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DaptoFunlandGuy

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Everything posted by DaptoFunlandGuy

  1. Wazza, i take "between the first two loops" to indicate the first inversion to the second inversion, which would be in the middle of the boomerang. I haven't gone back to re-read it but I think it talked of the fire department being required to extricate the riders... which i think would indicate them not being right way up. Im going to go and re read it... still unclear... im open to both versions i suppose...
  2. depends on which version of the theme song you are talking about denim dude. the original theme song was quite pleasurable to listen to, and was rarely repeated over and over, more towards the end of the day at closing... the 911 - Wonderland song could get a bit annoying, but as an employee of the park I think i was one of the only ones who actually enjoyed it...
  3. Honestly, there is no need to be that way. No thankyou, keep walking, no problem. Once you have said no thankyou to the person, if they keep at you, it is ok to ignore them, because you have acknowledged them already. But the problem I am seeing here is that walking past them a number of times has you getting worse as it goes on... Does the 16 year old girl on holidays trying to earn enough money to buy herself her first car deserve to tolerate all of the abuse, foul language and rudeness from you, Jim, because you have just put up with the exact same approach from 40 other people? NO. There is no excuse to be rude to them. "i'm allergic" - i mean come on.... A simple no thanks is all it takes, and you move on. Practice it before you go to the show again "no thanks" or... "no thankyou".
  4. I did some more digging, and came across this photo of the accident... ok so its not real, but an "artists impression" according to coasterforce... http://www.coasterforce.com/information/ac...accidents.shtml
  5. I hate to be the one dragging up old threads, but I came across this one the other day. its not directly relevant to the discussion, but it shows it is possible... http://www.saferparks.org/database/AR_deta...s.asp?ID=909397
  6. welcome Flip, to the forums. Nothing wrong with your post above there, but just in case you haven't seen them, can I recommend visiting the Community Guidelines for a look-see (under the FAQ section). Again as I said, nothing wrong with your post, but its handy to know the rules before you break them! the video is now available, and paul_hollibone has posted links to the video in several places, or you can also check it out by visiting the site directly at www.defunction.net and following the links. Again, good to have you on board, and enjoy the Roller-Coaster.com.au experience!
  7. Wait a minute - are we talking about the petrol powered speedboats, or the "super 8" style wet n wild clone slide?
  8. When I started my time at Wonderland, I was employed as a Games Cast Member. For those who don't operate rides, you either start on Games, or Food. I worked my way up but i spent a lot of time on those games, and in a theme park it is almost identical to the sideshows. Now, in theme parks, they already have a "cover charge" from your entry ticket at the door, so the games are generally a little easier to win, however MOST games can be won with a little practice or skill. I can tell you there was a way to win ALMOST every game in Wonderland through Skill. Here is the full list of games at Wonderland during my time - and how to win: Coke Toss - glass bottles and red rings. get a ring around a bottle - takes skill, and the ring needs to be thrown at the right angle. One-Ball-Milk Can - get a softball into a milk jug - takes skill. the ball needs to drop straight into the hole, and not hit the side. a high lofty throw gets it in. "lucky land" (outside skyrider) Darts - Luck Goblet Pitch - a little luck, a little skill, to toss a very light ball into the correct coloured goblet. Strings - Luck Hoop Toss - get a hoop over the prize to win (like hoop-la) - the hoop had to be tossed a certain way. definately skill. Bushell Ball - get a ball into a bucket that is pitched at an angle - Wonderland's version was definately possible through skill, however the ones at the show are generally mounted with bouncy-balls behind them, and are a bit harder. the ball needs to land on the lip without hitting the rim. you're talking a space about 3 inches wide that you can hit. Bowler Roller - get a bowling ball into a dip on a set metal track - Skill - just enough force to get it over, not enough that it comes back. Coin Pitch - get a coin to land on a glass table top - skill - most people won this one out of pure luck, but hitting someone else's coin... but it can be won - with the correct angle, standing in the correct spot, and banking it off the roof. the "cluster" near dodgems - High Striker - hit it as hard as you can to win a prize - this is probably one of the worst games to play. its easier to win when the machine is in full sun, as the air in the pipes heats up, and because it is expanded, its easier to hit a high score. Its brute strength on this one, but the machine can be adjusted. it had several modes of operation, and it depends on who sets it, and what mode its at. Most carnival operators have the unit set on "standard" and put the sensitivity way down, but you can also program it to have a certain "win ratio" so over time, the resistance comes down until someone wins, and then it goes back up. Clowns and Ducks are both luck. there is no skill at all. Basketball was probably the easiest to win in the park, which is why it generally carried the cheapest prizes - get 2 or 3 balls into a basketball hoop to win a prize. Can Crash - brute force again. you have a very lightweight ball, to knock down 5 reasonably light plastic "cans". hit it in the right spot, with enough force, and you got it. Wacky Wire - my favourite. this is skill and skill alone - another one the carnies love. you have a rotating spiralled wire, which you need to get a metal loop down over it without touching the wire itself. Anyone can do this with enough practice, but if you dont work for them, or own one yourself, it costs you a fortune to win it. The guys at the easter show used to hate wonderland employees, because we could all do it. Most of the ones at the show have a very low clearance on the bottom of the machine, whereas wonderland's were a bit higher, but the skill requirement is the same. everyone can do the first 80%, its the last 20% thats difficult. At wonderland, this game had the most expensive prizes, generally around the $50 purchase price (not kidding)... but once you've learnt how to do it, you got it made. (the guys at the show used to offer cash or a prize, but recently the show operators have come down on "cash prizes", so they generally offer two prizes instead.) the last two games in Wonderland were up in HannaBarbera Land, which were another laughing clowns, and a game similar to goblet pitch. Theres also a "guess your weight" game, but essentially that depends on the operator. the prizes offered at this game generally cost less than what you paid to play, so even if the operator got EVERY SINGLE PLAYER wrong, it still made money.. there were no special tricks, no hidden scales, nothing... its just easy to get within 5Kgs of most people. But anyway, having said that, i find nothing more disgusting than a person who cannot be polite to a person who is trying to get you to play a game. A simple "no thanks" is all it takes. Everything they say is to get you to play - they're in it to make money - DUH! No matter what you do, its to make money. if you work at Maccas, you ask if people want fries with that - to make MORE money. Most of the time, the games operators (if they are .. say... under the age of 30) are just seasonal employees, making a lousy $7 an hour to make ends meet. if they're over 30, generally they are part of the family that owns the game, and they are reliant on the money they make from the game to SURVIVE... TO EAT... and to LIVE. Think about that the next time you throw a rude comment at them... and put yourself in the same position - someone throwing a rude comment at you while you're just trying to earn money to survive.... I certainly hope that any of you who do throw rude comments at those people find yourselves in that same position in the future... you deserve it.
  9. true. for its location i find it very disappointing that Jamberoo has been consistently adding wet ride after wet ride. Yes its true, in that area there isn't much in the way of water entertainment, and also because they are a seasonal park they can get away with it because it is only open in the summer season, but they need more dry rides. I suppose wet rides are cheaper than say... a coaster or similar, but with that hilly terrain, a coaster would be AMAZING! As far as the "mammoth" style ride, theres really only one company around that makes them isn't there? and they're all pretty much the same design, one a falls and one a river style. sure you can make it longer, or more turns, or whatever, but its always going to be a fairly similar variation - theres only so much you can do with a waterslide...
  10. sounds more like you have a problem with him as a person Paul. Half of the items you just listed in that last post were a personal opinion towards the guy. If you had proof that he steals, he should have been sacked immediately. You and I had a discussion recently about personal opinion too... To be honest, while we're comparing apples with apples, I find the customer service to be more personal, and polite, from Dominos. I have a Pizza Hut less than 300 metres from my front door... but 9 times out of 10, I will order Dominos, which is 20km across the other side of town, because I get better service. it has nothing to do with the pizza, just the service. And this is something that anyone in a customer service role can tell you... it doesnt matter what you're selling, if you don't treat the customer right, they will not be back. For every burnt customer, they tell 10 friends. for every friend told, 7 of the 10 will tell 10 others. thats 81 customers who will think twice before coming back to you. apply that to the DWWBMW situation, and WBMW has a lot more return custom...
  11. thats just every other coaster simulator thats already out there if its done before the ride started. it would need to be preprogrammed.
  12. i can see where this might not have been the best way to have handled it, but one thing to bear in mind when inviting your pizza boy inside for a friendly chat and a cuppa is that he's probably got 10 other people's pizzas sitting in his back seat going cold with every breath you take.... The poor boy also makes a lot more money if he delivers more pizza... How someone can complain about that, i don't know. Sure he could have said "im sorry i dont have time, can you pay me please?" but who knows unless they are actually there? Yes Customer Service is paramount. There are times where you need to put your foot down and say no though. I realise this is probably drifting off topic a bit, but we get situations all the time in the case of repairs. When we get a repair in, there are varying different cases - People who bring their machines in almost daily complaining of issues, and when we send it to our tech's, they find nothing wrong. People who thrash the hell out of their machines, do everything under the sun that voids their warranty, and then argue until they are blue in the face that they didnt, even when we have the evidence right in front of us. People who have broken their machine through misuse, but will stand there and stare you in the eye as they say they did nothing wrong, even if you KNOW FOR A FACT that it couldn't have happened any other way ("i just picked it up and it snapped") I won't keep going here, but from 8 years experience in retail and 5 Star Hospitality, there are times when you have to take customers with a few grains of salt. Yes, I agree that Customer Service is paramount, and Bussy's example at dreamworld is a good example. Bussy can tell you how hard it is to stand out the front of a ride to greet each guest and inform them that the ride is closed. its not a nice thing to have to do for half a day... you feel like people are blaming you for the failure... and some people won't go away, they want to question you on what is wrong with it. But yes I agree DW's customer service should be improved. On my last trip to the parks, we visited all 4 parks. Heres what I remember of our experience: Sea World : Walking up the hill to the entry gates, and being greeted by a senior manager doing gate control, directing us to a new linealternate entry with almost no waiting time Being given a few extra sauces with our meal at no charge welcomed and farewelled on and off of every ride we embarked on. being made to feel accomodated every where we went with a guest with special needs. On our return trip we were treated even better, as we returned to do a shark dive its the little things that matter Wet N Wild Again being directed to a line that was almost non existant to enter. Each staff member we spoke to could direct us exactly to each place we wanted to go. The locker girl was extremely helpful when we had difficulties. The food was taking a while to be prepared (we had special order grills) and a supervisor gave us some extra fries while we were waiting. Movie World: welcomed and greeted at the gate with a smile, told exactly what was happening "this is your map, this is your showtimes, the park will open at 10, but you can line up for movie magiclooney tunes prior to that" Given info on the buffet restaurant, which we dined in, and all staff were most helpful in their service, drinks, and also the characters coming round, and WAITING while we ran off to buy some more film We arrived just as they were shutting the gates to police academy show, they stopped, opened the gates up, and escorted us to a row of seats right up front. Exiting the river ride, a maintenance worker was on board the boat in front to fix the lapbar restraints. he got a light bump from us coming up behind him, and he popped his head up from his work and wished us a great day. Lethal Weapon operators constantly spieled, joked, and played off each other to entertain the crowd while we waited. DreamWorld: The lady who gave us our tickets was probably the customer service highlight of the day when she wished us a great day, and ran us through our maps and tickets etc. for the rest of the day, staff only spoke to us if they were required to. never wished us a great day, nothing... When we entered a non-smoking area, there were 6 staff on top of us immediately... when there were delinquents in the ToT queue who were queue jumping... nothing. when there were delinquents in the Claw queue who were queuejumping... nothing... when there were kids pegging rocks at each other down near charles sturt... nothing... but hell light a cigarette and duck for cover.... Yes... DreamWorld needs to have a customer service pole jammed right up there...
  13. its a nice idea Gazza, but whereas the WMP9 images produced on your screen are taken from the audio signal going through your sound card, bear in mind there is a few millisecond delay between when the sound hits your soundcard, and when you hear it. this is enough time for the computer to process the signal into an image using the WMP9 effects. Translating this music into Mechanical motion would take a lot more time, and effort. This could be accomplished only if the motion was preprogrammed, and not random based on the music that was used.
  14. The problem with all these different sources (screamscape, rcdb etc) is that most of them get their information from each other. In this case, It would seem that screamscape have got their information from the same place as RCDB, but where RCDB stayed Metric with their measurements (100Km/H) Screamscape has misquoted in Miles. One thing i've also considered is that some of these rumor websites get their information from places like r-c.com.au. A member mentions how cool it would be if it was faster than another particular ride, at 100Km/H in 2 seconds, suddenly, others agree, and the rumor mills pick it up and run with it. Its highly likely that the lex luthorsupermandifferent rooms thing will happen, after all, they do have those soundstages from the movie magic show to utilise, so thats almost a given... but the ride layout, other theming, the actual story line (hell - it might not even be lex luthor)will not be known until its either built, or WBMW releases something to the media. Screamscape is a rumor site. nothing on that site is confirmed until is SAYS confirmed. I'll wait for a press release to hith WVTP.com.au first.
  15. I might point out that the boys at LaserVision (the people who did the special effects for Scooby Doo Spooky Coaster) did just as good a job as Oracle, when you compare what the two rides look like. I'll also point out that the Oracle site has found its way onto these forums numerous times before... but i'm waiting with baited breath for the AV in the tunnels....
  16. I've long been a fan of on-ride and in-park music (and by this I mean original scoring, not commercial music donated for the purpose, unless its from a movie themed the same way), and i'm very curious to learn if there are others out there who share the same interest, and also what they have as well, perhaps to share around? I have: The entire in-park set to Wonderland Sydney, as well as the original Theme Song, also I could be happy, and a lot of the score from "Millenium Magic". I have countless Disney tracks, including Pirates, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Haunted Mansion, Small World, The Tiki Tiki Room, and the opening announcements to a number of Disney Parks. I also have both the Movie World Version of Scooby Doo, as well as the original version taken from the Movie (LaserVision fiddled with the WBMW version to fit the light show). Does anyone else have anything i haven't mentioned? what is it?
  17. I think those statistics speak for themselves. The higher rainfall where you measured at southport though is right near the beach, which is always going to have more rain because it is coastal. I'd like to see the rainfall stats for coomera city centre... i doubt there would be much of a difference but it might give us a better comparison. Another note to take into account would be that as Queensland is more tropical, the rainfall would most likely be heavier, and for shorter periods, whereas prospect might have light rain, for longer periods. Aside from all of that I still think given those rainfall statistics as well that the prospect area is a better option than the gold coast... specifically when talking weather wise...
  18. The last time I visited DL Anaheim, it was in february. Now im talking weather that froze puddles on the ground, rain, and all... and Disneyland was still quite crowded. The weather has nothing to do with a Disneyland Park. The majority of rides, shows and attractions at DL Anaheim are INDOORS. Haunted Mansion Space Mountain Splash Mountain Small World Indiana Jones Star Tours Pirates... sure it has a lot of other attractions but the e-ticket rides are all indoor, with the exception of Matterhorn, where you're going to get wet anyway. This is the exact type of whinging I was referring to before - You guys up in QLD think just because the weather is better, that EVERYTHING should be there. If that was the case, Sydney and Melbourne would not exist. Actually.... nothing else in Australia would exist, and QLD would have a 20 Million Population. If we were talking Wet N Wild, then sure, maybe QLD is a better place to have it than NSW. As QLD already has one, maybe it wouldnt hurt to have a WnW down here. As QLD already has THREE big theme parks, maybe it wouldn't hurt to have Disney down here too? So, Currently, Diane Beamer has made land available in the Sydney Basin for recreational and tourism use... so Disney is considering it (rumor). I see no local, state or federal politician in QLD publicly calling for tenders from corporations to buy and build on a parcel of land in QLD. If they were, I would be "Yahoo... Disney is looking to build in Australia". If they were building in Melbourne, i would be "Yahoo... Disney is looking to build in Australia". Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Surfers, Coffs, Adelaide, Perth, Darwin,.... EVEN HOBART FOR CHRIST'S SAKE.... i would still be "Yahoo... Disney is looking to build in Australia". But no.... Queenslanders have to have it all about them... Dont get me wrong. My mother lives in Queensland... But I see fewno Queenslanders saying "Yahoo... Disney is looking to build in Australia".... I just see them saying "build here not there, we're better not them....."
  19. yes but bear in mind that this was constructed without professional help. As far as money, what are you saying there... that YOU have enough money to build a coaster? who cares? What I was saying was that the guy wanted to get a job with a company like intamin or vekoma or similar. Vekoma and Intamin were not going to notice him if he waltzed into a shopping centre and blew a few people away... so how to get himself noticed doing the exact things he wants to be noticed for? There might be other ways of getting into the papers, but what other ways would be more noticed by the executives of the worlds top coaster designers?
  20. New Subscription service! only $99 a fortnight... so we can fly our representatives interstate weekly to provide construction updates... lol
  21. if I was involved with that, i'd go with 35mm anyway. Theres just something about digital I don't like... no specifics I can put my finger on, but I think i've just done so much work with filmstock, it would feel like cheating... I wouldn't mind doing something like that but being in NSW its a bit of an issue. When Disneyland Prospect begins construction, ill put in for that... lol
  22. lol. a typical uneducated moron. he can't win an argument when he is shown the facts, and he resorts to petty name calling. Now lets see - Yep, sounds like a 7th grade harda$$. Daniel would probably advise you to learn to spell too, since the correct spelling would have been "You're" I'll direct you to the Community Guidelines. Now get knotted. with a mouth like that, it's obvious to see why the doctor slapped your mother and not you when you came into the world. It was nice knowing you. i don't anticipate you being around much longer.... (looks around for Richard or Joz)
  23. What would you call that sort of response. I also dont see the need to quote an entire post, unless you are referring to every point in that post, rather than making a broad statement, and especially not when its immediately above it. I'm a fool? I dont go making comments like "blacktown is a long way out from the Sydney CBD" when the distance between Brisbane and Dreamworld or Movie World is twice the distance. Do your research first before you go making unsubstantiated comments such as that one. Where in that post did i directly call YOU a whinger? I think that paragraph started by addressing "the Queensland Contingent". Which wasn't specifically aimed at yourself. you laugh at me? you tosspot, you are very easily amused. But its true - you are just voicing your own opinion... and so am I... i am voicing my own opinion on the subject, without victimising any specific person, however, when I voice MY opinion, you laugh at me and call me a fool, when it would appear that you are. So it would seem yet again you make allowances for yourself, and not others, to speak their mind and editorialise on the issue. Did I directly insult you? No. Did you directly insult me? Yes. Are you the only person who has said on this site that Disney should build in Queensland? No. Do you think you are the only person? I think so. Why else would you have taken such offence to such a generalised comment? Anyhow... take it as you will, just dont quote the ENTIRE post next time unless its relevant, particularly when the entire post is directly above it.
  24. Ok - you've answered one of your questions already - There are other parks there. thats why they would choose Sydney. Secondly, ask any international tourist, Sydney is the first place that comes to mind when you talk Australia. Believe it or not, more tourists go through Sydney that Brisbane. Those figures are mainly due to the fact that the main international airport in Australia is in Sydney, but thats besides the point. Most international Tourists stop in sydney - see the harbour bridge, opera house etc. where they go from there is another matter. not all of them go to QLD... Yes QLD has a huge tourism market. but in the 70s and the start of the 80's, it wasn't exactly huge then... The big 4 parks are what made it the destination it is. The beaches are an attraction, but don't kid yourself... its the parks that draw most of the tourism dollar. the "blacktown" site, as you call it, is no further out from the major hospitality areas of Sydney that Coomera is from downtown Surfers. Here is the proof, thanks to the good people at Whereis.com.au YOUR SEARCH: FROM: MARTIN PLACE ANGEL PLACE SYDNEY New South Wales TO: CITY CENTER PROSPECT New South Wales Total travel distance: 32.61 km, Estimated travel time: 34 Mins FROM: GOLD COAST CONVENTION CENTRE CITY CENTER BROADBEACH Queensland TO: DREAMWORLD CITY CENTER COOMERA Queensland Total travel distance: 29.59 km, Estimated travel time: 35 Mins And its even further out from Brisbane - YOUR SEARCH: FROM: BRISBANE CONVENTION & EXHIBITION CENTRE CITY CENTER SOUTH BRISBANE Queensland TO: DREAMWORLD CITY CENTER COOMERA Queensland Total travel distance: 54.40 km, Estimated travel time: 52 Mins Now, as you say, there are so many more tourists up there, even if that is true, you need to bear in mind that there are also so many more tourist destinations fighting for the tourist dollar. NSW offers no competition to a theme park. (im not even going near Luna Park...) As far as Knott's and Six Flags, they weren't really a big ticket destination until after Disneyland was built. The same can happen here. Disney might open a theme park in Sydney, only to have WMBW or WnW want to open another park in Sydney as well... why not? WnW are already planning a second park on the sunshine coast... whats to stop them expanding into NSW? All I am hearing at the moment from the Queensland Contingent of this site is "why don't they build it here"... but I am seeing no valid reasons for why Disney would want to. You have 3 theme parks, a water park, and thousands of other smaller destinations for tourism. how many theme parks has Sydney got? stop being greedy, and stop whinging. Give me a good, valid reason why Disney should build in QLD... then we will talk... but i see no valid reason why they should...
  25. pretty sure this has been discussed already, but thanks for the note.
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