joz

wow, do you get the feeling they haven't really thought this through?

It'd wanna be bloody good being there. Still, if they can't make it good for $250 million then there's some serious issues going on there.

Where the heck is Goulburn?

How dare PKI claim that their ride will be the wildest and most thrilling, when we all know that the claw is the ultimate thrill ride? Seriously, that looks very impressive, and even being based around the Italian job can't diminish the appeal of the ride for me. It does sound at least semi-family friendly so that would also be right up the parks alley. I'd wanna see what the final product is and how it turns out, but its hard to see it being anything other then a hit.

Well a much more sedate 48 hours for me this week, plus a couple solid nights drinking (remember having time to drink rappa?).

...and in between all that, I have to learn how to spell as well!

I've got nothing aginst Intamin apart from restraint and reliability issues

Fair enough. Only ever seen it at a regional airport, but still quite interesting thanks! I still don't get why they've got in the middle of their runway (well, next too it) is a bit beyond mystery since they've got heaps of space but still fair enough, thanks for clearing that up.

Alton Towers is the exception, not the rule.

Wow, that was the best post for a long time lol Just another reason to love Intamin

And the rusting decaying remnants of the Thunderbolt would make Main Street look less sad?

Sadly I can't because the forum background is grey. Perhaps Richard can help?

What a tacky idea. It reminds me of an English airport that has on the grass next to the runway (and I'm not joking) the shell of a plane missing its wings and back section. Why? Maybe there's a storey behind it but I don't know about it so it just looks tacky and a bit ominous. Having the loops of thunderbolt kept would be like SW having Kanook stuffed and put out the front of Polar Bear Shores. Or MW putting the Studio Tour Trams in the middle of main street. Something small (if you must), but don't go crazy in trying to make yourself tacky.

True, but if you've got a park thats in the sticks and is a pain in the backside to get to then people might be put off making the trip. Also it is a huge billboard. It won't make you stop and go that day, but see it enough and you just start wanting to go again. Just some thoughts...

I dunno about that, Dreamworld is quite above SFMM operationally isn't it? I don't see what difference this person being from Germany makes. The guy didn't really say anything bad about the park, just its capacity. He also didn't seem to negative about the place: "..yah - sorry about that I don't mean to damage anyones business. There's also good things to say, it's in general a rather cleanly park and I guess the kids can have a lot of fun with the nickelodeon character themed portions. The animal stuff is fun, too - at least it makes getting to the animals a lot easier, and I would probably never have seen a real Koala let alone a Tasmanian Devil otherwise." Not sure what the highschool age thing has to do with anything either, and suspect he might've been seeing things since the 19th was a Monday and Highschool age kids would've been at school.

Wild West's restraints serve the purpose of stopping people getting out of the boats mid ride, so keep your mouth shut BigMal. Its a redundent saftey feature, exactly like the one on Looney Tunes River Ride. Don't give me this "It didn't engage and I felt in danger!!!" crap Oh yeah, where is the second op on Cyclone?

Ok, I've got 5 lines, here goes: Gold Coast had a sprinkling of half day attractions. Many of which died off. Keith Williams and John Menzies teamed up and turned one of the half day attractions into Seaworld which was the first of the modern day parks on the Coast. This spear-headed the Gold Coast's growth as a tourism market, hence the involvement of Dreamworld. John Menzies helped create MW, and also WnW into what it is today.

You know, I drive past that place everyday, and figured they just gave up on it. Nice to know there's something going on there still.

Settle down boys and girls for a history lesson Lets go back to a sea side town called Elston. Built on sand dunes in the middle of nowhere. With little more then a hotel, a pub, and sandy road, it was a minor blip on the map between Sydney and Brisbane. It was always somewhere for a weekend away, but was struggling. In desperation, the local council looked upon reinventing the town, and renamed it Surfers Paradise (after the hotel which by a huge coincidence, was called the Surfers Paradise). The name change, and the advent of surf life savers - which made bathing safer - injected a new energy, and the area became a popular tourist destination. With the influx of visitors, many half day attractions had opened by 1958. These include the Jack Even's Porpose Pool, Marine Land (On the current day site of Marina Mirage on Seaworld drive), Magic Mountain, Pleasure Island and the speedway. However, easily the most influential half day attractions was Keith William's Surfers Paradise Ski Gardens. The show proved hugely popular, and by 1970 had really out grown its site (and was also staged on a public river which made the logistics of the show somewhat difficult). At the same time approx 60 acres of crown land was made available. Keith Williams was the only person who showed any interest in the site, and teamed with John Menzies, created Ski Land in 1971. At the same time Keith founded the Gold Coast Tourism Bureau, which he headed for 3 years which was instrumental in promoting the Gold Coast as a tourism destination. Keith added marine animals to Ski Land, and renamed it Seaworld (Interestingly the name was 'borrowed' from the US Seaworld before the copyright laws kicked in). Within a few years he had bought Jack Even's Porpose Pool and Marine Land and moved the animal stock to Seaworld. He turned Marine Land into a bird sanctuary and then sold the land a few years later. Around the time all this was happening, Peter Longhurst (the lawn mower man) was compelled to build his own park. After finding no suitable land in Sydney looked elsewhere to build his park. The success of Magic Mountain and Seaworld on the Gold Coast inspired him to build Dreamworld (Which at the time was a mixture between the Aussie bush and Disneyland). Then 2 very important things happened. Firstly Seaworld was placed on the Australian stock exchange. This injected $20million of capital into the park, and gave birth to the Seaworld property trust. Around the same time, Cade's County Water Park (Now Wet 'n' Wild) opened. Seeing the potential of a water park on the Gold Coast, SWPT took over Cade's County and renamed it Wet 'n' Wild. In 1989, SWPT began steps to open its third park, which would be like nothing seen on the Gold Coast before. By this time the Gold Coast already had 2 well established theme parks, and Movieworld, squeezed its way into the market. Hence why we have the parks we do. It all boils down to 2 men, Keith Williams and John Menzies who opened Seaworld, which was the first of the parks, and really paved the way for bigger attractions in the years to come. Keith Williams was also instrumental in promoting the Gold Coast as a destination, hence we have a theme park industry.

You are trying to be annoying aren't you?

Yeah, but can I just say I know many people at WVTPs who also think they're funny, however, only I have a guest comment that proves that I am On topic: What's wrong with protection from the elements for the operators? Why is giving people decent working conditions such a taboo? I just don't get why people are saying that there's no issue there. Protection from the elements (heat especially) is a very important consideration for the good of everyone, not just for the operators. I mean, if an operator pass' out at a crucial moment in a rides cycle then the results could be catastrophic. Heat also takes allot of energy out of you, and could make an op tired and make it hard to do his/her job. Its Luna Park's responsibility that the operators are looked after, and are able to do their jobs properly. Its also in the parks best interests. After all, it doesn't take long for public liability insurance companies to spot a reason to increase fees.

For the sake of bringing up an old topic, voting for the new agreement has started and we should know the results early next week. (And for the record another update came out not long after the above post.) Watch out for either some closure on the topic or round 2

My understanding is its the same model, and there are a few of these towers out there. Curiously every tower seems to have a different slide from the middle level (from the one's I've seen at least). Apart from that, I must admit I know sadly little about the towers (Who made them, how much they cost, how many there are left and the different styles are a couple of obvious blanks) so anyone with the time on there hands can feel free to enlighten me.

The track is filled with sand, and is quiet. The drop does face towards the village, so screams are probably the biggest concern here, though I'm not willing to take a stand on vibrations, since I'm no structural engineer and know nothing about subsoil. I would suggest though that a scream guard would go a long way to satisfying the concerns of the locals. Still, judging by the latest these people have set standard and will get some back. All I can say is all of a sudden Alton's local population doesn't seem so bad after all.

Nemesis's helix is intense, but quick. It barley lasts for a couple of seconds, and is made too feel intense because of how close it comes to the pathway near the ride.