The Claw

Whoops, my apologies about that error in my last post. For whatever reason I was still under the impression that Ardent had ownership in Adventure World. Regardless of that though I still feel the same about the rest of my post. I wouldn't go as far as saying the price of an RMC Woodie in Australia would be double, maybe around $15 million (which is still extremely expensive for Dreamworld's standards). And as much as we all want a B&M in Australia it's simply isn't going to happen, not soon anyway. Frankly I think I would be more excited about an RMC Woodie coming to Dreamworld than a B&M coaster of any kind to be honest, they look amazing.

With the new trend in coasters these days being these new-generation Woodies that can do almost just as much as their steel counterparts plus the fact that the Gold Coast (or Australia as a whole) doesn't have a true Woodie (I'm not including the Wild Mouse Coasters and Scenic Railway), it would be a very wise decision for Dreamworld to invest in one for their next "E-Ticket" ride. Dreamworld's line-up of coasters right now doesn't compete with the international market, and being "Australia's premier theme park" they should be trying to. TOTII has no where the near the same "wow" factor that it used to have when launched coasters and vertical drops/breaking the 300ft mark were a new or rare thing. Cyclone is a coaster that barely competes with the Arrow Megaloopers from the 80's, Buzzsaw has already fallen into the same trap TOTII has and the less that is said about MDMC, the better. Escape From Madagascar is the one coaster they have that does what it's meant to do well, and that's be a family/kid's coaster. Dreamworld lacks a true signature coaster and they have ever since they got rid of Thunderbolt back in 2004. You could argue that TOTII or Cyclone is now but if your signature coaster is one that is 20 years or more behind the times, you have a problem. I'd also say that Dreamworld right now more than caters for the family market as in the last four years they have focused on this more than anything with the Dreamworks and ABC Kids area revamps plus the addition of rides like Shockwave and to a lesser extent, MDMC and Tailspin. While Dreamworld have added bigger rides in between like Buzzsaw and Pandamonium, it just doesn't cut it. Ardent Leisure recognised this problem with Adventure World over in Perth and rectified it by adding Abyss, which was a very smart choice of coaster to invest in. They need to do the same for their flagship park... once they have finished the refurbishment project, of course.

I'd say there's a very high chance it will be, especially if it's going to be a flat ride. The comic book craze is humungous right now and the fact they have a timeless nature to them means that Movie World won't have to re-brand the ride when the existing theme becomes irrelevent to public eye e.g. Lethal Weapon, Gremlins and Young Einstein. It is interesting though that the only ride that is themed to an actual movie is Scooby-Doo, which they got lucky with because the Scooby-Doo brand is also somewhat timeless with its constant reruns and reboots on kids TV channels and time slots. Where they would put the ride though is a tough call though. I've always had a problem with how Movie World was planned. They really didn't take into account for future expansion and pretty much forced themselves into a tiny corner of the huge plot of land that Warner Village owns. The vast majority of it is occupied by the studios and the horse paddocks for the Australian Outback Spectacular. If they were to theme the ride to something non-DC related, they would theme it to an iconic genre of film, much like how Wild West Falls is themed to western films and not just one particular western film. The only genres that I can think of at this point that would be worth paying tribute to are the classic Sci-Fi and Horror movies that were huge in the golden age of cinema. They've already covered Western, Action, Comic books and Cartoons so maybe something else to add variety?

I don't think that really matters to be honest. There are many parks that hold onto and maintain their classic attractions because they are regarded as a signature attraction to the park or it has done a fantastic job of retaining its popularity and relevency in the public eye. Dreamworld closed Eureka primarily as a cost-cutting measure, and that was right in the middle of Dreamworld's dark days where CEOs were being replaced every two seconds and bone-headed moves like Mick Doohan were being made. They probably had every opportunity to retrofit the ride with state of the art technology to keep it up to snuff with modern health and saftey standards but chose not to and focused on other things instead. It's been nearly eight years since then and there are new people in charge who so far in my opinion have been making some pretty solid moves to improve the park's presentation. The location of the Eureka Mountain is in a prime spot for a big attraction of some kind and the new management at Dreamworld would be silly just to let it go to waste like it has been for the past eight years. Whether they revive the Mine Ride or put in something completely new, I can guarantee you something big will happen in that spot, especially with the Commonwealth Games coming up in three years and the 30th anniversary of Gold Rush Country next year.

The fact that they even put the boats in the fountain really annoyed me. They couldn't just let the thing be something nice to look at when you first walk in and instead try to turn it into something to squeeze a few extra dollars out of the guests. I don't have a problem with up-charge attractions but it has to be executed right and tastefully. The water guns installed on the rapids ride for instance is a great idea and has proven to be popular in other parks but $2 for what is a limited time on them is a bit steep. I would say make it 50c but even $1 would be a much more attractive price. Also would it kill them to theme them to Gold Rush? A simple wooden box covering it would suffice surely.

Yeah I remember seeing pictures of Viper way back in the day before it got demolished and thought the idea of going through the rings was awesome. Togo's Heartline Coaster I don't think is a worthy comparison because it was limited to travelling in a straight line and relied on switchbacks in order to make a complete circuit. The closest thing that was ever made was the Spiral Coaster built by Intamin. It was originally in South Korea but was relocated to Kuwait and has been SBNO since 2005. http://rcdb.com/1605.htm# and http://rcdb.com/1604.htm As for the argument that the design is redundant now because rides are designed around the heartline now anyway, I still think it could still be fun. I think it's the aesthetics of the track and the train design that I really like and if they ever do ressurect this idea they need to stay as close to it as possible. The long pointed shape of the front car just looks really cool to me XD

This is a concept for a coaster that has fascinated me for years. For those who don't know, in the early 90s Arrow Dynamics created a prototype of a new coaster design dubbed the Pipeline Coaster. The whole premise of the design was that the train was positioned in between the rails rather than above them. This design gave the benefit of performing manuevers such as perfect heartline rolls and was the main selling point for the ride. The design was plagued with problems though, mainly due to the train being ridiculously heavy which caused severe strain on the wheel assembly. Apart from the prototype that was at Arrow's HQ in Utah, the ride was never made, although apparantly one was partially built at Alton Towers before it was scrapped in favour of building Nemesis (this was the ill-fated Secret Weapon 1 and 2). Despite this, the Pipeline Coaster design is available in RCT3 and features the perfect heartline rolls that it was designed to do. I bring this up because I would personally love to see one of the big coaster manufacturers today tackle this ride design again. Ride technology and technology in general has come a long way since then and we're able to make rides lighter, smoother, safer and more comfortable than before. Right now one of the big trends in coasters is the Wing-Rider train designs found on 4D Coasters, B&M Wing-Riders and the current one-off Furius Baco. The concept for them is similiar to the Pipeline in regards to positioning the riders in line with the rails but are instead outside of the track instead of inside. I think the Pipeline concept would be a nice contrast to the Wing Rider design and provide its own kind of fun experience. Thoughts?

I have never ridden one myself but the story of Togo Coasters has always interested me as well. From my understanding any Togo coaster in its homeland of Japan are generally much more bearable than their overseas counterparts. Hence Togo were able to make Fujiyama, which was at the time the tallest coaster in the world (and probably the fastest too, I'm not sure). Whatever caused Windjammer, the coaster that killed Togo, to be so horrifically painful to ride and unreliable beats me but it was bad enough for Knott's Berry Farm to drown them in paperwork XD

Demon Drop was a 1st Generation Freeall ride from Intamin. It is essentially the predecessor to what would become the modern freefall ride or "Drop Tower" and the short lived LSM Reverse Freefall Coaster i.e. Tower of Terror II and Superman: Escape from Krypton. The Twilight Zone rides at the Disney parks are a combination of a multi-drop ride and a dark ride which makes them a very unique experience and very different from any other ride.

If only 90's Dreamworld still existed, there wouldn't be any debate to begin with XD

Technically the Giant Drop does drop as soon as it hits the top. The 30-40 seconds prior is just a very very slow rise to the top probably done as a means to minimise wear on the lift mechanism. If Dreamworld were to upgrade the lift mechanism it would probably eliminate that wait time and significantly improve the throughput of the ride. Of course the trade off would be the loss of tension made by the slow incline. As for my favourite drop tower, I'd still have to say Giant Drop outside of Twilight Zone like most have already said. I didn't get a chance to ride Lex Luthor when I went to Magic Mountain back in 2012 because only one side was operating and it was a two hour wait. I've been on a couple of those S&S drop towers like Supreme Scream a Knott's Berry Farm but I wasn't a big fan of it. I really like the view of the Hinterland and the park from the west lift too.

Movie World: Pros: - Superman Escape (hands down Movie World's best drawcard) - Arkham Asylum - Green Lantern - Wild West Falls (if you're willing to get wet in July) - Scooby Doo Spooky Coaster (not as thrilling as the others but still worth riding) - Batwing Spaceshot (if you like a 2 second ride....?) - Justice League (not thrilling but it's fun to be competitive on) - Great Atmosphere - The street parade can be entertaining Cons: - You can do it in half a day - Hollywood Stunt Driver sucks - The "4D" movie sucks (I haven't seen Rio but if it is anything like Journey 2 The Mysterious Island it's just the actual movie condensed down to about 20 minutes and occasionally jerks you around) - Expect super long wait times on Arkham Asylum (STILL only one train.. really?) - Superman Escape forces you to buy a locker for your loose articles (Small gripe but annoyng. They won't even let you queue if you so much as have a feather in your pocket) Dreamworld: Pros: - Giant Drop (IMHO best ride in the park, do not miss) - Tower of Terror II - Cyclone - Pandamonium - Wipeout - The Claw - Mick Doohan Motocoaster (ride it for the novelty, not for the thrills) - Tailspin (Again, ride it for the novelty) - Buzzsaw - Shockwave - Escape From Madagascar (because why not?) - Skypoint (not at Dreamworld and only available if you buy a combo ticket but if you're visiting the Gold Coast and going to Surfers Paradise on another day I highly recommend it) - Zombie Evilution (whether it's going to be a scare maze or laser tag in July I don't know but you might as well XD) - ANIMALS! (Because you have to, it's the rules) - Sneak into Eureka Mountain and take pictures... oh wait, never mind. Cons: - Not as great atmosphere in my opinion - If you go off peak expect a LOT of the stores to be closed - Coasters are not as great of a ride experience as Movie World's - If you don't like spinning around knock off half the rides listed in "Pros" - Unless you like watching the shorts found on the home releases of Dreamworks films the theatre sucks - The water rides suck (not so much of a loss if you're going in July)

I remember speaking to one of the ride operators about ToTII's launch speed and they said that under queensland health and saftey laws dreamworld are restricted to a certain amount of negative acceleration (accelerating backwards) to avoid causing whiplash to riders. Whether or not this is true i would put my money on that it is. It is still a forceful ride but it's pretty disappointing that it doesn't go nearly as high as it did despite the car being a metric tonne lighter and carrying one less person. As for Dreamworld becoming a seasonal park. That could be beneficial. On quiet days the park is more than likely running at a loss and they make up the difference on weekends. If they closed the park even just two months of the year that would be a lot of money saved that could be used to improve the park... or line the shareholder's pockets thicker but I'm thinking optimistic damn it XD

At dreamworld now. The mine cart with the test dummies is sitting in the loading section of the station. Also the entrance building to the chairlift is getting work done on it. Thoughts?

Based off what happened to their licensing deal with Nickelodeon, I'd say it's more than likely a timed contract. The bigheads at Dreamworld would much rather have the ability to end a contract instead of being locked in indefinitely so they can re-theme areas of the park to either original or other licenced themes which may be more relevant in the future. Also when it's time to renew a contract they may decide the fees they're paying for the licence may not be worth the investment anymore so they can sever it and move onto more viable business deals. If I am right and that is the case, they will probably renew their contract with The Wiggles as they are still pretty relevant with the new members and it's something good and wholesome for the kids (they probably make a tonne of cash on The Wiggles merchandise they sell there too). As for Mick Doohan, it might just be a decade-long contract and depending on how they feel about having Mick Doohan's name still associated with the ride is of any value or not they may choose to renew or sever it. My money is on they will sever it personally, the ride was a flop marketting wise and I don't think Mick Doohan's name gives it any buzz. It even just says "Motocoaster" on the map (not including the ride list below the actual map) so it just goes to show how much they think Mick Doohan's name gives no value to the ride anymore.