erikals

I take it that parallax sounds a bit like the fella with the voice (that sounds like he's swallowed a ton of coarse gravel) on VHQ07 sometimes?

I rated those rides for good reason, which I will outline here: * Booma Zooma I find isn't too tough on the stomach and it's a great example of a swinging chair ride. * LTRR was one of the best rides in its class even when stuff was breaking down/not working * Runaway Reptar is a great coaster for the young and the young at heart ahd Avalanche is a nice variation on a swinging chair ride. * Roadrunner Rollercoaster is a great junior coaster and the only one at MW so it gets a pretty big queue. * SDSC is pretty thrilling, the darkride elements give you a sense of fear and uncertainty. Worst rides: * Marvin the Martian's Rocket Ride: Slow, sluggish and broke down on my last ride. * Sea Climber/Bert and Ernie's Big Dive: Ropes tended to make your hands sore. * Oscar's Sweep the Beach: Truck horns got annoying, there was no sound variation between trucks. * Taz's Hollywood Cars: Tiny little battery operated dodgem cars that were on their last legs just didn't appeal to me. * Rock N Roll Rebel: You tend to hear the cars roar around the track more than you do hear the music.

I haven't seen too many bogans around Logan, but there are the occasional yobs who like to provide free entertainment at the Loganholme bus station - they would be perfect for this show. i can just imagine it '12 bogans go head to head in a vicious verbal shouting match filled with words you don't want your grandmother to hear. The last person to stand the verbal abuse gets a mystery box which will either contain $5000 that the bogan can use for whatever purpose they see fit or an eviction notice.'

My top 5: 1: Booma Zooma (AW) 2. LTRR (MW) 3. Runaway Reptar/Avalanche (tied - DW) 4. RoadRunner Coaster (MW) 5. SDSC (MW) Worst 5: 1. Marvin's Rocket Ride (MW) 2. Bert N Ernie's Big Dive/Sea Climber (SW) 3. Oscar's Sweep the Beach (SW) 4. Taz's Hollywood Cars (MW) 5. Rock N Roll Rebel (AW)

it must have coasted and swung you back and forth until it stopped at the bottom - now that would have been a ride to remember <aside> Saw a video of the Big Red Car ride at DW broken down on youtube, one minute you could see the Wiggles on a TV screen then the next minute it was a total power outage LOL Also saw a video of SDSC with the lights on I remember Batman the Ride 2 - there was a woman who got on who had a round stomach the size of Toula's and while the ride was running she wriggled around trying to get comfy and accidentally pulled her seatbelt out. Oops.

Not bein a cop myself I'd probably go and offer some help cause MW has a massive carpark - and especially full up there are rows and rows of cars that look like they stretch for miles. The cops would need a big group though - they could split it up so that one lot does one quarter of the cars. Would probably speed things up a bit.

sounds good - if there was video or something of it that would be epic. Having built small robotic models out of a Lego Mindstorms RCX 2.0 kit that is ten years old and still has life in it I wish for the day when I can move on to programming animatronics for WVTP or Dreamworld.

Having ridden Runaway Reptar at DW and reading what all of you are saying about the old Vekoma seats being too constrictive I am wondering whether the Runaway Repttar is a Vekoma as well - and if the seats are indeed the same then I can say yes, I have experienced the feel of sitting in a Vekoma seat. It also seems KumbaK is popular with WVTP because they've picked KumbaK trains to replace the old Arrow trains on the former Corkscrew and now they're going with KumbaK for new trains for the Lethal Weapon. I'm also wondering whether MW should place one of the new seats outside so people can test if they can ride (an idea I have thought of) with all the restraint locking removed so that you can pull the harness down, test if you fit then push it up again - a sort of an 'if you can fit in this seat and are tall enough you can ride' idea.

thankfully I was never soaked by the LTRR before it closed for good I did however ride Marvin's infamous Rocket Ride before it was removed and it was awful cause we got lifted half a metre off the ground and were going to start the rotation cycle but the ride came to an abrupt stop without the ride op pushing anything - thankfully it was only half a metre. I remember another ride op calling over a mechanic to take a look at Sylvester's Pounce and Bounce when I was on it - apparently there was something to do with the compressor not functioning and the ride op had to drain all the leftover pressure and try and restart the compressor. It took three tries before it finally turned over then there was the wait until the ride could operate again - a lot of kids had to leave the queue and go home - so eventually I was the only one who stayed there and went on the ride after it was fixed.

mate me too - i love the behind the scenes videos of Disney rides especially the Disney HM back in '69 when it was first opened with the racks of record-player lookalikes that ran the animatronics - they were much like CDs - either there was a groove in the record which made the animatronic move or there was no groove which meant it just stood there. Fascinating. Even the programming mechanisms are fantastic - using a fullbody motion harness to program a robot lookalike of Abe Lincoln for 'Great Moments with Mr Lincoln' which later became the Hall of Presidents. I really wish someone would post pictures or video of the LTRR control room with all the racks of equipment that ran the animatronics of Bugs Bunny and Co.

Agreed. Once they work out each breakdown and how long it can take to fix they'll tell you whether you can just sit in the car and wait or if you have to be evacuated. If the restraints won't open at the station and you're in them they'd have to have some sort of manual release system at the station so you can get out.

Clever. On Cork at SW the operators would check whether every pedal was up on each car and then the car was cleared to run. They had no reflector system at all. Now with the Sea Viper the number of restraints lowered is counted and for every one locked a green light will shine on the back of the car. It also has automatic release on the restraints - which increases the throughput cause you don't have the delay associated with a ride op walking through and using his foot to push down on the pedal at the side of the car so it would unlock.

I totally agree. Would have been great to watch the Demon now still with the same theme and everything. Even a ride operator dressed as the Demon on Halloween.

I haven't seen the show yet and have no plans to go this holidays due to cost.

Thanks for that - from that I can hear they're planning another new ride. I'm hoping it's a ghost train but not one of the new crap ones with Freddy and Jason et al. Getting sick of seeing those on new haunted themed rides, but I absolutely love the old Ghost Train at Luna Park Melbourne. Used to be called the 'Ghost Ride' back in '34, then the Tunnel of Terror and finally renovated in 2001. It's a shame they don't have a 'Ghost Train Museum' with all the old props from previous incarnations of the ride. Would be interesting to see though.

And you are totally right about Marvin the Martian and his famous rocket ride - yep, been on that one too. We went past it and it was closed, after going on Yosemite Sam's train I walked back and it was open so I jumped on. Barely moved compared to the other time I rode it that day which was the best out of the two cause that ride was a lot smoother. The later ride was painful as hell, the rocket only moved about 2m off the ground and stopped (and it was rough!) - just enough to be considered stuck but not enough to be considered airborne. The ride operator must have pushed something cause we suddenly swung back into the loading position They got a mechanic to have a look at the ride and he muttered something about slow starting to the ride operator (must have been a new op fresh out of ride operating school). Either way whether that's what happened or if it was something else MW took out the Rocket Ride about a week later and it hasn't seen a replacement for 4 years. I'm thinking the area has space for either another Zamperla Crazy Bus or probably a small flat. MW could probably put a Ferris Wheel themed to the WB characters in there if they wanted to otherwise the area is blank, bland and needs a ride badly. And definitely keep Speedy's Taxis, replace the cars if you need to but don't remove the whole thing, little kids love it.

you mean like a complete shutdown where nothing works - not even the motor running the lift chain I would assume? I'm hoping MW weren't arseholes and made you exit the ride while they fixed it then you had to line up again - I'm hoping that you just sat in the car and waited.

loved every minute of that makes me wish I went there - I'd do a full walkthrough of Monster's Mouth (the dark ride) and the dodgem car track and probably take one car, fix it up and sell it to Aussie World so they have a spare dodgem car. And look at all the control boxes - must be worth a fortune.

I'm definitely thinking that it's a heat issue - when the heat resistor gets too hot it cuts power to the motors. edit : not cut the power like a switch but eventually slow down and stop the motor because of how little current is flowing through the wires.

I'm wondering if BT also used capacitors when it was open. Also wondering how the sound was delivered to the boats. Did they use something like a UHF/VHF radio or were the sides of the boat channel wired for sound?

About the limit of my Spanish is 'y' and 'liebre'. But this is pretty cool. I really don't think they'd force you to watch the show - you should be allowed to leave if you want. And also based on what I've heard, if the Disney Xmas show is as lame as all that then it's just another reason for me to not go.

I was guessing it was like an electric train with driver controls both ends. So I am hopefully assuming correctly based on the info you have given me that there is only one driver cabin.

It's been in the same place for ages. Don't know when it was first installed but it is badly in need of an inspection - the cars/track make so much noise you can't hear the music.

Thanks for the info - brings back memories of riding the Cork.

Would have been awesome to see. It's getting close to almost a year since LTRR's closure so let's see what MW have in store for it.