Jamberoo Fan

I think those flowers were mulched and incorporated into a new memorial garden. DW could possibly do the same.

Here we go again...The Sydney Morning Herald: The ride referred to is the Flowrider. I wish someone on Parkz could find the 100+ page document from Workplace Health and Safety Queensland that is the source of all these incidents to the media. It would be an interesting read and allow us to confirm the severity of these reported incidents. Amongst other incidents already mentioned, according to The Australian, the document also does: Back to The Sydney Morning Herald article - DW must be so over all the media inquiries they are getting about past incidents now particularly when they have to remind the media that counselling is still ongoing: This quote from the same article is interesting (if true): The Sun has done an article on past DW incidents too - probably the 1st international publication to do so. Whilst pointing out they are unrelated to DW, they also mention The Smiler incident as well as roller-coaster fatalities from around the world in past years. I'll just leave this article here. And I'm unfamiliar with Thunder River Rapids' operational rules but could this Daily Mail article be classified as sensationalised or an actual breach of operational rules? It doesn't look like much in itself & DW might have more specific rules but DW's Thunder River Rapids webpage does clearly say maximum 6 people per ride. At least there is one unsensationalised non-theme park media news article....

Today's ASX release from Ardent Leisure said:

Like discussed earlier in this thread, it seems in 1986, Thunder River Rapids was built by Dreamworld & externally contracted engineers including Masterglass, who built the original rafts. Since then, Intamin has supposedly helped in installing a ride computer as well as provided new rafts, spare parts & manuals so the ride can work in conjunction with the new features supposedly from Intamin. I'm not sure now if it is the same story or 2 stories being mixed together but The Guardian article I referred to earlier (about air compressors) is probably what you are referring to.

Regarding the ASX, Ardent Leisure's share price did drop even further today and can now be considered a significant drop (yesterday was an 8% drop - today a 15% drop) as it is now out of trend with the share prices of the past 2 years. There is a possibility the share price will drop even further in the coming days. Also, everyone should note tomorrow is Ardent Leisure's Annual General Meeting - no doubt something will be done to acknowledge the Thunder River Rapids incident. Apart from that, the main point of interest in tomorrow's AGM is a potential name change in the Group from Ardent Leisure to Main Event Entertainment. Village Roadshow's share price also dropped today by 4% - whilst it could be linked to DW's incident, it is not that as significant a drop. And from The Sydney Morning Herald: ...and The Guardian: Also, some notes about earlier posts: Just to add some clarification, their complaint was unrelated to Thunder River Rapids. I believe it was just with issues related to general park operations which may have involved some rides but not Thunder River Rapids. Nevertheless, the timing of the Australian Workers Union expressing this to the media is suspicious. Like others have said, if it was really high risk, they would've brought it up to the media immediately ages ago. Can someone clarify whether this is a 1 day only opening or will it be open everyday after Friday? I'm reading it as only opening on the Friday for the Memorial Day but will close again until further notice after the Memorial Day finishes but I feel the media etc. are interpreting it as 'normal operations have resumed'.

That one is not the media saying it. I read that article a while ago - it is a concerned father who is saying that & he is not blaming the velcro straps. He was just pointing out that he feels the velcro straps are ineffective when they become wet & that he thinks the velcro straps don't secure infants in their seat well enough.

Regarding the Intamin or not issue, I think Thunder River Rapids was built in-house while Intamin has helped with improvements & maintenance of the ride since then such as installing a computer, providing new rafts & spare parts and manuals so the ride can work in conjunction with these new features. Simply, judging from the information I read so far, I think Intamin is involved with the ride but they were not involved in any way back in 1986 and they might be using that fact to distance themselves from it. In the end, time will tell - there will be a huge investigation after all. @AllegroCrab, I was looking at old newspaper articles from the Sydney Morning Herald when Luna Park Sydney's Ghost Train caught on fire. It mentioned briefly (without sensationalising) at the end of one of the articles that the Big Dipper crashed and injured 13 people 2 months prior (similar to The Smiler incident but injuries were not as bad & the cause was different) but there was no sensationalised reporting in the rest of that day's newspaper or in the days afterwards. Just compare that with the articles I've posted - 1 serious rollercoaster crash from 1979 2 months prior at the same park vs lists of endless minor incidents (most reported incorrectly) spanning 15 years from multiple parks that are owned by separate companies! The media reports I've posted just show how desperate the media are in trying to remain relevant in today's society where there are more informed (like Parkz) and quicker (like Facebook) sources of information. The 24 hour news cycle (which started in 1980 - 1 year after the Ghost Train fire - with the introduction of CNN), to the media, requires new news instantly as a means of getting viewers/readers (by being 'first!') and in turn, revenue. Not surprisingly, this leads to lower journalistic integrity. It just shows how different the world is between 1979 & 2016.

I noticed Parkz database also says: ...while also saying Intamin is the total manufacturer. Is the 'manual' just for the rafts or for the total ride? They don't. @www worker 2.0 was making a joke.

I was reading this NBC article because of the Parkz reference but according to it, Intamin didn't build Thunder River Rapids?: @www worker 2.0, who is right? NBC/Intamin or Parkz/Dreamworld?

The helicopter crash didn't involve any fatalities.

Now the Sydney Morning Herald... ...and even the ABC!

Now news.com.au is doing a story focusing more on recent comments of concern to DW's Facebook page as well as writing lists of incidents that happened mainly at agricultural shows & fetes (yes, you read that right). At least, the list included Luna Park Sydney's 1979 Ghost Train incident. It was interesting reading in that same article that a US Olympic gold medallist was on Thunder River Rapids shortly before the incident occurred. news.com.au are also saying Nine News reported earlier today that Thunder River Rapids was closed earlier in the day & drained completely at one point as a result of the need for that temporary closure. They even refer to Parkz's review of Thunder River Rapids at one point. I also don't like how the media are making out that Thunder River Rapids's listing as a 'moderate thrill' ride as something that is inaccurate. Thrill level does not equate to chances of injury or death.

This is the story I was referring to but it is from Nine News Brisbane (it is an 'extended version' to the one I saw - more incidents than what was reported on Nine News Sydney but it is edited differently at times - very minor changes though - and has a different reporter/script):

I can also still see Thunder River Rapids on that webpage?

I can't see this on DW's maintenance webpage. It has no 'maintenance' for Thunder River Rapids but (I don't know if this has been on DW's maintenance webpage all afternoon) it does say: Like I posted earlier, it is closed until Thursday morning at least.

Dreamworld's website home page now: See my post above. See this post I made - it actually was literally less than 4 hours after the incident - not days/weeks - before scrutiny happened. Even if it did 'plummet' like you say, it is no higher than what the share price was 2 years ago - which has remained roughly the same since and after the incident. Any 'plummet' would have to be way worse to have such an effect on the park's finances. Given trading finished a couple of hours ago and the incident occurred close to end of trade, expect any real effect of the incident on the sharemarkets to occur tomorrow.

I don't understand that - clipped on the way down yet needs meshing above the riders? I'm also reading news reports that Ardent's share price has dropped heaps as a result of this incident but after looking at the ASX, it is not a significant drop so ignore those reports. After reading all posts so far, I don't think this has been posted from Ardent Leisure's ASX announcement regarding the incident:

I read this in an IAAPA article on permanent panic rooms a while ago: Remember, MW's panic rooms are temporary so operators won't be as flexible in extending time in the room/providing hints.

Thanks for embedding that photo! I looked for a photo but couldn't find one clear enough. It definitely looks identical (minus the hand)!

That's what I thought?

Nine News Sydney are really giving it to the Gold Coast theme parks sadly - a story dedicated to nearly all previous incidents in ALL Gold Coast theme parks from pyrotechnic mishaps to minor ride malfuncations to passengers misbehaving on the rides. They reported in 1998 a piece of metal fell from the Giant Drop - is that true?

Press Conference Live (now finished)

Due to cost, I also doubt it will be the longest rollercoaster ever (my current guess is 1.9km after all) but in general, the rollercoaster's construction site size doesn't necessarily equate to the rollercoaster's length. The more complex the rollercoaster can be in that site, the longer the rollercoaster can be. Example: Alton Towers' The Smiler. It's 14 inversions gives it a length of 1,170 metres yet is only on approximately 6,000 square metres of land. MW's rollercoaster construction site currently (that is, excluding any track going over the swamp) is approximately 24,000 square metres in size.

@iwerks, in the video you linked to, is that the former prawn from DW's Gamesite at 38 seconds in? I might be wrong but it looks very similar & I don't know when DW installed the prawn at Gamesite's main entrance. Oh, yeah. I didn't recall that when I wrote the post but still the building was in tact (minus the letter 'E') like you said & for an indoor theme 'park', that makes it look enough to still be recognised as an SBNO theme park (even if it was a furniture store at the time).

I've seen videos of Arkham Asylum's themed queue but they are not good enough for me to understand the narrative that is told in the queue but from what you said about audio, that means the audio, writing on the walls ("Welcome to the Joker's Funhouse! " etc.) and I believe the VR contains the Joker consistently throughout it (rather than just a brief segment). When you read MW's description of Arkham Asylum, it does sound like it's a Joker rollercoaster (just more Batman villains appear as the narrative goes along): Compared to other Batman franchise rides that have featured at MW, Batman is rather low-key in this one - the Joker is the main character.