Shaun

I thoguht the lions did a crap job but Geelong didn't deserve to win in the end. Poor Geelong, they should be a good team next year. (By the way I go for Geelong) I'm going to the show on Wednesday, should be good. Anyone else going during the day? Good review Huss Shaun

I work at Maccas and I can tell you it's no that easy Stdragon. You obviously want to hire the best staff you can but the most important thing is the way you bring them up and the environment they are working in. I would say that it's Dreamworld's 'culture' that has to be changed, not just a few single employees and the only way it can do that is if the people at the top make a hard effort to change the culture, then it will flow on down to everybody else. If the managers don't care about the park patrons why are the employees gunna care? It's the whole park that has to change, not just the few employees. That's a pretty stereotypic view but I bet you any money that that is the case with Dreamworld. So IMO (I might just be stateing the obvious) I would be blameing the managers of Dreamworld and not the poor employess who are just doing their job the way they were told too. Anyway as all ways thats just my opinion Shaun

Your not worng about having a wide variety of stuff! You even have your own lunchbox! So are the products just made on demand as they are ordered? I assume your not keeping a stock pile of every item in garage? Are they shipped straight from cafepress? I assume the prices are in Australian dollars? Nice Idea Shaun

Excellent work Richard, very enjoyable read. You should send that to DW and see if you get a reply. Most of what I was gunna say has already been discussed above but what I don't understand is why DW doesn't just higher a few extra staff memebrs? A an extra staff member on a ride has got to make a considerable diffrence over the entire length of the day. I havn't been there since 2001 but just imagine if the Wipeout had an extra staff memeber or used all it's all its staff properly? As far as I can see there is no reason why the WipeOut can't run at full capacity, and like what was said above, 1 extra person working on the station platforms is neally gunna cut the loading times in half for the coasters. What I really don't understand is why they just don't do this? The award wage for juniors is less than $10 an hour so it's only gunna cost them an extra $80 for each major ride a day to make their patrons much more happier. If that 1 person's work atracted 2 extra patrons every day thats him self allready paid for. You have got to spend money to make money Dream World. Thats my thoughts anyway Interesting topic Shaun This is the sorta stuff I'm going to uni to study next year. It seems all like common sense to me but who knows?

There are heaps of top spin type rides around. KMG make a 1 trailer model and I think it's arms can even spin independently like on the wipeout. Spin dragon was a 1 trailer ride.......? I think it's was probaly built by fabbri but thats just a guess. Fabbri definetly make them. Even Mosser makes a transportable model. I've seen another small one too called a tsunami. The only thing is that these type of rides are high maintance and if you brought one you would want to buy a good one, that you trust and that is going to be reliable. See my website for links Amusement links

Just doing what I can........ Did you check their website out, how cool is some of their stuff? Shaun

Was it a wooden coaster? I think they used to have old wooden ones? Maurer Soehne's X cars swings out when it goes around corners. They call it 'drifting.' http://www.maurer-soehne.de/ Shaun

I think the problem with the transport is the the main components are too big to fit onto one standard trailer (2.5m wide). eg. the huge gondala on Huss's topspin 2 wouldn't fit on a trailer, and i asume the towers and all that hold the ride up are pretty big too. If the big rides were redesigned to be smaller to fit onto our trailers you would end up with small rides like we all ready have..... Zamperla make some pretty amazing small rides, which most fit onto a single trailer. These rides have plenty of 'wow' factor but they do lack a bit of personality without the themeing of the larger rides. Shaun

Would these large rides get enough business anyway? There would only be a few shows a year where they would run at full capacity, if that. So these new $4,5 Million dollar rides are proabaly gunna be sitting in a shed like the rainbow for neally all the year anyway. So to make any money they are gunna have to charge a ****load per ticket. Anyway thats probaly just stating the obvious Small rides are the way.... Shaun

Hay, it's only taken me 2 years to get a reply to this post , what speed. I like your optomism Huss. but yeah, someone must be makeing money out of it. Shaun

So I'm confused? Are the boats going to be next to each other or behind each other? I was thinking they were going to be next to each other. So it would be like having 2 ordinary log flumes side by side that just split apart and join back together. Shaun

Sorry I didn't read your last paragraph before ......... I see what your saying I like tha car door idea though. What you could have was like a track under the water just before the boats split. So the double boats enter the underwater track, where a lever under the boat disengadges the boats. The boats then split apart and keep following the tracks which split off into diffrn't directions and then the boats move off the track and are free to continue on. I think if you did it on a track like that there would just be much less room for error, as as long as the boat enters the track the rest of the process should be smoth. I think you will get the picture....? Maybe you could use the same type of track and running rails on the bottom of the boats at the loading station. All just ideas Shaun

I love it! (now I've realised which directions the boats go ) I like the sawmill idea. Asking the obvious, how would the boats join together? You would want a reliable system. Maybe they just clip together with a couple of barbs out the side then at a certin point in the track, the double boat hits a arm which releases the 2 boats? Maybe like a car door lock somehow? Reminds me of that movie with the car that splits in half, Malcom or soemthing? Have you seen the vekoma motorbike coaster cars before? It's got nothing do with your flume ride but I thought it was a geat idea. might give you some inspiration I love reading about your ideas Thanks Shaun

I wish I could draw like that How I would build it would be much simpilar, it would be very basic. It would just be a 'tobbogan.' Just like yours it would be round, fitting the tube perfectly with the wheels on the outside and the passangers could control the speed with a lever much like a tobagon. The lever would be inbetween the 2 passagers so iether or both could controll the speed. Just like a tobboan the faster you go the higher you get on the turns and the more exciting it is. In some spots you could also have gide rails that stick out the sides of the tunnel to guide the tobboogan in the right position and speed. I think simple is the key but maybe my idea maybe a little too simple, requireing a lot of maintainance. Also i think all the passangers need some controll over the speed if your gunna do it liek that. If you were after a high capacity rollercaoster I think your design would be much better but not quite as 'fun and reridable' Sorry about the speeling and stuff, I'm going to bed Shaun

It wouldn't even have to be powered, I'd just let gravity take it's course and have it like neally everyother coaster and tobaggon run where it just rolls down the track. All you would need is a lift hill somewhere and a good blocking system incase one of the cars got stuck The only thing is though it would probaly have to be quite high to keep a good speed through out the course (like taboggan tracks) so it would probaly be best built on the side of a hill. If it was up to me I would make it so the passangers could controll the speed of the cars just like on a tobbogan but i don't know how well thiswould work in a theme park where you want high capacitys. Interactive rides are always a winner though and are very re-rideable. Ay gazza, Geelong rocks! we'll be in the top 6 this year Shaun