Richard

I'm pleased to announce that the site's name will be released on Sunday to all those attending Wonderland Sydney with us. For those not coming, just stay tuned a little longer and all will be revealed. I hope to have the site up and running before the end of March, and this shouldn't be too hard to achieve. All that needs doing is the creating of galleries, which won't take long at all.

Just confirming what rabid said above, Thunderbolt is being recycled, not relocated. That means sold for scrap. Essentially with all the work that's required, Dreamworld realised it's not a valid investment for anyone, so they're getting rid of in the quickest and most fun way possible.

Let's all chill. As much as I hate to see a mockery of the English language, we really don't need the personal attacks. I'd love it if everyone at least tried to spell and write correctly, but we all know that ain't gonna happen. As for Demon, Dreamworld's response is that they're not in talks with anyone about any future attractions, new or used. They're now focused on their new attraction for this year, which is new. I also gathered from what I was told that a ride like Demon wouldn't have the lasting appeal that would make it a valid purchase for Dreamworld.

Everyone who's coming will be getting an email today with the finalised details. It'll go over most things you'll need to know. Most importantly, if you need to contact me after tonight, or you're running late on the morning or can't make it for some reason, give me a ring.

Anyone catch Sunrise this morning? They had a story running that Thunderbolt had just closed. The idea was right, but they were just a tad misinformed, or running the story only six months late. I'll have semi-regular updates (maybe every month or more), but for more regular stuff (i.e. if you want to see it come down bolt by bolt :cool:), you'll have to check other sites.

A chain dog, catch wagon and virtually any component could very easily be replaced, so that's an irrelevant issue. If an Australian park were to pick up Demon, they'll do it because it's a bargain, and perhaps naturally expect work to be done on it to make it ship-shape. I'm not sure how worn the track is, but I expect that it's nothing that will affect the ride in the least bit - this same track design has been used for thirty years and there are Boomerangs out there more than twenty years old. Demon's effectively only 12 years old (I'll give you 12.5 with the six months for Expo included). Now, comparing the change from Expo 88's Titan to Demon to a similar thing to go to say Dreamworld is completely inaccurate. Expo 88 had a small "fun park", named Space Park, which was meant to launch with Expo, but remain on as a permanent attraction. Attendance to the park was pretty much abysmal, reviews were anything but positive and the place was shut around the same time as Expo finished. Titan was meant to go to Luna Park in Melbourne but that fell through, so Wonderland picked it up - some three years after it last operated. You can't expect that a ride that ten million or more people have ridden to silently reappear at a park, no less one that relies significantly on interstate visitors such as the Gold Coast parks, without people knowing. Big Dipper barely operated in Sydney, yet most guests to Dreamworld were fully aware that it was a second hand ride from Sydney, simply because of the coverage they'd seen on the news or in the paper or whatever. You can't get away with it with a ride that ran for nine months, so how do you propose Dreamworld pulls it off with a ride that's over twelve years old, and operated in one of Australia's major theme parks? People aren't as stupid as we'd like them to be, you know.

Everyone who's expressed interest will be getting an email about this probably tomorrow, confirming everything and giving you the final rundown on everything. Just a few points until then. There will be a "limited edition" Total Thrills t-shirts on sale on the day. More information will be available as soon as I get it, but they'll be under $20 and will be available in M, L and XL. They'll be worth getting - I'll have them with me all day on the day for anyone that wants to buy one. If you didn't get a Total Thrills calendar when they were available and are interested in picking one up, I'll also have a handful with me, so bring an extra $20 if that sounds like you. Get the whole lot and you've managed to spend $90 at Wonderland this Sunday! As Flea suggested above, if you're not already on the list, or are still uncertain about it, please contact us or post in this thread as soon as possible, because we really do need to know final numbers.

Hmm, your mention of the five headed serpent got me thinking. I believe this same article ran in the Courier Mail up here some months ago, because now that I think of it, those exact same parks were in a top ten article up here. They're both News Limited papers, and article sharing, particularly in general yet costly topics such as travel is a somewhat common practice. So I guess Slick, chances are the guy isn't even from Melbourne.

Just a note to everyone, the discussion about the possibility of some rides moving to Dreamworld has been moved to the Dreamworld forum. It wasn't Wonderland's management that were calling the shots. They were running the best park possible with what resources they had. In hindsight I think it's obvious that Sunway were in it for what we're seeing now. I don't understand either, it might be complex to operate a theme park, but that $50m price they got for the land could easily have been made in five years or so, especially with some investment in the park. I don't think that Wonderland's management team knew until fairly recently, and this is evident with the Beach refurbishments, Transylvania repainting, Superhero Headquaters and whatnot that were taking place up until this year. They were probably well informed that the park might be shut down in coming years to make way for other developments, but their brief would of course have been to maximise profits until they're given the word. The refurbishments probably came out of squeezing every penny of their upkeep budget for a few years, because I certainly don't think Sunway would have granted more than the bare minimum knowing the future of the park.

I don't see anything missing from the list. It's an interesting blend. I don't think it is a comprehensive top ten so much, but rather a collection of the best all around the world. I'd perhaps reconsider Knott's on the list, as that place is absolutely nothing special, and put Tivoli Gardens in Denmark on the list. I've never been to the park, but it looks like an absolute gem, and it certainly has the history. Let's hope that their new B&M doesn't ruin the place. I don't see Islands of Adventure missing. That park has issues, and needs a lot of work done to it before it's worthy of significant mention. I'm not talking about specific rides (which are all pretty great), but the park as a whole. I don't know about Cedar Point, but it does appear to have everything (despite being located in the middle of Hicksville, USA ). I'll agree with you and put Busch Gardens (only been to Tampa, but it does look to be the better) in there - in place of Knott's. I see Movie World included just so that Australians don't feel too left out. To be fair, it's better than Knott's Berry Farm though. Slick, what does the number of coasters in Melbourne have to do with the opinions expressed in the article? I'd say he/she visited the parks - for starters most of those parks have qualities that can't be found on RCDB. I don't know what the article was like, but I suspect atmosphere, appearance, staff and other things played a big role in the choices. You're being awfully critical of it - I'd like to see your top 10. Even slip in parks you've never been to, and let's see how it goes.

The world doesn't work quite as simply as that. For starters, Macquarie Leisure Trust isn't a division, it is a public company (i.e. listed on the Stock Exchange), with 7,228 different unitholders who own the company. I believe that Macquarie Bank hold a significant percentage of the company, but that doesn't mean that they hand out piles of money to them - even if they were entirely owned by Macquarie Bank, how would giving them money help the actual bank, when that same money could be lent to another company with interest payments. I assure you that Macquarie Leisure Trust do indeed rely on banks and loans and whatnot, just like any other company in the world, to survive.

Uhh, Slick, Big Dipper was put onto the market in early 2001. It wasn't more than a few months later that Dreamworld had purchased it and it was being dismantled and moved up. From about May through until December they had to do everything you mentioned, as well as some far more creative things like re-engineer and extend some supports. I'm puzzled by a few points though. Architects to design a new housing? We're talking about a roof over the station. Cyclone's queue and station house would presumably have had absolutely no imput from an architect - it would have all been done by a civil engineer. There's absolutely nothing stopping Dreamworld from doing this, especially not time or money constraints, and they proved that with Cyclone. I'm not saying they will get the ride (I doubt it), just that the reasons they won't get it aren't because of money or time, it's a number of things, including: Wonderland probably haven't even begun to think about putting rides on the market. Demon would be far more recognisable than Big Dipper, and not have the sort of returns it did. Dreamworld have another ride planned for this year. It is too difficult to market two major attractions, and the results are never as good as if it had been done over several years.

Please, let's leave this thread for discussions about the meet - this is one topic that doesn't need to be sidetracked. I won't be going to the Easter Show, so obviously I won't be taking any photos or anything of the place. However by this time the new website will be up and running, and there will be ways for users' photos to be published on this site. I know of at least one member here who has suggested that they'll be contributing photos for the Easter Show. Of course all will be revealed when the new site is launched, hopefully very soon. Something will be happening, like a tribute or something for Wonderland Sydney. I haven't put much thought into it yet, so there's not much I can say. It'll also, like everything on the new site, rely on user contributions. Back onto topic now.

Bummer, I'm back home now, so I guess not. Good weekend - I'd never stayed there before and it wasn't too bad. It's overpriced - you're paying for a slightly fancy (yet outdated) foyer and a monorail station. Once you're in your room, it's the same as any hotel out there. The park's good, the Pirate Ship was down for maintenance, and Shark Bay is nearing completion and looking very fine. Corkscrew's running very nicely with some reasonably fresh wheels.

If you know what Colorbond is and the elements that make it up, then why did you incorrectly correct me in saying it was "[plain] old steel". Plain old steel is an alloy made from iron and carbon, and often other minerals. Take that stuff, coat it in an aluminium/zinc alloy, then there's about three other layers added on top of this to make it as durable as it is. You've never heard any generic shed referred to as aluminium or tin when they're clearly not? I'd say it's quite a commonly used way to describe any shed made of a metal, however incorrect. When it comes to Colorbond, there's aluminium there, so I don't see what point your making. If it has to be pure aluminium to be called aluminium, then I guess you're wrong in saying it's steel, because it's definitely not pure steel. I made no mention of the paint, so I don't know where that last point came from.

Thought it'd be good to mention to everyone that I'll be going tomorrow morning down to the Gold Coast, to pay Sea World a visit. I was planning on going to a gig tomorrow night, but the blasted thing sold out (all 1,200 tickets), and we had booked into Sea World Nara, making use of some reasonably priced accommodation deals. I'm going to spend two lazy days down there - Friday and Saturday, probably both at the park. I'll bring a new Shark Bay update, and I want to take a lot more photos around the park - last time the weather was overcast (still took 260 photos of course). Mostly for the "new site" (I haven't forgotten about that if you're wondering ), so it'll have all new photographs... nothing you've seen here before. joz, keep an eye out for me both days, I'll do the same. :cool:

Colorbond isn't plain old steel, it's a zinc and aluminium alloy coated steel base that has several layers of expoxies and other things baked on or chemically bonded. It's very common worldwide to refer to any metal shed as being aluminium or tin, regardless of how technically correct that is - no need to get bogged down on the finer points.

The ride starts out as a tour of the Looney Tunes studios in Hollywood, including the filming of their latest movie, but it is discovered along the way that Bugs Bunny has tunneled down to Australia, and we're recruited to help track him down. Thankfully there's an set from an old movie set on the moon, with a large drill that we put into use to tunnel after Bugs. Guests then board boats and go along a gentle stream in search of him, with all the other Looney Tunes causing havoc all around. All ends well with a pretty unique elevator and splashdown. Yeah, it's essentially a Pirates of the Carribean style ride, though not nearly as grand in terms of theming or storyline. It is technically speaking a flume ride, meaning it is powered by a flowing channel of water, but I'm with rabid in that I wouldn't call it a flume ride, because that's not really the focus of the ride. GoBoi, it's true that they're designed to look like the studios, but to my knowledge, the Warner Bros. Studios at the Gold Coast are the only studios out there to use this particular studio design, which is definitely one of the cheaper out there. I've personally experienced Universal, Warner Bros. and CBS in Hollywood, which are all nice rendered and painted buildings. Paramount is also the same. Fox Studios in Sydney is also a nicer looking place, as are Fox's Hollywood studios. Sure, when you're making a movie on the inside, it matters to nobody, but when it comes to transfering the design toa theme park, which is supposed to wow and excite people with its appearance, it's a different matter. I never really liked the design, and I think it's pretty bad that they are so extensively used, unaltered, throughout the park. I love the rides and their theming is fantastic within the rides, but in terms of general appearance I it think leaves a lot to be desired. Take Disney-MGM Studios at Walt Disney World, a park with the exact same concept as Warner Bros. Movie World. Rock 'n Rollercoaster uses a similar studio building (though, again, like most, it is nicely rendered and painted). However, this ride is themed this way. You know what'd work great in this particular situation? If they covered up the exposed white aluminium walls with some nice building fronts. I've never thought of it like this, but for what is supposed to be the Looney Tunes' home, there isn't much in the way of housing for the actual characters, or funky little shops selling all sorts of Acme goods and whatnot. Obviously just the façades, because there's no room to build actual shops or walkthrough houses there, but it just makes it that little bit more complete. This is how Disney and Warner Bros. parks differ - and I'm not saying that I don't like Movie World at all. Sure, there's not the budgets here like at any Disney park, but we're not really talking that much. I'd have to say that in terms of expenditure to attendance increase ratio, Movie World would have to be the park in Australia with the least spent on it.

Here's the outside of the building. It's the same unspectacular façade as every other indoor ride at Movie World - an aluminium shed.

What I'm a bit annoyed about is how well Macquarie Leisure Trust have been doing. I've been thinking about investing maybe $1,000 in Maquarie Leisure Trust units for a number of years now, and I've watched the unit price go from around 50c to a unit, up to now over $1.00. They seem to be a great company. Dreamworld was a fantastic investment for them. Not so much for the returns it gives, but because of its high value, it gives them more borrowing power. If you think this company is going to be expanding with more theme parks, I'd think again, I'd be looking at marinas (of which they already have a fantastic and growing portfolio), and other things like golf courses. If you want a bad investment, then Village Roadshow is your bet. Their theme parks are doing great, but when it comes to films and the company as a whole, they're getting too big a little to fast, and I'm not really a fan of some of their board of directors, or some of their recent decisions (in my opinion, in comparison Michael Eisner is a saint ).

It's the Holiday Inn at the Rooty Hill RSL, I think it used to be a Country Comfort. The reason for the Rooty Hill location is because it's the closest nice hotel to Wonderland Sydney. I've stayed there twice before (1993 and 2002), so I figured stick with what you know. I'm only able to be in town for one night, so close to the park is the way to go.

Refer to the post right above yours, willsy. They were unfortunately lost in the forum software change that was made some time ago. Gazza, if you want to edit your original post to add the attachments, that'd be cool, or I could dig around in the old system and find them and do it for you.

Yeah, friends etc. are fine, especially to get the numbers for Flea's discount (thanks for your work to help finalise things!). If you plan on bringing more than yourself, then let us know in this thread. I'll send an email out soon to everyone to make sure no one misses out.

So, you're saying that technology developed in 1995 is not surpassed by what Intamin are able to do now, in 2004? I'm not saying that the ride is not comlex, I'm saying that there are surely more reliable systems that are out there. LCDs and wireless systems doesn't make a ride the latest. What rabid said is right - the ride itself is far outdated - launches are far more efficient and exciting these days. Of course, I see nothing wrong with the actual ride - it still does its job as a thrilling ride. It's just blatantly obvious that the technology driving the ride is unreliable and could be improved. Having said that, I don't really care if the ride's system were changed, because it's never really effected me. Also, there's no technical reason that TTD or Xcelerator would close in the rain. I suspect the only reason they do this is the damage that the speed can do. Speaking of updated technology, Eureka Mountain has a new control system installed, which adds nothing to the capacity, but just makes it a safer and easier to operate ride.

I'd really appreciate it if you created a new topic rather than posting in this one. Okay, I understand the need for maintenance, and I can appreciate the ride being down so that they can have the full freedom to work on it to bring it up to scratch after a year or more, but what I don't understand is why they pull it down for so long, yet days like today - a weekday, they're not working on it. I can understand that maintenance teams can't be there all day every day, but if you pull a ride down, it'd just be smart to be working as quickly as you can to bring it back up again. Add up the hours they'll spend working on Reptar, and I doubt it'll add up to much more than a few days. I don't think anything happened with Cyclone to make the changes to the station. I always thought it was somewhat unsafe up the front of the train - you're about three stories up - it was an accident waiting to happen. They also added a bigger gate to the exit door. When the ride opened, there was nothing there at all, just an open door. They soon added a small airgate, but now they've gone all out with a jailhouse door. I'm not sure about the laser sensors you're talking about, but Cyclone's lift hill runs non-stop anyway, so there's no issue of it not starting or anything. Giant Drop's west side gondola was there today in its entirity. I'm not sure where you've got the information about it being shipped to Germany from, but it's sitting there, attached to the tower as always. Not operating, in typical Dreamworld fashion. The covers for Tower of Terror's lapbars are a cheap vinyl cover. They looked nice for all of about two weeks when they were new, until disgruntled guests got to them (you wonder why there's so much graffite in all of the queues at Dreamworld but not at other parks - it's because everyone's so bored from waiting forever). They were put there because after five years the original orange ones were looking a bit shabby. It can't be too long until Dreamworld takes off the red covers, because the orange restraints after five years were far better than the two year-old red covers. Unless Dreamworld plan on reworking or replacing the ride's controllers, I don't see the reliability issue being solved. The components of the ride are fine - it's the system that runs it that causes all the errors. It certainly could do with a replacement given how far amusement technology has come in the past seven years, but I just don't see it happening. Well, what you're speaking of is the old on-ride photo system's supports for Thunderbolt. You can see it in this picture. When the ride first opened, they had a Giant Drop style on-ride photo system, but it was later automated (is having two staff photographers on duty all day really the most cost-effective way to do on-ride photos for that ride?). In other news, Cyclone is getting a valley platform built in the sidewinder. I can't say I've ever experienced the ride valleying, but it does seem the most logical place for a valleying to occur, given that the sidewinder is the third highest point of the ride after the first drop. I can't imagine getting out while banked at 65º will be easy though. My last point, not that it matters to me at all, but Tuesday - shouldn't you have been at school?