Theme Park Girl

Money?

Wow... another prime example of fine journalism... *cough* *cough* http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/470792/we-crash-test-dummies-sickos-rush-test-infamous-Smiler-ride The comments at the bottom of the article speak for themselves. I totally agree with them :/

I agree. Especially when they aren't even all that hot in winter. I've stayed at hotels where their outdoor spas are twice the temp of the ones at WnW ??? It's an eyesore in its current state too. I figured it couldn't have been much different to Calipso Beach when it was originally working. Same concept on a smaller scale. The park must be kicking themselves over that wasted investment.

My point is that you can't really test that a rollercoaster will last the test of wear and tear over time unless you have had enough time actually pass by to validate that it will. Sure, you can make predictions based on knowledge and past experience, but you cannot guarantee, especially in a situation like this where a coaster is the first of its kind. I am sure every new release comes with a higher element of risk than other pre-established designs. In this case they obviously got something wrong.

Say what??? I never knew that Whirlpool Springs at WnW did this O_o I've only ever seen it in its current state with numerous little spas inside the big cement donut, although I always did question its terrible cosmetic design (even once asked a lifeguard why the park hadn't considered putting a garden or something in the middle bit to make it more visually appealing lol). Now it makes more sense to find out it actually used to function as one big whirlpool. When did they stop doing this and why, does anyone know?? It's not really all that old, is it?? ?

This has been my belief since the day of the accident as to its cause. I think it is visually obvious how much strain these wide carts + gravity would be putting on their tiny wheel assemblies, I still find the ride mind boggling to watch in action. However in saying that, I agree with the other folks here that S&S would have to take sole responsibility if it is due to a ride design flaw. If the ride couldn't physically continue working longterm under said stress (something that, as the first coaster of its kind designed to carry double the load of its predecessors, could never have been tested - it sounds like they went with theory alone) then it should never have been approved and sent to a theme park in the first place. Tbh the thrillseeker in me is happy GL is reopening (I've only been on it once!) but I am also shocked, as I didn't expect it to without the trains or track getting some serious overhaul. It looks to me like not much has been changed. Hopefully the kind folk at S&S have done their homework and know what they are doing this time round lol... :/

Lol maybe they thought all the construction chaos was part of the theming? It is still called the Cyclone, afterall ???

Bit too small for that I'd say ??? You'd be lucky to seat 5-10 people in there, let alone any tables ?

Hey Richard, what Brad and I were referring to was one of these, an official incident/investigation report, not just a final statement by the park. Here's the Superman Tower of Power one as an example. Their investigation was done by the Kentucky Dept of Agriculture (go figure) and they were the ones who released the final report, not SFKK who I am sure would have preferred otherwise since it blamed them for ride negligence. http://www.google.com.au/url?q=http://archive.courier-journal.com/assets/B2109690530.PDF&sa=U&ved=0CAsQFjAAahUKEwjBtbbpsr7IAhXj3KYKHVcbCJc&sig2=SjYv4GBG2U6pDpA43Kvr_w&usg=AFQjCNEf6IQx2lMdvZOIBV0ZdECCC3H75Q I guess we're wondering if something similar will come out for the GL incident, and if it is an obligation to be shared such findings publicly under Australian law? I guess it all depends on who performed the investigation though...

Oh, I also had a stickybeak through the Eureka dividers yesterday... the ladder, paints etc. are all gone. That front part is completely empty again, and surprisingly very clean. Make of it what you will ?

Yes well you're definitely right there, Brad. Regardless of the causes involved with both incidents, Smiler stayed completely intact on the day of its accident, whilst Green Lantern didn't... the thing derailed and partially fell apart whilst in operation. I still think about how lucky those people were to have not been seriously injured or killed :/ I wondered too if an investigation conclusion would be published for this. I remember reading through the one for the Superman Tower of Power years ago (the incident in which Kaitlyn Lasitter had her feet severed when a cable snapped) and it was very informative. Would give peace of mind to everyone knowing the cause of the GL incident and what preventative measures MW have taken. Then again I also wonder how different our laws are in Australia and whether they would be obligated to do so, especially in the event that the cause was due to bad maintenance or something MW did wrong. That said, I don't think it was, but we can only speculate until they actually tell us what really happened that day and why ??

Here's my other vid, had issues uploading it as it needed to be rotated but finally got there in the end. Full run with the second empty train:

3 hour wait for a ride!?!?!? Holy crap!!! And I thought waiting times here were long during Xmas holidays Geez, with wait times like that I'd imagine you'd only get on one, maybe two rides during your entire day visit. Remind me to aim for off-peak periods when I eventually venture overseas & check some of these other parks out

Haha. No worries! The more vids the merrier. I didn't even think to upload mine to YT, just did it directly. Shame it doesn't parse the video in the same way XD

One last picture of the Cyclone building in its current state....

More test runs happening as we speak! Ride appears to be running flawlessly to me ??? 20151012_121436.mp4

Just occurred to me that this will be the third time that this rollercoaster will be re-themed and renamed in its lifespan! Big Dipper/Cyclone/insertnewnamehere is certainly providing its money's worth, isn't it? ???

I'm gonna put my bets in for Christmas holidays ???

Haha yep, consider my family to be part of that crowd. We regularly take the kids to one of the parks after school, most recently it has WnW because of the warmer weather. We would prefer WWW, however with a 4pm closure outside of school holiday periods it is just not worth it ? I agree it is a silly move on Dreamworld/Whitewater World's part to continue reducing their ride & slide operating hours at this time of year. They are shooting themselves in the foot by not making the most of it and staying open for as long as possible each day :/

It has been officially confirmed that Cyclone is being rethemed, and assumbly renamed. Quoting from an article I linked to a few pages back.... "The attraction will also include: Refurbishing the existing Cyclone rollercoaster into a motorsport themed rollercoaster; Supercar racing simulators; and a themed event space to cater for 250 seated people."

I can't help but feel that they are just using it as a storage area for the paint & stuff they are using to refurb the Gold Rush cosmetics in general. As much as I hate to say that. But it doesn't really look like there's much there to work with, and the queue area doesn't look like it needs a new coat of paint. The dividers are just there to hide the stuff in their easily accessible place and stop people stealing them.

Nah, no differences over that side, at least not when I visited last. Most of the work seems to be going on under the Cyclone, behind Shark Bites. That and the cosmetic work around the park in general. Last time I went into Redline a few weeks back, the girl behind the counter told me it (Redline) was supposed to be closing this month - October - sometime for the expected renos and upgrades. Athough she didn't mention a specific date. Alas, the month is still young. I would suspect the Cyclone will probably close simultaneously when Redline does, along with Shark Bites, since they are all getting the same treatment. My guess would be that it will happen sometime between now and the December school holidays

On a side note....they do now https://www.facebook.com/dreamworld/photos/pb.30639128612.-2207520000.1444045758./10153257302413613/?type=3&theater

So my mum recently gave me a suitcase full of my old photos, school reports etc. in it. Had 2 home VHS tapes in it. One of them happened to be a family day trip to Dreamworld in 1996! I watched through it today, sadly not much footage of the Eureka as we didn't film the walk through Gold Rush (although you can see a mine cart whizzing past through Eureka mountain at one stage whilst filming from the vintage cars) but there is lots of the old Ocean Parade, Thunderbolt, old River Rapids (with the T-Rex and the elephants) and Wipeout. Also the Kodak Skychairs and Blue Lagoon water park. Will record it to USB at some stage today, edit it, and upload it to the net if anyone is interested in seeing it?