Scooby Doo Spooky Coaster Overhaul

[GoGoBoy]

Movie World have a thing called 'ride checks' where a member of staff goes on the ride during their shift to check everything appears to be operating normally.

Regarding the lack of lasers, I also understand that this was due to fire safety issues and the need to make changes (probably expensive) to allow smoke 

[rappa]

It mostly comes down to the absolute hacks who had the first crack at ‘next gen’ absolutely blasting the place with massive clouds of smoke to try and see their pathetic toy lasers. 
This well scared off the fire people so there has been nothing since. 
A properly done haze will be almost undetectable and perfectly fine in there. 🤞

[Park Addict 93]

1 hour ago, GoGoBoy said:

Movie World have a thing called 'ride checks' where a member of staff goes on the ride during their shift to check everything appears to be operating normally.

Regarding the lack of lasers, I also understand that this was due to fire safety issues and the need to make changes (probably expensive) to allow smoke 

Not denying this but as stated other staff, not rostered to Scooby were allowed to ride during the last day.

[i2145]

One thing which is really odd is that MW gave barely any notice before closing Scooby. Does anyone have any idea why?

[Dean Barnett]

I’m fine if they do that - but do it the same way Disney did it. After the ride was closed to the public. 

[joz]

I too am outraged by this thing I've just assumed.

[REGIE]

5 hours ago, Dean Barnett said:

I’m fine if they do that - but do it the same way Disney did it. After the ride was closed to the public. 

BRO it’s not Disney.. it’s not even slightly Disney stop comparing it. It’s never gonna be Disney!

[Dean Barnett]

Sorry that the simple practice of letting staff ride the ride one more time after park hours, instead of delaying paid guests upsets you. 

[rappa]

Remember Dean lives in a fantasy world where Australia is every other country

[Spotty]

12 hours ago, GoGoBoy said:

Movie World have a thing called 'ride checks' where a member of staff goes on the ride during their shift to check everything appears to be operating normally.

Regarding the lack of lasers, I also understand that this was due to fire safety issues and the need to make changes (probably expensive) to allow smoke 

Ah yes... the good old ride checks. Best ride to do that on would be Wild West Falls in the middle of summer. Normally done once all the breaks were done or if there was an extra staff member around. Wait until there was a group of 6 and then just jump in the empty row. In regards to the empty cars one of the most likely scenarios would be a guest with a disability. Generally they send a full set of empty cars, then the first car of the 2nd set empty and load the passenger in the back car (the air gate actually has a removable bit that can lift up to allow extra room for the wheelchair) and then send the set behind empty as well.

This is done so that the spotter (who's in the control room watching the monitors) can easily figure out where on the ride they are in the event of an evacuation so they can go straight to the guests as they will likely require extra time. Wild West Falls was the same, except it was 1 boat empty either side of the guest. They did also sometimes put a member of staff on the boat / car in front of the guest to also make it visually easier to spot so this is likely what happened.

[Naazon]

13 hours ago, Spotty said:

Ah yes... the good old ride checks. Best ride to do that on would be Wild West Falls in the middle of summer. Normally done once all the breaks were done or if there was an extra staff member around. Wait until there was a group of 6 and then just jump in the empty row. In regards to the empty cars one of the most likely scenarios would be a guest with a disability. Generally they send a full set of empty cars, then the first car of the 2nd set empty and load the passenger in the back car (the air gate actually has a removable bit that can lift up to allow extra room for the wheelchair) and then send the set behind empty as well.

This is done so that the spotter (who's in the control room watching the monitors) can easily figure out where on the ride they are in the event of an evacuation so they can go straight to the guests as they will likely require extra time. Wild West Falls was the same, except it was 1 boat empty either side of the guest. They did also sometimes put a member of staff on the boat / car in front of the guest to also make it visually easier to spot so this is likely what happened.

I really like you. You're awesome.

Edited January 29, 2023 by Naazon

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

On 27/01/2023 at 12:00 AM, Morphix said:

The smart thing to do is wait till all the wizard of oz section is done, then close it then

I think I already replied to something like this, but in case I didn't - my thinking is that doing it while Oz is under construction means they can access the Scooby stage from both sides while Oz is scorched earth. Doing it after Oz has opened will likely 'wall in' a lot of the scooby stage and make it harder to access - especially for cranes and whatnot needed to swap out the track pieces mentioned.

 

[Levithian]

You don't need access from anywhere near the old arkham area/new oz precinct to even completely gut and replace the entire ride. There are two large access (roller doors) in the high zone building that provide more than ample access. It's how they completed the rebuild last time. All the themed areas are just boxes built inside of the shed. It's just open expanses above the ceilings. If it wasn't for the track you could drive a bulldozer through everything and end up with a clear box right up to the queue line inner castle. 

It's quite a big area inside to house/allow machinery access and skip bins to cart all your trash away without the track being in the way. 

Just speculating, but the track structure is very old now, and unlike other rides with solid columns for foundation, scooby doo is a large mad mouse and uses a lot of turret like supports that allow a lot of movement in the structure. It might be a permanent install now, but it's built with cones and tapers bolting the fixings to the supports and the track sections are flanged, so it can be dismantled relatively easy (compared a a rollercoaster with multiple permanent fittings) and transported. 

My guess is perhaps they found something wrong, maybe with wear or fatigue that required intervention now, either as a temp measure to keep going until the planned later closure, or potentially due to the cost wastage, bringing forward the closure and start of any future works as a possibility instead. This is largely what happened with the last renovations/upgrades. It was just because they decided to keep the ride open with everything removed that we were spared the immediate, long shutdown period too. 

Whatever the reason, sometimes the unforeseen forces your hand or at the least gives you cause to revaluate your plans and things change. Can't do anything at all about it other than make your decision and move forward. 

Edited January 31, 2023 by Levithian

[Ogre]

Now listed as reopening 2025

[TBoy]

8 hours ago, Ogre said:

Now listed as reopening 2025

Must be really big if closed for 2 years. That is a long time to keep the ride closed IMO. It will be sad if I can't ride it in 2025 (planning to go in January) but at least I have got the credit in 2022.

[aaronm]

With the theming teardown, 2.0 "upgrade", Covid closures, and now this, is it possible that by 2025 the ride will have spent less than half of its last decade actually open to guests?

 

I'm also curious what these "state of the art harnesses" will be. It's been almost a decade since Mack built a wild mouse so there aren't any recent examples to draw on. Hopefully we don't end up with the horrible ankle restraints Coast Rider has, that one is basically unrideable for anyone with legs.

[Guest 239]

46 minutes ago, TBoy said:

Must be really big if closed for 2 years.

I don't think this is going to be massive -  I just think MW got really unlucky. 

My assumption is that they had parts scheduled with Mack but during recent inspections came across some dire repairs so decided to push everything back until the parts arrive. 

I'd say this is why we're seeing Surfrider being rushed into MW to compensate for these last minute changes.

 

[New display name]

1 hour ago, Guest 239 said:

I don't think this is going to be massive -  I just think MW got really unlucky. 

My assumption is that they had parts scheduled with Mack but during recent inspections came across some dire repairs so decided to push everything back until the parts arrive. 

I'd say this is why we're seeing Surfrider being rushed into MW to compensate for these last minute changes.

 

SR move to MW has been in the pipeline for a while.  

[Brad2912]

1 hour ago, Guest 239 said:

My assumption is that they had parts scheduled with Mack but during recent inspections came across some dire repairs so decided to push everything back until the parts arrive. 

I see it more likely to be simple “we opening OZ in 24, nothing planned for 25 and we won’t be making big investments then, so let’s hold back Scooby for 25 so we have effectively 2 years of new offerings/excitement 

[Guest 239]

11 minutes ago, New display name said:

SR move to MW has been in the pipeline for a while.  

I know they've wanted to move it for a while but I've always heard that the plan was SW on the old Vikings Revenge platform. The MW move seems more reactionary than anything considering that there's no official announcement or anything to compensate for the unfortunate news of the Scooby closure. it seems that they're scrambling to make something work quickly with their considerable loss of capacity in the last 12 months. 

6 minutes ago, Brad2912 said:

I see it more likely to be simple “we opening OZ in 24, nothing planned for 25 and we won’t be making big investments then, so let’s hold back Scooby for 25 so we have effectively 2 years of new offerings/excitement 

I can't really see that lining up considering that it doesn't really make sense to close Scooby now to then reopen it a year after WOO. You'd want Scooby to be open for as long as possible up until WOOs opening and then close it once that is up and running to stagger the loss of capacity.

[Slick]

Just now, Guest 239 said:

I know they've wanted to move it for a while but I've always heard that the plan was SW on the old Vikings Revenge platform.

It's been "rumoured to get moved" for longer than the ride's been open to be fair - so much so that the official unofficial word is that it was always destined to go to Sea World, but there was a last-minute plan change. Internally the joke was always "I'll believe it when I see it."

3 minutes ago, Guest 239 said:

their considerable loss of capacity in the last 12 months. 

Could you speak further on the considerable loss of capacity?

11 hours ago, Ogre said:

Now listed as reopening 2025

For whatever reason, it's really unfortunate. My gut says it was going to be a mid to late 2024 opening and they're being cautious because they've already chewed up the slack in the project timeline. Would love to see some more transparency about this from the park in the form of a blog post or something - people are far more reasonable when you can communicate the reasoning instead of defaulting to smoke and mirrors.

[New display name]

5 minutes ago, Guest 239 said:

I know they've wanted to move it for a while but I've always heard that the plan was SW on the old Vikings Revenge platform.

What would SW gain now that Alantis has opened?

[themagician]

Delaying the reopening to 2025 is surprising, but with the ride already closed for a couple weeks now, maybe upon inspections the ride needs more work than expected. Maybe more track pieces need to be replaced and Mack has to try fit that into their schedule.

[Slick]

Just now, New display name said:

What would SW gain now that Alantis has opened?

I've maintained that throwing Surf Rider in there would cap off a perfect attraction mix for a nuclear family. The kid's stuff is covered, the family group stuff is covered and with Leviathan and Vortex, they've got some great teen thrill rides to complement Storm and Jet Rescue. But is it enough to get a teenager enthused about going for a full day with their family? My gut says maybe juuuuust, but the second one of those rides goes down for maintenance it's not enough. with Surf Rider, that mix is basically up there with the likes of Dreamworld and Movie World.

In any case, the stark reality is that demand is at an all-time high at Movie World, and any way to give people more to do and eat up pax without going through the same supply chain delays everything else is suffering is a major win, so I totally get the move.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

5 minutes ago, Slick said:

Could you speak further on the considerable loss of capacity?

Without knowing what was in his mind, for my own, I immediately think of:

• the loss of Scooby
• The reduction in capacity at Wild West

  6 minutes ago, Slick said:

  Would love to see some more transparency about this from the park in the form of a blog post or something - people are far more reasonable when you can communicate the reasoning instead of defaulting to smoke and mirrors.

  I had thought about this when Dreamworld put out so much info about their current projects - right down to each ride's planned timeframes and scope of works. It isn't something we're used to, but the transparency at Dreamworld has been met with enthusiasm from folks who heard the news, while the closure of scooby has been met with much derision within the general public.

7 minutes ago, New display name said:

What would SW gain now that Alantis has opened?

A more fully fleshed out park that doesn't have a gaping vacant hole in the middle... plus what slick said.