Richard

Once again, upload photos directly to Parkz if you wish to share. We don't really need 15MB+ of photos in a single post slowing the site for everyone.

For a ride that only takes 12 at a time and runs 20-odd cycles an hour, the added time required to manage a single rider queue on top of the regular queue would likely reduce efficiency with slower cycles more than it adds in filled seats. It's a noble move by Dreamworld, but a bizarre choice of ride to implement such a system. Single rider queues only really have tangible benefits on rides with frequent dispatches -- say 15-20 second intervals -- and dedicated groupers to keep things moving.

Hotlinking refers to using the tags to link to images hosted externally. We'd prefer you either upload the photos directly (and provide credit/link if they're not yours), or link to the page with the photos in question.

I think everyone has had enough bloviated posturing AlexB. No one's gaining anything from this. Let it go...

Let's all take a read of the Community Guidelines. All members are expected to communicate in clear, well-written sentences. With capital letters at the start of sentences and appropriate punctuation throughout.

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So as to not derail this topic, so that that topic can continue to be discussed.

We don't really need a topic like this... everyone is free to start a new topic or contribute to an existing one if they wish to review a particular park or ride.

The whole thing was an attempt at extending the 30 second ride into a longer, psychological experience. I guess so that long queues from its low capacity felt justified. The elevator itself was painfully slow, with dim lighting and an open cage so the roar of the launch and the screams would pass right through into the ears of the riders waiting. Originally, you'd queue outside, roughly where the entrance to Escape from Madegascar sits. Thirty people -- two loads of 15 -- would be admitted at a time to walk through the dark tunnels towards the elevator. It never made a lot of sense; at first it's themed to an underground mine shaft, then inexplicably you're at the top of a skyscraper in the middle of a city. It was only one elevator, with a divider down the middle. 15 riders would enter each door. The first group would exit first to stand in what is now the final queue room at the top of the stairs. Once they'd cleared into the next room (with the swinging door that reveals the station), the second group would be let off the elevator. All basically an exercise in trying to extend the experience and build up to the finale. It worked well once, but for anything other than your first ever ride, it felt basically like queueing to ride a slow elevator to a smaller queue.

It was an Aussie surf/beach theme. "Super Tubes" was a play on the famed Superbank break at Coolangatta. "Green Room" is a term for being in the barrel of a wave. I'd definitely agree that Triple Vortex is their first real deviation from the theme. Gazza posted a review of one of these rides about 10 posts above... what he says pretty much goes. Check out that park and ride count!

Wouldn't see any need or reason to copy the Disney Fastpass system at our parks. I mentioned Fastpass purely an aside to show that the BIG guys know that less time spent queuing translates to higher revenue, and that this a big motivator for high capacity and high efficiency overseas. Definitely not endorsing it as a system at our parks where for much of the year there's only ever long queues because they're not running the rides as efficiently as they could. I can't think of a single modern coaster with two or more trains that doesn't have a transfer track. While it could technically be achieved, I doubt any major ride manufacturers would recommend it for the unnecessary stress it'd put on the operation and maintenance of the ride. The Raven at Holiday World was retrofitted to include a second train a few years back; this process included adding a transfer track. In my experience Cyclone tends to average 8-10 minute cycles. By fixing the dreadful queue, load procedure and keeping staff on the ball, they could easily get that down to 4-5 minutes. That's more or less a 2 minute unload/load plus 2 minute cycle, and would double the ride's capacity from ~180pph to 360pph. Adding a second train and using it with the same two minute dispatch times so that they're not stacking and we've doubled the capacity again to 720pph. I see merit in taking that first step to fixing the queue and load procedures, but I can't see much justification in taking that next step with track and system modifications for a ride that is likely more than halfway through its expected life.

The coaster was designed to be upgraded to two train operation. Management did look at it as an option when the ride debuted at Dreamworld but it obviously never came to fruition, and I doubt it ever will. Cyclone could double its capacity with a decent queue and load/unload layout, and by fixing those station brakes. There are much cheaper fixes to the ride's capacity than the addition of a second train. And at any rate they'd need to fix all of these issues to be able to actually manage two trains. As AlexB suggested it's much more costly and involved than simply adding the second train -- they'll need a transfer track, block brakes and all the associated system reprogramming etc. All this for a pretty lousy secondhand KumbaK train. As for gains from increasing the ride's capacity, there's plenty of evidence to suggest that the less time guests queue, the more they're likely to spend around the park. This is one of the main drivers behind Disney's free-to-use Fastpass system. Not to mention guest satisfaction and the affect it has on spending and satisfaction metrics like Net Promoter Score.

Six Flags Magic Mountain's Superman: The Escape/Superman Escape From Krypton was built and planned to open in mid-1996. Dreamworld's Tower of Terror was planned later and meant to open in late-1996. Both were delayed but TOT got over the line first in January 1997, owing to mistakes learnt from the delayed Superman: The Escape. Tower of Terror as such broke the world record for fastest and tallest roller coaster. When Superman finally opened two months later it and TOT jointly held the fastest roller coaster, and depending on how you look at it Superman broke the TOT's tallest record by virtue of the fact that it's built on the side of a hill with a taller support structure. While Tower of Terror was a world's first and broke the record, Superman was clearly also tallest and fastest in the world when it opened. In 1999 Dreamworld issued a bizarre press release (Dreamworld Disputes Claims Made by US Theme Park) that accused Six Flags Magic Mountain of being misleading by saying they have the fasted ride in the world, firstly stating that both rides are identical, which would mean that both are the fastest in the world, and then stating that Dreamworld chooses not to match SFMM's speed for safety reasons.

To be fair, Disney does conceal their black ceilings through lighting (or lack thereof) much more effectively than our parks to the point where it's not generally noticeable. At Movie World it runs the gamut from really to not so well done. I'm sure if Movie World had ten times the budget like Disney does it might be more seamless, but I know I can live with this pretty minor flaw considering the quality of theming they pull off for the relatively small budgets they work with.

Fixed that one... who'd have thought a 'u' is all that separates a Nordic accountant from a warrior!

RCDB lists Mack and Intamin bobsleds, but not toboggan/alpine slide rides that feature. Nor are Wiegand's alpine coasters on RCDB. If it's the onboard-controlled brakes, well Luna Park's Scenic Railway and several others feature onboard-controlled brakes, and are considered a roller coaster by RCDB. RCDB separates gravity-powered roller coasters from powered coasters, but doesn't list Zamperla Disk'Os. (Duane runs an amazing site; I'm certainly not calling his judgement into question so much as playing devil's advocate.)

Unless it's been explicitly authorised beforehand and/or accompanied by park management, no pictures in the Parkz Updates have ever been taken by crossing any public boundaries or entering areas intended to be inaccessible. It's all zoom, crop and a lot of discarded photos. Airbrush Caps is over where the Dinosaur Island store was located, towards the front of the park.

Manufacturer descriptions aside, what makes say Tower of Terror a roller coaster, but Surfrider not?

What does everyone think of Wild West Falls? Most flume rides feature wheels and track for the drops, but WWF differs in that it features both uphill and downhill sections. The only difference between it and Storm, which is overwhelmingly considered a type of roller coaster, is that it features lateral motion. Surfrider at Wet'n'Wild is considered a coaster; Shockwave at Dreamworld generally isn't. Both of these rides are effectively a U/W-shaped version of Tower of Terror. The answer at the end of the day is that it's subjective and at times arbitrary...

So that the fascinating (and totally not done-to-death) "Is TOT a coaster?" debate can continue, I've split it off into its own topic:

The Parkz Update: Dreamworld, August 2014 Wipeout is back in action after an extended period of maintenance and the ride structure arrives for Tail Spin. This Parkz Update showcases all the latest changes in Ocean Parade at Dreamworld.. Click here to continue reading

From the date of the video, I'd say cashing in on Jurassic Park mania... dinosaurs were all the rage back then.

The whole DreamWorks area is probably the sharpest looking section of the park and is as good as anything on the Gold Coast. Pandamonium in each respective mode is a solid thrill ride or a solid family ride. It's perfectly themed for what it is and is exactly the level of theming that Dreamworld should strive for; rides and areas should be given an ambient theme and pleasant surrounds and left at that. If the theme involves a storyline, screwing inanimate objects to a wall or any kind of AV then Dreamworld won't pull it off -- they never have before -- and is exactly why discussions like this one take place. That said, Pandamonium does send a mixed message -- it's in an area designed for children, themed to a film designed for young children -- and I think whether or not it's a good thrill ride worthy of the "Big Thrill" tag is irrelevant, its positioning is wrong and I don't think it's had nearly the impact of say Wipeout or The Claw.

Posts about ride accidents/incidents etc. have been moved over to the more appropriate topic

To my knowledge Dreamworld's chairlift lacked a tripwire at the end of the platforms that would almost certainly have avoided any injury in the series of dumb events that have been described above. But above all the events as described point primarily to a lacking in policy or training rather than any missing safety components. The real shame in the Dreamworld chairlift saga is that rather than update or replace a very old and outdated ride with something modern and safe they've elected to decommission and leave the remains standing. Chairlifts are not expensive rides.