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Showing content with the highest reputation on 24/09/16 in all areas
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Anyone know where the Daily Planet globe has disappeared to? Oh... There it is! Just one of the designs for the wristbands they will be selling. Killer Croc's jeans. Ivy's heels! The rides closed sign. Me and @Theme Park Girl got invites to the official VIP launch party tomorrow night. Hopefully we will get some good footage and photos from the event to share with you all.5 points
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So I had a look at Theme Park Girl's Facebook live video from the launch of Super Villains Unleashed and I have to say I am beyond impressed. The precinct looks particularly amazing at night with all of the facade windows lit up and just a great general atmosphere. While the area is quite small, I think in terms of concept, theming and particularly interactive elements, it is one of the more impressive theme park precincts I have ever seen. While somewhere like the Harry Potter zone at IOA has clearly set a benchmark for this type of experience, I would say that this area certainly rivals it in terms of the interactivity, creativity and functionality of the various elements. I reckon kids are going to go absolutely nuts for this area. Huge congrats to Village Roadshow and the bosses and team at Movie world!2 points
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I've got to say I'm really impressed with the themeing around Doomsday destroyer. It's fun and interactive. Proper themeing, not just decorations! Is that how you spell themeing? One word I've always had trouble spelling!2 points
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Part 1 of what I was going to try to make a short review, but I guess its length just proves how jam-packed and amazing the day was. The first half of what's below you probably already know if you've already been on the tour or have read one of the fantastic reviews on these forums already, but the content in last few paragraphs you probably won't have seen.2 points
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@Santa07 The other guide's name was Scott - I'd forgotten Matthew's name, haha. Agree, the tour was definitely worth the price and I had a great time - I'd love to do it again! We were lucky enough to have Lynn from the Studios on our tour, she had a stack of tidbits about the studios, which were fascinating to hear about!2 points
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As DD becomes old news and more attention will be placed on the new coaster, I thought I would add this to the mix. I’ve linked the approvals together that have been confirmed. Red link is the new camping area. Blue link is DD but I did add a question mark to the early works of Ent precinct. I’m 99.999987 sure that this was part of DD. Toilet facility I believe is in the kid’s area. There is still no TopGolf approval shown but if you go to village web site you can see a contract has been signed and work is going to start next year. I don’t believe any of the approvals are for TopGolf also because all applications where lodged before contract signed. Hotel have no idea what is going on here or where it’s going. This leaves 2- “Roller Coaster” & “New attraction & lakeside precinct”. I think we have come to terms that the lakeside precinct is the swamp. (unless this is just me). Roller coaster has its own approval. This just leaves one. “New attraction” Considering roller coaster already had its own approval you wouldn’t lodge an 2nd approval 13 days’ latter for the same thing. This leaves me with 3 outcomes. 1. New attraction is TopGolf and MW where testing the water before signing any contract. 2. With all the excitement there is 1 more attractions that we have missed or do not know about yet. 3. I should go to bed earlier so when I wake up my mind does not think of crazy things.2 points
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Not trying to hate or anything, but why the hell would you get another tornado? As if funnel web isn't a good enough tornado for even a major park. Seems kinda retarded, why not do a triple bowl slide instead of a triple tornado. Is it jealousy of kraken pulling in all the records?1 point
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Apparitions is most likely going in the Chinatown alley, it mentions that takes place in an alley1 point
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I'm thinking: Halloween - Fountain DOTD - Main Street Apparitions - China town alley Gothix Hall - Gothic Hall1 point
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They've been available for some weeks now but no one had mentioned it. (bought mine on the 6th)1 point
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So whats the deal? I pay once and get a wristy for life or do I need to pay every time I want a wristy? Slightly regretting not accepting my invite, but it's a long drive and a short duration.1 point
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There aren't any noticeable changes to the ghost town. At least not that I have noticed, anyway. I was under the impression that they just fixed the existing town up and re-weathered it. It's mainly inside the mountain and the train crossing that the significant changes are.1 point
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I hope this coaster is based on traditional thrills and not made for Vr1 point
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The Fright Nights 2016 precincts have been released onto the website...1 point
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From MWs FB: A world of virtual insanity launches tomorrow 24 September at Warner Bros. Movie World! Arkham Asylum will feature a 360-degree virtual reality experience with technology seamlessly syncing the movement of the coaster with the visual effects to take you on a multi-dimensional journey. Please note, virtual reality on Arkham Asylum costs $5 and is available for purchase in-park. And here's a POV featuring parts of the VR: https://youtu.be/9hR_9uv2cBE1 point
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Went on WWF this morning and was pretty impressed with all the extra detailing up into the ride. Some of the effects weren't working, and it felt like some of the timing was out. All the extra signage and TNT throughout the ride really added to it, and making the storyline make more sense. Old faithful has been pressure hosed too, looking much better now. The train scene was really good, but I feel like the trains whistle should be heard earlier, and the explosion sound should go off just as soon as you see the train, because the explosion sound went as we went past the scene. And the population of the town has increased to 167 now (if I remember correctly). Besides those couple of thing, well done to MW1 point
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Drilling is getting closer to GL now, and quite large holes have been dug with plenty of steal reinforcements in place. Drilling has also moved closer to AOS, along the main road, as well as diggers appearing on the other side of the lake, near the GL queue line (where footings were spotted)1 point
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I feel like this is something we should all get to see. Worst. Pick-up attempt. Ever.1 point
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After another day in Atlanta I took the drive about 3.5 north into Tennessee, through Knoxville and up into Pigeon Forge for Dollywood http://www.parkz.com.au/parks/US/Pigeon_Forge/Dollywood Theres heaps of photos beyond that link. Dont forget you can also search for specific phrases like "dollywood food" etc for specific photo filtering. This is the sort of park that speaks to me, it is a high quality park with a pleasant natural setting, good thrills, good theming and good secondary attractions (Much like places such as Alton Towers, Busch Gardens Williamsburg etc) It's basically mostly an old time 1880s theme, with lots of craftsman displays and old buildings, as you'd see in a historical park like sovereign hill, but there is a 50s themed area and a country fair zone at the bottom of the park too. Quite hilly and leafy, with lots of modern rides mixed in too. In the lead up to my trip their newest coaster, Lighting Rod had been having persistent reliability issues, with many enthusiasts who planned trips being spited by the ride and missing out. I’d resigned myself to the ride being closed, but looked at the upside of it being a good park with or without the ride, and one that had been on my hit list probably since they built Thunderhead. The ride had been closed for close to a month in the lead up to the start of my trip. However, upon checking the website on the morning of the drive it had gone into technical rehearsal again! OMG please don’t break, please don’t break! So things were looking up! The park has a great deal where if you have a one day ticket, you use it from 4pm on the day prior. I got there around 5pm and was able to stick around till 10pm. A thunderstorm had just blown through so most rides were shut, including lightning rod. But they had staff on, and were allowing guests to wait in the bottom of the queue. I stuck around for about 15 mins before deciding to seek alternative activities, starting with some food. First thing I tried were tater twists...Basically natural cut curly fries. They were ok, maybe could have had a bit more crunch. Continuing further up into the park I stopped off at the Grist Mill for some cinnamon bread. It basically tastes like the best churro ever...Fresh bread so a bit of stretch and very soft, the outside was crusty and covered in cinnamon and sugar. Very rich but very nice. I finished maybe 1/3 of it, so it’s better to share. Turns out Blazing Fury operates in all weather (well, it is indoors) so that was my first ride. Basically you leave a fire station themed loading area, and it’s a powered coaster at the start, going uphill at a steady speed through dark ride scenes of a burning mountain village (With the typical fire effects where they have sheer cloth with lights and air being blown in the windows) There’s the odd bit of amusing hillbilly dialogue (“put your damn pants back on Chester” etc). Towards the end there are three big dips, including one where the bottom falls out of a covered bridge, and another where a “train” is coming towards you at a crossing. It is an older ride, so I’m not allowed to be too harsh, but this really does seem like something the park could/should be plussing to bring up to the standard of the rest of the park. Basically, the burning village part was just way too quiet, apart from the occasional bit of dialogue so you’re riding in silence so there’s no atmosphere. Where’s the burning/crackling fire sounds? Dramatic music? Fire wagon sirens? Some of the scenics seemed a bit half hearted, e.g. the “train” you collide with is a single spotlight shined at you, with no train body. They should look at relaunching this with some better SFX (e.g. fire projection mapping, smoke, heat etc....maybe even pyro if the building is suitable for it?) Basically, it’s a cool concept for a theme, but misses the mark a bit. Just further up is Tennessee Tornado, an Arrow looper, which was the last one they ever built, so the track is different, and the supports look like what S&S build. It was just re-opening as I got up there. It was good, ran pretty smoothly and made good use of the terrain, with a lot of the ride back from the main park. The queue building is a big wooden structure with random bits of olden paraphernalia smashed into/ through the walls. Does the job. The lift hill runs up a hillside, and a u turn leads into a steep straight drop that goes through a tunnel through the hillside. When you reach the bottom there’s a large loop, which has had the entrance and exit stretched quite far apart (much more and you could probably call it a corkscrew) From there, it’s an overbanked turn, a loop, then a sidewinder (imagine the last bit of cyclone in reverse) You rise up into a high banked turn, and then hit the brakes. It’s a fairly short ride, but lots of action and does the job well. If only Arrow had started building better engineered coasters a few years earlier, the company might have survived a bit longer. Night and day in terms of quality between this (1999) and say Big Dipper/Cyclone/Hot Wheels (Originally 1995) Next up I hit Wild Eagle, a B&M wing rider built on a hillside. Like a lot of Dollywoods coasters, it’s in a bugger of a location to get photos, which is great for creating surprise, but a bugger for the photographer. This was another reason to be happy with Dollywood had Lighting Rod not opened....I love wing riders, and Gatekeeper is one of my favourites. The theme is a bit looser, but the ride is very attractive, with an elaborate contemporary mountain building as the station, with detailed stonework at cut metal screens etc. There’s also an enormous eagle sculpture built of stainless and corten steel. Herschend is a Christian company, so there are a couple of bible verses on plaques in the queue too. The trains are of course themed like eagles in a sort of avian version of the human centipede. From the station you make a turn and head up the lift hill to the top of the mountain, part of which has to cut through the hillside. It’s great they have used the terrain, but unfortunately they’ve had to strip the mountain bare a bit to allow construction, and it hasn’t revegetated. I’d love to see some fast growing trees and plants on the hillside to get it back to how it was / to match the surrounding countryside. The first drop is straight, followed by a fun loop, and a zero g roll which generates all sorts of strange feelings due to hanging off the sides so far. There’s an immellman, but the best part IMO was the corkscrew, which came very close to some tree branches. The ride finishes off with a floater hill and a figure 8 helix. It’s a solid, and very enjoyable ride. I reckon every park should have an “enjoyable” thrill coaster like this (or a flyer or something) in conjunction with your extreme forceful rides (Like your RMCs, Intamins, Mack loopers etc) The only faults I could find were the aforementioned lack of trees, and the fact that the vest tightening cylinder seemed a bit overactive in its calibration, so it was pulling very tight on your collarbones by the end of the ride and stacked on the brake run. I also would have liked to have seen the trademark wing coaster “inline twist through obstacles” on this ride (maybe could have been in the middle of the figure 8)...Would have been cool to fly between two trees or something. The next ride up was the excellent FireChaser Express. Now while Disney probably wouldn't build a ride like this with standard track and exposed supports, the rest of the ride felt quite Disney to me in feel. You head into a wilderness fire station with lovely ornate Timber detailing and plenty of other fire fighting theming like hoses, smoky bear posters, an old fire truck etc. Checking the train is quick and you are on your way, launching out of the station around a few turns, before joining the lift hill and getting up quite high. You a few back to back turns in the air (one of which is unbanked, wild mouse style) A drop leads into a few more hills with a moderate amount of airtime (it is a family coaster after all) before you head back around through a fireworks testing range with random fireworks stuck in targets at odd angles. Eventually you reach a dead end in a sketchy looking "gas/propane station" which sells fireworks (a surprisingly common sight in some southern US states actually!) The place is burning, you feel the heat, and the flames spread along to the pride of the store, a huge "big Bertha" firework, which tips over and points towards the train. With sparks and smoke the cracker goes off and you are launched backwards through a shroud of smoke, and a few more turns and hills to around to the front of the station. A track switch allows the train to move onto the intital lauch track to reverse into the station (so you get the realism of driving out of, and backing back into the station)... didn't seem to harm capacity, because the trains seem easy to check quickly. Basically as a family coaster its difficult to fault. Of course you could always add more theming along the main track to make it feel less like an exposed coaster, but that would be unnecessary....its a great ride...more parks need high quality family coasters like this, beyond your standard rollerskaters. The one thing I think they should do is open up the old elevated ropes course starting platform....its there, and would make a great observation deck for the ride, and the top of the park in general. Checking the wait time app, Lightning Rod still wasn’t open, so i continued around the main loop of the park to Mystery mine. This is an indoor/outdoor/indoor/outdoor eurofighter with a spooky mine theme. The station seems set up for huge crowds, with about 4 load points from memory (So maybe a bit longer than GLs station) This is one of the older eurofighters. The older ones basically are like wild mouses with loops and odd turns, while the newer ones are basically scaled down versions of full sized looping coasters, so this had a very different feel to dare devil dive from a couple of days earlier. From the station its a small steep drop into the mine, with an odd outward banked turn past some equipment. A few more turns in the dark and theres another drop under a rock crusher. You are brought around to the base of a mine shaft, where some untrustworthy crows sit on one of the levers and send you up a 90 degree lift. When you get to the top I was semi expecting a beyond vertical drop, but it’s just a small dip and turn, and a couple of humps as you go through a wooden bridge structure. On the other side the wild mouse feels continue, with what i called in my head a “skateboard u turn” and a couple of tiny helices. The big 8 person car takes these quite slowly. You then cross back over the bridge with a couple of weird mini Stengel dive type thingys and re enter the mine. From there the music becomes dramatic as you are hauled up another 90 degree lift. There appeared there should have been a projection at the top, but all there was, was a blue screen. At the top theres a ledge with boxes of explosives. As you can predict it all goes up in flames right in front of you, with heat on your forehead, you start to drop, but rather than going straight down into it, it’s like the one on Takabisha with a short 45 degree section with mag brakes, but then you finally drop and at the bottom emerge from the building. For the end of the ride you go all green lantern, with a fast barrel roll, and a dive loop before you hit the brakes. Overall, quite good. I found the back seats smoother than the front, and you get thrown around a bit in the outside seats. Euro fighters are definitely more comfortable with lap bars! It’s a strange one, with lots of time at low speed doing odd manoeuvres, and only really is fast for a few seconds right at the end where the drop and inversions are. They need that projector working too, was broken both days I was there. Heading back down hill was Thunderhead, the parks GCI with an utterly confusing layout that looks like it was designed by a drunk. It’s a typical GCI, so fast pacing and nonstop turning, and deafeningly loud, but for this reason they all feel quite similar once you’ve done a few. They’re also best ridden in their first or 2nd season, beyond that they settle into a certain level of roughness that never seems to be shaken despite the efforts of the various parks maintenance crews. So solid, and I did about 2 or 3 laps during my total stay. Passing back around to the front of the park Lighting Rod was still not up, so it must’ve broken down during the rain. So I ambled back up the hill to do some more rides on Wild Eagle and Firechaser Express. Heading back downhill I paused to take this photo, but saw a train run, so instantaneously stopped what I was doing and headed for the entrance of Lightning Rod, the worlds fastest woodie, and the only one with a launch. This is the world’s best coaster. I mean that. It gets everything perfect. The initial 30 minute queue wound through a glass garage door fronted mechanics workshop, with a hot rod on a hoist, before heading out back into a four storey factory built of brick. The queue loops up and back along each floor, past typical workshop theming like oil drums, tool chests, workbenches with car parts etc etc. Anticipation grew because out the windows you have a clear view of the launch, and the final quad down and turnaround. Lots of excited faces as each train hit the brakes, and the whole time I was just hoping it wouldn’t break down! Finally I was in the station and was allocated 2nd back row. RMCs are great, and the trains are very comfortable, but they have that issue of the hydraulic harnesses being difficult to open and close (Like how GL was when it first opened), so a lot of station time is chewed up with staff and guests straining to get the harnesses open at the end of the ride. From the station you turn, and accelerate quite briskly uphill , with the forces amplified because you are on an incline. Strong airtime on the first hump, which makes you realise what you are in for, and the another strong dose at the top of the huge first drop. In RMC style its stupidly steep, and holds you out of your seat, triggering that real primal “I’m gonna die” reflex as you drop off the steep hillside. From here on, you are in a valley hidden from the rest of the park. You turn and bank up into this giant sideways hill that bulges out, so you are being thrown out sideways and upwards. Train then drops down and into a reverse banking stall turn (like on the Twisted colossus high 5), where you bank right-left-right...really powerful twisting! A couple more crazy airtime hills follow that are much smaller than the proceeding elements, so heaps of negative gs, before you turn to head up hill again through a double up. Heaps of air at the apex before things get even more crazy on the quad down. Basically it’s like one of those humpy playground slippery dips or those wavy slides you see at shows/aussie world. So as you can imagine with each progressive dip it gets faster and with stronger air, almost to that point where it’s hurting your thighs! You’re blazing along at this point, as you pass the station building, bank up through a climbing u turn and drop again into the brake run with heaps of speed...No sense of slowing down at any point of the ride! Back seats are best for sure. Basically, it’s got all the thrills, power and intensity of something like Skyrush, but in a far more comfortable package. Couple that with a rugged terrain setting, hidden from view, plenty of trees, and a nicely themed queue and cool looking train, and you have a recipe for the perfect coaster. Things become even better at night, because the back part of the ride is very very dark...no bloody spot lights spoiling it like the beast at Kings Island, so this ride takes the crown for the best night time coaster too I reckon. My strategy for Lighting rod was to keep riding it till it broke down (though this meant foregoing night rides on the other coasters), since there was no guarantee for its reliability for the length of my stay, so I stuck on it till closing time, with the queue progressively getting shorter and shorter with each lap, till it was a walk on and I was on the last train of the night. Wandering out of the park you can appreciate the nice lighting on the buildings. It was 10pm, but I wasn't done yet. About 15 minutes away are two alpine coasters. There are four all up in the Pigeon Forge area, but I stuck with these two given the time I had, Goat Coaster and the Smoky Mountain Alpine Coaster are literally 1.5km apart, on the same road on the same hillside. Goat Coaster shut at 11, And the Smoky Mountain one at 12. A Wiegand alpine coaster is like those sled runs at Jamberoo, Magic Mountain, Thredbo, Big Banana etc, except its locked on a stainless steel track, and the carts have a backrest, and there is a control handle for each hand. (goat coaster) Both rides were fairly similar, the goat one a bit faster, and the smoky one much longer. These rides were in darkness too, other than a bit of LED strip lighting at points. (Smoky mountain alpine coaster) They are pretty fun, but the backrest does actually dig into your back a bit (especially on the turns) because its just a U shaped pipe with shadecloth on it, with no padding. Also,the cars have a centrifugal brake, so once you hit top speed the car feels like its catching on something, and brakes slightly. Hitting top speed is no effort, especially because I gave the cars in front a bit of extra time so I could do an unrestricted run. The rides are lengthy, with a lift hill that takes several minutes. On the way down you do multiple helices, little bumps and lots of turns. On the balance, I prefer the normal Weigand bobsleds...more control, a bit more fear of crashing, and more comfortable. So that was day 1. Day 2 had the park open till 7, but I started off with brekky at DreamMore resorts buffet, where the best feature was an ommelette bar where you could pick various veges and bits of ham, cheeses etc to mix in. So I took the day at quite a relaxed pace, doing all the coasters a few times again, and picking up a lap on the diminutive Sideshow Spin Coaster (whose claim to fame is that it used to be themed to the religious cartoon VeggieTales) I tried Daredevil Falls...same boats as wild west falls, but fairly conventional, with none of the backwards drops or turntables or airtime hills etc that MWs has. The top bit had a giant moving buzzsaw however, but otherwhise the theming was more just nice stuff to look at rather than story driven. Mountain slidewinder was awesome...Basically a water slide, but you ride in your street clothes in this 5 person inline boat that is made out of moulded foam rubber rather than the typical inflatables you might see. This allows it to twist and flex a bit, and pick up a fair bit of speed, so you bank high on the walls, and cop some decent splashes, and fear the whole time that you are going to tip over. A great gem. The Dollywood Express takes you up to the back end of the park, but there's not a lot to see in terms of unique views of the rides, other than the back of Thunderhead. They do some fun stuff like make jokes about the various bits of scenery and theming on the way out, like the "lemonade stand they made us shut down" (spoiler: it's a moonshine still) Some more from the rest of the park. This rapids looked a bit too wet for my mood at the time. Likewise, splash battles are cool, but very wet so nobody seems to ride them at any theme park. I had one of the fried chicken sandwiches. It's just a fillet like in a KFC burger, and bread, nothing else. Would have liked pickles at least, like the chicken sandwiches you get at Chick-Fil-A in the US. The skillet steak sandwich was nice too, but southern food is very heavy going considering how hot it is...While I'm here, and interesting fact about the park is the average staff age is over 60, and you see plenty of seniors working away dilligently...a contrast to the teenagers that staff most theme parks. I was two minds about this, on one hand its great they aren't discriminatory in their hiring. On the other hand its a bit of a reflection on the US that many older people cannot enjoy a relaxed retirement after a lifetime of working. The park is very pretty. I rounded out my 2nd day at the park with one last lap each on Wild Eagle, Mystery Mine, and closed out in the front row of Thunderhead. Overall, its an excellent park all around, with great theming, great rides, immaculate upkeep and a pleasant atmosphere. The coaster collection is pretty well rounded, and they have built a few in recent years....I'd love to see a major dark ride as their next addition. Everyone should try to visit this place if doing a US theme park trip!1 point
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my contribution well done on hitting 900 points in reputation @Theme Park Girl1 point
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You've got it round the wrong way - airtime is pretty much the result of negative G-force, ie being flung upwards out of your seat, as well as braking. Positive G-force is when you're being pushed into your seat, found mostly where the ride dips down and comes back up (or the opposite with regards to loops), as well as in launches. Another image for anyone who's interested/doesn't understand (the last two are to do with flying coasters so don't really matter in this scenario, but it's cool stuff to know): Absolutely amazing pics @Theme Park Girl, the poison ivy model is so detailed! Doomsday with lit-up eyes also looks superb.1 point
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I can honestly say I rarely get wet on Rocky Hollow... And it might have a second drop, but Vikings Revenge has a Castle, and interesting stuff to look at throughout the ride... I mean you get to go under another roller coaster! We've discussed here ad nauseum about what each park has, does, and is about to do. The problem here is that regardless of how many flat rides Dreamworld installs, they will still be regarded poorly against ANY competitor who opens a roller coaster - regardless of how many flats were installed and how many rides weren't installed by either of them. We all know a coaster brings all the boys to the yard. It may not be what everyone wants, but go onto any park facebook page and ask the question of their followers and the majority will ask for a new coaster every. single. time. By not doing so, Dreamworld has chosen to play second fiddle. Whatever their reasons - whether it be because they're trying to refurbish other attractions (MW has done so whilst still almost concurrently building two new ones), reinvigorate the parks shops and facades (shit, MW has done that too - still while building two new rides back to back), or just holding out on spending more capital when you seriously just want someone else to buy the park from you so you can focus on your arcade business in another country because it delivers quicker returns for the investors (...THAT definitely does not sound like the strategy of a company operated by a bank...yeah got nothin here /sarcasm) What efforts they have done in the past few years are now about to be obliterated by a left-right hook combination delivered by the twin forces of Intamin and Mack. So long Dreamworld...1 point
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We have enough coasters with launches, would like to see a traditional lift hill. Nothing like the suspense of cresting the hill before the first main drop especially if it is a decent drop following the lift.1 point
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Would be nice to see the same thing for Unlimited Membership holders. 1 free VR experience. During your birthday month or something.1 point
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How has anyone visiting MW not heard that annoying voiceover down mainstreet introducing village e-serve? the guy sounds like a real twat.1 point
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Yea I am we can go together and we can jerk each other off on the way there.-2 points
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