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best comment I have seen about today

The Tower of Terror just re-opened about 10 minutes ago. Now we have the Big 6!

Just been and taken a couple of photos of my own. And to clear things up to anyone who doesn't exactly know where the site is, here it is on google maps

Shit - that was hard. http://bfy.tw/9PEA http://movieworld.com.au/Food-and-shopping/Food.aspx Does anyone actually try to find the information out themselves anymore?

We're back in 2004!!!

A live cross..... to an already evac'd ride..... with literally nothing to see..... and these "journalists" are getting paid for this?

We have a spiderman coaster?

Groundbreaking & tree removal for TopGolf started today.

Mini Trip Report & Update A belated trip report and photo update from my trip to Aussie World on 31st December. First of all, I expected the place to be busy, but was pleasantly surprised to see the carpark half empty considering it was a long weekend. Obviously, the park was expecting more of a crowd too, as every ride advertised to be open was, with it’s own ride op (most rides run fine here with one) and, as a result, all (except The Plunge, which was about a 5 minute wait) were pretty much a walk-on. On entry to the park, about 11:30, we were promptly and friendly helped to process our passes which we’d received as a gift from my Sister. She’d found an online deal giving a family of 4 unlimited entry to the park until the 31st of March for $145 (through RACQ, I believe). The registration process was quick and they let us head straight into the park and suggested we come back in a couple of hours to collect our pass. My eldest son was a huge fan of the Imaginarium on our last visit, so we headed there first. There was a short wait, due to its low capacity, but most of the rooms and effects were working well (a couple minor things like a monitor not working in the ‘elevator’ detracted a bit) and some of the rooms are pretty impressive. RIP Wildmouse Before I get to the new additions to the park I will cover the most noticeable omission from the park, the much loved wooden wild mouse that was the park’s major drawcard until recently. As has been posted already, the Wildmouse site is now a very flat and desolate looking patch of dirt. The only thing more devastating to a coaster enthusiast than seeing the site bare, is looking directly behind it to discover the whole coaster unceremoniously dumped in a heap. A little solace can be taken from the fact that the coaster lives on as theming next to the new Mayhem Maze (more on that shortly)... and as a poke-stop (it’s sad that I even checked, I know). Bombora This latest addition is a mini drop tower. Think the Sylvester & Tweety one at MW with the addition of it spinning around a pole (& allowing parents to ride) and you’ve got the general idea. Despite being my eldest’s favourite at MW he didn’t want to ride it (although he was a bit timid and stand-offish the whole visit), but it looked only a little more thrilling than that kiddies offering. Having said that, it looks to me like a great ride to go on with younger kids (the accompanied height being 100cm). A 'giant' surfboard completes the surf theme... Beaut Little Toot Toots On my last visit to the park I couldn’t help but notice the ride with perhaps the worst capacity I’ve ever seen at a park. The Tin Lid Trolleys were only ever meant to be a ride for toddlers, but it consisted of two tiny mine carts which each seated one child, and both ran on their own track, meaning a 2 kids per cycle capacity. Aussie World have clearly recognised that their growing popularity no longer allows for rides with such low through-put and have added the ‘Beaut Little Toot Toots’. While still being suitable for the smallest of guests, this new train ride allows parents to ride with their kids, which depending on your tolerance to incredibly loud farm animal noises, may be a positive or a negative. Mayhem Maze I wasn’t sure what to expect from this brand new attraction (had only opened on the 28th December as a permanent part of the park’s attraction roster). I was glad that a local park had decided to add a full-time walk-through scare attraction, but was a little anxious as to what they would’ve managed to pull of for a park of this sizes budget. Now, I must say straight up, I haven’t been through a lot of horror / fright nights style mazes, other than Fright Nights about 5 years ago (give or take) and USH House of Horrors in 2008, but I am not the most easily firghtened, or impressed park-goer, but here goes. The building is themed to a 50’s era, abandoned, fairground-style attraction with ‘funland’ a-blazoned across the front and an overall (not so) fun house look and feel. The backstory is displayed on a couple of signs on approach to the steps, as well as a number of signs warning that the attraction isn’t suitable for younger children. There was also a large sign detailing how the attraction included live actors who would tailor the experience to suit the audience, and therefore give ‘smaller frights’ where appropriate. Despite this assurance and my 8 year old considering going through (I’m bloody glad he didn’t), I decided to go through myself first. I walked, alone, up the stairs and along a thin boardwalk, the sort I have traversed many a time to enter a fun factory or similar type of attraction. When I reached the door there was nobody there, I tried to open it, but nobody came out to meet me. I stood there awkwardly alone for a little while before a group came up the queue behind me. Good, at least I’ll have company, I thought. The newcomers to the line asked me, had I tried the door? Is there anyone in there? Shortly afterwards, an attractive attendant in a 50s inspired costume peered through the door and asked how many in my party. Just me, I replied, at which she took me through into the lobby, where she briefed me on the usual walk-through rules: Don’t touch or try to fight the actors (I didn’t realise I looked like a fighter) and I’ll be fine; Follow the white lines painted on the floor and I’ll find my way out; Don’t burst out of the Emergency Exit (advice not heeded by the group behind me); and if you become too overwhelmed or disorientated, raise your hand and someone will assist you (the same goes for the illusionarium, and they will also stop most of the rides if you raise your hand, a feature that is appreciated when trying to warm kids up to larger thrills). So, the very first thing I have to make mention of is just how dark it is in there. Coming in from a particularly hot and glarey day, I found it extremely hard to see where I was going, and felt lost and disorientated on a number of occasions. I won’t talk about the specifics of the maze to avoid spoilers for those who get to visit, but I will say the main scare actor is an evil clown, and he is menacing and gruesome. Slowly making my way through the maze there were plenty of occasions where a strobe or flash would reveal that the clown was right up in my face, or right over my shoulder. Several other times he worked as a diversion, leering on one side, while another scare actor, one of his victims, would burst out behind you, or even under your feet, screaming for you to run away. Overall, the set design seemed pretty high quality, with each scene revealing just how depraved this sicko clown actually is. The maze was typically quite tight and continuously wound back against itself, providing plenty of scare opportunities for the scare actors. I found it a bit difficult to determine how many were actually in there (I’m guessing 2 plus the beehived greeter, but it felt like more) and to their credit, they got a fair few jumps out of me during the experience. I think it is a really well put together, little scare attraction, and I hope it gets the patronage, and love, it deserves. It was certainly quiet on the day I went, being at the northern-most extremity of the park, behind the Ballroom Blitz, and given the park still attracts mostly families with kids under 12 or so. Once the additional flat thrill ride replaces the Octopus (and the crazy mouse replaces our beloved wild mouse) this year, there should be enough to keep teens amused as well. I can honestly say Mayhem Maze should have them shrieking! Overall The rest of the park is looking good, the mini golf seems to have been done up and is attractively landscaped. The staff were mostly all fairly friendly (except for that damn clown!) and the park was clean and tidy. The shed area is also looking good and is being utilised a lot more for concerts and functions, but during the day serves as a nice cool place to escape the heat and have a cold beer. The back of The Pub was looking shabby, but given it is only a few weeks away from it’s major refurbishment and expansion that is understandable. Work will commence after their Australia Day festivities if you want one last look at the iconic red Ettamogah Pub. I’m looking forward to seeing the park’s growth over the next couple of years and really think it will be a great option for families with kids of any age by this time next year.

I can say with absolute certainty that the track will arrive before September. You can chisel that on a stone tablet.

The Gold Coast new wake park should be open for Australia day. Just thought I would post some of the construction photos for it.

Very excited for this!! Like you, @AlexB I learnt to ski on Cables, it was an option at my High School to go to Cable Ski World in Runaway bay on our sports days.. Oddly enough, so was a trip out to WnW come to think of it! It's hard work on your upper arms and to anyone out there who has experienced Cable Skiing and found themselves passing outside the buoys at the turning points while still hanging on, well, you would likely know of the nasty surprises that follow!! Many years have passed since. Still, I would love to give this a go again

if something broke, a sensor would have detected it, alerted the operator and if the PLC didn't receive the expected input (for example, I know that on The Demon, the PLC on lift 2 was set to detect the train XX seconds after lift 1 released the train) then it would have automatically thrown the e-stop, whether the operator did or not. Either way - the safety system on the ride has done something, and what it did is what it is supposed to do. Even if the issue here was 'lift motor exploded' - the anti rollbacks on the lift hill prevented the train from falling back into the station - and the anti rollbacks are part of the ride safety system. I used the title in reference to the numerous incidents we've had of late, and the fact that most breaking news reports turn out to be a run of the mill stoppage that happens (semi) regularly. Many responses from enthusiasts to those articles have been in the same vein as this thread title. An evac on Arkham is a bitch for the operators though. Pretty sure @Spotty has previously given us the run down on that - the evac platform has to be winched into position manually I believe?

Wait... if 13 is a 'Baker's Dozen' - maybe 10 is a 'Journalist's Dozen'?

Yay! Looking forward to riding it again.

Tower of Terror now open

Having spent many years working at MW as an Attractions Supervisor, I can tell you that an 'Emergency Stop' and subsequent evacuation of the Park rides was and still is a very common event that could happen as often as weekly. What the News need to get through their thick skulls is that E-Stops are safety features of all Theme Park rides and put in place simply when 'normal operation' is in question due to an abnormal circumstance. From an Attractions Supervisor perspective, AA (LW as was then known) was by far the simplest ride to oversee and by far the least problematic. In the event of an Estop it was an extremely simple matter to resolve 9 times out of ten. In the more complicated and time consuming scenarios would suggest a limit or proximity switch has failed (likely due to extreme heat in this situation) and the very worse case scenario would be a chain breakage ( has never happened). Worse because it would take likely months to have a new one shipped in from Europe.

Here's a photo of the fence that is the hot topic right now

YAY for cables! i spent many days when i was younger honing my skiing skills at Penrith Cables (cheaper than putting the boat in the river for the day) - I do hope they're successful - can't wait to give them a spin and see how they compare.

From TPSN:

In fairness, the title of this thread is an assumption that a safety system did in fact stop the ride. For all we know something has simply broken, rather than the system recognising an issue and activity stopping the ride, and the ride is genuinely stuck. While the media do jump on these things, they do seem to happen a bit too often of late, or at least they are now reported so it seems it happens more often....

I saw The Fire Machine show last night and I must say I'm impressed with it. I still prefer the Beatbox show from last year, go and check out the show before Sunday if you can

That mad mouse is a sad sight to see. Thanks for the photos Strop.

No doubts that the future for Ardent is pretty bright. I think they've tapped into something pretty solid with Main Event in the US. Dreamworld however will be a worry for the foreseeable future; I've not seen anyone out there saying otherwise right now.

I'm so glad you enjoyed your visit. Aussie World is a true gem and I can't wait for them to expand.

Two things. One. This news story is crap from start to finish. If you think there's a problem with news reporting in the world, be it about small or major issues, educate those who share journalism with a clear bias. Two. The irony. One second Channel 7 is running stories on dolphins and how good our parks are, the next second they're running stories that would cost VRTP huge sums of money in bad PR and yet by comparison, portals like Parkz that are filled to the brim with brand loyalists posting feedback on what the park does in a way that's not even remotely innocuous (because ultimately we want to see the parks succeed because we care so very much) and we're still collectively branded as a bad thing.

Just a friendly reminder if you a planning on sticking around at Parkz. BUY A FUCKEN NEW KEYBOARD!

i dIDNT fIND iT tOO bE aNY lONGER jUST mORE fIRE eLEMENTS cOMPARED tOO lAST wEEK.

This Seems To Be The Hallmark Of Totta Who Claimed That It Was Just How His Phone Typed But I Call Bullshit Because I've Never Seen Any Other Phone Do That And I've Used All Three Major Operating Systems Without A Problem.

What if say he worked for the freight company? Then he'd know when it was shipping but nothing about the construction. Let's maybe wait for an answer for we jump down the condemnation path

http://council-live.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/council-meetings.php Sorry, first day back at work today.

Here's something I just whipped up.* *lies

Here's a quick layout diagram of SDSC & it's entrance(s)/exit for you @UpperCoomera. It should be roughly accurate:

Cameras are allowed on Scooby though, why would there be any consequences? MW always asks for private details to discuss complaints, nothing out of the ordinary.

Guest Services contacted me yesterday regarding my complaint. They advised that during it's recent downtime, there were a number of issues surrounding the Ghost Train section of the ride. One thing lead to another and given the ride's age of 15 years, these things couldn't wait any longer and needed to be addressed by way of removing everything and starting all over again with a clean slate. The time frame would only allow for removing everything and unfortunately not the dark ride scenes. A fairly last minute decision was to reopen the ride for the school holidays to help with crowd capacity and give people the opportunity to experience the roller-coaster. The ride will remain open in it's current form until the Crowd levels subside. My guess until the end of January. They added that they understand how immensely popular with visitors and it's for this reason that it get's the chance for a new lease on life. I really hope this is true because Scooby-Doo is still a very marketable and valuable franchise to the MW brand. I gave my feedback to GS to pass on regarding the lack of communication to Park goers and that a clear expectation needs to be set for would-be riders (including foreign visitors) so they know and understand what to expect, especially after waiting two+ hours... yikes! I asked for Ride Attendants to be more vocal about this which they said they would pass on. After reviewing the opinions of all and speaking to them directly, I'm willing to give MW the benefit of the doubt and look forward to seeing an improved rebuild of the ride using today's show technology.

I could live with them removing rides if they actually replaced them.

Yesturday I took notice that when Giant Drop was testing ( full speed ) it had no Harnesses on it

Just from what I see the Penguin Expedition claims "the world's first ride-through penguin experience" because the ride itself takes you through the open air part of the exhibit (and the entire ride including the onload and off load take place in the climate controlled area). Where as Empire of the Penguins, the ride transports you to the open air section from outside. It's really just a technically depending on how one would define 'ride-through'. The Penguin Expedition is pretty cool for something that's basically squished into a tiny space at Sydney Aquarium (But its got nothing on Empire of the Penguins). The ride itself is only really 90 seconds, the claimed 2 minutes likely includes the loading and unloading time. When I went it had a 25 minute wait (and the staff were struggling to manage the line). It's good to see not everyone in the general public are scared of water rides right now

It's a habbit

Didn't see a 2017 thread to post this in. http://www.news.com.au/national/queensland/dozens-trapped-at-the-top-of-movie-world-roller-coaster/news-story/79bc538852f9ee125e1fd5fe03a647e1 They really are quick to reference the Dreamworld Tragedy every single opportunity they get.