Gazza

Just noticed this review on the main page: Are the new seats similar to these ones http://www.parkz.com.au/forums/in...ost&id=1101 ? Has anyone else been to MW in the past couple of days and seen the design change? Nikkiwikki, if you are out there can you confirm?

The Tornado (along with the Green Room at WWW) is Australia's best water slide IMO. Its so cool going up on the walls and plunging back down, and its the sort of ride you don't get sick of and keeps you coming back. I have seen little kids going on this thing, which proves just how much appeal it has.

Its not really weightlessness (floater air) but negative g force (ejector air), both feel different. With floater air you get the butterflies, but with ejector air, you still have G forces, but they pull your body in the other direction so its a bit more stable. At the start, you get the strong g forces pushing you into your seat, but at the top when you change direction it's like gravity has been thrown into reverse and you are up off your seat. I used to dislike the weightless feeling too (to the point where I wouldn't ride on the double screamer at WnW back in the day), but it's an acquired taste and I got to like it a few years ago, Superman escape is a better ride to get yourself on first actually. Its not a sudden burst of airtime when you go over the hills, it just builds up to the point where you are lifted out of your seat, very cool actually. In closing, I say suck it up and just get yourself on there, you'll never know until you try something new, you wont get hurt, and chances are you will like it (rather than hate it) Even if you do hate it, is only been 1 or 2 minutes of displeasure, which you'd get over anyway. You have more to gain then lose.

Excellent point! Would Disney ever do something ugly?

Cant see why you couldn't reverse it I suppose, friction wheels are along the whole section so its not impossible, It would probably be better than wasting power launching it to get around, and I cant imagine them designing a system that forces you to launch it when it mightn't be desirable. Superman4777 would be the one to ask though.

Very hard to maintain don't you mean. One solution is for the park to go with Intamin, their track construction method is different and requires less maintenance. Well, Movieworld wouldn't make the coaster, they would get another company to build it for them, like Intamin, GCI, The Gravity Group etc. But you are right, a Wild West theme is the only way to go at MW with a ride like this. But, I don't get this "old technology" thing people are saying, wooden coasters have magnetic brakes, have computer systems monitoring them, are designed in the first place using computers and advanced engineering techniques, and looking at this pic of a modern wooden train, you can see how they use a design comparable to a steel coaster: http://www.rcdb.com/m/ig1562.htm?picture=20 The only difference is what the ride is made of. If wood is "old technology" why do the still build houses out of wood when steel framed homes are available??? I think your "formula" oversimplifies a bit, and seems to be ignorant of what ride technology is capable of, to lump all simulators as "bad" is a bit much, what about rides like Soarin' over California or Back to the future? both very impressive rides. Besides, none of the technology you list is really that new, all of it has been around since the start of the 90s, for some of it, even earlier. We know Lethal Weapon is inverted. People who say Wooden coaster are ugly are one step away from being like the people who live near Luna Park or the Alton Towers locals, something to think about

Forgive me for asking the obvious question, but what have they done with the old blazing saddles area where the arcade games used to be?

With that Daemon ride, the drop is half the height of Superman Escape's this pic shows the whole layout better http://www.rcdb.com/m/ig2504.htm?picture=13 On the other hand, $13 Million USD will get you a B&M of this scale: http://www.rcdb.com/m/ig2528.htm?picture=19 http://www.rcdb.com/m/ig2528.htm?picture=44 Which is a bit more promising though keep in mind it was able to utilise a hillside (Daemon was probably a bit more expensive considering it is at a European park and it was built 8m up off the ground). Id love a multi looping B&M, but it would be a big thing so not much would happen at the park in the years surrounding. See, The funny thing is, when the GP think of a stereotypical roller coaster, or when an illustrator/cartoonist draws a roller coaster, it often ends up being a wooden coaster. If you were playing Pictionary the most likely response would be a wavy line with a grid underneath. Its ingrained in the minds of normal people, so they wouldn't really care.

Maybe have a look at this vid of Balder then: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvBaCyVtMns You can see how smooth it is, and just looking at the shaping of the track gives an indication of the amazing airtime you experience. And yes, I would like to see another looper at MW, but seeing all these great woodies going up overseas has really made me jealous. The thing is it comes down to the budget, dollar for dollar, you get more coaster out of a woodie then you do out of a steel, in other words if you spent the same amount on building woodie, and then a steel, the woodie would most definitely be the better ride. That not to say steel coasters aren't great rides, B&Ms have all been excellent from the ones I have ridden, it just takes more money to make a steel coaster 'work'. Its going to be a long time until we see a a hyper built here, but in the meantime a woodie would give a comparable experience more affordibly. Yeah, they might be ugly, Im sure there is some way they can attempt to hide it, just have a themed queue line maybe that limits the view of the ride within the park to a few key features (eg the lift hill, and with thathave it running in the same direction as the entrance path so the wooden structure cant be seen from the side) By the time people are on the ride they wont really care about the look of the structure. IMO its sort of funny how everybody who hasn't ridden woodies say they are boring, but those who have rave about them. Maybe part of the reason is because woodies look simpler (just hills and drops) which makes them look boring visually compared to the twisted layouts of steel coasters. But as the saying goes, dont judge a book by its cover. Lets now look at what is currently our best coaster, Superman, what makes it great? The launch obviously, but those airtime points are its other excellent feature. Woodies are all about this airtime, and some rides like El Toro are pretty much all about having these airtime points one after the other, which does simplify the ride a bit. This is where twister layouts come in, and you end up with the best of both worlds: Maybe have a look at this vid of Balder then: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvBaCyVtMns You can see how smooth it is, and just looking at the shaping of the track gives an indication of the amazing airtime you experience. And yes, I would like to see another looper at MW, but seeing all these great woodies going up overseas has really made me jealous. The thing is it comes down to the budget, dollar for dollar, you get more coaster out of a woodie then you do out of a steel, in other words if you spent the same amount on building woodie, and then a steel, the woodie would most definitely be the better ride. That not to say steel coasters aren't great rides, B&Ms have all been excellent from the ones I have ridden, it just takes more money to make a steel coaster 'work'. Its going to be a long time until we see a a hyper built here, but in the meantime a woodie would give a comparable experience more affordibly. IMO its sort of funny how everybody who hasn't ridden woodies say they are boring, but those who have rave about them. I was chatting to Richo the other day, and the problem is close mindedness, parks seem to spend a lot of money getting the newest technology (Eg motocoaster) when for the same price they could use a more established ride system and end up with a very solid attraction. I was chatting to Richo the other day, and the problem is close mindedness, parks seem to spend a lot of money getting the newest technology (Eg motocoaster) when for the same price they could use a more established ride system and end up with a very solid attraction that is a better ride.

Re wooden coasters: This is what $12 mil AUD gets you with steel: http://www.rcdb.com/m/ig2999.htm?picture=15 This is what $7.3 mil AUD gets you with wood: http://www.rcdb.com/m/ig3231.htm?picture=3 Wooden coasters are awesome. If the only ones you have ridden are Bush Beast or Scenic Railway then you are going by the wrong examples, it would be like saying steel coasters suck because Thunderbolt did. They have an excellent ride experience, and do the same as steel but cheaper, the GCI Millennium flyer trains can handle twisted layouts smoothly so rider comfort is not an issue. They look fine to me, the rustic timber look suits the wild west theme wel and if you dont like the look then put it out of the normal park, a bit like what Knotts have done with Ghostrider (only the station and queue are really in the main part of the park, the rest of the ride goes out around the car park), waste space is a silly argument, just build a twister layout and cram it all in, or an out and back layout and use only a narrow strip of land. They arent that much worse than normal coasters. I think one of these would be a great experience, you could build something colossal fairly cheaply. Could you honestly say something like this wouldn't be a great addition: Looks a bit different to a train line to me. But they have 4 roller coasters, so 3 river rides is fine.

Yeah, but the Dreamworld website doesn't have information for what ride maintenance is happening in FEBURARY.

^Exactly, one other point of course is that water rides are that darn cheap its not funny, we all know how in the past our parks have managed to homebrew some of their own, it's a testament to their simplicity. But rapids is something I would most like to see given the ride effects they can do has advanced quite dramatically since the 1980s when the majority of rapids rides were built. 300 days of sunshine and barely any water rides If people are fixed on a Simpson's themed rapids (I personally think where the wild things are would have been nice, but hey this could be cool too) It would be funny if it wasn't just limited to a Polluted river theme, but rather a multitude of Springfieldian water environments, eg a wooded section through the Springfield state forest, port springfield, the part of the river in down town with a stone bridge, the canyon with the hydroelectric dam etc. Richo is on the money with the idea of an overwhelming Simpson's atmosphere, just make the ride jam in as many references to the show as possible so people spend as much time enjoying the ride movements as they do spotting things. I mean in the port section you could have a sewer outlet jammed with metal springs, and echoing down the pipe you could hear homer chanting "199 springs to flush down, 199 springs" In the state forest would be fat toni and his gang up to no good, in the hydroelectric canyon maybe a pig blocking up the outlet or homer trying to fake his own death, in the downtown section you would pass by homer with his head wedged in the closing bridge, the power plant owing to its industrial environment would be the perfect place for the vertical lift and drop. And of course you could have coincidental stuff around the ride with characters behaving in typical ways, im sure Barney Gumble and Ralph Wiggum could have gags involving embarassing behavior, Nelson could be dangling Martin over the river by his undies (wedgie), Grandpa simpson could simply be asleep floating in his rocking chair for some unknown reason. Artie Pie could have crashed his chopper in the river. Hell, you could even ditch the river concept all together, just say springfield is flooded (homer did it) and the resulting mayhem would be more than enough fodder for a ride.

^I wasn't aware that was in the plot if the film, I knew Homer had done something causing the family to flee to Alaska however I didn't know it was that. Its a possibility then, but it would depend on how much of the film took place around the river. Personally, I'd lean towards a dark ride themed to the streets of Springfield (A Bit more of an opportunity for the sight gags we are used to, hope I dont offend anyone, but I dont like the river idea because its not a familiar Simpsons environment, like the school, the home, moes, or the powerplant so it would be harder for guests to connect with) One ride system I love the idea of using is the enhanced motion vehicles with 3D projection. Curse of DarKastle at Busch Gardens Williamsburg shows its no longer only affordable to parks like IOA. The sets for the ride would be fairly simple, just flat surfaces painted in matte colours and black edging to emulate the distinctive art style of the show. Also, the ride films couldn't be that expensive given there is at a most 4 mins of film to do (simulator type rides generally have a ceiling of 4 or so minutes in terms of duration since people cant put up with motion for that long). Plot wise, im going to dip out and say that it is best left to the writers of the show, though if there were a sensory drop element if would be caused by homers bumbling nature. I think it could be done for under 20 Million. And Re batman, maybe trim the number of motion bases from 4 to 2, and do a bit of re-theming if a new ride opened at that end of the park, it could move to an anchor attraction to being a minor thrill ride.

^Yeah, but MW doesn't have two 3D theatres operating concurrently does it? That's the point I was making

I'm not 100% on the idea of a Simpsons nuclear water themed rapids ride that a couple of people have brought up. These things have only been in one or two episodes tops, and form a minuscule part of the show, its a bit much to be basing a whole ride around the idea of a polluted river and the ride would have a weak story line at best. Im sure there are plenty of themes out there that could provide a more solid basis. Also, its a bit much to be cloning the Simpsons ride going in at Universal, one simulator at MW is enough, and IMO they need to build their attraction stock with more variety before they start duplicating.

Well, the ones at SW are on top of each other. And anyway, I never gave a specific location. I dont think they would care where it went as the rides at MW don't seem to follow any sort of pattern anyway.

I think what DW rulz is getting at is that you can play Arcade games anywhere these days. When I'm at a theme park I'd rather spend time doing the stuff I cant do elsewhere like riding roller coasters or seeing stunt shows.

Soft openings allow the park to fine tune the aspects of the ride you would only get to know by running it with real guests, eg efficiency and loading procedures. That way when the ride is opened officially and people start visiting specifically for it things go without a hitch. If its a major ride it could be a nightmare for the ops if they are dealing with opening day crowds, while at the same time trying to learn the ropes themeselves. This is what people are saying has been happening with the motocoaster at DW with the ops being a bit stressed. However at WnW the ops are settled in nicley and have obviously established a nice rhythm that will work well when dealing with the crowds wanting to try it out.

Well, Im thinking its time again for another large scale general audience attraction (Given the prior additions have been 2 thrill rides, and 2 children's rides) I personally am gravitating towards a river rapids, it could tie in well with the upcoming "Where The Wild Things Are" film which is being released October next year. The fact it is a classic book means even if the film doesnt do that well it can trade off that. Rapids rides seem like excellent value for money. A park in Germany recently built a ride of this scale for 2.3 mil EUR (approx 3.7 mil AUD) which IMO is excellent value and could easily fit in the standard 12-16mil budget MW tends to work with, rapids technology has moved on a bit, the model I linked to has vertical lifts, a whirlpool and true drops which are all quite interesting. Edit: After some research, I discovered a walkthrough that was based on the book, so it has been done, 6 vids are on this users profile: http://www.youtube.com/user/rodandnathalie

^I was more on about the "Hall of Fame" and the entrance/shop areas of the ride, which as you said weren't completely finished by Friday. So I thought based on your last visit they simply might not have been there to photograph.

This keeps getting better and better, this comment seems to be on the defence. Also, has anyone taken any photos of the finished ride area? If they are good I'm sure Richo would find them useful. And I guess people might have seen it, but as expected, the park map has been updated: http://www.dreamworld.com.au/content/stand...sp?name=ParkMap

Still more boredom prevailed, so I put together a spinning coaster called "Submarine Spin" for that slither of land between rescue point and the dockside tavern. A few points about it: -Has a vertical transfer track to trains are kept below the station -From leaving station to the brake run, the ride time is approx 45 secs. -Full cycle time for one car is 2min 50 secs (Based on 20 sec average load time...can somebody give the dispatch interval for scooby? It might be more accurate) -Approx 500pph, though this is based on NL behavior, the loading system would be like SDSC where cars load in pairs, unfortunatley NL wont let the 2nd car bypass the front station block, so the car is waiting an extra 20 secs where it doesnt need too, most likely I would change it so there was a brake just before the lift on turn, the first car would go straight onto the lift and the second would wait till it had cleared the peak before entering. -Max Speed is 60km/h -Ride length is 300m Submarine_Spin.zip

^I was down at the RSL the other night, It was quite annoying how in that thing they put brunch bars in there, its not even proper chocolate, but yes I did just use the vending machine instead.

Now where have I seen a roof like that I think that looks noticeably cheap and bare, hopefully in the future when it proves a success they properly integrate it in with the park and glitz it up a bit, IMO a "Showbiz" theme would be cool, go for a similar style to the theme of Hollywood Dream at Universal Osaka.

Yeah, Id try Superman before LW, LW is a bit rough and wild, But superman is just fast and smooth, a very comfortable ride that is perfectly engineered, so the turns and hills just feel cool. Once the launch happens you will be having fun right from that moment, its not really a scary ride IMO, just a lot of fun. It doesnt go upside down, so thats one less thing to worry about. Also, the airtime isnt really the butterflies in the stomach type, it feels more like trying to stand up if you get what i mean, so that also isn't a concern. Go for it!