Gazza

I can see what they are saying, basically when you arrive at SW the bus would only go as far as the front gate. If you want to get to the resort, you could either walk down the spit road, or go into SW and jump on the monorail and take that to the resort. Still 800m seem pretty bearable, you would do many times that length during the course of the day walking around the park.

LOL, I would have just gone for it, clearly your instructor had no idea about how the fastpass system works.

What he may have meant was that the fast pass return time was 2 hours after your ticket gets issued. You would never actually spend 2 hours standing in a queue with fast pass. PS, on your trip, did they say something like "Nope, your not allowed to use fast pass, we're making you stand in a huge line for the sake of it instead" Did you have to go around the park as a group?

Yeah, but Mirabilanida aren't surrounded on all sides (the park is surrounded by vacant land from the aerial shots I have seen) Plus you can see from that shot the lazy river directly abuts the lagoon the slides empty into, which is good use of space. If it were WWW, I would be they would have left a 10m buffer, and then just filled it with bark chips. Anywhere else, WWWs design would have been ok, but it really isn't space efficient enough given their current situation. Having a spacious park is nice, but you need to compromise, when you get down to it, they are going to be there for 20 years at least, could they really sustain themselves for 20 years worth of expansions with the space they have. Suffocation is not an issue, just look at WnW, I mean down at the southern end of the park they have got a good 5 or so attractions all close together, but the nice environment makes it work. Anyway, IMO it is far more interesting when slides are close together and are intertwined, visually, the old version White Water Mountain at WnW was the best looking water park attraction for this reason. WWW is a bit too much of a concrete and pebble garden environment for my liking. I mean, what does it achieve to have the massive entry plaza they have when nobody even congregates there? Ill concede that the Temple of Huey gets it right in terms of use of space, its designed around an existing ride, and keeps the queue area, landing pool and tower all close together. If I had been in charge of design, I would have slotted things together more neatly, had nice clear lines for guest movement around the park, and arranged the attractions along these lines, furthermore, decent sized spaces would be left for new attractions, and they would be planned for. Areas of dead space, such as under the high up parts of rides would be used for dry areas/deck chairs, the space under the BRO would have been perfect for this purpose, its already effectively a huge fibreglass roof, so it would be a good shaded area. Just my $0.02 on space efficient design.

^I never waited 2 hours with fast pass for Indiana Jones, I got on in about 15 minutes after arriving back at the fast pass entrance, was there a breakdown when you visited?

Camera strapped to the front of the train? Could also be a capture from a video camera if they were filming the whole course, or a normal camera set to take a photo at a certain time/interval.

No no, you misunderstand. WVTP would be the ones to build the monorail, and would operate and collect all the profits themselves. A branch of the monorail to Helensvale station, I'll admit is a bit much, just an idea for the future if they got really sucessful, but it would also be built and operated privately by WVTP, in a similar way to the Jupiter's monorail. The relocation of the studio offices would also be something further down the track if they really wanted the space, I don't think any of the sound stages should or would be messed with, but since everything is fully owned by the one company I imagine they would just do whatever is best for the business. The name of this topic is "What's next?", not "What's next year?" Logically with such a large pool of ideas people are throwing about they aren't going to do it all at once, or even all of them within the next 10 years. Though I think the GC parks are on a sort of cusp, and from now on the parks are going to expand a bit quicker than in the past. They have finally gotten over their fear of capital investment, and it is paying off. NOTE: this was a response to the original post by PixelPushed, but he went and edited the whole meaning of his post to save face or whatever. Why??? Are you anti progress? Would having a hotel next door stop people from doing what you said? SW has a hotel next door, but that doesn't stop people visiting for the day with their family. Are you saying having other facilites next door would somehow make MW less fun The whole idea of what I was saying is only to help the company be more successful, make more money, have a greater presence and draw more guests. It would actually allow families to stay together more. Think about it, rather than just having a day at the park together, you could then go on and have dinner together, or see a movie together, or stay in a family room at a hotel together. Sorry, but it annoys me when people say stupid things.

^Great ideas there. Exactly what I have been thinking, lets face it, WB dont make a lot of good movies, and I think you'd be limiting yourself too much to just stick to WB themes. I remember people complaining about Shrek not being WB themed, but it still is one of MWs better attractions. I dont see the point in maintaining a sort of 'purity' by having only WB stuff, it should be about building the best possible rides, maybe in the future the park could be renamed and could encompass more forms of entertainment. I mean a music related ride could be great and would still fit in with the flow of MW .And they have been popular with parks, just look at stuff like Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, Hollywood Dream, and the upcoming Led Zepplin coaster at Hard Rock Park. Maybe eventually when MW does get a large multi looper or a hyper this could be a suitable theme (And just to let people know, I'm not opposed to MW getting these, its just that there are other coaster types id want to see first) Not quite, soarin over california was the first of these, and it's at DCA. Still its a ride I love, though I think something like this would be better at SW somehow, getting back to MW now..... Those are a few of the rides i would like to see too. A gyro drop I think could be ruled out because MW already has a freefall ride, A Huss Topple tower could fill in the void of flat rides MW has but they reportedly have poor reliability, a wooden coaster is the first coaster I want to see built here, obviously with a Wild West theme, Mack spinning coaster are pretty good (I have ridden Sierra Sidewinder at Knotts) but personally I think the Maurer Sohne product is a bit more flexible, and their popularity with parks these days is a testament to this. A Vekoma splash party would obviously be the key for WnW, Ill get off topic again, but I think it would be OK if WnW did get a couple more wet theme park style rides, the water park version of a splash battle http://www.splashbattle.com/ reportedly costs around $2mil...not bad IMO. They could build the splash battle first, and then a few years later build the splash party coaster over the top, I can imagine the two rides going together well, and it would just be a riot with people on the coaster bombing water, and the people on the splash battle shooting back. Fantastic Idea! That is something I have never considered before, but now that you mention it , it seems great. I think somehow you would want to make the water a little less stagnant, maybe aerate it at night and circulate the water in there. It would be nice to have another strip of shops and restaurants, and of course rides overlooking this sort of area, just like Universal as you said. The lagoon of course could be suitable for a water related show. The biggest problem though is that bloody film production office, its in the middle of everything, and if it were rebuilt elsewhere the park could really open up. Maybe if they, over the years expanded like this: If the park ever got to this stage, transport would be important, and a monorail might be the way to go since they can just run over everything else and are narrow. Now, I have a couple more visions for the park, that are not specific attractions. At MW, they should better divide the park into themed areas, maybe like this: Looney Tunes Village - As Is Main St - The area from the fountain to the T junction area where the big screen is. Wild West - From where the new games are up to WWF, the portal could be some sort of artful looking sign in a wild west style, with some sort of tribute to that genres biggest stars, such as Chuck Norris, Clint Eastwood, Buck Ramsay etc. Move the steam engine here from next to police academy, as trains are a big part of the wild west. Metropolis City - SE area, and the new path that leads down to LW. Round this area off with a Lex Luthor flat ride perhaps, landcape the sand area in the middle of SE to be a "Central Park" and make the sides of the LW building Art Deco style skyscraper facades. Again, have some sort of sign saying "Welcome to Metropolis" Gotham City- The area where the two batman rides are now, theme it a little more Production Central- The corner where scooby doo, gotham city cafe, and Intencity are. This area is a bit of a jumble, maybe add theming to make it look like a variety of films are in production, park a few trailers, those roadblocks they use to direct traffic around filming etc have rigs set up, the variety of themes in this area could be held together more if it looked like it was all just different films in production. the portal to this area would be a sign held up using those metal frameworks they use to put lights on (DjRappa is probably laughing at my terminology, perhaps he could explain it better) Intencity could be called "The showbiz arcade" given its already ritzy look and the entrance would be like a red carpet with associated theming (fences, media vehicles with fake satellite dishes etc.) The inside of the arcade would have cool lighting (Again, something for Dj to do) However, my full vision for the future of the WVTP site is to make it more of a destination, rather than a day trip. It would be excellent if there were a couple of hotels/resorts for visitors, an open air entertainment and shopping strip (with restaurants, bars, a small Village Cinema, shops, fast food, health club etc, sort of along the lines of down town disney or citywalk. The production offices for the studios could be an anchor tenant if they relocated to here. A monorail would have stops at WnW, AOS, The shopping strip, the resorts and MW (and possibly a loop up the hill to paradise country. Each station would be themed, eg beachy for WnW, rustic for AOS, modern for the shopping strip, art deco for MW. If they wanted to go all out, they could build a branch line to Helensvale station. The idea would be to stop people ending their day when the park closes, but to stick around, have meal, see a film etc, and also so people could drift between the parks during the day, when it gets hot they can go back to their resorts and return in the evening. A dedicated transport hub would be provided , with non stop transport to SW .The parks should have their hours extended to 7pm at least

^Funny you should mention that, Mirabilandia (A theme park in Italy) has lifts to reach it's slides in it's attached water park. I know what you mean though, after a quiet day at WWW my calves were murdered from all the running up the stairs I did. I think lifts would be of greatest benefit on high slides with short queues, eg Mach5 at WnW. Stuff like tornado doesn't need it because for one, you are struggling with a raft, and secondly, the queue is a steady pace up the whole length of the stairs.

Well, the theming all looks pretty meh to me, I mean those marquees with stuff in them sort of do push the live racetrack feel, but outside of that it just seems all pretty ordinary, for me chequer painted walls and a bunch of graphical signs (with a lot of them not even pertaining to the ride, such as the flowrider and max action ads) doesn't really constitute proper theming. The bright colours are also a bit of a turn off, it comes across as a candy coated attempt at theming rather than the realism I like. It seems Atomiq just come up with concepts that are just a hodge podge of elements relating to a central theme, there is no flow, and are often out there so it just ends up being weak.

Mate, I'm happy with my decision and think it would be the right ride for MW. I have considered all B&M types (I know what they are) and these are my favourite. Remember, unlike you I have actually ridden a few of these coaster types such as a flyer, stand up, inverted, floorless etc and the flyer really is the most breathtaking. (and Im sure a lot of people who have ridden these rides would agree, the SFMM ones at least) The way a ride looks in photos (well, aside from the theming anyway) is not important, the ride and its forces are important. I mean, have a look at this pic of expedition Ge force for example: http://www.rcdb.com/m/ig977.htm?picture=32 Just looking, you wouldn't guess this ride was once voted the worlds best steel coaster (though last year it dropped to second spot) As the saying goes, dont judge a book by its cover. Superman at MW would be another example, just looking, its just a top hat and a couple of hills, really doesn't look too special, but ride it and you realise it is far and away the best ride in Australia. You really need to get out there and ride a few coasters (Eg not the small selection on the GC) or read articles/balanced reviews of the newer ones to get a feel for what is good. I mean, this is a public forum so everybody is free to post what they want, but ultimately my own personal experiences are going to hold MUCH more weight in my own mind then the looks of a few pics from rcdb selected by a kid. BTW, the ride is called "Kumba", not "The Kumba", and the model is a B&M sitting coaster ( http://www.bolliger-mabillard.com/products/sitting_en.aspx ), not a Hyper Twister just to let you know. A Hyper Twister coaster would be a hyper coaster with a twister style layout, http://www.rcdb.com/m/ig535.htm?picture=13

I wasn't thinking along those lines with a huge lake dominating the whole layout, that looks equally as bland as a gravel pit below the ride, just a couple of small linear ponds at strategic points in the layout to give it a natural look.

I think WWW will try to bring in enough people and keep it just competitive enough so World Pass sales keep ticking over and people keep coming back, though I don't think it will ever be as big as WnW. They have established their base line in terms of park size, so all they need to do now is just add worthwhile new rides so people keep coming back. Its sort of annoying how they have made future expansions hard for themselves by what to me seems like poor initial planning. Have a look at this pic: It just seems like the park has huge expanses of concrete in places it doesn't need (Eg that whole entry plaza, or between toilet block and wave pool at bottom of picture) when you are at the park you could shoot a cannon through these areas because they supply path capacity in places they are not needed at all. Furthermore, there are also huge expanses of sparsely planted bark chips, and of course gravel that serve no purpose other than to space everything out too much. A good example is the space between pipleline plunge and the rip, its a big area that only a narrow path snakes through, yet its now too difficult and small to build something decent there. These situations are repeated across the park, really indicating poor planning. You can also see with the ride layouts stuff could have been placed a bit better to use space more effectively. BRO for instance could have had its right side helixes hung over the internal roadway, so the 8 lane dips part could have hugged the very side of the roadway. Super tubes could have had a better tighter layout with the out and back parts of the slide directly parallel. That's just my view on it all, hopefully with the expansion space on the thunderbolt site they will be a bit more logical.

^Just a quick off topic question, your profile lists Tatsu as your favourite ride, when did you get to ride it? Though getting back to what you just said, I'll agree that it has been built in a rather brute manner on the mountain top as if it were a flat site if you get what I mean (The brake run is a good 20m up in the air simply because it sticks off the side of the hill) However they did a great job at preserving the trees, and down on the ground, I didn't think much of it's presence , it wasn't overwhelming or anything.

Bahaha (PS Ash, I'm not laughing at you) Cool shots, what sort of camera were you working with? Did you end up getting (and using) that SLR you were asking about on here previously?

Thanks for all that, it really does show off the ride well. Though I'm still a bit confused about the section with all the Marquees...are they blocked off from public access, I suppose they would need to be to stop people from messing around with the stuff in them. But LOL, this ride takes product placement to to the max. I'm off to buy some Elf motor oil for the Honda motorbike that I'm ordering at the Sydney Motorcycle show.

^That doesn't count as theming, theming is: What you are talking about is landscaping, and landscaping is: I think its a given a flying coaster would be set up like this if one were built, MW has good viewing areas for it's rides and they do a good job at making things look nice. One thing to be careful of is not making the flying coaster have too many sections close to the ground, or all it becomes is just a whole lot of watching grass whiz by at high speed. It is far cooler to be a bit higher up, to really give the feeling of being in flight. One feature I think that would be nice would be ponds below parts of the ride, so you can look down at your reflection, in effect its like a mirror which creates a feeling of greater space, making it feel like you are higher than you really are.

^What theming does air have?

Why a flying coaster?....because IMO flying coasters are the superior ride, are a far more marketable experience, more comfortable, more enjoyable, and just way cooler. Stand up coasters are alright, but it only feels a little bit different to a normal coaster, just a higher centre of gravity for the riders. Stand up coasters aren't really suited to inversion fest's like Riddlers actually, the riding position is better suited to lots of twists and turns, like on Georgia Scorcher. One thing I might point out, Iron man is a Marvel character, not DC like Batman and Superman, If there is an exclusivity deal that MW holds with DC then an Iron Man ride might be out of the question...and If they could somehow use Marvel characters, I would build a Spiderman ride in preference anyway given Spidermans' greater popularity.

So, did anybody have any intention of posting any pics of everything now it has been completed? I'ts been open over a month, so all the theming would have been done, as would have the shop etc. Dunno, just comes across as a bit slack, I know when I am visiting something new and people haven't seen it I make an effort to get photos for the benefit of others. Surely there would be time to take photos in those 2 hour lines....

Yeah, I wouldn't mind one of them at our parks. Though, when I said Zac Spin, I was talking about one of these: http://www.intaminworldwide.com/iag/index....8&Itemid=32 It just looks like the exact sort of thing DW would buy given the psyche of its management at the moment. Edit: Does anyone else think it is a bit sketchy that these are classified as 4D coasters? yes they have the extra 'dimension' of being able to flip, but they lose the roll and yaw aspects of movement, so really its a 2D coaster.

Realistically, If its a thrill ride, I'm not expecting something too big, Probably a flat ride, or a small coaster like a Zac Spin or a Eurofighter. I personally think DW will never build a B&M because, for lack of a more polite way of putting, they are simply too tight.

^Unfortunatley, I think a HP ride is out of the question, I would have liked to have seen one, but IOA at Universal Orlando ( http://www.universalorlando.com/harrypotter/ ) have gotten the rights to Harry Potter, and are doing a whole 'theme park within a theme park' and are spending a huge amount of money to do so. Reportedly, JK is very picky when it comes to this sort of stuff, So I dont think WBMW will ever get to see a harry potter attraction again simply because they couldn't do it to her standards. Going back to the Matrix idea, Ill admit it is a tough cookie, but not impossible. I don't think the GP cares about the age of a movie franchise actually....why else would MW have stuff like Police Academy and Lethal Weapon (As well as overseas attractions, Borg Assimilator (Star Trek) at Paramounts for example) ? Coinciding with a movie release would help the ride with a bit of marketing kick in its first year, but I think its way too much of a gamble anyway, how do you know whether or not the film you are basing it around will flop anyway? Besides, proportionally I don't think a lot of riders get to experience things in their first year anyway when the tie in effect is at its strongest, If somebody had not visited MW for 6 years, It would not matter whether SDSC was built in 2002 or 2007, the entertainment value would not be diminished. At the end of the day, the ride experience is central, if people are willing to travel to DW to sit on a motorbike shaped coaster car, I'm positive people would go to MW to experience something as close as they'll ever get to having the ability to fly. The theme is something that ties it into the park, and makes it nicer for the people who appreciate it. Problem is, the pool of WB movies that are either good or really popular is pretty small, and from those, the ones that would translate into suitable rides is even smaller, I don't see the harm in using past hits as the basis for rides, if it means the overall product is better than a newer, but possibly not as effective theme. I really comes down to clever marketing, maybe the Superman approach is better, focus heavily on the unique and exciting aspects of the ride rather than the theme, that's not to say you couldn't work in the theme in some way, just film the ad with green filters and similar camera techniques to the film, and the fonts/logos on screen would also reflect the matrix branding (use that distorted Serriff font), and overlay that japanese "code rain" on the footage in places too. The ad could also jog peoples memory about the Matrix....here's how it could be scripted (though Im hardly a marketing expert): < text on screen in Matrix style> "In 2003, people asked, 'what is the Matrix?' In 2009, experience it for yourself" <Cut to footage of the ride in action with plenty of cool camera angles> " 'The Matrix: Flight of Neo', Australias first FLYING roller coaster!" <focus camera on the expressions of a group of riders> "Only at Warner Bros. Movie World" <Cut to a screen showing the WBMW logo in a Matrix graphical style>

What are the wires for Superman? I know Main St had wires Superman would fly along, but didn't they get rid of them?

I think I just came up with a new term: "Soft Closing"