joz

Everyone is saying how secure they felt in the restraints, so as someone whose never ridden in them, its hard to have an informed opinion. From my uninformed viewpoint, it seems though that the restraints have too many 'loopholes' as it were. I mean, as apposed to OTSRs and other restraint systems, the Intamin restraints seem to be subject to sitting the right way and having the lap bar up against the right part of your body and being the right size. Its true that most of the accidents have been rider error/ ride op error, but there must be a reason that its mostly happening on Intamin rides. They just seem to easy to have a mistake on.

wow, I'm must be an Aussie, I actually say "Full Stop" in coversation

Ever considered a career in politics Richard?

If I was a betting man (which those who know me well know I am) I'd be placing a hefty sum of money on human error. I can't be bothered digging out any old thrillseeker photos, so I'll direct you back to the old Luna Park Melbourne Gallery. Thrillseeker was identical to this ride.

Corkscrew should be open, I'd be very surprised if there was any problems there. Thrillseeker closed in early 2002, and was sold (last asking price was US$50,000. God only knows how much it ended up being sold for in the end). I've not seen anything around the park about the plans for the water park this year, so I'd be guessing they'd be keeping it open for the winter.

Not sure myself, its been quite a while since I've done any work out at Movieworld for nearly 5 months now. The park's website doesn't make a mention of any closures (weird), so if your planing on visiting the park I'd suggest giving them a call. Otherwise, I'm looking over at Ian for some insight on this one.

How the hell are they going to spend $700mil on a water park? They going to build the whole thing out of solid gold? It'd better be friggen good for that sort of price tag.

I'd love to see them do one of those specials in a place like Iraq. "For an extra $20 you can even be burned alive for being an infidel, but be warned, there are some shonky operators out there. But for those who want the ultimate experience, you can go inside an Iraqi house, and every 30 mins the building is bombed by US aircraft, and afterwards you can have a photo taken with a guy who looks like Saddam Hussein (which could be almost anyone in Iraq)"

That'd be perfect, being an Intamin ride people could even hurl themselves from it!

Please, give me some credit Wonderbus, ( ) I have already been to the site, and saw the same information. Problem is that number is capacity, not actual ridership. That's like the Gold Coast parks making the claim "Our parks can accommodate 10,000 people everyday, which is enough to fill 2,500 4 seater cars!". Having said that I do expect London Eye would get more people then what the Gold Coast parks do (which is pretty bloody obvious really) I'd be guessing somewhere near 4mil, but that's a very blind stab in the dark. Just also touching on the weather thing: London is pretty much constantly covered in grey skies. I'm yet to experience London with sunshine (though reliable sources have told me it happens). Thing is with the sheer volumes of people on the street it doesn't seem to have any effect on the number of people who visit London I'm guessing you've been London as well, have you seen how many tourists swarm around the place? It amazes me that they still use the centre of the city for anything other then tourist attraction. Melbourne doesn't have those volumes of people on the street. It is (relatively) quiet on rainy days, which to me would hamper the Wheel's appeal. I really do hope this thing goes ahead, but to me it looks to be following the tradition of over estimating an attractions appeal in the early stages. Still, even without 1.5mil, I can imagine the profit margin of one of these wheels isn't that bad, and costs would probably covered.

4109 people per day? I'd be tempted to call that wishful thinking. That's some 1370 more then each Gold Coast theme park gets in a day, which quite a bit. With Melbourne's famous weather also thrown into the mix, the I think they could be setting the bar a bit high from the outset. Just out of interest, does anyone know how many people go on London Eye a year?

Thats got to be the most intelligent usage of that phrase ever. Seriously, people say it all the time to make a point, and mostly sound pretty unintelligent. Good to see someone take it up market. I've been on many intamin rides, and never felt unsafe (well, I did on GD, but I think that's the idea). However, to have 5 people ejected from 3 of the companies ride styles is a bit worrying, and one would think there's a flaw with the restraint design. Even if there's rider misconduct, on the type of rides that use these systems, rider misconduct should as close to impossible as possible.

I think you'll find that he's changed tact a bit: He wants to turn his park into the world's best zoo, with an Asian section and what not. He's already got Elephants Tiger Cubs and Otters (which have got to be one of the cutest things out there).

Ok guys, reality check on Dreamworld's 'themed lands' (and just this isn't aimed at Scott, but just something that I need to get off my chest now and then. I also believe Richard is sick of me going on about it.): Central Plaza and Main Street (1981) Rocky Hollow (1981) Gum Tree Gully (1982) Blue Lagoon (1983) Gold Rush Country (1986) Koala Country (1987) Ocean Parade (1993) Tiger Island (1995) Australian Wildlife Experience (2001) Nick Central (2002) That's 10. Nine if you don't count Koala Country, which since these days falls under the banner of the AWE shouldn't really be counted. That's not also ignoring the fact that Rocky Hollow, Gold Rush may as well be the same 'land' these days. It just bugs me when people use advertising jargon instead of talking normally. Same thing happened in a big way with Cyclone; why was everyone calling it a gravity roller coaster in print? Also anyone who has used the phrase 'Scariest, most spine tingling journey ever created!' in a sentence to describe Scooby Doo deserves to be shot.

Right next too the airport? What about the flying Kangaroos? I don't know about it, I mean when I land anywhere, I want to get as far away from the friggen airport as I can. The idea of visiting an attraction on Airport grounds sounds to me like the most mundane activity one can imagine. Also, anyone whose ever been to Currumbin Sanctuary will know that low flying planes can really put guests off. Still, its not the worst idea put forward, and I don't see why he shouldn't be 'subsidised' for it. The government subsides private commercial activities all the time (Gold Coast convention centre being the most obvious example), so I don't see why this is any different. The international exposure is an obvious enough reason to try and get the thing to go ahead. Plus the added employment, more business for local supply companies, sounds like something that you'd want in your district (unless your from Sydney). If it fails? Nah, it won't fail. The good folks up there at Aussie Zoo are going from strength to strength. Everyone who visits the zoo up there seem to rave about the place. I don't know what it is, but they do something up there very well that keeps people very happy, so best of luck to 'em.

I like Intamin and their wonderfully safe restraint system. Only 4 deaths in a few years isn't a bad effort!

Nah, for a council that has boasted that there's room for exansion, I don't think its in the states best interests.

Question do SP restraints release automaticly, or could an op sit in the booth all day and just press the button to send the car up without having to do anything (if there wasn't a queue)?

Yeah Slick, don't diss mikrowave, tisk tisk tisk for shame... Honestly the disrespect on this board, shocking to say the least. :eek: :confused:

Most of these things seem like Folk law, people in the park either know then or they don't. I don't think Admin keep official records of such things (unless for publicity purposes. SW once ran an ad for Corkscrew with the tag line "And the current record is 110 rides in a row. We dare you to try and better it"). I dare say ride supers are the people to ask about this sort of thing, as they've (mostly) been there the longest and may have heard something in their travels.

Long weekend will have allot too do with the crowds. Asked one guest today, "On holiday?" which was met with the answer "No, just flew down from Cairns for the long weekend".

If your going to Seaworld exclusively for rides, then I fear you may miss the main point of the park. Take some time to watch the shows, give yourself sometime to just watch the dolphins, Polar Bears and sharks. See the Aquarium and penguins, have a wander down to the water park, but whatever you do, don't just go for the rides. Sadly Bermuda will be closed for extensive rehab (about 6 weeks), which pretty much leaves you with Corkscrew, Pirate Ship and the Flume ride as the parks only rides you'll probably be interested in. Corkscrew is exceptionally short, but does pack its punch in that time. It is also about a smooth a coaster as you'll find in this country, as well as having hardly any lines. Probably the biggest tip I can give is don't do the Dolphin, Ski, and Seal shows in the afternoon too avoid the crowds. Also make an effort to catch Planet SOS if nothing else then too check out the 3D effects. Realistically though, if your on your own, you should be able to check everything out a couple of times while your there. Just when you go, go for the park, don't go just for the rides, because if its only rides your after then you'll leave disappointed. If you go too spend a day at a theme park, then you should enjoy yourself. Keep us posted!

Not really, SW is 20 mins from MW and WNW, and DW is about 5mins up the road from that.

Youngest ever person to announce the ski shows, at 17 years of age. A very funny and talented man, who wrote Quest For The Golden Seal (though its almost unrecognisable now with all the chops and changes), a couple of temporary shows mostly based on pirates, including bringing pirates into the ski show for a two week period. He wrote pre-shows, did atmospheric work (mostly with Laurie Podmore. Laurie was street theatre at SW, and was offered a job at Wonderland in the "Hero’s of the Outback" show, which was written with him in mind), ran competitions, and got crowds dancing before fireworks shows in the old days. In my opinion, Seaworld's entertainment division never really recovered from when he and Chuck Guard left, and although there are a couple of really good announcers (Scott and Adam in case anyone reads this wondering who I'm talking about) the shows at the moment seem bland and somewhat forced. Anyway, back on topic: If you live and breath theme parks, love the whole idea of being in an industry that sells fun, then you’ll be fine up here. A tip to anyone thinking about the move: If you want to work at Dreamworld, then move close to Dreamworld. If you want too work at a different park, then move mid way between Seaworld and Movieworld, but not too far from Paradise Country (Something like Coombabah, Southport, Helensvale, Ashmore would work well). See, you can apply to work at whichever park you want, but you may find yourself at Seaworld Movieworld Wet ‘n’ Wild or Paradise Country. If anyone's got questions, send them here!

I don't get it, I'm 5"11 and I got no trouble