Maintenance.

[Bussy]

I don't want Rappa to be bitch slapped by Richard so I thought I would start a new thread here. If Richard would be so kind he could move the relevant posts from here to this thread. To answer your question Rapster, maintenance personnel would start ride checks at 7am and usually be done by 9:30 or 10am opening rides. If there was any problems with the ride the check would sometimes go beyond 10am. Ride operators would have to do at least one full cycle before opening the ride to the guests. The reason this was done was to check that there were no unusual noises etc etc. "The Bus is now leaving for Slap Up Creek, NSW"

[steve$]

But what do they do that takes up three hours? A track walk and hydraulic system checks wouldnt take that long?. Or is there also restraint checks?

[Bussy]

Remember there were 20-/+ rides to check each morning but there wasn't 20-/+ maintenance crews to check them. So each crew checked more than 1 ride. See how it takes so much time? You can be sure that all other parks do the same thing. "The Bus is now leaving for Crew Pine, Western Australia"

[T-bone]

So even the rides like Dodgems, and the Merry-go-round would be checked. I know it has to be done, but what sort of saftey hazard can the Dodgems, or the Merry-go-round have?

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

electrical hazards, loose or cracked plasticfibreglass... seatbelts fraying....

[steve$]

exactly....

[PattieBoi]

We ALL gotta get used to this sort of thing. We start a thread talking about one thing then we ALL move on to another thing. It's quite funny actually.

[Bussy]

That's right. There are also fences and queue lines that may be damaged. There are also the spare cars out the back of Dodgems that may need repairing to replace one that is on the track. There are also plenty of bits that the general public have absolutely no idea about. I can't believe that Alex got some information about rides correct. I guess it's because it’s the New Year. "The Bus is now leaving for Poddy Dodger Spur, NSW"

[T-bone]

Question. Was the Dodgems at Wonderland a Transportable one on a truck? Because someone once said that in the early days, you could see the trailor, but over the years, gardens went over it as it wasn't going anywhere.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

i dont believe dodgems were ever transportable. it was a custom built job specifically to be a permanent rig. First of all if it were a truck, the roof would be held up by metal poles coming directly from the floor - it isn't. its held up by timber struts, and the rooftop built over it is part of the structure as well. the maintenance area is also in there. a truck built job would not have the hinged exit as the cars are never meant to leave the trailer. No Sir, this was a permanent fixture to the park.

[dr_teeth]

Was WAY too big to be any trailer job. Im with you alex it was a custom built job

[T-bone]

I only went on the Dodgems once as i thought they were a waste of time for Wonderland. And while everyone lined up for Dodgems, i went for all the good rides. Suckers.

[Bussy]

Dodgems was definitely not a trailer job. The Dodgems was the most popular ride in the park after Beastie, in terms of rider numbers. "The Bus is now leaving for Trailers Mountain, NSW"

[dr_teeth]

Sounds like another "great move" by wonderland when they decided to close beastie then. I still reckon they should have kept a path up to it, and kept it running.

[Wazza1]

Tazmainian Devil WAS a transportable ride, that they permanently attached to the ground but dodgems definately was not.

[rappa]

Really? WOW I never would have picked that, that's one thing I always thought good about WL is all their flats actualy looked like they were meant to be there as oposed to a carnie ride dumped on a slab...

[steve$]

A bit different to Sydneys other park!

[Flasher]

To answer your question Rapster, maintenance personnel would start ride checks at 7am and usually be done by 9:30 or 10am opening rides.  If there was any problems with the ride the check would sometimes go beyond 10am.  Ride operators would have to do at least one full cycle before opening the ride to the guests.  The reason this was done was to check that there were no unusual noises etc etc. "The Bus is now leaving for Slap Up Creek, NSW"

Maintenance started at 6am all year round and would generally commence ride inspections by 6:15am, even later during the Winter season. Hanna Barberra/Little Wonders Land and Medieval Faire/International Village-Transylvania-Botany Bay rides would be inspected first and completed by 9:30am, before the Park's opening at 10am. Goldrush rides were inspected from around 8am onwards and completed by 10:30am, except for the Bush Beast which was inspected from around 6:15am and usually all the way up to Goldrush's 11am opening. The Beach, not so much a ride in itself, would be inspected from 6:15am and up to half an hour before either its 11am or 12pm opening. Any ride which had problems reported from the previous day or which had problems found during the morning inspections would have additional personnel deployed to make sure that the ride would go up on time, or at least open for the day. Some smaller rides only required one technician to carry out a ride check, while others required a minimum of 2 with the Bush Beast requiring at least 3 Maintenance personnel. Once all rides were open, Maintenance would work on one (or more) of the rides which were down for Annual Maintenance, either on site or in the workshop, or continue with the general maintenance of the Park.

[Bussy]

Maintenance started at 6am all year round and would generally commence ride inspections by 6:15am, even later during the Winter season.

Maybe that was how it was supposed to be but towards the end (last 6-12 months) it was rarely before 7am. "The Bus is now leaving for Far End, South Australia"

[Daniel]

Because there were no rides left to check

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

i just want to go back to another post in here, having re-read it, about taz being a transportable ride... I am not so sure this is true. Tranportable versions of this ride - eg: the "thunderbolt" or "arctic express" operated on the same principals, but the "ride arms" ran along a track, which gave the tilt. I think Dreamworld's "Angry Beaver's Spooty Spin" uses this type of "tilt" system. Taz, however, was a hydraulic tilt system. Also, checking out how big Taz's "operations shed" was, I dont know if THIS version was ever transportable. Remember, a lot of flat manufacturers made two versions of their popular rides... a park version, and a truck version... Most of WL's rides were already second hand, from numerous parks including dutch, canadian and american parks (Wizard's was a 30 year old dutch ride when it came to Sydney). Of all the rides in Wonderland, with the exception of the HBL rides, Taz would be the only one that would have even POSSIBLY been transportable... I dont think it was...

[Daniel]

I seriously doubt it was transportable either.

[rappa]

I also don't think it would have been possible for Taz to be transportable just because of how it worked. The sheer lateral forces generated buy the awesome 'wave' like motion of the ride would have been too great for a trailer mount version IMO. The ride would end up tipping the trailer or lifting its sides off the ground as the ride hauled itself up and down in its rotations. Still one of the best Flats I've come accross. IMO Taz, Wizards and Endevour were 3 of the best rides at Wonderland just for their uniqueness if nothing else.

[Bussy]

The information I got after the park closed was that Taz was possibly going to Victoria to become a trailer ride. I guess it is possible for it to be converted but I think it is highly unlikely that it ever was or ever will be. "The Bus is now leaving for Trailers Lake, NSW"

[djsupersleuth]

It is correct that Tasmanian Devil was loaded on a truck and taken to Melbourne with the intention of being modified to become trailer mounted by an Adelaide based carnival operator. Whether or not it was carried out, I dont know.