Snowy River Rampage

[Nightshifter]

Did the River rampage at Wonderland ever have a turntable, becasue i remeber it used to turn as well?

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

SNRR used to have its station as a turntable yes, but it was considered that capacity could be increased and risk minimised if they made it stationary and just stopped the rafts. it also meant that more (or less) rafts could be run as the queue would flow as fast as the loaders could run it, rather than try and load in time with the arriving and departing boats. i have never seen DW's rapids until last june, so i dont know if it would turn or not but looking at other similar rides (such as the one at Knotts i think it was) it would be safe to assume it did once rotate. as with SNRR, the dam in DW would indeed be used to store the water overnight, as running the pumps 24/7 would be murder mechanically. Wonderland chose to hide the dam by theming a dock wall over it, but it could still be seen from Bush Beast. For those that have ridden it, SNRR used to offload BEFORE the conveyor belt on the wooden station opposite the dam, but it fell into disrepair once they stopped the turntable. it was also a little dangerous as the lower parts of the dismount station, which were made from wood were submerged NIGHTLY in the dam water and as such became slippery and rotten.

[Gazza]

Wouldnt the problem with a spinning platform be that the gaps betwwen the seats wouldn't always line up with the edge of the turntable making getting in difficult? Also, wouldnt the rafts spin, or end up going along the right hand side of the channel so it would be too far to step over? Another question about SRR I have is about that spinning cone thing on the right side of the channel just out of the station, what is it? I think rapids rides should use a conveyor belt system like on Hafema river rapids rides, in theirs, the boats come completley out of the water onto a conveyor belt which people can actually walk on, which would make getting in and out a breeze.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

gazza the boarding gaps on the rafts on SRR were spaced so that as one entry point was out of reach of the station the next one was within reach, so as the raft spun, you could load the separate sections of the raft, rather than stepping across the raft itself. they wouldnt go to the right hand side of the channel as there were still guide rails as there are today. the spinning cone was there originally when the turntable was operating, basically to suck the raft off the turntable and throw it into the rapids, giving it a bit of a spin on the way, and to stop it from hitting the concrete wall on the opposite side. the cone originally did have wooden planks bolted to it but they disappeared over time.

[rappa]

WOW In all this time Ive never actualy had someone fill me in on the reasoning behind the crappy looking 'dock' prior to the SRR station (sorry to get off topic). Must have only been in use for a very short time because I never remember getting off there and my first visit wasn't long after the park opened.

[Bussy]

Joz you are right about how the turntable worked, the wall on the far side of the boat moved at the same speed as the turntable and therefore stopped the boat from spinning. The steps on the boats still had to be lined up as it was coming into the turntable. The dock was only ever used as a unloading point in emergencies (as happened on the day of the Total Thrills visit) but may have been used as a regular unload point in the first year or so of operation when they had about 20 boats running, but unfortunately this did not last for very long. Alex you are wrong about the turntable being stopped due to capacity, the real reason was cutbacks on staff to save money. When the turntable was running they had 4 staff at the turntable, one to line the boat up and get the guests off, one to operate the ride, one to load guests and one to check everyone was in and had their seatbelts on before the boat left the loading area. There was also another 4 people around the trough one in each of the towers and one at dock to make sure no one got out there or fell in. When the turntable was removed they also put in 4 cameras around the trough so that cut back on the 4 staff. During non peak times there were only two people required to operate the ride, one to unload/load guests and the other to watch the cameras. During peak time this was increased to four sometime five people. The additional positions were unload, second load, and a grouper. "The Bus is now leaving for Wonderland Turntable, Victoria"

[Bussy]

Yes, with Snowy three quarters of the ride was left dry. "The Bus is now leaving for Dry Creek, NSW"

[rappa]

*preface* Richard I think it best to split this thread into one more apropriate... That's what I figured Bus, and that would tie in with what was said about it being too slipery down there... My guess is the design was to allow unloading at the dock to improve capacity and run more boats however it worked out that the capacity was not needed and with the area flooding overnight it wasn't all that safe. Only problem I have with this idea is unless I'm mistaken the dock never moved so that would mean people would be getting off a moving raft onto a stationary dock (not a good idea) so unless the dock originaly had a moving walkway I doubt it was every used. This area always anoyed the crap out of me, although this ride had next to no theming from the get go at least it was somewhat of a rapids ride. Then to finish it off you come into a straight flat section of water with a completely out of place 'dock', a dam with plant visible and the business end with the pumps and stuff. Just completely poor form if you ask me. I always miss the rotating stations at DW and WL