GoGoBoy

That was the point he was making. Because it's 'separate' to the overall ride system -- not linked to or triggered by the passage of ride vehicles -- it shouldn't suffer from the sync issues that sometimes affect various components of the actual ride scenes.

While I hate the hyperventilating over every ride stoppage, I can understand anxiety about the Giant Drop! It is terrifying sitting up there waiting for the click at the best of times. But if there was a major delay, particularly when you know it's not normal, I would also have been rather nervous. Not the most amazing place to be stuck, especially when you don't know what's going to happen next. Justified nerves in this case, I reckon. But yeah, in time the media will move on from all this to some extent. As soon as the public starts losing interest and things go back to normal. It's still very fresh.

Yeah it sounds like this is one ride that is not particularly good at picking up where it left off after any stoppage.

Thanks Maxx. Sounds like a mixed bag and probably depends on when you ride it. I've noticed that when it comes to dark rides and the amount of effects involved, the experience can literally vary from vehicle to vehicle, let alone from month to month (you can see this just by watching a few dark ride vids on Youtube from parks overseas). For whatever reason things get out of sync and various triggers sometimes fail. I guess that's computers for you. Some issues are more permanent/long-term failures, like the darkened screens issue I noted on JL. But it sounds like this has been fixed and the ride is certainly in a better state than when I visited. You mention the 'following door after the fog screen', but I believe this is the spaceship door isn't it? I don't think it has ever had teleport lighting -- it's just supposed to open in sync with Green Lantern. It's highly tempremental apparently.

In what way?

You might be right Joz. I just remember reading an article where an engineer suggested the accident may have been due to a faulty limit switch, ie. sensor. The suggestion was that the block system at that point of the ride shouldn't have allowed two rafts to close up on each other where they did if the limit switch had been working. But of course, we have virtually zero faith in the media when it comes to theme park reporting and the supposed experts they roll out, so we'll just have to wait and see. Regardless, the point is that routine ride stoppages tell us that the rides' safety systems are doing what they're meant to do.

That's good to hear. I thought they might have just given up on the fog screen and doors. Thumbs up to MW's maintenance team and techs. So the final two showdown screens were fully visible and illuminated to the same extent as the screens throughout the rest of the ride? When I last went on it they were so dark you could barely see the characters. It really stood out because the first few screens in the city scenes were so vivid.

I was just wondering if anyone has ridden JL at Movie World recently and can report on the state of the attraction at the moment. The last (and only) time I was on it was well over a year ago and it had a number of issues. There was no fog screen with the Starro projection, the space ship door was permanently open, and most critically, the final two interactive screens in the spaceship were so dull you could barely make out what was happening. I assume there was something majorly wrong with the projectors. I figured this would have all been fixed by now, but I came across a recent YouTube video that seems to show that isn't the case. On that note, does anybody feel like filming a full POV of the ride? Most on YouTube are from when JL first opened.

If anything these ride stoppages should be seen as a good thing at our parks, as long as they are within reason. It shows that the rides' sensors and control systems are responsive, and are ready to kick in and do their job as soon as they detect any operating anomaly. From what we know so far of the DW tragedy (and, of course, the investigation has not been released yet so can only speculate), it looks as though this is what didn't happen. I'd prefer ride systems to overreact rather than underreact in the interests of safety.

This story really, really frustrates me. I knew it was only a matter of time before a stoppage on one of the parks' water rides would lead to totally ridiculous and unfair comparisons with the DW tragedy. Thanks to Paul and his daughter, it's unlikely we'll see any new water rides at the GC theme parks for a very long time. That is a real shame and everyone loses from it. These rides are some of the most popular with families and are also perfect for parks located in hot climates. What would have happened if two boats had collided on that section of Storm? Nothing. It could have been different it if it was stuck on a high speed section and a following boat hit it -- but the ride control system is specifically designed to stop that happening. That's why these stoppages are occurring. Flume rides like Disney's classic Splash Mountain often have times where the boats back up during the ride and bump into one another. You just can't compare it to a completely different ride type like river rapids. And it wasn't just the fact that two rafts collided on Thunder River, it was the fact that one raft had apparently become stuck and the other was forcibly pushed into it by the conveyor lift. This can't happen on the other water rides that are left at our parks. The setup is completely different. On another somewhat related note, I am interested in the sensors Storm uses for the safety block system. I haven't been on it myself, but I'm assuming that for the coaster portion the standard track-mounted proximity sensors are used that detect the presence of the train. They usually look like little plastic coloured boxes located at certain sections along the track, for example: But when it comes to the flume section of the ride, it is likely a type of reflective eye is used, mounted above each side of the trough, detecting a boat passing through when the invisible beam is broken. Lassiter's/Bermuda, Looney Tunes River Ride, Viking's Revenge and the log ride all used this system. You could see the reflectors and light beam instigator on either side of the trough at particular parts of the ride. In the case of the dark rides, these were used to trigger the show scenes too. Can anyone confirm these are the two systems Storm uses?

It would make absolutely no sense to me if the park was anywhere near as busy as usual. Why would anyone expect it to be? Two major rides are permanently closed and plenty of others are still down for safety checks. The park is a fraction of its former self, for now.

That looks incredible. I can't believe how good some of these aquatic centres are becoming these days. Seriously a kids wonderland (and I don't mean as in Wonderland Sydney).

It's interesting though isn't it that they apparently replaced the backstop safety components on the lift hill, and then announced the ride would be permanently closed a couple of weeks later. Certainly makes it seem like it was a last-minute decision.

I have to say I'm more comfortable with this now that they've put up those signs alerting guests to the ride undergoing 'thematic enhancement'. Let's just hope that this does end up being the case, with a decent replacement of what was there before. I am all for rides being refreshed and renewed, but I am nervous that this could end up being a downgrade, especially considering the (I'm assuming) unbudgeted expense. I do actually remember Disney undertaking some minor refurb work on their Haunted Mansion attractions while they were still operating, with specific scenes being curtained off. But it was nothing like the scale of Scooby's gutting, and certainly no temporary fencing to be seen. I can sympathise with MW in this instance to a certain extent, with the need to keep the holiday crowds happy and the loss of Doomsday. It's definitely a rough patch for our parks though.

As much as I hate what they've done, I agree with this. Any chance a Parkz user can get in there and do a nice POV video?

As much as I am absolutely no fan of this attraction and have zero interest in it myself, I actually think it is most suited to Wet 'n' Wild. While I would much prefer the park stuck to waterslides, it is pretty clear they made a strategic decision a while back to create more dry attractions, linking them with the 'wild' part of the name. We saw this with the Surf Rider and then the various zip lines and Sky Coasters at both WnW GC and Syd.

Yeah I mean the sign needs to be really obvious or maybe put in a few different locations so that everyone sees it. Because imagine if you were an international tourist going on this ride for the first time and you're riding through a bare warehouse with no idea it was under refurb. You'd literally be thinking 'WTF?!?!'

It is ironic that at the same time as potentially Australia's best and most expensive attraction is being built, our parks are in some ways being torn apart. This might sound overly dramatic, but I'm sure many others have this same sense at the moment. No doubt the recent tragedy, combined with a touch of poor management and questionable decision making, is having wider repercussions than we initially might have thought and is responsible for a lot of the actions being taken.

Is anyone else slightly terrified that the theming replacement will be a job similar to Wild West Falls final room post-fire? ie. all static and a fraction of its former self? Or the changes queue area for Lethal Weapon where they just got some dodgy artist in to spray graffiti everywhere? Makes me shudder to think.

Great point. The difference, of course, being Disneyland would never, ever do that. It's called standards.

So they basically just sandblasted the tower and all of the supports? That must have been a big job. I didn't see any scaffolding -- how did they get to it all? The steel underneath the blue paint has come out really well and looks like new, which is why I was confused. It seems that slide towers in particular are quite expensive as parks always do their best to re-use them or tack new slides onto them.

So just remind me -- only the slide itself has been replaced? The tower and support poles are exactly the same? I wonder why they did this. It wasn't the oldest slide in the world. Any ideas?

I agree with the sentiment on here - really terrible news! Truly hoping Mark's talent and vision will be put to use at another major Aussie theme park. We need people like this making the big decisions.

I'm quoting with the pic again, as it was on the last page and some may miss it. I reckon it's an awesome teaser. Such a good tag line, and I'm glad to see they are giving it the billing it deserves. The way the banner runs along the fence also hints to the scale of this thing. Nice work MW.

What happened to the Octopus? Assuming it was removed, but does anyone know why and where to?