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Actually, A lot of people think that the distress signal is an abbreviation for “save our souls” or “save our ship.” But in reality, "save our souls" and "save our ship" are backronyms, and the letters don’t actually stand for anything. In fact, the signal isn’t even really supposed to be three individual letters. It’s just a continuous Morse code string of three dots, three dashes, and three dots all run together with no spaces or full stops (…---…). Since three dots form the letter "S" and three dashes form an “O” in International Morse code, though, the signal came to be called an “SOS” for the sake of convenience. That connection has led to the letters coming into their own as a visual distress signal divorced from Morse Code, and those in need of rescue sometimes spell them out on the ground to be seen from above. You could also break down the string into IJS, SMB and VTB if you wanted to. So why use that specific string of dots and dashes if there’s no meaning to it? Because it was the best way to get the job done. When wireless radiotelegraph machines first made their way onto ships around the turn of the 20th century, seamen in danger needed a way to attract attention, signal distress, and ask for help -- a unique signal that would transmit clearly and quickly and wouldn’t be confused for other communications. At first, different organizations and countries had their own “in-house” distress signals. The U.S. Navy used “NC,” which was the maritime flag signal for distress from the International Code of Signals. The Marconi Company, which leased its equipment and telegraph operators to various ships, used “CQD.” The “German Regulations for the Control of Spark Telegraphy” of 1905 mandated that all German operators use “…---…”. Having these multiple distress signals was confusing and potentially dangerous. It meant that a ship in distress in foreign waters had a language barrier to overcome with would-be rescuers, even if using International Morse Code. Because of this and other issues, various countries decided to get together and discuss the idea of laying down some international regulations for radiotelegraph communications. In 1906, the International Wireless Telegraph Convention convened in Berlin, and delegates attempted to establish an international standard distress call. Marconi’s “-.-.--.--..”, and “………-..-..-..” (“SSSDDD”), which Italy had proposed at a previous conference, were deemed too cumbersome. Germany’s “…---…”, though, could be sent quickly and easily and was hard to misinterpret. It was chosen as the international distress signal for the nations who met at the conference, and went into effect on July 1, 1908. The first recorded use of the “SOS” as a distress signal was just over a year later, in August, 1909. The wireless operators on the SS Arapahoe sent the signal when the ship was disabled by a broken propeller off the coast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Not everyone got on board with the new standard as quickly, though. The Marconi Company was particularly reluctant to give up on “CQD.” The Marconi operators on board the Titanic initially just sent that signal after the ship struck an iceberg, until the other operator suggested they try the new “SOS” signal, too.

We hear you, Sea World! I hope they get some new attractions soon. It certainly makes watching nostalgic videos of SW depressing.

Um the pole structure has been completed and we can see that it will swing the other way from the Rampage across to black widow. I personally think that the cutting edge feature that will enhance the ride experience is the Lap bars like Loke. As that will really make the ride experience different from most of the other insulations IE claw.

I think the head needs to tilt back and take on a vomiting expression every time the train comes out

The only bit of theming we are aware of. We have no idea what is up MW's sleeve, they may have tonnes of theming in the queue area and in the small section of track before the lift hill. There is going to be a bit of land between the gates at the end of the pathway from JL to the actual station, and from the video we can see their are walls throughout the queue. In regards to the Joker head, it looks really really cool, and will look awesome at night if it does light up (which I highly expect it too), and if the mouth does move (as someone had mentioned), that will make it even cooler.

Hi all, Am new here but huge fan of marine parks. Sadly there isn't really anything in NZ other than the aquariums. Didn't see it being discussed on here yet, but noticed a tender for a new jelly fish exhibit at your gold coast sea world park. I'm hoping it's done by xmas when I make my annual journey across the ditch to the gold coast to see family.

^Or a maniacal laugh or comment every time a train goes through. It would be cool if you could hear it from some distance. Love the cannon on Space Mountain in DP for that reason.

Fully aware about that I believe the generators that the park was using was on the tracks that prevented it from operating today..

Here's me thinking it was Memorabilia for Sale and you just couldn't spell...

All good mate. You obviously put quite a bit of thought into your idea - even so much as marking up an image to show what you thought. I figured you at least deserved to have as much thought and detail put into explaining the opposite. It doesn't mean you're dumb. So long as you learn from it - ie: next time you have an idea - check into it a little to see if it makes out, based on what other info is out there. I'm glad you're excited about it. that's really what this community is all about, isn't it?

Okay, I see. I'm just an uneducated speculator and I actually didn't know that. That makes sense. Thanks for letting me know. Now I just feel dumb. If I would have looked up at the pictures I would have seen that I was wrong. Anyways I'm just to hyped to ride this monster.

That should have been your first clue. The gap that the gondola swings through will always be narrower than the side it doesn't. Wider spacing is in the direction of travel, to better brace against the forces of the ride - kind of how if I hit you with an exercise ball whilst your feet are planted side by side, you're more likely to fall over, whereas if you're standing with your legs widely splayed to the side, a hit from the side would see you remain standing. Like this: Notice that the 'wider spacing' is the side not travelled through, to provide better bracing in the direction of travel...

Not exactly as stupid of an idea as you may think. Looking back a couple of pages to where NearMap images were supplied, we can see that the support gaps have a wider gap facing towards the Abyss, maybe my theory may actually be correct, maybe we are going to see mi3 swing over Abyss. You can see that the wider part supports my idea (where there are red lines have a wider support structure space), I'm pretty sure the narrow part wouldn't be the direction in which it would swing. Also if it were to swing in the direction of the black widow and the opposite end toward the lagoon, it would swing very close to the rampage's queue's roof. I'm sorry if this all sounds confusing. Photo:

Park has just reopened following rides that are operating: All rides in Dreamworks besides Pandamonium and Escape From Madagascar ABC Kids World Tail Spin Hot Wheels Shockwave All other rides are due to go back online at 12pm

I wonder if the lighting faces both ways. can you imagine neighbours east and west of the park having this psychotic face glowing at them through the night? hahahah.

I humbly step down in people's minds as a Disney expert. Whilst my knowledge is more extensive than I feel is socially acceptable, compared to the encyclopedic knowledge of others I'm barely even autistic.

OMG you two re:Disney I should know better than to post something general and not target the overly pedantic points that will be made by people who feel the need to correct EVERYTHING even if it doesn't relate to the topic at hand. What I SHOULD have posted is that "Vekoma has built more Disney coasters than anyone and there are a lot of them" Honestky I think you can say Vekoma and Arrow have built most of them. The two retracting jobs don't count because it's clear Disney is just using them as a fabrication company. Im not even going to entertain the Intamin half pipes. Same goes for the ONE Mack coaster or the Spinning mouses because they are just off the shelf bought rides. So then you have what? Two Intamin clones, which clearly the second is only because they had the first, and then California Scremin which is likely Intamin because they wanted to launch technology at the time. My point WAS that Vekoma can make a good coaster if given the tools to do so. That's all, should have known better. Please dont feel the need to get into a "I know more about Disney" pissing match with me.

Looks like empty wooden cable spools to me.

A few new products added, a few discounted products and a few changes to existing products. New Products A number of requests for women's Parkz tee lately, so we couldn't resist doing something a little topical. Fuchsia/Magenta/Pink/Purple... A new standard men's t-shirt at a slightly lower base price (the simpler one-colour design reduces the printing cost). On Sale (small size only) Other changes We've simplified delivery costs to the following: "Tiny" orders $3.00 (stickers, lanyards etc.) Most other orders $9.95 Free delivery if you spend $50+ Parkz Crew You can now choose your shirt and size from the full range. Choose the "LUCKY DIP" option and we'll select something in your size and knock $5 off the price.

Most of the WED designed coasters that sit in Disney Parks can be credited to Arrow. Arrow built the track for the first two Space Mountains, the first two Big Thunder Mountains, along with Matterhorn and a majority of the original Disneyland and WDW attractions. When I used to read TPR a long time ago, I recall Robb Alvey saying this on a topic that discussed why Disney generally goes with Vekoma for coasters: However, they haven't built nearly every coaster at a Disney park. The Slinky Dog coaster that is being built at the moment is a Mack family coaster, for example. Intamin built a coaster for Disney as recent as five years ago, when they did RC Racer for Disneyland Hong Kong. Disney has even got Togo to build a coaster for Tokyo DisneySea, which is hard to believe why they did that as Cedar Fair was suing them for what happened with Windjammer long before DisneySea opened.

Tokyo DisneySea has two roller-coasters, a Togo kid's coaster (in place of a Vekoma roller-skater) and an odd Intamin looping coaster that's a sort of clone of another in Disneyland Paris. I think it's worth keeping in mind that you can generalise brands like car-makers to a certain point (one's rough, one's smooth, one's reliable) but the reality is far more complex. With any project this large, this complicated and subject to differing local regulations (both government and company) means that every single install is unique. Let's just say that again: Every. Single. Install. Is. Unique. There may be common threads in design, parts and components or track layout, but even in Australia, off the shelf models of some notable rides differ greatly to their overseas counterparts for various reasons. Added to this, these days many of the same ride companies rely on the same third parties like Stengel or Ride Centreline to do a range of engineering, G-force calculations and even ride design. In which case, it really comes down to the client, the brief, budget and who's behind the project, and if that all comes together in harmony. And that human variable alone is enough to suggest that simply looking at stats and going "they suck but these guys rule" is at best causation through correlation.

As mentioned these are in a tender online. I'm not sure where the location in park is but it seems to be under a monorail station.

Closer view of Mi3. Does this mean Abyss is finally getting aircon in its queue line?!

Here's my first update after getting back from my trip. Wow, it does look awesome, and standing right under the loop and first drop really shows how height these are, because photos don't really show it. Something I noticed, which I don't think have been posted about, is the supports for the first drop are now all in place, just the tracks to be installed, and you can really get a sense of how steep it will be now. Plenty of progress for the station too, which seems to have progress quickly. Few more parts have arrived in the carpark and still a few supports for the lift hill. And here's some of photos of the loop And how the first drop supports looks with the surrounding rides

I would love to see a park build the Vekoma Hyper coaster that they designed for Energylandia. Vekoma have been making some cool coasters. BSG is a really awesome coaster.

@Coaster Hipster Merci beaucoup for the highly detailed posts on this amazing summer park tour you're on. We're all très jaloux.

It will be the tallest element of the coaster and, well, the only theming we've seen so far in the trailer. The Joker's face above the top of the lift hill featured in the DC Rivals' trailer and it's the topic I want to discuss in this post. What do you think about it? I have to say I kind of dislike it. I just prefer to have a "clean" lift hill and drop. The visual aesthetic of this standout element self-suffices imo, and the added Joker stuff seems unnecessary. I find Superman: the Ride (Six Flags New England)'s flat billboard at the entrance of the drop much better - you can see it starting from 1:06 in this video: The coaster as a whole looks so gorgeous. In fact, there's hardly any coaster I can think of that can top off it's overal appearance! I just find the Joker scenery unfortunate. But maybe some of you like it?

Dreamworld Express doesn't run on electricity, just FYI.