rappa

Well Slick I don't know what your 2 years was spent doing but my guess is it was pretty much wasted. If you re-read my above post you will see that it is in fact NOT possible to do what you are suggesting. A laser is just a high intensity beam of light, therefore still has to obey the laws of physics pertaining to light. I work in this industry everyday and trust me if one could simply project in mid air I'd be a very happy man but its just not gonna happen. The problem isn't the light source its the air!

Actually just FYI you can animate a laser projection, it involved the use of high speed drive mirror heads. You can also get full colour laser projection. What this involved is pumping the argon laser beam through a series of prisms and reflectors to get the separate colours to make up the RGBAW image. Pretty complex and precision stuff but easily doable. You can also project a hologram through the use of a Fog Screen which involves a carefully fine tuned wall of fog being produced. This technology can be seen in use very effectively on the Indiana Jones ride at DL. It is used to produce a cobweb which the ride vehicle ultimately travels through. Not being able to create a projection in thin air is not really a matter of technology, its simple physics. It will never be possible to project an image into an empty space (mid air) because there is simply nothing for the light to bounce off meaning it will just keep travelling until it does find something, invisible to the eye. The way we achieve 'mid air' beams with lighting is to fill the air with a thin 'haze.' This usually consists of vaporised oil particles or super heated glycol fluid at high pressure. This produced sufficient air born particles for the light to bounce off whilst still enabling it to travel, thus producing a beam of light. Fun stuff huh :-) ...and people say forums aren't educational!

I was talking with some friends today and the topic got brought up... Does anyone know what ended up being the result of the investigation into the cause of the fire?

Well in all fairness equipment does fail. It doesn't matter how well you maintain something there is always the possibility for a component to malfunction or a computer to crash. Thing is if the proper maintenance is carried out etc, these sorts of failures should result in minor breakdowns, not catastrophic accidents. I motor burning out is one thing, a critical weld breaking on a ride vehicle is another.

Sounds interesting...IMO would be for the best either way. However I'm very sceptical of anything like this and don't really believe it for a second. Perhaps if you could at least try to give an idea of where you’re getting this but otherwise it’s doing nothing for me. ...can't help but think its a bit more of the 'I’ve got a secret' game.

I have no idea how it broke things I just remember reading about it in a coaster history somewhere. Beats me man :-)

So Shifty I'm dying to know... What exactly IS the new Billabong Beach contruction that your talking about? Is it actualy like Wirlpool Springs or more like a lazy river in nature? I haven't been down in years, where exactly have they got the surf hill and all this?

Oh yes I'm not in any way trying to play down the seriousness of the incident and I do indeed hope the girl is okay. I just don’t think it's fair to phrase it like that as it immediately puts doubts in peoples minds about the more reputable amusement facilities. I'm never surprised to see incidents like this at carnivals as I know how they are run. Amusement parks tend to be in a bit of a different class. For the record my gripe was with the media, not Chippy.

I made an attempt to look for the ride last night but the S&S site appeared to be down... Have you guys go a link to some info on this ride? Thanks heaps

Thanks Joz, I figured this was going to be the case. I hate it when the papers go and use the word 'amusement park' because its only intention is to get us thinking its one of the BIG 4. Its a Carnival we're talking about here, not an amusement park!

OOO look Chippy is talking out of his arse for a change... S&S DID NOT "take over" Arrow, they bought them out. Arrow went into serious financial trouble after X and was basically bankrupt. S&S came in and bought up the company, the alternative would have been Arrow (and its staff) just disappeared into nothing. I also believe S&S did have the fastest coaster for a while at the time it opened. Have you ever actually ridden a S&S ride Chippy? If not, (which I suspect is the case) then I stand by my opinion that you have no right to pass judgement on them. How can you possibly have an opinion of something you’ve never been on???

I weep for the future... ...enough said!

I think we all know thunder that what we really need to help the park is a few people that call wonderland home to get on their way to take up positions as far away as possible. Pinning their problems on this poor guy is IMO disgusting and just reinforces my opinions on WL mgmt. ...didn't say anything sooner as I felt it was your info. to tell Daniel.

Ah right you meant they are demolished coasters. I knew about them. The first looper was wooden but it was an exact loop and used to break necks if I recall! I think SOB is in a new category.

Well there aint much point if they are all not operating is there! Just out of interest could you name them and their location so I could take a look?

To answer your question Bus Man SOB is actualy the World's only looping wooden coaster. It has one inversion which is the one you see in the pic. The loop structure itself is suported by steal but the track itself is still wood. Its a pretty awsome looking coaster I must say!

What is that coaster? I know I've seen those pics before...

Hey Chippy we can see you've done that just by looking at the post. No need to waste time posting that youv'e been here...especially twice!

I wouldn't be too worried if I was them if it meant it stopped you from being able to get a job there :-) But in all seriousness they would have that sort of thing sorted, perhaps if you really wanted a job there you could take the initiative and phone them...and practice your grammar for that application.

Last time I checked The Bolt aint exactly open for business dude!

From today's telegraph: "The head of Wonderland Sydney's Wildlife Park has quit over the lion cub debacle." Just shows how wonderful the park is doing, not only does it attempt to illegally house and profit from exotic animals its now managed to piss off its gamekeeper over the whole thing. Perhaps they could try a bit less focus on 'award winning advertising' and bit more on running a decent theme park, keeping guests happy, not breaking the law, keeping staff even remotely happy. Hey they don't have to go for all of them, just try one! :-)

Hey Guys Just wanted to let you know I'll be heading up to the Gold Coast next month. Will be in town for a few nights from 16/02 till the 20/2 staying at Sun City. Plan to hit DW, MW and W&W. Hopefully can maybe catch up with some of you and put face to the names :-) Rabid do you know at all if its planned for WWF to be down during this period? Sorry Joz, fraid I don't think I'll be getting over to SW. Time constraints and unfortunately there is the least new stuff here for me to see...next time!

Couldn't have summed up my thoughts better myself! Extremely well put, don't think anyone could disagree with you there.

Hey Jack I have been talking to Daniel and I honestly don't care if I don't know. I know we will find out eventualy and that's fine. Point is WL has done thier thing again and thats all that matters, don't care why. What gets me going is how a heap of people come on a have big winge for you to tell them, can't they just get over it and find something more constructive to do??

Okay for those of you who know, have 2 gold stars :-p As for the rest of you, does it honestly mean that much to you to desperately know why they are gone? They are gone, simple as that, so who gives a sh1t?? Don't we all have better things to do with out lives than sit and worry about some stupid bloody lions? I know I do... If you've been on these (or any really) forums for a while you will know there are those that delight in coming on and telling everyone they know the latest secret, however "due to their sources" can't devalue the info. Do we honestly by that crap? If it is fine for them to know, trust me its fine for everyone to know, but I think you'll find most of the time they don't have a clue either. So I suggest you just ignore these folk, let them come and have their song and dance alone, and maybe they'll go away :-D Because I for one am sick of listening to it, and all those that then waste time begging them to tell their secret.