Spotty

The control room upstairs is located where it is to provide a birds eye view of the staff loading the train. That way the supervisor of the ride is able to monitor things in case one of the two loaders misses something. A prime example would be from upstairs once the train has dispatched it will be easier to see if a guest undoes the seatbelt compared to the position of the two loaders. Although the seatbelt sensors in the train would detect if a rider undoes the seatbelt as well. Then the supervisor can determine weather the rider will just need to do up the seatbelt to restart the ride or a full train evacuation is required (depends if the train has fully left the station or not) Pretty much the location provides a view of the loading platform, a restricted view of the unload platform and the queue line as well...

Road Runner only needs the 2nd attendant when there is 2 trains running, otherwise the second OCC is not required. The yellow button is pushed by both attendants to confirm they have checked their side of the train and BOTH operators are required to hit the green dispatch button at the same time as the operator in the control room upstairs. So to dispatch the train on Superman it requires 3 people to hit the dispatch button at once. Jet Rescue must be programmed slightly differently to allow it to run with just the two staff.

I have seen Claw operating multiple times with just 1 ride operator, they installed a security camera on the hut where the second staff member sits. If anything it would be like the way RoadRunner operates with 2 trains, not Superman. The operator can hit the button to confirm that they have checked the area that they are required and then there is a timer (20 seconds for Roadrunner) and the dispatch button then has to be hit on the MOCC (Main Operator Control Console) before that timer runs out to dispatch.

If i'm not actually mistaken the original dreamworld unit might have been a Schwarzkopf unit not a S.D.C, I can't say with 100% certainty but that's what I had heard from a few people. This unit was removed and replaced with this newer unit and ended up sitting up the back of Downunderland in Canberra until the park closed, no idea where it is now though. I'd say it's likely been scrapped.

Jeez, they really have taken the Wipeout apart this time around... will be interesting in the coming weeks to see what they do with the old girl.

Honestly I think it was around 2006 - 2007 when they stopped the platform from rotating. That was the first step in Bermuda Triangle's demise, then about a year after that the fire stopped... then the SFX started to die, the pre-show removed and then... well the rest is history I guess. As much as Storm is a great ride, I really don't think it quite lives up to the fully immersive experience that Bermuda Triangle was. As much as I love a good roller coaster like the next person, I think 3 coasters for a park that is lacking in the rides department is a little bit much. I would have personally preferred another boat ride similar in experience to Bermuda, that was as immersive and had a decent ride time to it. I'm hoping whatever "Wild" is will deliver that for the park, or whatever it is going to be now as all advertising for Wild seems to have vanished.

Honestly if they were going to go to those extremes they would be better off buying a brand new ride, which would likely last much longer. I am sure if Dreamworld really wanted to, they could get Vekoma to build a brand new model of the ride. Would be interesting to ride the Wipeout with the same OTSR's that the new Vekoma coasters have, but really the restraint system they have already is a very efficient design that would save considerable loading time for example if they had to have seat belts installed if they got new seats. I can see them maybe replacing the Hydraulics and Motors on the ride, and i'd be very disappointed if they didn't give the ride a new paint job and a refresh of the surrounding area. But I honestly think that replacing the whole gondola with new seats MIGHT be a little bit too ambitious for them to undertake. I mean hell, it might happen but I have my doubts on it. As far as the ride program, honestly the cycle that the ride runs 90% of the time is not that bad as it is, maybe a few more flips here and there but yeah.

Fairly sure it's a company called Dinosaurs Unearthed, I know they are the manufacturers

A company called B+B Games owns the new KMG Freakout that was at Luna Park Sydney.

Wow, don't know where I pulled 15 years out... I had a major derp moment. It's 20 years old now as it opened in 94. I am fairly sure Vekoma WILL still make parts for the ride on request as they know the ride is still in use. It's not like Vekoma is a company that has gone bust or anything, I don't think it's days are numbered just yet... but I think within 5 - 10 years at the most it will be gone.

The WipeOut is approaching 15 years old now, and it's probably getting close to the end of it's service life slowly and it needs a major overhaul. I for one am glad they are taking the time to keep this ride maintained than getting rid of it as it's probably my favourite ride in the park. I will admit that is a VERY long rehab period so there must be some pretty major work being done to it. I would love for them to maybe repaint the ride buildings (queue line / control room) back to it's natural timber colours to make it more like a beach and maybe a complete do-over of the theming to really bring it up to scratch whilst it has this extensive rehab as well. Will be interesting to see how it runs once it comes out of rehab.

That flying flume ride looks even scarier than the "Nautic Jet" rides that are common in Europe... Just the way the track suddenly ends even looks terrifying...

Wild West Falls and Scooby Doo generally have their rehab in the 2nd half of the year. I'm assuming JL will have it too around this time.

I can tell you first hand it's pretty damn terrifying... I was on it in 05 when the lift motor crapped itself... front seat too. Not something I want to experience again haha.

I don't see them getting a free fall slide as The Wedgie sort of does the same thing... But they really need to build something soon as it's been so long and the park is slowly being forgotten it seems...

Not sure if I can actually post the exact wage that I was on when I worked for Village Roadshow due to non disclosure agreements that I signed whilst working there. But I can tell you right now it was more than $10 and everyone in that department gets the same wage unless your a supervisor. Considering the majority of the staff are not casual in operations and accrue sick leave / annual leave the pay rate wasn't too crash hot but it wasn't bad either. It's between $15 and $20 a hour for a PPT and casual is around $22 a hour.

In the event of a ride fault with Arkham Asylum the operator will literally do anything within their power to prevent the ride from stopping on the lift even if the ride has to be manually over-ridden by maintenance (provided it's safe obviously). As far as i'm aware the ride has only had two evacuations on the lift hill... one in 2005 a few months before Superman opened when the lift motor crapped itself and at the end of 2012 just before White Christmas. In the event of an evacuation there is a little platform down at the bottom of the lift near the station with a tarp over it. There is a metal grate that folds down over it to create a platform that you can stand on. The platform is winched up the lift under each car and riders are evacuated one at a time onto the platform and then they need to jump over the railing and down the stairs. If i'm not mistaken I actually think the fire brigade are called in to assist in the evacuation hence why they will do anything they can to avoid it. Personally I don't know why Vekoma would make such a complex system for an evacuation whereas if they had a platform the whole way under the lift hill and stairs like B+M do it would be much easier and safer IMO for an evacuation.

Considering the prospector going up Lift 2 was out of Sync when I learnt the ride back at the start of 2012 when I worked there... and it's been through TWO maintenance periods since i've left the company and is still out of Sync, I'd really hope they fix it up soon. I rode it recently and none of the audio in almost the whole ride except for the 2 lift hills worked... Sadly I never got to ride WWF before the fire, so I don't quite know what it was actually like. The smoke machines that they have do work, but they are just underpowered or turned down to a very low setting which makes it pointless even turning them on.

I just miss the giant inflatables from a visual perspective... operating them was a different story haha. The parade was much the same as last years though, with a few minor changes. Personally I slightly preferred the one last year... having the elf's driving the speedy's taxi's down main street in their own little music number was very cute... just amazed they managed to make it all the way down the street and back before going flat! The lighting this year however, I feel as though it was stepped up a bit more. Can't quite place my finger on how or where... but it just felt that little bit better this time around.

Honestly... one of the first things i'd wanna fix is the main room in Scooby Doo. I'd completely overhaul the laser system and smoke machines to get the ride back to what it used to be. Maybe add some extra SFX in the building... perhaps even some projections of ghosts or something. Technology has improved a lot and it would be great to see Scooby be updated a bit to just give it a bit more oomph.

They have a scale that they weigh you on after lining up down the bottom before walking up the stairs of the tower.

The seats on the Claw and Giant Drop might be the same, but the drop has adjustable seat belts whereas the claw doesn't. Example my step mother was able to ride the Giant Drop without much fuss, but the claw the seatbelt just wasn't going to do up. It was at least 5cm away from the buckle.

That particular model of Pinfari coaster looks just... wrong. I reckon it will likely be a ZL42 model such as the Big Dipper and Python Loop that travels.

Was thinking of firing the torpedo... or filling the whirlpool

$20 million dollars?! Seriously... I didn't think the ride cost that much money! That's more expensive than Wild West Falls AND Tower of Terror! Personally, based on what i've seen Storm looks great... but 20 million dollars for that is a lot of money!