If you ran DW......

[Gazza]

Ok so it wouldnt fix the rain problem, but a tunnel around TOT wouldn't be an eyesore, havent you ever seen the sound tube around the Citylink Expressway in Melbourne? It looks cool and it reduces sound levels for those who live near the Freeway, which is sort of what you would be trying to achive for the ride. The Launch would end up looking like this: http://www.hotkey.net.au/~krool/photos/vic...c/Citylink2.jpg http://www.citylink.vic.gov.au/photo/archive/gw14.jpg Naturaly it would be a bit smaller.

[Slick]

But you don't need soundproofing for the TOT, the main take-off (0-100) takes place inside the tunnel, and plus the noise is very plesent as it heads up the slope. Infact, the only people who don't enjoy the noise sometimes is the ride-ops who are doing GD.

[BigMal]

the only noise that i dont like about ToT is the warning signal, otherwise its fine but only other noise i didnt like at Dreamworld was the Nick CD, hearing Dora the Explorer for that long was VERY annoying by the way slick i looked on that site you linked to for the video but couldnt find it, could u email me a link to it please kaell116@optusnet.com.au

[scott]

Hmmmm,If I ran DW........first of all I would definately make Cyclone nice and dark,and IMO it could be themed better. TOT is fine,but it would be really cool if it went into a small tunnel,more of a cocoon actually,and then at the top of it's flight they would be plunged into darkness as they entered the cocoon.(Like Space Probe.)Then,the pod,which was seemingly about to fall back down as usual,would suddenly brake,and the passengers would be held there in the darkness,scared that maybe the ride had stuffed up(Like Space Probe)And then they would obviously go back the way they came. I would put in 2 rides in Thunder Bolt's place,but I don't remember how big that was,so,space permitting,I would put in either a Boomerang or a sitdown with about 5 inversions.Those 5 would be a Double Looper,the same thing that Demon has for it's first 2 inversion,and some other wacky creation.My 2 ride would be a Launched Freefall,if that isn't too intense,and I'd make sure It wasn't too high,or too fast,so that it didn't clash with GD.Otherwise I would just place The Claw there. Blue Lagoon needs two more slides,preferiblyThrill slides,but I doubt there's the space to do that. I haven't yet been on GD,so that's for later. That's all for now.

[Nightshifter]

If i ran DW, i would yeh fix up the cyclone becasue i think the whole theming is cheap looking and i would add another train to the ride becasue it gets very long queues. I would fix up the thunder rapids and add a few water features, like a waterfall and geysers. I would make another thunderbolt to take the old thunderbolts spot, make it the same with a large banked hill and 2 vertical loops and change the rest of the course to make it better than the old thunderbolt. I would revamp the whole beach section of the park make it bigger, better water rides ect. An for easier access around the park i would have better monorail systems and also have better facilities like restaurants ect. Dreamworld would be free of entry becasue more people come into the park this way and then i would make unlimited ride passes for whoever wants to go on rides and also single ride tickets becasue it hink u make more money this way like luna park sydney. I would add a few more thrill rides which we dont have like a tower of terror ride (not the same name) but the elevator ride there and other rides, but my biggest project would be to make a giga coaster, like the worlds fastest and tallest roller coaster to put dreamworld back on the map, but i would make it a full circuit roller coaster becasue its more fun to ride and its a longer ride expereince with several large drops. I would actually need at least a bilion dollars to continue runnign dreamworld and producing new rides and themed area every year. And then i would rename dreamworld to Utopia because it symbolises fun and everyone shares the euqal experience as everyone else and its a world of freedom.

[pandora440x]

SLICK, I was wondering if you could share your wealth of knowledge of the TOT at Dreamworld. Could you please describe what the purpose of the 16 red digital readings in the operators area are for. Could you also tell us what the "park" function does?

[GoGoBoy]

Can I just say that it is great to see more people on these forums who are either currently working or have worked in the theme park industry. The more of us there are the better the discussions will be. To all you fan boys who regularly visit DW and the other parks please feel free to give the ride ops and sups you speak to the URL of this site and encourage them to sign up. On the issue of pay rates. Are you guys saying that DW ride ops get on average $20 per hour? In my opinion, that is a very fair and decent wage. I know of a certain Sydney park that needs to pick up its act in regards to pay rates. I read on these forums recently that some of the ride ops at Luna Park are on $14.50 and the others not much higher than that

[Slick]

To answer Pandora, I'm not sure exactly what you are referring to by that, what love to hear more. And when you refer to the park function, are you reffering to the backup engine at the end of the station which is used to manually park the car in the instance of an e-brake occuring and the pod rolling back out? Man they're fun, especially slowly rolling out of the station while the ride-ops are panacking, hehe, plus that it is quite different to see the emergency lights go on in the tunnel, now that's something.

[rappa]

That's great to see some DW ops on the boards. More than just on the boards I'd say its great to see a couple who seem very enthusiastic about their job, that comment on customer service really hit home with me. I don't want to bad mouth your co-workers but that sort of attitude is not something I've seen from some of the employees in the past. I think that is what is needed, staff who care how thier park looks and what guests thing. Only thing I would say is yes its not just about hearding cattle but it is about getting riders through your attractions. IMO TOT does this just fine, as does GD...which only gets bad if its just one car but I still think the throughput is great. Cyclone certainly is the exception, there is NEVER a case when a single op operation is acceptable, you always need at least 2 and in busy times jack it up to 3. As for shift a funnier load of crap I've never read :-p No you do not make it free entry, that reduces it to a crappy pay per go park, I'm afraid that's just the luck of the draw with parks. If you don't ride the idea is the park should still have enough for you to do...perhaps that's what DW needs to improve. And yes great idea to add rides which the park pretty much already has!

[Gazza]

All I can say is I dont want a boomerang put in, there are better things to spend money on, Id rather a good flat than a boomerang, I like the multi looper idea, in fact I have designed one in No Limits for DW based on my Volcano coaster Idea. One question for you DW ride ops (Great to have you guys here) is there anything stopping GDs godolas being hauled to the top any faster? that could help boost the capacity a bit. Could the current winch handle higher speeds or would a bigger motor need to be installed?

[scott]

What If DW turned it into a Launched Freefall?That would sure as hell make it faster.But i really think that it's better if the climb is slow,it means that riders can let thier fear marinate inside them as they get to the top of the ride inch by inch.Also,(let me make it clear,I've never been on GD)it allows more time to appreaciate the views,you must be able to see Movie World and Wet "n" Wild from there.Besides,it doesn't take that long.It's only 120 metres.

[Gazza]

A launched freefall wouldn't work due to the dificulty in installing the compressed air launch. The fear builds up the most when you are wating at the top and i dont think that going up the tower say 50% faster would take much off the ride experience. BTW, another question ,is there a delay waiting for the thing that hauls the cars up to come back down again, or has it made its way down and re connected by the time passengers are loaded in? I think ill ditch the TOT launch tunnel idea now, nobody seems to like it and they make good points. Also, I have edited that picture more (very poorly ) to show better waht i meant by that danger themed area for the Model T site, naturally it would look a lot better than in the pic. The purple line represents a new walkway to GD (the rides main sign would be here) The blue line reperesents a new TOT queue line, It would be elevated off the ground at the same level of the LIM section, with glass panels seperating the side of the queue from the track, so you would get a very close look at the pod zooming past beside you, the elevated walkway would continue above the main path that goes into rivertown and the queue would end up starting down in the new area.

[T-bone]

I can see where your Point of View is Gazza, But i don't see it being Worthwhile. The only reason i can think of doing it is for Giving the TOT a themed area, but is it worth it? Personally i like Dreamworlds layout as it is now.

[HussRainbow]

lol stick in a rainbow, but i dunno cbf thinkin what else

[Gazza]

I can see where your Point of View is Gazza, But i don't see it being Worthwhile. The only reason i can think of doing it is for Giving the TOT a themed area, but is it worth it? Personally i like Dreamworlds layout as it is now.

It would be GD and maybe a new ride or two, os it would probably be wothwhile, hey if they could be bothered re theming country fairs rides to ocean parade, i think the could do my idea and bring in a bit of consistency between the rides theme and the area that it is in. It would also help swallow up some crowds into a new area, and it could have good marketablity, a possible TV ad: "Come to DW these school holidays and see the all new scream sector, with the amazing new X:BOT simulator ride, plus, ride the new Model T lane, now at the Australian wildlife experience, its all happening at DW, you've never had so much fun! And anyway, dont you think it would be cool queueing for TOT right next to it?

[Slick]

Well i'm not sure how much the glass would like getting the force of the Tower Of Terror being placed against them as the speed to shatter them, unless it was plexiglass, but then you can't see as much on launch. I think keep it they way it is, and just mod the hell out of it. I'd have to say that when it comes to upgrading and making things look pretty, I may have a lot more experience, especially when my dad was an architect and I am going out tomorrow to do some more modding to my already beast computer. It's what I do. And plus, who would vandalise a security camera? The person who was operating them would instantly see the person's face and can apprehend them on the way up. And i'm definitely sure there were numerous amount of reasons why Dreamworld placed the TOT head and entrance where it is. While it was done as a rush rush thing because of Nick Central etc., it doesn't mean the whole thing was a stupid idea. I was also thinking that with the entrance of the TOT via Tiger Island (the little white bridge part), that could be widened signifgantly by moving the disable ramp to the TI cafe either behind the cafe or the other end where it would fit and would be in a more appropriate position in regards to crowd control. Whoa! New idea! The entrance could be redone. From the exit of the shop, place the entrance next to that. At that point the queue line heds straight down into a flight of stairs into an underground walkway filled with that death fealling and at the end stop up groups of people and have a plasma screen similar to what Tomb Raider's did and tell what's happening in regards to the story line. You know, u could already use the current one, and have an animation of the TOT skull giving the exact same message that is already given in queue.... "this tunnel conatains toxic wated and is contaminated". From there, the people are then given the word by the skull on the plasma screen to move into the next room which is actually another flight of stares leading into the TOT skull entrance, from there, you would enter into the normal queue line and adapt more themeing into what already is there. Look, my head is throbbing at the moment, so, if you would like to wait until next saturday I will give a full detailed guide to my ideas. I think that if i can express moreso on what i'm trying to tell you guys you'd get my picture perfectly. Trust me, something like this can definitely be pulled of well. Disney Well.

[rappa]

Two things... First I think having the que along the track would be pretty darn cool. Getting it withstand the 'forces' would be no problem as they aren't all that huge lateraly and you can get tough enough material to make it from. Sure would be a pretty unique que style and I know I'd get a kick out of standing there watching! Second, enough of this bloody 'emergency evacuation' crap! Haven't we (and everyone else on earth) all had enough of this theming to make us sick? Every second ride out there tells us that we need to evacuate. It's all a bit old and sad I think. Especially given the fact that you actualy end up just where you started from...

[Gazza]

A queue along the side of the track would be easy as, you would just have it on its own set of supports nad have it not touching any part of the ride to avoid vibrations. The glass would just be the same as what is used on animal exhibits. Hmmm, well the emergency evacutation theme works well and is an excuse for people to be on the ride, I suppose if you wanted to make TOTs station seem different, you could have lights in the station that are red when you are launched out, but green when you arrive back. I suppose my Volcano Coaster is using the emergency evacuation theme, but it is different in the way that it is not all technological and stuff, but rather a very island village theme, i'll have to draw a design and show how it would look. I also have some ideas regarding thunder river. You could get one of those giant tipping buckets like the ones on water playgrounds (There is one like it in Townsville) and make it look all rustic and place it beside the channel, and if your raft was in the way when the bucket happened to tip well...... Pic: http://www.whitewaterwest.com/AquaPlay/ap%...p%20pic-01.html There would also be those old style water pumps (the ones that are like taps where you pull the handle up and down) Pic: http://www.ajayindustrial.com/jpg/p1.jpg There could also be a thunderbox up on stilts that has water cascading from under the door like a waterfall beside the channel. Another feature could be wooden barrels with gunshot holes in them that leak water out or a rusty boiler that shoots mist out randomly from the cracks in it. But the main water SFX would be a pile of mine blasting equipment, (such as TNT crates, powder kegs, dynamite sticks etc) the would be aranged in an untidy stack so pipes could be fitted in the gaps between them. A nearby elevated water tank would get the water pressure up, and when a raft trips the sensor, a valve would open sending a rush of water out of the tank and through the pipes and out the outlets in the stack sending an explosion of water over the raft, orange and red waterproof lights would also flash during the water explosion to give the impression the blasting equipment had caused the explosion. The sensor could be set up to randomly activate the effect, so some people would get only a small water explosion, while others would get a full power drenching, leaving them soaked. The ride would have a couple of con operated squirt guns and gold mining paraphanalia spread about, such as gold pans, shovels, tents etc. If the ride was like this it could fit really well with gold rush, far better than the jungle animals.

[Richard]

LIM isn't a general term for LSM. Hulk doesn't use LIMs, nor does Tower of Terror. LIM is similar, but very different from LSM in how it works. LIMs use induction of a non-magnetic alloy into a magnetic field that creates a forward velocity perpendicular to the direction of the magnetic field. LSMs use the synchronisation of magnetic polarity with a magnetic alloy attached to the car that more or less attracts and repels in relation to the position of the car. LSM is more efficient, but requires very very precise timing, whereas LIM doesn't. Cyclone was designed to be able to run two trains. The flat section of track spoken of is where the block brakes would be added. This section of track is there exclusively for this reason, and is fitted with the mounts for the brakes. They would still need to add a transfer track section, and there would be many PLC changes made.

[Gazza]

Cmon Richo, I thought you would be bursting with possible improvments to DW. Would I be correct in saying that impulse coasters use LIMs, and reverse polarity to make the train go backward and fowards. What are PLC changes?

[Slick]

All that i'm doing is adjusting to the theme already. Of course there are better things than the whole evactuation thing but Dreamworld chose what they wanted and now they're going to stick to it.

[Richard]

Impulses are LIM and yes, the directional changes are done by switching the polarity. PLC is programmable logic control. Simply put, it's a computer system. I'd say the system Cyclone currently has is not designed to be able to handle two trains, even though the layout is designed to do so. As for what I'd do if I ran Dreamworld... Firstly, get something done about capacity/efficiency problems. You couldn't say what needs to be done without knowing what's going on in the first place. There's not a single area or department of Dreamworld that couldn't benefit from huge improvements in this area, and it would be very simple to solve. Next I'd move about bringing back show content into the park. There are two venues (Gum Tree Gully and the Captain Sturt show area) that are currently not being used. With that will also come an upgrade to the Imax facilities, and better films, more frequent film changes and include it more into the marketing. Street entertainment could be greatly improved. I don't think the occasional Goldie/Wizzy/Kenny cuts it right now. Next step would be to fix up the many attractions that have fallen into states of disrepair. Tower of Terror, Giant Drop and even Cyclone are just apalling in parts, and they're the newest thrill rides. Older rides could also benefit from similar things, but most rides outside of these three I see as pretty decent. Next up for me would be a remodelling of the entrance and Main Street. This would be a huge project, but I'd get rid of the Disney ripoff out of personal preference (and the fact that at the end of the day, it's ugly), and replace it with something new. Make Main Street more of a boulevarde. Replace the bitumen with a tiled pathing and some nice thick green trees, grass and garden beds. We've got a wide open area with a black ground - not too inviting on warmer days. Dreamworld seems to be heading more or less down the right track with thrill rides, so I don't see any reason to suggest what crazy coasters I'd build.

[GoGoBoy]

pandora440x - I would be interested to hear some more of your personal thoughts as a current employee re what you would do to improve DW. Also, what do you think of the new ride being installed (I'm talking about tpye, name, theme, placement etc)?

[GoGoBoy]

pandora440x - I would be interested to hear some more of your personal thoughts as a current employee re what you would do to improve DW. Also, what do you think of the new ride being installed (I'm talking about type, name, theme, placement etc)?

[BigMal]

dont even try and get the new ride info out of current staff most of them wont give it up. i have nagged my mate something cronic and he wont give it up, when i went to big brother i ran into a few of the ride ops and they wouldnt give it up, i even bugged the Dreamworld Sales rep when he came to work for 20 minutes and he wouldnt give it up bastards