Richard

The figure came from a release made a few years ago, when I think they hit 14,000. It mentioned that the Australian record was this 23,000.

For what it's worth, back in 1992 at a Halloween event at the park there were 23,000 in the place, so last year's Union picnic doesn't hold the record.

I got Goliath with a light sprinkle at one stage. That was enough for me, I'd hate for it to be any more Obstructure, it is ENTIRELY Dreamworld's responsibility and fault that guests were turned away. It is not their fault that the park must close at 10pm because of noise laws or whatever, but it is their responsibility to adhere to said laws. This means that when there is a lengthy queue for the ride they should close off the queue at a certain point so that EVERYONE who is spending their time in the queue gets to ride. It is not, and never has been at any properly run theme park, the guest's responsibility to judge whether they will be able to ride if they queue. The point that there was likely no one there telling guests that there is a chance they will not get to ride if they queue now sort of throws absolutely any defence out the window. I didn't think I could get any more annoyed about this incident, but Obstructure, the fact that you're actually trying to defend Dreamworld is pretty warped. Furthermore, I see absolutely no comments in this thread that refer to any Dreamworld operators or attendants. Everything I see is pointing fingers solely at management. A return pass is the very least Dreamworld could have done in this situation. The fact that such a thing should never have happened in the first place is reason enough. A free return pass costs the park nothing, and guarantees them further revenue in future which they otherwise would never get, in the form of food and souvenirs. They say one negative opinion is the same as ten positive ones, and that's exactly true. Let's hope that operations is one area that the new CEO looks at, one which has needed an all-out assault for a good number of years. Tony Braxton-Smith did some tremendous things for the park in terms of balancing out market shares and getting the park's value up, but I hope now that most things with the park are sound, efficiency and overall operations can be looked at, and a breath of fresh air is always good for that.

Yeah, 119m is the official height on Giant Drop, 390ft or 39 storeys.

Interesting idea, but why not go the full mile and make it a tilting standup gondola? My thought has always been to take off both gondolas, maybe add a third set of rails (if it is needed for structural reasons) and instead of two gondolas, have one single gondola, similar to one of the Gyro Drops, wrapping 3/4 of the way around the tower. It'd be a dream for capacity - even Dreamworld wouldn't be able to screw that one up too badly.

I don't know what measure of storeys Wonderland is going by, but a storey is conventionally 10ft which is 3.05m. Long story short, based on their claim of 27 storeys, Space Probe is 82m tall, which it's not. Official documentation suggests the ride is 213ft or 65m tall, which is more or less the correct figure.

Construction has begun on the 2004 Thrill Ride at Dreamworld. Roller-Coaster.com.au will bring you frequent updates documenting the construction process. Construction Updates: April 25 - early construction has begun; removal of pathway etc. May 7 - removal process continues, big circular trench dug in the centre of the site. May 21 - footers are poured. July 19 - main structure is completed. July 23 - arm attached. July 30 - gondola attached. August 21 - pathway layed, theming of the ride and area has commenced.

And now for something completely different... Back to Fright Night. Today at Dreamworld, someone said they were at Fright Night. This person said they queued for Giant Drop for one hour and 45 minutes, at which point everyone in the queue was told that the ride is closing and they all had to go home. I couldn't care less about all the other stuff that was reported to have gone on on the night about a lack of rides or too many people. This is one thing that is a true act of complete and utter disgrace. I fully accept closing the queue for a ride off some time before the park closes s that the ride will close on time or not too late. One thing that you should never ever do is ask (well, tell) people who have been queuing, for hours no less, that the ride is closing and they won't be able to ride. That is throwing basic customer service out the window. That just isn't cricket.

If you don't care then why did you bother posting in this thread? Just skip over it if that's your opinion.

Roller-Coaster.com.au updates will be weekly or fortnightly. I was meaning to visit today and start it actually, but that never happened obviously.

No one wanted Wonderland to close. We're just being realistic. A bit extreme, no?

How about calling it "Revenge of Screech" instead, and get Dustin Diamond in on the ad campaigns and everything? Skip that one if you don't get it - you're probably a bit young.

Dreamworld really lightens the staffing midweek. Even though the park might be empty, you'll probably be guaranteed 15min+ queues for all the major rides. Nothing unbearable though, especially if you're coming up from Melbourne. You'll also have Rocky Hollow Log Ride down for maintenance, no great losses there, but everything else should be operating.

It's a fairly long ride for starters. There are three decent-sized drops on the ride, all of which were designed with very nice airtime. The real gem of this ride is the final drop (which was recently rebuilt to make it more gentle, but it's still pretty good from what people say). The drop has very nice air all the way down (or rather did when I rode), and then you hit a very low bunny hill that gives evem more air. Long story short, airtime plus absolutely no restraints gives a very very nice ride. It's also damn wet too. It's head-to-toe drenching, which isn't too bad for a log flume. I think it's a tad overrated, but it's still one of the best.

I wouldn't class Blacktown as a tourist-friendly area anyway. The fact is, that's just how the area is. Another fact is that not only will the council stand to make some significant revenue from the business park as opposed to Wonderland, but there will be around six times as many employees than at Wonderland. That could be seen as essentially 2500 more people living in the area and making use of local shops and businesses for their own needs. Not bad prospects for any council really. I'd gladly trade the city's lackluster tourism industry for that.

Most newer areas of the park are barely themed. Nick Central is just "nice" with the odd statue or picture of characters. The extent of Ocean Parade's theming is the sand they filled the garden beds around Reef Diver with, and some fibreglass animals here and there. Do the same as what they did with Nick Central - just make it nice with some nice green gardens, open paths, some trees here and there for shade and maybe fill the rest with grass. It would look much better than a "themed" area, because unless significant money is spent, themed areas can really come off as tacky. Make it just aesthetically pleasing, and given that they've suggested the area will be filled with thrill rides, give it a nice name that hints at thrill rides and doesn't need cheap fibreglass items thrown randomly around the place to make any sense

scott, please use the button to add thing to or change your post if you want to do so after you've posted. Don't double post when it's just moments apart.

HussRainbow, "u's" isn't a word, and neither is you's for that matter. Please read and take note of the Communty Guidelines in their entirety and ensure you follow them. Suspension or banning will follow.

HussRainbow, don't know who you think you are, but sometimes people just need to learn when to shutup.

To my knowledge, Dreamworld doesn't have any policy which disallows riding after drinking. After all, what's wrong with having a beer in the afternoon to cool off then hitting some more rides? Very common situation too. There's a slighty difference between drink driving and "drink coastering". One of them isn't responsible for hundreds of deaths every year in Australia and the other is. I think that's actually a fairly inappropriate comparison, but whatever. Who's going to get drunk at a theme park, and even then, what's riding a coaster going to do aisde from make a bit of a mess in the worst situation?

http://www.roller-coaster.com.au/article.php?aid=8 It is very very sad news. I know I haven't seen her in the exhibit in quite some time - it's often just Ping Ping alone out there or the two cubs. The situation really is unfortunately inevitable. Apparently a lot of people are contacting the park with support, and many offering weird and wonderful remedies and ancient family recipes that are supposed to help the conditon. Sadly though, the condition really is inevitable. The park's seeking out a new bear to fill the gap that Kanook will leave. These bears are fascinating. They're one of the most interesting animals I've ever seen the way they interact together and play nonstop.

The Royal Show Mouse in Melbourne does have blocks. At least it was originally built with blocks and their locations on the track are painfully obvious. The idea Wittingslow have cut corners to make the ride cheaper to operate has always been my suspicion, because these rides were designed with blocks and they can be seen clearly on Mad Mouse. There's no way what happened could have happened if Wittingslow hadn't somehow modified the block system to their own suiting.

Well, as has been said in other threads, it is Wonderland's intention to sell the ride. You'd be absolutely insane to buy anything on this ride other than the mechanical components or the trains for spare parts, but there's no harm in trying. It's the hand rails along the course of the ride. The ones that accompany the maintenance/inspection walkway.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/3630577.stm More than likely rider error - there is absolutely no way a rider of suitable proportions could slip from a properly fastened Intamin lapbar. The ridiculous restraints were forced upon the park by the state. Intamin didn't want them, Knott's presumably didn't want them, but some bureaucrat decided that it was the only way it be resolved.

As you'd guess I put my vote in for keep it but upgrade it. There are a range of things I'd like to see happen to it. At the very least clean it all up and make the theming cohesive. Dreamworld's found that they don't need to make runs to the dump once a year if they just stick all the old junk to fill up some empty corners of existing rides. As much as I'd love to see a Perilous Plunge type ride at Dreamworld, capacity is one thing which has always concerned me about this type of ride, but now that as of last week both models out there have caused a death each, I wouldn't give this ride too long before Intamin decides to pull it out of their catalogue. Even though they were not situations to do with bad design, but rather bad judgement on riders' or operators' behalf, it doesn't look good nonetheless. If this sort of ride could be operated efficiently I'd love it, but there's not much proof of that at Knott's, a park that is generally quite efficient. Flumes haven't really progressed that much since their beginnings about thirty years before Rocky Hollow was built, so a replacement wouldn't really justify itself unless it were remarkably different, such as Ripsaw Falls at Islands of Adventure, but I wouldn't want to see the pricetag on that sort of ride, even without theming (if that's what you call the cardboard cutouts on that ride). I think unless Dreamworld wants to have a go at something on the scale of Wild West Falls, Rocky Hollow is fine as a water ride. It still operates fine, I can't imagine it's too costly to run or maintain, it is very valuable in terms of capacity and family entertainment. Just keep it operating, give it a good cleanup and it's fine.