The Giant Drop Refurbishment 2022

[REGIE]

It’s already pretty damn scary. Haha.

4 hours ago, Dean Barnett said:

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

No one will forget, that’s for sure. But I wouldn’t say it was in perfectly good condition. Dreamworld would’ve left it, if it was.  It was unreliable even 10 years ago.  It had countless problems, and used experimental LSM tech which would’ve gotten harder to maintain.  Calling it “perfectly good” implies it was in great condition and had no problems.   Don’t get me wrong I miss it as hell.  I somewhat like to think a tribute ride is made one day.

Edited May 17, 2023 by REGIE

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

12 hours ago, Dean Barnett said:

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 

Small Lines = Park with low popularity = closed park. You need to take a lesson in economics. Dreamworld doesn't have the diversity in offering that overseas parks who have done this have. Six Flags and Cedar parks get away with mods to drop rides because they offer so many more tiers to the rider levels. Happy Thoosies don't keep a park afloat.

Tower of Terror wasn't a perfectly good ride. The manufacturer no longer made the drive systems. The park literally had run out of spares - they were in a situation where the ride would be irrevocably shut down as soon as just one of the motors died. So they announced the closure so people could give it a farewell, and sold all their spares and parts to SFMM, helping them fund their ongoing developments.

[Gobbledok]

Tower of terror was a mediocre ride well past its prime

Giant drop is AWESOME

[REGIE]

Agreed.  I have never gotten up the courage to do it edge seat. Apparently that’s a whole new level of insane.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

4 minutes ago, REGIE said:

 I have never gotten up the courage to do it edge seat. Apparently that’s a whole new level of insane.

Horses for courses I guess - i've never really felt any differently no matter where i'm sitting. You can't see the tower while on board so it's not like a 'floorless' type experience. Only difference is you don't have people on both sides of you but that's 50% of the seats on batwing..

Just recently took my son to SFMM and we rode drop of doom - every time we rode we ended up with an edge seat and it didn't really feel any different. *shrug*

[Baconjack]

17 hours ago, Dean Barnett said:

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

Perfectly good except it barely made it halfway up the tower and was consistently shut for extended periods of time in its last years

[Dean Barnett]

 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

1 hour ago, Dean Barnett said:

 

These posts where you don't add any commentary are really starting to grind. 

What are you trying to say by posting this video and nothing else?

If it's the height argument - According to this article the top third of the track is painted red. This video shows it only just enters the red section, so it barely makes it 2/3 up the top of the tower.

If its the argument about it being consistently shut - S-EFK was closed for the entirety of my recent visit to the US - in the middle of spring break.

If you're arguing that this version continues to operate, it's already been said it's because Dreamworld sold them their spare parts - something that wouldn't be possible if this "perfectly good ride" as you claim - continued to operate.

 

[Stevie]

On my last visit to Dreamworld I was lucky enough to have a conversation with the CEO, Greg. He seems like a very lovely and open guy. In regards to the Giant Drop, a tilting gondola had been discussed very heavily and wouldn't be too expensive to implement into the current tower. Their main reason for not going ahead with it is purely due to it being too extreme. As others have mentioned, the ride is already quite ominous and it's the minority who enjoy it, adding a tilting gondola would only further scare guests away from riding that gimick.

[REGIE]

that’s interesting. Would love to meet him.  Thats cool he told you that, and didn’t try to be all secretive.  Sometimes I forget they would look into other options for rides but of course they would.  
 

Couldn’t help but say “tilting Giant drop 1 looks to intense for me”

Edited May 18, 2023 by REGIE

[TBoy]

8 minutes ago, Stevie said:

On my last visit to Dreamworld I was lucky enough to have a conversation with the CEO, Greg. He seems like a very lovely and open guy. In regards to the Giant Drop, a tilting gondola had been discussed very heavily and wouldn't be too expensive to implement into the current tower. Their main reason for not going ahead with it is purely due to it being too extreme. As others have mentioned, the ride is already quite ominous and it's the minority who enjoy it, adding a tilting gondola would only further scare guests away from riding that gimick.

Thanks for the interview.

I feel like having tilting gondolas would have made it more extreme than LLDoD and ZDoD purely due to them. It would be pretty scary tilting downward and looking straight at the ground.

P.S Do you have any more info about KABD and the Wave Swinger?

[Baconjack]

3 hours ago, Stevie said:

On my last visit to Dreamworld I was lucky enough to have a conversation with the CEO, Greg. He seems like a very lovely and open guy. In regards to the Giant Drop, a tilting gondola had been discussed very heavily and wouldn't be too expensive to implement into the current tower. Their main reason for not going ahead with it is purely due to it being too extreme. As others have mentioned, the ride is already quite ominous and it's the minority who enjoy it, adding a tilting gondola would only further scare guests away from riding that gimick.

Yong probably reads these forums. Everyone on here wanted the dreamworld tower to be converted to a sky jump back when Tower closed. Would have been pretty awesome but he’s right - the average punter is already put off by how high giant drop is (which is why it never gets a line), let alone adding a feature which makes guests face the ground at that height.

Also Tower wasn’t being launched anywhere close to that speed in its final years. The LSM’s and control system could only handle about 100-110km/h and the care that dreamworld put in (or lack thereof) pre 2016 made that problem worse. It also sat closed for months at a time unscheduled every year. I think six flags are lucky to get that much height out of theirs.

Edited May 18, 2023 by Baconjack

[Dean Barnett]

I'm probably on my own here but I wish they just left it SBNO and maybe just wait til they had enough money/tech to fix the launch - instead of spending millions ripping it all out and putting light up letters that hardly anyone is gonna see.

 

8 hours ago, TBoy said:

In regards to the Giant Drop, a tilting gondola had been discussed very heavily and wouldn't be too expensive to implement into the current tower. Their main reason for not going ahead with it is purely due to it being too extreme

If it was cheaper than putting the letters up - I would have opted for this. Again different mentality if they park regularly opened during dark hours.

[REGIE]

1 hour ago, Dean Barnett said:

it was cheaper than putting the letters up - I would have opted for this

You’re missing the point mate.  

9 hours ago, Stevie said:

In regards to the Giant Drop, a tilting gondola had been discussed very heavily and wouldn't be too expensive to implement into the current tower. Their main reason for not going ahead with it is purely due to it being too extreme

 

[red dragin]

2 hours ago, Dean Barnett said:

If it was cheaper than putting the letters up - I would have opted for this. Again different mentality if they park regularly opened during dark hours.

Return on investment though. 

Brightish signage which draws attention, brings more people through the door. The Joker face and Green Lantern logo weren't cheap, but you can see them from a distance. They are all just advertising basically. 

Vs taking a ride that already has a fairly small potential market, and then catering it to any even smaller market by fitting the tilting seats. It won't bring in enough extra people. Unlike a 150m tall advertising board potentially can. 

Enthusiasts might enjoy these things, but enthusiasts don't pay the bills. The general public is who keeps the lights on and rides running, so you target them. 

Edited May 18, 2023 by red dragin

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

2 hours ago, Dean Barnett said:

I'm probably on my own here

Almost always.

2 hours ago, Dean Barnett said:

I wish they just left it SBNO and maybe just wait til they had enough money/tech to fix the launch

Yeah we've been trying to get our parks to move away from leaving things SBNO, so that alone is enough to disagree with you there.

The manufacturer doesn't support it. SFMM - which has far more money to spend than Dreamworld does - is still cobbling together parts to keep theirs running (and not very well, I might add). It's not like an accelerator coaster where theres plenty of installs around that could be retrofit - bringing a company in to design and install a new launch system would literally only benefit two parks in the entire world, one of which was cash strapped enough that they took their old parts to cash converters. 

No. Nobody is reviving the reverse freefall coaster. It was built for one purpose - to break records. Its a one trick pony and while it hauls ass, that's really all you can do with it - and modern coasters do the exact same thing, but with loops and top hats and all sorts of far more rounded experiences. The ride design is dead and as soon as the last remaining drives die in Valencia, it's done. 

2 hours ago, Dean Barnett said:

spending millions ripping it all out and putting light up letters that hardly anyone is gonna see.

How many people you reckon drive the M1 after dark?

2 hours ago, Dean Barnett said:

If it was cheaper than putting the letters up - I would have opted for this.

And that's why you're not in charge of a theme park.

[Dean Barnett]

3 hours ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

modern coasters do the exact same thing, but with loops and top hats and all sorts of far more rounded experiences

Yeah but this one actually existed. 
 

For reference - this is the launch that red force is capable of.

 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

20 minutes ago, Dean Barnett said:

Yeah but this one actually existed. 

So you think because intamin has a LSM launch like Red Force, this automatically translates to itbeing compatible with the RFC model, despite intamin withdrawing support for the model?

Don't you think Intamin would have offered the upgrade to the parks whose rides were slowly dying and make a bit of coin if it were viable?

YOU'RE LIVING IN A FUCKING DREAMLAND MATE - WAKE UP.

[TBoy]

Signage is up (thanks to Jaggs Journeys)

 

[REGIE]

Shane from Jaggs journey’s is a legend! .

the signage looks better then I thought it would when I saw the concept art.  Looks good!

[TBoy]

More signage (thanks to Jaggs Journeys)

 

[Stevie]

On 19/05/2023 at 12:17 PM, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

YOU'RE LIVING IN A FUCKING DREAMLAND MATE - WAKE UP.

Clearly not living in Kenny and Belindas Dreamland 

[TBoy]

Ride testing (thanks to Jaggs Journeys)

 

 

[Baconjack]

50 minutes ago, TBoy said:

Ride testing (thanks to Jaggs Journeys)

 

 

12 months of refurbishing and they still haven't removed the calibri lettering. Hopefully this job gets done before re-opening when they apply the new decals

[Tricoart]

Update on GD via passholder email, main ‘newsworthy’ thing here is that they’re gonna hold a contest for it.

Edited May 26, 2023 by Tricoart