Movie World Scheduled Maintenance 2024

[Naazon]

2 hours ago, themagician said:

I suspect that rivals repaint may have just been cancelled for this year and they’ll do it in next years maintenance (I don’t know for sure, but that’s what I’m thinking they’ll do).

It appears so.

 

[themagician]

1 hour ago, New display name said:

I can't remember MW ever doing a stage fit-out, can you?  DW did it with the kids zone but I don't recall MW doing one.

No neither, but if they want to minimise downtime of the ride that's already had extra downtime this year because of Flash construction, maintenance and hydraulic launch issues, amybe they should. The parks reputation is currently 'everything is closed' and 'it will probably break down'. So if they want to start to repair their image, they should stage or minimisise the amount of time the ride is closed again.

[New display name]

I like you your idea and MW should try and minimise the amount of time the ride is closed again.

55 minutes ago, Naazon said:

It appears so.

 

That is good news and hopefully we find out about the best Aussie ride, SM.

[Gazza]

What does SM stand for?

Superman Mscape?

[New display name]

27 minutes ago, Gazza said:

What does SM stand for?

Superman Mscape?

What a dumb question when you already know the answer. /s

Edited June 20 by New display name

[STRAWS]

Wild West Falls matainence has been extended 😒.

 

[Narra]

3 hours ago, STRAWS said:

Wild West Falls matainence has been extended 😒.

 

Down for the entire QLD school holiday period too, at least its winter so it probably wouldn't have been that popular even if it was open

[Naazon]

Small thin white writing with big bright yellow backing. Great. Very easy to read.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

On 20/06/2024 at 9:13 AM, New display name said:

I can't remember MW ever doing a stage fit-out, can you?  DW did it with the kids zone but I don't recall MW doing one.

I can't remember Sea World ever doing a wooden coaster before covid, can you?

On 20/06/2024 at 11:53 AM, New display name said:

What a dumb question when you already know the answer. /s

*cough* PICO *cough*

[New display name]

1 hour ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

I can't remember Sea World ever doing a wooden coaster before covid, can you?

*cough* PICO *cough*

[Tricoart]

One frame, one coaster, 3 separate coats/colours of paint.

Edited June 24 by Tricoart

[Dean Barnett]

Why can’t they just paint it after hours? 

[Narra]

1 minute ago, Dean Barnett said:

Why can’t they just paint it after hours? 

They likely contract the work out and don't want to pay more to have them there at night, plus on cold nights it may not dry in time for testing in the morning

[Tricoart]

26 minutes ago, Dean Barnett said:

Why can’t they just paint it after hours? 

Yes, have several workers pull consistent all-nighters so they can bring cranes into the ride envelope, paint a couple track pieces if they’re lucky, then remove ‘em all by the time testing begins in the morning, at which point none of the paint will have dried & the only thing that’s pink’ll be the train. That sounds both ethical, logical, and financially viable.

Edited June 25 by Tricoart

[Themepark Enthusist]

I don't think the paint is that big of a deal 🤷

[Dean Barnett]

heard of roadworks?

[Brad2912]

1 hour ago, Dean Barnett said:

heard of roadworks?

yeah, they are completely unrelated to theme park roller coasters.

[STRAWS]

2 hours ago, Dean Barnett said:

heard of roadworks?

Such a stupid comment I mean really Dean even you know better.

49 minutes ago, Brad2912 said:

yeah, they are completely unrelated to theme park roller coasters.

The fact hes tried to comprare this .

Edited June 25 by STRAWS

[Naazon]

6 hours ago, STRAWS said:

Such a stupid comment I mean really Dean even you know better.

I genuinely don't think he does.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

12 hours ago, Dean Barnett said:

Why can’t they just paint it after hours? 

Because they're experts in their field of expertise and know better than you do.

[themagician]

12 hours ago, Dean Barnett said:

Why can’t they just paint it after hours? 

Because the cost to do these works at night would be so much higher it would probably cost more than what it would to repaint the whole track. Plus all the other reasons people have given.

No need to rush the repaint when they can just do it during next years maintenance. I’d rather have the ride open for the rest of the year than close for a month or two (again) just for a repaint.

But also another reason would be because reopening it hours after it has just been painted would cause a lot of issues for the rides operation and we’d end up with a situation where it valleys again (and we know how long it took them to reopen it after that happened). After Superman Escape was repainted several years ago, the ride reopened a week after the painting was finished and it had several rollbacks because the paint needed to wear down. If I remember correctly, the ride was closed for even longer because they had to do extensive testing to ensure it wouldn’t happen again.

[Gazza]

12 hours ago, Dean Barnett said:

Why can’t they just paint it after hours? 

I'm presuming you want them to paint it at night so they can run the ride during the day?

They use a specialised Jotun coating, the stuff is great, but can be easily dinged up if touched while still curing. The consistency is kind of like a starburst chewy lolly when drying.

https://www.parkz.com.au/photo/14398-Movie_World_hypercoaster_construction/gallery/sort/oldest/location/dc-rivals-hypercoaster/offset/135

There's no feasible way you could do paint and then have trains running on it the next morning.

 

[Tricoart]

Not scheduled maintenance 'cause they don't seem to have that on their site as openly anymore, but moreso pointing out an obvious sign that maintenance is needed.

In a recent video posted by @Ogre, DC Rivals' lift has begun to make a very noticeable ARB noise. I haven't heard it ever do this, and as far as I know all Mack ARB's are designed to be silent when in proper working order. Having a look their 1993 ARB patent (which could very well not be the exact same ARB design on Rivals, but is the closest with a patent they own), it states that they use friction wheels/disks to keep the pawl raised above the rack during general movement, as to prevent unnecessary noise, vibrations, etc. That ARB design seems to have been implemented on all post-patent models, with a 1988 Bobsled (Avalanche @ Blackpool Pleasure Beach) having audible ARB's, and a 1994 build (Bobbahn @ Heide Park Resort) having their silent ones. 

To be clear, it also states that an audible noise doesn't mean safety is directly impeded, but it is an obvious marker that the ARB's need attention.

Quote

A substantial advantage of the device is that, in the event of weakening or total failure of the frictional coupling, the ratchet (21) automatically rests on the toothed rack under the influence of gravity, and so the normal safety action is not impaired. Furthermore, the resulting noise which is produced provides a signal that the frictional force is no longer adequate. In this case, the friction disks (3 and 4) must be replaced or the spring force of the springs (5) must be adjusted.

 

Edited September 15 by Tricoart

[TV15]

I'm not sure when TPO visited Movie World, but I made the mistake of visiting the park last Friday, and it was a terrible experience. I was going to write about it earlier but decided not to. DC Rivals didn’t open until around 1:15 pm—not great. Superman Escape was operating with just one train, leading to wait times between 50 and 70 minutes throughout the day. To make matters worse, Superman had horrendous dispatches, taking around 6 to 12 minutes per cycle. Somehow, FSF managed to dispatch twice in the time it took for Superman to send out one on numerous occasions.

I finally unlocked the rare achievement of being on a Movie World ride during a breakdown. After all the restraints were checked, the hydraulic cylinders released, but the floor didn’t lower. A few cycles later, I heard the female voice announcement confirming that the ride had officially broken down, with the floor failing to raise.

8 hours ago, Tricoart said:

To be clear, it also states that an audible noise doesn't mean safety is directly impeded, but it is an obvious marker that the ARB's need attention.

Referring to Hyperia for comparison, as it's better documented, the first car and the fifth car (I’d assume the sixth car for DC Rivals) have the ARB and Catch Dog mounted below. 

I’m fairly certain that the loud thuds and bangs we hear at the base of the lift hill and at the top when it detaches are caused when the chain dog engages and disengages with the chain. Through elimination, we can rule out the chain dog, since if it were faulty, the train wouldn’t be able to crest the lift hill. It’s the ARB that seems to be the issue. The banging noise we’re hearing now is likely from the back ARB, as it doesn’t start until the rear of the train engages with the chain.

My guess is that Movie World has ordered the necessary part from Mack Rides, but given the recent serious ride issues that VRTP Theme Parks has been experiencing, I wonder why they haven’t just swapped Train 1 with Train 2 to avoid guests becoming paranoid that the ride will break down, because it turns everyone's head in the queue.

You can check out a full train walkunder here: https://youtu.be/Y-GwjdXHlwg?t=702

[Tricoart]

1 hour ago, TV15 said:

I finally unlocked the rare achievement of being on a Movie World ride during a breakdown. After all the restraints were checked, the hydraulic cylinders released, but the floor didn’t lower. A few cycles later, I heard the female voice announcement confirming that the ride had officially broken down, with the floor failing to raise.

FSF was also my first coaster breakdown/‘evac’, welcome to the club!

But yeah, the sound is almost definitely the ARB. Not necessarily a safety issue, as the patent I linked states, but definitely one that should still be rectified, and one that reflects poorly ‘til they do.

Edited September 15 by Tricoart