joz

Richard, while I do whole heartedly about staff, and how that effects the parks, I've been hearing stories of bad DW staff since well before ToT. So that idea doesn't really add up for me. I do believe there is a higher proportion of rude staff at the park these days. Still, I can't really put that on the list since that's an on going thing, and rude staff have been going on long before all the negitive talk of the park came up. I personally am torn between low capacity rides, and the disregard for visual impact, but I don't think they jumped the shark until Cyclone. It seemed to be the culmination of everything the park had been working for. On a side note, I'd be very surprised if anyone picks Tiger Island or Koala Country as the reason for the park dipping downward. I just included them as 1. Tiger Island was a real step away from the Australia theme, and 2 some may feel that the upgrade to Koala Country made it loose its charm (I however, am not one of those people).

I've noticed that recently, there has been quite a few negative opinions of Dreamworld, from people who aren't me. How did this happen? Not too long ago, Dreamworld was the Gold Coast's most loved park. Do you think Dreamworld has jumped the shark? If so, when? Opinions please...

I think a Rocket coaster similar (but better of course :twisted: ) than Hersey Park's new coaster. Rocket Coaster with both airtime and inversions.... mmmm bliss

I still think it I can do smoother, but overall, I don't mind the way it turned out. A quick note based on what's been said: There is actually no sound. My camera only does mute shoots, (which is part of the reason for the song). I choose the song because as well all know, there are quite a few loopscrews in the world, and Corkscrew really is just 'one in a million' (get it?). There was also a minor camera problem, which affected the quality off the off-ride footage, making them shorter then they were originally planned (hence the song fades out earlier then the real version does). I'm glad you guys liked the video. How interested would you be in genral park videos of other parks or other ride videos?

Well, its time to dip my toe into the world of Roller Coaster Videos, and here it is. The Video is of Corkscrew at Seaworld. Enjoy! Download here

Depends on the department, your own skill level, and, like everywhere else, how good at sucking up you are. I work in Food & Beverage at Seaworld and I can tell you that yes, people do progress through the ranks. Your gradually given more responsibility, if your good enough. You start off by becoming second in charge, and then head of an outlet. From there, its Trainee Supervisor, where people get the experience of being a supervisor, and upper management get to see who does the job well. Then its just normal, work your way up through the ranks of supervisor, duty supervisor, and then up to the really high ranks (3 park Manager etc.) At Warner Village theme parks, staff in many departments are swapped between the parks, (SW, MW, WNW) so staff can get more experience while working in the same company. In pretty much all departments, staff are trained in all relevant areas (I myself can work in any F&B outlet at SW), however in food + beverage & Retail, you do tend to stay in the same place for a few months. Ride Ops get it a bit different. They are trained easy stuff when they first start (Kids rides, show crowd control) and are trained more complex stuff like theatre shows, roller coasters and control rooms. In ride-ops, you move around to a different attraction everyday. Once you know them all, you can work your way up to supervisor. A supervisor has different tasks at different parks. At Movieworld, supervisors are in charge of the particular rides. Lethal Weapon, Scooby, Batman, Looney Tunes and Wild West Falls all have their own supervisor, while Road Runner is only ever operated by a supervisor. At Seaworld, there is only 2 or 3 general park Operations supervisors, which look after different sections of the park. I hope this answers your questions

So hows that coming along?

:oops: :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops: and here I am telling everyone else to spell right... I'm more tired then I thought....

Not sure, there was a travelling top spin (like wipeout, but like most top spins only allowed the arms to move together) doing the rounds for a while (Spin Dragon I think it was called). After the accident where the Gondola disengaged (fell off) the rotating arms, I haven't seen or heard of any, though carnie rides are not my strong point.

Interesting idea, but sadly Intamin have confirmed the both S:TE and TOT have the same drop height. Tower of Terror was called faster then Superman because it was. It was tested (and operated apparently with people) at speeds faster then S:TE claimed to be. Dreamworld stopped arguing the height a while after S:TE, instead confirming that both rides drop the same amount, and focused its argument on stating that the actual ride height was more or less irrelevant.

So explain to me how the ride going 162km/h makes it the tallest (and yes I do realise it was the tallest for a while)?

Yeah, this one went backwards too. To be fair, It was almost the $5 to see a friend of mine get sick going backwards.

Well, in 20 or seconds you get sever headaches and nausea creeps in. Don't wanna think about what happens when your upside down for a long time.

Hey, thats not too bad, we have to pay $12 for the Gold Coast show. Last year the highlight ride was one similar to Dreamworld's ava.... Angry Beaver's Spooty Spin. It cost $5 to ride.

I once got stuck upside down on Hangover, when it was at Dreamworld for 'Extended Play'. It wasn't a malfunction, but rather the operator was one of the biggest idiots in the history of everything (Where Seaworld staff have been sent to the traveling carnivals to be shown how not to do the job, Dreamworld hires them). Everytime this particullar bloke operated the ride he kept the cars upside down for about 20 or 30 seconds. Doesn't sound like much I know, but I could barely stand that, I feel sorry for those people years ago who were stuck upside down for 90mins

Thanks heaps for the pictures. I never got to visit the park, but was only able to view it from across the harbour when it was closed. Its nice to see what it was like with people.

Judging by the lack of Cartoon Beach, it looks like the photo was taken in mid 99, which from all available info, means they were taken before Cokecool was born. Photos from here

Seaworld has a similar (ok, identical) structure in it's water park, and its not uncommon too see all the slides taken off and put together, add to that the stairs on the tower which are taken off and fixed up every few years. Its all part of maintaining the structure, nothing really too it. Plus every so often on water slides, they have to be resealed, since long wear and tear can cause uncomfortable grooves to from at the joins.

Does anyone have anyone know where pics of what happened on Batman & Robin are? I've yet too see if it was upside down or just in the middle of the cobra roll or what.

Got to remember the way it works too; once the victim is on the road and off property, it doesn't count as a death at the park.

I remember that day Richard, that lady was so rude, I was tempted to go to guest relations, but from memory we just had a bit of a laugh about it later on. As I found out, I don't have then attention span to make an official complaint. I'd much prefer to bitch about it to everyone else As for staff having a bad day, as far as I'm concerned, that's no excuse to being for being rude and abrupt. I work in a theme park, sometimes for 11 hours and entirely on my feet (unlike Dreamworld Ride ops, I don't get a chair), and I have never ever been rude. Ok, I have had days where I'm not as talkative with guests, but I don't think that's the same as being rude. On an interesting note; I know allot of very nice staff at Seaworld, and one thing I think is quite remarkable is how the some of the nicest staff used to work at Dreamworld. They claim they quit because of very low staff moral, and infighting between different levels of staff, and noted that allot of their fellow ex-workmates were extremely rude to both staff and guests, prompting the change of park. I've also been told more then once then once by guests that they had bad experiences with staff out at Dreamworld. It averages 1 or two comments every couple of months (which is about how often I happen to ask people if they've been out to other parks, and get the answer Dreamworld). I'm not going to defend the staff out there. I've had bad experiences, I am good friends with people who have had bad experiences, and complete strangers are compelled to tell me about there's. As I said before, there is no excuse for rudeness. There is no excuse to not smile as your working. Hell, I work in Food & Beverage, and I have to work a heck of a allot harder then a ride-op.

I don't think I'm the only person to have been up there after work (not in uniform of course) Good point about Space Probe and Tower though Slick. Do people really prefer Space Probe to Giant Drop???

Just a quick point. During this thread, its inevitable that someone is going to mention Cyclone for being tallest in the southern hemisphere. When that person does, please resist the temptation to call it a "gravity" rollercoaster. Thanks

I dare say that it has something to do with Maquariue have come out and said their not building anything this year? http://www.totalthrills.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=34

Last time I was at Dreamworld, I noticed this during two consecutive launches of Tower: During the launch, the car simply stopped accelerating. It was still moving the same speed, but it was no longer going faster. About a second later, it picked up again for the final push up the tower. To get the same feeling, when you turn onto a highway with a top speed of 110km/h, stop accelerating at 90 for a second, then accelerate again. This replicates the feeling quite nicely. I can't blame Dreamworld for this, the ride requires allot of power/money to operate. Its a shame, but its sadly inevitable. As some may note, I've been a bit critical of the park in the past, but slowing Tower is sadly (for us) common business sense. Lets think about it, no ones complaining, and its saving the park money. Slick's right, its not slowing down because the ride is old, its being slowed because its a good idea for the operator to do so. As for how long the magnets will last... lol, imagine if the ride was still operating in 1.5 (I'm certain that's what it used to say?) million years. I mean most coasters seem to have reached their use by date after 30 or so years . I think sometime in the next million years, Dreamworld will close Tower of Terror and possibly add another side to Giant Drop. I expect this to happen somewhere in the year 294723 I think it comes down to the old cliche, after a nuclear war all that will be left are cockroaches and Cliff Richard. No mention of magnets you'll note.