jake_hunt

This news.com.au article is really making me laugh. First off, "Friday's incident drew unwanted headlines for the park"... says the reporter whilst writing an unwanted headline for the park. Secondly, they write an article which is LITERALLY no longer than about 200-300 words to say "a ride broke down at Dreamworld, but it's OK and the CEO says it's OK... THUNDER RIVER RAPIDS INCIDENT OH MY GOD." They couldn't make it LESS obvious that they are desperate for headlines.

Wow. I'm not here to argue either, just that's the most unique opinion on our parks I've ever heard! I certainly think that, regardless of whether you think the theming is adequate or not, there are other reasons you can appreciate a ride... For example, the theming on GL is... well... what theming? But it's a fantastic ride with good forces, unique elements and, of course, it disperses the thrill-seeking crowds around the DC area, with BWSS, SE and AA all pretty close by. That will only get better when the new coaster opens... which could be themed... but even if it's not, it's a HYPER-COASTER. I've never been on one, but... I'm keen for something truly special, themed or not.

So you're arguing that WBMW would be better without the following: - Arkham Asylum - Green Lantern - the new hyper-coaster (by your assumption that it won't be themed) - the entire kid's area - Doomsday - Batwing ... all because none of the above have immersive storylines???

While I certainly agree that it is a matter of opinion about what makes an attraction "great", I think you're certainly a little bit ignorant if the only thing you seem to judge rides by is their theming or "storyline". Yes, I would agree that BT and WWF are made fantastic by their respective theming (and would be mediocre, boring rides without them) there are plenty of rides with minimal theming that certainly dominate the world-class category. That would be like saying Space Mountain is a world-class coaster (which it is), but Kingda Ka is not. A little bit unfair - you cannot expect an entire hyper-coaster to be enclosed and filled with animatronics and a thoroughly engaging storyline. That's not what all rides are about. As for your argument that a roller coaster that "just goes up and down" doesn't fit in with the movie theme, I don't think that's important either. I would argue that Viking's Revenge and Jet Rescue fit in very little at Sea World (and arguably Storm too). But you cannot dedicate an entire theme park to one highly specific type of attraction and expect to draw crowds. Imagine how much revenue WBMW would lose if it only kept its attractions that were strictly movie-themed and immersive, or if SW strictly only had marine animal exhibits. While these are fundamentals of what the parks stand for, they are, after all, amusement parks - their focus is on AMUSING a wide range of target audiences. And that includes the thrill-seeker market. I'm sorry that Australia's first hyper-coaster isn't exciting enough for you. Besides, you're working under the assumption that it WON'T have a storyline like SE...

A theory here for why so little is being done/revealed: The place I work at is currently building a new building, and we've been informed that there will be a few weeks where nothing is actually done/built on the site. That's because they completed the preliminary earthworks, material delivery etc ahead of schedule so that construction could be confined to the site itself for the remainder of the year, thus minimising interference with the rest of the property because of moving vehicles, incoming materials etc. Could be a possibility that all of the footings etc. were done AHEAD of schedule, allowing workers to take a few weeks to sort everything out, receive the coaster parts and confine the work to this space so that WBMW is interfered with as little as possible - especially since construction is going to continue for the next 8-9 months approximately, it would be a horror show if there were constantly trucks having to move in and out of the site, or parts having to be moved, forcing other attractions out of action unnecessarily. It could be we are in, or approaching, that period where the sole focus is confining works to within the perimeter fencing of the site.

I'll agree with that. Funny story, I actually tried every ride on the GC without holding on when I went last month (with the exception of GD, HWSW and Wipeout, which were closed). The only two I failed on were BuzzSaw and SurfRider. SR is a really good one for forces and thrills, it just loses out for me on theming and general unreliability. I stand by Wipeout.

My vote goes to Wipeout, with great regret. The Claw is a personal favourite of mine, but nothing can beat Wipeout for nostalgia, theming and capacity. Not to mention it's a generally thrilling, fun ride. SurfRider doesn't quite fit into this category for me (I counted it in my coaster credits). But, nonetheless, what people say is right. It's a generally short ride with a sometimes ridiculous queue. Although I will say, I would recommend it to people like @Brad2912 if you catch it on a quiet day. It's a decent ride, worth a try if you don't have to wait for too long. Never been on Doomsday yet unfortunately, but I'd say it probably doesn't beat The Claw for "best swinging-motion flat ride". So yeah, tough call between Claw and Wipeout, but Wipeout takes the cake.

You'd think with the park back at 100% operation, and with peak season drawing to a close, it would be closing very shortly...

On the topic of lighting, do they still have the RGB lights on the top of Dreamworld Tower nowadays? I remember seeing them a few times before when driving past, but I didn't see anything except the obligatory tall building flashing red light when I went during the extended hours.

Slightly off topic, but may be of interest to some people. A lot of the stuff underneath the ride has been removed, including the penguin holding the upside down sign before the lift hill. Queue is still well-themed, but there's almost no theming at all on the ride itself.

And even if the ride IS named after the precinct... Then where did the precinct's name come from???

Before you judge mine, I've never been to Melbourne, Perth or the Sunshine Coast, so I'm excluding those coasters from my rankings, as I really don't know what they're like: 1. Superman Escape 2. Green Lantern 3. Tower of Terror II 4. BuzzSaw 5. Jet Rescue 6. Storm Coaster 7. Scooby-Doo 8. Wild Mouse (LPS) 9. SurfRider 10. Arkham Asylum 11. Hot Wheels 12. Road Runner 13. Escape from Madagascar 14. Motocoaster 15. Diamond Python (Merimbula) HONOURABLE MENTIONS: the toboggan slides at Big Banana and Merimbula. Although they don't technically count as coasters, they're still better than some of the rides on this list.

This is a much tougher one, but I have to say Road Runner. Both are good for the young ones not quite up to the big coasters - but both are bumpy, uncomfortable and showing their age. The determining factor for me was Road Runner's theming. I find it more attractive and less "thrown together" than EFM. Tough decision for me, but Road Runner wins it by a whisker.

Never noticed the ToT problems. Pandamonium was having a lot of issues though. Broke down once, and they were having problems locking the carriages into standby position at the end of the ride.

Here's a breakdown that was much more entertaining news than the two reported from WBMW. Was at Sea World on Friday, and Storm Coaster was e-stopped and closed for about 10 minutes while I was in the queue. They cycled around some empty boats before coming through the line and telling us that they had stopped the ride because of a "bad smell". Apparently an animal had died in the control booth. Hah. One boatload of passengers was stopped for a few minutes just before the final drop, but no evac. Still more interesting than AA breakdown.

Jet Rescue every day of the week. Its proximity to the ground, tight corners and two launches make for a far more thrilling, consistent ride with a good climax and a decent adrenalin rush. MDMC on the other hand, has barely any incentive for me to ride it. At DW on Saturday, when all rides were practically walk-on and three of the thrill rides were closed, I still only rode it twice (I rode ToT 4 times, The Claw 5 times, for comparison). It's boring, and a pretty awful coaster in my opinion. Too high off the ground, and the corners aren't tight or banked enough for any real thrills.

I've heard you guys talking about how nice the staff are being since Dreamworld's reopening, but I still wasn't expecting what I saw yesterday. Probably one of the best days out I've ever had at a theme park. I was there from around 9:45 until just after Fire Machine, and had a great day. Had time to do just about everything, even a full lap on Dreamworld Express (which was depressing, as it provided a morbid view of the dormant RHLR), time spent at Corroboree, Tiger Island, and still rode all my favourites 4-5 times. I barely even noticed that three of the thrill rides were closed. Car park was probably 60-70% full, but only 40-50% earlier in the day. Fire Machine was beyond spectacular, and the staff were INCREDIBLE. Going out of their way to help at all times - it was a hot day, so the ToT operators allowed us to queue at the air-conditioned hallways, and walked the rest of the queue to collect carriage loads themselves. The "Fun Patrol", the staff recognising people when they returned to rides, the welcoming attitudes and friendly hellos - getting a sticker for nailing it on Tail Spin summed it up for me - all capped off by a friendly goodbye and "thank you so much for visiting" as we left. Plus, this was my first time at WhiteWater World, which was great, so it was pretty much the best day ever for me. Kudos to Dreamworld.

I'm pretty sure evac from a chain lift with direct access from a stairway is about equal in difficulty to an evac from the pre-ride section of SE. Still requires manual unlocking of harnesses, crews to ensure rider safety, and would probably take an equal amount of time and put riders in an equal, minimal amount of danger. Both are not newsworthy WHATSOEVER.

I was there yesterday, only work I saw done was a worker hosing construction dirt off one of the concrete fence columns. I was really hoping to be the bearer of good news from my Movie World trip, but I'm afraid I might as well have gone blindfolded, because I saw nothing new.

Ridden today. It's actually quite a unique experience, but not worth the ridiculous waiting time. Theming still up in queue and station. Nothing after the doors at the very beginning, which just remained open the whole time. Mostly just dark and temporary fences, not a lot to see. Evil laugh and swinging axes still there and working, but the evil laugh was a bit ridiculous with no monster to embody it. Quite interesting with no walls - the final 90-degree turn into the elevator faces the wild mouse section, which gives it a whole new level of foreshadowing. No jungle section at the end, that's entirely gone too. I also noticed that the spider in the wild mouse section is still there. Overall, I'd recommend you ride it while the theming is down. It wasn't worth the long wait, and I obviously miss the theming, but it was unique and interesting for someone who is interested in the technical side of things and behind the scenes.

It's a full safety audit, so I imagine testing things like harness security, faults in gondola or track, excessive forces, anything that might be dangerous or otherwise, anything that needs improvement etc...

Only @SunshineTom could be given primary-evidence photographs and still back up his opinion with a mainstream news article. Rule number one of proving a case study: primary evidence is better than secondary evidence. So even if your article had a shred of truth or research involved in it, a photograph would have you put in jail if this was a court case.

Please do! I'll be there next week... How bad are the crowds at WBMW? I intend on doing both next week, but I hope the crowds won't be TOO ridiculous? Any quieter days during the week?

Yeah, insurance costs. But 5 of the 9 thrill rides plus a few family rides haven't operated at all - operating costs and staffing costs would be right down at the moment, and that's just one example of how things have changed. There are countless factors you haven't taken into account, and you cannot say for certain that Dreamworld's costs or profits hadn't already drastically changed before the accident. Stop pretending to be a financial expert just because you know how to divide by 3. You're just being overwhelmingly negative, and you have been this whole time. Honestly, it's almost as if you WANT Dreamworld to shut down, because it's all you talk about. What is this? We're not a political forum, we're here because we love theme parks. You're the one constantly moping around about how Dreamworld will never reopen. Seriously, I don't think there's one moment in this thread you've said "Gee, I'm glad BuzzSaw reopened" or anything positive at all. Grow up.

The reason it closed was (in my opinion, most likely) because of the fact that it was built in-house. If SW just wanted a retheme, I'd imagine they'd go to a manufacturer for the parts, just to be safe and keep insurance costs down. My bad, quoted the wrong person.