Gazza

They were actually really elaborate, one was like a snowy mountain with little model houses all over it, and a model train that ran around the track through the mountain. Another was a "Toy Machine" and it actually had a moving conveyor belt and cogs, with presents being carried along the belt and falling into a giant sack. The third was Father Christmas and his reindeer, but the reindeer were on a frame that was angled skywards , so the whole float was several meters high. Overall, fantastic as said above. PS, the toy solder characters that were walking around were creepy!

Nope, can wear what you want on FlowRider.

It's not a dead necessity though, there are rides at major parks that cope with the crowds just fine without an MCRB.

^Ah, so we have one of these[ in Australia. Never knew that, thanks strop. I like how the 'BoardRider' has people wearing helmets, means it's easier to die on it compared to a FlowRider.

Themeparkgc got it in one....They're exactly the same model:

From personal experience, it's always a compromise when you are doing a column grid. It's really just a case of 'pushing and pulling' your column spacings till you come up with a "least bad" solution, you can never quite eliminate getting a column in an annoying spot, especially in a situation where they are working around existing buildings and their fenestrations. The tiger statue I imagine could be lifted up and moved since it's just fibreglass anyway, and the ones near the croc boats don't actually impede access to them. The main thing is they managed to get them either side of the path towards the CatDog eating area, so perhaps they set the spacing based on that pathway, and worked outwards from there?

Size comparison, exactly the same zoom level, with scale bars: I'd probably be inclined to say that they are both "FlowRider Doubles", the one at DW certainly is according to the manufacturers website, but WnWs isn't on there yet, and WnWs version is much too wide to be a "FlowRider Single". Though, as I mentioned earlier, the one at WnW doesn't have a divider down the middle, so you have more space to scoot about. Yeah, there was a waiver to sign. It took about a couple of minutes to confirm that it was a skycoaster by doing my own simple Google search http://www.google.com.au/webhp?hl=en#hl=en...26f8425e8add048 Indeed, there were a couple of 5 y.o's that were sort of just sitting steady in the flow without moving. Anybody can just sit there without too much effort.

A bit of common sense mate! What would be the point of a 60m bungee trampoline? Humans can't physically jump that high, even with a trampoline to assist. Go look at this company report if you don't believe everyone else that it's clearly a typical Skycoaster structure going up ( http://www.villageroadshow.com.au/upload/D...20Editorial.pdf ) It clearly states on page 6: No 'dunno' about it. As for FlowRider...I went on it today. Price is $10 for 30 minutes, shared with 9 others, or $20 if you want to do it stand up (They run alternate sessions depending on how you want to ride), with the full width of the flow rider available. For comparisons sake, at Dreamworld, FlowRider costs $5 , with 15 others, with the flow rider split down the middle. Stand up is only available at 4pm and after hours, also for $20.

Those bungee trampoline things are tiny, the towers are definitely for a fly coaster. Bungee Trampolines: I guess they are getting both.

^Movie Worlds is easy to spot because you can see from the bus/drop off roadway out of the car park. For a while you could spot a few spare seats from Surfrider and racks of stuff as you went out, which can be seen in this photo (I love how Nearmap is so up to date!): http://www.nearmap.com/?ll=-27.905441,153....mp;nmd=20100720 I'd say they'd maintain the rides in there The engineering team would have it as their home base, spare parts would be kept there, components could be brought in for repairs, when the roller coaster trains go in for their yearly rebuild they would most likely be brought in there and pulled to pieces etc etc. All theme parks need a maintenance centre.

Nah, to much risk of injury on the Rainbοw, plus there are other issues with the ride that tend to cause an excessive amount of foaming.

They need to bring in the Ali Baba.

Haha, did you do your sketches on engineers tracing paper too?

Might as well upload them...As a fellow competitor, I certainly wouldn't object.

That's the maintenance workshop as far as I know.

I think one Ali Baba is as good as any other Ali Baba, but they have nothing on the Rainbοw...

You mean the Rainbοw?

I have in my hands a Souvenir Book from SW, which they sell at the ticket booths and the exit shop. For the most part it's pages of your usual promo shots, but at the back is a timeline from 1958 to 2009, with older photos (albeit small ones) along the various points of the timeline.

What ride would you prefer?

^Who knows. Pretty much everything we've seen in the past 12 months has had high production values be it temporary like the DC comics parade, or permanent like Castaway Bay.

sore = when a part of your body hurts a bit. saw = when you see something with your eyes. Fly Coaster.....Interesting, guess it plugs the hole in the market from the closure of the one at surfers. As I have said in the past, up charges are fine so long as the addition of free attractions isn't neglected, so if you'll excuse me, I'm off to ride Aqualoop

Do you reckon they would bring the Ali Baba? Are there any good alternatives to the Ali Baba? Rides with a similar motion, but more exciting?

Bit late with this one, but I thought I'd better scrape something together, though its certainly way out of DWs budget. It would be located wherever a big shed could go. AVPXs marquee would be moved alongside this attraction since they both bear compatible themes. The ride is called Jetpack Blast and uses the 'G2' Robocoaster System: http://www.robocoaster.com/content/g2-robot-systems Or in other words, the same ride system as Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey: It would use the same method of a sideways conveyor belt system, with the arm hidden behind a wall at the load point so most guests wouldn't realise it's a robotic arm they are riding on the end of: So here's the layout: And here are the scenes: The ride is set in the headquarters of a company that specialises in military technology. The queue is basically set in a an office "cubicle farm" with lots of computers running CAD simulations etc. (Yes, that was the best pic on Google Images!) You eventually arrive in the preshow room, designed like a board room with data projectors, where they watch a video promoting the work of the company. From there they are invited through to continue their tour, where they load into the ride vehicles. The key consideration of the entire ride is that the arm holding the seats up is never in view, to really give the illusion of flying. The ride starts off slow, with absolutley no indication of what is ahead (1). The arms remain in their lowest position, and gently move past glass walled laboratories, where R&D is taking place....cue the "elevator music" and boring spiel. As far as guests are concerned, this is just a normal "ground level" dark ride. The vehicles continue into a concrete walled "test area"...things are still looking uneventful. But all of a sudden warning lights flash and alarms go off. Guests feel a heated blast of air under their legs and a jet engine powering up, and a fraction of a second later the robo arm springs to life, whipping them forcefully up into the air (2)....Ah, so this is what they meant when they said "Jetpack Blast". At the top of the arc the vehicle pivots itself to put the seats in front of the wheeled base chassis that the arm sits on, and repositions riders into a "flying coaster" style position and guests are taken around a few turns through the "test area" swooping about. Wooo, we're flying! At one point they spot an area where the wall is scorched, and a jet pack vehicle similar to the one they are riding in is crash landed and billowing smoke. The arm brings guests upright again, face to face with the suction end of a wind tunnel (3) with a giant spinning fan at the end. Guests can feel the airflow, and the seats are spun through a 360 degree barrel roll (In sync with the rotation of the fan) At the last moment guests swoop away, straight into the "heavy duty" foundry area of the facility (4). This is where things get fun...the vehicle repeatedly flings guests back and forth along the room, from hazard to hazard, coming face to face with things like boiling hot pipes and scrap metal waste shredders,with only centimetres of clearance. The vehicle spins around to face backwards, and guests "fly" into a large electrical conduit duct, the vehicle flips them onto their back to face the roof and guests trace along the path of the cables and pipes, with very narrow clearance between them and what they are facing (5) All these cables have to lead somewhere, and at the end of the duct are the transformers and switching equipment they all feed into. Guests appear on a collision course, but the arm tips them backwards from their current position on their back, so they effectively are tipped head first towards the ground, so they do a 'quarter loop', swooping close to the electrical equipment. Immediately the vehicle rights itself, and guests are turned to upright and the arm is raised to the higest position and guests continue their flight through the facility. Things are about to get worse, a computerised voice informs them "FUEL LEVEL LOW!". The jet engines make a puttering sound, and the vehicle dips low, bringing them close to some sort of hazard on the floor (I think at the time I was imagining coils of steam pipes that would spurt a bit when guests get near....any better ideas?). Guests hear the jet engines sputtering to life again and guests raise up and fly towards a wall....too high though! and they 'hit' a steel column holding up the building. At this point the movement of the vehicle becomes very jerky.... the engines fail, and the vehicle drops towards the ground, bouncing off conveniently placed large inanimate objects. Structural beams start collapsing, which sets of a chain reaction of effects like bursting pipes and ripping cables which spark (6). At the last second the vehicle enters a cloud of smoke, jerks sharply to simulate hitting the ground, You hear a loud screech as you 'skid along the ground', and the vehicle uses this moment to spin 180 degrees horizontally, so when you emerge from the cloud of smoke you discover you have crash landed in the unload area. Now, to disembark quickly before your jetpack explodes!

^Fair point on all accounts...Speculation on my part, but it could be like what they did to Lassiters Lost Mine...Same ride system (?) but an entirely new concept. But the 40-50 minute waits off peak for TOT aren't a sign of success, they're a sign of awful capacity.

^So it was the effects themselves not working, not the compasses stopping/preventing the effects working. The way you said it made it sound as if the compasses were physically blocking the effects or something. Proper expression is a wonderful thing