Yeah I agree. But I guess they wanted that “worlds first launched wooden coaster” title.

I feel like Lightning Rod was a victim of a marketing dept with too much say. 
In a rush to be the first/fastest/whatever it was wooden launch coaster they forgot to stop and think if a wooden launch was a smart idea. 
Ultimately the track design was also terrible, but had the launch problems not existed (remember it actually caught fire! - 1 day before I was going to ride) the track issue would have seemed much more minor. 
 

It was an amazing try, and for the lucky few that got to ride it an amazing coaster, but a lesson in the perils of trying to push the limits. 

On 12/05/2023 at 5:48 PM, rappa said:

I don't know any more than any other Joe Shmo on what maintenance the coaster needs and why. But I'm smart enough to work out that not one single other ride exists that fits all the categories of this thing once you consider what it is, what it's made of, the location and the fact it sits in a different regulatory framework than anything else out there comparable.

So yeah I put it in a box of 1, because it is in a box of 1. 

I'm also smart enough to know it's not good business to keep your star player sitting on the bench, so if the ride has a certain amount of maintenance, it must need it. I fail to see why a comment like "I'm keen to know why", basically implying someone isn't prepared to accept that it's ok until they have been given what they feel is satisfactory information, is warranted.
For me if the park says "This is how much maintenance it needs", which it has by scheduling it, then that's all the information I need. As someone who is no expect in the maintaining of a high speed wooden rollercoaster in Australia in 2023 who am I to question it?

As for rusting... well wood doesn't rust, but it sure does bend, warp and rot, and there is also a hell of a lot of metal holding that whole thing together.

So I think the issue here is that you've assumed my inquisitiveness was implying Village were doing something unnecessary. To be clear, I categorically stated (several times) that I wasn't saying the schedule was wrong. Nor was my asking about it being necessary in any way because I felt it wasn't and was looking to ridicule it. 

I'm very localised. I keep an awareness of the parks i've visited, or the ones local to me, but I don't keep up with many parks outside that sphere - @Gazza's coaster knowledge is far superior to mine and he is aware of rides in places i've never heard of.

So when I ask things in curiosity, i'm hoping that someone who knows more about the topic might have a little insight they can share. "well duh, its the only rollercoaster in the world built at precisely 27°57'28.2"S 153°25'34.5"E, so of course its the only one that needs it" is pretty pointless.

Clearly, by the lack of response from everyone else, It's safe to assume there are no other coasters with a quarterly maintenance period like this, so perhaps it does need it's own box - but the original question remains - I wonder what specifically about this particular install means quarterly is needed

 

Here’s a look at the Battle Boats while the water has been drained 

Ray Reef has finally got a new sign 

Now I can’t remember what the old sign looked like! Anyone got a picture?

Like this, but very faded 

It’s a bit misleading to have “Leviathan Ride It Now” in bold letters as the first thing you see when you open up seaworlds website, only for the ride too be under Planned maintenance.  I get it for unplanned maintenance. But when you know your main attraction is supposed too not be open, don’t make it seem like it is open on your website.

Was in the park today . It’s so funny how many people I heard lineing up for jet rescue say “oh wait you mean this ride isn’t part of the tall one over there?”  “Oh I thought they were the same ride”.   “Why would they make two different coasters and not one big one”. “I think this is the entrance to that boat one”.  Like there was so many people confused thinking storm and JR are the same ride.

Storm went down around 11:00.

the walk way from underneath the old bridge to the storm photo center feels very run down.  Under The bridge is in bad condition. The there’s all these temporary fences on the left where the VR station used to be.  It just feels like that area needs work. Starting with maybe removing what’s left of that bridge.  
 
Trident had 1hour+ wait and today was not busy.

vortex has more people watching then riding but it was operating.

the monorail track above jet rescue looks to have been given a fresh coat of paint.?

1 minute ago, REGIE said:

 It just feels like that area needs work.

I still reckon surfrider was headed there before the Scooby hit the fan.

I think you’re right.  It feels like it was all prepared for it. It’s a shame really. Seaworld kinda needs it for when leviathan is not operating/under maintenance.  Scooby must have really killed itself.  I think they would have offered a few last rides and more notice if it was planned.

Edited June 21, 20233 yr by REGIE

Levithan has broken down. Not sure if it actually opened today or not.

Edited June 24, 20233 yr by REGIE

7 minutes ago, REGIE said:

Levithan has broken down. Not sure if it actually opened today or not.

got a ride in this morning 👍

On 21/06/2023 at 5:23 PM, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

I still reckon surfrider was headed there before the Scooby hit the fan.

This way we can keep the rumour alive that it's moving to Seaworld, one day.

I still find it so funny how many people I over hear at seaworld say stuff like “so why did they make it out of wood?!” “That can’t be safe, it’s wooden!”

And my favourite

“I never want to ride Levithan it’s wooden, I rode a wooden coaster in Melbourne and it hurt my back”. I wan so tempted to tell him that this was brand new, and the one in Melbourne is over 100 years old. 😂 

Ray Reef isn’t the only place to get a new sign, as they’ve replaced the resort/park connection sign as well.

 

For context, it previously looked like this (except faded & falling apart):

(also lol)

Edited September 27, 20233 yr by Tricoart

2 hours ago, Tricoart said:

 

That sign has been there for a couple years now 

8 minutes ago, themagician said:

That sign has been there for a couple years now 

Yeah ik, and before that it said it was ‘due to the construction of the New Atlantis precinct’, it’s just amusing that they still say ‘temporary’ after like 4 years of closure & clearly scrapping the hardware

Edited September 27, 20233 yr by Tricoart

1 hour ago, Tricoart said:

Yeah ik,

Come on man - is it really that hard to type "i know" ? 

Didn't we used to have a thing about chat-speak?

Don’t know where else to post it but, on Monday I saw groundworks happening around the splashdown for VR with some pegs and workers in the area. I forgot to get photos of the area but there should be more progress on whatever they are doing there during the next few weeks.

3 hours ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

Come on man - is it really that hard to type "i know" ? 

Didn't we used to have a thing about chat-speak?

Sorry for not typing 4 extra letters, evidently I was out & attempting to type quickly, and did not know that doing so would affect you negatively.

Anyway, here is a dump of photographs that I got while I was there, of various things that piqued my interest. As is the case with the prior post, I am posting here as I do not know of a better forum currently available for me to do so.

Storm now has Loose Item bins in the station, did not get a photograph of them though, as the ride itself had a long wait, but it negates the need for their previous, Superman-esque system.

Viking’s Revenge plot, weird to see the area so flat. Definitely seemed like the surrounding area was actively being worked on, but this is the only photograph that I took of it.

Miscellaneous backstage angles I could get due to foliage being more sparse than usual:

And finally, an image of the transition out of the 90° banked turn on Leviathan, as I don’t recognise there being that added bracing in the past (though there’s a high chance I’m misremembering). I’d say that transition probably has the most noticeable ‘jolt’ on the ride currently, which is why I noticed said bracing after-the-fact.

Edited September 27, 20233 yr by Tricoart

5 hours ago, Tricoart said:

Storm now has Loose Item bins in the station, did not get a photograph of them though, as the ride itself had a long wait, but it negates the need for their previous, Superman-esque system.

Interested to know how they secure your items when there are often 4-5 boats on the course at any one time. It’s not like claw, motorcoaster, rivals etc where this is a rotational locker system that only makes the current cycles items accessible. 

7 hours ago, Brad2912 said:

Interested to know how they secure your items when there are often 4-5 boats on the course at any one time. It’s not like claw, motorcoaster, rivals etc where this is a rotational locker system that only makes the current cycles items accessible. 

If its anything like they had previously for small items like phones and glasses, there is a bin with the same number as the boat. Operators store the bins to the side and bring out the bin for the relevant boat number as it arrives at the station.

Either that or they simply arent that secure eg. Green Lantern

It’s funny I feel safe puting my stuff in most the boxes but it feels wrong on jet rescue to me.. not sure why. Maybe because the lockers exist it feels like you’re cheating using the station boxes. 

Edited September 29, 20233 yr by REGIE