Gazza

Yeah, I mean something is wrong if they are looking at small things like using less fog juice to cut costs, why not look at their whole operation and drive profits that way?

It always sort of bugs me when people describe things like this as an "eyesore". I mean its a ferris wheel for goodness sake, what is so ugly about it? Is it the circular bit, or is it the legs that hold it up? Help me out here. Personally, I consider an eyesore something dilapitdated, or something that has been left as a relic while the rest of an area has moved foward, or something totally unsuited to its location. The eye fills none of these categories. However, I think the ride was never going to be permanent even if the GC council had approved it for good, since it is only a transportable ride and is operated by another company. Hopefully the council will allow for a permanent one (hopefully an Intamin since all their wheels tend to be quite good) with better integration into the park (Eg with a nice modern waiting area, perhaps indoors so it is a true all weather attraction)

Because maybe Richo likes having control over his content and doesn't just slap up a 4 line 'news story' without any sort of structure or close editing. Yes people can write articles and submit them to him so he could get as much help as he needs in that respect if people offer it, but again it comes down to the editing process. Often Richos articles arent up straight away, but they tend to have a bit of research put into them and look at the bigger picture, rather than just being the same thing everyone else is saying. And hey, your site doesn't have any DW Sumatran tiger stories so maybe you need to update more. It was obvious the only reason you posted the first comment was to promote your own site.

I don't get the point you are trying to make, Joz just posted an article from the GC bulletin, then you abridged/copied chunks/added spelling errors to that article and posted it on your site, then made it sound as if you had "seen" it (how you can see an article you put on your site yourself as news I dont know) Theme park news should copy allittle (sic) less

Yes it is: Remember, the township of Coomera is just south (heck, even the primary school has a nice view of the rip), there are all those gated communities to the east and a community sports park and upper Coomera is over the freeway to the west. That sounds close enough to a residential area to me. But, as for the council decision, I think a solution could be an amendment to the planning scheme to create a clear distinction between rides and other sorts of structures (apartments etc. ) as they dont deserve to be in the same category. And as for the current eye staying, well I thought everyone hated it when parks put in transportable rides as permanent attractions... Id rather see it replaced with a ride like the sun wheel at DCA for something different. Another thing to consider is the fact a wheel twice as high is opening in Melbourne, so whether something like this is really much of an asset to SW is questionable.

I dont think It was a computer crash that caused the said incident, obviously if the cars were stopping in the brakes then the system was doing what it was supposed to. Also, just because the ride has been down for a few hours on a few days doesn't mean it was caused by computer problems. I think Occam's Razor is true in this case and people are right in saying that the frequent stops were caused by a hold up in the station. It has a cascade effect sort of like congestion forming on a freeway. The reason it is such a headache is because once trains start stacking it is very difficult to catch up in the station and get trains out of the way so the ones behind have a clear run. They most likely would have just dispatched a bunch of trains empty to save a bit of time and clear the blocks so they could get back into the rhythm. And to end this debate on how the blocks work, well on the main part of the ride it would wait for the block to be clear before letting a train though, but like on most roller coasters with multiple load and unload platforms then the block rules are bent a little and the train behind just tails the one in front when the one in front is dispatched. Millennium Force actually does this with its seperate load and unload station; when the train that has just been loaded is dispatched the empty one behind follows it with a small gap, rather than waiting for the loading station to be completely clear before moving foward. Its a similar thing happening on scooby doo and not a case of trains being "paired", its just to save a bit of time since its fairly safe to have low speed station blocks occupied by more than one train for a second as they both move foward.

Actually, they are quite different, the one for LW is just one big flat platform that moves up and down vertically and nothing else. For floorless coasters, its made out of metal as DjSupersleuth said, but its split down the middle into two halves that meet to form the floor you can walk on to load in, when the train needs to leave the floor splits and folds down either side of the track into a vertical position out of the way. Here is a set of images taken from www.themeparkreivew.com 's onride video of Daemon that shows it in action.

Gee, the menu is getting a bit exotic then.

Technically speaking a Giga Coaster is one which is over 300 ft high, so its basically only Millennium Force at Cedar Point and Steel Dragon 2000 at Nagashima Spa land. Though building something like this to scale would be impossible with the amount of k'nex you have. Im guessing the sort of style you mean is a Mega Coaster, basically rides that dont go upside down, but have plenty of speed and airtime as Churros said. My suggestion would be for a Rocket Coaster type ride using the orange booster things horizontally. (dont bother trying to make a cable launch, way too hard!) In terms of the style, I think a layout like Furius Baco would be cool, no need for a big support structure, just lots of low to the ground twists and turns, with a barrel roll thrown in for good measure. Nobody ever has.

What about for SE and LW?

Hold on tighter?

LOL I think the point he was making though is that $100 or whatever is a bit much to waste on something like the show in his opinion. There is no question that he has the money to go, its just wether he wants to spend it on a bit of entertainment that lasts only a few hours.

Just on possible attractions, another one they could have is a walk through Simpsons house, back in 1997 there was a competition in Las Vegas where you could win a replica of the Simpsons' house (see it at http://www.lasvegassun.com/dossier/misc/simpsons/plans.html ) so a walkthrough (with perspex barricades and limited numbers of people through at a time) could be a cool little feature. As mentioned before the Quick-E-Mart is a good one, hopefully it will sell stuff like Squishees, Hot Dogs and Skittlebrau. In terms of a cheap people pleaser, what about an Aztec Theatre replica with Simpsons episodes on continuous loop on a screen inside, food would be allowed, so If people felt like escaping the Queensland heat for 20 minutes or so and having a bite to eat this would be a welcome relief. For younger kids, I was thinking of one of those padded play areas themed to the inside of the nuclear power plant, with crawl through pipes with an industrial look, ball pits full of green balls etc. Now, if MW isn't too saturated with food outlets, then there could be the possibility of Krusty Burger in the area too. GoGoBoys idea of spacing it out is a good one, as it would have a dual effect of reducing the number of buildings that need to be put in. Perhaps another gap in the buildings could be used for a perspective alley type thing, but of course of a springfield street theme.

Here is the 2nd image ash posted, but in a considerate jpg format; But as for re-theming scooby doo, no way. MW needs more rides, not re-hashed or replaced old ones. I mean if SDSC were a bad ride then hey go for it, but its one of MWs best and should not be touched, as a Simpsons theme wouldn't be an improvement. But the street idea is a good one, and at the end of the street would be the new ride, to entice people up there.

Just an observation, but it seems like a disproportionate amount of theme park fans also have an interest in lighting, does anybody know why this is the case?

Agreed, Family Guy and South Park aren't really appropriate for a family theme park like Movie World. The issue is not which cartoon is better (start a new topic with a poll if you want to debate that), but which one translates better into a theme park setting. I mean just look at the sorts of timeslots these shows are on at, and the sorts of products and merchandise available (Simpsons confectionery for example) if you want to see what I mean. An attraction at a family theme park is a natural progression. But the Simpsons is a 2D cartoon (And yes, I do know about that tree house of horrors episode where Homer enters the 3rd dimension) but whether something old like that is suitable is questionable. As for an attraction, well I had in mind this sort of Simpsons Road Rage type thing; Imagine a coaster like the Paramount Italian Job ones, but in Simpsons vehicles and the theme being a dash around Springfield with lots of gags and references to the show. But please, no live shows, the thought of actors that look like this; just makes we want to retch.

Yeah, Id say its a pretty stupid idea. For starters, you are saying they should build this instead of the Motorbike coaster, you make it sound as if they could just tell the manufacturer to stop fabricating the ride (This would be getting done right now off site, if not already) and then get a Space Shot ride instead. Thats a bit like going to a car dealer, ordering a car with all your own options and colours, and then on the day of delivery saying "nah, I want a different one instead". Keep in mind, that it takes at least a whole year from first ordering a ride to it actually being finished and operational. So even if somehow DW was able to break their contract with Intamin for the Motorbike coaster and order a Space Shot, it would not be open until April 2008, and by then plenty of people would have ridden Batiwng and it wouldn't be a new thing any more. That wouldn't work either, Space shot rides have completely different internal systems, and it would be very difficult, if not impossible to refit Dreamworld Tower into a space shot. I don't really get what you would be trying to achieve, why would you not want people to go to MW? I mean, if both parks have the same thing, then what makes you think people would automatically change their mind and visit DW to ride the same thing? What would they gain? There would be a lot of people who would have already ridden Batwing, and if DW opened one then these people probably wouldn't bother visiting DW for it since they have already been on the same sort of ride. Now, when the Motorbike Coaster opens, that would be something completely new so people who would not visit for just the same old Space Shot ride would visit for a new roller coaster. Also, if they built the same ride, It would be very difficult to market, for example they couldn't say stuff like "an Australian first" or "The only one of its kind on the Gold Coast" Now, we actually already have an example of this sort of situation, with Tornado and Green Room. They are both the same ride, but White Water Worlds opened second. Has it done much in its own right to sway attendances away from Wet 'n' Wild? Not at all! (Though I might add this wasn't an intentional situation) Thats actually every half year, so all your calculations are wrong. Hmm an 8% reduction in the profit forecast would go down well. I noticed that your strategy only includes thrill rides and major thrill rides, remember though thrill riders aren't the only ones that visit theme parks. Trust me, it doesn't. I have some questions though: -Why would you pass up a new roller coaster for the same old ride? -Would your idea make more money for DW in the end? -Why is it better to "steal" a few visitors from a competitor with an identical ride than to attract new visitors with a unique ride. -You haven't emailed this idea to DW have you?

LOL, what like in RCT3? Remember, Flowrider is mostly made out of concrete with the exception of the trampoline part that you actually surf on. So you could salvage that, and some of the mechanical equipment, but It would be a bit expensive to rebuild most of it.

Yeah, I have it, 1) Yes you can....the game comes with trees and terraforming, so you can do nice hills, lakes and wooded areas. But if you want to do RCT3 style stuff then you have to import 3DS objects (3DS is the format used by 3D studio max) Basically that means you have to model your own objects. I think there are places where you can download them, but there aren't comprehensive theming sets like in RCT3. 2) Yes, definitley. Most of your time is spent placing nodes in 3D space, and using bezier handles to tweak the curves, hills etc of your track. And then adjusting banking angles ,Its nothing like RCT. The games does however come with 2 sets of premade elements, which you can just plonk in to your tracks (you can adjust the scale, mirror them etc) which is useful if you dont know how to make certain elements. And then after that you have to place footers and support nodes on your track, and then link them together to make your support structures.(The program has an inbuilt utility that generates wooden support structures automatically so don't stress out about them) Also, there is a free addon program you can get called "elementary" which has wizards where you just drum in a few numbers and it makes elements for you which you can then use. Basically, you have to throw everything you ever knew about coaster design in RCT3 out the window, you have to worry about things like making your track smooth with nicely shaped elements, making sure your G forces are in check. However the results put RCT3 to shame, and you can make some really realistic stuff. There are sites out there like www.coastersims.com where you can download tracks, so you can have fun just riding what others have made. And yes, help comes with the game, it has all you need to know and a tutorial for how to make a basic coaster. 3)You can make Intamin launch coasters by just using the Hyper Coaster and putting a lauch at the start...but the other two you mentioned come with the game. Also, with your first post, I'd get Soaked since making water parks is more fun than zoos, Billboards come with it, I don't know many of the new rides since I got both games as a package, but I think a Wipe out Style ride, a Perilous Plunge type ride, a better river rapids with 12 passenger boats and a natural looking channel, a half pipe coaster, a roller soaker and a gyro swing with outward facing seats are just a few of the new rides. On top of that you get all the main water park rides like master blasters, body slides, tornados, bowls, lazy rivers, wave pools, mammoth slides etc. As for themes, I think Atlantis and Underwater were some of them, but you get other cool new stuff like fog, smoke, and fire machines, laser and water shows to name a few.

What are the odds of one of them taking up the "empty" space on the TOH tower and finishing in the Thunderbolt site?

I found the CSIROs page on it at http://www.csiro.au/scope/episodes/e61.htm for those who are interested, I guess youtube would be fine for those who would want to see it, Youtube handles TV uploads fine, but since it goes for 21 mins you would need a directors account, or would have to split it into chunks (3 since 10mins is the limit) Today is a great day for copyright and the YouTube TOS.

Not much, just mount some air curtains horizontally beside the track and activate them as the train goes past. I don't know the whole story with this ankle blast thing, but I thought it would have been cool if a gust of air had accompanied the blue blur you see when Superman flies in to make it a bit more realistic.

I actually wondered why they didn't do that in the first place since it would have still doubled the capacity, but would have given them another new ride to market, notice the second mammoth falls didnt really have any marketing. It might make queues a bit one sided, but if the line got too short for the original one, then people would start gravitating towards that and the queues would even up. But now, Id rather see WWW build a dark mammoth, in keeping with their theme it could be called something like "Night Rider" and be 'themed" (if you can call any of WWWs rides that) to surfing at night. They have been doing that since when I was there, maybe that is the 'new' attraction?

So what about that blast of air at your ankles on SE?

Batteries have nothing to do with roller coasters though Plus, you once asserted that you hated "nerds" which could give an indication of the value you place on education. But I mean, towards the end the video was getting pretty stupid; saying electrical tape conducts electricity, putting lemon on the terminals, that ridiculous looking arrangement with the 9v batteries. Oh, that and the fact connecting them end to end wouldn't actually cause any current to flow back.