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  1. Today
  2. https://abcnews.go.com/amp/US/tsa-fails-tests-latest-undercover-operation-us-airports/story?id=51022188 not Australia, but our security models are very similar. this isn’t the only time, a simple google would yield more results.
  3. Oh... my bad I was thinking it had more to do with turnstiles.
  4. Rode jungle rush several times today. World class operations each time I rode. Lapbars checked and trains dispatched within seconds of sitting down. There was not one ride where we waited more than a minute between last rider sitting and train dispatching. Staff were engaged, friendly, and most of all efficient! Phenomenal effort! 2 trains running all day, even when queue was walk on. Unrelated but the dreamworld flyer had its more classic gold/yellow lighting on instead of the fairground multicolour lights. Looked a thousand times better, more classic, and in place with Main Street! Hope they keep this! Music a little all over the place today, strange music playing in wildlife. Maybe because of the street festival? Anyways very strange and didn’t work. Also still far too much Katy Perry and other random radio pop music scattered around the park, I really hope they can sort out some better background music for some of their zones. 0 work commenced on the train tracks. We questioned two ride ops and they both responded and said they weren’t sure it was even happening. That’s a little concerning. I’m sure it will return but strange nothings been done and the staff are in the dark.
  5. The event is back again on May 10 and is passholder exclusive for $10. https://www.dreamworld.com.au/events/after-dark/
  6. You don’t need to run three at once in order to own three. Having three trains means that you will have access to two trains for normal day to day operation look at SFFT they purchased a third train for IR to ensure year round two train operation.
  7. It will stop at the top of the non inverting loop, and there will be sensors at the back of the train to reverse it back if it detects danger... Just like Scooby Doo's fire sensing eyes
  8. And what does the security line at an airport have to do with theme parks?
  9. An industry expert says the aviation watchdog should have identified the faulty radio that contributed to a fatal mid-air helicopter crash at Sea World on the Gold Coast. In a report released on Wednesday, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) found a litany of safety issues led to the joy-flight collision, which claimed the lives of four people and injured nine others on the Southport Broadwater in 2023. Sea World Helicopters chief pilot Ashley Jenkinson, New South Wales woman Vanessa Tadros, and UK couple Diane and Ron Hughes died when the two choppers crashed into each other as one took off and the other came in to land. Three passengers — including two children — were critically injured in the tragedy. The ATSB report found a faulty radio antenna in part led to the crash, along with the placement of a new helipad, which created a "conflict point" for the aircraft. Investigators found it was likely Mr Jenkinson made a taxiing radio call to incoming pilot Mr James but it was unclear if it was ever received. The report found the radio system in the helicopter being flown by Mr Jenkinson had "defects that limited transmission range", and "it is almost certain that a taxi call was not successfully broadcast". The report said pilots largely relied on a "see-and-avoid" strategy to judge the distance between the helicopters. 'Shouldn't have operated with faulty radio' Neil Hansford, who is an international aviation consultant, said issues with the radio transmission should have been enough to ground the operation. Neil Hansford says radios should always be sending and receiving signals.(ABC News) "It's a motherhood issue that the radios are sending and receiving, let alone in a tight, high-volume, short turn-around operation like this," he said. "If anything should have been working with a full function, it's the radios and if the radios aren't working, it shouldn't have operated." According to the ATSB report, Sea World Helicopters ran high-frequency, low-duration flights. In the two weeks prior to the accident, the route where the collision occurred was traversed more than 200 times, the report said. Mr Hansford said issues with the radio should have been identified by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) in routine inspections of the joy-flight operator. "CASA has an absolute responsibility, at law and by regulation, that all of its operators throughout Australia operate to the approved operating procedures," he said. "In the end, CASA allowed this operation. They had a responsibility to supervise it and there was an activity that was not compliant because the radio calling was deficient." In a statement, Sea World Helicopters said the accident was a "devastating tragedy". "Our deepest sympathies rest with the victims, their families, and our staff who have been profoundly impacted by it," the operator said. The company acknowledged the ATSB's recommendations and said it would "respond within the allocated time frame". "The accident occurred within a compliant and professionally-managed organisation, which exceeded the minimum regulatory requirements of the general aviation sector," the statement said. "Our company maintains robust safety systems, dedicated support staff and rigorous oversight protocols to uphold the highest standards of aviation safety." It said the operator remained "committed to consistently evolving our safety measures". CASA regularly audits Sea World A CASA spokesperson said in a statement it welcomed the ATSB report and "will review it in detail for potential safety improvements that can be adopted in addition to action we've already taken". It said action already taken included regulatory, oversight and compliance monitoring of Sea World Helicopters. "As part of that oversight, CASA conducts routine operational surveillance to ensure the company is complying with regulatory requirements and company procedures, the last audit being completed in October 2024," the spokesperson said. "CASA is satisfied Sea World Helicopters is complying with relevant regulations to conduct passenger flights." CASA also conducted a review of the airspace around Southport following the tragedy, which "found it was appropriate and safe". There has also been an update to passenger safety information regarding the fitting of multi-point restraints when fitted with constant wear life jackets, the CASA spokesperson said. https://amp.abc.net.au/article/105157454
  10. @Dean BarnettYou're adding a train, you're adding an extra maintenance bay. Where are you adding the extra block to safely run 3 trains?
  11. There wasn’t and I’m in the two minds about the app. Yes it’s helpful at Village because it’s one app for 4 parks, while for DW it would just be for 2 (and one of them isn’t open half the year). I find their new website very mobile friendly and easy to use and is almost just as easy to access as an app. If they weren’t going to have an app, I think having the wait times on the screens throughout the park would be the way to go (like many parks across the world do). They’ve already got a screen on Main Street, just add another in Ocean Parade, near Giant Drop and maybe somewhere at the back of the park. This screen can then also show showtimes and character meet-n-greets. It doesn’t even need to be as big as the Main Street one, just a larger vertical TV presented nicely.
  12. Additional trains aren't necessary and single train operations outside of peak are also fine. The problem is the operations/maintenance. When I last visited in March, the fastest dispatch we experienced was 5 minutes and 28 seconds. The slowest was 12 minutes. When we were on the ride, the restraints got stuck in the closed position on our ride and we had to wait for maintenance to come and release us - which was about a 5-6 minute wait. We queued for about 1 hour and only 1 cycle had backward riders. When I've been in busy times with 2 train ops, the rotating bins don't seem to be functional, and they're not great for bags or the sipper cups. So they could probably clear the platform quicker by improving the loose item storage system, and having better screen/recorded announcements so staff don't have to shout. Small changes that could reduce wait times by 1-2 mins per cycle.
  13. You'll also need: 1. Staffing - to run three trains at 3 min intervals you need more staff. The 2nd train is barely ready to go by the time the 1st is in the final brake run as it is. 2. Parking - the 3rd train needs another transfer track / maintenance bay to park in. 3. Maintenance costs - 3rd train would need more maintenance staff time, if they don't have capacity in their schedule already they'll need to employ more staff. Also, how have you come to the conclusion that 2 mins @ 50% capacity would be 20 weeks? Cycles per hour (60/2 min cycles) = 30 Cycles per day (30*8) = 240 Seat Income per day (@$20 and 1 seat per cycle) = $4800 Income per week $33600 Number of weeks to recoup $2M = 59.52 Other issues: * Assumes ride runs for a full 8 hours with no delays. * Tax would need to be deducted from seat sales. * Ride inspection downtime. Even with 3 trains I wouldn't think MW would see much more spent at the gate than they would already - the ride simply existing will drive folks to the park. Its the experience after this that will keep people coming back. Kinda like Disney at the moment, where they're concentrating on the 'once in a lifetime trip'ers; there's enough new visitors coming through the gates that I guess they don't need to worry about the repeat customers. Sounds as though that's starting to sting them though, there's only so much bad word of mouth you can weather. They were moving this up, then cancelled it to reopen SE early due to Rivals having issues didn't they? Maybe the funding approval was moved to something else? I'm concerned a 'Major Refurb' of SE would result in the loss of the hydraulic launch.
  14. Lets say it’s just under $2m per train (when they purchased the coaster) - that’s just under 7% extra for happy punters and 33% more backwards seats. Seems like a win to me. $20 a backwards seat on 3 minute cycles - they’d pay the extra train off in a year. (Assuming they filled every seat) 2 minute cycles with 50% of the backwards seats been filled would pay it off in 20 weeks! Calculating on $20 because $30 is too expensive.
  15. As soon as Dreamworld gets that one-two punch coaster lineup (they’ve already got the two—Steel Taipan—just need the one), I think Movie World will really need to rethink what they’re doing. Anything on that survey about an app? I didn't receive it. I think that's something the park is missing, I cannot wait for the days when I don't have to walk across the park to find out how long Steel Taipan or Giant Drops waits are, or when I don't have to fiddle with Apple Wallet to get my pass at the front gate. The park map on the website is built using https://attractions.io/maplayr which in theory should allow for an app.
  16. Superman Escape has now reopened. It’s interesting that they still haven’t made the changes to the lockers and queue setup. Have they either backflipped on this idea or will we see the ride close for a major refurb and they’ll complete the works then…
  17. Yesterday
  18. I’m never letting anyone tell me that tracking / gaming efficiency jeopardises safety again.
  19. It was a general RACQ perk for tickers purchased via them at one point, one of my old passes purchased via RACQ at the time has “Early Entry” printed on the physical card.
  20. The one thing I've always found with pretty much all of the Top Spins was the stopping constantly for several seconds before doing another flip. I find it really kills the pacing of the ride in my opinion. It was one thing that Wipeout did well for the most part (Apart from the stop before the final locked flip, which could be argued that it was done for suspense) Sadly it's not just limited to the HUSS variants either, the Moser ones do it as well. Still really gunning for a screaming swing for Movie World.
  21. I remember the days when they did this! I think it was in the early 2010s they would open the park 30-45 minutes early for passholders and they generally opened BuzzSaw, The Claw, Shockwave and maybe a couple of the Dreamworks rides. This would be great to see them bring back.
  22. Yeah see i've got sligthly different views on the offerings. Physical passes aren't really needed anymore. Everything is on people's phones and they are rarely without them. I'm more than likely to turn up at the gate and realise i've left my pass at home but i'm unlikely to leave my phone at home. Offer it as an extra for people if they like - or perhaps for kids who don't have phones so they can still visit without needing mum's phone at the gate (at an additional cost of course). I'm also apprehensive about Pins. I've seen the Disney elitism from Magic Key holders, and pin traders, and just all round PassHoles, and giving people status pins to wear are likely to be wasteful for people who don't care about them, but loathesome for those who do - I can see visuals of groups walking through the park with a lanyard full of "X year member" or "Platinum Gold Super Shiny Status" pins and using that as some sort of status symbol that makes them better than the average punter. I don't mind special edition pins to commemorate things - "i rode king claw first" and such, but the pins kind of hit the same way the Wizard of Oz coin did. Except the pins are wearable and will be obnoxiously brandished by the park tragics who collect them for status (and the same thing goes for the proposed 'points' earning system too. ) On the contrary, they've been rock bottom single priced passes for a while now. VIllage moved away from that system a few years ago, and while Dreamworld has been slowly creeping the price up it has still been the 'bargain' cheap priced pass - which it should have been given the poor cousin offering the park has had for so long. The opening of Rivertown signals the change in the offering. It's about time they tiered their offer. The cheaper guests will still buy the basic pass, while those who want a little more can pay more for it - this will let them diversify what they offer which in turn will let them target their future offers based on the tier of membership taken up. It lets them take the price up for the full pass while keeping a cheaper option for those who want less. Eg: I've never been to skypoint, but i've always wanted to. I'll be disappointed if they strip it out of the pass, and i'd be likely to buy the pass that included it just so I could go if I wanted to. When we travel we tend to buy the upcharge fastpass or VIP offering just because we don't want our day to be spent in lines. While we have dreamworld passes, we visit infrequently, so if i'm making the trip to coomera, i'm probably going to invest in whatever makes the day better - i'd like to see them introduce the old Village VIP GOLD offer (that they killed off 3 months into the program without refunding anyone) - to open the park early for shiny members and open 1 or 2 rides those days just for those members. THAT i'd pay for.
  23. spare trains for most full size multi-carriage coasters cost well over $1 Million. While I don't have the exact costs, if we assume even $1M per train, for a coaster like rivals, 3 trains is pretty much 10% of the budget - and the $30-odd million pricetag given for rivals was shocking to most enthusiasts who hadn't seen a park blow such a wad on a ride in a very long time. I can imagine it stretched the budget - especially since the original ride was on a lease arrangement, so money was tight, and blowing another million on a third train that had no place in the ride footprint just seems a little overkill. If you've got the space, the money, the ability to run all three in your busiest times, the extra transfer and storage track to have them all within the footprint - and above all, the attendance and earnings to justify it - then sure. Thats why those big overseas parks run multiple trains - because they have the money to do so.
  24. MW can't load one train efficiently so I don't know how throwing more trains at the staff to load, fixes the problem.
  25. Thats where they already park 1 of the 2 trains. 1 Train in the Station other in the Mech Bay. The park would never purchase another train unless they're replacing one. The cost to add the maintenance infrastructure would be something that VRTP doesn't want to pay for. Additionally from what I've heard at the parks, the ability for a ride to run multiple trains is dependant on how many people are rostered per attraction... once again we all know VRTP likes to keep costs as low as possible.
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