Richard

Construction is very nearly complete on Reptar, that I think is quite amazing - just two weeks ago there was nothing but a few holes filled with concrete here and there. They've just got to build the twisting first drop (the section directly after the lift, where the train does a tight 360 turn, going down then up again). In other news, Giant Drop West and Wipeout are both running again.

The company they partner with won't determine the size of the area, this is almost entirely up to how much they're willing to spend. HB Land however, was needlessly large. Looney Tunes Village in particular does its job much better and is much smaller. Cartoon Beach is a very small childrens area, it is just a collection of well themed rides, rather than an actual 'land'. Nick Central on the other hand at Dreamworld will be a very large, with more than just rides. Wonderland has land to burn, so they won't have to resort to a smaller one like Cartoon Beach or Looney Tunes Village, which were done within park confines.

They are well aware of the dent that the lack of Hanna-Babera Land, or Little Wonders Land, has caused on their currently lineup of attractions. Without a childrens area, they've lost a majority of the appeal that this area once had to the obvious target audience. Cartoon Network at this stage to me seems most obvious. It was last Easter that Dreamworld harmlessly started a holiday attraction involving Blues Clues. Just a few weeks after that, a major deal struck with Nickelodeon, and was important enough to have a half-page article in the financial section of Courier Mail one day. Wonderland Sydney has their Powerpuff Girls show, makes perfect sense to me that this could be hinting at something to be coming in the near future.

Macquarie Leisure Trust has recently announced that a four year plan for Dreamworld will be completed as of December 26 this year. They were targeting several of their key demographics, enhancing their image in each one. Now that this major investment has been completed, they have announced that 2004 will be a 'quiet year'. The exact quote: "Consequently, we do not expect to spend significant capital on new attractions in financial year 2004." Lets just all pray that Warner Bros. Movie World down the road has some amazing thrill ride in the works that will 'blow Dreamworld away', and all the money that Macquarie saved in 2004 can be used to in turn 'blow Movie World away' in years to come.

The same one alright! Still very much active at ThrillNetwork - just wanted a place where Aussies and can talk about only Australian parks, so that's where this comes from.

Construction over the past week has very much gone forward - in a very upward way. Supports and track has started to appear in the area that was suspected to hold this new coaster. The ride isn't even half as tall as it will be, but yet you can already see it poking out of the site from everywhere - even in Rivertown, where it is hidden by much of the shops and buildings scattered along the road. So far they've got the station, the start of the lift and the turn over the station - if you've ever been on Road Runner at Movie World, you'll know this part of the ride. They've also opened the Plaza area they worked on for the past few weeks over by the remote control boats - they've put up nice sails for shade that will be a great area to eat in (or on days like today when you need to run for cover every time it starts pouring down again). They're certainly not being secret about this - taking an approach that will certainly result in better coverage of the new area - they've put viewing holes in some of the fences.

Here's a quick photo of the track, this is in the storage area beside Thunderbolt's lift hill.

Yeah - that is exactly it. Vekoma designed the ride so it is an exactly identical version of the regular RollerSkater. Just picture sitting on Road Runner, and then move the track above you. You're still sitting in the same place, just now the track is above - that is what this ride'll be like. That doesn't mean it won't be a good ride. It certainly won't be the sort of ride people run to at nine in the morning to try and get on the first ride, but it'll just diversify their existing collection of coasters - give an experience they couldn't give before.

I heard today that Nick Central is currently being advertised on Nickelodeon. I've been told it features a lot of footage of the Paramount Nick Centrals, as well as plenty of shots of the Reptar Inverted Coaster. This to me, pretty much confirms that it'll be the Vekoma Inverted RollerSkater we're getting.

FrightFest, Wonderland Sydney's annual Halloween event will be taking place on Saturday November 2. The event will have all the things you hear about form the American Halloween events - costumed characters, firebreathers entertaining in the streets and so forth. There's also live performances, including 'Disco Montago', in the Galaxy Theatre. Transylvania Land's selection of unique thrill rides will be open throughout the evening, providing a completely different aspect to the rides. The event will cost only $16.50 for entry after 5pm. It goes from 5pm through until 9pm. Tickets are puchased on arrival, so no need to book or pre-purchase. Unfortunately I won't be able to attend, geographic location is my excuse, but if you are in the area of Greater-Sydney, then this something that is certainly different from your average day in a park.

My thinking, is that the ride is not to be modified in any great ways. Dreamworld isn't out to take a bit of a ride, then add wacky new, non-Thunderbolt elements. To me, they're looking at retracking it, to remove the bad transitions, and make it smoother, make it a lot more exciting in the second half, as well as replacing the trains on it. They're not after a new coaster, disguised as Thunderbolt by keeping say the lift hill. In that sense, any modifications would be pointless. A new coaster these days costs roughly $16m. My guess, and keep in mind this is only my guess, is that Dreamworld wants to spend somewhere around $10m on Thunderbolt. I'd love to see Arrow take on this task. I've always had a spot for Arrow, and I know we would be guarenteed a quality end product, something which I don't think Vekoma would be able to provide (and they've said that they're concentrating on purely the SLC and Boomerang rides, since their bankrupcy). We can't, and won't see a company like B&M take on a project like this. Their ride technology is totally different from the kind that Thunderbolt uses. Most obviously are the track and train differences between the two. It would be uneconomical for such a company to take on this sort of task. Maybe build a ride from scratch, but not a retracking job.

It has been unused for about 6 months now. They discountinuted the Maverick Show for some unknown reason, replacing it with a cheap unpopular solution. Superstars in Concert, or something along those lines, which consisted of people that could be manipulated to look like stars of the past and present, then singing famous songs. The Maverick set is still behind there. The Police Academy show won't be moved anywhere. True their set needs major revamping - some parts look unnaturally sad. But it'll either be discountinued, or stay where it is. It is the most popular show in the park, and without a doubt in my mind the best show in Australia. The show wouldn't work indoors. You can't physically remove the building. It is one of the most sturdy-looking buildings in the park. The Matrix is an ideal theme for an indoor show. With both sequels coming in 2003, it would be highly appropriate to open a new attraction coinciding with one of these days (May 15 and November if I'm not mistaken). My dream for the set would for the roof they built on it to be removed, and the original show, Wild West Action Show, opened again. I only saw it twice, but I always thought it was a much better show than the Police Academy show. I would simply love to see it again.

Something gives me an impression that Wonderland's name isn't on that list because of a few wheels they buy off of Arrow. If that were the case, they'd put practically every park that they've manufactured rides for, which would be well in the hundreds's. Specifically, there's a reference to Dreamworld, who recently bought Big Dipper from Luna Park in Sydney. Yet there is no reference to Sea World, who run Corkscrew, an Arrow Loop+Corkscrew. I'd be pretty sure that Wonderland purchases their parts from Vekoma. Because of the Arrow rolling stock that Demon uses, as opposed to the new Vekoma built and designed one seen on newer Boomerangs and other Vekoma loopers, chances are Vekoma have to purchase the Arrow-specific parts from Arrow, to make it viable for them. Demon has been refitted with the Vekoma style restraints in recent years, so it is evident that Vekoma has a very large role in the spare parts used on the ride.

That makes more sense - I was wondering how the site you pointed out was North of Dreamworld .

Something I've wondered myself. Arrow no longer manufactures their own track and supports in-house (even companies that do subcontract to Australian companies as it is much more cost effective than importing it). Newcastle is the home of BHP, this is where a lot of past coasters have been made. The steel was seen South of Brisbane, North of Newcastle, heading South. Why would it be in the Greater-Brisbane area? This isn't just coasters I'm talking about here. Why would steel, that typically is made in Newcastle, that is heading south, found up here? Unless it is manufactured here, or has been imported to the Brisbane Port, or is being moved/relocated, I see absolutely no reason why there'd be any steel going south. Anyone more "in" with the construction industry (Wayne? ) see any reason why it'd be this way?

You can now upload your own avatar. Previously, it didn't work right, because of a FTP permission thing, but now, you can upload an avatar. I will implement Avatar galleries shortly, which will basically allow you to choose pre-loaded generic avatars. You can modify your avatar in Profile. This is only available to registered users - just another perk that comes with registering for free.

LOL, something tells me that after a few months working there you won't be heard saying that too often. I don't know if I'll be able to squeeze in a trip then. It is a matter of whether I can find time, and if I feel like it. I'll see what I can do though.

I don't think available land is the question. They have more cleared, open land all around that could be used for almost any description of coaster or ride.

Congrats! If only you were working in Food, then I could use you as a source to get my Cat Burgers cheap, from Gotham City, which are the best chicken burgers I've ever eaten. I must admit, I've done hospitality work before, and it certainly isn't the sort of work, short term or long term, I'll ever get back into. Hope I've not ruined your new job . If there's one thing that Movie World needs, and that is efficient emplyees, as a frequent park guest, I'm sure you know how 'unfun' inefficiency is - especially when you're queuing for ages for something as stupid as a few donuts (from Yosamite's down near Roadrunner - best donuts from a Gold Coast park).

As of today, October 12, the site is as follows. They've put down a lot more footers. I'm going to have to wait until they lay the final ones before I can get an accurate idea of the orientation of the ride, but I've got a hunch that the lift hill will run parallel to the Tower of Terror launch track, in the direction of the station. Concrete has been put down in the old area that was once occupied by the stage by Central Cafe. They've put down some 'fancy' concrete, which will be the main entrance into the area no doubt. It is a earthy coloured concrete, with stones mixed in it, and looks very fancy. No parts etc. are yet on site, and no coaster parts. My best guess is that parts won't be kept out front, such as with Cyclone, rather, they'll be in the maintenance area down by Thunderbolt. This is very close to the site, and has very easy access to the site through a temporary gate near the Tiger Island main entrance. The park's actual written stance, from the top of the park, is that no information regarding the specific details of the new area are to be released until an unannounced date. However, common sense, visual proof, combined with 'leaked' information (failing to find a less-harsh word) leads most to believe that there is definite coaster of some description coming. It doesn't take much either, to realise what kind it will be.

I think this is all very exciting! A rumour at one stage said that the new attraction to go to Wonderland Sydney, was a ride that is only the second of its kind. At the time, there were two rides that there was only one of each. Incidently, both in Southern California, and both had names beginning with X - the Arrow 4D and the Intamin Rocket Coaster. The sheer magnitude of either of these rides is amazing. If I needed convincing to go to Wonderland, either of these rides would be the ideal ones to do it. Heck - the two in California were much of my decision to start planning a west coast trip for next year.

Arrow Dynamics recently updated their page, included in this, was a new Links page, where they have links to some of their clients. I'm guessing that it is only recent clients, as there is no mention of parks like Sea World, which is home to one Arrow coaster. Well, in case you hadn't guessed it yet, Wonderland Sydney is on this list. Wonderland doesn't have any Arrow rides to my knowledge. Their is no Arrow ride at the park to my knowledge. Demon is Vekoma, who got a majority of the technology for all their rides from Arrow Dynamics, however, that is the only connection the two have, especially in the Boomeran ride. http://www.arrowdynamics.com/links.php?D=8 Wonderland Sydney also uses Vekoma spare parts for the ride; just by looking at the restraints the ride uses is a dead giveaway (At least it runs damn smooth, else you'd certainly be reminded of how hard the plastic restraints are, such as on Lethal Weapon). Arrow Dynamics specialises in coasters. Their current selling ones are the Mad Mouse design, which looks a lot more 'dynamic' and flowing than the Mack design, which was just a steel copy of the traditional wooden wild mouse. They've recently constructed X for Six Flags Magic Mountain, and they've finally worked out most (all) of the kinks with the system. Similarly, they've also improved the quality of their Looping coasters, and now they are said to rival the best Intamin or B&M coaster for smoothness. Aesthetically, the Arrow Looper is by far the best looking coaster on the earth (in my humble opinion), especially their change from square braces to rounded ones, in the past few years. Could it be that Wonderland Sydney's mystery, semi-confirmed ride that was all the hype this time last year, is something from Arrow Dynamics. Look at Cyclone, a ride that is in reality nothing special (except front seat in the S-bend, at dusk) that has provided Dreamworld with a very inepensive way of increasing attendance, even despite being second hand, and very cheap. Their rides are well and truely under the standard rates companies like Vekoma, B&M and Intamin charge (all average at around $16m per ride - regardless of currency).

I read about that park just a few weeks ago. It seems good for the tourism industry in general, but nothing for thrill seekers to get excited about, unless you're like me, and a passionate skier. Also, in the future, it would be very handy if you register before posting, it'll give you more of an identity, rather than 'Guest'.

I'm also trying to get out there once a week, but it'll be more than likely be 2 or 3 times a month. I currently go on Sundays, because weekends is the only time I'm available, and Saturdays are significantly worse for crowds. I'm thinking of having this week off though, but I'll keep you informed.

The story with the chipping paint. A majority of the theming is merely polystyrene with a hard fibreglass coating. They then add the details, such as the roughness for the stone effect, similar method to concrete rendering and paint it. Media Day (15 July I believe), they opened the ride to the public late in the day, just to give it a real dress rehearsal (before that, it had only taken some staff, and media) before the opening. The ride's supervisor, who's name slips me at the moment, said to the few queueing, jokingly, having people give the wall a bit of a look over, "Try all you want; the walls are un-pickable". I have never seen so many people dash towards the closest wall and then frantically try and rip it to shreds. Needless to say, when I had a look over it later that day, it was obvious that his claim that they weren't unpickable was obviously false. If it were truely Disney quality, then it wouldn't have been possible to chip in the first place. And if it were, it would be fixed by the next operating day. However, you must keep in mind that Disney have a much larger budget to begin with, and I'd imagine that their maintenance team is more than likely double what Movie World's would be if it were the same size. You really hit the nail right on the head there. They need to add some good coasters, or just high capacity rides in general. The hypercoaster is almost a given, and with the way they are heading, if this isn't one of the next few investments, then I'll go ahead and say that they missed out on the most blatantly obvious complimenting additions. I deliberately tried to stick away from ride additions in my original post, because straight up, the park need A LOT more than a new coaster or two to really improve.