DaptoFunlandGuy

Nice update. One thing that always irritated me is how haphazard the space between Mach5 and Black Hole was. https://www.parkz.com.au/cache/photo/individual_photo/construction/2021/10/2a59d23319a7a67ba83151bda66d88db.jpg I do hope that once finished, the new install isn't 'finished off' without regard to what sits outside the boundary - I hope that perhaps some slight re-working is done to better connect the two areas and make them naturally group together instead of the isolation each tower had previously

When you're done - how many does Dreamworld have? Here's a vertical view. Perhaps taking a known painted area and pasting it over the grassed area might give you an approximate?

No - just noting your logic is flawed in responding to GoGoBoy's supposed correlation. They could have offered a special pass that didn't include halloween for the discounted price if there were any capacity concerns...

If I recall, Dreamworld has opened the animal area, and vintage cars, two traditionally off limits areas in previous night events. Perhaps this increased the previous capacity of the event to levels the carpark couldn't accommodate? That still requires Dreamworld to participate in the scheme. They didn't have to accept subsidised purchases from the government if they didn't want to. They knew what cheaper passes would do here, lets be honest. On your marks - get set - go! Do a deal with westfield to utilise overflow parking areas and operate a dedicated shuttle bus (or several) and give the shuttlebus a dedicated entry gate to encourage people to use the bus to skip the main gate queues?

To be fair, the Motorway looks like this at the Movie World exit at 5pm on Fright Night event dates. I suppose Dreamworld's added difficulty is all the day guests leaving and all the night guests arriving are all trying to use the same roundabout (along with other usual traffic), whereas Movie World exits guests through two different lanes depending on departure direction. I think to a degree there is a certain element of responsibility to be taken by guests to get there early enough to allow for processing. I recently commented here about the security checks and Magic Mountain taking a while to get through and encouraged visitors to get there early to ensure plenty of time to get that done and I don't see this as any different... There's the added requirement of a covid checkin which I assume the park was verifying at the gate in some way too. By the sounds of things though, everyone choosing to get there right on opening didn't help, and sometimes, its the rush that you just can't recover from. Allowing early admission, even if that be through wristbands or some other method like a holding pen near Taipan might help. Using Carpark B's entrance? Surely they'd have contact details for booked tickets for this event - could it hurt to use a broadcast text message to ticketholders advising them to arrive early... perhaps even having.... gasp.... boarding groups? lol. ok too far but you get the drift. The park needs to communicate better about arriving early (and admitting them - one of the screenshots above says a ticketholder was asked to exit the park, when they were already letting others in - that's a shitty way to add to your already big queue), but the guests need to do their part and anticipate being there beforehand.

<sorry ignore that. i was looking at your picture not the picture above.> Those aren't lilly pillys from what i can tell (i've got about 15 at home) - the leaves are a bit too wide. I'm not sure what those plants are. As for Lilly Pillys - they don't necessarily grow that fast. I have a 6 metre tall one out my window and it has taken about 7-8 years to get to that height from about a 1m shrub, but most of the density and the height occurred in the past 3 years - the first 4 years they didn't grow much at all.

Patience has paid off.

... and like i said - that's fine, if its clearly explained to all riders in a format that is simple to grasp and easy to communicate to everyone. If its a secret knack, then its fucked. Is there clear signage in the load station telling riders this? So far nobody has offered that up by way of explanation, so I can only assume there isn't. On a ropes course, if its uncomfortable - you can stop and adjust or ask the staff to assist you in adjusting (good staff will know the tricks and will assist you to put it on correctly too - something load crews probably don't have time for on a coaster, so this isn't really a great comparison either. So, the best way to ride a standup coaster is to.... sit?

So i'd like to expand on my previous point and talk about another coaster that is really fun. Its a very enjoyable layout and a great ride, but lots of people complain about it being uncomfortable to ride and they're stupid! Those people just don't realise they need to hold their head against the restraint in a specific way and brace against it for the entire ride to avoid headbanging on the large oversized original restraints. If they do that, it's fine! - Vekoma SLC. If there's a special way to do up a restraint, that is not intuitive, and requires a secret club, then its shit. Period. in my opinion.

For me, if I need to know a special 'way' to hold the restraint, and it doesn't come with those instructions in a plain, clear way that everyone riding can get it right first time, then it's too complicated and shouldn't exist. I agree with some of the other sentiments. It's a cool gimmick when you see it, but it gets old real quick, and the ride experience isn't really anything to write home about.

Don't post that here! People are going to Facebook for this!

Bet none of it was up to modern fire codes though. I'm sure we'd all say much the same about the charm and strong memories we all have of SDSCV1 as opposed to the 'galvanised' version we have in SDSCNG:V2

Sorry for your loss.

I don't know. This subject isn't my forte - its why I asked. For me - the metal tunnel bridge prevents people from dropping objects onto the train or into it's path. I can't see them achieving anything similar in timber without it looking even worse. The only other 'bridge over a coaster track' I can think of in Australia is Storm - and that is a fully enclosed shipping container - which granted, does fit the 'theme' of that particular ride. A very fair statement. Not sure how much they can do with 'stainless tunnel number 1' but if the midway sightlines are done well, the backend is probably less critical. I am sometimes amused at the bipolar nature of this place. Vortex - "well, you could never have expected them to ACTUALLY build all that theming" LPS - "why aren't they making it look better?"

Transparent? No. Translucent? Quite possible. There's enough space in that front end to accommodate the rig. A little frosted perspex with an eye painted over the front, with an LED behind it would be a very simple effect that would have a really cool impact in the right environment.

Ok so it was a pin not a keychain - but yes, that's what I had seen. My bad.

Rival's train has a 'brake light' on the rear of the train, perfectly in fit with the 'batmobile' aesthetic they went for. Clearly its something that can be built in (and given a recent video I saw shows it still working several years on, i'd say the longevity isn't too bad) so its completely possible that they do - but perhaps haven't connected it yet while testing is ongoing?

Litigation timelines don't generally take into account 'reputational timing' - this was probably filed some time ago - and as mentioned - is probably being steered by the insurance company who couldn't give a shit about the timing either. While the investigation was damning of the park and processes, it was also damning of this engineer. The article you quoted doesn't mention it that I could see, but another article I read this morning did note that the engineer was specifically named by the Coroner and the Coroner recommended that the engineer be referred to the board of engineers to determine whether he acted within the board's guidelines. My guess is the board have completed that review. An engineer certifying any plant or machinery doesn't just take the owner's word for it that it was recently inspected - they check last inspection tags for appropriate, certified proof. If he failed to determine the last certified inspection, how could he have known what to review and what not to? The burden was on him to do a complete (not half assed) job. This doesn't absolve Ardent, but he is just as culpable if the information in the Inquest is true.

Is a wooden bridge even acceptable under WH&S to go over the ride envelope?

At best, they take the dolphin statues that are outside dolphin cove (and used to be outside the waterpark and i'm sure other places in the park) and paint them gold. I don't know about the walrus. Something tells me the person with the skills to restore the walrus back to its original paintjob was probably long ago made redundant in favour of a cheap digital signwriting machine, and we'll end up with some 'Behold the Monkey' style repaint once the birthday celebrations are done. Is it just me, or does it seem like this is being half arsed? In other related anniversary \ birthday news - I just heard Movie World just got in their gold 30th birthday keyrings. Better late than never I guess.

It's the nature of the design, and technically the same as rivals - the car base is the same as any other car, with the backwards seat \ spinning seat mounted on the top with sufficient clearances so as not to interfere with the car in front.

One observation - the article talks about Sea World narrowly avoiding the worst of the timber shortage, but in the next breath: Timber was onsite in April 2020. We had vertical construction in August 2020. I've zero knowledge of the delays they've experienced or the reasons for them, but on face value (and with the advantage of "Forum Hindsight") it seems a bit rich to blame shipping delays and material shortages when materials were already on site, and global shipping had about the same impact on Taipan as it did on Leviathan. It's fair to say that as at April 2020 (a mere two months into the pandemic) the park was still slating a December (2020) opening, and so all of the needed components would have undoubtedly been in transit or ordered to arrive prior to Christmas. There is no ship out there now that's taken a 14 month voyage still struggling to make it to the Gold Coast. As for quarantine requirements by technical personnel - that's a fair point, but that isn't really any different for Vortex or Taipan is it? (Not to mention they've had more than 18 months of awareness about the need for quarantine and could easily have planned for it). I think the rest of the article potentially has it though - is this a calculated 'non-compete' move by Village to avoid direct competition? Probably. Was it beyond their control due to global shipping delays and shortages? From what I can see, probably not. Just my opinion based on zero insider knowledge.

it takes a lot of talent (and ice cubes) to get a shot like that right.

Sounds like you have close associations to the pilot. Not sure how old the pilot was then or is now, but i'm respectfully wondering how they got on long term if that is something you're comfortable discussing...?