Baconjack
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Posts posted by Baconjack
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It honestly sucks to see this ride go but this shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. The writing has been on the wall for this ride for many years now and it has been rather obvious for some time.
It is no doubt one of my favourites and nothing beats riding the original when it faced forwards or when it ran at full speed to the very top of the tower. My most recent (and probably my last) ride on it nearly two years ago now was nothing like it used to be. So, in a way, its good to see TOT go as Id rather it be gone than running as a shadow of its former self as it is now. It is also good news as it implies Dreamworld are ready to move on from their aging thrill rides lineup and invest in new stuff. No doubt the soon to open Blue Fire clone is a more than adequate replacement to supersede TOT as DW's signature ride.
Id like for DW to put the ride vehicle on display somewhere in the park for guests. Its the least they could do. Possibly integrate it into the theming of a future attraction like Universal did with Hulk's old ride vehicles, or auction it and other theming pieces off like Village did with the animatronics and theming from Bermuda Triangle many years ago.
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1 minute ago, westical said:
14 months ago?
2018-19 financial year. Typo on my part. Sorry.
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Well that sucks. I dont get to make it to DW in time. Still at least we got some notice. This should have been announced at the time of the 2018 results or should have closed much closer to the opening of the Mack Blue Fire clone. I'm assuming DW finally threw in the towel if they closed the ride this early and wanted to extend the ride's life to January at the latest. Now they'll have a peak season with yet another thrill ride down and it is going to sting the main park considerably, at least they'll have most of WWW done and Fully 6 up to distract the guests. I said some time ago TOT's closing is a PR disaster waiting to happen, and they have handled it actually pretty well for Gold Coast park standards. Still, it's only a week, and wasnt anywhere near as much notice as let's say Vortex at Kings Island, but it's something.
Either way good riddance. Never ran as well as it did when it ran forward. Now it is time to look into that Falcon's Fury conversion to GD.
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41 minutes ago, MacPark said:
The place is rundown but its still better than any park we have here in Australia. The park closes for a good chunk of the year due to the heavy snowfall Montreal gets. If they spent a bit more on cleaning it up it would be fine. Its a good size park with 40 odd attractions. Gardens and those little things just arent something they worry so much about for a park that sits closed under snow so many months of the year
If this was a year ago I'd agree with you, but MW and even DW surpass the quality of parks like La Ronde. Now I havent been to La Ronde but judging from the photos the presentation of MW and DW these days is much better than this park that has the trademark Six Flags tacky feel.
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On 14/10/2019 at 9:53 PM, StingRay said:
Travelling kiddy pirate ship was in that location. Was on loan from Joyland's. Breakdance and Ranger are both showing really old age. Both have been in Brisbane together for Expo 88 and have had a decent run here in Sydney. But its time for a good quality replacement.
Spider could more than easily get a refurb and be sold to a showman. I have no doubt that ride would make a killing on the travelling circuit. It is in very sad state these days. The sun has done some bad things to that ride. I see the same potential in the Ranger, as mechanically demanding as it may be there isnt anything like it touring the fairs at the moment (the KMG arm rides do not compare in my opinion). Don't think Tumble Bug has a life beyond Luna Park however because it is a very large ride that wont fit in places like Sydney Showgrounds.
Ranger as we know came close to being sold a few years ago. I'm not sure if the park is still looking to get rid of Ranger as of now but none of the other LPS rides appear to be for sale at this point in time. My money's on Dodgems to be the next to go though to be replaced with a newer model. It's not really talked about but it is in worse condition than Ranger in my opinion. Last I went to the park Dodgems and Spider were the two rides in the worst shape, but again, that was a few weeks after the new Tango Train was installed which was more than 2 years ago, and anything can change in that space of time.
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1 hour ago, Jobe said:
Just a quick update and some interesting info- Mystery Manor will close permanently at Luna Park 3rd of November. The appeal and popularity of this attraction surprised even Luna Park- this was meant to be a temporary Halloween walkthrough attraction , however, it proved so popular that it has stayed open for close to 4 years now. The quality of the theming, the excellent actors all made this in house attraction a winner. Now that its closing for good, it certainly augers well for a new attraction to take its place. Given its location at the back of Maloney's Corner, it occupies a fair bit of real estate that could be used for a substantial attraction. ( hint hint Maurer Sohne Spinning Coaster) Given the success of Volare, its time for LPS to once again move forward with their $25 million ride reinvestment plans. Here's hoping that this is the first signs of that coming to fruition. Fingers crossed!
Well that sucks. Manor was a good little attraction. Maybe they could rework the concept into a more permanent ride, possibly some sort of a VR experience?
The Spinning coaster LPS has been confirmed to have looked at in the past (Maurer SC2000 model I think from memory) is more likely to go in the combined land occupied by both Spider and Ranger and a flat ride is put in Manor's position. It is already common knowledge that LPS is looking to get rid of Ranger, but we havent heard anything about Spider yet. It will definitely be crammed in some way into Maloney's Corner as that is the only space available, but there isnt enough room in the spot between Mystery Manor and the area where the school holiday rides are usually placed. Now given we havent heard anything of that in over a year they could be looking at a different type from Maurer (such as the SC 1000) which is a better fit for the park, which will fit cleanly in the section between Mystery Manor and Coney Island, or going with something custom that makes use of the available footprint. No DA's have been filed as of yet however so we will see.
Also I've looked at the most recent Google Maps for LPS and I believe one of the 4 kids rides are gone. From memory (I haven't visited the park since the new Tango Train was installed) there used to be a kids ride in this position and it was taken out at some point prior to the opening of Volare. This does not bode well for the others as IIRC like the bigger Huss rides, all these kids rides came to the park in 1995.
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Six Flags repeating its past mistakes here. This could only end in disaster.
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On 30/09/2019 at 12:01 AM, Aw hype said:
How does international law go in terms of blatant IP theft? This park in China is packed to the brim and literally has a knockoff Universal globe and pictures of that little kid from UP!
Cant see Universal looking too kindly to that park soon when they are building a park in China as we speak.
Also IP theft is a huge problem in the Chinese theme park industry. Companies like Golden Horse literally directly copy off Western coaster manufacturers. They have already cloned Arrow coasters and Vekoma SLC's for many years, but now they are copying the track of Intamin, Vekoma, and B&M these days. They got kicked out of IAAPA for copying Zamperla's Motorbike coaster. IIRC the parks in China that actually ordered genuine coasters from B&M and Intamin, allow Golden Horse to inspect and evaluate their coasters to copy them, this means they know industry secrets like B&M's track recipe which is extremely dangerous.
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Looking at some POVs and from what people have told me this coaster was batshit insane. None of the brake runs ran during the coaster and it was going much faster than the speed the turns were designed for.
One thing to note is that I believe a few of the brakes were removed when the coaster was moved from Flamingo Land to Mexico, and the block brakes were disabled. The way the ride whips around the turns would have put significant stress on the trains and made something like this inevitable. This is nearly a repeat of what happened on Mindbender in Canada decades ago. I'm willing to bet the park has significant culpability in their probable sub-par maintenance of the ride and removing design features to save money. The importance of the block brakes on these older Schwarzkopf coasters which use them in spades cannot be stressed enough.
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They better not touch the Daytona machine.
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Well for starters, any ride at Dreamworld that isnt in Dreamworks or Ocean Parade is in desperate need of some sort of a refresh or redo.
Buzzsaw really needs a paint job, it is poor form having such a massive coaster right out the front of the park looking so faded. GD's queue line is in disgustingly poor condition. I know the sign was repainted but I don't know if they've touched anything else. TOT's queue is in bad shape too, but we all know that's going soon so why invest money into it. HWSW's queue was a mistake and the whole coaster really needs a paint job.
Over at VRTP, GL may need a repaint sometime in the next couple years as that isn't looking great these days. And that's all I can think of for them.
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Making WWW look 1000% better is not a waste of money. WWW looked absolutely terrible before these slides were painted as they were sun faded to the extreme. Repainting these slides massively improves WWW cosmetically from a run down shithole to a well maintained water park that can compete with WnW down the road. Rather than using my words, pictures tells a thousand words so I'll send some here:
This picture below is a picture of Wedgie before it was repainted:
And after at the same angle.
Similarly, this is a picture of Green Room before (wedgie can be seen in the foreground):
And after (on the right is Green Room, you can also see Wedgie on the left)
Now you tell me, what is better looking? Freshly painted slides that look brand new, or faded old slides? I'm sure that any logical person would prefer the former.
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It's like at least most of MW's rides are either well themed (SE and maybe AA), or have good views of the ride (GL and DCR to a lesser extent). Dreamworld usually goes for the former with their attempts at 'elaborate theming' that end up just flat out nonsensical. Theming is supposed to tell a story and DW's 'theming' on its rides don't do that and look like some scenery pieces in RollerCoaster Tycoon mashed together.
Basically all of TOT's mostly irrelevant theming is broken by now and the final section of the queue is one of the worst ventilated ride queues I've ever had to experience. HWSW crams you inside a spiraling tin can for no reason with a pointless toy car ramp inside as 'theming' to tick boxes with the sponsors, and has sections in a dark queue that are unnecessary. When the queues were swapped to the outside of the building, that was the best queue in all of DW as you were constantly in that view of the coaster, and the WWW slides that twist around the coaster. Buzzsaw's theming was like the previous two. A bunch of random objects plonked in a queue for no reason that failed to tell the ride's 'story'. Now I have yet to ride SV for myself but looking from the pictures sent here the queue looks like it actually somewhat tells a story. You queue inside an airport that will take you on a flight around Australia so this definitely is a marked improvement over their previous attempts.
As for views of the rides, this is one of the things smaller parks like AW do well. They don't go overkill on theming for the flats and slides but they give you some great views of the rides you are about to go on. Why not try something like that if they want to keep theming. I'd rather have a few scenery pieces on the rides like what AW does with Goliath or Kraken than the old Cyclone theming that was extensive yet unnecessary.
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1 hour ago, Flynn_Smith said:
Speaking of, the waterslides now have a name! An interesting one, for sure..
That is kind of dumb. Sounds like a name for a racing slid complex.
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6 hours ago, MickeyD said:
Thanks as always Parkz! I didn't know Funtime were building Trident?
Forgive my ignorance but I don't associate this company with more permanent rides that push boundaries on Height, conditions, etc.
Well it's almost as if Six Flags has bought a Star Flyer for nearly all of their parks at this point. They have a more than proven track record with permanent rides at this point. It surprises me that so long has passed until they get a local customer for a Star Flyer.
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I was in Melbourne last weekend, and they had the same obstacle course at Melbourne Esports Open around where Rod Laver Arena is. Gave it a try and it was appealing even to adults. I think it'll be quite popular.
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I literally had to check only then if Super Jumps were still in production and they somehow still are despite having only one installation.
If Vortex turns out to be successful, maybe VRTP will turn to Huss again and build a Super Jump at MW. Only time will tell. Can't see LPM getting a ride like this past the council DA that's probably incredibly strict, let alone buying a ride this size.
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3 hours ago, AlexB said:
*opens can of worms*
Honestly surprised nobody has brought the imminent implosion of the TPR social channels to the forums here for discussion.
#Starbuck-gate
Fun fact, I got blocked by TPR on Twitter this morning for liking a tweet from a Cedar Point executive responding to a guy calling Robb out for his arrogance. I'm not fucking kidding. The guy literally refreshes that feed every while or so and blocks the new people who liked the post.
Thankfully the internet is catching up with the facts only now. People have been saying that Robb is arrogant for years at this point. People who have no interest in our hobby are now leaping on the 'cancel Robb' bandwagon and realise how much of a dickhead he is.
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On 03/09/2019 at 12:27 PM, Jobe said:
I dont agree with you in the slightest here BaconJack regarding a second coaster for LPM
Luna Park Melbourne has had 2 signature coasters since 1923. Right now what is missing from their lineup is a modern steel compact coaster- one that will look good from a distance and add to the St Kilda skyline but also give a decent riding experience. There are plenty of coasters that could be developed to fit in the space they have- something from Gerstlauer is the obvious choice.
With good planning and a customised layout, they could fit a decent coaster in and potentially another flat or even a dark ride. The potential is actually quite large.
Consider the above photo from the mid 70"s. LPM fit into the current Metropolis envelope the 1923 vintage wooden Big Dipper and also the River Caves dark ride. At this time the park also had the Giggle Palace, the Rotor and the Ghost train in operation.
But to think about it. Big Dipper took up much more land than the Metropolis site offers. About half of the site which it used is now occupied by the Meishio ranger and another flat. It is unwise to give the entirety valuable land up and put in another coaster and force only three flat rides to operate in the park.
If you eliminate that end of the land for the equation Metropolis wasnt exactly a big coaster in terms of footprint and it is an unwise decision to cram in another coaster for the reason that the land would be better utilised if used for a couple of extra flat rides. If they actually tried to fit one in, itd be a crappy Zamperla spinning coaster or some no-name Italian built coaster at most as that is all that will fit the space.
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21 hours ago, Jobe said:
Fingers crossed that they finally get a decent second coaster to replace the old Metropolis. There is a good amount of space to work with here and they could certainly fit in any number of smaller compact coasters- think Gerstlauer , Maurer , S & S or Zamperla.
This area is a substantial bit of LPM's real estate and its high time that the park invested in a ride to fill this space and maximise its full potential. Of course this should only be the start of some targeted , real investment into the park, which , has been sorely lacking for quite a while. Of course the heritage rides such as the Scenic Railway, the Ghost Train and the Carousel are all expensive attractions to maintain ( and SHOULD be retained) but there are many filler attractions that need replacing.
With LPS now having the roadblocks removed for their own $20 million dollar ride investment, its time that Lindsey Fox, as the owner of LPM, lives up to his promise to restore the park to its former glory, when he stated when he purchased the park in 2005.
When you think about it there really isnt a lot of room in the park to build something.
I'd rather have the Metropolis spot used for expansion flat rides than being used to cram in another coaster, forcing the park to become an organisational clusterfuck just so they can fit in a flat. Their flat ride collection is small, and nowhere near as good as LPS in my opinion. The only rides that are really replaceable is their enterprise, the ex SW AS-1 and double ranger (that I don't know the name of). The AS-1 isn't that much space so you cant really fit another ride in the spot. The Enterprise is prime real estate for something like an Air Race. The Spider is a historic ride too just like the Ghost Train, Scenic Railway and Carousel. It is kind of like LPS's Wild Mouse and I don't see that ride going anytime soon. I assume the remaining kiddie rides and the ferris wheel will stay.
If you really want a coaster, I'd rather see LPM buy the G-Force from Drayton Manor, if the park is still looking to sell it. Or alternatively, buy a Maurer spinning coaster, the same model that LPS has looked at getting in the past. That is probably going to be as much as the park will spend on a new ride, though. LPM is a tiny park even compared to its cousin in Sydney and I don't really think trying to cram in 2 coasters into there is going to do them well in the long run. Comparably you could fit 3 extra flat rides in that spot.
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2 hours ago, Jobe said:
the 2 parks in China have been cancelled.
That is incorrect, one of the Six Flags parks planned there (think its Zhejiang) has already started vertical construction on its waterpark portion and is intended to open in 2020. They just announced three more parks in China as well.
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2 hours ago, Jobe said:
And a Powersplash for WnW?
I would rather see one at Seaworld as a direct replacement for the Vikings Revenge............
A powersplash wouldn't work at Sea World as they already have Storm which is basically the same thing but its full circuit. On the other side of the story, a big, tall shuttle water coaster that gets you soaked sounds like a good replacement for Surfrider.
On the topic of the Raptor, I think the smaller base Raptor model that's at California's Great America would be a good replacement for HWSW.
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RMC Raptor leaked for Six Flags Great Adventure. Six Flags gets announced today, but Over Texas is getting a Mack Powersplash as track is already on site.
I'd like to see WnW get a Powersplash in the future.
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That's not going to be built and I wouldn't visit Saudi for the opportunity either. If it is built, it will be much smaller and less ambitious than what is shown here. See Flying Aces as an example.
The render is awful, it looks like the coasters I used to build on RCT3 when i didnt know what i was doing.
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Movie World - The Next Few Years
in Theme Park Discussion
Posted · Edited by Baconjack
Kids area should be the first thing MW needs to pay attention to. Give the entire area a refurb, get rid of the older flats and Speedy Gonzales Taxis, keep Driving School, Road Runner and the new flats and give them all a repaint and clean up. Install some new flats with the Looney Tunes theme in mind. Take a look at how Six Flags uses the WB IP's, they should be the model. I do think MW may potentially look at adding Teen Titans stuff given it is a very popular IP but I dont think anyone in here will want another DC themed area. This will probably happen in 2021/2022 given Village is focusing on SW for the moment.
I do think there is a small chance AA is ripped down in the next 3 years. That space should come after the kids area, though, and will probably happen past 2022, but they may take AA out early to prepare the site.