Gazza

Like this one: http://www.parkz.com.au/photo/US/Santa_Mon...acifc_Park.html

Just on Universal, I have a few rides for the Orlando park still awaiting approval (ET, Simpsons, BTTF, Terminator, couple of the kids areas) plus I updated Hollywoods simpsons ride to open. In the time they have been there other things I submitted after them have been approved. Have these not shown up your end, or are they somehow outside the scope of the database?

Yeah, putting up concrete walls around things being built isn't actually unheard of, probably could have mentioned this sooner, but I remember in a lecture a little while back being shown a museum (well, really more of a small art gallery sort of thing) near Stockholm having modular concrete walls around it for the entire duration of the construction period...essentially the intention of the architect was basically to surprise everyone with the final built form, but the concrete walls had been designed to be re-purposed, and were then able to be taken down and be used for buildings at a couple of the schools in the surrounding area.

There is another onsite update with Des's photos and Ian's captions: http://themeparkphotography.com/TPP_Js011008.html I lol'ed at the 6th photo and its caption.

I guess it's the whole idea of people wanting to get in first, since rides are anticipated for months. I guess it's the same thing that makes people camp out for days to get an iPhone or whatever when it launches, or queue for hours to see an anticipated film, or bid $$ to be the first riders on Led Zeppelin....You know it's always going to be there, but people still do it for whatever reasons. Blah blah standard joke about ACE members wanting to go due the catering that is typically provided at media events. I've sort of see media coverage by theme park sites as being a bit more self serving, since all it really does is satisfy the interests of a group rather than promote the ride. I guess its just a goodwill gesture "to a group that in theory spend a good proportion of their disposable income on visiting theme parks". I just went down to WnW because I could, and reasoned (correctly) that the place would be full of management types willing to have a chat, plus given ride openings are probably the most interesting thing that happen in the Australian theme park scene, and people like reading reviews I thought people would appreciate it. On a related note I actually got to ask Mr Menzies a few further questions, and had every intention of working it into the article, unfortunately at the chance I got to speak to him my diary and phone was back in my locker, so this is all sort of paraphrased (poorly ) from memory, and probably couldn't be worked in. When you compare water parks to theme parks, one characteristic is that the range of attractions available from manufacturers tends to be more limited. Year by year does it gradually become more and more difficult to find unique attractions like Kamikaze? It does become difficult, we try to look for popular rides, however you still have to balance with what what provides a good return on investment, you cant always just go for something for the sole reason of it being nice to have....One example he singled out was a Master Blaster, he said it would cost about 3 times as much as Kamikaze, but with one up at Whitewater World anyway you have to ask what you would gain. Do you see water parks as a bit of an untapped market in Australia? Well, not entirely untapped, but there are burgeoning markets out there with potential. He said that Water Parks are a growth area as people look for ways to escape the monotony of indoor lifestyles (Eg office jobs, indoor activities like TV etc) Where do you see Wet n Wild in the future? Well, just growing even more, becoming bigger and better. He mentioned that the park at its essence is very family oriented, but that also there still had to be enough so older kids didn't get bored. One other thing he mentioned was the desire for WnW to sort of be a 'cool' place to go...I think he used the analogy of a school kid telling their friends that he/she had been/was going to wet n wild..."Oh thats awesome"

What I was getting at though is that you get swamped with water less, and the 'bump' of water at the bottom is a bit weaker, so you just keep going back and forth more. The drop and steepness is a bit freaky (yay tagline), so it is more intense in that regard. For those of you visiting, when you are at the top go check out the safety sign, in particular the point about keeping your chin down. There seems to be a funny mix up with the pictogram.

^That site is just the online portal for the GC Bulletin, so you'd hope so.

In the morning they were filming the TV ad, then they had the media call, then those people who won tickets to WnW got to go on first, then there was lots of faffing, then it opened. The passholder morning and breakfast is not until next week. I don't think parkz was invited, but the place was crawling with WVTP management types anyway and they were happy to chat.

^Really, I thought it was the other way around. Or maybe we are talking about different aspects of the ride. In any case, be on the look out for the TV commercial, it will feature one or both of the below. A)Lots of people running towards the ride, hands in the air cheering B)Lots of people standing on the exit platform watching the ride, hands in the air cheering

Yeah, I did, I'm writing an article now.

I was going to be going down tomorrow anyway given the 1st was the opening date, I'll get pics etc.

Roughness isn't as much of an issue on woodies anyway, given the fact your head isn't bashing into anything. I'm not really sure how it becomes painful as other has described, as all that happens is that you get jostled around, which in itself isn't painful. Anyhow, if they did decide to get an Intamin woodie then the roughness issue is non existent anyway.

http://www.parkz.com.au/photo/AU/Gold_Coas...5-24_09_08.html http://www.parkz.com.au/photo/AU/Gold_Coas...4-24_09_08.html Do they work?

^How about a gigantic umbrella over Superman so it doesn't close every time it rains? When you think about it though MW does have quite a decent collection of all weather rides....Scooby Doo, Shrek, Hollywood Stundriver, Batman, Looney Tunes River Ride, The Dodgems. I think a good strategy would be to ensure that all these rides have fully covered queues (Batman doesn't) and to really market this aspect. Another idea would be to have an umbrella symbol on park maps and on the website to highlight all weather rides.

I thought that some of it being undercover would be a possibility when I saw it, in particular the end zones where cars speed out of view. If ventilation could be provided adequately then I guess the main arena could be covered in some way. Forgive my lack of knowledge, but was PA ever cancelled in the wet? One little thing, but its spelled "sure", not shore. Shore means the edge of the water (eg. the seashore)

I think that jet boat tours run from the SW resort, or at least somewhere close to it, because a boat was on a trailer in the resort car park, and the Gold Coast already has numerous jet boat tours. The swamp at MW has far too many dead trees and snags in it, and is a bird habitat so it wouldn't really be possible.

I'm still confused, is the $10/$5 for the transport up there, or does it include admission costs? If its the latter then all it is is a world pass gate sort of thing. The attraction itself looks totally uninteresting for a non international visitor....Earlier this year pass holders got sent an offer for a free ticket to the place...didn't take them up on it though...It's just a mini version of the back half of DW.

^An interesting idea I heard floated on another forum was the possibility to race/duel the train on the second launch with the one on the first. Operationally, it might be difficult and it would rely on the hydraulic system having the capacity to do it, but the potential is there, Hehe Deja Vu, I was thinking something similar about the middle of the ride being the resuce. That is a cool idea though with respect to the last part of the ride being a bit stormier. I mean, it would be better to make the second launch more powerful than the first...more of a grand finale if you see where I'm going. http://www.parkz.com.au/forums/index.php?s...ost&p=53842

^Yeah, with Standups if the bicycle seat is right up between your legs you're doing it wrong, you need to slide the whole harness arrangement downwards. I think that bicycle seat sort of detracts a bit from the whole experience though, because it doesn't feel like you are 'purely' standing up. It would be better if the OTSR covered more of your front (say to just above your knees) and the bicycle seat was narrower and lower down, so it felt less like you were being supported in some way. No extra intensity, and the only place they were better was on the outside seat of a dive machine. I've said this in the past, but looking down at the track whiz by your feet is as interesting as sticking your head out a car window and watching the road lines whiz by. However, It is still worthwhile for parks to get them instead of sit downs because they look cool, and have that gimmick to attract visitors. The beauty of it is that once people have ridden it, they won't really notice that the floorless aspect was nothing special because at the end of the day the coaster experience on the whole would have been excellent (Due to it being a B&M)

I guess with the Woodie I am still stuck on that long running idea of having it in the Wild West area. As for the bobsled, it perhaps becomes less flexible compared to other coaster types because the nature of the ride is very prescriptive...It's going to be themed around bobsledding, and even if you do try to make it another theme (Like Trace Do Hourra) it still looks like a bobsled. Cool Runnings, while memorable for some, is probably a bit old to be doing rides around. On another note, for those who have ridden both, which is more fun? the stainless steel self controlled toboggans, or the full scale boblsed coaster? Oh, that's the other thing I was going to say, but for now, please not another launched coaster. 4 in a row is enough for now, I kind of would like a coaster with a bit of clickity clack going up the hill. Mega just refers to 'hyper coaster' style rides....you know, big hills and drops. A Giga coaster is a hyper that is over 91.44m high (300ft) Intamin wooden coaster still have a wooden track, that, on the surface looks pretty similar to normal woodie. Normally, wooden coasters are built by first putting up the trestles, and then on these the track is laid. The track is formed by laying planks of wood, and then on top of these layering again and so on (From memory its about 7 layers of wood) and on top of this they put the metal strip the wheels run on, see http://www.rcdb.com/ig3231.htm?picture=10 for how it looks. The issue here is that the quality of the track is dependent on the workmanship of the carpenters because it is done as a bit of an art. Also the track geometry may not be perfect, so when the ride is running the track will get pushed a bit out of shape, leading to roughness, However, Intamin woodies are prefabricated. The track is laser cut and glued together in a factory, and manufactured precisely according to calculations, and the metal is also put on at this stage. So what you get is a bunch of curved wooden rails that 'plug in' to each other meaning no errors in workmanship. It is smoother to ride, and lasts a long time, without the maintenance requirements of a normal woodie because it is built properly in the first place. Look here http://www.rcdb.com/ig3183.htm?picture=1 and you can see the way they bolt the track sections together.

http://www.parkz.com.au/photo/AU/Melbourne...e_building.html Ugh, I hope they make an effort to hide all those mechanical bits, even if it is just some panelling on the front. Though I think something weird has happened because it is showing up as being Soarin' over California at DCA.

^Everyone is referring to the pics uploaded into the galleries.

I was going to post about that. I don't know whether they have tightened them up, but they don't spin much...on my 3 rides on Wednesday It didn't rotate for me at all, but by my 3rd ride the other set of seats was spinning a bit. The pool underneath is still drained though.

Wooden isn't in the poll so I can't vote because that would be my first choice. Anyhow a quick run down: -Floorless: Yes, any B&M is a good choice and this seems to be the best choice of model if you wanted a looper. -Inverted: No, we already have one. -Pipeline: No, they suck, and are an obsolete coaster type, their sole gimmick was the ability to do heartline rolls, but normal coasters can do them anyway. -Suspended: Nothing really groundbreaking about them. They seem typically better suited to terrain based layouts (See Eagle Fortress, Big Bad Wolf, Ninja) which MW doesn't have. -Stand up: Cool coasters, but they cant do Zero G Rolls (B&M ones anyway) so I wouldn't get a stand up for that sole reason (Not alone anyway, if other coasters in the park had Zero G Rolls then it doesn't matter as much) -Flying: Yes, fantastic rides, though it would probably have to be scaled back for cost reasons if it were built at MW. Please no Volares! -Sit Down: If it were a B&M then yes. -4D: The S&S version is way too far out of MWs budget. The Intamin version could serve well as a more middle of the road thrill ride (sort of halfway between a flat ride and a coaster). Intamins start at $5-6 Mil, which is equivalent to the cost of a flat ride anyway. -Bobsled: Nah, not really, foremost I cant think of any major movies to theme it around.

So this is still inching along, thanks for the pics Coasterteen. So is the Harbour Town area all open now? Can you drive in now? Last time I was there it was just a dirt road, and that whole parcel of land the development was taking place was surrounded by hoardings. Though one thing the photo was taken from the Bolte (not Bolty) Bridge*, the structure is named after a past Victorian Premier, Sir Henry Bolte *The actual Bolte Bridge that crosses the Yarra is still several km ahead, this is the elevated freeway leading to it.