Richard

At this time of year, being both NSW and Qld holidays, you'll find that Saturday and Sunday are the best days to go. Standard holidays are normally a Monday to Friday deal, and so anyone flying north for the winter will be doing the parks midweek. Weekends are your safest bet because most interstate and general holidayers aren't there, so you're left with locals (i.e. Brisbanites and Gold Coasters), who even then tend not to go during the holidays. You'll certainly be able to get in enough rides on TOT, as well as most/all other rides. TOT might be able to creep up to 45 minutes if it's a heavy enough day, and Giant Drop will be more. Everything else will be nice and short (i.e. 15-25 minutes tops). Best of luck up here! Don't forget to post a trip report.

Reuse old rides? Sort of like Dreamworld's Nick Central that is made up of, with the exception of one ride (the ball jungle isn't a ride), rides that many of which date back to the parks 1982 opening (and some before that)? Not to mention the way they reused Luna Park's Big Dipper. Warner Bros. Movie World is reusing the building that Harry Potter was in, that's pretty cheap too! They even had the nerve to build Scooby-Doo Spooky Coaster in the building that once held Gremlins. And let's not even get started on Sea World and the way the tried to pass of Bermuda Triangle as a new ride, when it was actually just a rethemed/redesigned Lassiter's Lost Mine. But I'm sure you'd rather they took out the remaining rides, rather than keeping them, if they were to reopen HB Land as something else. Otherwise they're cheap.

No nonsense. I think most of you will agree I don't run this place like many other places. The only thing I really ask in return is you take this "freedom" responsibly and with a bit of maturity. Keep the topics as relevant as possible. There's the PM system if you want to talk about other issues with certain people. rich 8)

Well, we've had discussions before on our different opinions about Intamin. No need to go over that. The fact is, there must be more to the company that makes parks go for them. They're generally accepted as equally as smooth as B&M, and far more intense. Their coasters are significantly cheaper. I think that most (if not all) of their problems come from their computer systems/PLCs, which are made in-house. And in defence of a few of them: Millennium Force's cable incident was predicted. The cable (not made by Intamin) had a designated lifespan of something like two years. Wear was noted well before the incident, so they quickly ordered a new one. Instead of shutting the ride, they took their chances, keeping it open for Millennium Mania, the major coaster event to be held later that week at the park. The Darien Lake incident was caused by the guy being over 300lbs. I seem to recall something from Intamin around the time of the Perilous Plunge incident (which falls into this same defence) that Intamin's restraints are designed to hold a person of a maximum of 225lbs. This would have been the parks fault for allowing the man to ride. What was the issue with Goliath (SFH)? I don't recall anything. And they're a heck of a lot more skilled at producing coasters than any company, bar B&M, and their range of rides is second to no other company (an entire park could easily be Intamin).

These delays really aren't anything out of the ordinary. It might be for Cedar Point, but that is because this is their first truly ambitious project (Magnum and Millennium Force, despite being the first to reach their respective heights, weren't exactly leaps and bounds over the previous record holders). Superman: The Escape didn't open until a year after it was expected to because of technical difficulties, and Tower of Terror was two months (Intamin worked out what was wrong, applied it to TOT, then once it worked took it to SFMM). There's more recent examples with the radical design of X that took around six months (or more?) to just get the ride barely running, and is still down every Wednesday for maintenance. Essentially, I think that's the way this industry works. The designers can't keep up with the parks who always want the most different and most extreme ride able to be thought up (last week I was writing travel brochures, this week it seems I'm narrating a coaster special on Discovery). The cost of this is downtime and technical issues (and tires being flung off rides), but once the first troublesome season is over, I think it has paid off.

Walking from where? Southeast USA?

We discussed this ride in another topic in the Wet'n'Wild forum. Looking up the stats for this type of ride (Setpoint Swing Thing), we found it had a 1200pph capacity. Even if it is a ride manufacturer's estimate (which often give less than easy dispatch times), it's still an accurate idea of the ride's capacity. Well, Movie World did fantastically with Scooby-Doo Spooky Coaster, and they easily meet the manufacturers capacity (1000pph). Lethal Weapon, on the very rare occasion that they're running two trains and not stacking (had it once - and it really does make you happy knowing that the ops are genuinely doing their best). Corkscrew might run at about half that, Bermuda Triangle is supposed to be 1000 I think, and I wouldn't expect the Log Flume at maximum capacity to be anything less than 750 running properly (that's about one four person dispatch every 20 seconds). So you can see that it's capacity would be higher than those already at Sea World, and also that these capacities are attainable (and I must say, Sea World's staff on the whole are the most professional across all areas of all our parks - with the exception of the Movie World arcade ). You think that this could be justified as a Cartoon Beach attraction? That'd be about the only way I see such a ride coming. I know it wouldn't be too hard to theme to something cartoony.

I'll see what I can do.

I'd imagine that such a move would be inevitable. There are only two things that I think Sea World needs to do if they are to grow - that is remove anything that could be better experienced at either of the other two parks, and of course get a bit slightly more articulated paths running through the park (I think that building a nice boardwalk style area across the Corkscrew side of the lake connecting the front straight up with the back will need to be done some time in the future). The water park will some day gone - it just isn't economically viable. If say someone stays at Sea World Nara, they're much less likely to go to Wet'n'Wild, or buy three park saver because there's a waterpark right there for their use for free. Taking it out not only sends more people Wet'n'Wild's way, but it obviously frees up a lot of land for the park to use, which is very much a limited resource for them.

There's absolutely nothing better looking than Cyclone matched up against a nice blue sky on a winter's morning. I personally find it a nice, unique colour scheme that almost acts as a gateway to the fun of the Gold Coast (I really should get a job writing travel brochures). It really does get the attention of motorists - which was the thinking behind such a bright scheme.

Yeah - similar situation with me, about 3 visits ago. While everything else bar Beastie was a walkon, that flume had an hour+ queue. It ran only two or three two person boats, and it's the only wet ride suitable for younger kids, so naturally it was a bit of a hefty wait most of the time. I think this was part of the reason the park removed it (ever find that you're better off removing a low capacity ride from a park in RCT/2?). You can see this ride off in the grassy hill behind Demon, along with about every other ride that once operated at PKI.

CCI (when they existed) built their wooden coasters with either steel or wooden supports, depending on the contraints of the site and effect the park was desiring. Great White at Morey's Pier, Hoosier Hurricane at Indiana Beach and New Mexico Rattler at Cliff's Amusement Park are the three CCI rides that come to mind that use this system. It's not new though - the famous Coney Island Cyclone (and also the since-gone Thunderbolt) used steel supports, as did the infamous Crystal Beach Cyclone. You'll notice that this steel is far thinner than wooden coasters, or regular steel coasters. I'm not sure of the breakdown of costs, but I'd imagine there's little or no great difference. Certainly not enough that'd make a park go for one over another. Hardwood of course would be ideal for strength, but as has been suggested, the idea is not necessarily strength, but largely the ability to distribute and absorb forces. You pile more wood in, but get a heck of a lot smoother ride than you'd get from harder woods. Of course, you could go for super soft woods, but then of course it'd wear down very quickly, and so you'd be spending a lot more on replacing the wood. For what it's worth, you'll also get a smoother ride by increasing the number of layers of wood in the laminated track, and decreasing the thickness of the wood (which is the idea behind Intamin's plug-n-play wooden coasters, which many say match the smoothness of steel coasters). Correct facts are always good. I don't know how everyone interprets my posts, but I think I try to make it clear as to whether it's fact or opinion I'm giving (opinion is usually characterised by the completely negative tone in my posts). When it's opinion, I don't care whether what I'm saying is right or wrong. When it's fact, I like to feel I'm correct (and it's rare that I make a factual post without at least a bit of research).

And why do parks even bother planting flowers in the gardens? Surely they wouldn't waste their time with that when they know that the sun will eventually run out of energy and we'll all die a cold dark death. There are costs associated with running a park. Parks willingly build and operate rides knowing that there will be maintenance costs and replacements to be made in the future. Wheels are replaced on most coasters certainly on a yearly basis (some coasters even have weekly or daily wheel replacements - costing thousands for sets of wheels), paint will be applied to Demon, just as some wood will need to be replaced on Bush Beast. And no matter how much you treat the wood or whatever, there's no way it'll be around forever. And by the way I thought of it, supports are bolted to steel rods embedded in the concrete, not the actual wood. CoasterQuest.com has a good documentation of a wooden coaster construction - on this page (last picture) it's clear they're being bolted (the footers are poured weeks before vertical construction starts to allow the concrete to properly cure - which is vital before loads are put onto the concrete). Parks that take great care in their wooden coasters (Paramount's Kings Island, Cedar Point, Holiday World etc.) often have wood storage areas, to allow speedy replacements of sections of coasters during the season.

That method of upstops is seldom used on todays coasters. Off the top of my head, I can think of only one wooden coaster with upstop pads instead of wheels, and it's PNE's "Coaster". Just about every other wooden coaster, particularly those built in the last 30 years or so, use steel wheels as upstops. Let's confuse the matter more. Earlier Arrow coasters actually used upstop pads as well. I know that Gemini at Cedar Point still uses them to this day, and when Magnum XL-200 first opened it had them too (trails of sparks were seen at night on the bunny hills), but changed to wheels some time after. David Bennett did a good job, but it's generally accepted that it's among the most erroneous out there.

The only magnets with anything to do with Bush Beast are the solenoids (electromagnets) in the restraint release mechanism that create that buzzing sound you hear when they lock/unlock the restraints (hence the term buzzbar for these fixed position lapbars). A wooden coaster and steel coaster's track are essentially identical in theory. There are wheels on top (road wheels), wheels below (upstops) and wheels on the sides (guide wheels - either on the inside or outside - in both Bush Beast and Demon's case, the inside). These are what prevent the train from coming off the track. Aside from being impractical (magnets will act as brakes while the train is moving - the same basic theory that stops Giant Drop), costly and high maintenance (heat and banging are the two things that destroy magnets - and the two things that coaster wheels do), magnets would also be unreliable and quite a nuisance. And getting back to the topic (but please do keep talking about magnets!), I think the point I was at least partially trying to make was that steel may be stronger, but in this case, the design of the wooden coaster, and the factors that are taken into account during the design, mean that wood is made to be stronger. Build Bush Beast from steel with the same structure design, and the steel version will be by far the stronger. And wood doesn't stand up to time anywhere nearly as well as steel coaster. They have paint that protects from rust and weather (painted wooden coasters will still soak up water etc.). Bush Beast may be 17 years old, but the amount of wood that would have been replaced to keep the ride operating should be staggering (*real* parks go so far as to retracking nearly every year) - though this is Wonderland we're talking about... wood doesn't seem to be their best area. Meanwhile rides like Corkscrew at Sea World, going on 21, haven't needed any significant track or support work (joz, any corrections to make here? ).

Scooby-Doo is a great "destination ride". Essentially what I mean is, it's a fantastic ride, second to none, when you're at the park once. However, it's definitely not the best ride for "locals". The effect does wear off after a considerable number of rides. From where I am, I'd take Cyclone over it any day (minus the capacity problems though)... of course I'd take Lethal Weapon over Cyclone too (minus the sometimes unbearable ear wacking). They should have the effects up and running (is there ever a reason to have them turned off, aside from computer or electrical errors?), as it is the holidays, and the major one for interstate visits. But Scooby-Doo Spooky Coaster aside, most will agree that everything else in the park outdoes Dreamworld.

What are you after in a park visit? A day of thrills, where you're not to concerned about park atmosphere and general quality? or A day of fun, with a ride range of things to see and do, not necessarily rides? Dreamworld has a wider range of rides, but I don't think I need to tell you that the quality isn't quite as good as Movie World. I'd for that reason alone lean towards Movie World. If you're "that way inclined", it may also help you to know that Movie World easily has the best park food in Australia.

I'm going to wager that Bush Beast is stronger. Demon might be, pound for pound, but they're dealing with lighter trains, slower speeds, less G's etc. there. Wood has the ability to absorb much of the force (of course steel does, but to a much lesser extent). Think about it like this - Demon's supports are spaced several metres apart. They're all straight (or A-frame) hollow tubes. Bush Beast has supports every metre or so at the most. They quickly turn into more and more supports with crossties etc. everywhere which distribute the force over many many supports, and are able to bend to absorb it. Put something (really!) heavy on the two tracks, and I'll wager that you'll see Demon crushing before you see Bush Beast snapping. Apply this to any coaster, although once we're into the Intamin truss tracks, I might change my mind.

Well, a few decades after previewing this gallery, it's finally been made live. www.totalthrills.com now has the official link, and accompanying rollover button (yay!). If you've not already checked it out, then give the Wet'n'Wild gallery a go. Now, all we need is Wonderland Sydney's gallery... (and I guarantee it'll be the best gallery on the site, weather permitting).

Well, yeah, Warner Bros. only have the rights to the first three books for movies as I know it. Chances are Warner Village Theme Parks could only secure the rights to the first two, or opted for an 18 month contract for cost reasons or something. There would have been some reason for closing Harry Potter; not just to replace it with a Matrix attraction... there's plenty of other places they could have done that, and kept the quite popular Harry Potter attraction in place.

There were rumours at one stage that Police Academy was to be closed to make way for a Matrix show - quite a stupid idea really on many levels. This is replacing Harry Potter. I expect, because of the (tacky?) nature of the Harry Potter building, it'll be in the same building, with a replacement of the front.

Well, the Matrix attraction we've all been discussing has been totally officially announced as of yesterday. Visit: http://www.thrillnetwork.com/index.php?pag...=thread&order=0 for some details on the ride. Word at this stage is if you're a movie buff, you'll really love it (which I know includes a few people here, myself inclusive).

Tower of Terror is a one trick pony and everything else, but let's face it, that launch doesn't get any less intense, those G's don't get any less, and that 6 seconds of absolute bliss don't get any shorter. It's a fantastic ride every time... of course having said that, I'm not going to queue more than 10 minutes for it (thanks to Dreamworld's operating proceedures, it means you can be first in line and still wait 15 minutes). Try different and exciting things when riding either TOT or GD (and indeed Space Probe) to make the rides more exciting. Of course, I don't have to tell you that safety is paramount (one of the many good lessons that comes out of rock climbing). I'll leave it to your imaginations.

No carpark.

I'd have to say that for ride quality alone, Wonderland's River Rapids is better than Dreamworlds. I wouldn't call Dreamworld's "well themed" - it's too tacky and aged and full of junk to be called good. But Wonderland's is a much better, longer ride. The whole 79% thing. Well, Wonderland was a big park. It did take forever to get from one end to the other. My family's first visit to Wonderland - with three kids (aged about 11, 6, 2). We, just like probably 50% of the families that visit, covered the entire spectrum. I think this is exactly why they closed Hanna-Babera Land. While child A rides Bush Beast, child B and C can't do anything. When B and C do Hanna-Babera Land, A's not having a good time. All the while, Mum and Dad have to walk back and forth from rides carrying all the days necessities and souvenirs. By moving the childrens rides amongst the other attractions, it means you can hit two birds with one stone, so to speak. They need to refocus their attention to the thrill market? What exactly is the Australian thrill market, is it the 60-odd members we've got here? The fact is, your average teen can visit Wonderland, their local park, for a day out with their friends, once every few years, and are more than happy with the lineup. Let's look at facts: Wonderland's Attendance is very strong. Unlike other Australian parks, they don't necessarily have to rely on the tourist dollars, and can succeed well in times like these. Just under half of the guests attending Wonderland are from Sydney, and about a quarter from regional NSW. Wonderland's prices are significantly cheaper than Gold Coast parks. Wonderland has been succeeding without adding a new thrill ride in several years. Yes, they know that some people do desire new rides. They certainly know that a new significant ride, would result in much better attendance in the short run. Some food for thought I guess. By the way, I'd have to say that Wonderland has the worst value and worst quality food of Australian parks. And yes, I do agree that Beastie was by far better than Bush Beast. It certainly offered more than Demon does.