the last 4 years. Personally i'd take the blue enclosed slide over the two freefalls... just looks like it'd be more fun.

I agree Paul... but the general public won't have a clue unless they've been there. Convenient that this list was compiled by an Australian based company - even if they claim their overseas divisions handled the compilation. I dare say there is some cash for comment going on here.

I guess you can afford to keep your price rises to a minimum when your signature new attraction for the summer is a revamped laser skirmish. It's hard to keep prices low when you're installing multi-million dollar attractions in your parks every other year.

I said that last year!

Cherry picker?

For one, I don't think VRTP learnt anything from their opening of WnW in Las Vegas. That said - all media rhetoric suggested that people were going to boycott the park because of the high prices - and i believe they panicked and gave away the gate. I also think it's very easy for them to oversell their passes very easily - take a look at the QLD parks - with the number of passes for QLD parks - if everyone with a pass attended our parks - they'd be at capacity very quickly and still have many people turned away. I renewed my pass in July. I've been to MW once, and SW once since then... and it would be this kind of behaviour they probably based their ticket sales tactics on. A mistake - but thats it... The refunding is probably their latest solution to dealing with the issue... chances are most people won't want a refund even though they are complaining - they will more likely be expecting something for free - and since the park has offered a refund and nothing else, my bet is most people will hold onto their passes and wait until things die down before going again.

To be honest, I prefer the open-air lift-hill from Vekoma. It gives the suspended sensation more time to hit home - you don't really have as much time to notice it while you're flying around the track... but the anticipation up the hill is awesome. A platform the whole way down would probably cost a fortune in material. A winchable platform is far better value for money, if the ride (as you say) has only ever needed it twice in it's lifetime...

Ok - a roller coaster that drags it's arse forever with little to no point to it... and doesn't have a super cool awesome name? http://rcdb.com/1128.htm#p=3013

Can't even spell Pandamonium correctly.

transparency from everyone is what is needed right now. The park's reputation has been irreparably damaged by this disaster, and from what I understand, the park had their ordinary liquor licence, so if it was a liquor licence issue - it was an event license, not an on premises licence. I've seen photos of the beach arena stage set up, but i've also heard people say that Chameleon Lighting guys were injured in set up due to poor OH&S. I've also heard Chameleon categorically state that they had no gear west of Glebe. There are too many rumors, about too many things - right now both parties - the park and the organisers need to make a statement that explains what went wrong in detail and truth.