DaptoFunlandGuy

Actually, if you consider that 4000 square metre figure - two chairs, side by side in conference \ theatre style seating, would only be 1 metre wide, and half a metre deep. Allow another space of the same size in front for legroom, and you've got 1 square metre. So theoretically, if you were to seat people in that fashion, you could fit up to 8000 people. This means however, there would be no room for aisleways (fire code) or a stage at the front that the people would be watching, so if you allow 1000 square metre for stage, and associated back of house, 500 square metre for the plaza outside ricks, another 500 square metre for the aisle down the middle, and cut 1000 square metre off the back for the dogleg \ plants and other themed items down the street, leaving you only 1000 square metre of actual seating space, you still have the ability to seat 2000 people. Of course, these are random made up figures - so I don't want anybody walking down main street with a sports tape measure trying to prove the figure wrong - fact is 2000 is an easy number. Even if it was set with Banquet style seating (round\oval tables with chairs all round) I still think you'd fit 1000, or 800 with cabaret seating (same style, except two chairs are removed from each table - the ones that would have their backs to the stage or the screen.). Most people wouldn't really think of how much you could fit in that street, and you'd really have to see it when it's set for a major function before you could really visualise it, but trust me - it's big enough.

I heard it was a giant roof that went the length of mainstreet that would provide shelter from the elements, and maybe allow more theming during nighttime events. A friend of mine from WVTP told me, but I don't know if its true.

Not anymore....

is it just me, or is the picture linked with this news story not quite appropriate?

I don't think we can expect that Gazza, The "ridge" they talk of is right behind a number of Aussie world's main rides, so they will need to clear the way for a splashdown pool. The park map you posted shows the pub in the middle of the map (at the bottom) and the whole aussie world park as it stands today is mostly directly behind that... its main street buddy... and its all gotta go. I would have thought "normal waterpark" could include Jamberoo. Pretty sure EVERY slide they have fits into the landscape - maybe village have learned a few things from their southern neighbours. A spaghetti of support beams is also a lot more expensive than running it along the ground too. (although most slides have support designs pre-fabbed for a flat surface - so maybe it costs more to custom design it around a hill?)

just to clarify - company taxes are not fixed across the board. They are quite variable. Power wise, The lasers would use less than a typical household lightglobe - the ancilliary usage however - cooling fans and servos to move the mirrors would bump it up to be somewhere in the range of a household lightglobe. Lasers are rated in mW, mine for example is 1200mW, and as far as I know, the wattage escalates the same way that bytes do. I agree with Clint that it is more down to the operators. AV would be checking this stuff every morning, so anything that isn't working would be logged and fixed. If it's just running out of fog juice, or overheated, and they don't notice it - it won't be fixed until the next day.

I have to disagree. Anytime someone is willing to seek help, to ask for, and accept it with a sincere intention to improve and make themselves better for it, I will offer. I do not consider it to be nitpicking. He enquiry was in relation to the quality of his posts. I pointed out a few simple tips. Most were to conform with the community guidelines, as is REQUIRED to post here. He readily accepted the advice, and the compliment. Nobody said they have to be perfect, and I didn't point out anything about capitalising the letter 'I', as that is frequently my only issue. I don't think the community guidelines say they have to be perfect, and I think in an older version, before your time here Ash, Richard did say something about "it doesn't have to be perfect". But I will say, it is not annoying in the slightest to have someone ask if there has been improvement. It was definitely more annoying to try and interpret what was being said in chatspeak. Sure - it is better asked in a separate thread, so as not to interrupt the flow of the topic, but come on, how many threads de-rail and sidetrack into something completely different? this wouldn't be the first, and it definitely won't be the last. I'm actually debating whether it is worthwhile asking this can have a new thread for this topic, as it seems there could be a reply or two to come, or whether we can just leave it. I would be interested if you could pm me with some examples of mistakes in my posts though - other than the capitalised 'I' as I said before. Again, I don't claim to be perfect, but spelling and grammar is definitely not my weakest attribute. I might also point out that I did actually compliment, and thank Klassen for the improvements made. I have seen this happen numerous times on these boards - a member joins, posts unintelligibly, other members dip in and politely provide some advice, which either leads to the member improving their post quality and resultingly adding a worthwhile contribution, or the member gets the poops, and flames the board and we never see them again. Either way, the end result is a good quality board, with good quality info, which is what makes Parkz.com.au's community what it is today - what is WELL KNOWN in the industry as THE source of information if you want to go to a theme park. I have seen an influx of people in recent times that have not been in the typical 10-20 year old male demographic that was so common on the boards in its earlier years... more recently we have seen mums planning holidays, and families asking for advice on how to get the best out of the particular park they are considering going to. Parkz has become a one-stop-theme-park-shop, and it is because of the quality, and calibre of our membership that this is so. Poor quality posts that nobody with an education can understand mean people will go elsewhere.

Since you asked: A full stop is your friend It should be used regularly - example "in entertainment this morning. He is pretty high up..." Mine - as in gold, as well as belonging to me - as opposed to 'myn' Not everything that has an S on the end requires an apostrophe ( ' ). Example: photos, trees, posts, as opposed to photo's, tree's and post's Spellchecker, as has been said before, is your friend. If you can't access spell checker, do what I tell some of my more "lacking" staff - open microsoft word > type everything up in there > spell check (hit F7) > copy and paste it into the reply window. - eg: Reckon as opposed to recon. on a side note - and not really a big issue - is I wouldn't suggest you need to clarify that your friends are "pretty high up in that department". Members (and visitors alike) are usually aware of the nature of information that comes from park staff. Generally, if its sprouting a new coaster, its grain of salt time - as our long term member\employees have usually got the inside on it, and would be able to give us a wink if it were true. Less "substantial" matters, such as the trees being put back in, are usually something anyone would know - I guess what i'm saying here is that its kind of "big noting" yourself by adding that in - its not needed - we're all pretty well connected somehow, and chances are, we know someone who knows someone who knows your "pretty high up" friend. As I said - it isn't really an issue as such - but just a tip. lastly, to answer your question - Yes, I would agree that your posting quality has improved a little. I would suggest that if you try to follow some of the points above, it will be even more so. Thanks for making the effort so far, and look forward to both your contributions and responses in the future. Cheers, Alex.

well, depending on where the speakers are (I cannot think of which you mean - got a picture?) it would either be theming speakers (ambience - the lethal weapon theme music etc) or it would be public address, for emergencies) Ok - I just looked on the parkz gallery, and presume you are talking about this one, in which case I would say that those speakers are directly above the observation area. Those would be for the ambience, but also for the operators to instruct any in the observing area to not climb on the fences \ tell people to leave the exit walkway. There wouldn't be many of them, and would all be directed at the observation area, hence why the photo i've linked above has the speaker pointing directly at the camera - because the photo would be taken from the observation area.

Sorry Gazza, I'm shocked actually - it's rare for something in the forums to go unnoticed by you, but in this case, it slipped by: Ferris Wheel Construction at Southbank edit: Not to mention your own comments are on that thread as well, and that thread identifies it as being the SW eye...? further edit: and of course my geographical brain only catching up with me linking that southbank is in brisbane and not surfers paradise - so now QLD's southern end will have TWO of these bloody things?

Like this gazza.....

Not attempting to start anything here, but the term "suckhole" comes to mind. Find a bandwagon and jump on it... until the next bandwagon comes along? I'm not trying to have a go Cadboy, I guess i'm just trying to say that its ok to have a little confrontation \ controversy once in a while. If you keep dripping with sincerities, sometimes the puddle it makes can turn a little stagnant.

Ok, so I did a bit of research. Now I know this isn't standing right next to the train in the maintenance bay, but I really don't think there is much here that can be seen. it just doesn't seem logical to have some mechanical propulsion device, which would affect the weight of the ride, and therefore the overall design tacked onto the back after installation. I mean think about it - if it needed them for every cycle, there'd be a feasibility to it, but the trains don't move into the maintenance bay all the time - it would be easier with a set of friction motors on the brake fins, as had been said, to push them backward or forward. Worst scenario - push the damn thing \ use a winch. Motors in the trains, particularly installed AFTER the ride was installed, are a REALLY bad idea.

Yeah, and scooby doo's carriages have motors in them, that when activated by the fire-sensing laser eyes, can reverse the car out of danger. I'm waiting for proof - take a camera with you on one of your "day to day" visits to lethal weapon's maintenance bay, and post it up here for us. You'll be our biggest hero.

Well, we just don't give a stuff about dreamworld at all - and nobody on these forums go, except you. But wait - here's something.... This was the first, in a SERIES of quotes, some of which people said: So I know that the comments were only made on this site about 3 days ago, but many of them suggest that they did know it was down a couple\few weeks, or even a month ago in some quotes. Pretty sure we knew about this one already... If you want to know more information, you could try the "what would you do if....." thread. And for future reference, the View New Posts link contained at the top of every forum page will show you all posts since you last logged on, and enable you to make sure what you are posting hasn't already been said.

The extra section of the train? I don't know - but at a guess I would say something to do with the stability of the rear end of the train, maybe to take the stress of the second last wheels (which are holding the row of seats) as it whips around the bends, maybe its weight distribution? Maybe it is for the chain lift - the train is usually a little way down hill before it actually releases - perhaps it is for this reason - to hold the train a little longer so it doesn't exceed a certain speed in its first drop? I'd be interested in hearing the actual answer, but I would be very surprised if it didn't have SOMETHING to do with what is above. As far as the clearance - think about it - Movie World installs a ride that could potentially result in injury if someone kept their arms out - I DON'T THINK SO. If there were any risk - there would be MUCH more prominent signage advising to keep your arms in. Essentially - with those harnesses, i'd be surprised if you were able to extend too far out, but as far as being able to touch the support, that section is after the brake run, so it isn't really too risky if your fingers can brush it, because there isn't high speed issues to worry about - but I still think it would be further than you perceive it to be. Roller coasters are designed with these sorts of elements - in the case of suspended\inverted, the elements are generally below you - to make you pull your feet up because you think you're going to hit them. In conventional roller coasters, they are above you - and these are commonly known as head choppers. Roller Coasters are extensively tested to ensure that no rider can touch any part of the structure at any time. I have tried to google an image for a pull through, but i can't find one, so suffice it to say that a pull through involves a large sheet of plywood attached to the front of the train. the train is winched through the entire course, sometimes more than once, with the plywood attached (the plywood is circular in shape, and would be the absolute extreme distance that a person could extend their arms or legs outside the carriage). If the plywood hits anything - it fails. if the plywood doesn't hit anything - you have yourself a safe ride - so put your arms out and scream!

Yes - once I could be bothered to actually look it up, it was SFKK. Original Story found on www.rideaccidents.com (by the way - I don't think Gazza linked to the SFKK story, I think it was linked when the Huss Rainbow accident happened, and I just kept reading - A quote from the Operator's Report for the SFKK cable snap: (absolute OH MY GOD moments in red) This is the sort of thing that should not happen - two female operators, both under the age of 18. The LAST thing she did of any import was hit e-stop. This should have been the first, and according to the report, she had more than 10 seconds to do it. I know this is very sexist, but a young female operator doesn't have a chance against an unruly or upset guest. Thinking about space probe, it was very isolated, and unless right next to the phone \ radio, very unlikely that help would be found quickly if a guest decided to get agressive - this in itself is unsafe. Working at Wonderland, I was a games attendant for a short period. At one point I worked speedpitch, which was halfway between bounty's and dodgems - no phone, no radio, and only a food outlet nearby, which would close by mid afternoon - One day I was hit up by a group of middle-eastern late teen\early 20's. One guy had me by the throat against the wall of the outlet, and had a fist up ready to punch me, to try and take my money belt. It was only that I had a microphone (and used it), and we had two plain clothes security guys walking by that resulted in him getting a cracked skull and an assault charge, and me not getting my lights knocked out. Theme parks prioritise their budgets - they employ the youngest staff they can legally get away with to do the job - and this results in some serious safety issues. At least at Wonderland ride-ops have to be 18 - those two girls *shudder* remind me not to go to SFKK anytime soon...

That wasn't what I was saying - if the cables snap, they won't have time to do anything except watch it happen, and react. You can't "train" them for that sort of thing. All you can do is prepare them for what might happen, and hope they're capable of keeping their head on straight while they respond. Hitting a button, making a phone call, and writing it down in a log book - please - you got people strapped into a ride who have just been slashed by a snapped cable, and the operator is writing in his log book? i'd smack the little bugger across the head with a crow bar. I want staff who are aware of what could happen, not squeamish or afraid of the sight of blood or anything like that, who will calmly respond appropriately to whatever situation presents itself. You can't train that, its something that for the most part comes down to the ability and maturity of the staff member. Reading the link on rideaccidents that gazza posted somewhere, there was a story about a drop tower that snapped a cable. Reading the report, the two girls who were operating it made their statements to the investigators. I can't be bothered picking up the story again, but there were two - young - female - operators running it on their own. When it happened, one girl screamed and ran out of the attraction building, and the other just called the emergency number, where the lady at the other end had to calm her down before she could get anything happening.

Primary Indicator: *Snap* *Whip - Whip - Whip* *SCREAMS* *numerous body parts flop to the ground, followed shortly by a gondola, catch car attached, riders missing legs, and screaming, cable falling down after the catch car* Trained Response: "Oh Crap - *press E-stop - Call Supervisor - Vomit and passout* While i'm sure that they're trained to handle this sort of thing, if it snaps, you don't really have much time to do anything more than look on in horror, and react.

Well, as for remoing MDMC - I wouldn't care about the costs - as I said that was what I would do if money were no object. No Eureka, No Flowrider, No Claw, Constant issues with GD one sidedness, Constant rollbacks with ToT, Cyclone's pure inefficiency, Wipeouts worrying noises, Is Stingray back yet? Holy Crap Dreamworld really will become that - because you'll walk in the gate, and you'll have to DREAM about riding something - because everything will be closed...

Great Report Gazza, after hearing all that, I definitely need to stop by Brunswick street station some time...... As for the Ekka..... *Yawn*

I did think that same thing spotty, the other thing I was thinking is maybe we're considering a similar effect in one of the effects used on the new jet rescue... but most likely it would be bermuda, hence the "funnily enough" comment. Clint is Bermuda getting some TLC???? Only reason I am asking the question straight out is because its not like its a new attraction that needs to be kept under wraps - so i can't see any reason for it to be secret.... If they're specifically looking at repairing a lot of the special effects, can I put in two cents? The spaceship - the one that disappears behind the mirror - last time I rode bermuda I noticed that the strobes on the spaceship continued to fire once the effect had morphed - so while you can't see the spaceship, the strobes firing off kept lighting it up afterwards - too much charge in the capacitors? or just plain screwed?.... it would be great if that got fixed up because the effect is a classic disney effect, and the only example of it in Aus.

Good Find Gazza! I do remember reading that post a long time ago. Mnemo is still aroudn the boards every now and again - hopefully he lists his email address on his profile so it shouldn't be too hard for clint to get in contact with him... on that note Clint, what exactly have you got in mind at the moment? I can't imagine Crackle Neon would have a use for AOS - unless..... Lightning maybe? Come on clint - spill the beans - whats in the works?

I think I should clarify - since I did say that I would also replace MDMC. When I said replace wipeout, I simply meant to purchase another of the same attraction brand new, and install it to give another 10 years life without the moaning and groaning it is subjected to - ....it's kind of already been said somewhere as far as replacing it with a new one, rather than just overhauling the motors all the time. That was all I meant.

I'd say that this is a little sadder: