DaptoFunlandGuy

It'd be even more hilarious if nothing in the park was open, and it was just an excuse to walk around the park at night. Is that a fountain in the middle there?

The maintenance cage isn't really designed for pleasure. it's not the easiest thing to get into or out of, still requires fall arrest, and probably shouldn't accommodate 10 people. Besides, thats not really a 'TOT climb' is it?

Fair point. I'll take that on board. I was doing a little SLC research earlier, and the most recent Mitch Hawker poll I was able to find was for 2013 (has he done it since then?) - where I found 'favourite Vekoma SLC located anywhere' ranked one spot above Dreamworld's Cyclone, and TWENTY spots below MDMC. That is an outrage. A travesty. this must be rectified.

having been inside an Intamin Giant Drop tower - can confirm - nobody wants to climb that bastard for pleasure.

Yeah - DW's behind the scenes is all about the animals, rather than the rides. Although I guess there isn't really much of DW's rides that are behind the scenes in the first place. They could do HWSW's lift hill, which at 40 metres beats out Arkham as the tallest. MW might be the 'first' to do a rollercoaster climb, but if DW were to add it, DW could claim the 'highest'

There are around 41 SLCs in the world. 7 of them have the helix (inc. 2xShenlin). Out of the 5 traditional extended (w/helix) versions out there, two have received new trains - Arkham, and Jaguar at Isla Magica. Calling ours 'the best one there is' is reaching, IMO. Lets not beat around the bush. the SLC is a horrible bastard that kicks the shit out of you... especially with original trains and restraints. Our Arkham has new trains and harnesses that provide less head banging, and slightly more leg (and for some, groin) pain instead - which is far more tolerable than a headache. Theres a nice ambience in the area, but I feel this is mostly because the original ride was installed 20 years ago, and was their flagship ride at the time, so it had buckets of money thrown at it to make it look good. I've comfortably re-ridden Arkham for an hour straight with the new restraints, and I find it much better than the previous 'classic' restraints - but the track is still rough as guts, especially the transitions between elements, and the increasing leg pressure throughout the ride, culminated in a crushing force in the brake run mean i'll happily skip it on any visit unless its a walk-on... TBH I really like the look of the restraints on Jaguar ( here ) far better than Arkham's current design. But I really struggle to take "its the best one there is" seriously.

I realise price is relative and all, but whether you can afford it or not, I don't think anyone can say that the Star Tour is 'expensive' - relatively speaking. Dreamworld offer something similar. There are some differences - but having done neither of them, my perception is that they are relatively comparable - except that Dreamworld offers a 'VIP lounge' all day, with food and drink available all day (Which i don't see contributing in any major way towards cost). Dreamworld charge $1250 for adults, and $500 for children (although children who dont meet height requirements can't do some of the activities). MW is charging less than a quarter of the price of the dreamworld experience, and by all accounts, what Movie World is offering is far more appealing to everyone.

"marketing"

^Yeah, but why not - its common practice in a park that when you have a unique experience limited to a few, that you charge for it to limit participation. I'm sure there's been many a parent go off their rocker when staff choosing the winner of the dance-off didn't pick their child for the honour. by doing this, we contribute to a good cause, and have a justifiable reason for why your child can't (it's already booked for today, sorry). I'm sure, if they didn't have any bookings for the day they'll still select some kids randomly for no charge to fill the parade, but this is a way to guarantee your child gets the experience - even if they're a shitty dancer.

^Ha...OW...Ha...OW...Ha...OW...Ha...OW...Ha...OW...Ha...OW...Ha...OW...Ha...OW...

Yeah its not a perfect chart - if you take dodgems and doomsday out of the chart, it looks a LOT cleaner, and SE and WWF are the only major crossovers. To answer your question - I wouldn't be upset if it were postponed in the slightest - however we need to remember: The ride still needs annual maintenance, which they will accomplish during this downtime The ride opened 11 years ago. The paint was showing VERY clear signs of fade and was desperately calling for TLC I'm no metallurgist, but there may also be issues with the ride structure being unprotected due to the paint issues, and this may not be purely cosmetic work. Its great to see the park putting all this work in... i'm a little cynical in that I consider all this TLC to be because of the upcoming commonwealth games, rather than just because the park wants to look it's best. I could be wrong on that, but they've shown us with history that new stuff gets love, and old stuff gets worn... so it may be coincidence, but thats how I see it. As for local crew being spread across the 3 sites, you're right, but they wouldn't be needed for every facet, of every site, every day. An accomplished paint crew don't need local maintenance folk on site for general track painting, except around machinery areas, so theres a lot of days worth of work where the local crew aren't required to devote time to Superman - they would have their usual maintenance obligation - around a month - as they would have for WWF, which has already had a month's headstart - more than enough time for the 'regular maintenance' aspect. My point in mentioning the local crew was more that they may have been required to devote time to doomsday earlier on in the program, hence why the large gaps mainly in the first part of the year. as for this new VIP experience - i think it's fantastic. the price point is fantastic, the inclusions are fantastic, everything is fantastic. I think i'll wait until SE comes out of its maintenance program before I think about doing it - but considering this offers the ONE THING that every enthusiast fanboy has been calling for for a long time (Scooby - lights on) - So i see this being well patronised for some time. I'd be interested to see whether they would offer group bookings at a slightly more competitive rate - perhaps Parkz could organise group bookings? (Please don't misinterpret this as me saying the price is too high - in my opinion its probably a bit too low, but that's what makes it such fantastic value - I was just contemplating if that was the regular per person price, whether they'd knock a couple bucks off if you came at them with 8). Anyone with more info - does the Arkham climb require harnesses or any sort of fall arrest? One side of the stairs doesn't have a railing, yes? oh - afterthought - yes i guess its good to see superman back in the park, considering the attraction is the parks flagship. *yawn* Agree about the costume. Whats with the kneepads?

I'm passing no comment for or against what you've said here, but I did this little chart to kind of visualise the maintenance in the park, based on what was on their maintenance page, and other info such as school holidays and doomsday construction. I haven't included fright nights or carnivale either. There would have been room to fit things around a little bit but once you add carnivale and fright nights in it starts to get a lot more difficult. I'm also mindful of the ongoing doomsday construction which - although outsourced - would still require day-to-day involvement from local crew familiar with the site. I think its been a very difficult year for them to plan. Something that also sticks in the back of my head with my background is when we see storm season, and when weather can wreak havoc on things like paintjobs. Mid-september is the start of that season, and May-early June is also a bad time for rain events. Looking at peak periods - it makes sense to close West throughout the winter holidays, but it would be suicide to close Superman. Superman went down almost immediately after holidays, and comes back up JUST in time for september holidays. I'm not having a go - but what could you see done differently to avoid the 'two majors closed at the same time' ?

I just tried to add a review for MDMC (purely because it wouldn't really affect anything so I could see what it asked on this page http://www.parkz.com.au/parks/AU/Gold_Coast/Dreamworld/ride/286-Mick_Doohans_Motocoaster but when I click 'add review' the page refreshes, but nothing else. Am I missing something?

of course there are. thanks.

Aren't the dodgems \ WWF toilet block one and the same?

We used to complain about the bare fencing, or worse, the plain white, or logo panels. they went with green and we all loved it - now its been around a while, it's time to complain about that too. I'd love themed panels for each area, but it'd get used maybe once a year? thats a lot of extra stuff to store, and it probably wouldn't get stored too well either. then when it gets damaged and needs replacing, you have to get more printed - or hold a lot of extras in stock. starts to become very expensive and i for one would rather they devote their cash to other more important things - like readable maps during construction, or better signage at each closed attraction.

You'd have to modify the river quite a lot to prevent them from escaping. I foresee another disney incident coming dreamworlds way if they go with that!

You have an excellent point, but since the facades were torn down, it would only take some paint, and maybe a few barred windows to make the alley fit the Arkham theme - put up stencil signs like 'mental asylum - KEEP OUT' and then have Joker graffiti scrawled over it making it something else. We are very lucky that the park is undergoing a lot of renovation and improvement, and it can only be for the better moving forward - but unfortunately - when you buy an old house and renovate the kitchen - suddenly the old bathroom looks like a turd in comparison. The alley space provided alternatives to main street, which becomes a choke point, particularly when parades are on. Sure - it forces people to go through the retail strip (like sea world's gate) but guest flow, particularly at peak times is important, and what they have right now with the alley closed just sucks. Most (if not all? of the alley facades were torn down a few years back. it is just bare walls these days. But as above - wouldn't take much to improve it to a guest-suitable space.

I know we see these posts at least twice a year, but a conversation with a friend has lead me to ask. what is your favourite Aussie coaster? (I've deliberately left out MDMC for obvious reasons)

Ah true. Forgot about the paint job.

^what he said.

I look at it the same way I look at Sea World right now - I realise that most of SW's works aren't attractions, but they are incredibly disruptive - especially to guest flow, having to go "round the world" to get to everything. Its a necessary evil, and I think the parks will be better for it when it is completed, but it's really showing the weaknesses in park flow and design when these attractions \ paths are closed. It shows precisely why Arkham needs chinatown alley, instead of scooby's backdoor. It shows precisely why the park needs CLEAR signage at each location (yes I know, guests won't read them and complain anyway, but still) Given Superman's main walkway has a covering between path and track, it begs the question - couldn't they have kept the barriers open so people could access AA, except for when they actually have trackwork scheduled? If the trains are out for maintenance and they're not working on the external track, theres no need to fence it off. And worse - if we can open chinatown alley to access AA when superman is undergoing maintenance, why can't we have that section (at least) open all the time? It's almost #SeaWorldGateGate all over again.

Superman Escape Closed for scheduled maintenance from Monday 18th July and will re-open Wednesday 14th September 2016. *ducks*

An indigenous theme, whilst very cool in theory, would be fraught with danger as there would be many cultural sensitivities in doing such an attraction.

that panelling looks pretty crappy actually. each panel stands out like dogs balls. it really doesn't 'stand up' to the quality of the rest of the area that we've seen. I know it isn't complete - so I really hope that is somehow fixed \ blended better so you can't see those joins.