matty_o_911

Wow what a shock to randomly pop by the site again and see this thread up in the top few threads in the gaming section. Just over five years since the first post in the thread on 13 Nov 2004. Wow. Where has the time gone?

Thanks. I would have liked to have been able to complete another recreation ... I was especially disappointed that I was never able to finish Cedar Point when I was building it. Dreamworld though bigger than Movie World was easier to fit onto the RCT grid and so I was never able to decide on a way to get MW to work and so never got further than the entrance without giving up because I was unhappy with the look. Sea World probably fits onto the RCT grid better than the other two but since there are less rides etc, its gets a little bit boring spending hours fiddling with terrain heights to create lakes etc and using the wall pieces to make a good looking front building so I never got very far on that one either. I'd like to be able to do another but not quite sure I'll be able to get the time to do it anymore. Appreciate the good comments none-the-less and I'm glad you liked Dreamworld. Looking through this thread again for the first time in quite a long time brings back some memories ... can't believe how long ago it was that I did it.

That's quite good. Movie World is very difficult to get to work in RCT because of the grid which is why I could never finish it in RCT3. But from a distance you seem to have pulled it off so good luck with finishing it.

This is really such a shame. And of all the things in the world to be killed by - gravel.

I know what you are talking about - they had something in the pool beside the ship. I believe it was one of these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_Killer_Whale

From Official Site: Since I missed out on getting to the Halloween event I think I'll have to book some tickets for this and getting to see Batwing at night sounds good too.

Was there today and the tower is almost finished. There are two pieces of tower left in the carpark and the structure currently is roughly the same height as Superman's tophat. It definately makes a good impact on the Movie World skyline and with the other two parts added this thing will dwarf Superman. Can't wait.

Dreamworld is changing its options ... $185 for full year pass with entry to Whitewater World after 3pm during off-peak periods or alternatively the Max Action Saver for $145 for access to Dreamworld during off-peak periods. Still quite expensive as far as I'm concerned. From Max Action newsletter:

From Max Action newsletter:

Wow I didn't think I'd be seeing this thread again - but I can't believe how long ago it was that I made those parks. Its a shame that I don't have the time or patience anymore to be able to make them. As much as I'd like to get into playing it again, its unlikely I'll be able to finish any parks though I do start 3 very long and boring months of university holidays so who knows I may get into it again. Movieworld would be too difficult to build I think because of the restrictive grid. The RCT2 version worked out fine because there was no Superman Escape, but because of the angle that main street branches off from the fountain it is practically impossible to build the park on a grid without making considerable adjustments that defeat the purpose of making a recreation in the first place. Thanks again anyway with the comments and it was a pleasure to build them and share them. Apologies though for the lag and extreme load times. Unfortunately RCT3 was not created with the intention to make large, scenery filled parks - another reason I was never able to finish the Cedar Point recreation which I was quite proud of at the time.

Ok, before I go into an anti-media tirade let me first say that I like everyone else was completely shocked about his death. Despite the fact that he dealt with deadly animals every day of his life I suppose we subconsciously all asumed he was invincible. His death leaves a large hole in Australia and he certainly won't be forgotten. His efforts in the field of animal conservation are unmatched and likely there will never be anyone again who can bring animal welfare to the forefront of the human psyche. I think we will all definately miss his presence. Ok that's that said. I have however been increasingly annoyed at the media over their coverage of this. The biggest thing that annoyed me is the way the media has responded to criticism of Irwin. In particular this happened tonight on the abysmal A Current Affair with the interview between Karl Stefanovic and Germaine Greer. Shame on channel nine for using public sympathy to get ratings and dispute in that manner the completely valid opinion the feminist presented for which I to a large degree agree with. Steve Irwin did amazing things for animal conservation, but this often came at the expense of animal rights: effectively achieving good outcomes through reprehensible means. Irwin made his career teasing, annoying and aggravating animals to the extent that they will attack him. I'm quite sure the snakes and crocodiles didn't want to be lifted up all the time, poked, prodded and displayed on talk shows in front of audiences and under studio lighting. Animals just want to be left alone in the wild to go about their daily lives, not have him laying next to them screaming in their ears (obviously tiny animals' hearing will be much more sensitive than ours). He owes his fame to the relative abuse of animals. And so to hear a lowly journalist ask Greer whether 'anyone else actually agrees with her' and criticise her for not 'naming one person who does' I think is evidence of the deplorable journalism that the 6.30pm timeslot is used to. It is of paramount importance in a democracy such as ours for competing opinions to be expressed; and having a biased, propagandist media that silences other opinions is not tolerable. Steve Irwin did wonderful things for animal conservation, yes, but not through the best methods. The animal world has gained its freedom....but at the espense of its savior.

Thankyou. They really need to get Grant to do a few more ride specific things there, like doing one of the short segments giving a behind the scenes tour or something explaining how it works. When he was at Movie World for Superman Escape, every cross (I think) to him that morning was just him standing below the tophat just to lead up to when he finally rode it right at the end - they could have let him in behind the scenes to look at the themed section or something else at least. Still, at least they visit the themeparks regularly often - still, I certainly don't like being up that early in the morning so I generally don't watch it.

Yeah Grant was even pleased enough to be announcing an exclusive with Stephen Gregg - that Dreamworld is building a waterpark. Shock horror. Its not like that hasn't been known for months. If he was doing that at 8:00am and doing flowrider at 8:30am, can anyone tell me what he was doing at Dreamworld beforehand?

NOTE: While not entirely related to this topic, I apologise for getting into a Movie World vs Dreamworld debate but I couldn't help myself. I couldn't possibly disagree with you more. Movie World is by far the more superior park in my opinion. I have been regularly visiting both parks over the previous year - at least once a month during Superman construction - and to distinguish the staff at Movie World as being so bad in comparison to Dreamworld is very wrong. Both parks would be quite even in terms of staff - the majority are very friendly and helpful and do their best to make sure guests are enjoying their time and occasionally some may not. Movie World by far does a better job in the entertaining of guests with performers who roam the park regularly and seem from my experience to go down very well with guests. Dreamworld - as I've noticed - sends two koalas on the back of a vehicle maybe once a day who merely wave. The rest of the time, Dreamworld just puts the occassional Nickelodeon character near the Cat-Dog food area for photos. And to suggest the rides are always closed is wrong to - maybe you just went on a bad day? or maybe even I was just lucky enough to go on 15 exceptional days? In terms of rides, I disagree also. I like to compare Dreamworld and Movie World by the types of attraction and its clear from that (in my opinion of course) which are better: Traditional full circuit coaster with lift-hill - Cyclone vs Lethal Weapon - despite the headbanging Lethal is far more interesting to look at, better themed, and more exciting. Movie World 1 - Dreamworld 0. Log flume - Rocky Hollow Log Ride vs Wild West Falls - theming, length, enjoyment give this one to Movie World of course. Movie World 2 - Dreamworld 0. Launching coaster - Superman Escape vs Tower of Terror - a bit more of a contest here, though in my opinion, Superman's better (while not perfect) theming, and also more intense acceleration and more interesting layout gives it the upperhand. Movie World 3 - Dreamworld 0. Theatres - Shrek 4D vs IMAX - Shrek is by far more popular - though Dreamworlds is usually good to watch and educational. Movie World 4 - Dreamworld 0. Family coaster - Roadrunner vs Reptar - difficult contest here because they are so similar, but I enjoy roadrunner more (and I always liked the cartoons) so Movieworld 5 - Dreamworld 0. Wild mouse coasters - Scooby vs Eureka - close contest and both have their pros and cons but I'm going to give it to Scooby for a backwards drop and elevator, as well as theming and generally fast load times. Movie World 6 - Dreamworld 0. I've run out of other comparisons so I'll give Movieworld another point for having Batman - but Dreamworld does have a number of other thrill rides that are both popular and fun so I'll give it 3 points for Giant Drop, Claw and Wipeout and an extra point for the extra rides and attractions it contains from being the larger park that Movie World doesn't have. In terms of rides and attractions, therefore Movie World 7 - Dreamworld 4. And so its not just theming - the rides at Movie World are generally of a much better than those in comparison at Dreamworld. The 4 points Dreamworld got were for only having a few more thrill rides that Movie World doesn't. I could rant for ever, but Movie World is my favourite park and I therefore shall jump to its defence, lol. On topic: its quite sad that the public doesn't necessarily realise how great Movie World and continue to go to Dreamworld despite not doing anything substantial now for years. It is just as sad to see them having to cut back on staff - especially in the performance and entertainment side of things for which Movie World has traditionally done so well with. Lets hope things improve for Movie World in the future and lets hope it catches up.

See here for the article from news.com.au: http://www.finance.news.com.au/story/0,101...710-462,00.html From the article: 'Village said it would continue to partner with Warner Bros in theme parks in Australia now via a long-term licensing agreement.' So hopefully we'll continue to see things operating as normal at the parks. And its interesting to see they might be expanding the Warner Bros parks to Asia through the deal.

A week ago when I went there wasn't.

Yeah I'll agree with that. Was a really good day and I had a great time and would be willing to do something again in the future.

I'll add my name to the list as well - I shall attempt to be there.

Ah it must have been a big fault with Superman then if they had to close it for the 2nd and 3rd of February. I went in the afternoon of the 1st to Movie World only to find out that Superman was closed - which isn't what I wanted to hear after travelling all that way from Brisbane. They didn't run it at all that afternoon - the only bit of movement I saw on it was the brakefins on the launch moving slightly for a few seconds. Hopefully they have it fixed though by now.

Sounds like a good idea to me - and excuse to go to the parks is always good. Any weekend really is good for me, though only from the February 25th weekend onwards since I won't be in Brisbane before then. If the meetup was before then, then I wouldn't be able to attend. If I had to choose a weekend, then I would say February 25-26 then.

Actually it goes about 1 minute 40 seconds I believe. About the same time as Lethal Weapon - which even when running two trains has a very slow and inefficient queue. Superman's queue is shorter because: 1) the lockers mean there is no stuffing around with guests putting things in boxes and then collecting them like Lethal Weapon/Cyclone et al; 2) Ride ops split the queue into groups of four in accordance to which gate to proceed to and puts family/friends together and filling gaps with single riders - all of which is done before even reaching the loading gate. So when the train arives at the station - everyone quickly proceeds in sits down, and is buckled in by multiple ride ops without any stuffing around whatsoever. 3) Having separate loading/unloading stations, means the other train doesn't have to wait for the other train to get out of the way like it does on others. Hence why having two trains on Lethal Weapon makes very little difference because only one train can fit in the station at a time, and by the second train arrives at the station and unloads the people onboard and they collect their items, the other train has already completed the circuit and is waiting in the block brakes with nothing to do while people are still just getting on the ride.

Out of curiosity - with Movie World being able to market two new attractions this holiday period (one being a multi-million dollar rollercoaster and the other a 4D movie based on a popular character) and Dreamworld only having its measly Wiggles World and a circus to offer this year - can anyone who has been to Dreamworld lately be able to inform us as to whether Dreamworld's holiday visitor numbers appear to be succumbing to the much better park down the road and are less than usual?

Well I went yesterday (27 December) and got about 8 rides on it. Verdict - the best ride I have ever been on (thus best in Australia). My review: Superman area/exterior theming - 8 out of 10 The area around the Superman ride I thought was very well done. The ride as it is is a very picturesque one to begin with - it couldn't have asked for a more perfect position in the park - and looks absolutely fantastic as you walk through the park's archway and past the fountain. Thus it is a great spectator ride like the Claw and Wipeout at Dreamworld and Wild West Falls at Movie World. The pathway connecting from the fountain to the Lethal Weapon area works really well and opens the park up a bit more - also allowing for being able to avoid the crowds in Main Street during the parade. Walking underneath the launch track and standing in the middle of the new plaza watching the ride move 360 degrees all around is great to watch. The holes in the walls of the show building in which the track enters and exits do look good with the black burn marks around them and then with then watching the train come flying out through the smoke does look good. However the mere fact that the buildings were not heavily themed is why I took a couple of points off in respect to the exterior visuals - sure the black hole and smoke looks good, but it is still a very bland white shed wall and the entrance area is nothing special. I really was hoping that they would have themed the exterior of the building to a building facade or Metropolis skyline - rather than leave it relatively unchanged. Overall, a good ride to watch and it does look very impressive from the outside. Queue and station - 9 out of 10 I was quite impressed by the queue and station - the primary reason for the 9 out of 10 rating was for the efficiency that the crowds were organised. I'm guessing once the crowds die down after the holidays, Movie World will reduce the staffing on the ride, but on a busy day like yesterday (where WWF was 30 minutes wait, Shrek 30 mins, Looney Tunes River Ride 30 mins, Lethal Weapon 40 mins, Scooby 1 hour) the most I waited during proper operation of Superman was about 15-20 minutes. (Except for the first ride I had in the morning when we were all buckled in and there must have been a problem with the second train because we where then let out and had to move into the queue again for another 20-30 mins and wait while the problem was sorted out - I was in the front row so I really wasn't going to leave and come back later. It was 20 minutes until I noticed the other train arrive back in the unload station so I'm guessing it may have had to have been evacuated in the pre-launch area.) On entering the queue - 2 staff were on hand to make it well known that no materials are to be taken at all onto the ride and that everything had to be left with a non-riding friend or paying $1 for a locker. The locker system while the cost isn't very good, works reasonably well - while the queue for getting in and out of lockers itself got long, it did mean that there was no time wasted in the loading process waiting for people to empty their pockets like on Lethal Weapon or anything else. (Though I did think it was a slightly strange idea to place the lockers there because for people to buy their onride photo or souvenirs in the gift shop, they have to walk back to the start of the queue to get their wallet from the lockers and back into the shop.) The first part of the queue - which rarely had very many people in it was just plain and white and boring - but further on the subway theming started. I quite liked the colours and the images on the walls. One problem with the queue was lack of fans/air-conditioning because yesterday was very hot and humid and it was dreadful standing in the queue for too long. Adding to the efficiency of the ride, as people reached the front of the queue - two to three ride ops were organising people into groups of four based upon which gate/car they would be in and getting families and groups of friends together and filling gaps with single riders before getting to the gates. This no doubt saved a lot of time. The 5 groups of 4 then proceeded up the ramp to the gates where the trains leaving/arriving can be seen on the platform beyond. Meanwhile, video screens in the queue are showing people dressed in formal outfits getting into the train - trying of course to continue the subway car theme. I thought this was of rather poor quality - the man talking was clearly filmed on a blue-screen and could easily have been filmed with a MRT banner behind him and avoiding the poor blending. Also when in the queue, the speakers have an occasional - "The city's engineers have reports of tremors in the subway" or something along these lines and it isn't all that bad. Moving onto the subway platform/station, the riders are quickly ushered into their seats and buckled up by 4-5 ride ops - getting the job done very quickly and efficiently and within just over a minute of entering the platform, the train begins to leave the station, which was generally well themed to a subway. What let me down slightly with the queue and I'll reinforce when I talk about the pre-launch section, is that there was no themed ceiling and the roof of the show building was clearly visible and it distracted from the feeling of being in a subway underground. Overall though, for the efficiency of loading and short wait times, the queue was handled very well. Pre-launch section/earthquake - 8 out of 10 (For those who don't wish to have this section spoiled for them before riding, skip this section - assuming anyone would be stupid enough to read this already novel length ride review.) After leaving the station, the track turns to the right and travels through the subway which is all you would expect it to be - themed concrete walls - that's about it really. As it starts out, there are relatively small cracks in the walls, and as the track progresses, the cracks get increasingly bigger as the earthquake intensifies. Having said that, there is no real earthquake that occurs - it is generally just the voiceover over the radio saying that the tremors are getting worse and to head to Metropolis Square Station. But from the right turn from the station, the track heads relatively straight along the subway track (in relation to the park this would be along the wall of the path heading from Main Street to Lethal Weapon). Along this section, pipes above (and my complaint about lack of ceiling still applies) break and steam is sprayed out over the train with warm droplets of water being felt on the riders. The ride then turns to the right again into a destroyed looking Metropolis Square station - on the right, steam is spraying everywhere and on the right, posters are swinging back and forth and lockers are shaking about with doors swinging open. The track turns to a 180 degree right turn (where the maintenance track can be seen below the fake wall) and on the left, water rushes down what looked like stairs. The track then does another 180 degree turn but this time to the left where two cars - a police car and a NYC taxi look as though they've fallen through from the street above. After the turn, the track straightens out where the launch is visible - over the speakers, it is being said that the subway is about to collapse. Superman then can be heard saying that he is coming to the rescue or something along those lines and push you out - this though I could only hear from the back of the train, when at the front I couldn’t hear a thing so I think another set of speakers need to be placed in that section. (If none of my description made much sense, the attachment at the bottom is a rough sketch in Paint of what the interior track layout was like). Overall, this was quite short, and without much real story too, and no real shaky earthquake scene. Nevertheless it did look quite good, and the advantage of it not being a long, drawn out sequence is that on subsequent rides it doesn't get boring. Thus I give it an 8 out of 10. The Launch - 9 out of 10 First of all, the launch had no theming whatsoever. What could be seen on the onride POV that was released on Supermanescape.com.au is exactly what it looks like in real life. When the train stops before the launch and you are sitting around the front, you can see the open space of a boring shed and that's about it. I was really hoping that it would be a launch out of an enclosed and dark tunnel, but nope. This though only gets 1 mark taken off out of 10 for me though, because the feeling of the acceleration of 0-100km/h in 2 seconds was really amazing and the smoke or whatever it is that is sprayed over the hole before the launch works well. Rest of the track 9 out of 10 Travelling at the high speed (which doesn't seem to drop much during the course of the ride) throughout the track was extremely good. Definitely the smoothest coaster I have ever been on. Going up and over the top hat was extremely fun, with a good view from the top (not that you have much time to admire it) and going over the crest and not being able to see the track at first adds to the excitement - and a nice bit of airtime in the process. The first fast banked curve was really good and going up over the first camel hump and experiencing the amazing airtime there was really fantastic, as was the quick trip in and out of the building once more. Another nice bit of airtime going over the second camel hump whilst at the same time ducking under the first camel hump was perfect. The still quick turn around and hill into the brake run were also really great. Overall, this was fantastic - the onride POV doesn't give the great feeling of actually being on the ride any credit. You go into the brake run and back into the station all excited with watery eyes and as everyone is quickly unloaded by a few ride ops and pointed out the door into the store, the excited passengers can be heard all around. While the fast section of the ride itself was perfect, the only disadvantage was the time - the whole ride is over in such a short period of time (and so at least the queues aren't long so that multiple rides can be had). Overall Average rating based on scores above: 8.6 out of 10. Overall the ride was the best in the park, and the best on the Gold Coast. Whoever it was at Movie World who came up with this idea and all those involved in making it have done a fantastic job and all deserve pay rises. This ride seemed very popular yesterday, and will continue to do so for a long time. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend everyone here get there sometime and ride this - you won't regret it. And even though my average rating based upon a relatively critical analysis of the ride was 8.6 - I still feeling like giving it a 10 out of 10 overall. And by the way - sorry for this extremely long post – anyone who even bothers to take the time to read this clearly doesn't have a life, lol. (Attachment below is a rough sketch of the interior track layout of Superman Escape)

Nah the tracks were like that before they were installed. Have a look at some of the pics here or on Ozcoaster of the track pieces when they were sitting out in the carpark before being installed and you'll see that on each rail there is a strip without paint on top, to the side and under the rail.

Unless you don't want to spoil the superman experience, go to www.supermanescape.com.au for a Superman: Escape onride video taken during testing. And I believe that media day must be tomorrow as Channel Sevens news mentioned that Movie World would be unveiling its new attraction tomorrow. (Thanks to Drewboy for pointing the video out to me.)