Levithian

People need to remember it's not just mechanical inspections from their fitters/engineers like other rides, daily inspections would also have carpenters now too as repairs/maintenance/changes to the track or structure would likely happen daily. It's the nature of working with wood, especially in an outdoor environment, goes double for a new ride, triple when you consider the vibration/movement it experiences every day. I don't ever see it as a ride that will routinely open "on time", every day of the year. Even once all it's quirks are known and a good routine is established. It's going to be one of those rides that needs a little bit of tinkering all the time, so the occasional late opening is going to happen.

Finally, the theme I have been waiting for!

Water levels are monitored. If they drop too low to operate safely the ride goes into fault. So i doubt there is anything to be worried about. Its basically impossible for the water level to be ok in the western town and too low in the geyser area. Water flows from the backwards drop area through to lift two. So if its low at the start, it should be low at the end too as its constantly pumped back around from the harbour.

it doesn't, other than it doesn't usually include cycling of the restraints with dummies. it doesn't, other than it doesn't usually include cycling of the restraints with dummies.

Need to keep in mind that a planning application and an application for material change of use are different things. One is actually applying to build something, it's tangible. It's going to happen exactly as provided in the application if the council approve the development. The other is just basically registering intent and wishing to change how the property is being used. In this case, the area is probably designated as car parks, and amusement/theme park with no mention of a hotel or accommodation facilities. So they want to apply to have this changed so they can potentially go ahead with a future development. The material use gives them scope of what the property could potentially be used for. They still have to apply for a development application for the building and site works if they ever decide they actually want to build the hotel. See the difference? It's not even really a commitment. As we have seen over the past 8 years, anything completely out of your control could happen that would place your immediate future plans on hold.

Residents complain about height with multiple structures above 30m already existing within 100m. Yep. sounds about the usual. Likely comes from the same people that complained against the proposal for the park to use the vacant land on kopps road for parking because they would lose their dog park....

i think the back wall has just become part of the theming of the new ride.

This is actually a common misconception. Its not a warner park and hasnt been since 2006. Village licence the use of the warner bros. name and anything associated with them as far as IP rights and retail sales. They dont even have a film distribution agreement with roadshow studios/pictures anymore. So pretty much everything WB you see is being used under licence. IE, they are paying for it.

Honestly. I think you are going to have an issue with a number of rides. If it's not a concern of getting a good seat lock, the secondary crotch belt/strap on a number of rides is going to cause you issues. Then you have rides like scooby doo which has very little leg room as it is, so it's going to make it hard for you to fit into the car and get the lap bar down with your knees sitting up closer to your chest. The new boats at west may be ok as there is some foot room in front of you under the seat, there is a test seat available to try. Likewise, road runner rollercoaster has more room in the seats now with the upgrade, but the cars are quite shallow and the T shaped lap bars don't provide a lot of space for thighs/knees. Storm coaster at sea world has a fairly simple lap bar, but they had additional seatbelts now which need to latch. Vortex is an over the shoulder restraint which physically gives you a little more leg room, but again, it has a secondary crotch belt that needs to do up. So if you are bigger in the chest or stomach, it can run out of belt length even if the harness locks. Jet rescue has a different style of lap restraint, it's really going to depend on how big your thighs are fitting under the bar given you have foot positions.

All the rides they have purchased could have extensive theming. The outcome we have is 100% down to the choices made by management. Everything you say is 100% true, it's just that those immersive rides with extensive theming, queue lines and ride areas are vastly more expensive than people realise. We don't have the population and the visitor numbers to Australia to see the sort of attendance figures required to support that kind of expenditure. You're comparing about 5 million across the entire VRTP division (as in, movieworld, wet n wild, seaworld and paradise country), vs say, about 4.5 million for something like Universal Studios Singapore. Prices for entry are very similar to Movie world, but if Movie world was to see those same sort of attendance figures it would mean $150,000,000+ in additional revenue per year just from ticket sales alone, never mind the additional boost to retail sales that would come with it. This is ultimately what it comes down to. As I said, they can do better than they have been, especially given the amount of existing theming either missing or not working on a lot of rides, but it's going to be quite some time before we see them willing to spend $60,000,000 (or more) on a single ride. Perhaps never if we don't attract greater tourist numbers and our population doesn't experience a significant growth spurt. Village Roadshow Studios are working soundstages, there is next to nothing to make up a back lot as far as set pieces and buildings go. Thats the biggest difference. It completely changes the dynamic and a working studio has security and safety as major concerns which is one of the primary reasons why members of the public will likely never be allowed on site. The benefit in generating revenue for the theme park is a drop in the ocean compared to the money active studios produce. It's not something I could ever see them messing with. Better for people to realise they are really 2 separate entities now. A lot of people have this mythical vision of what the studio tour was. There was very little attraction in the studio grounds itself, you had a fairly basic props/wardrobe display you drove past, and maybe a few remnants of set pieces from movies shot there, but the bulk of the tour was in the theme park. All the movie magic stuff was in the sound stage building that now houses superman escape. Honestly, imho, tours are dead. The big issues of space aside, the way movies are filmed and produced is light years ahead of anything approaching a manual process guests can experience now. You get a far better experience from interactive rides and attractions. Without sets and a nostalgia draw to your backlot tour, it's just not worth the investment and isn't ultimately going to offer a great experience anymore. You can't build that into movie world because it never existed.

They shouldn't go and rip out a production worthy auditorium like that for a ride. They should put money back into decent shows and reopen the show stage as it was intended and finally do something decent with the HSD area. This is what the park really needs. Somewhere to soak up 1000+ people a few times a day. Allows guests to get out of the sun and cool off in the air conditioning during the hottest part of the day. The amount of money spent on set and theming in those calibre of a ride exceeds the full budget village have ever had available for an entire ride. Can they do a lot better? hell yes. But you have to be realistic. You aren't going to see hundred million dollar expenditure. They just don't have the turnover to match.

I reckon i'ts really aimed more at people booking functions at the park than it is for day guests. Opens them up to being able to offer bigger packages, book your 500 seat catered function and your guests can stay in the hotel sort of deals. Can't see it being themed or pretty much anything other than corporate hotel. Not saying it can't be used for day guests, but there is literally nothing they can package together at the moment that doesn't include transporting people to seaworld resort. Given movie world actually has bigger conference/function facilities than seaworld resort (about double), it's a massive amount of money going out the door.

Not exactly a maintenance item, but it looks like village are planning to contract out their games to an external company. I wonder if that means both parks will see some upgrades/new games. Games Operators (multiple positions) Job in Main Beach, Gold Coast QLD - SEEK Homepage | HB Leisure

You know DJPower is TOPCAT right?

It's like saying a piece of glass can start a fire. They are considered safe for indoor use, especially in a commercial setting if you follow the hazard warnings. If you take one, load it with the biggest granules it can use and direct it at a flammable source, you are asking for trouble. The sparks are still generated at over 600 degrees celsius, so shoot enough of them at a close flammable source and they will likely set fire to it. What makes them "safe" compared to other traditional pyrofx is not if they can set fire to things, but that they have no fuel source, or stored potential energy source. The powder is not flammable, there is no accelerant or oxidiser that will fuel flames. This is the big difference. Especially when Joe average purchases one for $12 from china without training or a licence. You can follow the instructions, understand the hazard warnings, and you aren't going to set fire to your neighbourhood.

It's a reimaged scene based on an old movie called The Treasure of Sierra Madre. It's made it into a bunch of different movies/pop culture since it was released in the 40's. The bandits at the top are actually saying; Badges?! we don't need no stinking badges!! You don't belong here. Now, give us your gold.

Forgot to say, the problem with spark machines is they are all designed with time intervals based on the size/type of granules you are using. How they work is, refill pouches come with NFC tags (in a card) you swipe on the machine when you fill it from a pouch each time. It sets the run time on the machine automatically and will ONLY run for this interval, regardless of how much powder is left in the machine. This means once the time limit is over, the machine switches off and won't run until a new swipe card is used. The cards are one use only, the data is erased on the tag rendering it useless when it is used, so you can't just keep swiping it on. What you have to do is open the machine, remove the remaining unused powder, refill, then swipe on a new card for another run (say for example, 15 mins). It's not just a form of safety control, but its also a design restraint as the powder needs to be kept dry as it will absorb moisture and clump together and block the machine, causing issues. So you can't just fill the machine with a days worth of powder, connect it to a DMX channel and have your show control run it all day. It's why you don't really see them in continuous use/settings.

I love how disney have created their fire/fuse effects starting with a real simple led flame flicker combined with high quality led chasers for the fuses. Shows that it doesn't have to be high tech to look good, you just need to use quality components to start with and MAINTAIN them. They must have entire departments just devoted to repairing/maintaining all the effects they use in their theming. Coldfx aren't all crap now. The technology (and powders) has gotten a lot better and there is nowhere near the residue they used to produce for the volume of sparks. Especially if you are only triggering it in bursts. When you combine them with foggers you can get a pretty decent flame effect too. You could replicate the old spark effect with a spark fall machine. Same effect but directs the sparks down instead of upwards so you can hang them. Personally, I think a few jets up the lift would be better placed. They produce their own cannon/explosion sound when they go off, it's not excessive, but it would be a nice sound effect in an otherwise already noisy lift building anyway. Another cool machine DJpower have is a hybrid fog that combines it with a Co2 jet, so you can actually cannon smoke/fog effects (especially for short intervals) instead of it looking like a spray that builds in volume like normal fog/smokers. You get the blast/range of the Co2 machines, but the volume of smoke/fog machines. Those smoke effects in thunder mountain rail road are Co2 cannons for example. Hybrid ones allow the same density/volume of smoke, but use a lot less Co2.

Awww. Nobody mentioned the sparks effect when going up the second lift. Check it out from 4:32. If anything is worthy of being repaired/restored, it's that. Made sense with the whole, fuses burning, fizzles, sparks, mine is going to explode, get out kind of deal that's happening on the second lift.

100%. The queue line could have formed away from the entrance to the kids area and the exit could have been on the opposite side towards carousel, splash zone, etc so guests can walk either side of the attraction without issue. It certainly wouldn't be any worse than what happens when characters were there for photo ops. Cuts off part of the entrance into the area and blocks off access to the pathway to the train. Would have given a great view over the whole area for sure. You really want that type of ride as central as possible, away from walls, buildings, etc as its kind of boring for kids to look at, plus you really don't want your guests looking at what is going on in back of house areas. To be honest, it was never probably in the cards but the whole kids area probably needed a redesign to fix access/make better use of available space. Some rides could go, others could be relocated and the converted parents retreat/timeout demolished with a new toilet block being built somewhere in the area that offers proper change areas/room.

You really wouldn't want to put it where the old ride was. 2/3 of the view would be looking at back of house and the driving school roof. Ideal spot would have been where the big tree and stage is. But it would be a huge shame to have removed the tree, so Im glad that hasn't happened.

It's not just a generator that has been added. It looks like they poured more concrete in the area and there is now a new/different lift motor in place. Anyone visiting over the next week and can take a photo? It's pretty huge. can't miss it. Id 100% say it is an upgrade, new lift drive and backup generator to be able to run the lift and send any cars over into the brake zone. Much safer to evac people from there, especially when the stairs go in. Also, @Ashley I always new where they moved some of the grave stones from. That wasn't the point (and its only actually just an imitation of it's former self that had sound effects and animated stones).

Exactly. Which means if the OP wants to talk about maintaining proper park layout, boot hill needs to go and doomsday should be in its place.