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Posts posted by wikiverse
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This probably has more to do with Dreamworld building a completely new back-end for their website - which includes ticketing, marketing, and payment processing.
Memberships are more difficult and expensive to process than a single pass with part-payments outsourced to afterpay.
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31 minutes ago, joel said:
Been looking at some of the rides people were saying will close. Went into a bit of background of Wild West falls and everything says it was manufactured by Hopkin rides but white water west website claims it as their ride.
Anyone know?
Hopkins sold all of their IP to WhiteWater West in 2012 - who now sells the rides under their own brand. Hopkins Rides is still a separate company though that designs the rides.
They recently built a new Superflume with similar elements (but a different layout) to WWF at Everland in Seoul (in 2016 I think). It's called Thunder Falls.
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2 hours ago, themeparkaddict said:
Your legs end up committing suicide during a cycle, and you end up with a crazy headache from the super rough ride. It's condition is clearly pretty bad, much more rough than even HWSW. If it wasn't so rough, it would be a good ride.
Every Vekoma SLC in the world is a rough ride. The old stock trains built by Vekoma actually had padding around the head specifically because of the rough ride - and most SLCs around the wold still operate with this train design (see pic). Honestly, if a rough ride hasn't been enough of an issue to close the ride over the last 22 years, it's unlikely that it will be the thing that makes VRTP tear it down.
They might replace it at the 30 year mark in 2025 (which would be within 10 years from now), but it is unlikely to be replaced before then unless there is some significant problem with the track (or maybe the train) that puts it out of action for an extended period.
Also, HWSW is the same age as AA (1995). It's also a second-hand roller coaster that DW purchased from Luna Park Sydney in 2001. Arrow Dynamics went bankrupt in 2002, but Vekoma is still around building painful coasters all over the world. (They even built the current awful trains for HWSW).
I would expect both rides to be around for a while longer yet, but there is a good chance that one or both will go before they turn 30.
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5 hours ago, Skeeta said:
I hope you didn't mention Parkz because asking stupid questions makes us all look like idiots. Next time somebody ask an employee what’s going on can you say you’re from TTPSN?
I didn't mention any website, it was a private conversation between me and one staff member I know that works for VRTP. It was not asked to the company through any of their channels. That image is the entire interaction about the topic. I casually asked the question and they volunteered that response.
The good employees that I personally know have the exact same complaints as people in this thread, so there is exactly zero chance of reputation damage from asking them why they think it is occurring.
But I do home VTRP management drop into the forums and see some of these comments, because there is some good feedback they could use to make improvements - including what their own staff think about their workplace culture.
I think most people could overlook lots of the little maintenance details people are complaining about if the general level of customer service was high enough though. It might sound a bit stupid, but small maintenance issues like the jackhammer or broken tiles would just come across as guests abusing the park (rather than management that don't care enough to maintain them) if the staff created the impression that their primary focus was the enjoyment of guests. I've been to a few parks where the rides were a bit worn/dated or just not that thrilling, and it was the attitude of the staff that made it a magical and fun experience for me (even as an adult).
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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.
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On 15/05/2018 at 10:52 AM, strop said:
@Minions! If it doesn’t end up being Mexican, it’s nacho fault.
... and we will never taco 'bout it again.
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40 minutes ago, Levithian said:
So. I asked this before. Open? Closed? Want to ride or have it closed? You arent exactly kissing the ground they walk on, but appeasing government regulators is exactly what you do. You have no choice in the matter if you want the doors to remain open.
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.
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1 hour ago, Skeeta said:
I wonder who designed the cage in the first place that wasn't adequately braced?
I wonder who signed off to strengthen the frame up with a bar?
I wonder if this is this was the reason the opening of the Log Ride was pushed back?
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.
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On 12/23/2017 at 3:32 AM, Spotty said:
Someone feel free to correct me if i'm wrong but I'm actually fairly sure the lap bars were not originally featured on WWF but added shortly after installation?
This old promo photo from the launch of the ride would suggest that you're correct.
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38 minutes ago, Glubbo said:
As I've said elsewhere (in this thread?), I'd love to see the style of Mystery Inc, but classic cartoon is the way to go. I don't know if MW has the rights to anything bar the movie filmed at the studios.
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.
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I'm just going to leave this here.
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10 hours ago, Gazza said:
White Dream World.
Wet Dreamworld is catchier.
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They have a new website. But you have to go to the photo booth and purchase a $19 single-use pass to access it.
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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.
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26 minutes ago, CaptainLazerGuns said:
At what point do they just say "Stuff it" and throw in the towel on Scooby Doo? Is it really worth spending a fortune on reviving a clearly rundown attraction when they could utilize the space and ride with a new IP... Even though said ride would probably be "DC JUSTICE LEAGUE: WILD MOUSE COASTER".
I feel that Scooby is unfortunately at a point of no return .
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.
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15 hours ago, Cactus_Matt said:
I think the biggest fallacy regarding Movie World is that they somehow need to tie their attractions to big film releases to stay relevant.
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.
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@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.
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43 minutes ago, themagician said:
This is why we can't have nice things. Idiots like that taking their phones onto a ride like that isn't a smart or safe idea. And if people keep doing it, or something does happen (Someone injured by a loose item), then it could see system change to like whats SE is, and we don't want that.
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.
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2 hours ago, jcgoldcoast said:
My guess is lightening rods.
I really don't think it's that.
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1 hour ago, AllegroCrab said:
Imo the coaster should just be called 'DC Rivals'.
If they have to put the HyperCoaster at the end, it should be two words, 'DC Rivals Hyper Coaster'.
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'.
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14 hours ago, AllegroCrab said:
Why do you think there's going to be any serious laterals at those points?
OTSRs don't limit the forces on your body, if anything they make laterals worse because you've got something to knock your head into.
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.
14 hours ago, AllegroCrab said:The trims aren't being added because of any laterals or extreme forces, they're rather more for reducing the general wear and tear on the ride over time.
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.
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@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.
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2 hours ago, AlexB said:
Its using a nuke to crack a walnut.
'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.
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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.
Dreamworld posts losses and writes off $75 million in value, Ardent Leisure safety chairman resigns
in Theme Park Discussion
Posted
How long are they going to blame their failures on TRR, instead of the fact that they are a poorly planned and poorly run park with boring and unreliable rides?
There are better parks with better rides, better water slides, better animals, and better experiences.
Dreamworld's unwavering commitment to relics TOT, Wipeout, RHLR and HWSW seem more like a desperate attempt to cling to the nostalgia of when the park was in its prime and wasn't a confused mess of cheap, mediocre 'thrill' rides dumped into any available piece of land.
People don't hold that nostalgia. Dreamworld is not Disney and anyone under the age of 30 is too young to remember any of those rides being new and exciting at an age when they would have been able to ride them.
Young people - the people that you want coming to your park - don't care about how 'classic' RHLR is, they only know that WWF is better. They don't care about how 'iconic' Wipeout is, they care if it is open and can actually make it through a complete cycle instead of just rocking them side to side for a few minutes. They don't care that TOT2 launches you backward, if you can get a faster and better launch on SE. And the sure as hell don't care about a rickety and painful old steel coaster made by a company that went bankrupt in 2001 - when they can ride a brand new Hypercoaster, and a rickety old Inverted coaster at a different park for the same price.
The TRR incident is not the reason people aren't returning to Dreamworld. In my opinion, when they closed for several months, people (like me) realised that we didn't really miss it when it was closed, and when it reopened there really wasn't anything interesting or exciting worth going back for.
There still isn't. And that's the problem.