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Casually asked an employee from a Village park about the customer service at MW (specifically the complaints from this thread). Got this reply. Seems like a top-down issue.

... and we will never taco 'bout it again.

My comment was about the government imposing largely unnecessary regulation. Literally tens of millions of riders have cycled through the RHLR in it's 34 years of operation. There has only been one incident of a person 'falling out' and that was entirely because he stood up as the boat entered a lift hill. The government (and Ardent's insurers) made absolutely NO recommendations for ride modification after that incident happened, and it remained open until the TRR incident. It was only after TRR occurred - almost 12 months later - that suddenly, despite being a completely different ride with completely different physics and mechanics, RHLR 'required' modifications to prevent people from standing. Based on the successful operation of RHLR, assuming 20 Million riders across 34 years with only one incident that was specifically caused by their own stupidity, the actual chance of a similar incident happening is 0.000005%. As far as we know, the TRR incident was caused by a failure in the ride. The RHLR incident was caused by rider stupidity. The govt. assessors correctly assessed the risk of another incident on RHLR occurring as minuscule and allowed it to continue operating unmodified. The deaths on TRR did not increase the chances of an incident RHLR anymore than they increased the chances of injury or death from someone standing up in a bumper car or jumping into the cassowary enclosure. There was no increase in risk to riders of RHLR that would necessitate government mandated mechanical changes to the ride.

It doesn't look like it was added for structural reasons. It looks more like it was added to fill the big gap at the back of the boat to prevent small people (kids/teenagers) from sitting up on the rear backrest and leaning out the back of the boat while holding onto the frame. Interestingly, after those original photos were posted here, a few people commented that stupid teenagers would do exactly that... and then the design was changed to add this additional bar. So, maybe @Richard has a point about the track record thing. This whole design just wreaks of trying to appease government regulators.

This old promo photo from the launch of the ride would suggest that you're correct.

The movie the ride is themed to wasn't filmed at the studios. It was filmed in Vancouver. The original 2002 movie was filmed at the studios, but 'Monsters Unleashed' was filmed in Canada. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0331632/locations?ref_=tt_dt_dt

I'm just going to leave this here.

Wet Dreamworld is catchier.

They have a new website. But you have to go to the photo booth and purchase a $19 single-use pass to access it.

I think we can all agree that Movie World don't need a new ride, they just need to get rid of the sour garbage smell near the drink re-fill station at the front of the park.

There is a brand new Scooby-Doo CGI animated film in production right now. It originally had a 2018 release date, but WB pushed it back to May 15, 2020. It will be the first movie in the 'Hanna Barbera Cinematic Universe' which will include The Jetsons. As a film franchise, Scooby Doo is about to be refreshed and renewed by WB.

The park is literally called 'Warner Bros. Movie World' though. Also, their slogan is still 'Hollywood on the Gold Coast'. They don't need to constantly be building/retheming rides based on recent big film releases, but it's not really a 'Warner Bros. Movie' themed 'World' if it doesn't have any attractions actually themed to WB movies. The attractions need to at least tie in with the overall theme of the park.

@AlexB They don't usually let fast-track riders get the front seats (on JetRescue or Superman Escape) so it would only be 18 seat options, but they may give front seats for this ride given the price. I don't really have a problem with Theme Parks charging a bit more for things like VR or Fast-Track either. Fast-Track is usually used by people who only have a day-pass to the park and want to experience everything and usually have a negligible impact on actual wait times for people. In an hour-long queue, it might push you back 1 ride cycle. But just to break down some of the numbers for people complaining, if you assume the ride will be closed for around 1 month/year for maintenance (with 5 other cumulative 'day' closures due to storms etc.)... $10 Backward seating * 2 seats per train * 20 cycles per hour * 8 hours of operation * 330 days = $1,056,000 per year. $15 Fast Track * 20 sales per day * 330 days = $99,000 per year Sure, they won't hit those numbers everyday (although some days they will sell a lot more fast track), but generally speaking the combination of those two things will bring in about $1 Million per year in additional revenue - more than enough to cover maintenance and staffing costs for the ride. Given that most of us have only paid about $100 a year (on average) for our annual passes, I think that these amounts are a fair price to pay for having a ride like this built in Australia. I think the wasteful printing of entry photos at SeaWorld, and charging up to $25 for a photo with a character are more worthy of complaint.

There is a really simple solution to this problem - Movie World should make a better POV video (or several) and release it/them. People want videos of this ride because it is new and scarcity makes the videos more valuable encouraging idiots to do things like this. The best way to prevent people from doing things like this is to provide a better alternative. This is something that Movie World may have planned after (or as part of) the official launch, but the solution is to make the risk greater than the reward. After all, this guy's video is now posted on this forum and will get a lot of views as a result, so the reward will have been worth it for him.

I really don't think it's that.

Hypercoaster as a word was created by Arrow Dynamics for Magnum XL-200 and is the actual industry-wide generic term used to describe coasters with a highest point of 200 - 299 ft. A coaster 300-399 ft is a Gigacoaster, and a coaster 400ft+ is a Stratacoaster. 'Hyper Coaster' as two words is Bolliger & Mabillard's term specifically for their 200ft+ coasters (including ones that would generically be called 'Gigacoasters'). Intamin calls them Mega Coasters, and I think RMC has a name like Hyper-Hybrid Coaster or something. I agree that 'DC Rivals' is sufficient (even just 'Rivals'), but it is definitely a 'hypercoaster' and not a 'Hyper Coaster'.

Because when the axis of rotation is below you, you are forced sideways into your seat. When you only have a lap-bar restraint your body will flex at the lower back during the sudden change in direction. The faster you are going through these elements, the greater the forces placed on your body. You'll notice I specifically didn't mention the S-Bend, because the rotation axis is at chest height. OTSRs absolutely limit the impact of those forces on your body by restricting your range of movement. That is why OTSRs are used - to hold your body in place. On a ride like SE they exist pretty much only for the brake run and they are what prevent you from smashing your face against the seat in front of you during the sudden stop. Excessive forces on a ride don't always make it more fun. Do you have any actual evidence to support this claim? Because it seems to me like the ride was designed for trims to be added in two very specific places, and they have only added them in one of those places. In addition, they haven't slowed the chain on the lift hill, which would instantly reduce the speed across the entire coaster without the need for trims and would also reduce the maintenance costs (on the train, track, chain and motor). It almost seems like they want the coaster going as fast as possible over the top of the lift hill to maximise the speed, which runs counter to your assertion, given that the most wear and tear would occur during high-speed and high-force elements like those situated before the trim brakes on this coaster, but after the other mounting point where trims were not added. And the amount of speed reduction from the trims would have just enough impact to make the ride more comfortable, but a negligible impact on actual ride maintenance costs.

@pazzap You make some valid points about coasters in Aus generally - especially GL. Although I think the slow points on GL make it an excellent candidate for VR addition in the future, because there is time to interact with VR characters. But Rivals was always going to need some trims. The ride features lateral Gs that most other coasters don't - at the top of the loop and Stengel Dive, at the top and bottom of the turn around, and on the camel back. It also doesn't have OTSRs so there is nothing to limit those forces on your body. If you're going too fast through those sections, it's just going to hurt. Maybe not when you're on the ride, but later in the day or the next day your lower back is going to hurt. The compromise is that the last half of the ride will be a bit more sluggish than the start, but this ride isn't about speed - it's about turns, and the last half of the ride is very busy with those kinds of elements, so it should still be an experience that you won't get on any other ride in Aus, and most other coasters in the world.

'Something must be done!! This is something, therefore, it MUST be done.' The government will never miss an opportunity to raise taxes and impose regulations. Accidents happen. Burdensome and expensive regulatory regimes create a situation where businesses will cut corners which will lead to more accidents, not less. And people become complacent trusting that the regulations will prevent all problems from happening - except for the one thing they overlooked. The Airline industry is one of the most heavily regulated industries in the world from baggage handling, to security, to pilot training, to maintenance. All of those people are licensed. Accidents still happen. The cost of Dreamworld having to close for months - and the reduced park attendance when they re-opened - cost them far more than them improving their staff training and maintenance. The financial incentive is already there. No amount of government regulation is going to incentivise them more. This report is a bunch of professional regulators recommending more regulation.

Just a few points: @Skeeta This bill is very broad and gives the government too much power to impose expensive and unnecessary regulations - specifically around licensing. Requiring adequately trained staff is one thing, and being able to produce training logs upon request is perfectly reasonable, but requiring a license - particularly when you're dealing with radically different rides from different manufacturers is just an absurd requirement. The safety requirements for a ride like Arkham Asylum - with VR - is going to be very different to a carousel which has no restraints. As @elemist says, this would require a level of career professionalism and ongoing license training and renewal which is not really necessary. Staff should have training and evacuation drills, but that is very different to licensing operators. Licensing the staff who train operators is a reasonable requirement, but licensing the operators in a theme park setting is not - given the fixed nature of the rides. There is an argument to be made about licensing for traveling ride operators. Theme parks have an incentive not to kill their visitors. Dreamworld has learned their lesson and everyone else has learned from it too. It is not good for business to be slack on safety and maintenance.

I cringed at the entire performance not just the accent. It was unnecessarily melodramatic, and really inconsistent. It just felt really awkward and some of the edits were pretty jarring - especially at the end. It's a bit of a shame, because a video like this could really be used to ramp up the fear/creepy factor with a unique experience like VR. But instead it feels a bit cheap and flat. Watching her performance and the performances of the people on the ride, it makes me feel like VR is a hassle for them, and they're tired and bored of people wanting to do it. I think a lot of that is because of the Script too. Bizarre creative choice in my opinion.

If Dreamworld don't want to spend a lot of money, Intamin make a tilt version of the giant drop. They could update one or both sides of the ride to be be a face-first drop. It definitely wouldn't be enough of a draw-card on its own, but it would be the new 'big thrill' that they could promote while they built some new attractions to replace GoldRush, and it would be much cheaper than a Dive Coaster for the same effect. I would love to see a Hybrid Woody, a new Wild Mouse (to replace Eureka) and a new dark water ride (to replace TRR)... but all of those things are expensive and Ardent are cheap.

I don't think the clearance is to allow turning, I think it is to prevent the headrests from colliding. During tight dips and during the helix the tops of the seats could collide.

The DC Rivals coaster has a lot of sharp turns and rapid banking. Both of these slow a coaster down because they're pushing the coaster into the track instead of letting gravity push the coaster along the track. Flash is much straighter with inversions rather than twists. They may also be using a slightly slower chain speed on the lift hill, or they may be using softer wheels which will give a much smoother ride with all of the twists, but will also slow down the coaster. There are a lot of reasons it could be a longer ride, but it will be the right ride length for this coaster.

Here is some aerial footage of the construction so far. You actually get a sense of the scale of it. Superman looks tiny in the background.