Richard

Try saving it to disc (right click, "Save Target As") rather than opening it, also try going to Tools>Internet Options then "Delete Files", which should fix the problem.

Naturally you can expect that fin to be used in a braking system, aso there's no other logical use for it on a ride like this. The tyre drive system on this ride is, like Scooby-Doo and other Mack rides a horizontal system, not a vertical pinch system, so this fin won't be used with the tyre drive. Next to the fin you can see the permanent magnets which will be used for magnetic braking. There will be an alloy fin on the track that slots in between these two magnets. Magnetic braking systems have been used on water rides for a number of years now. As rides become larger the force required to stop them has exceeded that which a reasonably sized splashdown section can offer. Rides like Perilous Plunge, Jurassic Park River Adventure and others use similar systems. Magnetic brakes work on the same basic principal as LIM launches, only in reverse (convert motion to electrical energy, whereas LIM converts electrical energy to motion). Those two metal plates are what the tyre drive system will grip onto. There is one on each side because the tyre drive system is to one side of the track, and this will allow boats facing either way to be propelled by the drive system. As with most motorised mechanisms, the drive motor is located to the side. In this case the turntables have a belt drive system connecting it to the turntable.

Every single one of those quotes fails to take into account the fact that the train was to be taken off the track after the very next cycle. The noise was heard and acted upon, so that discounts all of the above statements (most of which would have been derived from another new article, not the actual DOSH report), because regardless of what was in the Disney training books, the people operating the ride at this point in time were smart enough to realise that the train should be retired for maintenance. It is incredibly unfortunate that what happened did happen, but a judgement call was made, and I believe that what they did was perhaps the smartest and most logical thing anyone could do in their position. It's very easy to have 20/20 hindsight you know. That's garbage above of Disney copping the fines over guest safety. After all, we all know that former employees posting on conspiracy websites are the most reliable source of unbiased information.

Variety.com have confirmed that Warner Bros. aren't building any permanent sets at the Movie World studios as this proved to be too costly. If they plan to utilise any sets from the movie, they'll have to have them shipped up from Sydney, where the sets will instead all be built.

If you want to discuss Wonderland Sydney properly then create a new thread to do so. If there's nothing to say about Wonderland then don't post anything here. We don't need off-topic garbage in here.

And here we were discussing and debating Dreamworld's ride capacity issues when the answer was staring us right in the face. Stick a sign out the front of the ride telling people that it'll have long queues and there we are, everone's happy and case closed! It seems to me that Giant Drop spends more time half operating than it does fully. With waits of an hour or more, I don't know how they can justify keeping half of it closed, maintenance or no maintenance. Standing there for an hour is $8.50 down the drain.

December is the month that WVTP are using, so it's about as concrete as they come at this stage. Nothing's ever set in stone, but don't expect it to be pushed forward at all. If you're planning a trip around this attraction then I suggest that you wait until the final official press release is out with the final date and the thing is running smoothly before booking anything, because you never know.

Yes most of it was known (you'll see I had already said that there wasn't much new above), but until now it wasn't known that construction begins in April. Feel free to actually contribute something to this discussion.

joz is correct. There's an article on the main page now which adds a tiny bit more information. Superman prepares to fly in April Article: http://www.roller-coaster.com.au/article.php?aid=38

There aren't too many secrets about the actual ride system, it's all pretty much out there and has long since been documented with various sites' construction updates and reports. The mysteries lie in the actual ride experience and the accompanying special effects. That doesn't contradict RCDB at all - read it again. This ride will have its rails on the outside of the ties. You can look at the photos you've attached to see that. The ride will run trains of multiple carriages. Look in the background of the model of the train you posted and you can even see the design for the other cars that will be on the ride. The model is the back car of the train, which they designed to have the locomotive to distance it as much as possible from Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

That train there is one that has been designed to be compatible with existing Vekoma looping coasters (i.e. the MK1200 track). I'm sure there's some thinking that it'll smoothen up older coasters. Looking at those things, I'll believe it when I see it.

Article: http://www.roller-coaster.com.au/article.php?aid=37

Sorry, I meant with the Private Messaging system, there is no administrative backend. Indeed vBulletin does have a superb backend - I wouldn't have purchased it if there wasn't.

As many of you are probably aware, there have been a number of issues taking place over the past week or so. Many of these things were direct attacks at Roller-Coaster.com.au, which I believe were unwarranted. Roller-Coaster.com.au is not anti-competition. The purpose of this site is to promote the theme park industry within Australia - both to Australians and, more importantly I believe, to the world. I have spent the past three years developing this community from its beginnings as Total Thrills to what it has become today. It doesn't concern me if you choose to move to another "competing" site. I can't please everyone, and I encourage you to find something that does suit you. What does concern me is this violent anti-Roller-Coaster.com.au attitude that has surfaced and is fostered by certain parties. It's incredibly childish to say the least, no less are the falsified stories about myself which are being used to support these "movements". You don't see ads for Channel 9 on Channel 10. You don't see ads for Hungry Jacks in McDonalds. By that very same token, I don't expect to see ads for other sites on Roller-Coaster.com.au. This has and always will be my policy for advertising within the Forums. If you wish to advertise on Roller-Coaster.com.au, you are more than welcome to contact me for advertising rates. Don't post advertising messages, don't put URLs in your signature and don't use the Private Message services to advertise your site. In the case of the last one, I'm not completely oblivious to what sites are around, and it doesn't take more than a database search for all instances of a site's URL or name to find out if a site's being advertised via PM. Anyone familiar with vBulletin and mySQL will know that vBulletin is not equipped with any administrative backend and that the database is designed for functionality and efficiency, not readability. Roller-Coaster.com.au is about theme parks. If that is your true interest, then you would find that this or any of the other theme park discussion sites out there would be of interest to you. I can't understand why some choose to try and manipulate others or make it political all of a sudden. We're here to talk about theme parks. Last I checked they were meant to be fun places where you could escape the garbage of the world. I openly welcome any comments, as I do any suggestions to improve this community.

Skipper, Islands of Adventure is Universal's best effort to date. It's a very fine park, but it falls a long way short of any Disney park I've been to. California Adventure I think has been pretty unfairly done by for the most part. It's a great park that by its very goals is going to different from any other Disney park. It does have its problems and a few notable "cheap spots", but I think for the most part these look like they'll eventually be removed or replaced with more Disney-standard things. For what it's worth, Disney's California Adventure is not losing as much money as Islands of Adventure. I've not yet ridden the new Tower of Terror. From what I have seen it does fall quite a way short of its stunning Florida counterpart, but by that same token it still looks better than most everything Universal have come up with (exceptions like Spider-Man do exist). Mulholland Madness is a simple wild mouse coaster. It is a simple ride which doesn't try to be much. With Scooby-Doo, it could be said that the wild mouse element is one of the least significant of the ride. It is almost a novelty on this dark ride. I don't really think it's fair to compare the two.

Adam's method seems most logical on this one. When the ride first opened, as the trains were "launched" up the first straight through the doors, the acceleration actually caused a skidding sound. This suggests that when skidding is involved, these tyres do make a sound. At no other point on the ride was this sound ever heard, which means that there is no skidding anywhere else on the ride. The stops are all gradual on Scooby-Doo. As you come into the unload station, it is a steady breaking, and if you listen you can hear the motors speeding and slowing. These tyres are belt driven. A rubber belt isn't going to like cars coming in to a screeching halt in the long run, they need a steady force. It's not logical nor safe to be using these wheels in a skidding manner. There are too many uncertainties, and it would be too abrupt. What if somehow the tyres get wet? They're not going to be too effective when wet if you're trying to slow the cars with friction.

Thanks for re-answering a question that was answered three weeks ago. It's just what we needed. In an attempt to steer this back more towards what we should be talking about, here's a rundown of what's going on at the park as of late. In the meantime, the Movie Magic Special Effects Show has closed and signage has been quietly removed. Looney Tunes Musical Revue has closed permanently as of Friday, and we should start to see things move forward in coming weeks and months. Contrary to popular (or unpopular, as it were) belief, there is no track on site - neither in publicly viewable areas nor in the back-of-house areas. Track won't be delivered until groundwork is well underway.

On the contrary, provide us with proof that this system does exist if you're not willing to debate it. Let's think about this logically. If there were built-in systems, how do you think these motors create motion? Do they connect to the road wheels (the main polyeurethane coated wheels), or have a separate drive system? The block and monitoring system is not absolute. Trains can only be tracked to vague locations around the track. This is done with radio trackers, which are seen as small green blocks every few metres to the left of the centre of the track. With this in mind, built-in brakes would be ineffective and dangerous. As it stands, the block braking system on the ride consists of regularly placed sections of brakes (or tyres). A train stopped in any of these sections will be able to complete the ride course completely on gravity. These points are also equipped with walkways for emergency access, leading directly to emergency exits. Your system has trains stopping anywhere and everywhere as they please. It's a bit difficult to evacuate a ride when a train is stopped on a 45º slope. Why do you think Scooby-Doo is different from all other existing Mack wild mouse rides? It might be a better ride experience, but that doesn't mean it's in any way more technical than others. If you don't want to debate it, then don't bother posting it here.

Which will it be? I can tell you now that this sytem you speak of doesn't exist. If you're not going to believe us, that's up to you.

Actually, Cyclone was designed to be able to operate two trains. The block brakes would be added to the final straight before the existing brake run. Look at the final image in the Cyclone gallery, and you can see that this section of track has mounts for where the brakes would go. As for a transfer track - in the scheme of things, this is easily added to the ride. The previous CEO suggested that a second train would be in the works down the track, but that idea seemed to leave with him. There's far more you could do to improve the capacity of the ride before getting a second train. Redesigning the station and queue system would be one and improving efficiency of overall operations is another. I can't see any of these happening any time soon. It's interesting that you thought that about the general upkeep of the park. In particular with Nick Central, I've noticed much the same. It's alarming that Dreamworld continues to go with brighter and brighter paintjobs for rides and buildings, because these age far more rapidly than more traditional ("dull") colours, and though it makes the place look great for a while, if they're not prepared to keep them fresh, then it's really not work doing in the long run, and Nick Central shows this. I would like to add that it appears to me that the quality of gardens at Dreamworld is slowly slipping. Those of you that have known me for a little longer will know I always loved the quality of the gardens and landscaping around the park - it was easily the best in Australia. I held very high hopes for the gardens of Nick Central, but it didn't seem to eventuate, and other gardens around the park seem to have slipped equally, or been completely removed (in the case of those which were once where The Claw now is, since replaced by concrete and the odd pandanus and some succulents). Whether this is a result of water restrictions or not, I don't know, but it's certainly a bare shadow of what it once was.

I don't work at Movie World, but no, they don't. All drive and safety systems are mounted to the track.

Look in the database and find out.

As the first new galleries in a long time, six new Adventure World galleries have been added to Roller-Coaster.com.au. As it is, they're not as in-depth as you might like, but they give you a good overview of the park's major attractions. Hopefully there will be "complete" Adventure World galleries added in March if I can find the time when I'm there in a few weeks' time.

There are many different types of roughness. A wooden coaster has a bumpy "out-of-control" roughness that is caused by loosening and degradation of the layers of laminated track as a result of wear and weather. Thunderbolt's chief causes of roughness were bad (terrible) track connections and abrupt transitions coupled with a bad (terrible) restraint design. An Arrow looper's roughness stems from non-parabolic transitions and an inferior train design. Typical roughness would be head banging: where the head hits the restraint. Naturally it is only really a concern on coasters with over-the-shoulder restraints because though rides with lapbars can indeed be rough, its effects aren't felt nearly as much because the waist is significantly less sensitive than the head and it's closer to the track meaning lateral forces and movements are less than at the head. The sharpness of a turn doesn't dictate roughness. A sharp or abrupt turn will lead to higher forces, but so long as lateral changes of force (lateral acceleration) are kept to a minimum, roughness can be kept low. It's all in the transition. Virtually every coaster will have side-to-side movement of the head and body throughout the ride, even sacred B&Ms and Intamins. The key is limiting these to a point where the head doesn't "vibrate" enough to make contact with the restraints. Particularly with older coasters, maintenance can make all the difference. Rides like Corkscrew, Cyclone or Lethal Weapon all can be smooth or rough. It's largely to do with the age of the wheels. As you might know they are steel, coated with a polyurethane (coasters these days use a DuPont composite known as Hylene PPDI), and with time this polyurethane wears down, meaning the wheels are less able to absorb bumps (cause by imperfections in the track or from transitioning). They didn't used to put shock absorption and dampening into the trains like they do these days, as well as spring-loaded guide and upstop wheels so the effects of aging wheels was far greater on these older coasters than it is today.

The sort of capital expenditure required to reach these same levels as Disney would be unattainable any time in the forseeable future. Disney's spending on a single E-ticket typically tops what would have been spent on Warner Bros. Movie World ever. The top Disney parks get 10-15 times the attendance our parks do, so it is natural that they can spend 10-15 times what our parks do on attractions. Australia simply doesn't have the population that could ever make Disney-scale investments feasible. To put it another way, the sum annual attendance at ALL Australian parks would not even reach the annual attendance of the underperforming Disney's California Adventure, a USD$1.5 billion investment I believe for the most part, the Gold Coast parks are world-class, or at least strive to be, but that's not what we're talking about here. The issue here is whether Disney levels of immersion and theming can ever be attained.