Gazza

For the park to be truly good, they need to replace everything with stuff made by KMG. Even the toilets should be made by KMG.

Just a little update for those who dont always check the front page, but Six Flags Magic Mountain now has a significantly larger photo gallery...Didn't feel like doing any work tonight, so I procrastinated on this instead. These pics were taken when I was there in February, I was largley able to plug all the gaps for rides that didn't have photos, admittedly the one thing I missed was the Sandblasters bumper cars, but nobody would give a shit about them anyway... In particular Tatsu and Scream! have significantly expanded galleries. If you just want to view the whole lot in order, try: http://www.parkz.com.au/parks/US/Valencia/...tos/page12.html And some of my favourites:

I reckon it would just make it look like the rocket things you see in a Hungry Jacks/McDonalds Playground

They've gone and designed an even wider version. Crazy Stuff! ( Source: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewt...915&start=0 )

^Two loop slides going in opposite directions? What about 4-8 or so. They could say it's the Superloop octopus racer, and hey presto, they'd have another 'new' product to flog at next years IAPPA I'm wondering now if with the window they'd plan on putting in an onride photo. Taking the photo so soon after the initial moment of release would definitely generate some interesting expressions.

http://bigsplashwaterpark.com.au/ If anybody was interested. I went to the place at the end of 2003 (Coincidentally on the same trip of my first and only visit to Wonderland) The place had a couple of full sized slides (one of which was just an endless set of spirals), a larger kids one, a pair of dead straight ones, plus a bunch of smaller kids water play things. The olympic pool featured a dive in movie screen. Aren't these bunch of pics a dead giveaway though that Speedcoaster is there? http://www.parkz.com.au/forums/index.php?a...ost&id=2667 Near the movie screen you can see the two runout chutes, and a bunch of lighter blue 'non see through' slide segments from Speedcoaster. You can also see a set of concrete stairs that got you from the top of the ramp to the actual starting platform. (Twister didn't have stairs) http://www.parkz.com.au/forums/index.php?a...ost&id=2659 In this pic you can see how the runout chute has semicurcular connections at both ends..from where the slide keeps going and goes uphill. In the background you can see a big long dead straight section of slide...This is the bit after you come out of the tunnels: http://www.parkz.com.au/photo/AU/Gold_Coas...eedCoaster.html http://www.parkz.com.au/forums/index.php?a...ost&id=2670 In this pic , just right of center, you can see the underside of the one of the speedcoaster starting tubs.

I think then the issue these days becomes the balance between being able to renew often enough versus them actually having long enough in the park to get a return on investment. I pretty much do agree with you there...as I said above, their permanent lineup could be better, but LPS is literally one of the smallest parks in the world in terms of area, so there isn't a lot of space to play with in terms of swapping stuff in and out (Once you factor in the historical attractions that can't be replaced) I'd say a good balance could be a maximum of two 'parking spaces' for flat rides (Since an amount of space that low couldn't be used for much else anyway, and two is plenty if you're talking something that is only temporary), but the rest of the park could be well and truly given over to better permanent attractions....I'm interested in the feasibility of even putting a couple of rides on platforms over the water, Grona Lund in Stockholm has done this.

I don't think he means the actual rides would have new theming and gardens every time. Rather, the idea is that Maloneys corner should be more than a plot of ashphalt it is now. There is no reason the guest circulation areas shouldn't be made to be more pleasant, since these never change. The way you could configure it is to have a loop of pathway that is well finished, with permanent street furniture, bits of theming that fit the style of the park etc. Then around this you would have a bunch of 'parking spaces' for the rides that would just be flat ground adjacent to the paths. I think the point is though, even if the park were filled out with all these extra rides, it means there is then no room left to move. You could have the biggest theme park in the world, but if there isn't new stuff regularly added it visitation would gradually drop off. That said, I think there are better choices for the 'permanent' part of the park, but because of the fact they cant just keep building and building it probably is effective to have a portion of the park that can be easily changed.

This is Luna Park we're talking about here

Those are Twister and Speedcoaster for sure. The arch shaped things in the pic are the roof bridge across to twister from the main ramp, you can see speedcoasters runouts on the far left, stairs are from where you reach the top of the ramp and turn back on yourself, plus all the slide segment and support colours match...need I go on?

Out of interest pinksmile, where did your fascination with the counterweight originally come from?

Proof!

In what way?

^About you asking why the ride wasn't opening until 1 pm:

Sums it up perfectly. I mean the wedgie looks fun and all, and I'll get there eventually to try it, but even I haven't even rushed out to go ride it (And it seems only AP holders on here have done it so far), would many other people be rushing out to ride it? Furthermore, does anyone even know about it? There was barely any advertising. Same goes for the laser show...Shows are a nicety for parks, but unless they are something really major (like HSD) then they are a bit of a soft addition...Who plans holidays to the GC around seeing a Laser show? For the past few years, we've been seeing the capital come in as dribs and drabs, lots of small things which don't really excite anyone, so the investment and marketing is diluted. If they finally just poured all the money into the one thing then that attraction attraction would be able to have some depth to it, it would be easier to market and the park would actually put itself back on peoples radars (and they'd get better return on their advertising dollar too, since it probably costs the same amount to produce a TV ad for a big addition than it does for a small addition) I know it seems when people talk about DW issues like cleanliness, slow moving lines etc come up frequently, but to me its the rarity of compelling new attractions that turns me off the place. Who doesn't like new rides? Hey, can I just say you're perhaps the first 11 year old on a forum who I have seen that writes posts properly..well done. Other younger members, take note!

^Well, you can at least take comfort in the fact that the guy not only lost his camera, but probably bunged up his shoulders from having his arms up at the start of the launch Silly prat....

That was pretty much it, it just made it look like a slot car track or a ballet basically, but now you can focus on both cars as they aproach each other and see the near miss.

Those were one of the original WnW attractions from its early days...They started off without the mountain: http://www.parkz.com.au/photo/AU/Gold_Coas...ody_slides.html When the new Terror Canyon slides were added to the park they built a volcano type thing at the top of the hill as a platform for them to begin from, with the Whitewater Mountain slides being in a cave down below. At this point they painted the slides a darker blue. http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/st...nal/3338479.jpg But those slides (And im guessing that volcano) reached the end of their life....Here is the mountain and slides during the deconstruction process: http://www.parkz.com.au/photo/AU/Gold_Coas...nstruction.html They were then replaced by the River Rapids slides, built in the same spot in 2007...A pretty similar experience, except they made two of the slides enclosed: http://www.parkz.com.au/photo/AU/Gold_Coas...r_Mountain.html

The eyelet thing at the end suggests its one of those rides where the there is a cable at each end, and the ride spins and the rockets swing out due to the forces...sort of like this: http://albums.mouseplanet.com/MPCreatedGra...ephyr.sized.jpg

Ah..... I wasn't aware the shop had gone so overboard with twilight...fair point then. I was under the impression it was just a few twilight items, amoung other things.

Again, this is one of those things I don't think is really an issue...At every movie theme park you get some degree of cross polination of movies from other studios...At Universal Orlando they have Simpsons (Which is 20th C Fox) and Harry Potter (Which is Warner Bros.) and at Disneys Hollywood Studios they have Star Tours (Lucasfilm/Fox) and Indiana Jones (Paramount) for instance. Never been in there, but I've always thought that movie memorabilia store was for films in general, and if they didn't stock popular stuff like Transformers or Twilight then chances are guests would be asking where they were since he average guest wouldn't keep tabs on who makes what movie. As for the department store selling 'packaged' ice cream (As pposed to the scoops you'd get at the other outlets) and confectionery. Again, non issue IMO (Even the photo center in Main St has an ice cream freezer)... One of the things I loved about the UK parks is just how well stocked they kept their stores....At the ride exit stores at Australian parks they tend to sell photos and a bit of merchandise. In the UK, every major ride had a huge store, not only selling merch and photos, but selling other stuff like drinks from supermarket sized wall fridges, ice creams, pick n mix lollies, plus all your other sundries. It was a far superior arrangement because it meant you never had to go to much effort to get 'on the go' type food....If I feel like a chocolate the last thing I want to do is walk to the other end of the park to get it. As I said the other day, by all means, if when you go to the park and they do something that impacts on your day, like closing rides etc, take issue with it! But a department store selling confectionery and ice cream, or a movie memorabilia store selling posters for other movies does not have any negative impact on anyones day, and would in fact be a good thing for the visitors who want it.

You can still get into the park via that big ramp they built right? Carnival games are a funny one for me. I don't really like them, but some of the best theme parks I have been to (Alton, Busch, IOA, DCA etc) all have them so to use the 'they belong at a carnival' is hard argument to make. What I don't like though is as you said, the way it is all just 2D. If they had made the buildings more like the ones at DCAs paradise pier with some nice timber mouldings, kept the blue colour scheme , and put timber decking down to sort of mark the area out (instead of pavers) and called it 'Boardwalk Games" instead of "Midway Games" then it could have actually had a bit of character, and sort of related to the sea/seaside theme of the park.

^Admittedly, my immediate impression is that it was a boat from a type ride, obviously its not, but the resemblance is interesting.

I dunno about everyone else, but why is this a problem? You can already buy fish to feed at ray reef right?. I'm not a fan of tacky revenue raising within any theme parks, but I mean, the vending machine is just sitting there, and it doesn't clash with the surroundings...Whats actually wrong with it? If its something ugly or brash, then by all means take offence with it, but it comes across as a bit whiny to complain about a little fish food dispenser. And shock horror, kids might actually like feeding the fish. Pretty bad that 3 rides are shut....Monorail you can accept, but the other two? I'd have timed them not to clash. I really do hope Dockside is getting a refurb, and not being closed! Good riddance to the old water park! I would imagine it would be for what was mentioned at the start of the year, since the water park is the only bit of free land left and it really was past its use-by date. I look forward to it anyway....WVTP tend to always do a good job on new rides . And to finish the post, who found this section of the stadium seating amusing:

Marking down the number of passengers they just sent out, if the train comes back with less than that then clearly there has been a problem