DaptoFunlandGuy

i think its more that it happened so quickly. What about the loyalty that members have shown by being here pre-subscription. What about special prices for members who joined r-c before the subscription came into the picture?

No Offence to Drewboy (ok maybe a little.... ok maybe a lot) But i'd like to see you have the brains and the cash to build your own, working, properly engineered coaster. Season passes? yes. an option, riding with everyone else, during operating hours... own coaster? get your name in the papers, on tv, on the net, interviews, publicity, exposing your many engineering talents and scoring yourself a job with a top company because of that exposure, as well as your own little private coaster you can ride ANY time you like..... i know which one i would pick

Actually the 30ha site has a lot of PROSPECTs. Personally, any PROSPECTive buyer would benefit from opening a tourist destination there. (Personally, PROSPECT "SOUNDS" like a GREAT location.... given the above description...)

actually, the sports upgrade in western sydney was attended to by Bob Carr, it is the Blacktown Olympic Precinct, which is getting an upgrade...

I have to say (just an opinion) I think the new front page is too crowded, and nowhere near as intuitive as the old site. The Navigation Bar at the top was always more helpful. The new colours are great, as are the new pics on the front page, but it just seems too crowded on the front page now. I am still considering a subscription, but based on the fact that the ex-free videos are now chargeable, I would assume that the majority of the content will be this way now. I am of two minds about the subscription service, so we will see how we go...

actually, Camden would be a viable area, because it has enough area around it that it won't suffer from the hassles that Luna Park is suffering with its residents at the moment. It's also readily accessible via the southbound highways. I still like the idea of Western Sydney, as it keeps it in touch with all the other western tourist attractions - jenolan, katoomba, lakeswhitewater etc, whereas, there aren't too many attractions towards Camden unless you head further into the southern highlands. As far as Six Flags not wanting to branch out because of financial difficulties, it could be another way for them to make money. If they were to invest 100 Million into an Australian Park, they would have the market for the entire South East Asian Market (as far as there being no other Six Flags parks in the area). Remember that Six Flags does a lot of Ride sharing, installing a new attraction in a park, and moving it out a few years later to "Travel" it around the other parks, getting the best value for money. Imagine Six Flags Australia involved in a ride-share with some of the great american Six Flags parks like Great America, Magic Mountain, Over Texas and Over Georgia? there would be nothing like it anywhere else in South East Asia..... how many people would go there over say WBMW or DW with rides added to every few years, where SFAus would have at least two new rides every year??? If we had a SF in Aus, I'd go there over WBMW or DW anyday...

Well, based on that, Superman won't be open in June, it won't open until december, and its safe to say Dreamworld will have another big e-ticket attraction scheduled around the same period... Dreamworld may have the two day thing, but Movie World allows you to visit sea world, movie world and wet n wild, and then visit any of the parks for a up to a further 11 days. I know that the Warner Parks can be "done" in a day, and you can "do" EVERYTHING in each park in two days each, allowing you a full 14 days of fun at WVTP's, IMHO, is a much better deal... the Three Park Super Pass has always been the one price, for all three parks to visit, which is a fair deal, but to then give you a further 11 days worth of visits, with NO additional cost, is really something, whereas DW's 2 Day pass is an extra price.... i suppose its whatever works for you...

Cable Cars = Sky RIDER Snowy - The troughs are still there, and as far as the boats, who knows... the only thing that was demolished was the pumphouse and the station. Tasmanian Devil was removed before the park even closed. Conclusion - Sounds bogus to me. he'd read previous posts about potential new parks, and the mention of Disney in there, he combines the two together with a topic that has the most posts of any thread on this site... and voila, a conversation. BOGUS BOGUS BOGUS BOGUS BOGUS BOGUS BOGUS BOGUS BOGUS

Another example of your assumptions taking precedent on your opinions Adam, not that I can fault you for it... It's my opinion, having ridden several woodies, local and abroad, that nothing compares to a good old woodie. Steel coasters are coming up with new innovations all the time, but the unsafe, on edge feeling you get from a woodie is far better than being strapped, chapped, locked, stocked, buckled (and chuckled) into a steel coffin with no way out until the ride is over... one thing that always got me about the woodies I went on, is that it felt like at any time you could just fly off the track, or fall out of the train and go hurtling to your death (which of course, is rare for a woodie... not so for steel coasters though!!!)

Zordy, Much as I hate to say it Daniel has a point on this issue. I for one will be very sad to see the Bush Beast go, however, without a reasonably sized destination to support it, such as a park or other tourist attraction, it will not be finanacially viable to have an acre of land vacated by all but an old, rotting, derelict wooden structure. If someone bought it, refurbished it to operating conditions ($$$$$) and built a destination around it, yes, its feasible, and a good option. It is an item of local significance, but to that end, without something to back it up, its a waste, and not the right way to remember a park that brought us so many happy memories. I am on your side Zordy, I want the beast kept... but if it cannot be sustained, and operated, then its like caging a wild animal, or taking a blind person to a silent movie. It cannot serve its purpose, so it will remain standing as an icon to the failures of Sunway and Wonderland Management, and nothing more.

Rebranding the park was one of the stupidest things i've seen Sunway do to that park. The thinking behind it was that everyone was going to the gold coast to visit wonderland, but very few people would have actually done that in comparison to the total attendance. "You'll Always Remember Wonderland Sydney?" sorry - not a chance - its always gunna be Australia's Wonderland to me. the memories I have of Australia's Wonderland far exceed that of "Wonderland Sydney".

Jim, your narrow mindedness never ceases to amaze me. Just because it is a coaster train, it doesnt mean its not capable of hauling a bit of extra luggage. I was talking about a storage compartment more along the lines of something the size of a backpack.. or better yet, why not tack on an extra car to the train JUST for luggage? like you see those trailers that are hitched onto the back of the minibuses... Something the size, shape and height of a coaster car would hold a reasonable amount of luggage... As far as Sydney shopping not being light shopping, the prices in the City are a lot higher. trust me if i have to go to the city to buy something, THATS ALL i buy. I am not going to buy anything else there that I dont have to, because i can get it much cheaper nearer to home...

ive actually thought about a launched coaster with two way operation - two stations, one at each end of the track, with a turnaround before the station so the track is one continuous loop. Station 1 - Sydney Central Station 2 - Parramatta Westfield powered launch, with boosters situated along the circuit, loops, twists, banked curves, all the usual elements, and each carseat has a storage compartment that you can put personal belongings in. Ride the coaster the full circuit, or do Parramatta-Sydney in under 10 minutes, do some light shopping, and take it all the way back again at the end of the day....

Bear in mind that the set up costs for Disney would be to utilise local manufacturing where they can, and ship it in from their own sources overseas where they cannot. The Aussie Dollar is strong right now, but Americans still get more dollars than sense when they exchange currency... It would cost a lot less to establish a park in Australia than it would in the US, and on that note, going by the old mantra of "if you build it, they will come", there may not currently be the tourism base in NSW to support a Disney Park. but build one, and watch the people flock to it. If you are interested in a theme park and you travel to Europe, you dont miss Disneyland Paris. If you're in California, you dont miss Disneyland Anaheim... When we travelled to the states last time, Disneyland Anaheim was OUR DESTINATION - OUR REASON TO TRAVEL THERE... and I can see a lot of people coming to Sydney for just that purpose... and a lot of extra dollars will be spent here on the same token. A Disney Park in Sydney will make it a destination for EVERY australian, the same way Movie WorldDreamWorld have been primary destinations for a high population in Australia in previous years... but our local neighbours dont come to Australia to visit movie world, but might go there as part of their overall visit. Australia might not have a large population, but our neighbouring countries will boost the attendance at a Disney park because of its sheer "destinationalism" (i made a new word!). New Zealand, Timor, Guinea, Phillipines, half of south east asia... and Hawaii as well (its about halfway between Sydney and California...) The population base of Australia is not the figures you need to analyse this on. A Disney park is a REASON to travel to Aus... and a lot more people will come along...

the Disney Stores being closed in Australia is a shame, but may have been a necessary cost cutting excercise at the time. Disney has had a huge presence in Australia (in sydney anyway) and this may be a way for them to test out the waterstheir brand before they build... (theory?). There have been numerous Disney On Ice Spectaculars (I remember the theme song to Mickey's Diamond Jubilee), The Lion King and before that was Beauty and the Beast... Disney are showing a lot more interest in whats happening down under than they did 10-15 years ago. Would it be great if Disney did build a theme park in Aus? Hell Yeah. Am i holding my breath? Not Likely. Can it be done? Most Definitely. Particularly if Disney chooses NSW to build on, they will have almost exclusive local rights, whereas QLD, they would have to share their market with closely positioned rivals with a better foothold. I think if they were to build, NSW would be the one, close to Sydney, but far enough away that they can own enough land for their expansions, and not have dingy shops pop up right next door (as with Disneyland Anaheim). Also, Building in Sydney would bring a lot more of the tourism base that would ordinarily skip straight up to queensland... making the tourism industry in QLD a little tougher, and a heck of a lot more competitive, which means only one thing - more attractions from all parks to compete with each other - something Wonderland fell down on.... and since Wonderland is out of th epicture now, Disney has a clean canvas to work with.... *fingers crossed*

At the time, I had only ONE VCR, so I could not dubcopy it. I used only the audio portion of the recording, and cut it up to suit my own devices. Ill try and find the Mini Disc I have that still has a copy of it. Very little of the original recording was used, but excerpts of the reports between Ann Sanders and Adam Walters were slotted in between the spiels and music. The music was mixed by one of the performing DJ's at Utopia 2001, and I put it all together into a looping mix for use in the Space Probe Pre-Show. I think Ride Supervisors withdrew this version a few hours after midnight, for what reasons I dont know, but the ops who were manning the ride that night reported to me that it was because they wanted the "official" Wonderland video airing as usual. (i think also because some of the other Dj's complained that their music wasn't used, and they never received an offer for this to occur...)

i would say almost every superman comic, movie, advertisement, book etc since the concept was first published many years ago.

Micka, I would say this video would have been a promotional video, which would have been shot either pre-open or just after opening for advertising purposes. The vehicles visible in the first drop would undoubtedly be other camera positions for the filming of this shoot. It also looks like it was shot before Snowy had a great bit hill built around it, although its hard to tell. Buzz, I am curious to know whether you obtained a copy of any of the "space probe pre show" videos, in particular the Ann Sanders version, with Adam Walters. I had a copy of that in my posession once, when I mixed up a different queue track for Utopia 2001. The footage of the original advertisement for Demon (to hell and back) also brings back fond memories of Wonderland. I anticipate more coming from you, so keep it up, can't wait to see them... Alex.

Hey Rich, Congratulations on the decision to take the site to the next level. I have been a member of the site for going on a year now and seen it become better and better, even in that time. Having said that, I am dismayed at the decision to make the site a "membership-by-visa" style site. I can understand the reasons for this, being that the costs associated with the running of Roller-Coaster.com.au are not covered by anyone but yourself, and am sincerely thankful that the site is not plagued by advertising, having seen what has become of screamscape.com in the past year. I have given this proposal a lot of thought, before responding to this thread, and I regrettably see that it is necessary for the site to continue to grow into the greatest Australian resource for theme parks and amusements. I have a few questions, and also a few suggestions: the materials supplied to you by persons other than yourself, eg: Liam's theme park videos, photographs of parks and constructions not directly taken by yourself... How will you credit these materials in the "new" site? Will the contributors receive some monetary payment for their contributions? Or will the site rule out all contributions not made by a staff member to retain exclusivity on the material, while losing out on some of the materials that can only be provided by other users than yourself? Will Roller-Coaster.com.au continue to remain wholly owned and operated by yourself, or is there a likelihood that you would take on other "staff" members to support the site, and provide more information that would otherwise be out of your reach? What pre-requisites would there be for someone to become a member of the R-C staff? do they simply need to be a good mate of yours, or are there other, more necessary factors? Being that a lot of our current members are under the age of 18, as we all were once, and that is how our love of theme parks, coasters and amusements came to be, how will you provide those members who are minors with the option to become a member? will the site only permit credit card payment? how else would our younger members pay? Ok, i think i have exhausted my questions - FOR NOW... so here are a few suggestions on things that would make me sign up... Most of these suggestions are things not available on the website, and would need the extensive cooperation of your network of contacts at all 4 big goldcoast parks, not to mention other parks across the country and the world... Exclusive Ride Time - time reserved for paying members of Roller-Coaster.com.au to ride certain attractions at the parks. Behind The Scenes Tours - Allowing R-C members to get up close and personal with the inner workings of some of australia's best theme parks... tour "Scooby Doo Spooky Coaster... with all the lights on...? See what goes on behind the scenes of Dolphin training at Sea World? who knows... the list is endless.... The DVD and Magazine are really good ideas. Why not have a Quarterly Magazine? or a Quarterly DVD? im sure the costs could be worked around to either include the cost of the quarterly issues, or make the subscriptions to the magazines and DVD's slight extras ontop of membership. As far as membership offering customised Avatars and CaptionsSignatures, this is something that has been free on the site for a long time, and having to pay for it all of a sudden is a bit of a shock. I dont think anything currently offered on the site should be charged for in the future, however, new additions to the video library, pictures, etc would be worth the money. I hope I have been able to communicate my opinion here, and look forward to reading both all the other member's opinions, as well as your responses to them Richard, so until then..... I Can't Wait.... Alex.

Another Awesome video buzz. keep them coming!

thats amazing perception you got there Glubbo... lol. We have also remarked on that in the past...

that was an action quote, not just speaking in the third person, you dolt Flea... *Alex Slaps Flea with a large frozen trout*

*Alex slaps Diannasaurus around with a rather large frozen trout* HOW DARE YOU SPEAK THIS WAY! lol. Beast was a rough coaster. I know this, but a lot of woodies are rough, and it comes with age. its part of the experience! But the word is ROUGH, not HORRIBLE.....

i should have been a little more specific. I just realised i used the same term for two different things. when i said "hit the bottom" i meant the bottom of the chute, not the concrete floor of the chute tunnel itself...

this situation could never happen. remember that in normal operation, the boats have a fair separation. if an estop is pressed, then the separation would remain constant for the boats on the lifts, and the rest of the boats would bunch up, towards the bottom of the lift. If asked to make an assumption, I would say that maintenance would need to be present at the bottom of each lift hill for a restart, and only allow boats to mount the lift at safe intervals. How they would do this I dont know, but at a guess, turn on the water, but not the lifts, and give the maintenance guy manual control of the "gate" at the bottom of the lift, and the lift itself, to bring them through at his own control and discretion, or (since the boats do have wheels) they could possibly get away with pushing the boats back up the water chute, away from the lift, to get an even and fair separation.