Gazza

LOL, sorry, you had said "A couple of friends and I are planning on going up to Dreamworld" I had assumed you were from one of the southern states. In that case there is no real worry then (Its not like you are wasting a holiday), anytime from now onward is pretty much OK.

Why, will doing so release evil spirits or something? Building a carpark is quite a cheaper option compared to building and then running/maintaining a monorail. Going by this page: http://www.monorails.org/tMspages/HowMuch.html a short 800m long loop (im just estimating using the google maps scale) would cost around $4mil AUD if you went with the Intamin model listed. Yeah, but it would be just as long of a walk for those walking to the new bit within the park/

Ah Well, I guess the point of this whole deviation in the topic is that space is there if they desperately need it (They would need to have used up all the other areas around the park, eg between WWF and LW for example). Were talking several years down the track, and by then that whole WTPV precinct could be very different making it viable. But in the meantime they dont have to worry.

Im just waiting for Richos review on this (no pressure mate, do it when you have the time). His review of SE basically mirrored what I was thinking, and of course written in that sort of unbiased, intellegent sounding way.

Just out of interest, has anyone done the nooby sort of thing and emailed the park about wether it will re-open?

Yeah, thats basically what I was thinking, im suprised you put so much effort into the photoshopping . Well, the amount you would rip up/rebuild on just depends on what you need to do. But its just a photoshop pic so its not like its exact or anything, just an approximation. Personally I dislike the monorail idea, i'd rather have the park in one big block rather than spread out, it gives a better feeling of leaving the everyday if you go into a park and sort of lose sight of the outside world (The best example of those who do this is Disney). If you go spreading it out you lose this sort of feeling and the area ends up feeling isolated. Yes, you could have a path leading there, but were talking something longer than main street here. You would have to have a lot of shops to fill in the space, and there is only a point to which this could be done before you start competing with yourself and spreading yourself thin. And lets face it, it would be a long and boring walk to get to this sort of out of the way area. Its also what DW did when they built WWW. In fact the whole situation mirrors what DW did 12 months ago in order to accomodate WWW. As djsupersleuth said, use a bit of common sense. Yes and to build a monorail you would have to do ground preparations too, not to mention actually putting in an order with a company to design and manufacture the monorail components/track, and on top of that other related infastructure (stations etc). LOL its not like RCT where you can put in a "Transport Ride" straight away... A carpark on the other hand is a simple affair that could be done in a couple of months.

Ah yes, Dazzeland...My only visit was when I was around 5 but can still remember it. The main attraction was the "Jazz Junction" which was a musical themed Zamperla powered coaster that did a lap of the floor the park occupied, and as such was quite high above the lowest floor as it was just void in the center of the complex, the height factor sort of scared me off. There was also an airplane ride and a helicopter ride (Similar too dora the explorers sea planes at Nick Central) Other attractions included dogems, a Mexican themed mini golf course and a medieval themed soft play structure (My personal favourite at the time as it had one of those spiral slides, and the obligatory ball pit) Is there anything i have missed?

It doesnt matter too much, DW will be pretty quiet in Feb/Mar so it would be easy doing everything you want to. On the other hand some rides may be closed for annual maintenance as this tends to happen at that time of the year (Check the website) But, if school holidays are still going it wont cause too many problems, I was there roughly this time last year and the crowds werent too bad. Since you plan on going on all the decent rides the easiest thing to do is turn up a little bit before the park opens in the morning, so you can get in and get all the main stuff done a couple of times without any lines. I didnt even end up needing a second day pass for DW because I got everything done in one day. Just out of interest are you planning on heading to the other parks like White Water World or Movieworld, or are you only heading up for Dreamworld?

Yes! That is the way all theme park ride pages should be, it would be nice if the pics were bigger but hey you cant have everything. At least they show what the ride is about well enough. WVTP could take a leaf out of WWW's book in this case

Yes, its not like its some sort of unsolvable problem, think outside the square a bit! I mean parks just chuck the ride bits wherever it is convenient. When SDSC was being built the bits were put beside LW so really... But thats right on the money on the way they could do it Aidan, if you look at this pic you can see there is a HUGE amount of space at the front of the park (compare with LW in the bottom corner) and if it ever gets to a point where the space is needed then they can go for it.

The other option (though more expensive) is to knock say 30cm off the right hand side of the splash pool, and link a sort of shallow channel that can get the rafts around to a spot where they can build the lift a bit easier, sort of like what is on mammoth or speedcoaster.

Its a bit out of their price range. Air at AT cost just under $30mil AUD, Tatsu at SFMM cost $26.4mil AUD, i think the Superman flyers would have been cheaper but still quite expensive. DW has an allocated $6mil of capital expenditure so if they were to go out an do this you could kiss any other new ride goodbye for another 4-5 years. I can imagine a Zamperla Volare being cheap enough for them though

To be honest Im not really bothered about Austrailan or world firsts or any other marketing taglines like that. Im more interested in seeing fun, high quality attractions that set themselves apart in their own way. World firsts can be a bit troublesome as they are prototypes so they can break down often, and are unchartered teritory in terms of operations, SE for example wasn't a world first but it is no less of a ride, and they waited around and now we have a great ride that runs well. Though, Austrailan first rides are OK as it helps give a bit of a variety. And with the whole international tourist thing, well I'd imagine most of them would be here for other reasons, and any park visits would probably be coincidental. Most of our parks patronage are locals (Ill just wait patiently until someone pulls out the shareholder reports giving proper details ) so really thats all they need to focus on. I mean, a world first ride here alone probably wouldnt cause a lot of people to travel, and this would be eroded by the fact in a couple of years time similar rides would be avaliable overseas so that novelty factor would be gone. If you really did want to get internationals in then you would ultimatley have more sucess with things like the AOS next to MW or the AWE at DW.

I dont feel anything because Giovinola aren't in the coaster buisness anymore.

Exactly, a lot of people seem to be saying that that "its fine for me" but what about kids and shorter people that ride it? Or ones that only visit once every few years and cant get used to it the same way regular visitors/enthusiasts do? The ride is what? 10 years old now, i think it is around this point where it becomes more viable to do a refit.

You guys are thinking of a reverse freefall coaster. The old Intamin freefall coasterboy8 is asking about is this type: http://database.thrillnetwork.com/dbgaller...php?rideid=2423 http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/park/ride..._drop/index.cfm A description of how it works is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freefall_(ride)

All 4 across seating does is makes the train shorter. Corkscrew at SW for example has 4 passengers per car, while a B&M has 4 passengers per car. Whats the difference? Its the number of cars in each train that matter, B&M generally has 8 so thats 32 people. An example of a ride that doesnt use 4 across is Colossus at Thorpe Park. 7 cars of 4 people makes 28 people per train. 2 trains = 56 people in total. How is 32 seats in one train the same amount as 56 in two Like I have said before, we wont see one because B&M dont make one. And peter.. I guess people like B&M because they have consistent quality and just plain good rides. Im surprised about you being dissapointed in many of B&Ms major rides though, and I think the reason for this is because B&Ms are common in the US and those who have ridden them have probably ridden others too, so they have sort of become sick of them. You say that Kumba is nothing special, but if a ride like that, with enormous loops and 7 inversions were to open here would the general public see it as "nothing special" too? I doubt it. To be honest I think all of their rides are impressive even if others have grown tired of them. It seems you have been a bit selective though, you are comparing these supposedly "bad" B&Ms with Vekomas designed by Disney and Intamins that were record holders. I can see what you are saying about B&M being conservative, but i think that comes back to their aim of building reliable rides. On the other hand one of Intamins selling points is building rides that push the boundaries, and Vekoma pushes its lower cost and experience over the many installations they have done. Theres nothing wrong with setting yourself apart IMO.

Im wondering, but could WWWs market position have been a bit stronger if flowrider had been included as part of WWW instead? While it is an upcharge ride they still could have pushed it as yet another unique ride in WWWs lineup, and probably could have gotten greater patronage of the flowrider since people wouldn't need to get changed if they were already at WWW (Thats assuming the flowrider isnt always booked out)

Hey, what was with all those ride rip offs such as Spaceship Birth and Honey i drunk a 5th? I found them pretty funny, were there any more? That was a cool update, they did a great job with all the Haloween theming, and its an entire update of Rabid night shots, what more could you want?

Kenny was an Australian film released last year and it was pretty popular. I dont know wether you are joking or not about having not heard of it so ill just post some info anyway, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenny_%282006_film%29 But to be honest, I dont think a giant breakdance themed to a toilet really captures the spirit of the film. We seem to have a lot of these suggestion threads going, but I think a bit more thought needs to go into some ideas. This is the real world here so there are things that need to be considered: Cost: Im seeing people suggesting things like big B&Ms or Intamin hypers, but if you look back MW spends around $12-13mil on major rides (SDSC,LW,SE for example), WWF did cost $20 million, but that ride is huge and has a ton of theming. Meanwhile a B&M would cost $16mil+ and thats without any theming. Something to consider... Avaliability: Nowdays, parks here just get off the shelf rides, so I wouldnt expect things such as a launched dive machine for example simply because they arent made, nor would I expect a park here to custom develop a new ride system. Marketability: In terms of the theme you would want to aim for something well known and appealing to many. Suggestions for horror movie themed rides tend to pop up quite frequently, even though its sort of a niche genre that many cant stomach and a theme younger riders for example cant relate to (Whereas on a ride like SE they can relate to the theme) Also, an important thing to consider is wether people will actually plan a visit around these new attractions; will somebody want to go to MW to ride a toilet themed breakdance? Quality: Would the general public like the ride you propose? I always find it odd when some people critisize places such as DW for being tacky with theming, but turn around and suggest something equally as woeful. IS THE RIDE EVEN FUN? Practicality: Are the operating procedures for your ride simple? will lines move at a good pace? Would this sort of ride even work? But it would be nice if more people gave detailed ideas on how their idea would work (Like what CoasterBoy8 did) A lot of peoples suggestions seem to follow this format: *[Column A] -DW -MW -SW -WnW etc. *[Column B] -B&M Dive Machine -second launched coaster -A ride like Big Red Car -Something like this: http://www.rcdb.com/ig2025.htm -A Huss Topspin -An Australian First -A ride that goes from 0 to 70 in 3 secs -Something massive, with a 400ft LIM launch where you then go through a cobra roll and a barrel roll before a brake run that is indoors with themeing etc. *[Column C] -Saw 3 -Harry Potter -The Country Bears -Shrek 3 -This B grade, straight to video horror film i saw once - Poiseidon -Dukes of Hazzard -The Blue lagoon Volcano etc.

Sorry, even I am stumped for what a BB ride would involve or how it would be themed

Its good they have the 4 man rafts back now (Well the park has been pulling huge crowds so they would want to have capacity as high as possible) But really, I dont see the point of 2 person rafts; groups of 2 can just combine and share a raft. Im guessing it takes a similar amount of time for a cloverleaf and a whirly wheel to pass through so why not make the most of the capacity they have? I guess they have bought them now so its a bit late, but hopefully on busy days they will take the whirly wheels out of circulation.

Umm, they mean a water ride, not a water slide Tons of theme parks have multipe boat based ride, take Islands of Adventure, They have the Jurassic Park River Adventure, Popeye & Blutos Bilge Rat Barges, Dudley Do Rights Ripsaw Falls and they used to have a boat ride across the lagoon. Six Flags Magic Mountain is another example, they have Roaring Rapids, Tidal Wave, Log Jammer and Jet Streams. There is no reason not to get another water ride...

Hmm, hydraulic launch, indoor start with theming, but a big ride, and with a vertical drop at some point. Sounds sort of familiar....its Superman! I'd have to admit, it would be quite a sight seeing a launch system trying to get those heavy dive machine trains going fast though, and it would be even more of a sight if B&M actually agreed to building another launch coaster (For those who dont know the only launched B&M is the incredible hulk coaster, and even then the launch system was not done by B&M and since then they have refused to build anymore)

Sorry, you said "Australia is in a situation where money is tight" so I thought you meant from a macroeconomic perspective. I mean theres no doubt some people are doing it tough, but if you look at it from a wider perspective, things such as retail sales/consumer spending have been on fire lately (Hence the consecutive rate rises we have had) so Australia seems to be pretty loose with spending currently. But enough of the economics and back to the Annual passes.