DaptoFunlandGuy

You're assuming that local regulations would permit the same height restrictions and allowances as observed overseas, and while that's possible - it's not always the case. See Also: Vekoma Junior Coaster \ Road Runner Rollercoaster

There's a general perception amongst park-goers of all walks of life that "upside down = more scary". Many people walking along next to their fearful friend \ child \ (even parent) saying things like "come on <name> - it doesn't even go upside down!". Despite the reality that something like Rivals is balls-to-the-wall crazier than say - Sea Viper (inversion ratio of 0:3), and despite enthusiasts saying things like "It's just a loop", inversion count is a big line in the sand for the park-going-public and "OMG IT GOES UPSIDE DOWN" is a +10 modifier to the thrill rating. It's hard to read what the coast's appetite is for a Woodie right now. Though we've long called for a Woodie to be built on the coast (and at the very least, probably as long as this forum has existed which is approaching 20 years now), the fact of the matter is that the first one to get built was announced in May 2019. Vertical construction was underway by September 2020 and the ride topped out in December 2020, with the final timber frame being installed in March 2021. (Source: Leviathan Construction Blog | Village Roadshow Theme Parks) And yet... here we are over 3 years since the ride was announced, and it still isn't open despite major construction being completed over a year ago. I don't know what's going on at Sea World. I've no idea whether this was strategic or out of their control. But it'll be a hard sell to convince Village to build another woodie anytime soon - and I doubt they've got the money to bring RMC out here either.

LTRR was kinda continuous load. While pre-show could hold things up, there's really no reason why the boats should stop for any length of time. Coasters at MW tend to stop for 5 minutes for no apparent reason.

Did you forget so soon? Even you were discussing the suggestion of 3 new coasters... But in case you missed it... here's 6 other members over the last 6 months all saying "three" too!

Yep. For all these reasons, the Baldwin has probably done it's last run. I took a ride on the weekend on the new carriages and while not as 'roomy' as the old ones used to be, they were nicely appointed, if somewhat smelling of diesel fumes... lol. The new cameras and other safety equipment were nice, but the operations were disappointing. Despite not running to a timetable, the train spends approximately 5 minutes at each station, and it takes approximately five minutes to move between stations, leaving you with a 20 minute cycle time. The driver (who appeared to be the only person working the attraction when I rode) does their level best to ensure that as many people fit on the ride as possible - however I feel this is taken to such a degree that the 2 extra laps of the station they do to count empty seats and then seek groups of that size to fill them might be better spent getting the train moving. The train is screaming for a station crew - even just one per station - to assist with doors, gates, admitting passengers etc. Central also needs a better set up for the queue as we joined the end of the queue near where the tractor stops, and people were cutting the queue because the entry to the queue was the middle of the stationhouse. It is great kinetic energy for the middle of the park. It needs a whistle (rather than a bell) for some atmosphere, and with the TOT tunnel gone, the journey around back is far more scenic. If I were given the choice of tractor or no train at all, i'd prefer tractor, and I appreciate their commitment to do something with it (as the Baldwin doesn't look like it'd be an easy thing to get back into operating condition!)

I visited last week. Yeah yeah, school holidays etc et al - but I left after about an hour. The park craves capacity. Something like studio tour or effects show that just swallows people and can sustainably run all day. Three coasters are cool and all, and hey, who doesn't love more credits, right? But if they're operated in the same lackadaisical way as the rest of the coasters in the park... it's not going to make much of a difference IMO.

Are you even a real enthusiast if you haven't been blocked from that page at least once? Is there a difference? You know, i'm looking at these two photos, and i'm wondering where everyone thinks this track piece could be unbolted? I can see the flange in the main spine, but the connection to the support, and the running track all appear to be smooth - no easily separated connections, so while the spine might bolt together, the track does appear to be welded to the supports and to each track piece. When they pulled Demon apart, they went at it with a blowtorch and the cuts seemed very jagged and haphazard - but it still appeared in Alabama the year after. I'm pretty sure the same thing happened with Big Dipper\Cyclone. Running track is welded, spine is bolted. As long as the pieces match relatively closely, nothing is stopping them putting it back together elsewhere.

I think what we're all wondering here, is were they using turnstiles? Sounds like they could use a turnstile. Hey man - thanks for the awesome trip report. I really appreciated your style of description and emotive language - really helped me visualise what you were experiencing. It was great to hear balanced praise about a park(s) off the usual thoosie trail rather than just a raft of criticisms about all the things you didn't like. Look forward to hearing about your next travels!

It took me a minute to find, but this was what was posted back in December - is this still the same? 'restore it to its former glory' doesn't imply it will run, but I think thats the assumption many of us made. Former Glory is bullshit if its only cosmetic.

Earlier this year, the Baldwin was parked out front of Main Street Station with signage that it was undergoing refurbishment and would return. Is that signage still there? could this be why the spur track on the other side of the crossing was built? so one loco could park while the other operated, etc? Are we completely writing off any attempt at a steam locomotive (and has the park done so too) ?

Yeah nah. Regardless of the delivery method there shouldn't really be an expectation of privacy for a person in his position sharing details like that unless he's specifically asked the person to keep it private. And the issue of veracity is very much a valid reason to share the screenshot as mentioned above. A lot of folk call bullshit on this sort of discussion without proof so I can't fault the guy for sharing the evidence, especially where nothing specifically restricted him from doing so.

Here's the thing - a person in that position, giving information about a large tourist attraction to a person who is clearly a fan\enthusiast (and self describes as a "random") - if he didn't want that information made public, he probably shouldn't have shared it with them. As far as i'm concerned if any employee or official in the park shares information with me - unless they specifically ask me to keep it to myself - that's permission by default. As for the info - fright nights returning, the paint job taking less time, and "a big announcement is coming" seems like a lot of nothing to me. We've heard of 'big announcements coming soon' before and they've been fairly mediocre. That said - given the demolition of Arkham is well underway, if the big announcement isn't the official replacement for Arkham then it's a beat up as usual.

Don't forget the collapse of Ansett.

In the original (reverse) direction of travel, Billabong was a downhill stop. My guess is that with the new direction of travel (to deal with the grade on the shortened track) that stopping on the uphill would have made re-starting difficult. Because the parks are very diligent at keeping every part of their maps up to date! Actually they all do - but they are still steam powered engines. The two original Retlaw locos were designed to burn diesel oil to heat the boiler, and the baldwins they acquired later had their fireboxes converted to burn diesel oil before entering service. Between 2007-2009, they converted them all over to B98 biodiesel. The Baldwin at Dreamworld operated similarly, if i'm not mistaken. The reason people regard the current loco as a 'tractor' (and with such disdain) is because there is no steam element in the current unit - the diesel internal combustion engine directly drives the loco, and I believe from memory the engine is manufactured by John Deere, although I might have imagined that. As the Dreamworld Express Wiki mentions, the current locomotive "masquerades" as a steam engine - it was made to resemble one without having a boiler or any other steam elements.

The website had september 3 for both attractions since early june. If you check the Leviathan (Sea World) - Wikipedia article you can see that the opening dates listed for both attractions have changed numerous times, and even the wiki says two different opening dates on the same page.

I think the key here is that this tree provides almost 100% shade all day round - and having been a character photographer and seeing some full-suit characters coming off stage after just 20 minutes of literally sitting down in full sun, you don't want a stage facing generally west that is going to cop full sun for almost the entire operating day. Fun fact - the original looney tunes performance stage, which used to be on the current Road Runner Rollercoaster site faced the same western direction (although it had a roof) - by mid-afternoon, the sun was far enough west that it hit the stage, making it incredibly hot to perform on. There's a really good reason why Disney has moved many of their character appearance\photos to indoor setups in Florida. As for the actual stage - there is zero effort to make this fit. plain red sheeting, dull grey hard wearing outdoor marine carpeting by the looks - this befits a school fete or county carnival stage and not a whimsical kids land in a theme park. Even digitally printed "red velvet curtains" or the looney tunes rings... something generic that suits the land better than 'plain red sheet' Who is old enough to remember what this used to look like?

Welcome. CGA is currently owned by Cedar Fair but was previously a Paramount Park, and prior to that, a Kings Entertainment Company (KECO)*. This isn't the first (former) KECO park to to be sold to developers essentially for the land value - KECO was a partner in constructing Australia's Wonderland (And Canada's Wonderland for that matter) though the Australian park was excluded from the Paramount purchase due to the long distance management required. Australia's Wonderland pretty much was the 'areas only amusement park' with the 'other parks' of any standing being well over 10 hours' drive away on the Gold Coast. Smaller regional parks were nearer but did not compete on any similar level (including Luna Park Sydney which re-opened the same month Wonderland closed). Where did the kids go? I don't know - somewhere else? There was no mass loitering event where teenagers sat in the gutter outside their homes with nothing else to do - they just found something else to do (or moved to Queensland 🤣) As for Cedar giving people the middle finger - you seem be to overlooking the fact that this is a business. If you read the wiki on the park, it was profitable from day one, just not profitable enough. The stories of Walt Disney are wonderful - hearing how he put care and attention and detail into his parks, attractions and movies because people appreciated these touches, and that would keep people coming back is a thing of the past. Walt let his brother Roy worry about the finances, and it was up to Roy to try to make the dream financially viable. These days, capital expenditure, investment, long term profitability - these are all decisions made in a boardroom, by directors whose remuneration is tied to the profits, and overall direction is voted on by shareholders, who are all in it for a return. When something isn't profitable, something has to change... and they don't give a shit about giving the finger to the public. Go check out channels like BrightSunFilms or TheProperPeople on YouTube - there are dozens of abandoned theme parks around America and the world - all of them "gave the finger" to the local park-going public simply because staying open wasn't financially viable. And with the exception of a few urban explorers with nothing better to do, most of the kids just went somewhere else. *(Today I Learned - KECO didn't build CGA, but bought it off the city of Santa Clara after operating it on their behalf for several years. The park was originally built by Marriott Hotel group - who also built another Great America in Chicago, now a Six Flags.)

😮 Not Wonder World!

The matter of visibility and the direction this faces is not yet confirmed. They've had a light package on this tower for years - this is just an upgrade. The effectiveness of the Joker, The Green Lantern Symbol and the Topgolf logo has probably not been lost on Ardent either. The whole ride is getting upgraded, old TOT track removed, so the actual cost of installing something like this when they already have equipment up there is minor, and it's an opportunity to refresh a 20 year old attraction for the future. I'm sure they work. But they were also designed for the attraction, and not retrofitted almost 20 years later. What won't people understand about an LED signboard with some numbers on it? I don't know - Maybe its the number of days since the last fatal accident? maybe it's how many minutes until the next village dispatch? Maybe my order of 300 grams of sliced honey ham and half a kilo of bacon is ready at the deli? There is no context surrounding this sign to give any indication of what it might be for. As for discrediting a guests ability, you seem very passionate about park improvements which suggests to me you've never worked in one. We used to have a saying at my park (and i'm sure many other parks have similar) - Guests check their brains at the gate. Thanks Dr Barnett. The CDC have their own research paper on surface transmission and while they say it is a low risk for surface transmission, low risk is not no risk. If surface transmission was impossible, we wouldn't have spent the past 30 months dowsing our hands in alcohol sanitisers and singing happy birthday to ourselves in front of the mirror. In fact - we were hand washing and sanitising well before masks were considered necessary because surface transmission was thought to be higher than airborne transmission, which is probably the very reason why we have such few cases of surface transmission. But this isn't a covid thread, so i'll move on - You're insane. You're jumping up and down about parks not using efficiency methods you've observed overseas because you're frustrated that our local methods are so slow, and in the same breath you want to do everything you can to make a ride cycle take longer. Yes, it is.

And like your other suggestions, such a plugin would also be completely useless in our park(z)

I did see the story last night but can't paste it now - short story - newspaper makes up headline to sell subscriptions. Ardent leisure were quoted saying they were not in any discussion with private equity firms. So you want to speed up the grouping process by using a turnstile nobody would understand how to use as they aren't prevalent here, and then use the time you've saved not to speed up your operations, but instead to slow it back down by giving everyone VR goggles in a post-covid environment. Yeah... You're not going to last long around here.

I did notice the crew they had over the weekend were absolutely on top of their game. Superman can run very efficiently but as Spotty has mentioned it takes a crack team working the attraction, fully staffed with both trains running and everyone busting their ass to ensure efficiency while staying safe. Your observation proves the park can run it efficiently with the right crew... So what is the problem? Do management just not roster the right staff numbers to maintain efficiency? Are management fostering a culture that inspires crews to work hard, but safe? Are some cast just disengaged, and why are they still employed? (and is that caused by the answer to the second question?) Kudos to the weekend crew for obviously doing such a standout noticeable job during school holidays.

Items lost within the ride envelope should be noted on the ops log and located overnight to be returned to lost property. The guest should be told to come back tomorrow to claim it. The issue with a phone is it's a bit more important to get back than a hat or sunglasses, and if it isn't located immediately while the person who lost it is there, what's to say it'll be found after hours \ in the dark?. It's lose\lose for the park no matter what they do. And yes, the guest should get what they deserve, but it's not in the interests of the park's guest relations to give them the finger. ETA: After posting, I was reminded of the landing pad below the station on the SFMM Green lantern (I think it was a Zacspin \ 4D?). Anyhow the final hairpin before the station was so forceful, violent, and with such a sudden stop, it was clear loose items didn't stand a chance - there were at least a dozen devices in various states of disintegration (all of them fresh though), a couple wallets and some glasses. Ops didn't stop for them... and such is life.

Yeah you're looking at this wrong. You're comparing something that requires constant skill, training, effort and ongoing commitment to excellence, to something that cost the same as it did when it was new, and costs no more to maintain than the rest of the available product, which is free. And yes, because there are less lettuces, and the demand hasn't changed. When Supply is lower than normal, its reasonable for the price to go up to manage demand. But in this case, supply is stable. Demand is reducing because of the increased price, and by all accounts it isn't selling. Disney put their AP pricing up, and up, and up again, and people kept paying it. no matter what the price, people paid it, so the increased price didn't reduce the demand, and the park stayed full, but the increased price let them invest in things like technology to improve the guest experience while they waited. If MW were offering an improvement to the experience for the increased cost, it would be understandable, but since the seats are empty half the time - do you want $30 a seat half the time, or $20 a seat all the time? I know which one makes me more money...

Hey... aren't you the guy that wants to install turnstiles to speed up loading operations? /s