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DaptoFunlandGuy

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Everything posted by DaptoFunlandGuy

  1. DaptoFunlandGuy
    Our last big woodie - Bush Beast - was located in the Gold Rush section of Wonderland, which opened an hour later than the rest of the park. I remember often watching the carpenters walking the hills and bashing away with a hammer here and there even at 10:45 before they ran some test cycles. Those guys started morning checks at around 4am (though, they had two woodies to inspect) It takes time.
  2. DaptoFunlandGuy
    In case it wasn't clear - big coasters like this that are impossible to block out the outside world from DO NOT NEED on ride theming, they just need to be a great ride. Hagrid's says hello. I tell you - I miss having the stamina of 20 year olds. Full day at park, then come home and mash together footage into a 20-ish minute vlog. Between TPWW and The Sanbrooke Adventures, their upload frequency whilst still on an overseas trip is mindblowing.
  3. DaptoFunlandGuy
    Ha! Well Today I Learned! thanks.
  4. DaptoFunlandGuy
    I can see your screenshots, but I can't figure out why I can't see it - To be clear, they're both classed as 'suspended' - the SLC literally stands for 'suspended looping coaster'
  5. DaptoFunlandGuy
    Lethal was an SLC, whereas the Centrifuge was a Vekoma swinging turns - a more traditional coaster car (like Gold Coaster) except the running gear was above the rider. Centrifuge doesn't appear to have inversions according to RCDB. I tried searching RCDB but it seems 'inversion count' isn't a criteria you can search on, and searching on 'extreme' also turned up coasters like Superman, so an inexact science. If someone wants to trawl through the 85 Australian Entries on RCDB (including relocations) then feel free to catalog it...
  6. DaptoFunlandGuy
    an intamin hyper would only be compared to DC Rivals, and most GP wouldn't see the difference between the two. If you want to make a splash in Aus, you need a type that is way different to what's already here. That means Flyer is probably your best bet.
  7. DaptoFunlandGuy
    Paramount never owned Australia's \ Wonderland Sydney. Paramount purchased 5 parks from TAFT Broadcasting \ Kings Entertainment Company (KECO) in 1992 including Canada's Wonderland and Kings Island. KECO didn't own the controlling stake in Australia's Wonderland, and Paramount (who was looking to establish their own brand of parks) had no interest in a minority stake in a park halfway around the world. The Paramount name was applied to all 5 parks purchased in 1993. KECO ended up selling their share to Australian based investor groups, making the park wholly Australian owned until the 1997 buyout by Sunway Malaysia.
  8. DaptoFunlandGuy
    It's ok - The layout of SE means they'll be able to walk right underneath the launch track for photos.
  9. DaptoFunlandGuy
    Wow, didn't realise he'd headed down under. If he was in Melbourne, I look forward to more Australia themed videos in the near future.
  10. DaptoFunlandGuy
    The difference between Monorail \ Cannonball and the current loco is that they were all aged, and also fully depreciated, whereas the loco and especially the brand new train carriages most certainly will return to service, having just spent serious coin on them.
  11. DaptoFunlandGuy
    Isn't it mainly just painting and a few fibreglass mouldings? shouldn't take that long surely...?
  12. DaptoFunlandGuy
    Other parks weren't coming from a space as poorly managed as Dreamworld had been prior to covid. The entire 4 years between TRRR and Covid were entirely botched, and the park had made some tough decisions to remove some core attractions as end of life with nothing in the wings to replace them (due to the ongoing botching). I've heard both park operators speak about the symbiotic relationship the gold coast has - village and dreamworld rely on each other to support the industry and the tourism. The park returning to any semblance of profitable reporting after so long is a positive step for the coast and the industry as a whole. Remember, Steel Taipan was a last minute opening. Mack had a cancellation, and an open build slot well advanced in the queue. What we've seen across the industry suggests that wait times for coasters have blown out, and with Dreamworld closing attractions everywhere, they needed something to act as an anchor. A reliable clone, a few modifications, they may not have had many options to do much more than that. Sure, ST doesn't appear to have been the big draw card it could have been, but I wouldn't consider it a failed investment - it alone won't bring people to the park, but as time goes on, and as these other investments are built and open, it will bring balance to the park between basic and big thrill, and is future proofing the park against the loss of their only other full size full circuit coaster - gold coaster - when it eventually reaches end of life.
  13. DaptoFunlandGuy
    Yes... Not sure whats happening with the forums but it didn't show me the updated replies until this morning. At any rate, even if the additional changes are as a result of it being highlighted here, I think that should be applauded, not scorned. Enthusiasts are just general public with a hyperfocus for details. If they notice it, it's possible a non-enthusiast would notice it eventually, and for things like this where we've already got people joking about blackface, it isn't hard to see it all over 60 minutes and the front page of the courier fail on a slow news day. Enthusiasts are canaries for theme parks, and only a foolish park operator wouldn't at least take note of what their most devoted fans \ critics are saying.
  14. DaptoFunlandGuy
    That sums up the Sunshine Coast for me - always seems like it'll be so relaxing and always ends up near-frantic pace.
  15. DaptoFunlandGuy
    They don't hate them at all, they just like clicks. the article and the headline has to get you to click on it, so they'll market the coast's new ride one day, and then post about the horrible operations and disappointment of all the folks who travelled interstate just to ride it and couldn't because it was closed. They go with whatever headline sells, and 'ride stuck causes terrible ordeal' works better than 'minor inconvenience delays guests for a total of less than 120 seconds.'
  16. DaptoFunlandGuy
    This 100%. Wonderland had similar with the boats and the trucks, and yes the prime mover and trailer were a bastard. (The boats at Wonderland were modified by the park crew to run faster, so much so that they had to limit the power going to the motor to prevent guests beaching the boats) Back when I worked in the retail department, it was our responsibility to install the batteries each day and test run them. Many a quiet weekday was spent driving \ parking these things, and of course when the batteries ran flat someone would need to don the waders to retrieve and install a new battery (though you hoped a guest would complain it was slow before it went flat so you could drive it back rather than having to wade out). In later years, it became a maintenance responsibility and retail would just give credits on a different boat if one was flat. At $10, it's a wasted investment. $2-$5 will definitely get the pocket money. Additionally, it is within the night market space, so there may even be more opportunity for it to make some money as night entertainment for the kids - a few battery\solar christmas lights on each boat would make it really cool for nighttime use. Perhaps not at Dreamworld, but as an attraction they can definitely make a shit-ton of cash if done right.
  17. DaptoFunlandGuy
    Yes i'm pretty sure at least part of this loco is on the bridge at wild west. I think they had two trains at one point, and I think the cab from the other one survived and was somewhere up near caboolture
  18. DaptoFunlandGuy
    1. I never said you did, just discussed our experiences 2. I know it is a virtual queue, the point is, it never used to be - you'd walk up and wait only long enough for the 'special needs' ride vehicle to be available and board immediately. It was a good trade off given it took us twice as long to move between attractions, and now, that is no longer an option, because the system is, and has been abused for a long time.
  19. DaptoFunlandGuy
    I mean, Rappa and I usually butt heads on most things but there's nothing but truth to what he says. The DAS system is the most abused thing in the park. That doesn't mean that legitimate folks in need are abusing it (although some were profiting from it as i've discussed below), just that others are taking advantage, which is entirely true. When I visited in 2013, my wife had injured her leg at SFMM the day before, so we rented a wheelchair at guest services so she could stay off her ankle. The park helpfully provided us with a disability access guide and we were able to use the wheelchair entrances to most attractions (there was just the two of us). This helped a lot as moving through the park was a lot slower going pushing the chair through the crowds. In the following years, we heard reports of people hiring wheelchairs to skip the queues, with people taking it in turns in the chair throughout the day. We also heard reports of legitimately wheelchair bound guests who would 'hire out' their services, taking whole families (8-12 people) with them through the wheelchair entrances for a fee. This lead to Disney changing the accessibility options, requiring guests with disabilities to 'virtually queue'. It's entirely fair to do it that way but it is saddening that the system was abused so much they had to step in in the first place.
  20. DaptoFunlandGuy
    It all comes down to whether there is any Dreamworks indicia remaining on the rides that they need to remove by a certain date, though they seem to be making quick progress on the gift shop and other signage has already been removed, so not sure whether they have the luxury of waiting for the next maintenance period to do it.
  21. DaptoFunlandGuy
    Indeed I have. When they changed Dough Bros to Kenny's Chick N Wings, they glued corflute over the front of the dough bros sign and it looked horrible.
  22. DaptoFunlandGuy
    Yep. they could whip something up out of coreflute and get lambasted here for the shoddy quality too. #cantwin
  23. DaptoFunlandGuy
    I think perspective needs to be readjusted here - The area is about to be completely redeveloped and themed. This kind of signboard is probably going to cost thousands to have redrawn, printed and prepped and finally hung... for what, a few months? Yes, it's a poor effort. They could have printed more than the head to cover up the other parts of Emma. they could have reprinted the hands in a darker colour or drawn new ones. As mentioned, the Wiggles have probably asked for it to be updated, and I've no doubt this would have been run by their branding team to ensure it was acceptable (and if it isn't, i'm sure it won't take long for someone to notice this forum and take steps to correct it). But just to repeat my earlier thought - I doubt the kids at 'wiggles fan age' are going to care.
  24. DaptoFunlandGuy
    Exactly. If it were long term, the amount of effort would increase proportionally. I'm quite sure I can speak with some level of authority that your knowledge of a 3 year old's capability may be lacking.
  25. DaptoFunlandGuy
    Just to clarify, I was not ever suggesting that safety was being compromised - I was simply saying if it isn't safety, it's ride time - which you've also confirmed in your reply. So basically you give a lesser experience to make more money ensure everyone gets a ride. Not all rides can run a shortened program - ghost trains for example take as long as they take - so how do they deal with long queues near closing?
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