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Well I wouldn't say they are a ripoff, it might be more than you'd personaly like to pay but that doesn't mean they are overpriced. You're paying for what you get, you have to remember these aren't aimed at the kiddy model toy kit market, they are targeted at serious model builders. (not to anyway imply you are a model building kid )

Sad to hear its not quite as 'wowing' as we would have hopped, still I look forward to getting up and having a look. As a side note we have been seing the ads on TV down here now for a little while and they do look really good. They are certainly doing the right thing in regards to marketing, that's for sure.

Well after just getting of the plan an hour ago back from Melbourne I'd just like to say how stupid an argument this all is. Neither is better than the other, they are both compeltely different. As for Crown...guys come on, it leaves Star City and Jupiters for dead. They don't even compare. If you want an RSL on steroids go to Penrith Panthers! Crown is of a world class standard, Star City (no matter how much I may enjoy going there) is just a tacky cheap effort to draw in the punters. Melbourne's freeway system makes Sydney look like a joke, and the Citylink isn't expensive, you pay for what you use and its more than worth it. Whilst I wouldn't move there for a second and much prefer living in Syndey they both outdo each other in many different ways.

Went to the show yesturday for the anual visit... Carnival rides just aren't my thing really and I don't go to the show for rides so I didn't go on anything but as the weird ride addict I am I went for a wander through the carnival section all the same. Its great to see such a variety of rides this year and the place was certainly packed, obviously a big hit. Of course the main attraction this year taking over from Sling Shot is the Mega Drop. I must say I certainly wasn't impressed at all with the visual appearance of this thing... I'd go as far to say it looks like a piece of crap. Its clearly a cheap ripoff of the Giant Drop (model not ride) ride. What I will say though is just how impressed I was at the attitude and enthusiasm of all the Carnies this year. They were all really into it and the loaders were as usual getting people on and off of those things so damn fast. As for the Ops they were certainly enjoying their job, most rides I saw were running in manual mode and the Ops were really getting into it, interacting with the riders and on the PA and all that. The best would have been on the Mega Drop who was all set up with his KAOS DJ Sampling Pad with all his sound effects and what have you. The best thing was the different lengths of time he was leaving people up the top for. At one stage I actualy wondered if the ride was stuck because it must have been the best part of a minute...FREAKY What took the cake for me this year was the Ops on the Wave Swinger down in the 10 Carnival section. These guys were actualy wearing TIES!!! OMG Of course best things at the show was the wood chop as always and the Shane St. James show was again a cack to watch.

Daniel you big wimp the Vomatron rocks!! It is really something else being flung over Surfers at over 100ks. Funlly enough the name doesn't really work for me because for me at least it doesn't really produce anything like the sensations that make one feel sick. Its one sweet ride though, I even chipped in for the second spin :-)

Not even really going to bother with this thread because to put it simply no one park is better than the others (if you're talking about the GC parks). They all have their pros and cons and are really different parks in their own right. We may all have our favourite parks but that doesn't actualy make one the best.

No not being smart, I think you might be a bit mixed up because I'm sure there was not snapping incident on GD. Wow Richard, never knew those devices were installed on the ride, will have to have a closer look. (note that just because I said "wow" again I'm not trying to be 'smart' HEHE)

WOW when did this happen? It must have been kept reasonable quiet as it appears most of us never heard about it...

Not sure I know what you mean by 'cable couplers'?? From my understanding everything to do with the lifting and catch car system is above the gondola when it drops so it wouldn't have anything to hit "on the way down." As far as that incident is concerned yes it was on Space Probe at WL. One of the lifting cables snapped and the force on it cause it to wip down slashing one rider in the face. Quite nasty, was on the news etc. at the time.

Yes I am the one that provided the intel that WL are indeed planning to sell both BB and Beastie. I have the brochure and the expression of interest documents right here. Same also goes for Skyway, Bounties, Antique Autos and obviously SP and Demon. Oddly enough Zodiac is not mentioned. I too wouldn't mine seeing Endevour go somewhere, its a pretty unique ride and I have NFI how it manages to pass safety standards these days :-p I think either yes Jambaroo will buy the rafts and build a new ride of DW will simply pick up the SRR rafts for spares, why not??? And yes DCA does have two quite large and steep drops using very similar boats to that of SRR. I would think that we'd probably almost definately see many if not all of the Beach slides going to Jambaroo, would only make sense. I doubt they would go for more of the major rides as that sort of attraction is not really what the park seems to be about...

Okay guys hoping someone can come and save me here from one of those anoying things where you know you are trying to think of something but you can't! About a month ago I was trying to find out where the Zodiac had come from and remember finding a site that told me where it had come from and how old it was then and all that sort of stuff... I seem to think it was a timeline from tha park it was previously at... Tonight I got curious again as to where I found that out and attempted to go looking but good not find that info. anywhere. Can anyone shed any light on this and put me out of my misery?? I'm not really after the info itself (pretty sure it was 20yrs old b4 it came to Wonderland) but more a location where I can find it because that is what is bugging me :-) Thanks heaps guys, sure someone will know.

I wonder if it means people like mean will draw all over it with liquid paper like I used to or even hide exam formulas inside the back cover :-p ...not that I condone that sort of practise with our younger member, cheating is of course wrong HEHEHE

LOL Richard, okay we'll try to stick to that rule. I shall also try to refrain from mentioning how any of these rides are lit up :-p One thing I just wanted to point out to the other folk is that the technology used in this floor is exactly the same as what is used in your calculator, microwave, vcr, car intrumentation, digital watch and any other little gismos. display. Its just like the numbers on your calculator, think of the number being seen as the floor 'on' and the number not being there as it being 'clear.'

Oh I have no doubts the ride is completely safe, its just funny to see how they have gone about building it... Its just one of those things that reinforces the point that Australians just shouldn't try to build complicated things :-) Leave it to those crazy Swiss guys!

Yeah Daniel you really have to see this thing. Its by no means small in terms of layout, it sprawls out everwhere... Its pretty much a aussie 'home made' coaster which failed miserably...it was built about 10 years ago and has never opened to the public. Its had many design problems and even more urban legends about it created. It actualy goes off the side of the cliff at one point, it will be something else when it does finaly open that is for sure. Its very funny to look at because its build using triangular truss track and as Richard pointed out on our last visit the banking is either nothing or 60degrees simply created by turning the track onto its side. Its also got some very nasty transitions where a straight angle piece of track suddenly bends flat. Certainly is pretty out there and will make for an interesting ride if nothing else.

I'm only guessing here but I'm pretty sure he's talking about the 'new' project to get Orphan Rocker running as oposed to a new ride project all together...

Can't you just put this thing to bed? I really just wanted to say fine just let him have the last word and look like a fool but I'm just not prepared to have wrong information up here. Okay you are arguing with yourself about GD. You are saying that if the thing is released part way up the tower it will still come back down, so am I, no argument there. I am saying that if they had to release the car from the catch car mid way through the brakes it won't fall at the same rate as if released higher up, that's all I'm saying and all I ever said. Why do you keep bringing this up??? The car very well may be held in position by the magnets but that's not my understanding of it and I don't have all the info. on that so I'm not going to make any guesses as I don't know the facts. Now Richard never said there were any blackouts to other rides or power reductions. He said DW's power usage momentarily doubled, which is true. Just because the usage doubled doesn't mean the rest of the park was affected by TOT. Use this as an example. If you have two glasses and a jug of water and one glass is full and the other empty. If you suddenly pour water from the jug into the empty glass the water level of the first glass is obviously unaffected. Same principle applies with DW's power, although they are fed into the place on one set of wires the rest of the park and TOT are still separate systems. That is the facts people, I'm not saying anything more on it so if he wants to continue to waste all of our time on this issue he can do it somewhere else. I'm pretty pissed off that you questioned what Richard was saying. It is obvious he has the knowledge on the subject and you don't so why do you question him?? I find that extremely rude and arrogant, neither very good qualities. I don't know how old you are or what it is you do or where you get your information for that matter. I will say though perhaps if you were willing to listen to what other people say you would find a lot less resistance to what you have to say...

Hey Joz...you know me, I'm not getting fired up at all, just trying to state fact :-p Just to clarify for EVERYONE on the board, I have no problem with ANYONE posting their ideas/opinions on whatever no matter how wrong or far out they may be. My issue is when people demand that they be taken as true fact and then get all arced up when they are corrected. The GD would not be able to be released in the 'normal' manner and fall at the 'normal' rate because of the effect of the brakes. That's all I'm saying. I don't have any reason to doubt your statement that the amount of power applied at launch has been reduced. All I'm saying is no matter what they crank the power up to it won't effect the rest of the park or Coomera for that matter. Last time I rode TOT was late Feb with Richard and Nev. Don't remember what the reading was and it was that period when it was stuffed anyway. Maybe one of those 2 do remember, but i think it may have been something in the high 150s. The ride was running very fast though, much faster than STE was when I was there this time last year.

Urmmm...well yes generally how we humans work is that you do have to earn yourself some credibility. Anyone can just come and start blurting out words, but whether it means anything is a different story. No we were not all once anonymous posters, I have never once posted in any forum under an anonymous name. All my posts contain my signature and my name and my profile says a bit about me. I'm sure everyone here can vouch for me on that. I think it is you that is taking offense to being questioned here not me. Again everyone here will know that I don't bight on arguments and fly off he handle :-) Of course GD could get stuck there, there are many factors that could lead to this. The simplest being the winch motor itself simply 'blowing up' or one of its main components. There will always be unexpected failure, I don't know why you are making such an issue out of it. And you toaster remark clearly illustrates the fact you didn't even read what I wrote. I was using that to explain a point, no TOT is not a toaster but your house is also not DW... Just forget it, clearly your are the supreme master and must have worked at both DW, Intamin and the Electricity board for many many years. You must be tired, how old are you again?

Okay this is weird because I got an email notification of your reply Obstructure but it doesn't show up here. Basically I'm not prepared to continue this conversation any further until you identify yourself because I'm not going to argue with an anonymous poster. What I will say is no I don't work for the park or live in Coomera but if that is your argument then that's pretty juvenile. I know a ****load about electricity and how the power supply grid works because I deal with it every day, do you? Its not just as simple as saying they share their supply with the town. It is distributed to a Main board at DW which is then distributed to sub mains throughout the park, one of which will be TOT. Its done like this so one fault doesn't knock out the whole grid. Surely you don't think plugging in too many toasters at your place will take down the entire suburbs power grid do you? As for GD. Of course there is a chance of that, if the lifting winch mechanism broke down on ascent at that point then the ride would be effectively 'stuck' in the brake zone. Therefore it would not be as simple as letting it go to have it fall straight back to earth at the rate of gravity. Which is what I was saying if you read the post. Have a nice day 'mr X'

Okay where do we start with this one :-) First of all thank you for regurgitating a whole bunch of stuff most of us all either know and/or have posted on this forum in the past. You don't have to worry about looking like a "know it all" because I can assure you that post makes quite the opposite point. WOW I just think you may be right and they DO use a magnetic breaking system. Guess that public knowledge that DW even advertise on their site must have been right all these years! Well yes (although I'll get to your power statement soon) that is why all the published statistics state a max. speed of 160 not 180. Yes it would fall at the same rate of acceleration as usual until it hit the brakes. If however it got stuck in the braking 'zone' then it would be a different matter all together. Okay that is pretty much complete crap. You cannot simply ramp up the power and get it moving faster. It would not black out a suburb ever because it is running off of DW's isolated mains supply. The cabling used in the system is only rated for a certain level of current. The power supply is breakered (circuit breaker) at this level. If the ride was to attempt to draw more power it would simply trip the breakers. This is done to prevent fire. If you try to draw more power through you wiring the cabling simply heats up beyond its capacity and catches fire. No blackouts, never were, never will be. Urban Legend, yes. Always have been, always will be. More crap. That is not and was not ever in the design plans, same goes for its sister ride at SFMM. The brakes at the top of the tower are for extreme circumstances where for some reason the car might reach the top of the tower. To prevent incident brakes are installed that will slow and stop the car preventing it from reaching the end of the track. This is the same on all lunched shuttle rides. Of course they don't press a button to control speed. It's all handled by the PLC. Power supplied for launch is the same for every ride, that is why you see the car making up different heights of the tower. To allocate power to each individual launch as you say it would require weighing of the car prior to each launch (ala Dueling Dragons) which TOT does not do. Welcome BTW, some good stuff in your post, good fix on the name old son. :-)

LOL yeah Dan, I too think it a bit strange that no one at DW noticed until the loops were completely gone :-p

Ah why not be totally precise and say '97 ay mate :-) Yes I'm sure this post may have been an oversight but if you read some of the others I'm not too sure. Just keep an eye on things and only post if its really something of substance and accurate Scott buddy... Welcome to the forums.

Well I think I better get on the phone to Intamin to express my unhappiness with the lack of performance of their ride. I mean 4km/h in 7 years...thats just disgusting :-p

I'd say as they were built somewhat differently maybe getting rid of the loops was a bit more involved than simply driving a piece of machinery through them :-) That's probably while they ended up leaving them for so long i guess :-) Or perhaps someone bought the loops and plans to turn them into some kind of shuttle coaster HEHEHE