AllegroCrab

I've tossed up making one of those panels myself. Maybe I'll do it over the summer. On another note, here's a coaster i made a while ago. You can get it on steam workshop here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1496787512 Currently I'm making a launched new generation Vekoma. But I've gone so deep into sketchup modelling and even a bit of NL2 scripting that it's going to be a while until I finish it. Especially as the uni semester is coming to a close I'm finding I have less and less spare time. Hopefully I can get something decent finished by the end of the year.

Unless there's a hidden block section somewhere that I don't know of, I'm going to say no. The unload platform is after the magnetic brakes which are not a block, they just slow the train for entry into the unload area (think of them as massive trims). The other train doesn't launch until the previous train has left the unload area into the station, so that the unload block is free. In terms of adding a block, even if you added one where the magnetic brakes are now, the ops would have to work significantly faster than they currently do. Even then I think the trains would stack very regularly, including before the launch if unload operations are slow, which isn't desirable.

The r/rollercoasters and coaster bot discords are where i get most of my international news. I'd say I get my Australian news from here but sometimes the guys on these discord servers are faster to learn about aussie stuff than I am. There's a really great group of people on there who I recently went on a coaster trip around the UK meeting. A few odd balls are annoying but where doesn't have that on the internet? If anyone wants to join, here's the invites: r/rollercoasters: https://discord.gg/zJf3Gz CoasterBot: https://discord.gg/2Ez9M9 Feel free to @PooDiePie (me) if you join. People are always having really in depth discussions on coasters and parks, or about anything really. They love hearing the Australian view on things, if you've ridden dc rivals they'll all be jealous.

Make it a tour behind the operation of the coaster with a knowledgeable guide, as well as a climb, and it's well worth $99.

https://m.onenewspage.com/video/20180830/10713638/Six-Flags-Great-America-announces-new-coaster-Maxx.htm This is something I'm happy to see. I'm bagging on S&S a few posts ago but this looks much better from them. Hopefully the issues I have with Steel Curtain are from the quality of the nolimits recreation they've got of it and don't reflect the real thing.

If you've ridden any other Mack, you'd know DC Rivals is like nothing else they've made force wise. It is a first of its kind in that sense, the other hyper is so tame in comparison.

This is too expensive and too much of a logistical nightmare to be routine maintenance. I don't know why they'd be doing this if there wasn't something wrong with that piece of track that needs to be repaired or replaced.

I'm kinda concerned for Steel Curtain. Going with S&S as a manufacturer was a very unexpected move. The layout and supports are wacky as hell, never seen anything like it, and I'd be very interested to ride it, but I don't expect it'll be that nice to ride. It just doesn't have the quality of layout design and element shaping that we're used to seeing these days (at least based on that nolimits video they showed for the reveal). I'll be pleasantly surprised by S&S if they get it open on schedule.

From these images the new paint job makes it look less like the stone it's trying to imitate and more like plastic. Not sure I'm a fan.

In July I went on pretty much the same trip you've done here. Good to see some Nemesis love. The UK enthusiasts I was with told me over and over again that Nemesis is overrated, but all I've ever heard about Nemesis is that it's overrated to the point where I'm not sure if it's really overrated at all. It was a phenomenal ride, I don't buy the "most intense ride experience" line (The Smiler is more intense), but it certainly is my favourite coaster I rode in the UK. I didn't share the love of icon to the same level as the others in the group I was with. Sure, it's a fun coaster, and insanely re-rideable, but I found it not as good as Nemesis or even the Smiler. I want to be able to explain it logically but it's really difficult to. Icon had some amazing moments, (top hat, immelman, the roll, and a couple of the airtime hills) but Nemesis' layout just destroys it as far as I'm concerned, even if it has a much shorter ride time. Perhaps riding DC Rivals killed Icon for me. I know they're quite different coasters but both rides have twists and airtime bunny hills, icon's were lacklustre in comparison, (as you'd expect when comparing a mack multi-launch with a hyper), yet they make up the majority of the layout. The unique elements that icon has were its standouts, perhaps it should have focused more on things like that. When thinking about it though, at a park like blackpool the limitations on what they could design must have been really difficult to work with, I think they've done an incredible job considering the circumstances. Nemesis just had an incredible layout, it's like nothing else I've ever ridden. The way it dives multiple times into the terrain and picks up speed as it continues rather than having one big drop at the start and slowing down afterwards like most coasters do was an amazing feeling. I think I annoyed people with my opinion on it compared to my opinion on icon, maybe they're so used to nemesis that they don't realise how good it is.

I wonder if they know it's a German ride 😃

Really goes to show how nothing ever really is a complete unforeseeable accident. Also how there's never only one cause for an accident.

100% need practical effects alongside the screens and projections. There's a trend in parks nowadays of getting carried away with screens, it really should be avoided.

Can confirm. I work in a cafe where they let us eat the food, whenever we put chips and wedges on we almost subconsciously put a bit more in than necessary and snack on the rest. The boss is snacking away with us though.

Hahaha brilliant. The only way.

Why would the restraints tightening during the ride lead to catastrophic consequences? They definitely cannot loosen, but they seem to tighten. I've sat as far back as I can to avoid exactly what you've described, and the restraint just ends up pushing in further forwards on my thighs (which is much worse than it pushing down at the top of the thighs, it's like a pressure point).

Harsh, have you seen Lech coaster or the proposed hyper that could have been in place of Intamin's Hyperion at Energylandia? They're certainly catching up with modern coaster design.

The Mack restraints on DC Rivals are amazing as they allow for a tiny bit of movement, loosening or tightening, making them the most comfortable restraints I've ever used. I've seen this be mistaken multiple times by guests as the restraint not being locked properly.

Damn, looks really nice. Parkitect has a really nice aesthetic and I should probably pick it up.

Definitely think Wipeout and the Sea World monorail are on the way out, we'll see in the next few years though.

I'm a poor uni student and I'm definitely not turned away by that pricing. It's like 1.5 shifts of my casual job for a year of theme parks. Of course I'm only paying for myself, but if you've got kids you're paying crazy money for things all the time, I'll only have to cross that bridge when I come to it .

I'm no expert but surely issues with how the place looks come second to issues with the day to day running of the park, staff issues, and pricing. I really hope these problems are tackled because it really could be the park that determines the future of another theme park being viable Sydney, even just a cute little park like Chessington WoA in London or Adventure World in WA, just some sort of more modern alternative to Luna Park in a location that's friendlier for large expansions. I might just be a dreamer though and will never know what it's like to have a proper home park unless I end up outside of Sydney for whatever reason in the future.

Our based lad Shawn has done a vlog showing the amount of effort that towers put into the event. The actors and performers doing a great job, with extra lighting and smoke effects on show. this vlog shows the pre-show (SPOILERS), which looks incredible. As for the wicker man structure itself ('Big Bob' is what the towers staff call it), it looks beyond incredible at night, I'm actually lost for words. Very unlikely it'll run on full effects like this all the time, and a shame that night rides on this will only come around at a very exclusive time of the year. Merlin could perhaps do some passholder night ride sessions to make up for this.

I don't see the absolute equivalence here. An annual pass to our parks costs only $200, or $180 for 2 weeks, so if you're going on a trip purely for a theme park it really can be quite cheap. I guess cruises do compete with parks as holiday choices, but in the same way cruises compete with EVERY other type of holiday you can think of in the same way. It's no surprise people are picking cruises more often these days, having done the Royal Carribbean South Pacific cruise myself, it's brilliant value for the hospitality you get from staff on board, seeing beautiful parts of the world every few days, as well as all of the on board entertainment, buffet breakfast every morning, restaurant dinner every night, the people you meet (and don't forget the plentiful excuses to drink). If you wanted to experience all of those things on the Gold Coast, you'd be paying quite a bit more, but if you're prioritising the parks over everything else, and make sacrifices in other areas, it'll end up being the cheaper holiday, it's a lot more complicated than just comparing the two holiday choices I think.

It's for clearance over the track below After seeing actual footage of this thing running, it seems to be whizzing through faster than I thought it would. There'll be some great airtime on that first airtime hill, and it does that classic alton towers thing where the ride uses the terrain to keep up its pace right until the end. Very excited to ride this now, can't wait for a POV.