themagician

Since it’s the same manufacturer, and based off the concept artwork, this is what the coaster train will look like This is Big Bear Mountain which is about to open at Dollywood

My understanding of the attraction is, if the coaster starts the day travelling forward, it will reach the incline pivoting turntable rotating (whatever you want to call it) track. The train will then be travelling backwards and will complete the rest of the course backwards. It will then arrive back into the station backwards, therefore the next time the track leaves the station it will depart backwards, but then arrive back into the station forwards. And so on. This means the coaster offers two different experiences and you never know which one it will be until you are boarding the train. I don’t know if that is 100% accurate, but that’s my current understanding and knowledge of how the coaster will operate.

No more letters have been installed, but part of the tower is covered up Anyone know what this yellow thing is?

Shade structure has been installed for wiggles big red planes

Watched the ride operate today for a fair while. Operations are very very slow. The queue wasn’t that long, but the wait was 30 minutes. And I got to witness the cord being plugged in to unlock a harnesses, so strange to see this happen and adds around 20 seconds to the end of the ride while the operator grabs the cord from the op booth, plugs it in, pushes the button, unplugs it and then places it back into op booth. Since opening, they’ve moved to ride info sign from the left garden to the right garden behind the themed wall. In its original spot you couldn’t actually see it because the queue gets long and hides it. They’ve also added another purple wall into the left garden.

Workers have been around the structures at MW today inspecting/working on the electrical systems for the ride

It’s closure has been extended again to May 30

It seems that way. VRTP took them on quite a few behind the scenes tours and exclusive ride access before the park opened. So I’d say someone at VRTP told them that while riding Leviathan

If you zoom in on some of the photos shared, for example, you can see rusting on the loose item storage and fencing. My concern is because this is a raised platform attraction, at WnW they had a lot of greenery to hide it and make the track the focus, but in this spot, it’s very exposed. So it hide it they’ll need to construct something around it because there’s not planting. I worry it’s going to look like a travelling ride that’s been dropped into the middle of one of the parks best (and world class) attractions.

I know they’ve just picked this up from WnW and moved it overnight, but I do hope they give it some TLC. The ride hasn’t operated since 2020 and it’s over 15 years old and it shows. The track received a refurb, but the platforms, ramps and control booths haven’t aged well and definitely need a lot of care before the ride opens. It’s great they’re giving the ride a new chapter and adding another ride to MWs line up, but I hope they don’t cheap out on it. It would be a shame if the park dropped its standards on this.

My guess is Aquaman as that will avoid the need to repaint the ride as it underwent a repaint/refurb last year A few more photos. The control booths are on site too behind the fence.

The ramps are being stored in the carpark and the supports are still installed

Construction has begun

Coaster Studios Sea World video is up They reveal that we can expect the Wizard of Oz coaster queue/stations will be at the level of Leviathan

They will also have Belinda’s Tree House open during this weekends markets

@Park Addict 93 I had to read that a few times to make sure what I was reading was right. I’ve never heard of that needing to be done. Surely that’s not permanent

From a safety perspective they can’t. When initial works were happening on the Giant Drop, there were a few days when STEE Taipan had to close because they were too close to each other. SE and SR are much much closer than that

Same. Why not build something more appealing that teases Wizard of Oz. Or have banners on the temporary fencing teases whats to come. Or at an absolute minimum, strap the banner more neatly.

Theyre also using the theatre/screen to show movies during the night markets

I’d like to think that during the rides future maintenance periods they’ll clean the letters if they need it

The event is really good again this year. Lots of food variety. Everything I tried was really good. Vendors and staff were great. Extra street entertainment too for the event.

Only 3 to go

Not at all. It’s been very well put together. Constructed really well and a great new addition for the wildlife area. The old Bilby house felt more temporary. They now have spinifex jumping mice in there. There were a couple of empty exhibitions that had ‘coming soon’ signage on them (and not just a laminated piece of paper). It is very dark in there, so if it gets busy in there, expect to walk into others. But the Bilby enclosure is double the size of what they had and has been done very well

Not too bad. It did have a long queue. Longest flat ride queue in the kids area. Staff were setting up more queue rails to extend it further. I didn’t stand around long enough to get a rough queue time

Stage 1 is open and it’s turned out well