Richard

My point all along was that no one knows if these two individuals started the altercation; there's absolutely nothing in the articles thus far to suggest either party is to blame here. Based on the articles, the attendant is just as likely to have initiated the physical attack; there's nothing to suggest either way what happened. The fact that they were released without charge to me hints that it's not as clear-cut as an unprovoked attack by these two thugs when they didn't get their way. Don't get me wrong, they were carrying around a concealed weapon... that says it all about their character. I'm not condemning or defending anyone here; just looking at the few facts rather than joining the witch hunt.

I don't think anyone can say for certain who's in the right or wrong here. For all anyone knows, the attendant attacked first, prompting the stabbing in defence. At any rate though I don't think that those involved are exactly the cream of the crop. It does raise some questions about attitudes within the travelling amusement industry. At the end of the day, this guy got stabbed over a no refund policy. Whatever went down, it seems that this attendant felt that the few dollars were more important than his own safety or that of the complaining customers. It's a situation that could have been averted for the sake of a few dollars but it seems greed won in the end -- whether that of the customers, or that of the company operating the ride.

It seems to me that all the purported "issues" with having members of the public driven around the studios aren't an issue at Universal Studios in Hollywood, which are is home to major productions year-round. Universal's thrives because they put in effort to make it a theme park attraction. They have a handful of different versions of the tour which allows them to skip out areas of the studio that are inaccessible due to filming commitments. It's an audio-visual experience presented by an entertaining host (a benefit of being in Hollywood is that there's always talent around needing to make ends meet) that is very re-rideable because each tour will be different in some way, and because they update it on a regular basis to reflect the latest and upcoming Universal titles, it's something that can, to some extent, draw people back year after year. The few elements of ours that tried to inject entertainment like the fake set and the costume department were good but more could have been added progressively over the years to actually build it into something enjoyable from start to finish. The reason the special effects show died a miserable death was that evidently no one realised that people won't keep coming back to see the same 15 year-old (read: woefully outdated) special effects. I'd really like to see a revised version brought back, or at least something that is somehow related to the movie-making process because as it stands, what makes Movie World any different from say your average Six Flags park? An interesting side-point relating to some of this is that at Universal Studios you can't walk two steps without hearing about their upcoming features because someone has realised that the few million people that visit the park each year are actually a pretty good captive audience for their products. It's quite clever marketing in two ways: one obviously it'll draw people into cinemas, and second I think it's a really good way to help guests feel the Universal brand around them.

Just to clarify: you're welcome to submit photos of travelling rides etc. from bona fide annual shows, but our system isn't designed to handle individual database entries for rides which move around periodically. Basically, when you're tagging the photo, just include the show/park (Royal Easter Show, Ekka, etc.) and then the necessary ride details in the title and caption. It'd be a good idea to include the year of the show somewhere such as in the title. Basically, individual entries for travelling rides aren't OK, photos of travelling rides at proper annual shows is OK, photos of travelling rides at random locations like a school fete or on the beach for NYE etc. aren't OK. Thanks for pointing out that Rainbow entry. From its individual ID number, it was a very old entry (2-3 years or more) that somehow slipped by back then and had gone unnoticed until now.

Just a reminder to everyone that there's just FOUR days left in this contest. If you've got a bunch of theme park photos then it's certainly not too late to submit them. The person who has submitted the most photos in March will win a free Dreamworld ticket. Simple as that!

I think it's an improvement, but one does get the impression that they're playing catch-up with WVTP's MyFun branding and associated website and as a direct comparison I think it falls short. Though to be fair at least it doesn't play a pointless techo loop every time you change page. Dreamworld using images that aren't theirs on their website? Never thought I'd see the day...

Because it needs photos to go along with it, it actually randomly selects the park based on whether it has photos or not and at the moment it's set to select only photos by staff. Because there's a few thousand Australian photos by staff up but only a handful of international, it'll naturally skew things that way. I may change it down the track to select all photos; it was done this way because initially I wanted to see how user submissions would pan out.

Unfortunately not... this one is Dreamworld because that's just what I had available to me. You can always give it to a friend who doesn't have a pass if you win. If we get tickets to other parks in the future then I hope to do similar competitions with different prizes.

To help get things started and encourage all members to explore the new features of Parkz, we've put together a little photography competition. The user to add the most photographs in the month of March (2008) will receive one free ticket to Dreamworld on the Gold Coast. We hope to have this kind of competition every now and again, so if this prize isn't your cup of tea don't worry because there will hopefully be plenty more as time goes on. The Rules: Photographs tallied are only those added and successfully approved in the month of March. Photographs must meet our standards. Photos which don't for one reason or another will be rejected and as such not contribute to your month's total. Wherever possible the staff member who rejects the photo will leave a note so you know why. Photographs must be your own work and unique, i.e. not photos which already appear on this site. Users can keep track of their total and where they rank on our Photos page. Only the top (#1) photographer of the month will receive the prize. The photographs can be of any theme park, ride or attraction anywhere in the world -- not just Dreamworld. However for a photo to be accepted it must be linked to an existing park or ride in our database, so if we don't currently feature it you will need to add it to our database before submitting the photos. Pending photos will not contribute to your total. Staff will do a final sweep of our photo queue in the leadup to midnight on March 31. We can't guarantee photos submitted close to the deadline will count so it's best if you get in days or weeks ahead of the end of the month. This competition is open to all members excluding myself. The selection process is totally transparent so any registered member is eligible, regardless of whether they are a regular member, subscriber or staff. In the event that I submit the most photos in the month of March, it will be awarded to the next highest member. All decisions are final and no correspondence or debate will be entered into regarding the outcome. Prize will be sent via Registered Post and will need to be signed for. We will make every effort to contact the winner. They will have seven days to claim their prize. If it is unclaimed after this period it will go to the next highest member. The prize is a non-refundable and non-exchangable adult ticket to Dreamworld valid until 30/6/08. I hope that covers everything -- if not feel free to ask. Otherwise good luck with it! I look forward to what you all come up with.

There we are, case closed. Because the ride has been open for a few months, any complaints or negative reviews henceforth are hereby invalid. It's way, way too early to see how the ride has performed from a business perspective. But if you want to, the increase in attendance announced in early January accounts for around 20,000 extra people visiting over a six month period, of which this coaster was open around four. Because the period it was compared against was a downturn on the year prior, factoring in this lost attendance, it's closer to 5,000 extra guests in terms of gross attendance growth. Taking recent per capita spend into account, we're looking at about $330,000 in increased revenue, or about $125,000 earnings. A $10 million investment... I wouldn't be taking this one to the bank anytime soon. As I said up front, there is no way anyone can pass judgement either way on whether it has 'done its job' this early in the game. But with those initial figures and a very wet summer, it's certainly not looking good just yet.

The thing I find odd is that Gold Coast Tourism proudly boasts its 300 days of sunshine a year. Taking their marketing hype at face value, but also disregarding the fact that probably 50% or more of those remaining 65 days are just overcast without rain, we're looking at a structure that serves a valid purpose at most around 18% of the year. Sun protection? I'd look at providing better shade by way of more aesthetic means such as trees in the other 3/4 of the park before focusing on Main Street where, unlike around major rides, people don't generally congregate for long periods of time. Given that the only attraction on Main Street is Shrek, it'll provide little purpose to the majority of guests who will spend most of their day alternating between attractions all around the park. Don't think I could imagine a Fremont Street Experience without the sleaze... it just wouldn't have that same appeal.

Good, because a month or two from now when it's basically six months straight of clear blue skies with tops of 25ºC that's precisely what the park will need. We have had our first truly wet summer in a decade or more. Meanwhile that roof exists at Tokyo Disneyland because that park is subjected to everything from blizzards to monsoon season year in year out. And it was a colossal compromise when they were designing the park because no Imagineer wanted to make the park a big themed indoor mall. Besides, can't they make more money selling ponchos and Tweedy umbrellas?

I don't think prices have changed in about two years. Last time they did was when we shifted from cheaper US-based web hosting to a Brisbane server.

You honestly don't think Dreamworld is making a very tidy profit out of this? I'd assure you that the price being charged isn't remotely tied to covering costs, it's simply because there are people out there willing to pay this much. This is a premium product of which there is a very limited supply. On a daily basis Dreamworld prints hundreds, if not thousands of photos throughout the park; their cost per print would be in cents. I wouldn't expect any more than 10% of the total cost is going to charity. It's great that they are donating a portion to relevant charities, but remember that Dreamworld isn't one; their interest is in making money.

That's in fact one of the features that is planned. The reason it's not there yet is I am yet to find a way to be able to do this in a secure manner, i.e. so that users who don't have access to the high resolution versions can't get to them, even if they're given a direct link to the image file etc. Hopefully we'll see it in the near future.

Hopefully today that'll be fixed; just a matter of getting the design to work and be compatible with the major browsers.

Thanks; that's been fixed. There will no doubt be a few more corrections like that needed around the place so if anyone sees any others let us know.

That error should now be fixed so as far as I can tell everything is as it should be, at least with the forums. In the bottom left corner users can switch their forum style from the default fixed width to 100% page width. The 100% one has the benefit of database and photo search boxes and I hope to add a few more functionalities like that over time which there's unfortunately not room for with the fixed width. If anyone's still getting any problems let me know.

I'll probably introduce two forum layouts; one which is full browser width, and another fixed to match the site and then let everyone choose which they'd prefer. The fixed version will be the default most likely. This has been something I've always wanted to do but have never gotten around to because I also prefer the bigger width -- doesn't make sense having a 1680px wide screen res and only be using about half of it. Should have these both available within the next few days I hope. Attachments and avatars are back to normal. There are still a few lingering login issues which I'm hoping to get resolved as soon as I can.

The final switch is currently underway. With that the forums will now be accessed from http://www.parkz.com.au/forums/. All user accounts, posts, personal messages etc. remain totally unchanged. You can login with your regular username and password. The transition isn't totally completed. Forum uploads including avatars and attachments are still on their way, so if your avatar isn't currently working you don't need to reupload; it'll be sorted out shortly. The forums will also be styled to fit in with the new Parkz site design. If you're encountering any problems with the forums (not the main site) post in this topic and we'll get things sorted out.

Just in case everyone isn't already aware, this is a theme park website not a Big Brother site. I think you'll find the majority of members here are indifferent to or even dislike the show. With that in mind, you need to understand that if you participate in a Big Brother topic here, you will get others participating who are against the show; if you can't deal with that then don't bother posting in Big Brother topics.

Easy guys. Let's cut down on the personal insults and condescending attitude. At the very least one of you could have answered the original poster's question like mattcrombie did.

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That's not really correct; there are a few points that should be cleared up. The bottom of each boat is lined with a layer of non-magnetic alloy (i.e. an alloy with no magnetic properties) topped with a ferromagnetic alloy (i.e. one which is attracted to magnets), most likely a steel. The purpose of the magnetic alloy is to create a magnetic field between the electromagnets under the surface of the slide and this top alloy. The non-magnetic alloy is sandwiched between the top alloy and the surface of the slide and is therefore within the magnetic field. It's important that it is a non-magnetic alloy within this field as regular magnetic attraction is not what is wanted and is not what propels riders forward. As the name LIM suggests, they are induction motors which work on the principal of electromagnetic induction; when the alloy enters the magnetic field it is propelled perpendicular to the direction of the magnetic field. Obviously we have a magnetic field running between the surface of the slide and the steel, so the boat is propelled perpendicular to that, which is straight up the slope. There is no magnetic attraction or repulsion taking place to make the boats travel forward. All that happens is while the alloy is within the magnetic field, a force is created in it that propels it forward. There are a few other things at play but check the earlier Wikipedia article for the more on the technical side. Essentially you can think of it simply as a reversal of Giant Drop's braking system, which also uses induction to slow the gondolas. As for the makeup of the alloys, so long as the magnetic properties of each is right then it's right. You can guarantee the alloy on top would a steel with strong magnetic properties. Coppers would factor highly in the makeup of the other, as probably would aluminium for its corrosion resistance.

News to me that I preferred 'land' parks to water parks. Can't imagine where I've given this indication but each has their place and I'm just as keen on both. At the end of the day, I'm really just not convinced that this is a concept that is anything but a gimmick and an unpleasant ride experience at best given the speeds that'll be attained. Given it's also a lie-down body slide I'm not convinced there will be anything to see - transparent/translucent or not; you all know how little you see thanks to the rider position and how much water you get in your eyes on the average enclosed slide. If the potential for a looping waterslide was there, I'm sure we'd have seen something developed by a more reputable water slide company by now, and I'd guarantee you they'd have all worked on such concepts at one stage.