Dean Barnett

I won't reply to individual posts but some points raised People just work it out and let smaller groups through. Worked every time from what I saw. The Hyperion queue kinda reminds me of like a mini squid game. Quick snip of it here Here's one better option.. completely staff less and 100% profit! Seriously if they charged $5 they'd get so many more sales. Which seems so silly because of the even more slower process of having to secure each row with RFID (which I've only seen elsewhere at Hagride.. because of the moving platform ... they can unlock the restraints too!) Another useful thing is the screens Seas have at their parks on the platform Shows what seats are not secured without the op needing to communicate it to the attendants. How often does superman even run 2 trains? It's really hard to tell. It should just unload in the load station and just open the door between the two. I don't even get why they're so pedantic about loose items too.. Top Thrill Dragster doesn't and it goes 3x higher . Another thing that I really like here is the interaction between station lighting and audio and ride operations .. sound effects when gates open, lights chasing or changing on certain events. Fly at Phantasialand's station is very dark. When the train enters the LED's backlighting the wall chases the train, then the entire station gets lighter for the loading procedure, then gets dark when the train dispatches. Simple things that are relatively cheap compared to the entire coaster. On dead days - why can't they just double dispatch rides? No restraint clearing necessary. This happened for me at Fårup Sommerland... before the park even officially opened. Fastpass would have a RFID or barcoded wristband that would enable the turnstile, after the previous train dispatches - a certain % of the next cycle would be let though.. so say 6 people per rivals train etc. Then the "standby" queue. This is stupid. Their whole motive should be to get as many people on rides as quickly as possible. It's weird they let people with watches on (secured by a strap) but won't extend that to sunglasses (secured by a strap). (please don't get any ideas) Other crowd pleaser idea is free wristbands for parents to write their name/numbers on and slap on their kids. I think that's it for now.

I’m saying enclose one side so you can still run both. I just did Mystery Castle and can quiet happily say that the drop in the dark was way more intimidating- but it will never happen. Same as adding a launch which will be very exciting but would never happen because it’s a completely different ride system. My issue is spending so much money / causing so much down time for adding stupid aesthetics.

It’s such a waste of money. At least add to the attraction - I’d be enclosing one side and putting a pretty sign up the top if it. It would be a world first to drop 400ft in darkness.

Superman is ridiculous. I’ve been to heaps of parks - and there’s only two other rides I’ve seen so far that doesn’t let you have your phone for the *entire* queue. Steel Vengeance did for a period but they put pockets on the trains instead which are big enough for phones. Velocicoaster has double sided lockers that work with your park ticket (or any) barcode. Usually only spend under 5 mins without your phone after that. Baron 1898 has free lockers out the front with a wristband key. Manned checking with wristbands right before the preshow. Fly at Phantasialand has plastic watch bands that are colour coded for front row/resort access and everyone else - that work with double sided lockers. Yukon Striker has automated bins that travel from the load side to the unload side - that are synchronised with the trains. (If the ride stops cycling, so to the bins) Ripriderocket and Hulk are the worst locker experiences but it’s still better than superman. None of this remembering colour BS. Barcode operated. Any of these options would be better. My suggestion would be just add simple bins in the station … even if they were on the other side of the train and stop using the unload station if you’re not going to use it to save time I’ll reply to the other posts later - just on my phone rn

Look I know I'm not the most popular person on this board but I thought I'd make a thread about what Europe is doing better - park wise - than the gold coast parks. Yes - I know Europe parks have a different sized market - but I believe these learnings could be successfully transferred to our parks to save time and money money while increasing guest satisfaction. Hopefully just one decision maker reads this. 1. On ride photo kiosk Several parks here have unmanned automated kiosks with a eftpos machines where you just press your photo - pay €5 for a printed copy and a QR code to download the high res copy. I'd think you'd get more sales that way, rather than getting a wristband or remembering a number - going to another location - lining up - then waiting for the print. Simple 4 step process that takes seconds, requires no staff and makes you more money! 2. Minute makers in queue Simple 10/20/30/45/60 min markers spray painted on to the ground in the queue Easy peasy. 3. Automated turnstile loading / grouping This one is big brain stuff. Energylandia uses it and it's epic. Got a flat ride that only fits 40 people? Have a turnstile that lets 40 people through then locks. For rivals/ST you could do it really easily.. add a turnstile each for Front Row, Back-row, Rest of train and Fast pass/Single Riders. Don't bother manually grouping any coasters - especially ones with 4 to a row. I haven't seen a single coaster here which does so - and most of them don't even group at all. The world keeps revolving and everything works out. 4. Misc coaster things Don't wait for the entire train to be seated before starting to secure the train. In the back row of B&M's I was seated for a few seconds before an attendant cleared my row. Add an announcement in the brake runs to instruct people to undo their seatbelts before entering the station. If there's an empty station - allow re-rides! Why wouldn't you? I lapped Ride to Happiness 6 times - changing rows every lap. Sunglasses - it's the gold coast.. it's sunny. I've been on several coasters way more intense than anything on the gold coast (Silver Star / Untamed / Zandra) and my sunglasses have stayed put without an issue. 5. Buy a RMC A RMC is the only thing that would offer anything new to the Gold Coast's line up - it's a clear winner for me in any park - and comes with a 120cm height restriction with the latest trains! I think that's it. Didn't mean to offend anyone or any park - just saying it how I see it. (Also I've now done the original Blue Fire.. it's a lot better - and I think it comes down to theming and rock work. I mean compare the pair.. and if you want to make Giant Drop better - enclose it.. at least one side of it. Having it in complete darkness would absolutely be an world first ... Mystery Castle blew my mind)

Spend millions of dollars on a new rollercoaster. Only open it for 4 hours on weekdays. Brilliant. They should follow Energylandias way of queue management. Completely automated. No grouper required. Just have an operator and two platform attendants that secure the train from the front towards the back as people sit down. Works brilliantly. The spinny car can just scan a card at the turnstile to be let through

Surely just open ST... you only need 2 employees right? What a waste.

Unbelievable - Another Australian park going alone with bat shit stupid policies. Rides that pull way more G's (I305, Mission Space (sustained G force), Shockwave, Tatsu and Vertigo) don't have any limits. Your body is back to normal immediately after the G force is removed. I really hope it was just a over-controlling op.

I'd say the noise complaints at 8-9pm pale in comparison with noise complaints at 2-3-4am.

It just seems weird - I haven't seen it anywhere else - apart from of course Hagride which has a genius system of confirming and (if required) unlocking/locking via RFID tags in a rolling station. I'd just hate it if someone from VRTP visited and thought it would be a great idea to add to a static station.

Holey Moley was shot throughout the whole night to dawn - not to 9pm... not really fair to compare. No real need for caps - but can someone explain to me why Australia seems to be unique with art of having external seatbelts installed on rides that can't be done up by the guests? There's safe - then there's safety theatre - that just slows down the ops and generally just turns off the GP - which means less capital for new things overall. Sorry for all if I'm provoking too much discussion on a discussion board. I'm pretty sure you can block me if you're not a fan of discussion.. on a discussion board. Don't get me started on Movie World charging for guests to meet characters...

Luckily the only thing above the treetops (23m ish) is the top of the coasters. Blue is trees at 23m ish - Red is rivals top height. Well then @rappa I'll change tact then and say we should get rid of seatbelts because the europeans do (Blue Fire doesn't have seatbelts)

Yeah I know how noise works - luckily theres a big row of trees between the park and the houses.

I mean it can't be that bad - the nosiest bits (superman/rivals) are on the far side of the park from the residents..

Can someone explain why Movie World opening late is such a hard task with the residents? Luna Park Sydney operates to 11pm with residents on the literal doorstep.. not asking for that late.. but 8/9pm on Friday/Saturday night should be a no brainer.

Honestly - in a period where QLD was inundated with NSW/VIC residents - how many do you think are annual pass holders? I'm not saying blockout dates wouldn't help - I'm saying I don't think its going to impact the current problems. Reservations should have been in place. Everything in their power should have been done to have 2 trains running on rivals. If the ops were up to scratch with two trains they could be pumping out 720 people per hour. It sounds like they're doing 1 dispatch every 4-5 mins.. less than 50% max output... during the holidays.

Ok sure. Here's reviews that indicate that they're not annual pass holders. The last reviewer that mentions they bought an annual pass was 2 months ago..

I don't think annual passes are the problem here - I'm gonna bet 80% of these guests were on single or multi day tickets.

Luna Park Sydney - with "tiered pricing to ensure there's enough staff", is facing the same fate.

I feel like if they open up later, they'd make more money from food sales (you could even add a destination restaurant) and alcohol sales. They least they can do is close the lines at the published park close time. No fast tracks after close which would mean the line would move faster...

They'd be better off for superman just to have no grouper when it's dead. This is what happened at carowinds for me a few weeks ago - no grouper and 4 people checking restraints on the platform. The ops on superman shit me to tears. The ride goes for about 40 seconds but the whole process takes an easy 10 minutes, with a 1 train queue. Disney still require reservations for parks. (Even for cast members). Park hopping is available after 1pm at WDW. Universal/Sea World in Orlando don't require reservations.

The easiest thing they could do would be extend hours, or even just push the hours back. No one wants to get up before 8am to make it in to the park at 9am so they can get on rides. I'd much prefer 12pm to 9pm.

You can't compare a tilting drop tower to a rollercoaster - if it was a required redundancy feature it would be required. Disney, Universal and Six Flags would require it on all of their coasters. They don't - therefore they can pump out outrageous numbers of people through a ride a hour. Imagine if Disney needed check harnesses and then do seatbelts for every seat of the inverting Incredicoaster .. even if this added 5 seconds per seat - it would be an extra minute per dispatch. They don't have a problem with bags because you can just take them on with you. (I know this isn't possible with the Mack train design)

I've never been on a ride where the restraint wasn't checked - but the two step process on Rivals is O.T.T. Gold Coast ops seem obsessed with stapling people on coasters - where that isn't necessary. If it's past its minimums (which it won't dispatch if it isn't) and physically checked (by pulling up.. not pushing down) .. it's good to go. Seatbelts are pretty much just theatre. Pretty sure they don't even lock on B&M's

RMC Single rail with a lift hill would be my pick... or a ground up IBOX RMC