Gazza

Yup, you heard right, for a month at Adventure World in Perth we will be seeing Tomb Raider back in Austraila, hmm i thought Maquarie and Adventure World werent that close anymore, i guess managment liked the idea.. see http://www.attractions.co.uk/newsdetail.cfm?codeID=18866 or http://adventureworld.net.au/thetomb.asp

Dunno, i remember an older op wearing one at Reptar.

Rabid, i hope you didn't think i was abusing you or anything, im just vocal with my opinions and everyone sort of knows that by now. It was never anything personal, but with the "telling me what to think" comment, you did say.. But a ride doesnt have to be a dark ride to have theming To be honest, i dont really care what DCA did with maliboomer anyway, they also built that mulholland madness ride, and that thing uses 2D cutouts as its theming (that primeval whirl thing at Animal Kingdom was pretty poor too) so Disney can do what they like, but we are talking about what MW is doing anyway. Im interested in hearing Adams opinion on the whole standard of DCA thing before this upgrade its having.... The point i was making about Dr Dooms is that it proves "simple rides like drop towers" can have good theming (and lets face it, while it may not be the best ride at IOA, it looks very cool. And yes, it was a great idea about having the area open so you could see the faces of riders (people are going to have a lot of funny memories), but why cant they just adapt what they do so it can still be themed, but still be viewable. Just ignore those who abuse you, they have no idea. But what can i say, this is a theme park site, and enthusiasts are generally more critical (its a bit like how movie critics who see tons of films seem a bit harsh, food critics who eat everywhere, car reviewers etc etc) And anyway, if we are "worrying about little details" then it isnt really pointed at you. If that is what the parks line is then i dont think that is good enough. MW is as you once put it "Australias THEMED park" (and i totaly agree) and as such i think every ride should be of a high standardwith its theming, there is no room for cheap things just because they dont feel like spending anymore. See below for how they could improve it without breaking the bank. And Dj, i think WO is a better example to compare with. WO has/had: -Big Wave -Water Feature With fountains -Surf Shack op booth -Sandy Beach with flags -circling shark -surfboards standing up -tropical gardens BW has -formal gardens -batmobile and boat -steel arch (though this is more to mark the entrance to this part of the park and its rides, if we were to count this, then you would also need to count that 3D ocean parade sign) -industrial style op booth -mist But i think WO is more imaginitive in this case, the theming hits the nail on the head in terms of what the ride is about, batwing doesnt really (its batman themed in a generic sense, not really to do with the batwing taking off) Oh, and as for the claw, what about the big claw feet, the slashed up shade sails, that cool little notice board that gives a bit of a backstory, ride op booths with thatched roofs, and even with the car they didnt just plonk it in with a fence around, they squashed it for that comical effect. But IMO, it would have been cool if they had done some landing lights and line markings, burn marks around the base (like on the SE tunnels)put a fuel vessel between the two buildings (get a disused boiler from somwhere and paint it), had a few pipelines and high voltage cables etc running around the place (with labels such as "coolant" and "compressed nitrogen")and maybe some signage etc with warnings about it being a restricted area, fuel fire hazards etc, and fenced the launch area industrial style and done something about the side of the batman adventue building and the second op booth, and maybe get a few oil drums (if you cant get some of these free you arent trying hard enough). This is pretty much all basic stuff you could pick up from an industrial supplier, it wouldn't have been expensive (i seriously reckon less than $10,000, come on they probably spent more on those TV screens in the SE queue) but would have gone quite a way to actually making it look like a batwing launch zone. It wouldnt have had this extravegance some people seem to fear and best of all it would still enable people to look on. Also, because this ride is tiny i think doing these things would be plenty in terms of filling it up. Now if i could think of all these practical and doable things in less than 10 minutes then why couldnt they? One thing though, is this not the most interesting discussion we have had in ages, everyone is voicing their thoughts and has plenty to say, and it hasnt degenerated at all, now this is what a forum is all about :D

Hmm, maybe they could have a rubber gate like on Speedcoaster to hold the raft in, and a CCTV mounted on the walkway so you can see whats going on in the funnel. I guess the new rafts were probably cheaper though.

But Maliboomer is at DCA not Disneyland, they are seperate parks. Its a bit like trying to compare what is done at SW with MW. Everybody knows that the paradise peir area of DCA is below what disney normally does so thats why that ride is fairly light with its theming. Also, maliboomer doesnt push itself as a themed attraction, but this one seems to. Look Rabid, i know you are a big supporter of what MW does, and i am too, but i feel they havent done well enough this time. Also, why does everyone keep saying that just because its a space shot it is too simple to theme, when there are rides like Dr Dooms Fear fall, Space probe, space vertigo at Gardaland etc all have great theming (God even GD in its heyday was a bit better). I think this is just a cop out, there is no reason no to have a themed queue and loading area. Also, for the sort of park MW is they need to do every ride pretty well, its no good to say that just because other parks dont they dont have to either. SDSC could have just been a normal wild mouse, roadrunner could have just been built over a patch of grass, SE could have been built without a preshow (instead with a Six flags style open station) but they opted not to and made these common rides something special, why couldn't have they done the same with this? Oh wait because its a space shot has this bizzare condition of being "simple" making any attempt to theme it completely and utterly impossible I wonder how they managed some of the stuff in Looney Tunes village, those are even simpler, gosh they must have been really pushing it. People just have lower standards for space shots because half of them are at Six Flags or Cedar Fair parks that dont theme anyway. And, as has been said, if they can do a good job with a Gyro Swing at DW (something which was also built in a tight spot) then MW should be able to do an even better job with this, i mean they are both basicaly similar in what you can do (put stuff around the outside, leave the middle clear for safety and ease of access), hence rabid why it is ok for me to be comparing with a "non drop ride" in this case. I think that if they had put $100,000 towards theming (just 2% of the cost of the ride itself so you cant complain its excessive) they could have done quite a good job. I am very happy about the space shot as a ride, im coming up in March to ride it. But please, dont tell me what to think.

Well, i guess that you and me are different people, i know that it doesnt change the ride sensations, but it does look nice to all the people watching it and spruces it up a bit. Im someome who likes things to look good and i have an interest in design so this is why im seeing it the way i am. As for being thankful that we are getting a ride, well we were all like that months ago when we found out we were getting one, and these feelings continued during construction. But now the ride is finished so it is natural people are going to comment etc. Also, i thought my design would fit in, but i havent been in person so its sort of hard, in any case i would keep the same elements, but fit them in, or scale them down as necessary in order to make it work. Just a request to whoever visits next, i wouldn't mind seeing some shots taken from futher back, and from the queue area side of the ride, and a vid taken say from the car park. These up close ones are good for the details (thanks ads086), but i wouldnt mind getting an overall view, thanks

I think that while it doesnt look specifically "bad" they could have gone a bit further. There is no reason theming has to be intrusive in terms of both ensuring the ride is easy to get around or in terms of blocking the view, take a look at the Claw and Wipeout at DW, they both achieve both these goals. Even SP at WL proves a vertical attraction can be themed well without looking overdone (but of course SP was more enclosed which is what we are trying to avoid) I think with this though, the back of the ride is where they could have tidied up a bit, the space is there and it doesnt really matter about blocking any views since there isnt a viewing area on that side, and in fact it could help seperate BWSS more from SE. But if you look at things such as the side wall of the Batman Adventure mansion, and the colourbond maintenance building (not the op booth) you can see that they have really done nothing at all. The front of the ride is OK though because there they sort of had to strike a balance between having a themed attraction and making sure it is incoporated properly with the existing gardens around the fountain of fame/roundabout area, so i think the gardeners met this aspect. Id steet clear of going as far as a preshow, the pic I posted in another thread is what i reckon is a good extent to go with theming. But for me, the main issue is that they have established this premise about the Batwing "lifting off", but the theming for the ride doesnt really have anything to do with this. Granted they have done a countdown, and have graphics of the batwing on the ride vehicle, but even then these are pretty much normal things for this sort of ride (Even that mega drop carnie ride has a countdown). If you are going to do a ride around this theme then make sure that the theming actually matches with this. But certainly a bit more polish could have been added hence me voting "No there isnt enough"

Nah, its more along the lines of constructive criticisim, Complaining is saying something like "it looks crap", constructive criticisim is saying what needs improving, and how it could be done. Well, when our best park falls below DW standards then something is wrong. They are called "theme parks" so you sort of expect "theming" You asked for it... I never complained about the ride, its the theming where it falls flat. Sorry, i never realised theming was a limited resource you could save for a limited few rides. Ill be sure to not have an opinion in the future, or at least keep it completley agreeing with the affirmitive aspect.

Im sort of inclined to agree with these sentiments, as GoGoBoy has said, people have hyped it as having "awesome gotham city theming" when there has been nothing really of the sort apart from the new sign. I was sort of expecting a more industrial look, something like an actual launch pad with line markings on the ground, one of those smaller towers (like what is beside the space shuttle at launch), orange lights in the ground around the launch zone, a liquefied fuel tank (similar to what you see before entering the pods in Batman Adventure) and of course being batwing spaceshot and all a full scale replica of the batwing would have been cool. The fencing seems a bit bland too, sort of just looks like the type of fences a lot of houses have these days, i think a better approach could have been cable fences a couple of meters high. They are easy to see through, and could have had "Restricted Area" signs attached considering it is supposed to be a take off zone. Its sort of frustrating when they miss these little details considering they would only make up a fraction of the total cost and they have done them in the past. Its funny though, the Claw at DW has better theming than this. On the plus side the queue with mature trees looks nice, the capacity sounds good, and the launch countdown sounds fine to me (Reminds me of the start of each round in that "Gladiators" show that used to be on) And of course the ride by all accounts sounds awesome, which is the main thing.

LOL, well i guess you changed your tune, glad you are enjoying it though. I thought exactly the same thing, also you could do stuff like using the sideways hold to drive a bumper car, or in pointer mode to operate those spray stations, or the vertical hold to operate the steering lever in a paddle boat. Also the pointer makes this sort of thing much easier (Its actually quite similar to using a mouse and doesn't take long to use it accurately)

Sorry Saberon, the SE website is dead, its "Under Maintenance" message has been up for a while, and the MW website no longer links to it.

Well, after having a Wii for a couple of weeks now i thought i would post some, well thoughs. Overall its a very good machine, i have had no real problems with it (Except for accidentally putting it in 60Hz mode, and then not being able to use the pointer to put it back to 50Hz because the screen was severley distorted, i was able to feel my way to the reset console screen though, but this is something they should do a safeguard against). But id recommed it, it will be great when some more games come out for it, especially proper sports sims. But in the meantime there is enough to amuse buyers. First of all, the physical aspect of it is true, in your first day of use you will probably be stiff after, but it goes away and you can play it fine. Maybe its not so bad for me since i only really use it for an hour a day or so since thats enough for me) Also, its true about the potential for injuries. The wrist strap breaking thing is a load of bull, it would be interesting to take a strap into the lab and actually see what it can take. IMO i think what is happening is people are not using the strap, the accidentally letting go, and then breaking the strap after to save face. But in terms of the silly things i have done, i hit a ceiling fan trying to hit the ball high in tennis, and i hit an office chair playing baseball. Both these incidents happened at a mates place during an 18th (they talked me into going home and getting it since i live around the corner) so make sure you clear the way a bit and have adequate clearance. But there was no damage to me or the remote. As for the non gamer playabilty, its completely true, at the said 18th both my mates mother and a young cousin who looked to be about 7 were both able to pick up and play without any real explaination on how to play, and more importantly no "here you have it" out of exaspiration in not being able to do it. As for the games, I got Wii Sports, Wii Play and Rayman Raving Rabbids. I summed up tennis and Bowling above, but after having more time with bowling i was able to appreciate it more, and you can defintiely use things such as spin to your advantage. Boxing is a bit of a workout, so im actually trying to do a game or so a day just to see if it has any benefits. It doesnt seem as deep as the other sports though as there arent that many types of hit. Golf is quite good, people have said the controls are too touchy, but i havent found that to be the case. Putting in paticular has gotten some complaints, but if you hit it as hard as you would in real life then you avoid any problems. As for baseball, im still terrible at so lets not go there (How many times have i used the thing today, ill try and cut back....) Wii play is really just a program that builds your remote skills, but it doesnt come across in that way as they are still games and not boring "wiiducational" activites. Billiards was a decent game, though it has a tendency to go iffy when it actually comes time to shoot, i think the key is just to make sure the sensor bar is in line of sight to the remote lens and you dont have any problems. The duck hunt esque game is decent, and very competitive when you do 2 players, it also has a cool feature where you can weild two remotes so you can shoot in 2 places at once. Some of the games arent so great, table tennis for example basically involved only moving the paddle, its the pong of the 21st century. As for Rayman, it was OK, but I'd only rent it (I ended up trading it in, but since it was only a couple of weeks old i got a good amount back so it was like renting it anyway) While the shooting sequences were fun, too many of the games merley required you to simply move the remote and nunchuck alternatley as fast as you can. Think things like milking a cow, running fast to deliver a bomb, pumping a mine cart along, running up for a soccer penalty, tiptoeing through a prison but stopping at the right time and you can begin to see how it got repetitive and tiring to play, add to that there were "Part 2" versions of each game which were harder and maybe added a small extra thing (For example in the cow milking game the original one was just a mad shaking session, but the part 2 one was the same again except you had to aim at each bucket when you filled it to bring the next one over. Granted there were some good ones in there but it didnt really appeal to me, maybe others would like it more. As for those "channels", i have only used the photo and Mii channel as i havent got the thing online yet. The photo channel is a fairly good way of looking at your photos, and if you want to show others some stuff you took its really easy just to get the card out of your camera and stick it in the console. A funny thing i found is the puzzle mode where you use the remote to put one of your photos back together, whats even more funny is that its works with videos too, so if you feel like an imposible challenge where the picture you want to assemble is constantly changing this is it. Lastly, the Mii channel. Kids will probably like it more, but it is quite possible to make accurate people in there of all ages. Silly stuff is possible too, like emos and Picasso like creations. Below is one where i managed to get all the facial parts into an ant like figure. But this is probably enough for now, maybe Tony will post his thougts since he has one too.

Its those black rubber mats, basically its for improving circulation in your feet and providing greater softness underfoot. If you are on cashier/order taker you dont really get to move, so standing on a flat hard floor can be uncomfortable for long periods of time. Im actually thinking of asking for a second mat at the Deli Choices station since that is another once where you have to stay put. No Really, we need a seperate thread for this Thanks for that info Bussy. With regard to the student employee thing, do they not really care they are re-training a new batch of people each summer? It sounds good for me though...

I noticed that, looks good though, even better than the previous superman theme over the home page. Its dissapointing though that they have only managed to get a CGI pic and the ride logo up on the site so far. These days you would sort of expect that they would have a few pictures and a flv. video of the ride in action.

LOL, Disney are indeed "awaked" (sic) by having so many indoor rides. They have "awakened" to the fact (actually, they did so quite some time ago) that indoor attractions provide some of the most spectacular ride experiences .

Just on that, I was speaking with a colleague who had just been to schoolies on the GC, he had been to WnW so I asked him about Tornado, to which he replied "We didn't bother, it looked crap". I guess the GP might not be as impressed by some of these new rides as we thought , but then again that isn't an indicitive example. I think WnW Rocks is right on the money, i think the cost factor is one that even I have forgotten about, but if a park down the road is twice the size for lower admission then that alone is a pretty powerful factor in terms of getting people to visit. A couple of other things to consider is that this is the first full summer holiday period with the H20 zone finished completley, so that is still a "new" attraction for many (Giving WnW a bit more ammo against the new rides at WWW) Plus, WnW is still an excellent park, even if it isnt the newest so again thats going to get people through the gates. It also comes down to that quality v quantity thing, the GP tends to show preference towards the latter (Hence DW being the most popular park), but in this case its WnW which has the quanity, perhaps explaining the attendances.

LOL, maybe there should be a seperate thread about rubber matting. We wash the ones in drive thru at Maccas though every night with a bit of degreaser and a hot water sprayer, i guess our standards are higher But getting back to the serious discussion here, is it simply a case of sending a resume whenever you feel like it? On the website they say they do their hiring towards the end of year, but surley they would need people throughout because they are a big company so people are going to be leaving no matter what. Im planning on working at the parks now since Ill be moving to Qld for uni, and i wouldnt mind commuting down in the holidays just for the experience of working in a park. The other thing I wanted to know is competitiveness for jobs as a ride op. Is it a job that gets a lot of applicants or one of those ones nobody wants to do, or is it simply somewhere in the middle?

What about a rapids ride? Its built at ground level, tends not to cause riders to scream much, and is generally outdoors eliminating the need for a sound stage. Excavating is much more expensive than simply building a higher structure, remember to build this below ground area retaining walls would have to be built, drainage would be difficult etc and of course getting earthmovers is not cheap. The area of concrete needed for retaining walls would be equal to the area of colorbond needed for the higher walls, and naturally the concrete is more expensive. As long as the facades are done right its not a problem. Chinatown is flanked by the SE and SDSC sound stages, but they are well hidden. Similarly from the front of SDSC the main building is difficult to see. As long as the easily seen parts are done its not really a problem. I think a good approach is to have the main sound stage some distance back from the main park, with an indoor single storey queue line heading there.

It certainly looks impressive, the launch looked very quick, and the directional change at the top looked fast too, airtime anyone? What people need to remember though is that travelling vertically gives a very different feeling to doing the same horizontally. So speeding up to 60km/h in a car might only be slightly thrilling, but shooting up a tower would be much more forceful. I think the camera perspective didnt help either as it looks shorter from that angle. Also, i think we could be waiting a little while for the ride to look its best, it appears there are hedges planted around the loading area, and once these mature it will look very gotham city esque. Perhaps the only aspect i think could be improved is the downwards part, it would have been cool to pull up a little closer to ground level. As always though, i have a couple of questions. -How much did this thing cost? They usually say this sort of stuff, but im guessing about $4 mil -Will onride photos be avaliable? -Was that motor sound you could hear at the start the air system, or simply a circular saw being used by someone doing the finishing touches?

You know, that is probably the most logical idea i have heard so far. Who knows, maybe both shows could co-exist somehow, make the set easy to change or something.

Creative idea there... The tiki room idea is a workable one, but I think it ultimatley comes down to a question of wether something like that will actually get people to visit (Admittely something my suggestion lacks somewhat) I know the tiki room is loved by many and has that "classic" appeal and a throwback to Disneys past, but wether a modern thing could have that same feel is the real question.

No, not really. The last of these sorts of rides were built back in the late 1970s and the manufacturer of them doesn't exist anymore. There are a few around still, and many of them have served at multiple parks (must be easy to dissasemble and transport), but i really couldnt see DW picking one of these up, it would be a real step backwards. To be honest, if TOT did ever go I think a likley outcome could be to simply add extra lifts to GD or convert it to a gyro drop (some parks have converted towers like this, such as Heide Park)

Finally, we have an onride video for Superman Yes, it might have been unsafe, and yes it was against the rules, but i think ill put up with it just this once Favourite Quote: "Aggggh, im gonna blow up" Too bad it doesnt have the dark ride section, as that is the part that cannot be seen unless you ride it. Just a question though, at the start you can hear cracking noises...have they put in a colapsing roof effect like on Bermuda?

Why do you need to know? You said with certainty in your first post that it is still a construction site and hence it would still be there.

Ill also join the chorus of those who have not seen the film. But in terms of attractions, the only thing I could think of is some sort of dance based attraction. Just gut a couple of shops in main street and make the interior an icy cavern. There could be a number of those dance pad things you see in arcades, each could have its own LCD screen mounted in front, or there could be one big screen at the front of the room. Each group would come in, the CM would explain how this sort of game works, and then guests would do dances from the movie. It could be a knock out format where those with the best scores progress through a couple of rounds until an winner is found, who could win happy feet merchandise. Seating would be around the perimeter of the room for those too self conscious to have a go. This isnt really a ride though, just a people eater or possibly an upcharge attraction, maybe it could claim to be the largest dance game in world...