Richard

Obviously a "2" went missing in there somewhere. Should be all good now.

Let's try and discuss things without resorting to quote-wars if someone is unsure of something. Instead try and make sure you're answering their question, or that you're doing it in an easy to understand way.

Can you explain the track's colour scheme exactly to us? What exactly was blue and what was red? Was it a triangle truss like in the image you attached, or was it box trus?

The Western Action Show opened with the park. The western area has been there since the park opened, however the "better half" of it was added with the WWW/WWF expansion in 1998. The two areas are easily distinguished by the pathing - the old half is painted bitumen, the new half is textured concrete. I have always believed that this original Western show was the best show the park has ever had. It combined all the usual western tricks and gags, and it had some of the best pre-show entertainment around (even Police Academy's stuff didn't give this a run for its money). It was a shame that they decided to replace it with Maverick (obviously good for cross-promotional purposes), which was a very lackluster show.

I'd suggest you look at the Community Guidelines. They outline a few things for this site, like using correct spelling and punctuation, capital letters and not using chat shorthand.

A four megapixel camera would certainly be adequate.

That problem has been fixed. Thanks for letting me know.

To update things, I am currently trialing ads on the main site. I am using Google Adsense because these ads are not obstrusive, and can be quite relevant to the site (especially with companies like Sea World Nara advertising). I will be trying a few different spots here and there on the site to get it right, and if it goes well they will eventually be found in the forums. Ads are only visible to non-subscribers.

California Screamin' at Disney's California Adventure does just that. Each element of the ride is accompanied by perfectly fitting music, blasting out of two speakers found behind each ear. To a lesser extent, Rock 'n Rollercoaster at Disney-MGM Studios achieves much the same (and I assume it's the same with the version at Disney Studios in Paris).

I think there's no question that the Gold Coast has a far better climate for a theme park than Sydney. Having said that though, it is by no means an ideal theme park location, given the current market saturation. Disney aren't going to enter an existing theme park market. Disney are the market. No phrase sums up the power of a Disney theme park better than the mantra Build it and they will come. If a Disney park does eventuate, its location doesn't matter. If it lives up to the Disney name then people will come.

If you haven't already seen on the main page, Roller-Coaster.com.au is seeking a Dreamworld "represenatative". This job more or less will involve going to Dreamworld on a regular basis (roughly once a fortnight, more when major construction is underway), and documenting what is going on with extensive photography. Roller-Coaster.com.au will pay for your Dreamworld "Max Action Pass" - which allows you unlimited entry for an entire year, plus in-park perks such as food and merchandise discounts. If you are currently in a position where you can provide extensive regular photographic updates to Roller-Coaster.com.au, then please look at this page. Contact me or post here with any questions.

If you missed out on the Roller-Coaster.com.au 2005 Calendar or the Total Thrills 2004 Calendar, then now's your chance to get them both. Because of the very limited remaining supply of the 2004 calendar, only TWO of this package will be sold. This package is $30.00, and available to the first two people to contact me. There are a total of 25 fantastic full-colour glossy images across the two calendars featuring some of Australia's best rides and attractions, including: Bush Beast (Wonderland Sydney) Corkscrew (Sea World) Crazy Mouse (Brisbane Exhibition) Cyclone (Dreamworld) Diamond Python (Merimbula's Magic Mountain) Lethal Weapon (Warner Bros. Movie World) Mad Mouse (Luna Park, Sydney) Metropolis (Luna Park, Melbourne) Polar Bear Shores (Sea World) Reef Diver (Dreamworld) Runaway Reptar Rollercoaster (Dreamworld) Scenic Flyway (Scenic World) Scenic Railway (Luna Park, Melbourne) Shark Bay (Sea World) Viking's Revenge Flume Ride Wild Mouse (Aussie World) Wild West Falls (Warner Bros. Movie World) Don't miss out. Remember that there are only two of these calendar packages available! The price is only $30.00 including postage - that's only $15.00 per calendar (less than what they cost to get printed). Contact me if this interests you. I will accept credit card, bank deposit or money order for payment.

If you don't see the value in it, feel free not to subscribe. Otherwise, if you think you'd get something useful out of one of the three package, don't hesitate to sign up for it.

The Thunderbolt at Coney Island (perhaps made most famous by its unique appearance in Woody Allen's Annie Hall) stood for 18 years between closure and its unfortunate demolition in 2000. Of course this was a ride that was 75 years old at the time of its removal, and of tremendous historical value to Coney Island and Brooklyn. In short, a ride that was most definitely worth fighting for to keep. I don't think so much can be said about Bush Beast on the other hand.

The primary reason for Lethal Weapon's extended closure was to perform much-needed work on the track and trains to make the ride more comfortable. There was extensive work done to the track and trains. It finally reopened today with nearly completely retrofitted trains with far more padding, allowing for a far smoother ride experience.

There is no form of upstop device on the ride. There are road wheels and guide wheels. As for what keeps the boats where they are, there's this little thing called gravity.

There won't be a subscribers' only area as such, but as mentioned, certain content such as high resolution and archive videos will only be available to subscribers. Subscribers will be the only members to have avatars and custom titles. This makes it possible to tell between the two, but there will also be a line stating that they are a subscriber or non-subscriber. That's actually quite a good idea with competitions. I do plan to have semi-regular competitions (with prizes), but I hadn't thought of offering park tickets. Something like that would be a good way to kickstart things, especially with the magazines and DVD not until later in the year. Ads may be added for non-subscribers. I still have to investigate the value of such things. We're not talking overrun with ads, but perhaps as you suggested a single banner ad on each page. Postage costs for the DVD and magazine are included with postage within Australia, as they always are here.

There is always that possibility. I'm not too keen on ads, but it depends on how subscriptions go. Ideally I'd love to be able to continue ad-free, but if it comes to it there's always that possibility. My thinking however is that people will sign up because they support the site, and they support what I'm trying to do. As I've said, this is hardly about "cashing in". I've been working on this site for close to two years (development started in June of 2003) - all out of my own pocket. It continues to come out of my own pocket. If I can pay for the day-to-day running on this site that would be great. If I can find enthusiastic people who are in a better position than myself to visit parks for the purposes of general and construction updates and provide them with the facilities to continue updating us (annual passes etc.), then that will be fantastic. The first glimpses of the magazine and DVD will be available as the year progresses. As I investigate it further, there may be a chance that there are two magazines produced each year rather than one, because it will provide those who do sign up with something better, and more of an incentive for those who haven't. I'd like to think you all know my stance on quality, and those who have purchased previous Roller-Coaster.com.au products such as the calendar know that every effort is made to provide the best possible product, and you certainly won't be let down by this DVD or magazine.

Stealing ideas? Care to elaborate? This has been in the works for a good few months now, and I'm really not sure what ideas I'm stealing.

My overall intention with this is to invest further into the site. There will be further positions opening up later on with this site for members to contribute content, and certainly with incentives. More on this later though. There will be a system put in place where content provided by people other than myself will be credited appropriately. This is all yet to be sorted out though. However do rest assured that I won't be benefiting unfairly from the content provided by other people. My stance on the changing of things already present is there needs to be an incentive to subscribe. There is nothing being taken away from the functionality of the site. Credit card is only one payment method that will be utilised. Anyone can go into an Australia Post store and send a money order and there will also be the option to direct deposit the money from your bank account.

The latest videos will always be available to everyone. If you want to look back at older ones, or get high quality versions of them you will need to be a subscriber. There may also be "subscriber only" videos that will be exclusively for subscribers.

Roller-Coaster.com.au continues to grow and expand. It remains Australia's most popular and comprehensive theme park and amusement site. Roller-Coaster.com.au has remained 100% ad-free from the very start despite increasing costs associated with the operation and serving of this site. Web hosting costs are thankfully reduced because as many of you know I do work in the web hosting business, but the costs are still there and continue to grow. Regular theme park updates aren't free either. I do enjoy doing them and will continue to do so, but they cost me time and money. What will be happening shortly is a subscription system will be put in place and aims to give you, the user, the opportunity to get as much as you want out of Roller-Coaster.com.au. This is about offering the best possible service I can. I want to expand the site and grow on what it is, but much of what I have in mind will be somewhat costly. For these reasons a Roller-Coaster.com.au Subscription buys you more than just brownie points with me (this doesn't even enter the equation). On offer will be several different packages which I believe give you back well and truly your money's worth. Base Subscription •$10.00 for 6 months or $15.00 for 12 months. •Avatar and Custom User Title in forums. •Full access to video archives and hi-res versions of select videos. Extra Subscription •$25.00 for 12 months. •Yearly DVD*. Plus everything offered in Base Subscription! Gold Subscription •$35.00 for 12 months •Full-colour "year in review" Roller-Coaster.com.au Magazine**. Plus everything offered in Extra Subscription! *The "Yearly DVD" is a professionally produced documentary-style video. This isn't just a stock standard theme park music video. It is a documentary focusing on a single park or attraction, featuring facts, interviews and more. This is released in around October with more information available at a later date. **The Roller-Coaster.com.au Annual Magazine is a full-colour magazine released in January featuring all the major issues and updates that have happened over the year in Australian theme parks. All of Roller-Coaster.com.au's construction updates come to life, as well as plenty of previously unseen feature items such as interviews, editorials and more. The DVD and magazine will be not be available unless you are a subscriber. The details are not entirely worked out on all of these things, however no changes will be put in place until all the details are worked out. Payments will be accepted by direct bank deposit, credit card, money order and cheque in order to make this as accessible as possible for everyone. I'm looking for any further suggestions for this. What other features or options would make you more likely to sign up?

If you're going to correct people, make sure you're correct yourself. At least come up with a way to be annoying that's actually original. The logical answer, and the one that came to mind for me when you mentioned the point about Disney officials would be the film industry, which is far more lucrative in the short term than theme parks and is an area that the NSW Government have invested considerable resources into.

Let's try our hardest to follow the Community Guidelines. Use full stops and capital letters, don't use chat shorthand and actually put some thought into spelling.

The magnets are the white coloured fins with the yellow tags on them.