DaptoFunlandGuy

I think it was jazzland or something in the states had a big old coaster, that everyone in the surrounding area tried and petitioned to save for years, with posters, t-shirts and the like, and eventually, they demolished it. it was a smallish coaster like a wild mouse or something, traditional wooden coaster, and they brought it down with a simple bulldozer...

ahhhhhhhh here comes the capacity issues again. I'd be interested to see a discussion put forth on the same IDENTICAL ride put in both DW, and WBMW, and how the different capacity issues would pan out - for example, (i know they're not the same, but similar coasters for comparison) Lethal Weapon - it has a really long alleyway to set the scene, observation area, outdoor queue line, "in-cinema" waiting area showing the movie, to get you further in the mood, then outside again to dogs barking, with plenty of props all over the place, graffiti, billboards to read, seeing the riders get strapped in, despatched, as well as seeing the riders come back, and the look on their faces terrorising you if you're a first time rider. then you get into the divided queue lines, more things to read, more of the ride to watch and listen to, as well as some very entertaining ride ops who do their best to keep you occupied. not to mention the overhead "police radio" for you to listen to, and any and all safety announcements the ops make. Cyclone - enter the first few metres of the spiral queue line and theres plenty of props and things to read, then you come out above the cyclone machine, and there are flashing lights that dont work, i beleive tehre is a blackboard lower down on the queue line, and then essentially all you have to look at is the cyclone machine, the people opposite you in the spiral, and idiots walking past you who are queue jumping. you get to the top where you stand there for a cycle, before an op comes and gets you, counts you on, the best theming of the ride with the bouncy floor and all the rest is wasted by the fact that you're rushed past it, to sit there and stare at blank, dark doors, until everyone has gotten off the train and clear of the exit. then and only then, do you see the train close up for the first time, with no previous instruction on how to get in, buckle up, loose articles etc. Now I dont think I have slewed these representations, and I think its a pretty accurate and concise description of the average experience on each coaster. Now as kenny said, we're talking about an IDENTICAL ride, proposed for each park.... regardless of capacity of the actual ride, which queueing design and entertainment system works better... and therefore - how long will the queue wait be PERCEIVED at WBMW compared to DW....

You know, i don't consider myself to be a "coaster freak" as such, but I am getting really sick of some of the members on this site slagging off about people who are fanatical about rollercoasters. TAKE NOTE OF THE WEBSITE ADDRESS Morons.

You know, i don't consider myself to be a "coaster freak" as such, but I am getting really sick of some of the members on this site slagging off about people who are fanatical about rollercoasters. TAKE NOTE OF THE WEBSITE ADDRESS Morons.

personally I feel that this attraction's position next to movie world will be its downfall. the majority of its patronage would be by the tour buses etc, and of course, predominantly international tourists. the problem is, when you stay at the gold coast, everything you want is right there, the beach, the hotel, shops, attractions... everything, including heaps of other things to do like sea world. Movie World and Wet N Wild mostly ride on the back of the three park super pass, and them along with dreamworld ride and rely mostly on transport systems such as the surfside tour buses. most people will not want to spend 40 minutes on a bus to see this style of show, and a meal, only to pack back onto a bus to go home. I dont know about everyone else but I dont want to have a hearty meal, and then jump on a bus to get my dinner jolted around on a bumpy tour coach to get me back to my hotel. i'd prefer take a stroll down the promenade to a restaurant, and stroll back to my hotel to walk off the thousand calories that I've just consumed... I think thats the reason why the original site would have been planned near sea world... perhaps an alternate site would be better, somewhere closer to the promenade...

paul - add me to your MSN dj_alex_b@hotmail.com - we'll talk turkey

an interesting article, but considerably more believeable if it were to come from SMH than Telecrap. at present, he has no site in mind, apparently no financial backing, and a very obscure concept at best. i'll get excited when he has property, money, and a more concrete idea of exactly what he plans to build. the concept itself doesnt give over much information as to what kind of attractions they will have. it sounds more like an educational walk-through adventure, such as old sydney town or the like, rather than a thrill destination. im not going to hold my breath on this, but perhaps my kids will go with their friends as teenagers to the opening day... we'll see what becomes of it, if anything. >>>Sidenote: Richard, you better redesign the forums to allow room for a Spyland subtopic... lmao.

perhaps another shifty clone?

that song is actually "production music". it basically comes as a bundled cd package with thousands of generic songs licensed for use by production companies in advertising etc. most of the songs are classified by what they're like, this one in particular is "upbeat parade", because, it is, well, suitable for an upbeat parade. it is most familiar to be hearing it while strolling down past the lake, from bounty's to dodgems, althought it was used throughout the park. i have attached a VERY VERY low quality version of the track for your pleasure. this file is distorted as all hell, mono, and really really cruddy. but its the only way to get it to upload. the original version is 256k stereo, without all the noise, and doesn't have the annoying beep tones at the start. if you have some interesting wonderland stuff i might be willing to trade on the full version....

no bus, i didnt think it was you. and no, bus, im not going to reply. i stand by my statements and im not getting into another immature little catfight with you.

i would be interested in seeing Dreamworld announce the return of Tony And Juleen Laffan. they had an exceptional stage show at wonderland, and Im sure Dreamworld could offer suitable accomodations to them as permanent residents. Tony brought both his act, as well as Casey The Clown to Dreamworld years ago, before moving to wonderland on a permanent contract. the show he did at wonderland, combined with periodic "houdini" style large scale illusions and escape acts was fantastic, and if Dreamworld were to sign Tony and Juleen again, it would be enough for me to move to queensland!

"insert two cents" Dreamworld is currently built on only part of the land it owns Wonderland was built on only part of the land it owned. I can accept that MLT are "in for the long haul" so to speak, but I seem to recall Stephen Galbraith saying the same words 3 years before wonderland announced its closure. This announcement talks only of a retail precinct to be constructed on the undeveloped land dreamworld owns, and a few new things here and there... all revenue raising mind you... While I understand dreamworld opened before wonderland did, and that Stephen Gregg and team have stated they are doing long-term planning, I can't help but notice the similarities to what is currently happening at dreamworld, and what happened at wonderland 5 odd years ago. having said that, it would be great to see dreamworld expand. I too, am offended, as was Richard, by the impression that Dreamworld will turn into a Disney style park, as nobody comes close, however, I am inclined to believe that this is more of the opinion of the writer than the park. the writer quotes "industry analysts". analysts who obviously don't know crap. and dreamworld has one hell of a spin on their "improvements". Mr Gregg talks wonderfully of how they have made their queueing system better by providing entertainment while you wait. now nothing can be done about the existing rides they own. thats a legacy from the parks creation. the river rapids ride is one example, and this was an inherent problem that Snowy River in Wonderland had also. the problem exists simply that you cannot make water flow any faster, and to put more rafts in the water simply clogs up the return chute. however the new rides they have purchased, while being record breaking, don't do well in regards to capacity and queue lines. Wipeout is a great ride, but it's cycle time, as well as the time it takes to load is just too long. ToT only holds .. what.. 15 people? GD is the same, low capacity, high turnaround time. cyclone was a design problem simply because the coaster was designed around a rocky cliff, so the entrance had to be up high. however other parks have coasters with a higher profile station near the top of the coaster, and don't have the same issues with capacity. the queue line design is just too ridiculous. The claw goes somewhat towards improving the park's overall capacity, because it doesnt take too long to load, but essentially dreamworld is now attempting (as a result, im sure, of people such as us complaining constantly about park queue lines) to put a band-aid on a broken arm. you can't FIX the problems that exist by a bunch of tv's. the problem can only be rectified by redesigning the queue lines that exist, and putting more planning, thought and effort in the design stage of each ride that is installed prior to its construction, rather than build it, and then go "ummmm.... people need to get on this... oh i know, we'll put in a spiralled ramp all the way to the top with a cyclone thingy inside it. for anyone that has used Roller-Coaster tycoon or other similar games, you will have experienced at one time or another a problem where you have built this awesome coaster, only to realise that you can't fit in a suitably sized queue line because of landscaping or other obstacles, or you dont have enough room to put in a long enough queue, OR that the ride takes too long to cycle that even with a full length station, to fit 3 full length trains, there is still a gap between when the last train leaves and the first one comes back. i think by now its pretty certain that dreamworld reads these forums... lets hope they get some ideas from us. we complained for ages about shocking queue times and capacity, they came back with lcd tv's. lets give them some ideas that WORK! also - i strongly hope that this isnt the beginning of the end, and that dreamworld isn't going down wonderlands path, even if its another 10 years yet...

yes wonderbus, i did.

Johno, would you consider allowing Mickazee to copy it to the web for all our benefit? where abouts are you located? i know how treasured a posession it is, and we would definitely NOT want to deprive you of such a valued item, but the information and photographs contained within are a priceless memory of how the park once was... im sure between all of the forum users that we could arrange to have it copied for everyone's benefit. I have decided I am not going to post the wonderland music on this site, nor am i going to distribute copies of the cd, but I might be able to trade you a copy for the access to the book to have it copied...?

what i meant in terms of a "Fake name" is an id created by an already existing user, wanting to utilise this name to back up the original posts of another user, and not simply a "screen name" to cover a persons "real name" ok so now we have - a control panel of buttons, then levers, then control panels AND levers, then a control panels and ONE lever. I am aware i have never been "employed" as an operator of bush beast, but I have still operated the ride. I was also in the park on its very first day of operation - its "pre-operation" day, on november 2nd, as well as its next operation day, november 9th, 1985. since then i have been to the park many times a year, for every year and seen the park move from design to design. Find me an operator from opening season that says different, and i'll believe it. the brake runs were originally controlled from the brake end of the platform.

gotta be quick on here mate.... but thanks for the info none-the-less. i had a look at the video. not exactly the best weather for the filming of what they're going to put in as a "new in 2005 ride"

well see now, theres an inconsistency there. you say they're buttons, ruddegar says they're levers. im not inclined to take either word for it so im afraid i have to disagree until further proof is provided. considering i have recollections of this control being used to bring the train back into the station, and also since ruddegar was a fake name used by Bart Simpson in the episode "be like the boy", im inclined to believe it is also a fake name here. agree to disagree at this point Bus.

hate to break it to you imperial, but wonderbus beat you to it by a month or so...

as far as getting cheated out of your money, Richard gave his HOME ADDRESS. he is also the registered owner and webmaster of the roller-coaster.com.au domain. other posts in this site also list what he studies, and where. i cannot see how anyone could possibly suspect Richard, particularly a long-standing member such as yourself nebuchanezzar, of cheating us out. How long do you plan to have these in production Richard, i won't be looking at one until january... bit short on the greenstuff... u know? i would like to see a wonderland tribute calendar as well... any idea of that in the future?

wait wait wait Rabid.... say that again.... more slowly this time. The one hazard with having the live-off-sattelite broadcast is the potential for competitors to get their name into the park. its not just having sea world advertised on a tv inside dreamworld, but imagine if pepsi-co got an ad on nick, and it went out over dreamworld. coca-cola is very antsy when it comes to its sponsorship. what about nestle peters icecream versus streets? theres a catfight... smiths versus lays and back in the day, tip top versus fielders? that caused a huge problem at wonderland years ago because goodman fielders sponsored a major attraction at wonderland, yet the food outlets served tip top bread and bread rolls!! something like this the park needs to have complete control over it. the best thing would be to do what they do in WBMW - in bug's gift shop near the road runner rollercoaster - have a laserdisc. its the size of an LP Record, similar to a dvd, but with a lot more capacity... try that one on for size! it would give you at least a full days playback without repeating itself. so produce a few discs, and it takes a lot longer for cast to get bored of it. or get it on a timed switch so it goes from say... laserdisc video recording, to music video a-la Channel [V], then switch to live vision of the ride, or another one in another area in the park, then switch back to the recording. have them timed for a few minutes each and you're laughing - 1 short length cartoon (3min), 1 music video (5 min) 1x live action of the ride, with backing music (4 min). that will take ages to get boring!

Slick i dont think thats a fair comment. How many times has wipeout been pulled completely to bits and put back together again? I dont know of the maintenance cycles in dreamworld, but if its anything like wonderland, with the exception of big coasters, annual maintenance took at most 3 days per ride. Now take Disneyland. they have a swarm of imagineers, technicians etc to make it the best it can be. when i went to disneyland, matterhorn was closed for an entire month just for routine maintenance. these guys don't rush the rides through as quick as they can to get it back online, they close it, rip it apart and put it all back together again every single year. so tell me again - the last time wipeout was ripped to bits? A rides age is only as apparent as the lack of work done on it. If dreamworld operated on a seasonal basis, then in the off season, they could rip every ride apart, oil it, grease it, fix everything, and put it back together. they can't do that on a 364 day a year trade. but the problem is simply that if dreamworld shuts down one ride, a high percentage of their guests is going to be disappointed, not to mention the pressure put on their capacity. if Disneyland shuts a ride, sure you're disappointed, but there's absolutely no pressure on capacity, compared to if they had the ride open that day. its just something that W.E.Disney knew about, and unfortunately, the designers of dreamworld did not.

hey Richard, with the exception of the "Wonderland Song" by 911, all the other songs are production music, licensed to be used freely, particularly by producers, advertisers etc. in another thread on here we talked about how some of this music had been used as backing for television commercials. I can say for a fact that the 911 version of the Wonderland song has legal copyright ownership. the remaining songs are devoid of copyright and are in the public domain. the only other song i could imagine that would be subject to copyright is the theme song used on their 1991 tv ad. I can't imagine sunway renewing the copyright to it, so the original copyright would expire in 2005, provided that the copyright application was made in 1990, pre-broadcast of the commercial.

Actually Bus, I have a photo around here somewhere of that end of the platform, and it shows quite clearly, two "lever style" controls, similar to that on snowy. these levers were used to control the slipway brakes. yes, there were also controls for the lift, that i forgot.

Micka, "please refer to the community guidelines on the use of obscenities." lol. ok now i have that out of the way, please allow me to correct a few items, some of which were my own original mistakes. The Original Park design was based SOLELY on Canada's Wonderland. King's Island was a source for some rides, however the layout, entertainment, theming etc was sourced entirely from Canada's Wonderland. The three themed lands WERE originally Medieval Faire, GoldRush and Hanna-Barbera Land. Medieval faire was later renamed International Village when ride movements, and the additions of other attractions and shows in the park did not fit with the original Medieval theme. By removing Medieval Faire, and Replacing it with International village, it meant they could use pretty much any historical theme on anything, and it still fit with the theme of "international". With the introduction of Transylvania, International Village lost some of the reasons it was "International" and the now-much-smaller area was re-themed Old Botany Bay. Old Botany Bay was kind of lacking, as it then only had the Jousting Ring (dodgems) and Bounty's Revenge (pirate ship), and then only one of them fit that theme! To be contradictory as well, when the body of water in the middle of OLD BOTANY BAY was then called a lake, with the eating area called "lakeside" (theres sunway for ya!) now to add other factoids - HMAS Endeavour used to be in Medieval Faire. It was positioned directly behind the "wrecked ship" seating area, opposite Bounty's Revenge as you walk towards dodgems. of course the "wrecked ship" wasnt there then. Endeavour was pushed out of Medieval Faire by the Australian Wildlife Park, and it moved to the spot left by the Funnel Web Spider, when it moved out of goldrush (any idea where it went anyone?) The Outback Restaurant was first called "Captain Cook's Restaurant" Originally, the lake next to bounty's revenge held the REAL "pirate ship". Sponsored by Toohey's brewery, the pirate ship was based on an identical stunt show in Canada's Wonderland, where pirates warred with regimental soldiers. spectacular action from this show included pirates fallingdivingjumping off the main mast, some 15-20 metres above ground level, and into the lake. (which is approximately 10 metres deep in that area). The tooheys pirate ship was actually built off premises, at a genuine ship-yard, before being loaded onto a semi trailer, and driven down the great western highway at about 4am, before being craned into position on top of its pillars. The pontoon in the middle of the lake used by the waterski stunt shows H2Overload and War On Water, among others, was actually the base for the pirate ship. the pillars (4) actually held the ship from its middle, shooting up through the ship's belly, to hold it just below its cannons. this void underneath allowed the stunt performers to fall into the water, and then swim up underneath and hence not be seen. Calls for casting and auditions were made every year for the park season. the park originally traded from around july-august, through until may, operating on weekends, public holidays and school holiday seasons only. cast were hired on a seasonal basis, and would generally be hired either for a full season, or just for the holiday periods. Entertainment wise, they hired many people, sparing no expense. separate cast members were hired to be dancing characters, while others would be the "walk around" characters. When entering the park, a swarm of photographers stood outside the gates, taking your photo, usually with a character or two on the way in. a card or pass was given to you with a number on it, and you returned towards the end of the day to pick up your very own photo, inside a looking glass (small viewfinder shot, held up to one eye against the light). HMAS Endeavour originally loaded from one side, and unloaded from the other. Bush Beast's control used to be located at the front of the platform, next to the despatch runway. the painting of the claws never used to exist, and you had a free view straight out while at the platform. one master operator controlled the main operations of the ride, while a brakeman at the opposite end of the platform (the return runway) controlled a series of brakes from the arrival corridor all the way back to the station. this operator had the duty of holding the second train until the first had cleared. this allowed the operator to use their own judgement, meaning the operator could bring the train in faster than that which was computer controlled in later years. Bush Beast was also manned by 3 other staff for personal belongings, lapbar checking and height checking. Entry gates to most main rides on opening (including Bush Beast, Beastie, Zodiac, and Bounty's Revenge were low metal poles (similar to that of the queue lines in dragon's flight, endeavour and tassie devil) bent into a 'P' shape that swung open, similar to the way the large rebarred grilles did more recently. they were a lightweight metal, and you could lean past them to watch the ride in action. Billabong Grove used to be Yogi Bear's Picnic Park, and guests could take a picnic lunch into the area to have a peaceful family lunch. Action Arena used to be a basketball court. before that it was just land and a service road. the walkway between dragons flight and the goldrush entrance never used to exist, until skyhawk was built. i have more but my brain is swimming wonderland at the moment, so ill post more later.

well, since my current situation has changed, thats not a bad idea. I will team up with Mickazee to produce some really nice professional covers with image and information of the park too. lets have a vote... what do you think the going rate should be? bear in mind the work that will be going into it... perhaps - Richard, do you reckon we could put this up on cafe press?