DaptoFunlandGuy

Yeah I don't think there's one "best seat" on a coaster because everyone enjoys different things. The front seat is always a prized choice (and typically thats the only row you'll see people waiting for) but it doesn't mean people don't ask for the other rows (its just not normally taken because the front is filled first). At the end of it all - it comes down to personal preference - some people like the whip you get from rear seats, some people like the front row because there's an unobstructed view in front of them of what is coming next. My take on these coasters - Leviathan's backwards seats are pure gimmick and a total waste. The thrill of a woodie is seeing the headchoppers coming at you and facing backwards isn't the same balls to the wall experience you get on DCR. Putting backwards on Levi was an uninspired decision from decision makers who lack vision. They saw the moneymaker on rivals and decided they could profit from leviathan in the same way. Leviathan is our best woodie (no contest, really) but the lack of competition doesn't mean its a poor example - it's a really nicely done coaster, with very shit operations. DCR is balls to the wall insane. The layout has clearly had design input by someone with enthusiasts in mind (Fact). The 'Joker Coaster' is a little polarising, but despite the long transitions between each element, it takes it so quickly right to the end that you barely get a chance to catch your breath. If you're after pure thrill, it is 100% what you're after - nothing but an adrenaline machine - forwards or backwards, it doesn't matter, but each of those experiences are uniquely different from each other. The station was designed well to maximise throughput - but again, operations suck. SE is much more palatable to the family. A great themed section inside the soundstage, and then pure speed and airtime, it's short enough that it doesn't upset those with more fragile sensibilities, but long enough to give an adrenaline junkie their fix. Some people just prefer the launched nature of SE too, as for many people, the worst part of a coaster is the anticipation as they climb the lift hill. I'm sure I don't need to say it, but again, despite separate unload station ops being in the design, the nature of single train operations 97% of the year means it'd be more efficient with the single station. The one saving grace is the locker policy minimises the delays of forgotten loose items almost entirely (there's always that one guy though). ST strikes (pun intended) differently. It's the only coaster that actually has inversions, and for a lot of people "goes upside down" instantly makes it "scarier" than any coaster that doesn't. The blue fire layout has a proven track record - (which I think for some enthusiasts instantly makes them downgrade the ride as clones = bad in their view) but the addition of the swing launch and the spinning seat makes it different enough that it's an essential "Credit" even if you've done every other version of it. Sure, it isn't as balls-to-the-wall insane as DCR, but I think some people honestly prefer that. I think I could lap ST and DCR on quiet days, but I think i'd reach my limit - (the point at which it stopped being enjoyable, and started to cause discomfort) on DCR sooner. I don't like to think of DCR and ST as direct competitors. They each provide something different, and sometimes I want what one provides over the other. That all said, the design of ST's station seems to have learned from SE and DCR - it provides space for 3-4 boarding groups, meaning ops can group a bunch of trains in one go, and then focus on pumping the trains out. They can keep it topped up full enough in the downtime they have before the next train arrives that there is an almost constant flow of guests into the boarding area, and the train is never sitting in the station just waiting for people to line up in front of the airgates. Don't get me wrong, DW still operates it like shit on quiet days with less ops covering more roles, but the ability to group multiple trains if they get a long line - even on quiet days - still means it moves faster than village anyday.

Have already mentioned this -

It can be a (very poor) strategy by management. The old timers leave because they no longer feel appreciated and remember the good times, the new guys never know anything different and accept it as par for the course. The end result is you lose the institutional knowledge - like the 'why' we do things a certain way - which leads to two possible outcomes - people don't change outdated and inefficient processes because they were taught to do it a certain way for a reason that no longer exists - "that's the way we've always done it" - (See the 5 Monkey experiment) people change equipment or procedures to remove something that ensures safety because they don't understand the risk "what could go wrong?" (for example - removing slats on a conveyor belt to reduce the weight on the conveyor motor)

Employee recognition and rewards are a great way to boost staff morale - but it has to be something that people want \ appreciate - and it doesn't fix all the problems if you're running the place like garbage or treating them like shit every other time. Swapping from something you can use whenever you prefer to a free lunch only available on a certain day sounds very much a step backwards.

No, you don't get to wash over that. Own your statement. You said (my emphasis) So in acknowledging that nobody knows with certainty what/how it got through you are admitting that your previous statement that they should've picked it up before that was completely unjustified. Totally judgy and in no way an observation - which as defined would be a statement based on something that you have seen, heard, or noticed. At best, you expressed an opinion, and your opinion was unfounded in fact. You're making broad statements about someone else's job without the knowledge or experience to do that job. And you're wrong to boot. Cannot agree with this more. This is exactly the primary issue at play and what anyone coming into a management role in a theme park needs to read over and over again. My time in a theme park was spent with managers that inspired us to do our best, encouraged us to push for our best to ensure we delivered our best for each and every guest. I left because a new manager entered the space with a background in fast food, and she entirely obliterated the culture, destroyed morale and made it a not fun place to be.

I've observed some ops that are just clearly dead inside. I often wonder whether it's the idiot guests or the draconian management and company culture, but it matters not. it happens. you have to hire the right person to work in a theme park. When you aren't attracting the right people, you're not offering enough, and you end up settling for bums on seats, so to speak. But i've also observed some ops who absolutely bust a gut to deliver the best guest experience they can. they are shining stars in a sea of darkness. A long time ago I stopped offering negative feedback about poor experiences with cast members as I just couldn't be sure I knew what that person was going through that day. Instead, I try to make an effort to identify anyone who is delivering a great experience, and I offer a cast compliment whenever I can to recognise them. Disney makes it easy as you can do it there and then on their app. I try to stop into guest services on the GC on my way out to offer the same sort of feedback, but i'm not sure what they do with it. Hopefully those cast are recognised or rewarded in some way, though clearly it is not enough of an incentive to revive the others back from the dead.

if we're just repeating random things we're hearing, I heard that all the animals at PC were safe. Looking at the nearmap images it's clear that the park had a lot of trees down. these have probably impacted exhibits and facilities, and i'm quite sure the priority would have been on clearing MW and WNW enough to reopen as fast as possible, given they have the most patronage on the Oxenford lot. I haven't heard AOS say anything though, even though several people have asked...

Oh, I don't for a minute begrudge them the additional space potentially required to maintain highly complex attractions. Just not in the middle of the damn park, on the site of a former attraction. This space could be utilised so much better than it is -

Yeah they really should have a bin right beside the greeter for shit like that that you completely forgot about.

They do when the gold coast bulletin posts a hit piece... Honestly the media goes full ham on shit like this so I think it's good that they're getting on the front foot and issuing statements to counteract the sensationalism. I just hope they don't release it on instagram again - they did a video version of the Rivals media statement and it was so cringe.

See that pisses me off. They've always had maintenance facilities near the front of the park, and while they may be in need of an upgrade, taking out prime, central park real estate for maintenance facilities that can be done elsewhere is just wrong. It's like they just decided the temporary construction offices made that part of the park back of house now so now they're loading it up with BOH shit to save a few hundred metres? plus cold rooms? where did they used to store F&B before they built leviathan? Honestly come up with something better than building an Eat-street style shipping container city in the middle of the damn park. Put a rollercoaster back there like there used to be... this is fucked.

I don't disagree. But you need that to change in their policies. this isn't something cast can choose to do differently without the policy changing. we all hate it, but someone decided it was procedure and to change that needs courage, and most won't have that courage because of the inevitable "what if". this has been debated to death. stop shitting on the ops crew for it they have no control over it. From what I hear, they've been doing that at Rivals this season when they've had the staff to do so. so it does happen, when they're staffed appropriately.

Nearmap update 28 December. Slab is 12m x 38m approx. looks way too big to be bathroom facilities. Just adding - they're building quite the city out here. top stuff looks like a bunch of cold rooms. #weird.

All of the things you point out though can be classified under a banner of safety. It might be overkill, we might disagree with it, but somewhere, some risk analysis has said 'do it this way' and unless you get a brave risk analyst step forward to say 'we don't need to do this step anymore because it will make things more efficient without compromising safety' you're stuck with what you have. Funny thing about risk analysis is that most people are obsessed with eliminating risk instead of mitigating it, so you just end up nanny-stating things more and more with each review. You'll be hard pressed to find an analyst willing to contradict the previous ones to loosen things up - because if anything goes wrong its on their head.

I have a drink bottle with the tallest \ fastest \ longest slogan, a bottle lanyard and a keyring from early on in it's life. I'm sure there was a shirt too, but.... The park used to do some really good polo shirts and now you're lucky if they have one or two. I live in polos and a good polo should be: done in a dri-fit style fabric - viscous blends and wick away, not cotton \ poly - (see the Under Armour tiger woods style shirts, as an example) embroider it. or get it done in dye-sublimation (there are some awesome designs you can do with dye-sub). Don't stick vinyl print on it as it doesn't breathe. be generous with the sizes you stock. I'm an XL fit, but prefer a 2XL to sit a bit loose. Stock a 3 or 4 (or even 5) X size. dad-bods are your biggest polo wearer, and they've got the money to buy a decent quality polo, so offer it in as many sizes as you can without being stupidly overstocked. (if you can buy the size in Big W, you should stock it in your theme park merch). I like these models, but I think a nano of rivals would be too much - the footprint is a Z shape, and you've got massive hills, the NIL and some supports - it'd be fiddly and cumbersome. I do think our parks have undervalued the benefit of the Dynamix product range though, and should offer more of their attractions in the lineup.

I'm back after a few weeks away, and checking in on the latest nearmaps. Just keeping them all to this thread for now as there's quite a bit to go through... Nearmap has a policy usually of doing flyovers only during certain hours, to minimise shadows and deliver the best imagery possible. Many images recently captured of the northern goldcoast (datestamp is 28 December) were done outside of regular flight times to capture as much of the damage as possible - so you will notice that there are many heavy shadows and it does make it difficult to see some things. I've only focussed on areas where damage was clearly visible, but happy to provide further shots later on request if there is something specific you want to see. Wizard of Oz land Note the large tree downed in the lower right edge of the land Front of TopGolf - trees by the road Paradise Country lost a lot of trees. It's no wonder they've been closed the longest. Movie World front entrance - before and after Tiger Island Vintage Cars Murrisippi

Yeah pretty much given the age of the ride and when it last operated, between your one shaky video and AndrewH's old photos, that's about as good as you're going to get. Video cameras back 20 years ago weren't up to what current devices can do without being extremely bulky and oversized, which is also unlikely to be allowed on by a guest. I can offer an alternative simulated experience though. Dark. Loud. Lift Hill. Noisy. Bright light. dark. bright light. dark. pitch black. sudden drop. scream. loud noises. sudden drop. sharp corners. hard laterals. brake run shoves your rib cage through your spine. the end.

From what I recall, SV was delivered without complying with Australian Electrical Standards - something that prior to TRRR wasn't closely policed but afterwards prevented them from opening. It was the park's fault no matter which way you slice it, but it was very clearly an unanticipated delay. All the ride parts arrived in early 2020 from memory, and I think we all know how that panned out. This one is fair play. While i'd argue the park encountered some unanticipated issues once they began the refurb, it was definitely closed longer than it should have been. When you talk 'past few' the park has delivered three new attractions this past year, all pretty much bang-on the timeline promised, along with a refurb of their entire kids area, all pretty much on time and as promised. When you consider "few" is literally defined as a small number, but most people accept it as being "three", I don't think the original reply was considering SV, ST and GD in the mix.

pretty sure the claw is coming up on it's 20th birthday (just checked, and it is scheduled to reopen a week before it turns 20) so there is merit to the timing if it is an unusual length...

That colour scheme is very suggestive... I think you're absolutely right. The space is quite bare and i'd say thats because the furniture they've ordered for that space probably suits the WOO theme and they don't want to deploy it yet (sidenote - I hope they fix that gold shit on the wall, it's all bubbly). Given the position of this store, I really REALLY HOPE this means they're running the yellow brick road out through chinatown alley - this is the only thing that makes sense with this being a WOO store...

The park's operations are woeful. This is known, and it's been that way for a while. Absolutely, people have a right to be upset if this is the first time they've visited in several years - since that level of ops isn't a new thing. For the vast majority though, they've been more recently than 2020. And in THAT instance, they have no right to be upset about the state of the park following the storms and bad weather, as some of the worst shit the GC has seen in many years. Blind freddy could have told you that the first day back post-recovery was going to be a shit-show. Those who visited on that day did so knowing it would likely be hell for all concerned, but did so anyway. They had options - I've no doubt the park would have been willing to discuss refunds prior to use of the tickets or some other credit or compensation if they had been asked. While disappointing your family by not visiting the park during your holiday isn't desirable - you're likely disappointing them by visiting a disaster zone still in recovery anyway, so why not save your money and choose something else? No, the complainers, by and large, have no right to complain. Those who do are the exception, not the rule. I'm sure they'll just pull the staffing out of their arse? You're aware that the GCCC requires MW to notify residents of late operations in advance? And that they're only allowed to do that a certain number of times a year? They're trying to recover the park, and their other properties, and you think operating longer days is better for their team? get fucked. Many of their staff lived in impacted areas, and several I know of still didn't have power while they were attending their shifts. Some had no water (tanks) either so imagine not being able to shower, or eat food from home, but hey - this is ok, right? I'm agreeing. And I've read your posts. The park has dealt with pre-bought tickets during covid. They can offer alternatives to guests who couldn't attend on another day. All they had to do was ask. Nobody just turned up to Cairns post-cyclone and expects their reef tour to be going ahead when the boat is beached on a rockwall. Nobody is giving the reef tour operator negative reviews because the water was brackish following river outflow. Sorry, but our culture values safety over efficiency. It's been debated numerous times why our safety systems are more stringent than foreign parks. I agree in many cases it's overkill, but nobody wants to go against the risk assessment because it's their neck on the line when shit goes pear shaped, and nobody wants to leave the country and work for some dive amusement park in malaysia. We don't know the park's staffing situation. Perhaps their maintenance team were impacted and they couldn't staff enough people to perform checks on both trains. Perhaps they couldn't staff enough Ops to run two-train operations? I honestly am gobsmacked at the entitlement of people here, given what the parks have just been through. I am NO fan of Village's current culture, their operations processes or their management decisions, BUT every park gets a pass for the past 14 days - everyone visiting right now is just lucky they got reopened as fast as they did. Get off the fucking merry-go-round. Everyone has answered that for you. you just don't like the answer. Even if they did staff 4 people to check harnesses (which isn't affordable, I know overseas parks do it but they have the attendance to pay for it) our safety procedures don't permit one op to go on ahead of the other - it relies on ops cross checking each other at every row to ensure they're not missing anything. We know ops are not what they're used to. I think some of this is attributable to TRRR and the safety reforms imposed on park operators. it won't change, and we're stuck with it. The selling of fast track is not a motivator for ride operators who do not profit or benefit from those sales. I know several ride ops and they work their asses off and their hearts out within the confines of their ops manuals. Anything that isn't attributable to the TRRR reforms falls back to village procedures which they must follow or they lose their jobs. The park is to blame for these inefficiencies. Don't blame the operators. Updating the website and apps is a task for one\a small number of people, who were potentially also recovering from the impacts of the weather. I work in emergency management and in the initial stages of event recovery, information isn't always reliable. It is preferred, and desirable, but you can't always do everything. Agree though that this would have helped. paper maps would have been a good idea. Keeping them printed though would be wasteful with every update. They could easily have churned a bunch out on the office laser printer like sea world did a few years back though - though I don't think printing the current online monstrosity would have benefitted anyone really... Crowd management - yes, the season sucks, and compounded by the storms, but also, they would have had less staff available due to callouts anyway, so solving the issue with 'roster more staff to do this thing' really isn't an option. I know you love to compare apples with helicopters but you're still in a fantasyland. Universal can pull the hours it does because it gets the crowds to warrant it, and the parks are big enough that you can fill a day even when it's quiet. Universal Singapore is a closer comparison for size of park, and they only operate 10am-7pm - so barely two hours longer than the GCs regular trade (and they have the people to warrant it) Shut up about the damn seatbelts. it's a safety requirement. it is not going to change. nobody is going to stop that procedure because it's their neck on the block if shit goes pear shaped and nobody wants another TRRR. The green circle is not storage, its a facade surrounding the plant and equipment (I think it's air conditioning) for Superman Escape. It COULD be relocated (maybe the roof?) but for now, it's not just 'storage' and isn't a simple thing to remove to widen the alley. Sad if so. "they should've". I've seen no imagery of the item in question. I've heard it was on a rear bogey. Potentially not clearly visible until after dispatch. You've also no clue of what it takes to operate that ride, or when the item in question actually got caught. You're being pretty judgy over someone else's job without all the facts here. Formula Rossa is also located in Abu Dhabi, a predominantly Muslim region where religious headwear is far more common, and therefore more likely to be catered to. I've just come back from Singapore over the break and their food courts have places for halal food trays, and non halal food trays. It would be quite pointless in Australia to cater to every worldwide requirement when those requirements are pretty uncommon. I am aware that GC based ride operators will have a conversation with a guest if they are wearing anything for religious reasons (i've seen it occur in both parks). The conversation is discreet, and asks the guest to ensure it is secured adequately for the ride experience, and this should be sufficient... I'm sure someone like Spotty could elaborate further.

I recall a while back something was mentioned about the spit height limitation had changed.

Nearmap says this shot is from 13th of November, but I posted an update around November 20th that showed the 13th of November and it was a lot less than what you see below.

No update to nearmap as yet.

Nope, it's a pretty long standing Parkz in-joke. It was for SkyVoyager originally, wasn't it?