DaptoFunlandGuy

Yes... yes i have. hear hear, i wholly agree. I HAVE worked at a theme park, not employed to do rides, but every part played in a theme park is equally important to keep the atmosphere around. I was in retail and games, i did vocal coaching and microphone technique for the spielers on the microphones, both in games AND attractions. i was also a photographer for the shows, and a retail attendant in some of the outlets as well. the bottom line is the majority of staff employed in theme parks are not there to enjoy themselves, they are there for a paycheck, and THAT is the problem with the theme parks in australia. the biggest problem is that they can't fire them... not because they aren't keeping up the atmosphere, but because if they were to attempt to dismiss every person who wasn't keeping up the atmosphere, they'd have a lot of staff to replace. i suppose a periodical culling, a "mystery shop" style standard that would do several visits on the park, each cast member would get points for doing the right things, and those with the lowest "performance review" score would be put on warning... next time round they're gone, and they could be hiring new staff with the right attitude before the old cast is gone. if someone came to you and said "this is the job i employed you for. you're not doing it to standard, last warning and you're gone.." you'd pick up the act. i see a lot of ride ops who dont or didn't give a damn about the atmosphere screaming thats unfair, but that IS your job! Mc Donald's employees have specific requirements, one of which is smiling. Disneyland - well.... find me an unhappy cast member there! point is that the whole idea of the theme - nothing works without the cast... the performers... the actors in the show...

whenever i type a long post in the forums, i always select all and copy the text before hitting post. if its a VERY long post, when i complete each paragraph, i copy it, before starting the next one. if something happens (like the forums used to just lose my post if i had been typing for too long), i just paste and keep going..

i dont doubt that things get more expensive... i dont believe entry prices would not increase... what i was saying was that in 85 when wages were $6, entry prices were $22. entry is now close to $50, and wages are now close to $15 i also agree to the whole adding new rides thing. in my initial post i did say 4 new rides in 4 years. i also said it was no longer a theme park. they lost it in the last 5 years or so. i agree it fell behind, hence the reason why i am talking about bringing back all the theming, costumes etc. yes dreamworld is growing, adding new rides etc, and thats mainly what wonderland did wrong, but one thing DW doesnt do is manage its capacity (ducks for cover on that comment) so Dr Teeth... i think you mis understood my post.

bus you have answered my questions with more questions. i didnt say that the ride ops had to wear elaborate costumes that posed an OHS risk. I said that they could wear something that still fitted the theme without posing a risk. im not saying dig up the dusty old remnants of costumes they had back then, i meant go back to the themed costumes. design new ones - ones that don't make the staff uncomfortable in hot weather. As far as the pay rates back then, so were the gate prices. gate prices at one point were about $22. ok so the pay rate has doubled.... so has the gate price... that cancels each other out. if everything was done the old way nothing would progress? "creating memories, 1985-2004"... thats progress... perhaps the old way was the better way? im not saying it IS the RIGHT way... im just saying that perhaps had it been done rather than do what sunway did, it WOULDNT have closed. and correct me if i am wrong, but as administrators of wonderland, Sunway's board of directors could be considered "Wonderland Management" ? couldn't it? i refer to the decisions of Sunway as being the new way. what was done by the previous owners of the park is what i consider "the old way" no, i can't supply accurate or even speculative figures on daily attendance in the periods of 1985-1990 and 2000-2004, but it doesnt take a brain surgeon to note that between 1985 and 1990, bush beast running two trains, one main operator, one brake controller at the rear of the platform, and two loadunloaders, had a queue that ran all the way back to the main "bush beast" sign. now take any average day in operation for 2000-2004, and note that one operator running one train got you on the coaster within approximately 4 cycles. look at the lengths of the queue lines that were built for bounty, wizards, dragons, taz, endeavour, and snowy. i guarantee in the period of 85-90, these queues were ALL utilised. pick your average day in 2000-2004, and you would rarely go past the first line, of what was generally 5 or 6 lines. that attendance speaks for itself. so ok you wanna do some calculations? lets say each line of a queue holds 30 people. present day prices of entry (for arguments sake say $50), times 30 people = $1500 now lets go back to attendance of 85-90 - say 5 queue lines times the same price? = $7500. now while these figures are obviously not as accurate as they should be, they give a fair idea of the difference between the "OLD" way and the "SUNWAY" way.

i beg to differ slick. toboggan style coasters are not connected to the track but are still coasters. i think if asked to define it, i would say it were a vehicle that follows a track that is not mechanically propelled for the entire journey. eg: it requires an initial application of energy, to give it enough speed or energy to make its way through the rest of the track and back to the station. i see a million corrections coming on from others who disagree, but thats how i would describe a roller coaster.

ok - so the costume thing was probably just reminiscent of my first days at the park. and yeah ok - admittedly ride ops wearing that sort of thing isnt practical.... but the general street cast - games and retail ops, cleaners etc could wear the more elaborate outfits with ops wearing something more suitable to their position, while still fitting theme. excepting the costumes, i think everything i said was quite sound. you talk of cost inefficiency. but the question i would like to raise is - when wonderland cut corners, operators and multiple exit gates etc out of their rides so they only required one or two people, what was the average attendance? now go back to 1985 - 1990, before all of the cost cutting measures were put into place... what was the average attendance then? now, take the 1985-1990 attendance, and charge it at today's ticket price. how much MORE money is the park going to make. primary reason? it was better the old way. and i can prove it. talk to anyone who isn't a DIE HARD theme park fan. someone who generally just would go once a year if that... ask them of their experiences at the park say, in the last 3 years of operation, compared to its first 3 years of operation (give or take a year or so on either side). from EVERYONE i have spoken to over the years the resounding response was always very similar to "wonderland used to be good, now its crap" or something similar. the one thing wonderland abandoned that hasn't been abandoned by sea world, movie world, and a lot of the great parks in america is its care for its guests - and this care is comprised of - happy staff, and lots of them, a true-to-life theme, that makes people believe that for 7 hours or more per day, they really are in a different world, where happiness, fun, laughter and all that joyous crap are true. yes, we live in a different world. a world of terrorism, and violence, like nothing back in the 80's when wonderland first opened... I have been VERY fortunate to have visited a number of parks in the US, and i can say, particularly, of Disneyland, Knotts Berry Farm, and SF Magic Mountain, that the high staffing levels, and high staff quality, as well as high quality theming really make you believe you are in another world. that you have escaped everydayland. that was one marketing campaign wonderland just didnt have the balls to back up. i dont think those ideas are a step backward. i think it is precisely these options which the management of wonderland decided not to take, that lead wonderland backward and inevitably to its close in the end. show me how I am wrong there...?

i'd close billabong grove, and sundowner theatre, and move HB LWL section here. leave zodiac where it is for the traffic exposure, purpose build a venue suitable for Tony and Juleen to continue, or perhaps just build sundowner walls and a roof to make that an indoor theatre. i'd keep Bush Beast, completely refurb it inside and out, and paint it to give it better protection from the elements as well as make it stand out more to the M4. i'd bring in over the period of 4 years two steel coasters of varying design, a flat, and a tower style ride. i'd put more into operations, to keep staffing up and queues down. id increase entertainment cast. around 2001, entertainment cast also doubled as the cast for tony and juleen. this took almost all entertainment out of the park for about 2.5 hours every day, which meant nothing of a non-mechanical nature was there really to entertain the guests unless they went into a show. the entertainment cast that weren't in millennium magic, were part of action man... i'd make snowy's station revolve again (just cause i love it that way), i'd bring back Scooby's Silly Stix, Bam-Bam's ball bash, Judy's Jetliners, and the paddleboats (i believe engineering still had some of those lying around somewhere). I'd have $5 after 5pm again and it'd be every night during spring and summer holidays, plus every weekend. in off peak times, from may to august, i'd only open on weekends and school holidays, except the wildlife park, which i'd keep open every day just for the asian tourism market. i'd bring the tooheys pirate ship back into the lake, and start the pirate show all over again. i'd bring oracle back to stage the space probe show again. i'd give demon a preshow, introduce a simulator style ride (batman style). i'd bring a flume in - not fred flintstone style... im talking bermuda style. i'd return the park to being a THEME park... no... for the last 5 years, it WASN'T a theme park. cast would wear COSTUMES, not uniforms. goldrush cast in olde style bodices, skirts, breeches and braces. they'd be in theme, ALL THE TIME. cast would be there as much to keep up the theme as they would to operate a ride or make a hotdog or take a photo. if they couldn't keep theme, they can't keep a job. more characters... all the time. photographers out in front of the gates... taking photos for those little viewfinder keyring things that you picked up at the end of the day.... every day... flags all over the place. not wonderland flags, but flags to set the theme... for those who knew "kevin" and saw his book from 1985, international village (botany bay for you wonderland virgins) had "king arthur" style flags everywhere. as far as rides, with the exception of HBLWL which i would move to billabong, all rides would be in there 1990's positions. i say 1990's positions, because some rides relocated early after opening - redback spider, tassie devil and endeavour are examples of this. i'd bring back themed music depending on the world one was in. 911's Wonderland is ok, but walking through goldrush listening to click go the shears was the ultimate. on the subject of goldrush, i'd bring back ned kelly's getaway. i'd buy the HB license again, i'd turn the outback restaurant back into captain cook's restaurant. endeavour would go back to 2 bridge operation. tassie would have two gates. snowy would have 4 ops plus guardtowers. dragons would have two gates, wizard's the same thing. and everything back to its original spec of operators. probe's preshow would be queue controlled, like it was when it opened. zodiac would operate on two queuelines. on that note, i'd put an escalator up the hill to zodiac. the entry to the wildlife park at dodgems would be open during theme park operation days. basically, with the exception of the new stuff, i would return the park to the way it was between 1985 and 1990. given a 10 year plan, i would also put in a marine park. on top of seals, sea lions, dolphins, ski shows etc, i'd be getting an orca as well. yes i know this competes with sea world, thats the point. i know the distance from the ocean complicates the issue, this would be overcome. finally, i'd run for mayor of blacktown, just so i could push through the DA to have an accomodation complex resort conference centre, with golf course etc built. essentially, with water park and accomodation, there is nothing that the big 4 on the gold coast have that wonderland doesnt and thats the biggest problem wonderland had. there were always plans to build accomodation there, but blacktown council always vetoed the plan, with rooty hill rsl and others complaining they would lose business. what they didn't understand was that it would only enhance the tourism in the area thus requiring more accomodation. but anyway... thats my dream. oh and one more - a dark ride coaster - space mountain scooby spooky coaster style. so yeah... not gunna happen, but thats what i would like to do...

on this topic Richard, as far as linking to "other sites", what sort of sites do you mean? i mean, frequently, posts list links as "sources for stories", or to back up information presented into the forums - eg - check out what i mean at rcdb.com etc. can we clarify what sort of sites are allowed and what aren't? or have an "allowed" list rather than writing to you to get permission to post a link to a news article from screamscape?

Joz - as i said - the bounty should be refit with new harnesses. Warner have a reputation for adequately staffing their rides. WL staffed bounty with one op, which is why it averaged a cycle of more than 5 minutes. With warner at the "helm", staffing could be adequate to turn the cycle around in under 5 minutes. and think of all the extra money they could make by placing nets under the ship? lol. Paul - the park i was referring to was WL. Bounty throwing a tyre mid-operation is definitely not nice to hear.

Either you queenslanders have got it good rabid, or you haven't been to the movies lately. an average Hoyts ticket down here in sydney is $14.90

this was actually in a block of sound stages. the one on the corner of the block was a concrete slab, the slab was raised above street level. at one end was a corrugated steel structure about ten metres square and probably about 15 metres high. in front of it were a few (5 x 5 square or so) square concrete footers that came up off the slab by about a metre. the rest of the slab (say 20metres by 20 metres or so) was flat. it definitely wasn't, but it LOOKED like a theatre setting - the corrugated area was a stage, the footers were the seats... thats kinda how it looked. it couldn't be, because its too small, but its profile was definitely of that look.

why not Joz? Bounty is a kick ass ride. apart from the operator's complaints about getting spat on constantly, and its wayyyyy better than that dinky little huss ship they have now... i remember being in the park one day and hearing a tyre blow out. oh boy that was loud...

I would like to know from operators out there, past and present, any park whatsoever, what attraction was the worst, or best, most interesting, difficult or easy to operate, absolutely any ride goes... tell your story of your favourite ride to op... regale us with your tales...

what about the holding lakes for SRR? honestly in the discussion of rides being relocated, i don't know anything about sunway's pricings on it, but i dont htink many will be bought knowing what sunway's opinion on money is... i would like to see Bounty moved to seaworld, replacing their pirate ship, or perhaps partnering with it... choose your adrenalin level... regular or extra crispy... lol. just a few new restraints... (insert comments from Joz here), and perhaps endeavour moving to SW as well... it was a crap ride to operate, because it's controls couldn't stage the entrances precisely. i was never a ride op, but i have operated endeavour, and staging that thing was an absolute Biatch. for those who don't know... basically the ride had a couple of controls. it had an automatic despatch button, which would commence spinning, then tip up, do a couple revolutions, then bring it level and slow down. it would spin with its own momentum until it stopped. it didn't know where the entrance and exit were so it didnt necessarily stop at the bridge. there was a bridge up, and bridge down button (obviously) and a spin button. the op that was with me when i operated it taught me that you basically wait until the hydraulic drops the ship to level, then you hit the spin button until a certain point on the ship lines up with the station on the opposite side, release it, and it would have enough speed to turn until the entrance came up to the bridge. if you brought the bridge up and the turntable was in the wrong spot, the bridge would jam. so on another note... im going to create a new thread in general thrills... and i would like to know from operators out there, past and present, any park whatsoever, what attraction was the worst, or best, most interesting, difficult or easy to operate, absolutely any ride goes...

as far as the SDA membership crazee, it is for you and a maximum of 3 others. 4 people per card only.

that is actually a BRILLIANT idea paul. that sounds exactly the kind of thing they should do... a Christopher Reeve tribute to Superman... the B&M Superman Flyer. a lot of people on here can't shut up about them. I would pay WBMW to build one, just to shut them all up... also so WBMW would get the "first in australia" record, and shut up all the DW supporters too. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanyway

or they could just buy some more wood, bolts, nails, brakes and controls, along with the new rolling stock in general, and built a much more stable, newer, softer riding woodie, that isnt made out of half rotted southern yellow pine that was milled in 1980. personally, im all for preserving bush beast. i am however against relocation. not worth it, and not a fitting end to its life..

This might be completely aside from the possible new ride coming into WBMW or it may not..., but in my recent travels to MW, i noticed that behind all of the sound stages, there was a lot of concrete footings, cranes etc around. this was most easily seen from the queueline of Mountain River and Mountain Falls of WnW. can anyone shed any light as to what is going on in this area behind the soundstages? does it have anything to do with a new attraction? is it something being done for filming a showmovie? whats going on down there?

"infiltration has been confirmed as coming from deep space. the ether tranmission signal which caused the infiltration, was an alien virus like organism of unknown origin. Seven-Net reporter Adam Walters is at the space probe 7 earth station...." lol. I mixed up some of that for Utopia one year... still have it here somewhere... lol.

which version bus? Channel 7 Version? or screwed up Sunway Version? i think the 7 Version was the better one, recognisable news reporters and stuff like that gave the "pre show" a bit more realism than some doped up actor with too much makeup.

i don't believe i have fallen into any trap. i listed 4 or 5 realistic solutions, or part solutions to the problem. loose items etc, while it can take time, is generally minimal in the scheme of things. How much time does an operator waste walking between station and head of queue on cyclone? how much on ToT? i hear some groans coming already... but a better queueing system for a multi-seated ride is how wonderland ran bush beast, or demon. the last 5 metres or so before the train was divided into a queue for each pair of seats... if you wanted the front, and were prepared to wait, so be it... longer queue... therefore the people who want to rush through it, get a ride and dont care where they sit... get through the middle much faster. loose items is minimal. most people put most of this into their bag, and toss their bag onto the other side of the platform as they step into the ride.safety checks take place only after most people have sat down because the loaders are seeking "single riders" to fill a spot, closing the gates etc. (im speaking in general terms, not one specific ride). if you guys really want me to be specific i will post another thread, and go through each ride one at a time with exactly what could or should be done IMHO to improve capacity. honestly.... dreamworlds easiest solution is to build a show or two. WBMW, SW and also Wonderland demonstrated that it was so easy to clear out a high percentage of their attendance by running shows. at wonderland, going back a few years, there was Milennium Magic, which ran 2, sometimes 3 and in peak 4 times a day. MM was a MUST SEE at wonderland. then there was action man, generally once a day, goldrush theatre ran a HB show once or twice, AWP had blinky bill, and countless animal talks. character appearances, not just drive by's on suped up golf carts stopped more crowd to look, shake hands, take a photo or two and generally ease up on the queue lines. thsi is dreamworlds problem. a bandaid fix seems to be the numerous sideshow style attractions that have sprung up... how long have these been here guys? overall dreamworld needs to: increase staffing over peak periods.. .to assist with "loose articles", locating that "single rider" or "group of three" you hear so often, clearing out the last cycle of guests, etc add real, staged, purpose built shows. im talking a proper stadium style theatrette, with a high capacity. the little stage in nick central that looks like it would seat 30 kids is nowhere near big enough, im talking your dolphin coves, your police academies, and the show needs to be big enough, long enough, interesting enough and marketable enough that it will attract a LARGE crowd... and even if you've seen it before, you won't mind seeing it again. redesigning the queuelines for some attractions. i would get rid of the gap between the station and queue head at cyclone, and install a system like demon bushbeast. i have plenty more ideas i guarantee. but there are plenty of ideas i can think of, and too many to put here now. if anyone would like a new thread with my concepts, say so. i am preparing a letter to DW at the moment, as after my trip i have LOTS of letters to write, i am getting there slowly. ill post the content of the letter, as well as update youwith the responses from DW... cheers, Alex.

""""Funland is situated just up from Ulladulla Harbour. There is a great variety of activities for all the family including Dodgem cars, Sizzler (Cha Cha) ride, Air hickey, Slot cars, video games and many ticket redemption games. Tea, coffee, soft drinks and a wide range of souvenirs are available. """" i wonder what AIR HICKEY is like.... maybe synthetic hickeys produced by vacuum cleaners??? lol.

its a bit late i suppose, but there are a number of different memberships that will get you a discount... certain unions, including the shops, distributive and allied workers union (SDA) theres the presidential card www.presidentialcard.com.au theres the ambassador card www.ambassadorcard.com.au heaps of different ones. i have all three... also take a stroll through surfers... heaps of org's are trying to offer discounts and claim to be the cheapest... as i said its probably too late now, but do your shopping around and you can sometimes get lucky..

im reading the specs on the robocoaster website... it lists each unit as holding 2 persons. looking at the cartoon images on the site, it would seem that each unit takes up a circle of about 10 metres in diameter at least. now lets say its a one minute ride, add at least 15 seconds on each side, for load and unload. so each cycle from the time the guest loads to the time they unload, is 90 seconds. 2 guests per unit, 90 seconds per ride, thats 40 cycles per hour, or 80 guests per hour. they show banks of these units lined up, so the theory would be to have multiple units all working together. to achieve 1000 pax per hour, that would require more than 12 units. not including queue line or pathways, loading areas, control booths, power supplies, safety zones and theming, thats more than 120 square metres just for the ride portion of the attraction... so lets say double that to allow for all the ancilliary parts of the attraction. now because these rides have a high exhilirating, as i read above, 2 G's or more... this will not be a ride for everyone. so you're able to churn through 1000 pax per hour at an expense of 240 square metres worth of land, and you're going to be able to please the 20 percent of your GP that can handle 2 G's. so lets say the park has 10,000 people in it. its not a high number but its not low either. 20% of your GP will ride it, thats 2000... so it means that in a 7 hour day, that 20% could ride it 4 times if they got in in the first hour, and 3 times if they got in in the second. On top of this, and i mean no offence to anyone, but the maximum double occupancy SWL is 200Kgs. now i weigh 105Kgs, im 6 foot flat, and i know a lot of other enthusiasts who would want to ride this sort of thing would be similar dimensions. so suddenly our 2000 pax who WILL ride it is decreased some more simply because of the SWL. the fact that the ride is built from aluminium, and uses brushless electric motors means it doesnt have the guts that some other rides do. its a car building robot thats been retrofitted into a ride to gain a bigger market for the same device. its like using an electric fan motor to power a V8 Supercar. i've just glanced at the site again and lists its width as being 11.2metres.. i assume they are allowing for the safety and load operator area, so the 10 metre diameter is pretty much spot on. now the fact that it runs on a basic PC design using windows, with internet access, soundcard, etc.... this is sounding like your generic home computer thats been retrofitted to do the job. how often do you get a blue screen of death? or a "we're sorry but this program has encountered an error and has to close" message? imagine that happening while you're spinning at 4.9metres per second...? i can see this idea being taken up by a manufacturer who knows what they're doing, building it with the necessary parts to make it robust, with a custom built console designed for the job, rather than a windows computer that is obsolete before they finish designing the software for the hardware... a manufacturer who builds RIDES, not car manufacturing equipment... thats what this concept needs to launch it into the thrill ride market....