Wild West Falls Lift Hill

[Adam]

The attached photo was taken from the Roller-coaster.com.au image gallery. Does the shed featured in the background enclose the first or second lift hill? Thanks.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

as that appears to be the highest point on the ride, i would be inclined to say it is the second. that picture looked to have been taken just after the initial backwards drop, which is after the first lift hill, so the angle of the lift hill shown in the photo would appear to be the second lift would it not?

[Adam]

Ok, thanks. People are always complaining you can see the mountain structural supports (as is very evident in this photo). But it wouldn't take many trees to cover it up. Do you think anything will ever be done about it? Also, do you think the special effects on the final drop will be reinstalled?

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Remembering that you asked the question "do you think"... trees would become a problem in keeping the ride free of debris. If they were to cover it up, it would need to be walls or more mountain facade. these walls or facades could possibly cause a problem in the event of a fire evacuation. if the escape stairs were enclosed, it would increase the risk of smoke in this area, whereas the current situation allows for superb ventilation to clear the smoke. personally, and from what i gather the opinions of a few others on the site is that they won't. for a person who never saw "the other way" they would not know any different, and the ride is still just as enjoyable, minus a few seconds of extra "thrill" before you're shot out the drop. I also think that the theming that is missing was part of the cause for the fires in the first place - the "sparks" as you climb the lift hill can cause a fire, and the more electrical equipment you have at the top of a drop that utilises WATER is just more of a hazard. Personally I think WBMW has made the decision not to reinstall that theming permanently, because of money, and the potential risks associated with putting it back in. I do not think it will ever be put in, unless they choose to do a complete refurboverhaul on it, and come up with a failsafe way to install it without the risk of another fire...

[Adam]

I agree about the fire hazards you speak of with reinstalling certain effects (although I'm sure there is a safe way to add sparks). I'm not sure trees would be such a problem. There are already a number of trees (in the left of the picture) around the track. I have attached an image of how they could make it look better.

[scott]

Ok, thanks.Also, do you think the special effects on the final drop will be reinstalled?

No.Because MW has the best theming in an Australian park,and becasue the majority of people in Aus who go to theme parks here haven't seen better,MW doesn't need to spend the money to impress them because it's good enough already.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

I agree about the fire hazards you speak of with reinstalling certain effects (although I'm sure there is a safe way to add sparks). I'm not sure trees would be such a problem. There are already a number of trees (in the left of the picture) around the track. I have attached an image of how they could make it look better.

Adding sparks always adds a risk of fire, regardless of how safe you try to make it. the only "safe" way would be to play a video of the sparks on a screen... Disney's "fire" effect in Pirates of the Carribbean is a white sheet, with an orange and red flickering light behind it, and a fan specially designed to blow the sheet to look like fire - but even in this situation, if the sheet were to catch on the light, a potential fire hazard would exist there as well. the trees you added are small bushes, and the tall trees in the distance are off the rides footprint. planting large trees, big enough to hide this scaffolding, would need to be inside the footprint, and need to be very tall (ala-gum trees etc). Large trees tend to have large branches, and in high winds, these branches can fall off, into the water and cause a hazard. there would be no sensory system that could detect a branch in any one place on the track, without installing sensors every metre along the track (very expensive), so the results would be a branch in front of a boat, which can cause a "Traffic jam" as well as have the potential to cause injury. Also, these types of trees would need a long time to grow. Go and have a look at the photos in the wonderland thread posted by Wonderbuzz. photos in 1985 show a very sparse smattering of sapling sized gumtrees. it took 19 years to grow into what they are now, which only just hides HBLGoldrush from the middle areas of the park. For WBMW to plant enough trees to hide this facade and scaffold and enough time to let them grow, replacing ones that die or fall down early in their life, would be a mammoth, costly and wasteful undertaking, not to mention a very slow way to fix this problem, which, while detracting from the appearance of the ride, most people who ride this ride do not look at this, because they are too busy screaming and hiding from water splashes. it is only very super critical theme park junkies such as yourself and myself who would notice, and complain about this sort of thing. The exit to Batman Adventure is a plain white colourbond wall on one side, and a chain link fence on the other. should they hide this too? bottom line is this sort of thing is either not safe or too costly to hide, and not worth the effort in the end anyway. The only park I know of, who is capable of hiding EACH AND EVERY PART of their back-of-house facilities is Disney, and most of their rides are indoor or underground, so thats a lot easier than a 40 metre mountain. The exception to that rule would be the Matterhorn, but the Matterhorn track is all based inside the mountain itself, and doesnt wind in and out of the mountain like Wild West.

[Adam]

I am pretty sure they have cameras throughout the ride and if there was a storm large enough to bring down trees - the ride would be closed. I am not suggesting they plant trees, I am suggesting they trans-plant trees. They already have trees to the left of the track, but there is a gap on the right, adding trees here would not be such a problem (or the trees on the left of the track wouldn’t be there). Do you still think this is not possible?

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

the trees to the left of the track are not large enough to cover the scaffolding. to truly hide it it would require numerous trees, very closely planted to cover it. they would need to be a lot higher, and with height comes a need for stability. imagine the root bases of trees that high? it could cause serious structural damage to the ride, which would be dangerous. While storms generally help branches fall off, branches can also fall down from the sheer weight of the branch, with little or no wind at all. I also seriously doubt it is possible for there to be sufficient cameras to cover every inch of track on the ride, and also to have enough people watching those cameras so that the branch fall would be noticed IMMEDIATELY. one operator watching the cameras, who is also incharge of despatching the boats at the start would not be sufficient. Also, if a branch of this size were to fall on the ride, there is no guarantee it would be noticed in time for the boats to be caught on a safety brake before it reached the branch = injuries again. It all comes down to it being too cost ineffective, for very little gain in the grand scheme of things. its not feasible, it wouldn't work, and they're not going to do it.

[Adam]

I don't think the trees would need to be any higher or more dense than the ones on the left (you can see from the image) but cost would be an issue as there would be no financial gain in doing this.

[joz]

What about fake trees? That also gets rid of the problem of trying to plant tress on the top of a building. I always thought a better idea though would just be a large western style sign (themed advertisement for Wild West Burgers, or the Rio Bravo shop at the rides exit?) that is both large enough to cover up the unsightly back of the ride, as well as promoting a product in the park and perhaps increasing sales to boot. With the top room, I don't think it should be restored to exactly as it looked before. It didn't look that great anyway, but did look better then as it is now. At the moment it looks kinda like a warehouse with a few barrels, and the flashing lights add nothing to the ride. All I think really needs to be done is to A. Change that stupid mirror thing, and B. Make the path to the exit much more discreet. The smoke and wind machine aren't that significant to the overall success of the room, but when the room looks tacky, the whole ride (IMHO) looks tacky. It just needs some more themeing elements and the mirror thing looks stupid. Realisticly though I don't expect anything to be done about it, because the ride rates the same as it did before the fire.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

i like the billboard idea Joz. it works well, and would fit in nicely. fake trees i dont like... it would be too easy to tell, and they would become run down over time... i agree as far as the points on the theming too, and the mirror does suck.. but just like you said, it rates the same, before and after... so if it aint broke...?

[GoGoBoy]

I honestly think the back of the mountain area you guys are talking about is perfect. They don't need to do a thing to it - save the money and time for something more important. I think some of you guys are also missing the point of the ride which helps to justify what you are seeing behind the mountain - 1. The room which sticks out of the mountain (the final splashdown room) is meant to be part of the 'mining company' infrastructure which is built into the mountain. There's no reason to try and hide it 2. Most of Movie World's rides are designed with the intention of making you feel like you are on the set of a movie in a studio/sound stage. The majority of the parks buildings are intentionally designed 2D facades which purposely show that they're 'fake'. In keeping with this theme, one would assume that the Wild West Falls mountain is nothing more than an outdoor movie set. And like all sets - it looks great from the front but once you get behind it, you can see that it's only a facade with scaffolding and support structures

[Adam]

I still don't think real trees would be a problem, if they were, why would they have some there already? The sign idea could work as well. I think some holograms instead of the mirror with smoke and enhanced lighting effects would make the pre-drop section look great. But... it will never happen, as you say, it works how it is now.

[GoGoBoy]

I honestly think the back of the mountain area you guys are talking about is perfect. They don't need to do a thing to it - save the money and time for something more important. I think some of you guys are also missing the point of the ride which helps to justify what you are seeing behind the mountain - 1. The room which sticks out of the mountain (the final splashdown room) is meant to be part of the 'mining company' infrastructure which is built into the mountain. There's no reason to try and hide it 2. Most of Movie World's rides are designed with the intention of making you feel like you are on the set of a movie in a studio/sound stage. The majority of the parks buildings are intentionally designed 2D facades which purposely show that they're 'fake'. In keeping with this theme, one would assume that the Wild West Falls mountain is nothing more than an outdoor movie set. And like all sets - it looks great from the front but once you get behind it, you can see that it's only a facade with scaffolding and support structures. Works fine for me

[rappa]

Okay here I go as I am very passionate on this issue... No they won't do anything about either the single and only reason being they are too cheap. They feel that they 'can get away with it' not fixing both of these problems so they wont. This sort of attitude is EXACTLY why nothing at this park will ever come close to this 'Disney Standard' often talked about. The mountain looks **** at the back, like just cover it up somehow, it doesnt need to be much and sugesting it's a set is just a cop out. If the Gold Coast council can theme an entire mobile phone tower perfectly to look like a palm tree then some fake trees wouldn't be too hard. Enclosing fire stairs is no where near as big of an issue as it is the same in any other building. It is quite obvious they though the scaff support would be hidden by the facade in the foreground but obviously they just didn't get it quite right with the perspective and this wasn't achieved. As far as the final lift I can see them not wanting to add in the sparks due to what happend. In my opinion this would be more to save face with the public than anything else... not a good idea to put fire type effects back in something publicly reported as catching fire. They could add in the other effects that were in there though and reduce the amber lighting and fix the timing to ensure the top doors do not open before the final drop doors have closed. As far as the top room is concerned it looks AWEFUL. Again not fixing it is just POOR FORM, they have the money to do so from the insurance and would have just used it on other stuff. Why would you put 2005 comercial strobes visible in a ride perfectly themed to the old west? Same goes for the nice 12" and horn speaker sitting behind that barrel. They need to get the entire thing back to its original state as it added greatly to the finishing off and credibility of the ride. Why let such a fine attraction down in its final moment? Come on guys get it together. No one will know the difference simply doesn't cut it for me as an excuse. The entire ride is ready for a major refurb so this would be the perfect time.

[GoGoBoy]

I still don't know exactly what they have done with that final room now - except that there's a mirror and some strobes. It really upsets me that the effects weren't fully reinstated as they were such a great finale to the ride. I have asked this question before but I keep getting different answers... does anyone know for sure whether the smoke and wind machine in the final room have been reinstalled yet? It used to give you the feeling that you were being pushed out of the mountain by an explosion and was very effective. The final doors would open at the very end as you approached them

[Adam]

I agree with everything you have to say Clint. Very well put

...fix the timing to ensure the top doors do not open before the final drop doors have closed.

What do you mean by this? Are there two sets of doors? Thanks.

[nev]

Goboi, The smoke jets have not been reinstalled... for me this was the best part of the whole ride, cause you'd literally be blasted out of the mountain in a cloud of smoke. Adam, There is a set of doors at the top of the lift hill as you enter the final room, and then another set of doors which open at the top of the main drop. Recently, the doors to the final room have been open, which has meant that guests coming up the lift hill can get a fair idea of what's going on ahead of them as the car in front leaves via the hill.

[Adam]

Thanks, Do the doors before the main drop open as you begin to move forward or when the turntable has finished it's rotation? Or is it before that?

[scott]

Adam,how about instead of asking so many questions with no value about MW just go there and find out for yourself.I'm sick of all these mile-long threads about the way this turns or the way that spins.Maybe your just an inquisitive person,but that's bordering on obsession,ans that's coming from someone who is a member of a site called Roller-Coaster.com.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

.au.... i agree, but essentially these forums are a place for members to discuss every facet of rides and theme parks. i find the questions tiring sometimes to say the least, but it is what the forums are intended for, and while i find it annoying, I am not about to tell him to stop altogether.

[Daniel]

Get off his back Scott old son! I'll do the dishing out on what's appropriate and what's not thanks.... Isn't it what this site is around for you dolt!

[Adam]

Thanks Daniel Scott, how can you be tired of my questions? You haven’t answered any of them. If you don’t want to discuss stuff with me then don’t go into threads that I have started.

I'm sick of all these mile-long threads

Simple, don’t read them Scott.

[scott]

Get off his back Scott old son!  I'll do the dishing out on what's appropriate and what's not thanks.... Isn't it what this site is around for you dolt!

Daniel how come you are never talking about theme parks whenever you post? Why are you only ever calling people dolt's or pointing out every single thing wrong in their posts? Yes,that's one of the reasons for this site,but there are just so many threads which end op on this track...and that's a good point Adam,I won't read you're threads,It's just when I see that there is a new post somewhere then I will always go to see what it is,however it is always a post about the same thing,which is what I find annoying. Daniel you're the obvious pick for choosing what's appropriate and what isn't aren't you?