DaptoFunlandGuy

*beats head against wall* Ok, read this verrrrrrrrrry sloooooooowly.... Seatbelts. and. the. RFID. system. reduce. risk, because. the. system. won't. dispatch. without. the. operator. scanning. their. RFID. tag. within. a. few. seconds. of. the. seatbelt. going. in. The insurance company can be assured that it was an operator who secured the rider because the RFID tag proves it occurred. There's no question about whether the guest or the operator closed the harness, or whether the operator checked if the harness was locked. the system log PROVES that a trained operator was present at the time. Because they recently got sued for negligence over a homemade ride with poor procedures and maintenance and having systems that are "above and beyond" industry standards is probably a good thing for the following reasons: it covers their arse it makes the general public who ride it feel like its safer because everything is double checked it makes the insurers more confident that another incident is unlikely. This. This. 1000% this. Someone isn't listening again. The RFID must be scanned within a small timeframe after the seatbelt is buckled. The seatbelts can't all be inserted in advance because it will time out. So you'd have to coordinate every rider buckling the belt just before the operator got there and if one thing went wrong, you'd have to start over. With the current system in place, allowing them to do the seatbelt is actually the most efficient method to interact with the RFID ***AND THIS IS WHY IT MAKES THE RIDE SAFER BECAUSE IT IS CERTAIN THAT THE OPERATOR CHECKED THE RESTRAINT*** rather than pretending to, which is what you're implying. I've got news for you too - Operators take their jobs very seriously. They don't want to kill anyone. They're not going to take shortcuts on purpose, so what you're alleging is just offensive. This system isn't to prevent "on purpose shortcuts" because it doesn't need to generally. It's there to prevent shortcuts BY ACCIDENT. If something momentarily distracts an operator (like my conversation with them) and they forget to do something and then dispatch - that could be unsafe. But the ride timed out because they didn't scan the RFID in time, and so they had to recheck it to ensure it was done properly. Those sort of accidental inadvertent errors is what the system is designed to catch. @Dean Barnett - please just take a step back and look at this conversation - you're on your own here. Several people have taken great pains to counter your arguments with reasonable explanations that are plain for anyone to see. You're not going to convince anyone. We all agree that our local parks are woefully slow in their operations. We also agree that there are things they COULD do to improve things. Some of those are procedural - such as opening air gates earlier or grouping earlier (but not with a fucking turnstile), and a lot of it is cultural. But, and this is a huge but - and *especially* not post-TRRR: nobody is going to favor trading off things that are done for safety in place of efficiency. Whether you think its theatre, whether you think it doesn't change or improve safety, if the control in question is done for even the appearance of safety - nobody is going to agree to remove it because that would make it appear to be less safe, and that isn't something that our park-going public will tolerate in this post-TRRR world.

You know, I absolutely knew this, but thought it was part of the same precinct. Thanks for the correction Spotty.

Then there isn't much else we can do to help you understand. Even Regie gets it. Try this: Coroner: "How do we know that a person who was trained in the safe operation of this amusement device checked that the restraint was closed and locked before the ride was dispatched?" Dreamworld: "Well your honour, here is a print-out of the ride's control system showing that RFID tag issued to *Operator* was scanned 3.6 seconds after the seatbelt was inserted into the buckle." It's like home insurance. My insurer takes into account that I have an alarm system, and CCTV. Window locks and keyed deadbolts. crimsafe or diamond grill security screens. These are all things that make it harder for someone to break into my home, so I am less of a risk. The RFID tag makes it impossible to dispatch without an operator physically being present while every harness is checked. It can't prove they physically pulled on the restraint, but it proves they were there, and all things considered, it's likely that they checked while they were there, so the risk of an unrestrained launch and potential death decreases dramatically, and therefore, so do the insurance premiums.

Not so much a guide. The regulations are backed by legislation and enforced by QLD health by penalties imposed on the smoker or the venue, depending on the offence. But you're right, i've no doubt the parks would have to provide evidence that their arrangements comply with law. Things like the V8s in Ipswich and GC, QLD Health inspectors patrol the grounds, which are entirely smoke free precincts, and issue fines regularly. The smoking area is technically against the fence, and the queue is almost certainly going through the current vehicle access gates closer to the launch. the queue will be just as far away if not more so.

The QLD regs are easy to find - so I should have checked them first - the regs state it is actually FIVE metres from building entrances. The wording is pretty straight forward: within 5 metres of non-residential building entrances Clearly the regulations would regard the standard dictionary definition of a non residential building. A building is defined as "a structure with a roof and walls, such as a house or factory." and it is clearly not residential - so I would suggest an Operator's booth does qualify, the ride structure does not. Its semantics at any rate - based on the pics so far, the operators booth will be more than 5 metres from the currently designated area.

it isn't just theatre, its ass-covering, which probably also contributes to insurance savings. How else can you PROVE that an operator was present for the locking of the restraint?

This is a ride that hasn't been built in over 30 years - which is a fairly average lifespan for amusement attractions, so to learn there is only 4 still running isn't a surprise.

Like a lot of other things you post here, you're talking crap - but i'd love for you to explain why you think this is the case?

You do actually. The morass of people between the JL store and the Rivals entrance is sometimes just plain feral. Regardless, the smokers corner is probably safe, unless the park chooses to move it. Construction won't impact it at all, and given QLD law regarding 4 metres from building entrances, playgrounds, schools etc etc, it more than adequately meets the health departments criteria for positioning.

I don't think it's in our parks best interests to have offpeak closures or midweek closures despite your preferences. Our maintenance requirements mean rides would still be closed on those opening days, because maintenance for the bigger attractions takes longer than 3-4 days.

Yeah that's fair. Its a shame its such a disappointment overall. What was intamin thinking!

It's hard to ignore the visual similarity, but a 'swinging ship' powered on the ground =\= a fully controlled and driven movement. Consider a purist's definition of a roller coaster as compared to a powered "coaster".

That's like saying science and medicine were fans of penicillin, and that's why we have AIDS. Not sure how much of his rating is due to the ride experience, and how much of that is due to Sunway's care and maintenance of the attraction - he did say the place had had it's hey-day many years prior, and it really looked like it too. I did enjoy the vlog, and like you, thought Dragon's was still in the park, and was shocked to find it wasn't. When it left Wonderland the mast was fractured, so I was surprised when they did set it up but my guess is she was not long for this world and it makes sense that it isn't still there. As for other attractions - I think Demon is the only other still out there (Wonderla Park I think). I know that Snowy Rafts were sold, as were the vintage cars, skyrider cabins, Dodgem cars, Skyhawk went to the GC but I don't think it ever operated. Taz was being trailerised but I don't think they finished the project. I never saw Endeavour again. Wizard's was scrapped long before closure. Probe allegedly went to Sunway but never constructed. Zodiac was scrapped too from memory. Not sure on the kiddie rides - most of those could have been trailerised pretty easily, but were pretty custom jobs.

I can't speak for all attractions that have this requirement, but in the case of Steel Taipan, the control system anticipates that the RFID tag will be scanned within X seconds of the seatbelt being secured. The restraint system will timeout if not scanned within that timeframe, and needs to be resecured. (I was chatting with a ST operator one afternoon and they did up my seatbelt but didn't immediately scan the tag. They finished their sentence, tapped the tag, but were too slow and had to re-do it.) This ensures that the operator is at least present when the restraint is secured, and the computer has a log of that, to show it occurred. Given recent history, and the increasingly litigious society we live in, it is a painful, but necessary evil.

Especially if the park provides you with free fast track \ skip the queue passes. You are aware that SFMM only moved to 365 day operations in about 2018, and as of November 2022, they have reverted to closing during off-peak midweek periods again? It's pretty easy to keep your rides up on operating days if they're closed for 42% of the operating week. You'd be better off comparing our parks to Disney, open 365 - and most of the big Disney attractions have downtime for at least a month a year. (And don't forget downtime to add and remove overlays too) source

Hmmm.... let me see.... Yep, already covered that! The restraints on the travelling model were horrible. Trident's seatbelts are an operational nightmare, but they're far more comfortable. I'd love to see a park bring another Intamin Looping Starship to Australia. Seeing TPWW visit Sunway Lagoon made me all sorts of nostalgic...

That Australia is starved for entertainment options and operators can and do get away with lots of things they shouldn't simply because there is no competitor?

That explains a lot, and I think your day drinking might be impacting on your job.

No royalties from Turnstiles - it's the turn of styles that's his thing...

Smoker's area in that section (if it still exists) is outside the helix, and therefore won't be impacted.

Is that some sort of change in fashion trends?

I find this happening to me more often too. Not sure why.

Haha! There's your cut and dry answer!

I don't think most versions of this attraction utilise the dual seat belts, and I assume this is an Australian \ Queensland \ Post-TRRR Risk assessment reduction strategy. The operations are about as @Guest 239 has indicated, which is to say woefully slow, no fault of the ops themselves. They appear to have individual control of the seatbelts by row, as they were having some troubles with one row when I was in queue and were able to lock and unlock a specific row, so if this be the case, let guests do up their own belts, and if one isn't done right, just unlock and redo that particular row. Stage guests and group them prior to loading, have them ready to load when the previous cycle lands, and let them in a short time after the last group is unlocked. The ride itself is fun and enjoyable, and the slower speed is more accessible to riders than a faster version. They just need to work on how they can improve capacity through operational efficiencies.

Almost every example you've given is from a time when Warner were invested in the parks. of course the parks all owned by the same mob, had the same attractions (Disney anyone?) because the R&D costs for one can be spread across all the parks you own, reducing the cost of the new attrraction. I wasn't aware SFMM had a PASS? I visited SFMM in 1996 and don't recall it being there - quick google doesn't show up anything either - got a source for this? (SFMM has had Looney Tunes for some time so the WB link isn't unusual, I just don't recall PASS being part of it) 100% I also got an opportunity to ride Leviathan mid-fireworks and my just-tall-enough-to-ride kiddo now has a new favourite coaster #ThoosieParentingDoneRight