Gazza

Why are there so many chavs at Thorpe Park? Because they feel at home in the slammer.

Basically, they attach it front on to the train whilst doing the pull through and it represents the saftey margin around the track, and if that bit of wood gets caught on anything they have a big problem I remember when Superman was testing there was a wooden rectangle type thing they hung off the back of the train that represented where the superman dummy sits. There was a good pic of this process on Ozcoaster back when superman was being built but the picture is no longer online.

Cool, so they are up to the pull through stage, though normally don't Intamin use a big piece of plywood in an oval shape?

Or just switch to an actual good browser like Firefox that has spell check built in.

^Well, DW would have less chavs. But yeah, who wants B&M inverted coasters and Accelerators when you can have the stuff DW serves up . I actually came across that bird strike video just yesterday, a bit of a co-incidence it came up here, that right there shows natural selection in action It's a bit dangerous though, they really should look at something like a set of live wires to give birds a mild shock when they land, or simply some of those spikes you see on building ledges (though train clearance is an issue), or a repeat of the Fabio incident on Apollos Chariot could happen.

That is actually a pretty serious design flaw IMO, would it really be that hard to make the gap between the two rims wide enough so a car with the doors open can remain level and not get jammed on the rims.

^Agreed, I also hope some of the rides get proper videos, some appear to just have 3 or 4 second ones that are just a few frames from an existing TV commercial.

Could it be? A WVTP website that doesn't suck? Looking good from what I have seen so far. They actually have pics of the rides, and video! Edit: It appears all the old WVTP site have been replaced by this. Digging a bit more, there also seems to be a "gallery" section on the site, hopefully Ian pulls a few strings and gets a few of his photos in there.

How the hell do you get the gondolas to flip like that?

This is directed at Crazy Mary, but was there ever any truth in the rumour that Dracula's was looking at putting in a small roller coaster at one of its attractions?

^Re Homosexual Spongebob, I thought AlexB was making a cultural reference to the fact that there has been controversy that Spongebob is gay, or some silly idea to that effect. Try Googling "Homosexual Spongebob" or look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpongeBob_Squ...%29#Controversy

Thing is though, why are we drawing comparisons with shows and theme parks anyway, they are completely different business models.

Ooooh, battle of the Woolongong kids. Fight Fight Fight.

^well there was Looney Tunes: Back In Action ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0318155/ ) but the fact you couldn't remember that one pretty much validates your point But the admission charge for the Melbourne show is $27, which is less than half of the admission fee to MW. I think though that fee is more to do with covering the costs of entertainment in the pavilions, rather than something you pay to have the right to pay for rides. Im just trying to think of a way to explain this. Generally, Upcharge rides are fairly unique, or have constraints that would stop them from working as included cost attraction. Imagine the stress on the animals if it were open slather and everyone could swim with the Dolphins, imagine how much it would cost the park if SW had to run a fleet of helicopters giving free joyrides, imagine the lines parks would get if those bungee rocket things that hold 2 people were free (there are parks that have these), imagine how annoyed people would get if after waiting ages to go on the Flowrider they bomb out after one second and have to get off and re-queue since the operator cant give proper coaching to every rider. I don't think dodgems fit into this category at all, they are a homogeneous attraction that is a staple at many parks, WL had them, DW has them, MW currenty has a kiddy version, Adventure World and Funfields have them in the form of bumper boats etc etc, plus all the overseas parks. It just seems err random to charge for a ride of this nature at a park like MW where all the other rides are free. Ill clarify, I dont have an issue if parks have upchaege stuff, but only if there is a good reason not to have it free. Put it this way, would you think it was stupid if DW decided to levy an extra charge to go on the motocoaster (there are coasters on the travelling circuit)

If they are flood primed pumps then a deep pit is necessary as they have to sit below the waterline of the thing they are pumping for, how big and deep was it?

Well, since the waterpark side of things is doing so well I think they should look at building more, I mean fairly low capital cost, general bias towards the local market in terms of attendance breakdown, and fairly simple to operate. Getting that Sunshine coast one off the ground is a given, Sydney could work if it were seasonal (that's the way most American water parks operate, even in sunny places like LA so dont give me that "only QLD is warm enough" bull) Melbourne could work too if It were indoor. I cant see them getting anywhere in the International market for a while....remember how they were trying to get a park built at Sensosta Island in Singapore, the winning bid for that project actually went to Universal, which sort of shows that they have a while to go until they are capable of offering what the big guns are. MELBOURNE please.

I think there is a difference between a pay one price park like MW, and pay per ride places like Shows, Luna Park etc. Yeah they could pull in $6 a rider, but in this setting they shouldn't. As for the flowrider, this park does http://www.daflowrider.com/ As for climbing walls, they are a staple at many American parks, I recall seeing one at Knotts. I think though its setting a bit of a precedent, arguably you could say all rides could be self supporting if they had an extra charge, but we all know how much the public would like that I think another thing that is annoying about this is that many have said MW could do with a few minor rides to flesh out the park a bit, but its annoying they aren't using this as an opportunity to add to their attraction stock included in admission.

I managed to find the logo by spinning the motor room around in the editor. As for making the trains yellow, It worked for me, so if worst came to worst I could just change the colour after downloading One idea I got after looking over is from those transparent queue rails you did. What if you made a transparent "smoke" type thing and layered a few of them at the tunnel entrances/exits, so you could simulate the effect of the cloud of smoke obscuring your view for a second as in the real ride. If you are interested , maybe just post a top view screen shot from the editor of the dark ride section..people could doodle in paint all over the resulting image, if you wanted feedback. But this is so cool, someone really committed to a project like this.

Its not so much the fact MW have never had up charge attractions (they have in a way, eg old photos, that superman green wall thing, Hi-5 performing thing etc) but more the precedent in the general theme park industry. I cant think of a single full price theme park I have visited or know of where you pay separately for dodgems. Obviously with all the attractions you have cited there are reasons you would charge extra (capacity, insurance, special staff attention required etc) plus none of them are rides, but dodgems are too much of a common ride that work successfully without up charging. Besides, why should kids get their own dodgems for free at the other end of the park

^Well don't some arcades with dodgems do that anyway? Regardless, since this is a theme park setting it is the single most idiotic thing they could do, I hope you're wrong about something just this once matt

Is it through this door? Anyway, where is DW_Rulz when you need him, he could answer this in a flash.

^They aren't though, if you check out this pic: http://www.parkz.com.au/forums/in...post&id=985 (care of Saberon) you can see the middle of the bowls have what is called a "corkscrew core" which allows rafts to safely slide out of the middle of the bowl. The body slide version is smaller, has narrower lead up tunnels, and above all just has a normal round hole cut in the middle which you just fall out of and into a swimming pool below. Hhey, I used to think the style of splash down that twister has was safe....until I discovered an gif showing that isn't the case...which I proudly set as my signature (see below)

^In a sense you could say that, but I think they should go back to the Rip and add a roof on to make it dark inside (maybe do lighting effects inside). That way there is a decent point of difference between both attractions. The new bowls would be more of an open air ride with a racing aspect, the rip would be more of a group dark ride. The problem I think lies with the fact there isn't a lot of choice out there for new waterslides.

Ta Sabes, Now that I have seen a bit more I can definitely say I'm not a fan of what they have done. It looks too gaudy in the nice bush setting they had. Richo was right, there really is nothing special about Atomiq's work.

Umm, call me crazy, but is this a traffic light (on amber).