DaptoFunlandGuy

A year? Hardly. Try a little over six months. Way to bump. Pretty sure both trains have been back since then.

The whole point of wild mouse curves was the lateral G's. Just because laterals kill a good coaster in RCT, doesn't mean they do in real life!

You're missing the slides in the background, in the area now known as whitewater mountain.

Agreed. Like the man or not, it was hard not to like his music. Among my many exploits, DJ'ing and events are things I have a lot of experience with. There isn't many gigs i've done where you would play an MJJ song and not have almost everyone on the dancefloor. As for bleaching his skin, the man had Vitiligo. A skin disease which affects pigmentation. How did Michael Jackson's skin turn white? Of course, we have already discussed Vitiligo in the MJ is dead thread, but for those who don't know: Agreed Gazza, that the carousel and big wheel are very low-tech additions, however they are some of the attractions Michael enjoyed most at neverland, and so quite fitting to the man. Of course, Thriller is something you could come up with in 10 seconds given the topic (MJ) but a lot of coasters around the world have a similar idea, once the branding is decided (Superman \ Hulk \ Riddler etc). If it gets off the ground, great. If its just a concept that some loyal fans have come up with? Great. If Whitsy responds to this or any other post on this forum, ignore it.

I think it's a great idea. Michael had some great concepts when it came to rides and theme parks because he was the boy who never grew up. I'd really like to see them build the neverland park we saw plans for a while ago. And what past history? Unproven allegations? Or his sensational music? I think the response we saw worldwide when he died proved his following was sizeable, and did not put any weight to the claims made by money hungry parents and their "abused" kids. Say what you like about the man - his legacy will inspire millions for years to come, and this park will be a success (although Gary, Indiana is a bit of a weird place for it... even if it is his hometown, he spent the smallest percentage of his life there compared to neverland, etc.)

So in short - Programmable Logic Controller. They can be used for just about anything - triggering special effects (such as steam and sound effects on superman, turning the lift hill off once the train has cleared it on lethal, etc etc. When travelling on scooby, sit in the front seat and look down at the track as you go around - you'll see LED's blinking at you as you make your way around. In scooby, with so many trains, it is especially important, not just to trigger the special effects, but to ensure each gondola has cleared the block section before it allows the next one in (or in the case of the lift, making sure the lift doesn't move until the two gondolas have locked into the lift carriage.) They work like proximity sensors - so things like public transport cards where you wave it in front of a pad - use the same sort of concept. A transponder is located under each car \ train \ gondola and tells the computer where the train is. The ride computer (or effects computer as the case may be) then triggers a pre-programmed event based on the information fed from the PLCs. If a PLC doesn't respond when the computer expects it to (within tolerance) it triggers a fault - and causes a shutdown. As brake systems are designed to fail safe, generally when a fault is triggered, (or power outage as the case may be) all the brakes lock closed to prevent trains travelling further around the track. You may also notice when in the disco room for scooby, sometimes when you go through the wild mouse curves, you get slowed down before you enter the next curve. This is because of weight in the car making it go faster than the cars in front of it, and the computer slows the car to prevent an unsafe distance. If you've ever played corners on a bus or in a car - get 3 "reasonably heavy" friends and try it on scooby - you'll need the first ride of the day, and watch it FLY through the corners.

Looking at hte video, the base is sunk below ground level during operation - so lifting the base to unload would drain the water a lot quicker than pumping it. It wouldn't be hard to sequence the "seacups" so that when the ride stages, all of the doors face outwards. An operator has to unlock the doors, so it would be easy to direct riders to walk around the outside of the ring on the main baseplate. The holes are big, but I am thinking they are smaller than an adult foot and should be able to walk over them without much hassle. It also wouldn't be hard to fit a safety mesh over it to prevent slips and trips.

I meant full outstretched to the limit of the harnesses, of course.

Somehow STD, i think T-rex was making fun, considering your last thread was called invitation for parkz forum members, wasn't it?

That is the whole point of a head chopper, however as has been discussed countless times - the pull through with a new ride \ train has an exclusion zone, and this mustn't touch anything or it fails, so guarantee with arms fully outstretched, you won't hit it.

^^^Correct from all accounts. I have been handed a card at both Scooby and Superman with a time written on it. The loader writes the time on it when we get to the front, and the message is passed on as to how long the card took to get to the front. It's low-tech, but it works. As to being able to update the boards, Bussy I know exactly where you're coming from. I wasn't in operations but I know how busy you get with a full park. My idea as far as updating the boards is simple - generally a supervisor does the rounds - checks on each ride to see how everyone is going (at least a good soup should do it) and as they walk around, they would pass the boards (as they're all in high traffic areas), and update it as they pass by.

The censors would prevent people from swearing from the top of the hill! (pretty sure you meant Sensor) Looking at the picture, I believe you are correct Gazza. To me they look like PLCs. The fact that there are two would be a good indication that they are a clearance \ rollback sensor. Think about the cables they string across main roads to gauge vehicles travelling on the road - there are two cables (or sensors) to determine direction and speed. <edit> Tim - the sensors are on the top for exactly that reason - they are like any other block section on any coaster in the world - First sensor followed by second sensor - train clear First sensor, second sensor, second sensor, first sensor - alarm - rollback first sensor first sensor - alarm - rollback no sensor - alarm - rollback <end edit> Granted, there is a camera pointing toward the top hat, but my thinking is that unlike conventional coasters (think lethal) the operator cannot see the first hill. As a coaster will make it back to the station if it has cleared the first hill (with some woodies as exceptions) it would be helpful to be able to see it. It may also give the operator a clear indication of a rollback before the PLC's start screaming at them. I don't believe it is any sort of wind or "how much force is needed for launching" sensor. The force is determined before launch by weighing the train. There may be other devices (such as wind gauges) but they are not the items pictured. For one, a wind gauge would look like this: <ok so the picture didn't work - just google wind gauge to see a propeller type thing with little semi-spheres on the end> I would be more inclined to think that the system measures how much force is required to propel the train over the top hat, and then adds a little more to allow for wind, which is why some launches feel different to others. Just my thoughts on the issue.

the gondolas are too wide to permit a third track. You'd have to reduce the capacity of the two tracks that already exist to get one that might or might not fill the gaps - thereby keeping the same capacity at an enormous expense.

I covered that: So basically you'd have a scan-out at the grouping area, and a scan-in\out at the entrance. So if you leave the queue, you have to scan-out to leave (so there'd be an exit turnstile as well as an entrance turnstile.) It wouldn't increase staffing levels as you would have existing staff at the front of the attractions that would require it - such as scooby and superman. For accessibility - wheelchairs and strollers and so on, use the exit ramp where applicable.

Dont even need a gas strut - hinge it sideways and lock it on the side. We've talked before about the electronic option, but its just not feasible. The parks operated for years without them, it is a convenience, and not something to be relied upon, and they're only ever needed during christmas and easter. Granted, it would be GREAT to have proper electronic boards. But if we're going to go to all that expense - heres a spitballed idea i've been wishing for (which would never happen) - Have each person either utilise their existing ticket, or some type of wristband (like splash cash) with a barcode. Have a barcode scanner at the entrance to every attraction (with a turnstile). You scan into the queue, and when you reach the grouper \ boarding area - you scan out of the queue and onto the ride. If you didn't "scan in" then you can't "scan out". (And if you leave the queue to go elsewhere you have to "scan out" of the queue again) The benefits are many: Scanning in\out would give an accurate up-to-the-minute queue time that could be displayed at the queue entrance (and by wifi - screens around the park and the other queuetime boards at the front of each ride) It would completely eliminate queue jumpers or "place savers". The "scan out" scanner would not permit you into the grouping area until all those who had scanned ahead of you have scanned out. It would give park management an immediate knowledge of capacity \ queue sizing, and enable them to respond accordingly with additional staff \ additional trains etc etc. The technology would be adaptable to fastpath systems as well. Of course, it's a complete pipe dream, and unlikely to ever occur, but it's a nice thought.

I wasn't arguing with you Rappa, I was agreeing with you, but pointing out that the design of the particular attraction's station you mentioned wasn't the only contributing factor. As to the tower, read below: From "More Mouse Tales - A closer peek backstage at Disneyland" by David Koenig. There is more but it's a lot to type and I have to get off to work. Bottom line is the original design (and I say that because I am unaware of any modifications made when they relaunched it), had an automatic despatch that would set the sleds despatching based on a timer. If there was an issue - such as a person could not load before the sled despatched - then the tower would direct the sled in the opposite direction - the same place the sleds go when it is overweight. There have been situations when the tower was supposed to redirect the sled and neglected to do so - causing a breakdown. I agree with you that the downhill spiral of the spaceport greatly assists the efficient loading and unloading, however if I were to put another quote from the same book: Can any station or tower operator immediately shut down the attraction if there is an unsafe condition? Yes. Do they try at all times to avoid a shutdown as a cascade stop is a time consuming process to restart? Yes. I'll have to flick through these books again as there are a number of other stories in the same vein as these for space mountain - if you don't own them - I would suggest having a look. End of the day, I agreed with your point but just wanted to make mention that the particular ride you cited as being so efficient by design actually had other reasons for the efficiency - thats all.

I think Rappa's confirmation is more than enough to guarantee this is the case.

Considering the popularity of Elmo, and other characters which still hold their popularity today, perhaps the Sesame Street image was more desirable, considering a lot of cartoon network characters (?powerpuff girls?) were not as recognisable, especially if the family doesn't have pay-tv? Just an opinion, but those are my thoughts on the issue.

No, it wasn't necessarily in an inoperable state, although we don't really know now, do we? The cost of purchasing a new loco - in the scheme of things, wouldn't be that great, however the cost of running the railway is the prohibitive factor. With the park's design, the operation of the train impedes guest flow, causing bottle necks near ray reef. It doesn't offer the views of the park and the esplanade that the monorail does, isn't air-conditioned, and actually tours through some relatively ugly parts of the park. Coupled with the fact that it doesn't actually cover the entire park (whereas the monorail does), it was outdated, and unsuited to the job. Not that i'm agreeing it is being "replaced" as such, but I would much prefer that SeaWorld "replaced" the train with another attraction, even if it is an upcharge, than simply boarding up the stations and placing tables in front of it and pretending like it doesn't exist. If an attraction is SBNO for more than 12 (since Jet Rescue opened) months after it is closed before "groundbreaking" begins on the new attraction, you can hardly consider that a replacement. The train was gone 18 months ago - you can't protest the logging of a forest when the field is already bare. As to there being no chance of a return, all we have at present is some sketchy information repeated to a third party about the proposed route of the tour. There is minimal modification required, and as you pointed out, most of the track has a pathway beside it so it may not need the track to be torn out. For the sections that do need to be altered, who said the alterations needed to be permanent? If all the hardware is still there and operable, it is hardly a burial. If the segway idea flops, the sub-contractor disappears, and the train can re-open? I'm not quite sure if you're for or against the discussion as far as BL - WWW, I don't quite understand what you are saying. IMO It is an example of replacing a free attraction with an upcharge, even though it is a standalone in it's own right, and so (sort of) is the SW Water Park. Thinking logically, the plans to privatise the waterpark happened long before we heard of it. The work on the slide tower, the construction of the mammoth, it had sat there for years with no work done to it - why do you think they began improving it all of a sudden? Shortly after all the improvements are complete - the waterpark goes private - coincidence? So they didn't close it, improve on the original, and then re-open as an upcharge (like BL-WWW) but it still had the same events - just in a different sequence.

Well I hadn't included the water park simply because if you consider it as "after your admission to the park, you can enter our water park, for just a little more...." kind of works with DW and WWW as well, doesn't it? What paddle boats? I wasn't aware SW had Skill games, but that just puts it on par with everyone else, and drops it off the list. Directly caused the closure of an attraction? Are you saying that the Segway is the reason the SeaWorld train will no longer operate? Wake up and smell the coalfire paul - the SW train was dead long before this Segway guy even dreamt up the idea. As to the SW waterpark (your "once free, now costs extra" idea) - you didn't seem to have an issue when the subject was raised - you didn't comment that you weren't happy in that thread? So, hang on - White Water world is a fair upgrade in its own right? I don't consider WWW an upcharge - it is an entirely different park offering numerous attractions, that is also accessible independently of DW - eg: you don't have to enter DW to utilise it. On second thoughts - that concept ALSO works with the SW water park, now, doesn't it? You don't need to enter SW to use the waterpark, so long as you are a guest at SW Resort. And as to the coin ops Paul, I know they are a given - that is why I said "i haven't included them, because all parks have them"

You're spot on Rappa, although the efficiency on Space Mountain isn't just because the queues are well designed, or the loading process is easy to see from the queue line, or because the exit is separated from the entrance, or because the grouping is quite natural - is mainly a mechanical issue. If the tower doesn't keep the trains running through, the mountain will eventually cascade to a stop. I've heard numerous stories of guest delays where cast members have had to bodily remove them from the train because they failed to unload fast enough. I'm unaware of any changes to the block system when they released SM2, but this was how they've always run it in the past - it certainly is good the way the station is set up for observation so that riders can be aware of what is required ahead of time, but they tend to have a higher capacity because of the block system, rather than any station efficiencies.

It is unusual that we haven't heard any rumors from internal sources as yet. Usually the parks would engage a confidentiality of some sort until they are ready to announce the project - so this guy might just have let the cat out of the bag, and that might damage his contractual agreement. I have to say loanne, i'm not trying to knock your authenticity, but some of your comments sound like a sales pitch on a bad infomercial... you sure you don't have a vested interest? You also seem to know a lot of the intricate details of the tour, for someone who was discussing the subject in passing.... And to Paul: With the exception of the animal encounters (which are a necessary additional extra, not just to fund their research activities, but also to prevent 15,000 people per day climbing in the water with a dolphin), This would be the second upcharge attraction at SeaWorld. I think if you compare the list, you will see why people compain about Dreamworld's current upcharges. Sea World Animal Encounters (I consider this as one) Helicopters Possible introduction of SegWay Total: 2 current, 1 possible Wet N Wild Cabana Hire (which are a premium extra to enhance an existing experience) Tube Hire (although I don't know if they do this anymore - it wasn't open when we went before christmas - also a premium extra to enhance an existing experience) 1 x Skill Game (high striker) Total: 2 current, 1 possible Movie World Multiple Skill Games Green Screen Music Videos Total: 2 current Dreamworld V8 Redline FlowRider Dreamworld Helicopters Multiple skill games Rock climbing wall Q4U (enhances existing experience) Animal Encounters (all considered as one also) Total: 7 current (I haven't included coin-op style games or attractions such as remota boats or intencity, as all parks have these type of attractions.) I'm pretty sure I got all of them, but if I have missed any please post it so we can update the tally. I seem to remember one or more of the parks (DW \ MW) did an old-time photos thing, but can't remember which, and this isn't really an experience as such as taking something tangible home (same with tattoos or hair decorations)

That's not the Walt way...

Well it did take up a lot of real estate because it sat diagonally... Clearing the real estate to have some land in reserve for future attractions? Maybe our 2010 attraction will go in there?

Well you learn something new every day - i've never seen that before. Obviously never been busy enough to open it up. I did see it on maps in the past, and thought it might have just been boat storage or something.