DaptoFunlandGuy

Yeah - fountain of improbability doesn't cover this though - we need a new 'smells fishy' react...

Wasn't ASW a VRTP proposal? I'm certain there was a literal butt-tonne of discussion on Parkz over that proposal so you'd probably find the concepts and such with a little Parkz search....?

if only they'd reconsider the horrible name.

I agree with everything you said here except that that area is on the busiest street in the park. I'm sure the chain can be spaced suitably back from the more delicate elements of the garden. I can assure you if I saw anyone defacing or otherwise damaging the garden, they'd find themselves headfirst into the nearest garbage bin.

As for number of attractions, WFRR was built at a time when there wasn't much in the way of franchise tie ins. In almost every case, in the case of a ride + movie \ franchise situation, the ride came first. The movie was inspired by the ride in almost every single case. Nowadays, of course, we have toy story land and Marvel Avengers related indicia popping up all over the place - but back then an entire land themed around a single character (that wasn't their flagship Mickey Mouse) would have been unthinkable. Of course, they did start that process at DHS - but as you can see by Webslave's link - it just wasn't meant to be. You can't justify 'build another WFRR attraction' based solely on 'there are 5 pirates rides' because the ride and theme came first. RR Car-toon Spin is a very small part of MICKEY'S TOONTOWN, and even in the height of Roger popularity, duplicating or expanding the attraction universe in multiple parks around such a character makes about as much sense as building a 7 Dwarves rollercoaster....

Velociraptor Rivals - Hypercoaster: The Ride.

That's an advantage though. Memorials in cemeteries do get vandalised from time to time, but that's because they aren't frequently visited. The spot i'm thinking of (where the old stagecoach once stood - near the Eureka entrance) isn't in direct traffic line, but its clearly visible. A small decorative chain or railing around it is theme-park code for 'no entry', and with the new coaster, the area would have enough common foot-traffic that anyone jumping the chain is going to be spotted pretty quickly.

It doesn't change much in the impact of things here, but the above article claims the 28,000 cast were laid off from the theme parks. this isn't entirely accurate. For clarity, the staff laid off are from the Disney's Parks, Experiences and Products unit - which does include the US parks (they're pointing to California predominantly as it hasn't reopened due to state restrictions), but the full makeup of the PEP division includes:

I think a garden bed, no bigger than 3mx3m in a corner of the old goldrush area, not able to be walked through, with a small stone, and a plaque (again around A4 size) recording the normal memorial details (similar to the luna park ghost train plaque), with some nice native trees or shrubs, kept neat and tidy would be fine. It shouldn't be any sort of 'walk-through' attraction, and it shouldn't be marked on the map in any way. Something like this

Accidents happen in theme parks. But they're usually accidents. If you put aside the 'rider was an idiot' incidents like standing up in a log flume, or jumping a fence into a ride envelope to retrieve a hat, the vast majority of incidents, and especially deaths has come from inadequate maintenance and safety protocols. Disney has killed people - the big thunder incident was attributed to disney downsizing its inhouse maintenance team and outsourcing the work to external contractors who didn't do as good of a job. Dreamworld's incident is by and large due to their arrogance. They had a head of engineering who wasn't a qualified australian engineer, and they relied on him to guide what was necessary. When incidents occurred (such as the constant failures of the conveyor) they took his advice to remove slats from the conveyor to lighten it. Never mind that every rapids ride in the world that used a slat based conveyor had closely spaced slats. Dreamworld treated the symptom. Conveyor failed? lighten it's weight - without risk-assessing what the possible impacts of that were - the gaps in the conveyor were now wide enough to accommodate a raft tube. The proper fix would have been to replace the conveyor motor with something more powerful to overcome the weight issue. Just like the station rails, that were introduced to prevent rafts dipping while loading, without considering what impact that might have to a stacked station. But they had many opportunities to fix the issues. Several flips occurred in the ride's lifetime. But each was put down to an operator not following the manual, and when they identified issues, they simply instructed the ride operators to do more themselves to prevent it, rather than introducing controls. Right before the accident they were in the process of upgrading systems, but they chose to install anti-rollbacks on the conveyor instead of a sensor system to stop the conveyor when the station was occupied. I really struggle to understand how they saw a conveyor rollback as a bigger issue TBH - even if there was a raft at the bottom of the conveyor, and a raft on the conveyor slid back down and bumped it - would that have been more than a bumper-boat scenario? they installed rails at the bottom of the conveyor to prevent rafts bottoming out - so at worse, you've got a shunt situation? The only thing I can think of is that they felt the bottom of the conveyor was more of a risk because it was outside of the operator's line of sight, whereas issues in the station could be seen by the operator - again, placing another burden on an already overworked and stressed operator. So many single things could have been done which would have prevented this. Just one of these things would have changed the outcome - installing a proper, power disconnect e-stop. not installing rails in the station, instead using rams to pinch the raft against the station (similar to Snowy River). leaving the slats on the conveyor, and instead beefing up the motor that drove it. installing sensors to detect the presence of rafts on the conveyor and in the station to control-stop the conveyor when the station was occupied. Replacing the pumps that kept failing, and not operating the ride until it was fixed. Everyone, park management included, saw this ride as tame, gentle, and unable to hurt anyone. It was arrogance, especially on behalf of one particular department head, that caused this.

Yeah, i've got a soft spot for Wonderland (what rock were you under if you didn't know?) and in it's earlier days, when the Yanks still had a lot of input into the park, it was a wonderful THEME park. But if I had to pick the 'best' "theme" park, it'd be the earlier days of Movie World. PASS, LTRR, Einstein - maybe around 92-94ish - yes, before Lethal and Wild West. yes folks, I did just rate MW at its best over Wonderland. I guess working for the park, and seeing its later years up close probably removed some of the polish of my memories - plus the better time for Wonderland I was younger and probably don't remember so well. Both places were beyond magical back in the day, and the ability to suspend disbelief and immerse yourself into the worlds they created were wonderful. Sadly the idea these days is to plonk a massive coaster wherever it will fit - and its probably a better strategy than the 'magic' of yesteryear, as we've long discussed on here before.

Quoted for a first (you holding your figurative tongue). And believe me, I did hold back on my rant. But since you've seen fit to deny it (and i've got nothing better to do right now) - here we go. You sarcastically suggested the fact that I was aware of, and had been into a single accessible facility, was a 'weird' thing to do. You've called me out previously for mentioning that I had a kid, so you were definitely aware of that fact. So, just to recap: I mentioned there was a great ambulant facility at the park. Gazza stated he would leave them for those who require those facilities. I agreed, and stated that I hadn't suggested otherwise. You insinuated that I was being weird by 'randomly inspecting bathrooms' like I was some kind of deviant. It implies that I had no business to be in there in the first place, so either, I was lying about not using them without a need, or I was 'weird'? If you weren't questioning what i'd said, then why did you feel the need to make any response to me at all? Here I am actually paying the park a compliment on such a great facility (something you complain people don't do), and you're here throwing insults? Shit - no wonder people only ever pour shit on the parks. ...but its ok, because the parade spacing is fantastic.

This was mentioned in the weeks after the accident as the police attempted to recreate it. It was further mentioned at the Inquest. As usual, the media continues to recycle the same package with a slightly updated script.

It's "Ambulant" not "Ambulance" and considering the stink you kicked up about appropriate words for accessible facilities in a previous thread, who are you to question a person using an accessible facility? Not every impairment is visible. If a person is using such a facility, don't question their entitlement, leave them be. But yes, it's also the best facility for parents with small children.

...Just four short years since 4 people were tragically killed on the Thunder River Rapids Ride at Dreamworld. ...it just writes itself!

Thanks Naazon, The DJI Geo-map shows restricted flight areas - and of course Coolangatta and it's approaches are marked as you can see on the bottom-half of this picture - it does not extend up to the spit. As you say, helicopter landing zones are permitted flight areas, unless manned aircraft are in operation - Sea World helicopters don't usually operate outside of park hours, so early morning prior to 10, or post-closure after 5pm would be a safe bet, although you could fly at any time during the day provided you observed aircraft operations, and didn't fly over people. Again, I think even from 20 metres above the dunes would get some killer shots of the coaster construction.

Absolutely, I never suggested otherwise.

To be honest, it wouldn't be too hard to stand up on the dunes and get some drone shots of the site - i'm surprised nobody has done that yet, and I for one would love to see it if anyone does!

Wasn't it Arthur Coglan's daughter that fooled Penn & Teller like 3 times?

That's probably a smart thing to do, to be honest - so many people touching the same wristband. It'd be nice if they could have them set to 'free play' so a wristband wasn't required, but you'd then end up with effects triggering all throughout the day without anyone actively playing it. It sucks the bands are gone, but its the smart thing to do. The wedgie is a single person slide, and is far less popular than the green room. Just like Aqualoop - the drop start puts a lot of people off.

When people go, they'll post. Nobody is interested in holding back updates of progress. There's also a couple of facebook pages that are following these developments and construction closely (and they're normally credited when those are posted here, so try that too). You don't need to ask for updates. When people are able to share, they will.

Yeah, it was funny, and then you took it too far. It's not funny anymore.

Used to be asking for a cup was an exception, not the rule.

A tent! 😮 Whoa! Upgraded!

There is also an ambulant toilet behind the Newsstand toilets next to the entrance arch - considering the condition of the Newsstand toilets (horrible) the Ambulant facility is modern and VERY clean.