DaptoFunlandGuy

Good shots there Rappa. It's been a while since I paid close attention to the corkscrew station - that metal work (cross beams etc) looks like it's new.... is it?

For those that have become immediately lazy upon Richard's announcement (like me)

As to the clearance, I don't see that these trains are in any way more elevated - it just looks like the sides have been cut away, so to speak, so i can't see there being any further clearance issues. It will be enough. Here's hoping theres some money left in the budget for the attraction, and they do decide to splurge on something to jazz it up a bit - Dark corkscrew anyone? (yes ok - impossible given it's proximity to jet rescue - but SOMETHING would be nice... what about a CaliScreamin tunnel near the loop?

It is actually a pretty good choice - low outlay ($170rrp approx), lamp (globe) cost is minimal (500 hours for about $3.50. Costwise, that's pretty good, but for best results, you'd have to consider coverage, and theming. To cover off the station, you'd need about 6-8, but to maximise it's effect, you would have to black out the station, which IMO wouldn't be too bad. Black out the whole station and walkway, and install fish tanks along the walk way, with educational details etc fitting around the sea world conservation theme (like jet rescue does - sort of). By blacking it out, the lighting really does have a great effect, and the initial "drop" out of the station could also be shrouded until you go under the bridge - themed to a blowhole or sinkhole or something, with appropriate sound effects. Not blacking out the station would mean the effect of the lighting would be minimal at best.

Actually i'm not sure a Gobo is the correct term for a water-shimmer effect. Sure, two rotating patterened gobos can give the effect, but a lot of the water effect devices out there tend to use oil wheels and other such effect - and I don't know if they're actually a "gobo" From: Typical "Water Effect Projector" Also From: (You will need to search for the item "AquaSplash" So the aquasplash doesn't actually use a wheel of any sort, but actually relies on the reflector built into the globe to create the effect, and the globe itself is actually rotated to give the shimmer effect, in multiple colours (the "red" light is used for a fire effect) I'm sure there is probably a set of gobos out there to create a shimmer effect (and I know AOS utilises gobos in the "Rain scene" to increase the effect of the water falling from the ceiling) but for a blue water, moving shimmer effect, a wheel, or dichroic globe is your answer, and not usually a gobo in and of itself.

looks similar to the SE trains. Different OTSR, but relatively the same seating position.

Good to hear, and good luck!

I'm with you Gazza - iPod, Laptop, Media Centre, Car.... i travel with some of these wherever I go... Of course the entire Wonderland Park instrumentals (you'd think in all the time I worked there, I would get sick of it - but it's strangely comforting - I suppose from all the good memories I had). 'Le Carnaval des Animaux' by Camille Saint-Saëns is the main element in the soundtrack of my absolute all time favourite attraction (pre-refurb) - 10 bonus points to the one who names which ride and park this one is from... Scooby Doo - MXPX I could be happy - Altered Images (another wonderland one) Spybreak - Propellerhead (show intro PA announcement for millennium magic) Wake Up - Rage Against the Machine (show intro for millennium magic) When You Wish upon a star (the original Disney closer from pinocchio - don't know the artist) Tiki Tiki Tiki Room - Hilary Duff (remake) Grim Grinning Ghosts - (don't know, but I think Bare Naked Ladies did a remake) Zip A Dee Doo Dah - (Splash Mountain Version, not song of the south) Yo-Ho (pirates of the caribbean - don't know artist, but i love the curse of the black pearl version too) Yep - mainly disney and our local parks, but rarely am I far without at least one of them. Tiki Room, Carnival, and I could be happy are on prime rotation though. On a side list, ones I don't consider "strictly" theme park are the movie themes used in attractions - Batman, Superman, Back to the Future, Gremlins, Police Academy....

I did actually see this last friday when I was there. For those familiar with wonderland (or any ekka\easter style show) it's called High Striker. It's a standard carnival\strongman attraction (I wouldn't be surprised if it IS the one from wonderland, it looked pretty similar). Standard sideshow games. Obviously the games at MW are working well and they've decided to branch out. It's not really an "upcharge" attraction, just a sideshow game. Win a prize style thing. For those that haven't seen these things at the easter show \ ekka etc, here's what the base looks like. Can't find a pic of the top. Also attached - you tube video - gives you an idea of the sounds. For those of you who went to wonderland - you could hear Striker down by snowy if it was a clear and quiet day. i hope WnW tone down the volume, because that thing is damn noisy. Looked like they were having electrical problems with the head (score) unit - they had sparkies there working on it in a cherry picker.

From memory, Casey the Clown was a Tony Laffan character, and I don't think it lastest much beyond when Tony's contract ended. He still takes Casey on the road occasionally. It was a few years ago now, but he performed at the australia day celebrations at penrith regatta centre. I think he and Casey Laura (his current assistant) had taken on a large stage act contract a while ago, but i think it ended recently. Not sure what he's doing now. I'd love to see him open a spellbinding sorcery style show at DW or MW... I always loved the millenium magic show, even though I knew half the secrets. As to the other characters - it seems characters are getting phased out all over - you don't see many characters these days at the parks, except for "face" characters at MW (and scooby). The parks need more wandering characters, IMHO.

Good find Joz. I'd never seen Lasseter in it's original form - my first visit was during the lassester's tear down. Oh My God, was Jackie McDonald in just EVERYTHING in the 80's? "Many of them are very rare - like this little fellow" (it's a clown fish.... the most popular damn fish in aquariums these days...)

One would like to think that this means the off peak pricing will now be cheaper, but in reality, the off peak price will be the current price, with a higher premium price charged for peak season, above and beyond the current gate charge - it's just another upcharge! (except this time it didn't cost them anything to install) Why Not? Christmas is already the worst time of the year to visit, given the unreliable weather, overpacked crowds of people waiting in queues longer and longer - why WOULDN'T you want to pay more to go at that time of the year? If I were a parent, and I planned to take my kids to Dreamworld, i'd pull them out of school and do it when it's off peak - missing a week of school isn't that bad - we did it while I was studying my school certificate - for 4 weeks - to go to the US... and I still topped out... One more reason why I won't be going to dreamworld for a long time. As an afterthought, weren't dreamworld the ones who advertised the hell out of the fact that their version of the VIP pass didn't have christmas lockout? isn't that why WVTP dropped their lockouts? Have dreamworld just realised that by blowing their load on cheap local discount tickets, they now need more gate revenue over the Xmas period to make up for it? Maybe this is the reason for the upcharge... BOOOOOOOO DREAMWORLD.

Last time I paid for parking at WLS, it was about $5 for the day. The expenses would have been a bit higher than the above math, as you had attendants all across the parking lot directing traffic to fill one section before opening the next. I think they economised though, by multitasking their staff, as they didn't need to have all booths open all day, but in the leadup to opening time, many of the booths were opened up. Of course, this was when you could still buy the "eye-spy" keyring photos as well... and that was a long time ago.

I happened to be at WnW and MovieWorld on friday - the shop on the corner of main street (i'm going to call it a malt shoppe, because that is how it is styled) looked pretty good. A maintenance worker was in close to 5pm with the roller shutter up, and it looked good, and styled on a classic malt shoppe the likes of Back to the Future and other classic era films. Of course, spoiling it will be the standard run of the mill WVTP uniform, but you can't have everything (i'd like to see the classic white shirt and bow tie with a candystripe apron and a paper hat - think smallville or similar). My only concern is that the shop looked rather small, and had a few fixed mount stools (i think), so crowding might be an issue. I'm not so sure about the donut machine (not doubting it was there - just whether it will be used), don't the parks have an agreement with Krispy Kreme? Maybe this will be an actual Krispy outlet instead? Also, I don't know if it were mentioned before, but the ice cream shop on mainstreet has had the wall cut out, and is now one big open door too. Movie world was deserted after 4pm (we left WnW at 3, and headed straight over). Walk ons on everything, but I want to mention my disappointment at some entertainment cast, wearing civvies (although, they were merchandise shirts, so it was a bit obvious) with the blue nylonish shorts. They were riding lethal, and after each trip, lifting the chain on the cast member walkway to the control tower, and relining up in the front row every time. For those who may have wanted the front seat, they had no option, unless they queued behind the girls, for a train that was sending out 3 or 4 rows of empties with every cycle. For the first time in my life, i walked all the way through scooby, and did not have to wait in line until the last switchback leading to the gates. I know it was a weekday, and out of holiday season - but wow. I am disappointed also (being that one of my previous theme park jobs was in the gaming area), that all the skill games near intencity were closed off well before closing time (i'd say 4:30 easy). In my experience, when everything else is closing early, games are the one things you leave open to milk the last dollar from the departing guest - although WWF was closed for maintenance, so that end was probably pretty dead, as only scooby would have been feeding it.... its still atrocious to see shops closed up, and games closed up well before park closing - everyone is fitting in last minute rides, and wait until "official" closing time to do games, and shopping. One thing that we never EVER did was close a game until security had cleared it. Shuttered doors (on games or ANY shop) just looks bad. The entranceway at WnW is certainly going to be 3x wider as Gazza said, and has been much needed for ever and a day. A reasonably good day at WnW, although to be honest, you would have thought that our two park visits were on 2 separate days - if MW was a ghost town - then WnW was a mosh pit, and it seemed like it was the middle of the Xmas holidays. School groups didn't help it - with little blue broad brimmed hats everywhere (including floating in the splashdown pools). The staff did well to keep the schoolies under control, but I want to give a thumbs down to the attendant on calypso who singled out some kids who were getting a little playful with the tubes - (pointing at each one) "You, You, You, You, and You - OUT, NOW, and don't come back!". Did they break the rules? Yes. Did they hurt anyone else, or impact negatively on anyone else's day? No. Had they been warned previously by this cast member? No. We'd been behind them for 4 laps of the river without anyone saying a word to them. I kinda think her approach was a little off, and certainly made me wonder how she would have spoken to me had I been splashing about with a group of friends. In my experience, a cast approach would be something like "guys, can you settle it down a little, we don't allow blah blah blah, and I don't want to have to ask you to leave". Maybe i'm just being overly critical? Final thumbs down on my visit, as I hadn't been to WnW in a while - but the exit-gift shop (i've never even set foot inside the other one on the other side of the gate as its closed half the time) - doesn't sell sunscreen! We had brought some from home, but on the way down, the bottle had burst and it wasn't usable, so we went there to buy more, and there wasn't a single bottle! Don't these guys have a contract with banana boat or something? (BTW - I know that someone is going to come on and tell me that the other gift shop sold it - but it was across 30 metres of fire-walking hot paving and concrete, and I did not want to walk back to the lockers to get my shoes, and then go back. Call it lazy - but hey - in a place like that, convenience counts - so in my opinion - absolutely appalling that they didn't sell the stuff.

Until there's pen to paper, nothing is certain. Lesson to be learnt: Sign quicker with less procrastination.

Well that does make a little more sense - I didn't quite read it that way from your last post. At the end of the day, it basically IS an exclusivity clause of sorts. For the manufacturer - it's simple - do I commit to the guys that came to me first with an order for one attraction, or do I agree to the terms of park number 2 who wants to spent more money on more attractions, giving my employees more work through the current financial stresses that some businesses seem to be experiencing? Its perfectly logical - and not rude, just business. Duplication is getting to annoying levels in our parks at the moment - drop tower \ spaceshot. Moto-cycle \ Jet Ski, Tornado \ Tornado... we have two of a lot of things on thec oast because each park wants to one-up the other. Its great to have competition because each is striving to beat the other - but with diverse and varied attractions - not relatively close facsimiles of the one that got built first...

either that's not really Ed, or you just lost ALL credibility.

I'd really like to hear a little more substance from your comments and statements bella. This scenario does not make sense - either the parks insist on some form of exclusivity clause, which most parks in Aus wouldn't want to pay for, or the manufacturer sells to as many people as they want. If anyone is chucking the tantrum here, its the park\s involved, not the manufacturer.

If the pamphlet was strategically placed, it would cover it entirely, not leave a hint of australia to fuel rumor. Also, it wouldn't be a pamphlet that is handheld hovering in front, more likely it would be taped over to hide the unwanted information while still displaying that which is relevant - i think it more likely that the photographer wanted to include both elements in the photo, and as Australia wasn't high on TPR's list, it didn't matter if that got cut off so long as they got the rest. I'm not saying you're wrong as far as the underselling or whatever, i'm just saying that pamphlet isn't there specifically to hide the australian entry, otherwise it would do a much better job, and perhaps the information on the sign IS incorrect, but wasn't at the time of shooting?

Just to clarify - I never said that Ed didn't exist. I only said that as a registered business he didn't exist. ASIC & ABR have no registrations other than a registered business name - which anyone can get with payment over the counter at a Fair Trading NSW office. I merely suggested the appearance of a lack of preparation \ lack of reliability given the current circumstances. I've been a member almost as long as Ed has (albeit with 10 times the number of posts). I've been wrong about things in the past, and will gladly admit when I am. As I said in my follow up posts to this discussion, confidence in the product \ some sort of safety net was the only thing, in my opinion, that was lacking. But I will argue a point that I believe is valid. To Nathan, as I can only draw a conclusion that you direct the bulk of your comments at me (given nobody else said anything remotely negative), I have - offsite and privately - made my own personal comments to certain people to whom a discussion was ongoing. As to discussion on the site, I do not believe I make anything but valid discussion points about the topic at hand. While we're making topical observations about "certain members", let's not forget the tirade of abuse we underwent from a certain entertainment employee at WBMW who took a long time to get the point, and now sides with the bandwagon, making comments without merit. Back on topic, Ed, I got your PM, but my pm's get fiddly sometimes and I haven't been able to reply. My email address is here: r...@s...m.au

Now, Ed, There's no reason for that kind of tone. I'm not saying it isn't a good idea, but you've got to realise that: We've seen a lot of scams come and go We've seen a lot of concepts dreamed up that never came to fruition We live in a society today where people would sooner spit on you than offer a friendly word You pitched a concept without a lot of substantiation A registered business name is one thing. A physically registered entity, recognisable and accountable for it's actions (such as a company or such) is a bit more reliable. Street cred counts too. Over the years, many members of parkz have handed cash (or even credit cards) over to Richard for merchandise, calendars, and premium membership to the site. He started with tangible items that could be bought through a reputable and established medium (cafepress) and moved on to less tangible items as he built up that trust with the members. Now, i'm not saying don't think big - by all means a big blockbuster event such as this is still a great thing to start with, but a little more security is necessary - for example - since the park would have to be involved with this deal (as it is after hours) maybe a little something from them that could be confirmed as legit. Maybe they would handle the financial transaction aspect (i'm not sure of the logistics but theres got to be something there). Among many other things, I moonlight as an event manager. I know certain things about organising events and the right and wrong way to go about things. Some of you out there know what my day job is, so you also know that I know the legal aspects of things like this. At the end of the day, all I'm saying is come forward with a product that is a bit more tangible, a bit more ready to launch, rather than promising things that may never happen. You've been a member for a little while, so you'd know the issues that were experienced with concepts such as: Dream Nova Underwater Habitats So i'll leave it at that. I look forward to seeing what you can come up with. It would be great to see things organised locally on the scale of TPR or ACE - So don't give it up - and keep us posted on how you get along. If you had a little more consumer confidence, i'd be there in a flash.

It can't hurt to sign up membership for MyFun.com.au either. While it's not 50% off, there are special offers available to myfun members that may make it a little cheaper. It is unfortunate that you'd be hitting the park in a peak period, but the parks do seem to hold their guests well in peak, and particularly for schoolies or school hols, it's likely the parks would be expecting capacity, and plan staffing and operations accordingly. Warner Village parks generally offer a good time even with the queues. Dreamworld - I'd recommend a Q4U\Q-bot if its in peak season, which means you need to get in early. If you're NRMA members\healthfunds\union etc, you can usually get early entry to Dreamworld too. If you'd like to do any experiences (animal adventures at Sea World), check out the bookings asap, as it's likely to be booked well in advance in peak. Don't let the peak periods put you off though, most families still enjoy the parks immensely during peak.

ERT = Exclusive Ride Time (although there are some variations). ERT is something we as members of parkz have been dreaming of at an Australian park. Many parks in the US give ACE (American Coaster Enthusiasts) ERT just for attending, as they bring lots of people, who spend lots of money on parks each year. I'm sure theres somewhat of an extra fee, But doubt it would be the $135.00 x 70pax ($9450) that this proposal entails. I know MW does hire out their attractions outside of hours as part of a corporate hire\conference thing, and I don't think SE is $9450 for the hour. Factoring in group discounts for 70 pax on an adult one-day general admission of $62.50 - let's say a generous 30% discount = $43.xx per person, so we're left with $97 per person to cover T-Shirts and ERT. T-shirts would be less than $10 in that volume, so we'll knock $700 off as well. We still have over $6000 left to hire out SE for 1 hour. Now I don't know the rates that MW charge. I do recall what WLS charged to hire out their big tickets were about $2000 per hour. Even given the additional staffing (demon could run 1, as could probe, as could beast - SE would usually run at least 4 (two load including grouper, and 1 unload, plus tower), But your staff would cost you an extra $150 at most to come in an hour earlier - tack on say another $300 for maintenance personnel to be on hand an hour earlier to prepare the attraction, and you still have more than $5500 to pay for the running costs, and these people have paid for a days entry out of that anyway! Sorry, i'd rather just use my VIP on a weekday and wait the extra cycle-and-a-half between rides.

And of course, the moore park gondolas got relocated to Wonderland Sydney as Skyrider.