DaptoFunlandGuy

The analogy that comes to mind is a car wash. You can have the regular wash, or you can upgrade to the deluxe (Universal) wash - which is a really nice upgrade - and then they go a little overboard and offer an 'Ultimate Deluxe Wash' (Disney) - just my opinion. Its the noticeables. Disney does things in their builds that 99.99999999999999999% of people will never notice. But for those who do, or understand the story - it makes the magic even better - its the epitome of the hidden mickey. Source?

Yeah thats a fair question - and honestly, when you look at installations like Wizarding World, Universal certainly has the capability to do great things. I'm certainly no expert on the details - but while times have changed, I think it comes down a lot to the (MANY MANY) little things Disney does - the little attention to detail, 'show comes first' things that come before cost (Unless you're Bob Chapek). I remember in my early 'discovery of disney parks' days - I read stories about how Disney would replace every lightbulb in a Main Street Facade at the same time, when they had reached 80% of their expected life - rather than waiting until they blew so that there were never any blown bulbs. Now, I know that isn't always the case any more (its just wasteful really) but it illustrates the thinking behind how disney does things. Another story I remember is the costume designer for Pirates of the Caribbean. I think it was Alice Davis? Anyhow - I think the story goes that she was asked to cost the costumes for all the animatronics - so she made an estimate and then doubled it and went with the double figure - that allowed her to make multiples of the same outfit, so that one could be laundered while the other was 'in show'. Things like mountains - every detail is thoughtfully planned, then moulded, cemented, painted, and weathered all by hand - even in places that guests won't get within 300 feet of. What makes a Ferrari better than a Subaru? (or insert any other preferred vehicle comparison you like.

Because i'm lazy AF and CBA checking right now?

Given this site has operated for 17 years, a 'more than a decade' bump with relevant content is quite the achievement.

Yeah, Transformers wasn't built at open, Battlestar didn't open with the park due to seats falling off, and Madagascar was a delayed open as well. Now, it's been a while since I did math, but that leaves Mummy and Jurassic Park, and i'm pretty sure that's two. Being fair, JP had both the rapids and the canopy flyer coaster, which although small is pretty cool. But we're also ignoring the shows on offer at both parks which also would have cost loads on both sides. I'll grant you that Universal did technically have more to offer at open - it was the folly of Disney to think that they needed to target the local non-thrill market in one of the biggest transport hubs in the world - but they sought to fix that pretty quickly. The thing about Disney is there's no way in hell you can compare their level of theming, detail and immersion to an Australian park or ride. The closest we ever got to their level was Bermuda - and even Disney executives were astounded by how much it cost - however we all know what Bermuda looked like at the end of its life - and that just doesn't happen at Disney. If you want to know why Disney parks are truly so expensive to build - try searching 'Imagineering in a box' and understand that, at best, you've got 1-2 guys in Australia doing the design work on everything outside the ride machinery and operations requirements.

if the paddocks are just for containment (ie - they aren't using it for training or practice) they'd get away with posts inside the fenceline. most horses are idiots when it comes to hurting themselves but its nigh on impossible to hurt themselves on a smooth steel post - so long as they paint it white.

Don't slide wheels have relatively low throughput though? I can't remember and its been a while since I looked at the concept. As for the space not being big enough to house an aqua coaster - the current footprint might not permit that but there's still plenty of space around that footprint that you could expand onto to accommodate practically anything you wanted to. Here's what I see as the usable area. Certain elements could cross the creek if necessary, and they could even go over the top of some of the other structures in the area too if need be. It's a pretty big area back there.... Don't forget they've got a lot of those picnic shelters to the bottom left corner there too - that space is usable if need be.

This isn't the first time Dreamworld has been in financial difficulty. QGOV didn't step in then, and I can't imagine they'd just 'give' money to them to keep them going - it'd be a commercially unfair arrangement unless they did the same thing for village, and any other tourist destination that needed it. The loans by Qtreasury are probably the extent of QGOVs assistance - although they could make further loans if the first ones dont default. I'm sure there are several private buyers that are interested in jumping in, but they have to wait for the price to be right. When the CEO has performance bonuses in his contract tied to when the park sells, you know thats their driver.

Don't think so. The nearmap 'flood' layer is helpful, although not terribly precise, but you can see the water extends south past WNW for a long time before the park itself is affected. There is a large height difference between the Justice League ride floor and the creek at peak - even last year when Green Lantern's footings were inundated, JL itself stayed dry.

You don't remove theming elements from a themed area just because you've decided to close the ride. You remove the ride name signs and thrill guides and such, because the ride isn't "there" but all the themed elements can stand on their own as themed elements. Why spend money to remove them? why task employees to the work when there is other work to do? Why didn't Dreamworld demolish the tower of terror station \ tunnel \ tower-track? Because you don't, unless you need to (or unless you already have a crane on site for other purposes and you can make the most of its down-time). If the area can still be accessed and used by guests, maintaining the theme is, for now, desirable.

They haven't yet built the 'proposed track' and the train is still sitting on the 'existing track'. I would have thought it would have been smart to park the train on a section of rail that was to remain, rather than to be removed, especially since, as I already noted, it doesn't appear as though the train is able to roll out from its current location.

It seems like scheduling posts and not thinking to remove them is the hallmark of all the gold coast theme park related pages run by idiots.

At the risk of being a little alarmist - the train appears to be on the storage spur the track in front of it has been covered with soil to some degree it looks like they're building retaining walls to hold that soil (there's a footer pretty close to the edge of the raised embankment) beyond the level crossing, there appears to be coaster footings already cemented into the ground (with rebar protruding) Question: How does the train get out from there? There does not appear to be any way for the train to roll out of it's current position meaning one of two things: the train will be lifted by crane when the realignment of track is done, or the train will not return.

^Thing is transport rides in parks used to be more than just a way to get around. The entertainment wasn't at some far off destination across the park - it was on the journey - dioramas at Disneyland, the Bawd show on the captain sturt. Heck the Universal Tram Tour has built in 'filler' video on the onboard entertainment system specifically to play to fill in gaps when the trams have to stop for priority traffic or filming. When they do finally remove the TOT launch and station sections, I assume they will try to 'make good' that area - either by landscaping it well to blend between the two sides, or alternatively they'll build a new ride there with a narrow footprint in the future. Whichever route they go, they need to have more regard for the train line - instead of blank facades you trundle past, build something that is only visible from the train and make it part of the experience... They tried to rebirth the bawd story on a budget and folded because they shut down the train shortly after - a couple of things like that would be enough to liven it up and make the train worth the trip.

I'd argue you can't see the Monorail for up to 50% of it's journey if there's only one train running. And whether you can see it or not, "every 10 minutes" isn't hard to comprehend. It should be run continuously. It shouldn't shut down for an hour in the middle of the day so the one qualified person can have lunch - there should be two qualified people. Join us for the next scheduled launching of The Gold Coaster at 4:15pm, Pandamonium at 4:17pm and Mick Doohan's at 4:23pm. Its a ride, and should run as such. its not a scheduled timetabled service terminating at Beenleigh.

Dude, it's fine. Settle down. I was just checking the disconnect between what you said, and what you showed, and your clarification did nothing to re-connect it. Happy days.

Newcastle: Gladys:

Yeah I know it's closed, and its likely they have or will drain it, thats not what was said. Your post specifically said 'as you can see in the only photo.... all the water at the olympic pool has disappeared' and the only photo you attached did not show that. As you all can see, flooding has been really bad this year.

Pretty sure thats a direct cost-cutting \ fuel saving measure, given the low patronage the train gets. I'm sure there are plenty of bean counters at DW that would love to do away with the train entirely.

It is placed at the point in the queue where it splits between general standby queue and the backwards \ fast track \ single rider. The amount of space in the queue before that split isn't viable, and on any normal operating day, standby shouldn't extend beyond that point so everyone can try it before joining the queue. The only times i've ever seen standby exceed that is when half of the standby queue is closed and cast aren't on their game. In my experience, tester seats aren't always that reliable - I can fit the claw tester but can't on the ride, and vice versa with rivals - rivals tester says no, but the ride says yes. Ride operators will do everything they can to make sure you fit within the required parameters, provided you can work with them and work quickly. Different rides have different tricks if you're 'on the borderline' to get things to lock - on Rivals, you might need to lift yourself up in the seat by pressing down on the outside bars of the harness. On scooby, "spare tyres" may need to be lifted out of the way to get the harness to sit low across your waist. Scooby has more room in one row versus the other ( @Spotty help me out here) and the legroom aspect helps keep your thighs low enough to get it to lock as well. If you're concerned, tell the operator \ grouper and they'll make sure to check on you, and help you with any tricks. If they can't get it to work they'll unlock and apologise and direct you to the exit. There is no shame in trying and better to give it a go and know than avoid it 'in case i don't fit' and miss out on all the fun.

I went back at looked closer and I was mistaken - it isn't even a 'J bar' - its a 'W' or an 'M' - the main bar is between your legs, not to one side as I had thought earlier, and the 'hook' comes out on either side to go over each leg separately. I'd suggest it is designed with the same intention as Gazza mentioned for the U bars - to keep your legs in - but given the smaller size of the junior coaster trains, they probably couldn't mount the necessary hardware to have a U bar fixed at both ends - so one centre bar per rider, and i'd suggest the hooks are to ensure the smaller riders can't slip out sideways...

So is the coming weeks.

That wasn't my meaning, and I apologise it came across that way. I had seen this earlier and discussed it with others. I had wanted to check what you meant by interesting, whilst also adding some other detail. Putting all that aside - is there anything specific about it you consider is interesting?

I think you need to look again. In the photo supplied, the water level appears to be only 1-2 steps down the exit ladder at the deep end of the pool - quite full indeed - and that level continues around the entire pool... although I guess subjectively, it depends on what you define as a 'few splashes'. If it were emptied, the lane lines on the tiled floor would be quite well defined, instead of blurry.

Not trying to be argumentative - but why is that interesting? Scooby is a simple L-shaped bar - the ride simply has a 'minimum closure' point - where the body of the car + the bar = rider secure. In these pictures, the bar is J-shaped, so while not going all the way back down to the ground (probably because its a tight fit there as it is), the J probably ensures the closure of the harness against the body of the ride vehicle, while suiting smaller bodies who might otherwise slide out of small gaps in the L harnesses that Scooby has... Considering the ride track itself isn't changing (that we know of) this appears to be a project designed to ensure that all riders are properly secured as the current lapbar stops atop the biggest person's legs (mostly parents) leaving the child quite loosely held. This is perhaps what lead to the increase in height requirements - and hopefully with these individual restraints, this allows them to better secure the smaller kids who used to be able to ride this, so that the height limit can be reduced. I see an increase in ride ops required due to harness checks on both sides. Hopefully they don't go down the Buzzsaw route and close one entire car to permit the op to crossover. I know its been briefly mentioned somewhere previously, but how is RRRC the only one in the world with a height limit that high? From Woodstock at Cedar (91cm) built a year before RRRC, to Hippogriff at USJ (built 2014) all of them that i can find are 91cm. RRRC is 110cm with an adult and 130 to ride alone, but historically it was 100cm, and i'm sure once upon a time it was 90cm also. Like sure, aus regulations and all, but it just seems ridiculous - even moreso when spongebob isn't that high either.