Levithian

Where does it say they can't? It's just not always a key turn, a couple of button presses and a few minutes of down time. They get, what? maybe 4,4.5hrs time to complete checks, any repairs and get everything open? If the train isn't expected to run, it might not have had time spent on it in the morning and not be a simple process, that's all.

Yes, and my point was, the second train doesn't sit ready to go on the transfer, it would be returned the maintenance area. Running the second train would normally be planned before the day can begin so checks on the train could be completed. If it wasn't being scheduled for running two trains that day, it might not have had the checks completed and/or it could be sitting in the maintenance area in various states of repair/service as it wasn't required to complete the checks. So it probably isn't just a case of send it across the transfer and on to the track straight away, it might require some service/time before it's sent out. A bit of an inconvenience at best and it could probably be added within 20-30 minutes if the checks need to be completed, but may also be impossible sometimes if it simply isn't ready to be run.

Wild west is usually closed for a big portion of the winter period though isn't it? You won't get a coaster built in 2 1/2 months. Sounds more like usual schedule + additional maintenance. They might have found something during the last down time that needs attention. Ride is getting pretty old now. Superman is pretty interesting though.

I imagine it's made more difficult if not already planned and the second train hasn't been checked to run or repaired if in service.

Restrictions and changes in coatings (well, what they contain) no doubt is an issue now days too. Something that provides corrosive resistance, rust protection, is UV stable and weatherproof, without containing something that can kill you or is banned, AND will last 10-15 years in our harsh climate is probably getting difficult to find.

Per year. It might do in foreign visitors now the dollar has dropped. Especially given how invested in media they are in china, so they could hit the tourist mark pretty hard. The company is massive compared to existing interests here in aus. Put it this way, village roadshow, through all their assets, annual turnover is about 1/3rd the after tax profit of wanda. The worry would be how long they are prepared to run at a loss to gather market share and draw people away from other parks. If you are taking on a company that plans billion dollar investments and is banked by a company with 50 billion a year turnover, then if you are any of the parks on the coast you'd probably be losing sleep at any hint of chinese property developers buying land on the north coast. Always a worry of getting too big, too quickly though. Might be why they are taking on a lot of foreign investment, to get away from the chinese property market.

There's enough smoke to set off fire alarms

Pretty sure it's contracted now and run by a production company, not actually movie world anymore. Budget provided, show delivered for the money. Noisy cars and smoke still fills the stands each day. Until it doesn't, probably not going to see a big budget stunt show like police academy any time soon.

when I say good, I was talking about maverick and western action shows. Musical revues?...... not so much.

Can I settle for something simple like another good show being developed for the show stage? used to be good to get out of the sun during the day and cool off for a bit.

Have a look at the development applications and see what looks to be completed in each stage I guess. if you think village has the money to outlay the accommodation at paradise country, the new precinct, a new coaster and a new thrill ride all within the same 3-5 year plan, you might be in for a bit of a let down. Those are some pretty big developments to be occurring at once. we've seen inference of building for a coaster, but any immediate development could simply be first stage tied into changes to the terrain. Guess we will know more when they break ground. If it's within the existing park grounds, might not be for a coaster given the space restrictions. If they start clearing and levelling vast tracks of the swamp and car park, be good idication of something with a larger foot print.

Swing or pendulum type ride, about 1000 per hour, 10-12 million would be my guess. Might fit in western area without pulling down show stage or intencity. Or out over the car park would be kind of cool too. coaster build to come later once cabins and stuff are underway.

Or take it away from the area. Usually it's licenced just for a specific zone, can't walk around the park with a beer, etc.

Seen what looked like drilling equipment in the carparks recently. I doubt they are drilling for water, but maybe it is some sort of sampling going on with whatever the planned alterations to the car park is going to be. Maybe looking for rock or stable ground or something.

Yeah, I thought that too. It's the same font used for "Grid".

Rumours are saying maybe as early as 2017, with work to begin in the new year. Makes sense with DA's submitted and approved I guess.

Anyone hanging out to ride, might be worth heading down this afternoon. Looks like its running around with guests, people standing in queues, etc.

Im not talking about when you have the most attendance. I'm purely talking about operation. From the first weekend of the holidays you will see all trains, cars and boats added to handle the expectation of additional capacity through the holidays. You can talk about attendance as much as you want, but that is not what I said at all. I said that with the start of the holidays becomes peak season and it is expected that all rides and attractions will be open and expected to run at full capacity. That's not your expectation of when people might turn up in the park, it's targets set by operations which dictates when this happens. It is evident in the additional capacity now running, regardless of how many people might be in the park. It's to cover you in the event you need the additional capacity from a surge of guests. It's not a simple task of being able to go back over and perform daily checks while in operation to add additional cars/trains to cope with the added capacity. So it's planned on purpose even if you think it might be a little quiet that day. Downtime at any period is a bit of a dirty word, but during these periods there has a be a pretty good reason why an attraction is not running, or is running at less than capacity. The most common reason is because something was found during daily/weekly checks that requires repair. You don't schedule down time during the peak season when the maintenance you guys were talking about can be managed at any other point, outside of this period.

It was running friday without passengers too.

It starts when dictated to by operations. That is always during the holidays and is when all attractions are expected to be open and able to run at full capacity regardless of how many people you might actually have in the park that given day. This has now happened as evident by additional cars/trains being added. It's hit and miss with attendance, but even quiet days are up during the same period and has nothing to do with what I said.

It probably depends on what kind of asbestos material they encountered though. It was so widely used it can turn up in anything, fire and sound proofing is a pretty common one to find, along with cement sheeting, but it was also used a LOT in various external coatings and plaster, plus a whole bunch of glues and adhesives. Depending on what state any of those products may be in, it could produce quite a large safety risk. However, the video footage is useful to kind of debunk any real danger as the structure stood when the video footage was taken. If there was already a risk of air borne particles from any number of materials degrading, there would have been evidence of containment/controls in the building. Even the simplest forms like coverings and warnings around sources, but nothing seems to be shown in the video. It's probable the structure requires repair work that would see the fibers disturbed, if this is extensive such as structural repairs, track work, or if any of the coatings are a fire risk and need to be removed, it could be a mammoth task. So it might not be all that dangerous in it's present state (especially considering it's evident that workers have had access to the area over the years, it's just not sealed up and left to rot), but to repair/recommission and open is probably a whole different story.

Go to any of the parks today. Tell me what I just said isn't true.

It's the start of peak season exactly now. Additional trains and cars added for the first weekend of the school holidays. I think you guys underestimate just how big a deal the christmas school holidays are and how much planning (and demands) goes into trying to get everything running at full capacity. Take a park like movie world, any other time during the year, a busy day might nudge 10-11000 people. During these school holidays you can add another 5000 people in the park.

There's some better photos and a pretty cool time lapse of them lifting the wall panels into place on their facebook page. Looks like poured on site, hence the quick construction. https://www.facebook.com/VillageRoadshowStudios/

Name another ride that was closed during the peak period for a "check up" months after it was installed?. Aside from wear related to tracking/alignment, anything else generally requires non destructive testing or dismantling to see if there is issue with components and structure that are considered major failure items. That means pretty much overhauling everything you just put together. You don't plan that sort of maintenance during your holidays. It's just not going to happen. The mast was completely removed from carousel, there was literally nothing left but a pile of parts scattered around the area. Sounds a bit more than a rebuild, again, especially since it is running into the holidays and they are putting it together during opening hours with trucks and stuff int here. Wouldn't be surprised at all if it was damaged during use at fright nights. People were jumping up and down on it during the terror tour, considering they won't even normally allow adults to ride because it can damage the ride, It couldn't have been too healthy.