Spotty

Taipan is owned by Shorts / Lauries amusements and currently travels around at the major shows. Next appearance will likely be the Royal Easter show.

Log ride has now also had it's opening date fully removed too...

#DreamNeva?

That is certainly a new thing the Attraction re-admission pass. Previous procedure was never mention anything like it if there was an evacuation / malfunction but if someone complained to Guest Services they would normally be escorted through the exit of the ride once it's reopened. I think it's a great idea that they have done something like this, and will increase guest happiness if they get a sub par experience or are unloaded off a ride mid cycle. As an ex employee, seeing the way the new management seems to be running this is really great to see. From a few people I know, they have even been telling me how much better the working environment has become over the last few years so it's really great to see VRTP making all these good changes. It all starts with management, if you have good management that gives a crap about the staff then the staff will give a crap. Guests will be happier and the experience will improve. Here's to seeing what Greg Yong and Clark Kirby do with VRTP over the coming years!

Wild West Falls lap bar system isn't designed to actually restrain anyone, it's designed to prevent people standing up. As far as I am aware it's the only Hopkins Super Flume model to actually feature lap bars, I know the one at Dollywood and Six Flags Fiesta Texas doesn't feature them. Someone feel free to correct me if i'm wrong but I'm actually fairly sure the lap bars were not originally featured on WWF but added shortly after installation? You wouldn't fall out of Wild West Falls if you rode without the lap bar either, but I guess the park just wanted the additional safety just in case.

With 1 train running it's normally 2 staff + the supervisor in the control room. Load 1 on the far side of the platform and load 2 does the sorting as well whilst the ride is in operation. Sometimes they will have a entry host as well depending on the day. Rivals only seemed to run 2 trains for a few weeks before going down to single train operations (with lines of a hour mind you...) When it's running 2 trains I would say they would need to only bump up to 3 operators, two loaders and a sorter and I guess an entry host as well if they want.

Tail spin had 2 planes out of action yesterday (Wednesday) so that might explain why it was closed on Thursday for maintenance. Hope they get it fixed soon, buzzsaw was also operating on Wednesday too so no idea what is going on.

And I still have nightmares of that damn alarm!

Yeah no...1 booth in West at the top of lift 2. And 2 in Scooby. One just after the turntable on the first hairpin and one to the right of the lift. Not actually 100% if both booths in Scooby are manned anymore either. Some changes have been made, not going into too much more about who I am but people on these forums can very much vouch that I have been employed by both VRL and Ardent

Yeah... I am still traumatised by that lift!!! The amount of times I had nearly fallen asleep up there haha... until one day I got a VERY rude awakening to a big huntsman falling on my head! Considering I have a huge fear of spiders I didn't work west for several weeks after that haha

Yeah this is what was causing most of the faults when I was there... delays in the station causing stacking in the dark ride or the lift / turntable faulting out. 99% of the time that was what it was... or idiots misbehaving I will admit in the last few years from what I have heard it's become a lot less touchy than when I was working there. Either that or it didn't like me

Never heard of any downtime myself... Seems Mack has got a lot more reliable since the Scooby Doo days haha. I still have nightmares of that bloody Fault light

Yeah, I was very happy and excited to have one of my supervisors when I was working there telling me that he was going to Dubai to work at Waterworld with his wife. Have recently been in contact again and just keep hearing great things about the place. It did surprise me how many VRTP people over the years have gone over there haha.

Wet Dreams? I remember that was a name that was thrown around for laughs back when the park was first announced...

Yeah... you would think with two major rides closed they would want to be increasing the capacity a little bit especially on a weekend. Also seems to be a rather new (if not bizarre procedure) that you can't request to wait for the front row after 4:30pm anymore. I can understand once the park is closed and your down to the last few trains saying no because last thing you want is people asking to wait for the front row and having to run multiple otherwise empty trains. I thought that it was a very strange procedure and IMO one that is just stupid. But hey, VRL are known for their operations...

I feel similar TBH. I've never been that interested in golf personally, but I have friends that are so hey I'd likely give it a shot. Considering it's owned by VRTP and they are likely (hopefully) to offer some incentives to pass holders I see it as a chance to try it after a day at the parks with friends. And who knows I may end up liking golfing in the end and go back.

I personally really liked the Walking Dead, Film Vault and Wyrmwood mazes the most out of all the years. They had IMO a combination of the best sets, and scares that Fright Night's have produced.

They have been there for over a year... Just saying

The one that was on the Gold Coast travel centre was a R50 model (50m tall) and not the R60 model like the Wheel of Brisbane and Sea World Eye. The one that used to be on the Gold Coast was actually the unit that was sent to Perth and was owned by World Tourist Attractions and only had 36 gondola's vs the 42 on the Brisbane / Sea World one. The Sea World Eye was actually originally from London as the "Wheel of Birmingham" and was relocated to Sea World in 2006 after being brought by World Tourist Attractions and leased to Sea World. After all the issues with Sea World that particular wheel didn't operate in Australia again. We have had 3 Bussnik wheel's in Australia in total. 2 of the R60's (Brisbane and Sea World) and a R50 model which was the Gold Coast one later transported to Perth. The only model left is now the one in Brisbane. There was also another wheel that operated in Perth for a while which was a Mondial unit (SkyView) hope this answers your questions

...funny thing about that. I call complete BS on the "Extreme" incident. The ride wouldn't start anyway without the harnesses down and locked in. Yes someone may have "forgot" to check the harness was locked in place but I seriously doubt that. I have full faith in the rides safety systems working, and it was shown that there was nothing wrong with the ride. WorkSafe even cleared it to operate and no faults were found at all with the SkyWalker but the decision was still made to close the ride. As far as your comment on age of the operators, no different to the theme parks. They would be over the age of 18. Having personally worked for the company who owns the attraction I can vouch for them that staff training is second to none (same with the other carnival operators I have worked for in the past, and the theme parks for that matter) As far as SkyWalkers harnesses go, yes they do loosen ever so slightly as the ride cycle goes. But most rides actually do loosen ever so slightly. Hell even the Wipeout at Dreamworld does as well. It's why they staple you in so much to allow for that minuscule amount. I'd say what's likely to have happened is just that... the harness loosened ever so slightly, someone freaked out and the operators likely shrugged it off (which IMO they shouldn't have... even if they explained what I did to the customer, or at least acted concerned) because they know what the ride does and knows what the harnesses do. Kinda stupid if you ask me...

1:30pm now, still no movement as far as operations. At this stage might be better off another day at this stage And we are open

12:40pm and we have movement on the ride. Hopefully not too long until it opens.

Saw myself on there as well... right in front of Slick in the green shirt paying for backwards. Totally recommend going backwards first as well!

Was on the back row on the 4th train... and holy crap it was amazing. Then later on got the front row... was awesome too. Then went in row 10 (last forward row) and the airtime was just insane. Hands down the best coaster i've been on, and great job to Village Roadshow. Greg looked happy operating it today haha.