Wild West Falls Refurbishment

[joz]

Without Nostalgia goggles, I thought the final scene on WWF was; OK.  The sparks up the hill were pretty cool despite it looking like an automatic angle grinder.  The Barrel effect was pretty cool, the 'planks' of the barrel were made out of rubber and it made it look like the barrel was expanding, in a rather cartoony sort of way.  I think the only reason people think it was amazing is because the current 'knocked together in 2 weeks and inexplicably left that way forever' final scene is a bit underdone by the standards of the rest of the ride.

 

Truthfully, even in it's current form, I love WWF.  Despite it's flaws (and there are a few) it's really nothing short of a master piece.  The themeing is next level particularly by Australian park standards, it has a very broad appeal, and a capacity that manages to keep the queue short on all but the busiest days, and when it does get a long queue you know when you get your turn you'll be rewarded with a nice long ride.

 

In another thread I wrote about being a kid and being utterly underwhelmed at Movie World in it's first year.  I often wonder what my opinion of the park would've been if WWF was at the park on opening day.  It feels like such an epic ride, and you can't help but get excited when you see the mountain.  It's also a fun ride to just watch, where as when Movie World opened you couldn't watch any rides and get excited, but it doesn't give everything away when you watch it.  It's a shame that the year it was added Dreamworld happened to get a litter of Tiger Cubs, because they smashed WWF as a draw card.  Seriously, an epic elaborate $20million boat ride didn't move the attendance needle at all, because Dreamworld had baby Tigers.  I think it was largely seen as a failure when it opened, but the park is so significantly better for it having been built.

[Whombex]

On 14/06/2016 at 9:15 PM, themagician said:

Here is the ad for the ride when it first opened and it shows the smoke and sparks effect:

 

Oh wow I remember that ad! I recall the fog as the doors opened, but little of the explosion effect. As both this and Eureka had a similar theme ("get out, it'll blow!"), I can't be clear on what had what.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

9 hours ago, joz said:

It's a shame that the year it was added Dreamworld happened to get a litter of Tiger Cubs, because they smashed WWF as a draw card.  Seriously, an epic elaborate $20million boat ride didn't move the attendance needle at all, because Dreamworld had baby Tigers.  I think it was largely seen as a failure when it opened, but the park is so significantly better for it having been built.

I agreed with everything else you said in that post - but this I just want to make one small point of dissent...

first, i'm not arguing re the attendance. a. because i don't know it myself, and b. you're probably right.

But in terms of drawcards - being from Sydney, growing up in an age where morning TV was Agro, not Kochie, where live pause didn't exist and you had to watch the ads, and particularly in a year where every second video cassette you hired from the video store carried (because it was distributed by VR) a pre-movie trailer consisting of the WWF ad in the post above^ - this is what drew me to \ made me want to visit the parks.

TBH I never knew when DW got the tigers. Or were they just the babies and they had older ones already? I don't know. That year i was paying attention to media a lot more than prior years. I knew Dreamworld existed. I knew they had a double loop roller coaster. I didn't know much else about what they had (this was before you could google kids), and at the time, a "3 park super pass" was a much better value choice when on a gold coast holiday than a single park regular pass. I never got further north than Oxenford on holiday for that reason.

So I take your point that the tigers were popular, especially for locals, but for an interstater - WWF was the big thing for me that year. As for the tigers.... what tigers?

And before anyone argues with me - refer to "b." above re: attendance.

[Reanimated35]

The only thing I want to point out here is commas make things less creepy.

Quote

(this was before you could google kids)

 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

this, was before you could google kids.

 

better? ...and shouldn't you be asleep or something/

[Brad2912]

1 hour ago, AlexB said:

this, was before you could google kids.

 

better? ...and shouldn't you be asleep or something/

Actually, to un-creepify, it should be

"this was before you could google, kids."

[MaxxTheMonster]

5 minutes ago, Brad2912 said:

Actually, to un-creepify, it should be

"this was before you could google, kids."

"kids, this was before you could google" ?

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

[Jessicajealousy]

I didn't even realise there was every a fire in WWF - shows how out of touch I am. Its been 10 years since I was last at MW - so much has changed

[westical]

No wonder you have jealousy. 

[Jessicajealousy]

Yep - begging my bf to plan a trip by the end of the year. He has family in Brisbane so accommodation is free!

[ads086]

So, had a thought about the top of the second lift hill.

For those who've ridden Transformers at Universal, think about the wrap-around screens in the lifts. The projectors are mounted on the lift carriage, so the image moves with you as you move. Perhaps this technique could be utilised in conjunction with the sudden blast of air and heat from behind to better simulate an explosion.

One other thing I'd love to see, although it's hard to say how feasible it would be, is to have the rocking effect during the chain lift in the same way Big Thunder Mountain at Disneyland (Paris at least).

[rappa]

No chance of the rocking lift, simply not possible/feasible. 

I'd be against projectors in favour of scenic and simple lighting/smoke effects. Something that's easy and cheap to maintain has a much better chance of longevity. 

 

The peppers ghost boxes need to be restored though cause right now they may as well just be a screen. The sets need re-lighting again and the image needs to stay on all the time in black so you don't see the video start/stop. 

[JaggedJanine]

Was there yesterday and still can't see anything except this.

[Reanimated35]

Is.....is that a body? 

 

 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

15 hours ago, djrappa said:

I'd be against projectors in favour of scenic and simple lighting/smoke effects. Something that's easy and cheap to maintain has a much better chance of longevity. 

The peppers ghost boxes need to be restored though cause right now they may as well just be a screen. The sets need re-lighting again and the image needs to stay on all the time in black so you don't see the video start/stop. 

I'm quietly confident that the park has the right people around to be able to do all you describe, and do it well.

[pin142]

That "Fast Track" signage looks really out of place

[dmh]

Any photos of the Crane at WWF today

[themagician]

This one was taken by TPSN

[themagician]

Nothing exciting happening in the western area, with no sign of the crane either.

[Jay Jay The Jet Plane]

nothing happening at Wild West at the moment, just a few cars parked in the area 

[bladex]

they are absolutely ruining the immersion!

[Reanimated35]

More ute photos please. Maybe more zoomed in and a slightly different angle this time. 

[Jay Jay The Jet Plane]

will report back soon Reanimated, currently lining up for Batwing

[Brad2912]

Must be the VIP parking lot... Maybe Thor drives a ute when he isn't hammer-soaring