Richard

Are you running at 800x600? Because it's designed for 1024x768, with a fixed width (Total Thrills has a floating width, based on your resolution/window size - it can take any resolution, up to 1600x1200), if you're running at anything less then you'll get the horizontal scrolling. It's not something I really want to change because 1024x768 is the norm these days. If you're running at anything less, you probably need to take a look at your display settings or think about an upgrade.

While Foxtel's busy having their digital revolution this evening, I decided to get in on the action and have a digital revolution of my own. Actually, I've been planning March 14 as the beta site launch for a while now, so here it is. http://www.roller-coaster.com.au Please note that it is nothing more than a beta test. It is far from the completed site. You'll see a distinct lack of photo galleries. The idea is to take a cruise around the site and have a look at what it can offer, not what it is currently offering. There'll be plenty of updates before the official launch to fill the gaps in content. Do read the article, it should help with understanding a bit about how the new site and in particular the beta period will work.

At the top of the east side there was a section of alloy fins just like the final braking ones, just a few metres from the top. You'd drop then slow and drop again. Double the thrill and twice the fuss. They should have done it to both in the first place or none at all, which is what they've done now.

To my knowledge, they didn't actually advertise the closing in terms of paid spots in ad-breaks or newspapers or anything, it was all through news stories in papers and on television and radio. I like ScReAMmachine!'s way of putting it - would you rather they just decided one morning not the open the gates, and that was that? If there's one thing that the influx of guests proves, it's that Wonderland had huge potential. Sydney definitely has the population to support a large theme park, all the people needed was a reason to come. Some new rides would have done the job just as well as announcing the closure has. The only difference of course is that new rides would have meant the park would still be getting revenue years down the track. Instead they get $50 million now and absolutely nothing in the future. You know, Amazons (a pretty decent water park up here - it was only a 15 minute walk for me) closed about three times before the place was finally turned into a beautiful housing estate. Obviously the Wonderland situation is different given that the land has already been sold, but that place experienced the same sorts of attendance spikes in it's last few days each time. vbmenu_register("postmenu_6521", true);

It's one ride, which at one stage had two different experiences on offer. I'd hardly call it two different rides, especially when we're counting the rides that Dreamworld have purchased from Intamin. Dreamworld handed over $12 million and Intamin strapped some rails to the sides of the tower, it wasn't done as two separate projects or anything.

If Dreamworld are getting Demon, then it's something that even Dreamworld's management don't know about. If nine out of ten operators at Wonderland said they're getting it, I'd have to say that nine out of ten are wrong. If you want to discuss this in further depth, then here's your thread.

Wouldn't that be the LSM coaster he mentioned? Needless to say, Intamin and Dreamworld certainly have worked together on quite a lot of rides. And why not? Intamin have the largest catalogue in the amusement industry and produce arguably the best rides in the world.

It all makes sense now, Zamperla. Gyros, as you've suggested is a Greek food, containing sliced lamb. Still, it's a bit of an "ehh" article to me. As funny as it is, has the whole fat ACEr thing just been done to death? Slick, I'm a tad confused. You mentioned that Intamin have built two freefall rides for Dreamworld? Last I checked they've got one - Giant Drop. Am I missing something?

Unfortunately the pics that thunder001 took for Twisted Rails (a Southern California site that was definitely the best for X and Deja Vu construction updates) are no longer online, which were definitely the best construction shots we had. For a particularly bland article about Tower of Terror from years ago, try this one. Nothing in there that a press release didn't tell you, but there is one (pretty small) shot of the tower being built.

Don't forget Tomb Raider! To be totally honest, I don't think the relationship is as close as we'd like to think. I really think it is a case of Dreamworld, while researching for Nick Central had a look at what else the Paramount parks had on offer (in terms of movie attractions, thrill rides and whatnot). Through this, perhaps Paramount had a look at Dreamworld and the Gold Coast and based Boomerang Bay on what they saw (which has some of the most hideous names I've ever seen, by the way). There's relationship there, but we're certainly not talking to the extent of any part ownership etc., it'd just be meetings and discussions back while Nick Central was being developed which lead to mutual benefits for both parties. Sorry, did I miss something with that ARN&R article? I normally think they're quite funny, but that one just lacked it in many ways. As warm and fuzzy it makes me to see Dreamworld or Australia mentioned on that site, that one was well, unfunny. Did I miss some joke somewhere about Gyro Swings being made of lamb? I get the usual ACE dig, but the whole thing is too bizarre to be considered good satire.

Daniel, what's happened? I thought you were perfect. You don't have a "count down", you have a "countdown". You "count down" a countdown of course. If you're going to apostrophise Krusty, the clown, then it should written as it would correctly appear. It's "Krusty the Klown", not "Krusty the Clown" I don't ask that people are perfect. I just ask that if you're going to go around correcting everyone's mistakes or make a fuss about typing skills that you yourself make sure yours are 100% perfect. Yes, you've made a point with certain members, but now it's just you being a nuisance. I'm not talking about your posts in this thread, it's just your posts in general. You're wasting everyone's time, but much more importantly, my resources.

Financially, the place is a gold mine (historically it's a coal mine, but that's just a bad pun). Day-in-day-out they get coaches coming in with 40+ Asian tourists, who take a ride on one or more of the various gizmos, maybe have lunch in the revolving restaurant (I wouldn't want to see the prices on that menu given how the snackbar/cafe was) and are out of there. Let's look at it this way. It's family owned and operated, yet they have the cash to do a $20 million upgrade/expansion in 2000, a $17 million upgrade/expansion this year and who knows what else in coming years. That's some big spending and does out most Australian parks. To put it into perspective, that's about the same as what Dreamworld has spent on thrill rides in its 20+ year history.

I do have photos. If you read my post, you'll see I said I did take photos, nothing special because of the weather, but a few will find their way to the new website.

Yes, don't forget that Worlds of Adventure only has around a six month operating period whereas our parks operate year-round. That effectively halfs the operating costs. SFWoA is underperforming, that's why they only have 1.5 million guests per year, which is up on a few years ago. Six Flags underestimated the effect that Cedar Point has on the area and tried to go all out installing many very nice and shiny rides, proving that rides don't mean everything (Six Flags as a whole proves this point as well). They were expecting to gain market share - essentially take Cedar Point guests away from Cedar Point - but this didn't succeed. My point is that SFWoA's collection of 10 roller coasters and other attractions isn't normal. It is the result of huge expenditure which is abnormal for a park of its size in the Six Flags chain, and ultimately proved unsuccessful. Six Flags cut their losses and are doing what's in the best interest of the shareholders by selling it.

To anyone that missed out on the t-shirts last Sunday, either because you didn't have the money on you or you couldn't attend, you can still purchase them. They are priced at $25 each, and as with the calendars, this includes postage. You can pay using credit card online, or send a money order or cheque direct to me. For credit card payments, see this link: https://www.2checkout.com/cgi-bin/buyers/or...ge.2c?sid=27553 Once you have proceeded, please email me and let me know of the size you want. They're available in M,L,XL. If your address differs from the one entered on the credit card page, then let me know the correct address. For cheques, mail-orders, wads of cash etc., contact me for an address. Make the cheques etc. out to me. It'd be wise to include somewhere your address and the size/s you want. And YES, you can still purchase a Total Thrills Calendar for $20.

Wow, that's some unexpected news. In regards to the Six Flags Worlds of Adventure sale... if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, right?

Hey all, here's a two week old update from Sea World. http://www.totalthrills.com/sbconst.php It took a while for me to get around to putting it together and WVTP thumbs-upping it, so it's not the latest. I'm told by the park it's looking much more complete now. The April 9 opening date sounds pretty set in stone now. With four months delay, you know they'll have taken the extra time to get it perfect. I'm guessing that they could have had it going by as early as February, but held off to make it hit the Easter holidays. Definitely a winner. I'm not shy in suggesting that this is likely Sea World's best attraction to date.

Perhaps put more eloquently than Daniel, but yeah, there was really nothing there that is terribly new. Granted, it's the first time it's been published (what are the sources of the articles, by the way?), but I don't think it's something that can be seen as. The beauty of the SARS et al excuses is that they are actually quite true. Wonderland relied on I believe about 25% of its attendance from international guests. International guests aren't attracted to Australian theme parks by big thrill rides, they are attracted by uniqueness, diversity and in particular wildlife. There's not too many attractions you can add that will ultimately effect this demographic. This all comes from marketing pretty much. When the aforementioned "excuses" hit, this portion of the attendance did take a huge hit. Dreamworld did well to counter this with very well times thrill and family attractions. Warner Village have been a bit slow on the uptake (and some badly timed attractions and aquisitions targeting international guests didn't help), but they're pretty well back. The hit did come from SARS and whatnot, but only because of the lack of investment to make the difference with domestic guests as was appropriately done on the Gold Coast.

Last weekend on Saturday, joz, djrappa and I headed up to Scenic World, on a not-so-scenic day. The place is in the middle of some pretty huge renovations, but nothing significant starts until next month, when the Skyway will be taken down to be replaced, so we still got to check out everything that was on offer (we didn't ride Skyway anyway, so it doesn't really affect us). The 45 year old Skyway that was essentially built by the owner of the park (Harry Hammon, Phil Hammon's father) is being taken down to make way for an all new system, built by CWA Constructions of Switzerland. The new gondola will take 84 people (Scenic World has a strange affection for the number 84 - as well as cables and pulleys - both Sceniscender and Scenic Railway can take up to 84 riders) and will essentially follow the same path out across the gorge giving great views, especially of the Three Sisters rock formation. Not many pictures to show. I might upload some later, but with the weather the way it was, nothing great turned out. As far as the actual place is cocnerned, it's still got this tacky classiness about it and remains perhaps the biggest rip-off tourist attraction in Australia, with return rides costing a great $12 per ride, or $36 to ride all three - once. Expect to pay about $10 or so for the sort of light meal you might pay $3 for at your local bakery. Needless to say, we did fork out the cash for both the Scenic Railway and Sceniscender. I haven't ridden Scenic Railway since about 1994 or something, so it was as good as new to me. This thing goes beyond thrilling - it is genuinely scary riding in the front seat. No restraints, nothing but a handrail at the very front. There's nothing in front of you, and the crazy angle means unless you're holding on, you'll pretty well slip out. There's nothing to hold onto other than the mesh roof if you can get a grip, or the handrail, which you have to lean way forward to grab. Then comes the fact that you're on two small railroad tracks heading down a 400m hill. There's enough redundancy in the safety systems to guarantee you that nothing will go wrong, but you view things differently as you head down the hill. As for Sceniscender, it's a much better ride in nicer weather, as great as the whole "disappearing into nothing" effect is; nothing beats coming to the edge of that cliff and heading straight over, with everything in full view. While on this, we got told by a questionable operator that Orphan Rocker is set to open at the same time as the new Skyway, in November of this year. Given that he also said that this fact was published in the latest "Blue Mountains Tourist Magazine", which we later verified as untrue, we took this news as a "we'll believe it when we see it" type situation. Onto Orphan Rocker, it still sits there dormant. It was repainted in 2000 when the place was redeveloped, and that paintjob isn't as nice as it was a few years ago, stained from gum trees and dirt and dust. Still, nothing that a few spins of the coaster wouldn't fix, but I wouldn't hold your breath. I'll see what the story is, if there is one.

Nah, you wouldn't make them battery powered. You'd have a motor connected to some live cables running above the track. Batteries limit a lot of things including the power you can get out of it and the length of time you can operate it for, and limit safety/block systems you can have. With live wires you've got unlimited scope in terms of speeds, operating hours and you can have a great block system that could allow dispatches that give a sweet capacity even with only one or two people per car. You won't need anything for steering if it's in a tube. This thing's not going anywhere the track isn't and banking would be worked out by our good friend physics, as it is on toboggans, bobsleds etc. You'd make it out of some type of steel. It would need significant reinforcement to make the supports look nice. Run rails along the tube to create some strength. A standard toboggan gets away with nothing more than a relatively thin (perhaps 2mm) stainless steel chute because they use the ground as reinforcement. Ventillation and heat. This tube is going to get seriously hot on any day the sun is out. You're going to pump a heck of a lot of air conditioning into this thing just to keep it at a bareable temperature. Aesthetics - will this ride be visually appealing? Rides are quite often chosen because of how people can watch the ride. A person who doesn't wish to ride something can often achieve just as much satisfaction from watching people on the ride. I think a series of twisted tubes running every which way would look very cool, but as intriguing as it is, to non-riders it is just a big sculpture. To the park evaluating a ride's effects on particular demographics, when they consider non-riders, it's a big expensive sculpture. These are just a few hurdles you'd face when designing such a ride. I'm quite interested in ride design. Rather than the artwork, I perfer to get them working on paper, with appropriate calculations and whatnot. It's really nothing that'll ever go any further than paper, but just something to do as an extreme measure to kill time.

I've been meaning to get back to this thread for quite a while. Better late than never, aye? I think that's a great call doing a bit on the west coast before heading east. I do think it's not as nice as east, but what you've mentioned there - San Francisco and Vegas are definitely two of the big standouts. As I'm sure you probably know, Los Angeles is really not the nicest place to be, what with pollution and the sheer size of the city. San Fran is such a fun city. It's safe enough to be walking around, anywhere at any time, but unlike most American cities that are this "tourist-friendly", it's easy to escape the tourist traps (and most of them are really good anyway). It's really one of the nicest places I've ever been - I really would have loved to spend heaps more time there. As for Las Vegas, certainly a different experience, and almost the exact opposite of San Fran. We only got to spend a single day actually seeing the strip because of the Grand Canyon trip (an exhausting trip but well worth it), but it doesn't take long at all to walk (or take their new monorail) from casino to casino, doing the rides and seeing some of the bizarre stuff that's in the casinos. The Grand Canyon trip is nice. It's some beautiful countryside all the way up. I just wish I could have appreciated it more, but it was about -13ºC up there, and I was hardly dressed for the occasion (jeans and a fairly light jacket). When's your trip happening? Obviously mid-year so you can catch all of the seasonal parks and this year I'm guessing, unless you're so organised that you've booked flights 18 months in advance (which to me would be a super-human effort).

Yeah, I do have an ABN, hence being able to get the .com.au. I wouldn't say I'm running it as a business, but it is operating through an ABN.

Yep, new site, new focus, new design so new name. Just in case anyone is wondering, Total Thrills will remain for the forseeable future. The forums will move to the new site, but the actual main site will remain with the galleries and whatnot. I do have plans to also give it a different purpose (I've got the basic design complete), but the focus is on the new site. Roller-Coaster.com.au

This is posted in the wrong forum, so I'll move it to somewhere more appropriate. If you're suggesting I go down and take photos or whatever for Total Thrills (or even Roller-Coaster.com.au) by posting it in this forum, then I'd say think again. I wouldn't step foot inside Brisbane's Royal Show (Ekka) again unless I'm not paying, and that's 25 minutes from me. I'm definitely not going to get in another plane and go down there just to visit the same basic thing. Truth is, they're a ripoff, overcrowded and just plain suck. Best of luck to anyone going though. Take some nice photos and send them to me and they'll have a new home on Roller-Coaster.com.au (sneaking in as many plugs as I can).

I'll post something more in-depth when I'm a little more alive than I am now. It was a great day and I'm sure everyone had fun. It certainly was an enjoyable experience and good to meet everyone and put faces to names. Anyone who SMSed me and I didn't get back, I'm sorry I didn't, but credit (along with money - thanks joz ) became a bit of a scarcity for me. I hope it didn't inconvenience you in any way. To answer a few questions that are out there. I'll flog off the t-shirts as soon as I get around to organizing it. The new website, which I never actually got around to mentioning, besides at Maccas afterwoods with djrappa, nev and joz (and that was not so much an announcement, but rather "hey, ABC stole the domain I wanted!"), but the new website will be a nice and easy to remember www.roller-coaster.com.au.