Gazza

Have a look at this pic. The purple ring approximates the limit of where the tallest rider could stick their legs out in front of them: Imagine that the swinging pendulum arm would have to be on an axle of a length equal half the diameter of that circle which is definitely quite a bit more than just a meter. That axle has to be sticking out, and be taking a heavier 6 person circle of seats, the ring bearing and extra drive motor (to make the circle of seats spin)...That's a helluva lot of bending stress on that axle. Of course, you can then go and beef it all up, but then the 8 cross arms from the central hub of the ride would need beefing up too (and they are pretty hefty as it is). All this extra weight then implies the central hub drive motors, and the motors which swing each pendulum arm would need to be a couple of sizes bigger. In the end it's a shitload of extra expense and engineering costs (A manufacturer would have to recaculate/redesign from scratch due to the sheer number of changes needed compared to the original air race ride).

It's called a hearse mate , you know, the thing they carry coffins in. You need to work on your vocabulary a bit mate...Still remember you referring to the grandstands at White Christmas as an "Upwards seating pit".

The challenge with a ride like you described is where the seats swing from. On Pandamonium your back is facing the "pendulum arm", and the cross bar, so when you reach the 270 degree mark the two parts pass each other with no risk to riders since there is no way for riders to stick a leg or arm behind themselves. In the link below observe the car in the position described (The one nearest to the spiraling dragon in the ride centerpiece) http://www.parkz.com.au/photo/6669-Pandamonium/gallery/sort/newest/location/ride-1528/offset/14 Now, imagine you had the surfrider type circles of seats. These seats take up clearance on both sides of the pendulum arm, and have additional clearance requirements due to riders being able to stick arms and legs out. The net result is that the pendulum arm would have to be on an pivot that would stick out very far and be under immense stress I'll let the picture do the talking:

Shockwave, clearly Richard!

The reason why they won't remove black hole is because its still a popular ride that gets queues, so no need to fix it if it ain't broken. For many guests, the novelty of sliding down in darkness is satisfying enough.

The obvious one is the Evil Within minifright nights maze going in.

Of course, the proof will be in the pudding with how the S&S version goes, but despite what everyone else says I'd love either one...Its a proper intense ride.

1..2..3..4..etc I presume.

They are nothing like a goat cart...stop making silly posts please.

A bushranger you mean?

I still haven't managed to get a full out of control spin going, but on my ride I did get a couple of flips in and a couple of times where I managed to have myself balanced upside headfirst going down through the 'station'.... My tips. -Find POVs where people are gunning it and watch what they do. Otherwise -Pick a seat furthest from the central pole...you follow a wider circle, so more airspeed. - At the start when the seat pivots unlock use that initial bit of swing right away, shift your body and legs in a smooth rhyth. back and forth to get the seat rotating. -A clockwise spin seems to work best for flips...have your right forearm raised and left pointing downwards. -When doing your initial swings don't just move the paddles up/down randomly/ too quickly... people who do that are unscuessful and look silly. Again smooth and in rhythm with your legs...right paddle up when swinging clockwise and left up when swinging anticlockwise. -It is actually physically involving and you do have to work the whole time to get a good ride.

So, what segment of the market is a giant demon statue supposed to appeal to?

why cant you say what you mean?

I always thought modern rides did have sensors checking if harnesses are down far enough, and increasingly a switch that checks if the secondary seatbelt is done up.

You can definitely repaint...Tornado at WnW was done recently and looks new.

Quick question re DW switching to pepsi, but why are people considering Pepsi alone? You'd get a whole suite of drinks as part of the deal...Mountain Dew etc. Does that even it up?

Basically to clarify if you are a kid you sit in the small seat in the middle, if you are an adult you sit on the "boot" and your legs go over the kids seat.

Just went past DW and there were some Pepsi and water bottles someone has littered on the side of the road, can't tell which one cost more though.

We already know what sort of coasters can be done in Aus around $12 Million....Scooby, Motocoaster, Abyss....presumably Jet Rescue would be in the same range too? Side point...why are people complaining about lack of big coasters, then are holding up Abyss as an example? I mean Eurofighters are 'good', and I've done Saw which is about as close to a clone of Abyss as you're gonna get, but they aren't exactly world beating rides, just more or less middle of the road.

Agreed, instead of wasting time making pretend construction screenshots of boring stuff like pipes and car parks and shipping containers and bits of wooden coaster, spend that time just building the actual rides as finished products.

Fine then, find me a roller coaster built in the last few years for 200,000 USD equivalent since you are clearly the one in the know about construction cost escalation.

Ok, a few key points, -Whilst a lot of the Six Flags and Cedar Fair parks only seemingly get a a few more visitors per year, (Sayt 2.5 million versus our 1.5 million) they frequently do this in a core daily operating season of 3-4 months, with a shoulder season of weekend operation a couple of months either side of this. In short, daily attendance is much higher. -Based on my recent trip to several large regional US theme parks they very do much draw most of their visitation from locals in the immediate catchment area. For example at Cedar Point it was a sea of Ohio number plates in the car park, and a sea of visitors wearing Ohio State Football shirts and caps. Or consider Six Flags Great Adventure…The park is the main one for NYC, which has 19.9 million alone, plus 6.6 million in Philadelphia (Park is between the two) Getting back to Cedar Point, Ohio has 11 mil, plus 9 mil in neighbouring Michigan. Australian theme parks basically have a fixed market of 22 million visitors and only 3 mil live close to the Gold Coast ones. International visitors don’t really add much, except for say kiwis and those Chinese tour groups. -The ‘Australia Tax’ and the higher cost of building stuff and dealing with northern hemisphere based ride manufacturers does make it particularly expensive to do the really large rides. This isn't just thrill rides, look at the cost of any sort of building or piece of civil works. Yeah but it was built in 1964 so obviously it was way cheaper back then. Just the same as Corkscrew/Sea Viper was only 1-2 million back in 1982 Read this Tim Dasco http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation

Didn't they start off as a Pepsi park way back when?

Its a combination of both..the wings catch the air so if you have them opposite ways it works like a wind turbine and the breeze flowing past as the whole ride rotates pushes against them, making you spin. You can also shift your weight to rock side to side. By the looks of it you'll need to do a combination of both to make it flip. Ultimately, like most rides with freely flipping seats, if you stop giving them a reason to flip they are bottom heavy enough to quickly return you to level.