Richard

I'm far more excited about what the Dreamworld Water Park will do for the industry in terms of giving water parks here some much needed stimulation - it's been a stagnant area for far too long. Superman will be great, but won't have the impact that an entirely new theme park will.

As said earlier, expect something that competes with Wet'n'Wild in terms of ride and attraction offerings. It will be separate charge, so it will have to be on level with Wet'n'Wild to be a viable entity.

The papers caught on this morning, playing up the rivalry between this and Wet'n'Wild. http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/dre...3026404986.html It's interesting to hear the competition's thoughts on the matter. John Menzies (WVTP CEO) has taken the "do what's best for the Gold Coast" approach. The way I see it it's a business decision, made with the intentions of bringing in cash. Given the tremendous growth WnW has experienced in the past without really any new attractions, it doesn't seem too hard to see that it's also a smart one (smart enough to get $20 million out of WnW). I'd imagine similar business decisions to those that drove WBMW to install and market Superman in the way that they did (a very "Dreamworldy" way), but that's just me.

I really hope that every effort is put into the layout of the park. They can really benefit from a structured approach to designing the park, especially against Wet'n'Wild where 20 years of additions has seen the park become somewhat tangled in itself. I'd certainly hope that we see effective use of the lazy river concept - this can be so much more than just a gentle attraction, but also a huge capacity transport ride - keeping guests off the paths and also to some extent, the other rides. The Sunshine Coast Wet'n'Wild is expected to cost in the area of $50 million. Given the lack of existing infrastructure that will exist at the site there, it becomes clear that $56 million will go a long way, spent on a water park at a location where the land is ideal for construction and the infrastructure exitsts. Back at the Gold Coast Wet'n'Wild, $20 million has seen two towers (in an entirely new expansion of the park's boundaries), a huge childrens area and replacement of half of Mammoth Falls. Make no mistake - this new water park will rival Wet'n'Wild in attraction quality and quantity. In the past water parks have not been an area of competition on the Gold Coast, so Wet'n'Wild has been free to spend minimally on new attractions. It's no coincidence that Wet'n'Wild decided to spend $20 million at this point in time. Water park attractions are significantly cheaper than a large scale theme park ride, so hopefully it will add fluidity to the competition.

Roller-Coaster.com.au is the first source in the world to officially announce Dreamworld's newest addition - a $56 million water park expected to be completed by December next year. News article: http://www.roller-coaster.com.au/article.php?aid=78

Put me down for The Claw. If worst comes to worst, no harm in just extrapolating the data that you get to make 50.

Please note that the payment system has been changed recently, because I believe it is too much hassle to signup for PayPal and go through the steps required to order a calendar. Instead we're back to using PayMate, an Australian system which requires no registration to pay by credit card. I expect a preview of the calendar will be available in the next few weeks.

Superman will be more like Scooby-Doo in that it has a non-traditional slow section prior to the coaster section. This effectively acts as no less than one major block. The fundamentals of block design basically state that the first must be the longest (in length of time) and they must get subsequently shorter. That said, it's obvious that the longest section of track (like Scooby-Doo) will be the pre-launch ride section. That said, the ride is therefore capable of operating three trains simultaneously. Throw in on top of that things like separate load/unload stations and you have a ride capable of no less than four trains. I see Superman as being a ride that will need to run two trains day-in day-out to maintain any sort of effective efficiency. It's not like Lethal Weapon or other large-scale rides where upon dispatching the train, it's only two minutes away and as such single-train operation is suitable. We're looking at a ride more like Scooby-Doo where ride length is much longer, and time between dispatch will be exponentially longer. Two trains to me is necessary on any normal day, but I can also see things becoming stretched on any peak day with less than three trains operating.

Regardless of what anyone thinks of another member's posts, there is no need for personal attacks. It's one thing to respectfully say "That's wrong," but there is absolutely no need for namecalling and insults like that. Leave the moderation tot he moderators and if you have any questions about a particular post leave it to us - either by waiting to see if we fix it, or by using the "Report" button which is featured at the bottom of every post. Let's try getting back on topic now.

I'm talking specifically about the $270 million. Not once to my recollection has this figure ever been mentioned in any media release or financial report.

Which article is this you're talking about?

I think it's worth a mention that one of Sea World's former General Managers, Dr Fabian Fay, passed away last month from Parkinson's Disease, aged 58. He was General Manager of the park in the early 90s. After being diagnosed he sold his practice and shifted to Sea World, where he was for around 10 years until it became too difficult.

No, I fixed the post to correct the figure.

I think you guys need to take a step back. It's very common with this kind of construction that the manufacturer will send out someone well after it was commissioned (ie after Intamin sent people over to get the thing working smoothly) for an inspection. This is separate from the routine inspections that happen on a regular basis by the park's in-house mechanical and engineering staff. Dreamworld spent a huge amount of money - more than most people will earn in a lifetime. Cars come with included checkups down the track. You don't think a $6 million piece of equipment that handles thousands of people a day would be privy to the same kind of treatment? So far I see more misinterpreting and false assumptions from other members than there have been from Kyle, so I really don't think anyone else is in a position to criticise on this particular topic of discussion.

The latest update from Wet'n'Wild can be seen on the main page. H2O Zone Gallery - http://www.roller-coaster.com.au/gallery.php?gid=117 Buccaneer Bay Gallery - http://www.roller-coaster.com.au/gallery.php?gid=116

The reason it doesn't operate in Summer (when the water park is open) is because of its close proximity to the water park, it is seen as a distraction or nuissance to life guards. When the ride operated at previous parks it had been in cooler climates. When it moved to Southern California they had to use a harder compound to cope with the warmer operating temperatures. This resulted in a significantly louder ride than would have ever been anticipated. One theory that's a bit out there suggests that this was the first ride that ever featured "heartline design", which Werner Stengel and Messrs Bolliger and Mabillard had recently developed. Basically the idea is that the ride is designed around riders theoretical heartline instead of the track, resulting in a smoother and more flowing coaster. Six Flags, upon receiving the ride were convinced that it had been misengineered, seeing the way the track actually banked against the direction of the turn initially (this creates a more flowing turn). Despite being insisted that it was correct, Six Flages allegedly proceded to (under the guidance of their own in-house engineers) "correct" these banking issues. This is said to be the cause for the rough tracking on the ride, coupled with restrictive restraints (as a result of the very close clearances with supports).

You'd find that one of the key reasons for closure of both Skylink and Thunderbolt was not the potential of a few bucks made from resale, or even dwindling popularity. Both these attractions will have had increasing insurance premiums, where it got to the point that it was more cost effective to close them than it was to pay the premium, or upgrade them to a level where the premium is manageable.

I don't know how you can believe that it uses more energy than a ride twice its size. Also, given that it is also a standard off-the-shelf ride with clones around the world, including Lotte World's significantly larger version, I can't see how you can say it is the most powerful.

The latest update is now up on the main page. Naturally, because groundwork outside is temporarily wrapping up there is little to see other than reaffirmation that the track is completed. http://www.roller-coaster.com.au/gallery.php?gid=115 Nonetheless, with two months til opening it is good to at least get a look at what's going on at regular intervals.

Such personal remarks are totally inexcusable. If you wish to discuss this idea and give your own opinions then feel free to do so, but leave out the personal attacks. Discuss this maturely or the thread will be closed.

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I see what you mean. It appears there was a slight glitch in the gallery system. It's now been fixed and all galleries are back in the lists: http://www.roller-coaster.com.au/gallery.php

I'm not sure where this has come from as Wet'n'Wild is in the database and has been since the start. http://www.roller-coaster.com.au/park.php?pid=24 It's a bit lacking at the moment but feel free to contribute to it: http://www.roller-coaster.com.au/addcontent.php?add=ride The database is a "park" database. Amusement, theme or water. They are all included.

Without stepping all over your dreams to have a restaurant at the Gold Coast (indeed there's always a demand for high quality restaurants), I probably wouldn't be rating Dunedin's selection over Surfers Paradise's - I'm sure you've been to a lot less resturants up here than you have over there.

Latest Superman construction update: http://www.roller-coaster.com.au/gallery.php?gid=114 This is a mini-update, but at least shows that things are still moving forward.