Spotty

In Europe the "Explorer" is a fairly common ride. Flash Dance is a Reverchon model, and if i'm not mistaken the Tasmanian Devil and the old "G Force" from Luna Park Melbourne were manufactured in Australia under license. As far as what happened to the Avalanche i'm fairly sure it was scrapped when it was sold. As far as rides of the same type we have in Australia we have the following still travelling. Alpine Express (Sobema Gen 2) Midnight Express (Sobema Gen 2) Thunderbolt (Sobema Gen 2) - Ex Grundy's Cripton Matterhorn (Sobema Gen 1) Rock n Roll (Reverchon) Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if the Dreamworld unit is still in the boneyard along with the Reef Diver and Vortex. Dreamworld's matterhorn was run like garbage anyway, most travelling units can hit 14RPM going forwards and 12RPM backwards (or approx 100kph) whereas I'd say Dreamworld's unit once it was neutered for Nick Central would do half that speed, however it was more than capable. From what I have heard though Dreamworlds model was built by SDC.

You rang?

Ah... good old drive trips. The last time I had one of them was back when it was the original ToT. Basically computer loses track of where the car is in the launch sequence, computer shuts the launch sequence down and you just chill there. Last time it happened to me we launched, got maybe to the end of the old launch tunnel before slowing down and just causing down the launch track at a nice leisurely place. An e-brake is the opposite. The system loses track of the car during the braking sequence (or another fault is detected) so it shuts down the automatic braking system and you end up in the "Bog Zone" as it has been commonly known as in the past. The brakes are fail safe and very similar to the Giant Drop's system. It makes for a bit more of an abrupt stop... and the reactions of some people when you go whizzing past the station nearly full speed is quite entertaining

On an unrelated note, Sidewinder was running smoother than i've ever experienced in my life today. However the audio was missing from the ride, bit of a shame but still a massive improvement over the Cyclone even without it

You can see the platform briefly in the video that they use for the evacuations. Under general operations they will do anything they can to prevent the ride from stopping on the lift (provided it's safe of course) as it requires emergency services to assist with the evacuation. Same with Green Lantern. Out of the major rides only Scooby, West and Superman can be fully evacuated by general operations cast without the assistance of maintenance, supervisors or emergency services.

As far as I am aware the Tilt a Whirl from Grundy's was relocated to Aussie World. The Matterhorn ride (Cripton I think it was called) was trailerised by a company in Mildura and sold to Bell's Amusements and is now known as the Thunderbolt.

Did anyone actually think that maybe the crates could contain parts for Scooby as its due for a rehab soon? Just a thought

This particular model was actually a Sorani and Moser model. I remember reading it on the little badges on the cars several years ago.

The Ranger has been sold to Bell's Amusements, and if Turbo is up and running I think I know where i'm going over the xmas holidays

On the Kamikaze / Ranger your enclosed so there is no way your feet will hit the ground. On the HangOver (Modified Kamikaze with floorless cars) however the floor slides away to the side to prevent you hitting the platforms.

Full train was on the track as the ride was in operation, and a whole second train (well, the bogies at least) were on the transfer track.

When I went to Movie World a few weeks ago they had the train that was in operation on the track (obviously) and a whole set of wheel bogies long enough for a whole train sitting on the transfer track. As my phone was in the all day locker I wasn't able to get a photo of it but for people that know who I am would know that i'm not exactly someone who's going to make this stuff up. I'd say they likely were waiting on a SLC to shut down to buy the old trains to refit them like they did with the current Arkham train. T2 at SFKK anyone? That originally had 3 trains and it's now only reported to have 1x 7 car train so perhaps they brought the other 2 off them at a cheap price to make a 2nd carriage?

The DIY machines were not able to be used for memberships when I got mine processed, only for the season passes etc. Annoying but what can you do, they are set up to print out the paper tickets but not the plastic ones. Also ToTII had it's line to the skull multiple times throughout the day and Giant Drop was seeming to be running 1 side only for most of the day. I shudder to think what the line was for that (was at the 45 minute sign going into the big switchbacks, and considering that sign is for 2 gondola operation...) Also good to see BuzzSaw running with 2 operators, at least for a little while anyway enabling full loading. I think the park as a whole was incredibly understaffed today, with the Grid burger outlet having a line back to the Tiger Cub kindy at lunch time with only 1 register open. Resulting in about a 35 minute wait to order + 20 minutes on food. Luckily the food was great quality but not really a good image having the line that long with 1 register running at peak time. Overall though, the park was looking great today.

Not to mention the WipeOut version of the Waikiki Wave features the dual locking restraints (Lap bar and OTSR) and the normal version only has the OTSR.

I don't wanna hear your excuses! The roller coaster has to be at least... three times bigger than this!

Also, Arkham's audio has been removed permanently from the ride as far as I am aware. Something about it not really adding much to the attraction (BS if you ask me, but whatever) and not being able to hear it very well over the lift hill (Also BS because Lethal / Arkham's lift hill is one of the quieter ones if you ask me). Green Lantern on the other hand since reopening i've ridden probably 20 or so times and only 1 of them didn't have the audio on it.

Seems as though Dreamworld will be doing membership's starting in March 2016. This was just in their ASX Report "Membership payment plans will be launched in March 2016 including tiered pricing model and benefits to drive per capita yield" Rather interesting to see what they do considering VRTP are ending theirs...

Yeah... it's a bit of a change to normal McDonalds The burger bar is a great concept too where you can actually see all the ingredients and watch them make your burgers.

The Menu's on the tables for CYT were used for the first 6 months or so of the roll out so that people who might not have ordered it would see it and have a look and decide "Hey, this looks good I might try this next year". Every store I have been to except Annerley in Brisbane (which is a flagship store complete with a burger bar and CYT Breakfast) the buzzers have never worked from day one. The longest I have ever waited for a CYT burger was 20 minutes but that's because they had about 6 orders before mine to be made and they use a dedicated grill that is different to the others. I don't see the issue with them not having a dedicated crew member for CYT handing out the food as a lot of the time they might not have orders so if they are designated to that role only it doesn't leave them much to do. As part of that role they were also in charge of the dining room making sure that it is clean. But every time i've been to a store as soon as I have left my table after ordering they pretty much straight away clean up the table. As far as the chips not being served in the metal baskets it's not really a big loss. In fact my local store and a few others that I have been to lately have actually been serving the fries (and sauces if you order them) in white ceramic bowls. In particular the loaded fries when ordered with CYT have actually had real bits of bacon chopped up instead of the fake bacon they came with when first launched. I guess when there was all the hype they thought they needed dedicated staff just for delivering food, and whilst it has been very successful I don't think it was really needed except maybe in peak times. Clearly McDonalds have realised this and deployed the dedicated CYT staff into other areas of the store to assist in between delivering orders. Anyway, back onto the topic of theme park food instead of McDonalds

If you want a good burger on the Gold Coast, try Brooklyn Depot at the coach terminal. Amazing food at a great price. I went to Dreamworld yesterday and tried the fried chicken from "The Grid", it wasn't bad but overall it wasn't the best i've had and honestly KFC is better. However, I had the loaded fries from them and they were WELL worth the $9.50 I paid for them. I got a boat sized serving of chips like they serve the meals in with a heap of cheese, salsa and pulled pork in it. Easily enough to be considered a meal. Much better than the McDonalds offering, and about the same price too! Wouldn't mind trying one of the burgers from them one day.

No... I didn't mean every half hour sadly. With 1 train and full staff they will dispatch approx 6 - 7 trains every 30 minutes. When they cut the unloader it drops down to about 4 maybe 5 every 30 minutes. This is because the 2nd loader has to wait until the train has gone around the first corner into the dark ride before leaving the load dock, then has to go straight to unload (if they are on the ball they CAN sort the groups in the line before moving to unload, but needs to be done quickly - 30 seconds or so). Then they have to go to unload, wait for the train to come back in and wait for everyone to leave the train. Send it through to the load dock, then wait for the doors at the shop to fully close before heading back to sort the next group. It's a painful process and trust me, the staff hated it as much as the guests did. Loading would take approx 2 minutes including sorting, unloading about the same depending on guests. Waiting for the train to run the ride is another 2 minutes so it's very easy to see how it can take 7 - 10 minutes to do a full cycle. Horrible, horrible procedures that I hope never see the light of day again.

The 5 staff setup would normally only be used if they have had sick calls and have had to move the 6th staff member to another attraction to cover breaks or something else. Generally it's not done but sometimes it's required. Just hope you never see them cut the unloader with 1 train operation... you will maybe see them dispatch 8 trains a hour, 9 if your really lucky.

Not to mention the ride requires extra staff as well to run a 2nd train... not something that can be added at the drop of a hat. Superman requires an extra 2 staff to run a 2nd train compared to 1 train. 1 train requires: Load 1, Load 2 - Unload, Entry, Supervisor 2 trains requires: Load 1, Load 2, Sorter, Unload, Entry, Supervisor. It's not as easy as just deciding to add on the 2nd train. It's determined on previous years attendance, weather forecasts and other things as well and rosters are often done 2 - 3 weeks in advance for a ride.

Not to mention the staff required to run it... Arkham can run with 2 staff (Supervisor + Loader) Whereas Superman requires a entry host, 2 loaders, unloader and a supervisor at bare minimum (or if they really wanna mess with capacity in a horrendous way they can run with no unloader and have the 2nd loader unloading as well, which results in a staggering 5 trains sent every 30 minutes with 1 train running...)

Superman has got quite a long maintenance period. Heres hoping they repaint the track this year as they repainted the supports recently.