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Everything posted by Gazza
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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?
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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
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Looney Tunes River Ride vs. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Gazza replied to Swanny's topic in Theme Park Discussion
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.
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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
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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.
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I dont feel anything because Giovinola aren't in the coaster buisness anymore.
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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.
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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)
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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.
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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)
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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?
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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.
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Sorry, even I am stumped for what a BB ride would involve or how it would be themed
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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.
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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...
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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)
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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.
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Umm, Blood Diamond? I havent heard of this movie, what is it about and how would this translate into a ride?
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Looney Tunes River Ride vs. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Gazza replied to Swanny's topic in Theme Park Discussion
â–“Yeah, i say keep it too. I want to see MW build their attraction stock, not just keep replacing them, which in the long term doesn't improve the parks capacity, they have been doing this for a while (Eg replacing gremlins with SDSC, movie magic tour with SE etc, theres no doubt the replacements are great, but at the same time people still wish they could ride the classics). Id rather see a different ride for the Charlie theme, such as a water coaster or a river rapids ride for example, as both could be worked to fit in with the story. Also, im a bit of a purist so Id rather see Looney Tunes village keep with Looney Tunes rides, we dont want them to go like DW and have unrelated rides in each themed area. And for the record, I dont think they could really colour the river, for the simple fact that its a water ride, and you do get wet and I dont think people want to get their clothes stained by whatever colourant they use. Even if it is washable people would still look silly having brown residue left on them. If its a dark ride the water just looks black anyway.... And as for the whole "MW is running out of room" thing, here is an aerial photo showing potential spots for expansions: -
I dont think it would work. Mega coaster trains are quite long, the volcano is fairly small and once you get the transfer table and maintanance area in there the volcano, as well as all the other stuff that goes with a coaster such as individual lines for each car would have to undergo some heavy renovations. To be honest to actually do anything I think you would be cutting open/remodeling more of the mountain then what was there and able to be used so you wouldn't really save anything.. Im guessing people are getting this idea from that Volcano coaster at one of the Paramount parks, and while this did use an existing mountain, that mountain is much larger and really only contains a slope up to vertical. But to do that the coaster would need to be taller than Kingda Ka to get that sort of speed off gravity alone, and as for length you are looking at 2480m long to get the world record. Somehow i dont think DW has $30,000,000+ to spend
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Its sort of crazy because they were underselling themselves, giving people a years access to your park for $79 seems a bit too low (from a sellers perspecitve). Of course, its great from a buyers perspective since its such a bargain but I dont think they needed to drop it by that much to get more people buying it. Also, I wouldn't say that Australia is in a situation where "money is tight", inflation has been pretty high lately, and while some supply side factors have come into play (drought, expensive petrol etc) a great portion of the problem could be blamed on there being too much money in the economy (excessive lending IMO is one reason).
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Well, even so you have a pass for both parks.And while the MW marketing dept would probably love it if their customers thought MW was the best, the accounting dept probably doesnt care because they have your money anyway. Still, i think the $79 pass is better value regardless. If you are planning to at least once during the year then you might as well get it since its only a few dollars on top of a single day admission, and then you get all the entertainment value out of it and can do as DW_Rulz does and do a half and half thing on a given day. Even if you did get sick of the park by then you might have gone 3 or four times so it would have still been worth the outlay.
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You could say that actually, since the bottom part that goes over your lap does most of the restraining, while the rubber part at the top (softer than SE, i think it would have the same sort of flexibility as those playground swing seats that look like a pair of undies) Woah, you and me are very different people . I would happy to see whatever discomfort the ride has banished completley as it detracts from the ride and is not really something a modern coaster needs (But given that it is an expensive process, so i think just putting new restraints in would make the biggest improvement for the majority of riders). I mean I can accept it the way it is and put up with it, but for me roughness doesnt "make the ride" as a couple of people have put it, nor is it a deliberate attempt to "get the feeling of a stunt driver", it is coincidental (and anyway, stunt drivers tend not to bang their head) But in closing, for me the roughness wasnt bad enough to cause a headache or even dizyness, just some soreness that went away soon enough. My main gripe with the roughness is that when you are on the ride it is a big distraction that makes it harder to enjoy, and I can relate a bit to what winger is saying about it being disorientating as there are parts of the ride i cant remember that well.
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Ill second that, I quite like the look of the tangle of tracks Vekoma launch coasters have, and as has been said the Disney ones are awesome. Why do they get such a bad rap? But Superman here in Australia is quite reliable from what I can gather. I rode it only a couple of weeks after opening and I didn't experience a delay from breakdowns. From what i have heard the main problem they had was getting the train to stop in the right spot at the start of the launch, but as I have said breakdowns are rarely a complaint, and I think that is because MW has a good maintenance department. And Chaos_Maniac and everyone else, look we wont ever see a coaster close to Tiger Island as it would be cruel to subject the animals to that sort of noise. There are plenty of other spots (such as blue lagoon) where a coaster could go. Yeah, but for MW and not DW as DW dont really do themed attractions.