The Giant Drop Refurbishment 2022

[gumb00t]

Can confirm rgb, it was yellow on the weekend

[Naazon]

1 hour ago, gumb00t said:

Can confirm rgb, it was yellow on the weekend

Thats neither R G or B

[franky]

11 hours ago, Naazon said:

Thats neither R G or B

They were blue, now they're yellow. It's a fairly good indication that they're RGB.

Hopefully they've only used 'dumb' RGB for the light strings themselves, with ARGB controllers for each letter. This way they can still customise the lettering if desired, but you won't see the LED's on an individual letter spaz out (see also: Slingshot Surfers Paradise/Any other ARGB installation that has water get into it). Individual control of LED's per letter would be a bit overkill IMO, also the tower doesn't lend itself very well to quick and easy repairs if one of the LEDs in the string fails.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

5 minutes ago, franky said:

They were blue, now they're yellow. It's a fairly good indication that they're RGB.

I don't know @Naazonthat well, but i'm pretty sure thats a big WHOOSH.

[Gazza]

Just now, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

I don't know @Naazonthat well, but i'm pretty sure thats a big WHOOSH.

It was both R and G

[themagician]

All the letters lights are turned on tonight 

[Naazon]

1 hour ago, themagician said:

All the letters lights are turned on tonight 

You gave them roses and sang some Barry white didn't you?

[Sly086]

Was a dreamworld last night for an event they they were testing them while we were there , was yellow, blue and white, the yellow wasn’t that bright tho 

[themagician]

Attraction signage is ready to be installed, the ride photo structure has returned and the winch and platform that was used to complete works on the tower have been removed 

[Stevie]

Who needs a Village big white shed when you can have an Ardent big black shed!

[aussienetman]

Sooo.... closed for over a year now to paint and install some letters.  Was this scheduled to take 1+ years originally? Imo, the end product is extremely underwhelming .. and cannot unsee the upside down M....

Edited May 16, 2023 by aussienetman

[REGIE]

I imagine the mechanics were updated / restored in some way. There would be a lot more done than meets the eye I’d have to imagine.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

1 hour ago, aussienetman said:

Sooo.... closed for over a year now to paint and install some letters.  Was this scheduled to take 1+ years originally?

I think this is the part where someone says that covid is the cause of delays due to supply chain issues that are still ongoing in the industry, and we all just accept that as a satisfactory excuse and move on with our lives.

I think the tower looks great. the lights aren't as bright as I had imagined, but they also redid the queue and station area, so I imagine it's possible we'll see some extra touches inside the building we aren't expecting. I'll wait until it opens before I burn them at the stake.

[rappa]

I mean to be completely fair they 100% would have felt Covid roll on effects on this project.

Firstly they are dealing with construction trades which have stupid high demand so even getting them is half the battle.
But secondly, we kinda know they ran into unexpected issues/items that needed to be addressed on the tower/ride as they went through the process. These would have likely meant they had to start from scratch on whatever these were in a post Covid environment.

So as much as someone might like it, for sure they would have had Covid related delays and we do just need to accept it.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Precisely right.

[Dean Barnett]

It just sucks they couldn’t change the ride experience at all - 12 months later 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

11 minutes ago, Dean Barnett said:

It just sucks they couldn’t change the ride experience at all - 12 months later 

What part of the ride experience would you like them to change? Gravity?

 

We haven't seen inside the station, so we've no idea what they've done inside during that time. Probably a little premature to be bemoaning them on this yet.

[Gazza]

Quote

What part of the ride experience would you like them to change? Gravity?

Stand up tilt

[rappa]

It’s got to be one of the best and most thrilling rides in the world, why change a thing?

Good on them for investing to keep it running for years to come!

[Gazza]

^I wouldn't mind if one side was classic seating and the other side was stand up tilt.

[Dean Barnett]

2 hours ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

What part of the ride experience would you like them to change? Gravity?

[aussienetman]

Yes a tilt would have been both a terrifying and terrific addition

[Gazza]

On 17/05/2023 at 1:27 PM, Dean Barnett said:

I think it would be possible to use floorless or tilting cars on the current tracks.

But the Skyjump option is an entire replacement of the ride, so its a few extra million, and then it’s a can of worms as to whether a skyjump is even a priority, as good as they are.

Edited May 18, 2023 by Gazza

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Let's be honest, for all the things they 'could' have done, the ride is already a foreboding presence in the park. 

I know a not insignificant number of self-confessed thoosies who won't ride it, and many GP friends of mine won't go on it either. 

I can imagine tilting seats or other fancy mods to the gondola would only further alienate the ridership, which would see  the barriers to entry raise even higher (the ride already has both a height and an age restriction) and this would result in the popularity of the ride dropping even lower.

[Dean Barnett]

A ride that was too scary for an insignificant amount of people would be perfect. Small lines = happy thoosies. 
 

They could have just changed one side tho - still supplying the current quarter century old experience, along with a brand new one. 

Don’t forget they pulled a perfectly good ride off the side of the tower