Bush Beast Down!

[Flea]

I went for my weekly trip to Wonderland today, expecting to meet a fellow member of these forums, Jaggie. I waited at the front of the gates for Wonderland (since it was only 9:50am, 10 minutes before opening), and talked to Wonderland's best customer, Kevin. He told me that he has got 11, 260 rides on Space Probe. Crazy. Anyway, onto the point. After riding Space Probe, Demon and talking to ride op friends Billy and Michelle, I decided to go down to TBB, just for the sake of it. I noticed that Goldrush was rather quiet, much quieter than any other time I've been to Wonderland. Why could this be? I continued my forever-long walk down to TBB, and noticed the entrance to the coaster roped off, with a sign saying.. This ride is currently under refurbishment for your future enjoyment Normally when this sign is placed, it means the ride is closed for a few hours while maintainence do some minor adjustments to the ride. I tried looking for any crew working on the ride, but not one soul was in the station, nor anywhere near the ride. I had to find out what was going on, I just had to! I ended up catching Billy while he was walking to HMS Endeavour to operate it for a little while. So I asked him.. Billy, what's going on with Bush Beast? Response: The ride is going to be closed for 2-3 weeks, they're fixing the ride up. That's all I managed to get out of him, since he was caught up with fellow staff members. Now, what does this mean? 2-3 weeks of down time is a lot, could this mean a complete retrack? Or modifications to the trains? It's exciting news to know that Wonderland is finally doing something with this horrible, horrible ride. I'd like to mention this, but the red train was the only train operating during the school holidays. The yellow train was no where in sight, not on the transfer track, not on the track.. nowhere. For those also wondering, I spent the day with myself. I failed to find Jaggie, but maybe that's just because I didn't know what his visual was. Or maybe he just didn't come at all.. oh well, it was a great day! I also brang my Space Probe ride count up to 280, making a total of 30 rides on Space Probe today! Thanks to Billy & Michelle for making this a great (and informative) day, ~Flea

[Richard]

Almost certainly not a full retracking - you'd need a bit more than a few weeks for a retracking. I'd expect, if anything, that they're fixing problem areas of track, replacing sections of wood, maybe giving the trains a quick rehab while they're at it.

[Nightshifter]

the information i received on the bush beast is that they are either fixing the track because it is rusted by greasing it or spraying it or something. or they are completing or continuing their process of replacing the old wood with new wood. i have noticed that in the last year with brand new wood on the real old rotten pieces. definately not retracking the ride. wonderland would not go to that extreme of retracking a ride even in 2 - 3 weeks and everybody in this forum is very keen on getting wonderland information and they would have already picked up info saying if there would be retracking. they closed the river rampage in that time slot to refurbish the ride, but in extreme cases i really think they are fixing the queue lines or the entrance to the bush beast by maybe repainting the station or putting a new design on the trains at the front.

[Jaggie]

i went liam today but couldn't find you mate. Billy was at the bmx show today ushering in people. he said hey and that he wanted to see the show so he did the show ushering and did a swap with two other staff. I was there 10:35 till 2:45 wat time were u there?

[GoGoBoy]

I haven't been on TBB for years but I remember it used to be a great fun ride. Sad to hear it is so horrible now. Has it really become that rough? There is really no excuse for letting something go like that. What is the point of spending millions of dollars on a ride if they can't maintain it? Wonderland should be especially careful with their maintenace considering the fact they hardly ever add new attractions... they really need all their rides to last a lifetime. By the way Flea, you are a great information resource on park developments (especially when you stick to the topic). You are certainly providing a lot more new info than anyone else on this forum. Keep it up!

[Andy_q69]

Well, the last few times I've been to Wonderland, the Bush Beast has: -Had a broken airgate -Was closed down for an hour -Has two stuck lapbars -No yellow train in the transfer track -The whole train had to be fixed so it went outside near the transfer track, went on brakes and got fixed by mechanics -Chain lift went psycho when going up -Got tested 2 times without the crowd being told what was happening There are A LOT of reasons why they have shut this Beast down. To get this roughness a little 'unrough', get the trains fixed, get the airgates fixed, and to clean a few things in the station, (Because there are lamps covered in lots of layers of cobwebs, etc) the path outside because when it rains the path is VERY slippery. (I like to skid down there when that happens ) So yeah, there are plenty of reasons why it is down and there are some we probably don't know of..

[Flea]

By the way Flea, you are a great information resource on park developments (especially when you stick to the topic). You are certainly providing a lot more new info than anyone else on this forum. Keep it up!

Thankyou! That's certainly something that I love to hear It could just be annual maintenance, I do recall that last year the ride was down for a little while. Hopefully, they'll fix up the first drop, I've literally smahed into the person next to me while going down that dreadful drop, let alone doing harm to myself (smashing my nose on the buzz bar, which caused my nose to severe bleeding). The Bush Beast seems to be the park's most popular attraction, even though it's a piece of crap. I've found myself running to the ride, along with many, many others.. just to get beat up. Can anyone imagine TBB with horsecollars? Although it would never happen, it would become Thudnerbolt Snr. My digital camera is about to be sent away for it's fix, so as soon as I get it back, I'll take another trip to wonderland and get pics of what's happening at TBB. Thanks, ~Liam

[GoGoBoy]

Isnt it still school holidays? I find it very strange that Wonderland would close any major ride during their most busy period unless there was a very serious reason for it. It would certainly be in their best interest to have all rides up and running during any holiday periods (even towards the end of the holidays). I think there must be some fairly serious probs.

[Andy_q69]

Flea and I have just came back from another exhausting ride at Wonderland. Unfortunately, TBB was closed again (of course!). We stayed in Transylvania for the WHOLE day and rode Demon and SP. Well, we did happen to go to the pay phones at the ticket booths at the front just to confront a few mishaps with the call I made, but not going off topic, I don't think I'll mention that (hahaha ). Something tradgic happened today while queuing for the Demon. We were waiting there are I was staring at the Zodiac. I kept a close eye on it and it came to my senses that the ride was stuck! :shock: I go to Flea, "Errrr.. The Zodiac is stuck!" and then Liam RAN to see what happened. I didn't follow him because I was keeping our spot in the Demon queue because we were in two goes. I was up to the airgates and was hoping he would come back, but he didn't, so then I had a ride on the Demon, car 2 which was one of the roughest rides I've ever had on Demon. When I exited I only knew one place where he could be... Near the Zodiac of course! So I ran up and met him there. He told me that a toddler (about three years of age) went up and ran in the loading platform when the cars were coming down. He used hand gestures to measure how much he was this close to being crushed by the cars. The ride op used the emergency stop button when he saw the kid run there and was informing about 20 people in the cars up above what had happened. Overall, the ZOdiac was out of service for about 10-15 minutes.

[Jaggie]

one of my friends brothers went to the park last monday or tuesday i think and he told me that the bush beast was closed from about 12:30 on and there were ambulances that came screaming around the corner and into the park. There were 3 ambulances. Someone must have got hurt because the wouldn't have closed it then half way thru the holidays.

[Andy_q69]

So your thinking that is what happened to TBB? It sounds a good reason to me!

[Flea]

From what Billy told me, it's just annual maintainance. Nothing to get excited about really! ~Flea

[GoGoBoy]

I think jaggie is probably right. It is extremely unlikely that Wonderland would close TBB for annual maintenance during a holiday period. Ride attendants are sworn to secrecy when it comes to certain things, particularly incidents which might have occured in the park. It can cost them their jobs otherwise. I know for a fact that Wonderland is quite good at keeping things quiet when accidents occur. Most parks do this otherwise it can damage their reputation. I know of at least 2 fatalities at Wonderland which happened a few years back. Neither of these were due to ride faults.

[DJKostya]

This may just be my imagination but didn't TBB have a small fire on it a while back and had a small section replaced just after the second drop i think it was. I dunno it may have just been a rumour that I heard. It doesn't surprise me that someone could have been hurt on TBB i've banged my knees against the square metal box at the front of each car. But on the flip side someone could have already had a condition and just ignored the warning sign. Back pain etc. TBB would definatley agrivate old injurys like this.

[screammachine]

I know exactly what you mean with the square metal boxes. I'v banged my knees on those aswell. Unlucky for me I was wearing shorts and to my surpise it bled a fair bit. But there hasnt been once where I have not been on the ride and some how manage to hurt myself.

[thunder001]

This may just be my imagination but didn't TBB have a small fire on it a while back and had a small section replaced just after the second drop i think it was. I dunno it may have just been a rumour that I heard.

There was a small grass fire that caused some of the timber to "LOOK" burnt. The park took the chance to change those timbers during it's annual maintance. I will look into the down time for TBB and see what the parks responce is. Do you know the TRUE DAY that the ambulance was seen in the park? I need the details to be as true as they can so the Main Office will give the correct info.

[DJKostya]

I thought i'd heard it thanks thunder. Do you know how the fire started?

[thunder001]

Start of fire was unknown

[Wonderland Operator]

the bush beast fire was the timber frame and it was started by welding being done my maintnance staff

[thunder001]

Start of Fire - Now Known, thanks dude!

[Slick]

does anyone have a list of all the incidents that have ever happened at WonderLand?

[Jaggie]

i spoke to the park today and the bush beast is closed because a workmen that was working on the ride was hurt. Thats all they told me!

[FormerWonderEmp]

Sometimes ride maintance cannot wait for the holidays to finish. In regards to the sign being out the front of the ride if it is closed for a hour or so is incorrect, the ride operator will stand out the front telling guests that the ride is currently closed and should reopen soon. WS has a policy of not telling guests time frames because another problem may arrise and delay the ride opening. If guests are told "come back in 15 min and it will be open" and a guest comes back 20 min later and the ride is not open guests will complain, not something management likes. I noticed on another subject someone saying that SP was noise and then stopped at the top, and the guests were asked to be test riders, i can tell everyone that whoeversaid that (im too lazy to go and find out) is full is *#@%. WS will NEVER have any one go on the ride to test it, this goes for not just guests but staff as well. ~ Former

[Flea]

I noticed on another subject someone saying that SP was noise and then stopped at the top, and the guests were asked to be test riders, i can tell everyone that whoeversaid that (im too lazy to go and find out) is full is *#@%.  WS will NEVER have any one go on the ride to test it, this goes for not just guests but staff as well. ~ Former

Sorry, I didn't mean that we were 'test dummies' for the ride. I over exaggerated. We were only the first people to get on the ride after the breakdown.. sorry for the confusion. ~Flea

[wonderservant]

i dont know where you get all your info from guys but i'm telling you now that most of you are just spreading roumours that are so not true. seriously the place just isnt that interesting.