mission

Are you telling me I could have been going to Pizza Hut Browns Plains all this time?? Well worth the 30 minute drive.

If only Pizza Hut 'all you can eat' was still available. The Valentines destination of choice!

Hmm tricky but I'll have a crack: 1. Superman 2. BuzzSaw 3. Tower of Terror 4. Arkham Asylum 5. Jet Rescue (although it's been a few years so taking a punt on my memory) 6. Hot Wheels 7. Storm Coaster (again it's been ages so taking a punt) 8. Green Lantern 9. Scooby Doo 10. MDMC (I guess to round out 10)

How can you possibly compare being in a car at 100km/h to being on a roller coaster at 100km/h, am I reading that right? I'd like to know what car you have and what roads you drive on to get anywhere near the same sensations in a car as on a roller coaster.

It probably is as I seem to be in the minority, at least here And for me, that's where it all goes wrong. Either have a big coaster with all the elements, like inversions etc (like AA, Hot Wheels), or a small coaster without or with minimal elements (such as BuzzSaw, and Superman). If you have try to have both, small with lots of elements, you end up with the Green Lantern. A coaster that isn't very high, isn't very fast and doesn't excel in any one area (except keeping the maintenance guys in a job - yep a cheap shot!). Anyway, I think this has been done now. Cheers

I generally work on in life – the simple things are often the best. BuzzSaw is simple and effective – winch the train up and then let it go, it has the sensation of speed and height. GL is complex and relies heavily on intervention to get the train around the track. It doesn’t go very fast and isn’t very high. What I mean by over engineered (maybe not the right term, probably over designed) is that I think they’ve tried to fit too much into a small platform coaster. My 16 yo son hates heights and is very cautious when it comes to rides. He goes on GL and isn’t fazed, but refuses to go on BuzzSaw, no matter how much I try and coax him into it. I just prefer coasters that use gravity, are fast, and through good design requires minimal mechanical intervention (obviously excluding starting and stopping), like Superman. But anyway, each to their own.

Agreed, that's why I don't like it and prefer BS - simple design, no brakes even if it is a short ride. GL is too over designed, over engineered and as a result is bordering on boring imo.

Fair enough, everyone's different in what they like, hence why DW etc has a variety of rides I guess. Do you class ToT and GD the same as BuzzSaw, as in one trick pony? I went on MDMC the other night, I guess it's aimed at being a middle ground ride (between kids rides and big rides) but I really don't see how DW can label it a 'Thrill' ride, same with Pandamonium or what ever it's called. THat Green Lantern one you linked too looks interesting, but if it's anything like MW's I'd take BuzzSaw every time. What I don't like about GL is it's too controlled and doesn't 'flow'. It seams to have break points every where to reduce speed (which I get why). Just let the train go and have gravity and good design do the work.

I think virtually every ride would fit that definition as they all just do the same thing over and over. Each time you ride it's the same, flat ride or not. No ride (that springs to mind) is different each time you ride it. I guess everyone has different preferences but I rate Buzz Saw up there in the top few rides on the Gold Coast. I went on ToT the other night after about 8 months and was a bit 'meh', I personally think it's overrated (and by overrated I mean comparing the usual queues for both rides which gives an indication of popularity) and I'd only bother if the queue is short for ToT.

And when you do leave a safe gap some one decides that's a space and changes lanes into it effectively cutting your safe gap in half... happens all the time on the M1.

Isn't virtually every ride a one trick pony - unless I have interpreted your meaning incorrectly?

Genuine question - How do they get the riders, especially on the far side, on to the stairs that go up beside the lift hill? I would have thought with Superman, as you're sitting down and have a floor, you can quite easily step out of the train and onto a platform. Arhkam there is no floor, how do they safely get someone onto the stairs?

We can agree to disagree that the seats on Arhkam are similar to an airline seat. I personally would take an airline seat any day of the week, especially for 90 minutes! I said they'd be in direct sun with partial shade provided by the structure so I don't know why you selectively quoted me and then proved my point. Either way, it would be hot (direct sun or not) and any direct sun would burn most people pretty quick. I'd be toasted after 30 minutes. I didn't make an erroneous statement that they were upside down. I never said they were upside down.

I think that's playing it down a bit too much. I find Arkham one of the least comfortable seats to be in, add on top of that the tight harness, being 20-30 odd meters in the air and in direct sun (granted the structure would provide some partial shade at times) but to compare it to being in a airplane seat for 90 minutes? That's a stretch. As most people on here are enthusiasts we’re more likely to play issues down like this and may even be happy that you were one of the stuck riders and had to be rescued. However for the average punter that goes to Movie World, being stuck on that thing for 90 minutes in the near middle of a summer’s day, while likely on holidays and then having to be rescued by Fire and Rescue, probably with ropes and other equipment high above the ground, would be an ordeal. It's no wonder it gets in the media. While the media does go over the top with these reports, I find this forum then goes a bit over the top the other way – not directed at anyone, just a general observation from a relative new comer J

ToT is definitely open, I went on it last night, got there about 7pm. Buzzsaw, again, was walk on. Short wait for other rides but ToT, especially early in the night had a fair queue. I went to ToT after the fireshow and only had a 10 minute wait, Fireshow was pretty good, went for 10 minutes, so the night was worth the trip down there from Brisbane. Does Buzzsaw always have the shortest queue, I think it's one of the best rides there so I'm always a bit perplexed that it seems to have the shortest queue - maybe because there's nothing else down that end open at the moment....?

baker's dozen ˌbeɪkəz ˈdʌzn/ noun unpunctuated: bakers dozen a group or set of thirteen. "a baker's dozen of love songs"

Fair enough, I was coming from that, for example: some metal came loose and jammed in the wheels stopping the train, then it's stopped due to malfunction/breakage rather than a system actually stopping the train because it's detected an abnormality. Anyway no point in speculation. Getting those people off it would certainly be the tricky bit but surely they have the infrastructure and practise to do it safely.

In fairness, the title of this thread is an assumption that a safety system did in fact stop the ride. For all we know something has simply broken, rather than the system recognising an issue and activity stopping the ride, and the ride is genuinely stuck. While the media do jump on these things, they do seem to happen a bit too often of late, or at least they are now reported so it seems it happens more often....

Nara Dreamland is worth a look on google maps as well.

And they repeated 'Recent Surgery or Illness' on the orange sign - obviously no one proof read.

I didn't think of looking on youtube, cheers. Not going to watch the video's though, I'll keep it as a surprise.

So does it only go for a minute or two? I was going to drive down (from Brisbane) Wednesday night to see it, but if it's that short it may not be worth the trip....

I realise they are electric - I wasn't sure if they run on batteries (doubtful) or somehow get electricity through the floor (likely). Anyway wiki confirmed it is through the floor: A newer method uses alternating strips of metal across the floor separated by insulating spacers, and no ceiling grid.[2] The alternating strips carry the supply current, and the cars are large enough so that the vehicle body can always cover at least two strips at any one time. An array of brushes under each car make random contact with whatever strip is below, and the voltage polarity on each contact is sorted out to always provide a correct and complete circuit to operate the vehicle.

I went to Dream World on Saturday afternoon from around 1 - 4pm, we renewed our season passes for $99 which is pretty good. The kids section seamed relatively busy, but the Claw and Buzz Saw where pretty much walk straight on, in fact we were the only ones in the queue at Buzz Saw on numerous occasions, it was running with only two people on board at times. I didn't notice any testing of any of the closed rides. Visited the new Tiger Island which looked really good (it's been about 8 months since I've been to DW) and that was near capacity for the 3.30 show. I'll head back one night this week to see the fire show before it finishes. So while it wasn't a ghost town, it was pretty quiet given it's summer holidays and a weekend. Also, how do the dodge 'em cars work at DW? Usually dodge 'em cars have a big 'antenna' that contacts the roof but DW's don't. Surely they don't run on batteries, do they some how get charge through the floor?

Usually a decrease in revenue will also result in a decrease in expenses (such as reduced employee costs), so a $3m profit won't be a $3m loss if revenue reduces by $6m. Anyway, unless detailed financials are known, this is all purely speculation and pretty meaningless,