joz

Been working on this one for the last couple of weeks, not quite finished yet, but I doubt you'd even notice what I'm still tweaking anyway. Its almost identical height and speed wise to the real thing for the majority of the ride. It did end up a hundred meters longer then the real ride somehow, but I think otherwise its very accurate: Superman_Escape.zip

You gotta love the Chinese Media: Hopefully they've learnt how to deal with the Chinese market after their efforts in Hong Kong. Not ganna hold my breath though and to be honest I'm more looking forward to another round of crazy news reports about guest behaviour when the park opens then anything. Edit: Is the placed really pronounced Poo Dong?

Thats really interesting, just out of curiosity how spaced out are the cars? I seem to recall at SW a 'train' couldn't be dispatched untill the one in front went down the second drop. Any idea what the dispatch trigger is now?

I can't say I fully 'get' this ride. I can't see it driving attendance at all, and there are already heaps of kids rides at DW, and I can't recall seeing a queue for any of them. The only benifit is adding something to Wiggles World which (as has been pointed out) is a bit lacking in the rides/anything to do at all department. Beyond that its pretty much a "Why bother?" sorta ride. It makes me wonder if there has been any guest feedback indicating that WW was to small.

The more I think about it the more a Tornado at WWW makes sense. I mean, why go to WnW for their big new attraction when you can go to the place you've never been to check out the same big new slide plus a bunch of others you've never been on.

That does raise the question though of how much brand awareness Whitewater World will try to leach off DW (at least early in its life). Though it wouldn't be surprising if it was pegged to WnW's price, since the other theme park prices have been identical for at least 4 years, and probably a long time before that as well.

Always wondered if anyone ended up buying thrillseeker, cheers for the article. Must admit though the idea of thrillseeker being taken apart and rebuilt a few times a year is just a little bit scary to me

WnW used to have a stunt show on the speed slides. They'd close down for a period during the day when they'd do the show. Some of the other stuff they'd do is get a real good runup and end up with huge amount of air on the bumps and be able to flip around. As well as "surfring" down the slide like you see, they would also surf down the slide standing on someone lying down on their stomach. I can't recall what else they used to do, but I can imagine slaughtering the daily speed record was part of it.

I dare say the 20min+ queue line Terror Canyon demands has something to do with the introduction of Blackhole. That, and it was there to be bought.

I managed to get my hands on a 1 day hopper pass in 2003 (quite a feet, they weren't sold till late 2004) and I spent from 8 in the morning till midnight at the parks and missed a bunch of stuff. But it was one heck of a day out, I'd say go both, and stick to the 'e-tickets'. Definatly do both in the same day though, afterall if you go to just DL you'll be thinking about ToT all day, and if you go to DCA you'll be thinking "coulda gone to DL" all day. Out of the two, I spent more time (about 3/4s of the time) at DL, but I'm glad I was able to head across to check out DCA, Cali Screamin' and Grizzly River are worth the extra price themselves.

The old speed slide was fun, except with the pool at the bottom instead of a straight run out, it was a really painful ride (about the only ride I've really injured myself on). I don't mind putting a hefty sum of money on the change over from the speed slide to speed 'coaster' was due to this. As it is now, its kinda fun, but its one of those rides you go on late at night when everyone has gone home and its a walk on. If the queue is more then say 5 mins, then its too much.

I think when it comes to roller coasters, DW is a distant second to MW. I mean there isn't one genre of roller coaster where DW wins out (except for perhaps Reptar, but at best I think that ones a tie). DW wins the thrill market because after the coasters they've got the flat ride lineup to make up for the poor showing in the coasters. Consider this: The only flatride on the Gold Coast not at DW is at SW (Pirate ship), and even that is a pretty tame ride. I agree though, DW is really going to need more then a kickass flatride lineup soon to keep that reputation from being taken away from them. Also, I don't think this year a new ride at DW is really needed (will be welcome however ). The waterpark will increase attendance at DW, through sale of the "2 Park excellent pass" (which is what I'm going to call the hopper till they give it a real name). Don't think DW's 2 park pass won't take people away who normally by a 3PSP. I have a hard time that a large number of families trying to decide what to do with the holiday, won't want to go to a new waterpark and DW instead of getting a 3 park super pass. Its probably going to be cheaper, and if DW is smart, they'll have a 2 or 3 day hopper instead of just a 2 week pass like Village. DW don't need anything this year, attendance should go up from the waterpark alone.

Its supposedly a fairly loud ride. However, given its location near Corkscrew, you'd think most of the noise won't effect the rest of the park too greatly. Most likley the extent of it will be that it'll be noticeable in Bermuda's queue, but given thats a noisy place anyway, with all the various sound effects/spookey music I don't think that it'll really make much of a difference. Pretty much the only quiet areas of the park you'll hear it are Dolphin Cove outside of show times and in the queue to SOS if its really loud. Beach already has enough noise going on to drown it out, and everywhere else you'd think would have enough of a buffer from that end of the park.

Is there a good reason why they shouldn't be? Also being relaxing and family friendly aren't mutually exclusive events. I mean riding on the monorail is pretty relaxing right? Well call me crazy but the monorail is a pretty good example of a family friendly ride (same goes for the train, skyway, and even the cartoon beach rides. Add into that all the shows and exhibats and you get the idea). All of the parks thrill rides are going to be in the same area, so the rest of the park should keep its current feel.

Poor Blue Lagoon. Its only reference on the DW website now is a link in the attractions and shows section, which links to a page which isn't found. Quick survey; anyone shocked?

Another from the Gold Coast Bulletin:

Well by international standards SM:E is well themed. It's just that its not up to standard compared to the other MW rides. Thankfully its a really good ride which kinda makes up for what the themeing lacks. Like I've said in the past, if the extent of Batwing is a bare loading area with a few batman logos around I really won't mind so long as its painless to get on and ride.

Not wanting to make a huge thing, but I'm pretty sure that not following the rules is against work place health and safety laws.

See, you either "get" SW or you don't. Obviously the place isn't for you, but thats ok, your not going to like everypark you go to. Still, don't judge a ride before you go on it. As for the ride, well it doesn't appear like much, but most of the reviews of SFEG's halfpipe call it a "surprise" and a pretty fun ride. For a park that needs to up its thrills, has a height restriction and is landlocked, its a pretty good investment.

You do realise that by adding a coaster that'll bring it back to a total of two, which is the same as it was for 20 or so years? Besides that, saying SW shouldn't have thrill rides is like saying DW shouldn't have family attractions. Exactly why shouldn't SW have new thrill rides? The fact is that there are no *new* customers that another animal attraction will bring to the park. Pretty much everyone who wants to see animals already comes to SW, so adding another animal attraction isn't going to do anything to increase attendance. The $13million Shark Bay did bring ‘em in, but not quite as much as hoped (though per-capita spending went through the roof). A new ride however? Now there's a hole in the parks current lineup, and I think its not a moment too soon (a couple of years overdue perhaps). Guests DO come to the park for the rides, as well as the animals, shows, and waterpark. A new ride will attract more people, but I don't think it will effect SW's main demographic too much. I say 300 as probably being a high enough capacity for a half-pipe. "But Joz", you say, "why is 300 good enough for Halfpipe but too low for Cyclone?” Because DW attracts mainly people who want to go on Cyclone. SW still will attract mostly families; Half pipe won't be enough to really change the type of guests SW attracts. Corkscrew can operate at a bit over 500 an hour, but generally operates at around 250-300, and you know what? It rarely has a queue. Halfpipe will probably stay busier then Cork, but for the most part will have a fairly minimal queue. Plus there’s 9months for the locals to check it out, so by Xmas the demand may well have dropped off a bit. Anyways, for those who want to hear it from Rich, Ian, or myself, yes, it’s a halfpipe, and it’s going in-between Cork and Bermuda. April has been given as an opening date (probably due to all the half price annual passes expiring around then). Honestly don't know the model we're getting. Expect another surprise or two next year which aren't of the thrill ride genre for those who don't like thrill rides at SW. Thrillseeker's site should see some action in the next year or two, and it’s not Seal Rocks.

Two cars of 6 for 12 per 'train', expect around 300 to 350. Thats reasonably low compared to Corkscrew's 400-500pph, though should probably *just* be enough.

You do realise that he's from Spain? Thats not the worst effort I've ever seen, and for someone who (I'm guessing) speaks English as a second language, its not too bad at all.

Well supposedly there are a few companies sniffing around that were interested in the paramount properties, which would seem to indicate that at least some potential buyers want to operate it as a park. As a side, Six Flags may bundle the parks together, or sell them separately, but I guess only time will tell.

According to the parks website: The Cyclone, Ocean Parade Date closed: 20th - 31st August 2006

Source: www.gcbulletin.com.au Three questions come to mind, where did Hokojitsugyo come from? What are they developing and is it meant to be different from Citywalk? Finally, where is the council land that both companies are looking to use?