Construction underway on Movie World's newest ride

[rappa]

The ride is currently testing. They will be doing filming on monday for the commercial and it still looks like public opening is slated for Boxing Day.

[MickeyD]

Update on Ozcoaster! Looken good

[tom]

Everything seems to have gone quiet. About a week ago everyone was hyped as the tower seemed to go up overnight. Do we have an open date yet?

There is an update on OzCoaster. It shows everything mostly completed. Except maybe themeing. But the gondla is there with seats and the like.... etc.

[zane]

DO YOU'S KNOW IF IT WILL BE IN TEST MODE TOMOZ? (SATERDAY)

[Chaos-Maniac]

http://ozcoaster.net/content/view/37/1/ WOW. It really looks good. Do we know if there is a theme to this or not? Like, a scenario for the ride. EXAMPLE; Superman has the earthquake in the subway.

[myk]

The ride was testing today. It shoots up really fast, then goes down, then shoots up, then goes down, 4 times this happens and then lowers. It is really loud you can hear the air pumping from looney tunes. Also I think the speed is varying because they kept changing the speed of it

[zane]

so would you say it will be in test mode on saturday?

[myk]

Yeah definately.

[zane]

looks like i'm off to movie world tomorrow!!!!! (i cant wait to see this thing in op!-so excited)

[zane]

yes they were testing yesterday and training staff that also went on and the park engineers did too, it's a very fast ride ride, over in like 5sec and then it just bounces back down, thats it, the theming is done, however the bat car is not at the arch yet but the other car is (around the other side) its brand new too. they were instaling the exit path gates and around the ride itself I was talking to a worker there and he said that when it goes up 3-4 meters off the ground to weigh the car, there will be steam/smoke that goes off that smothers the car when just about to launch, it will really add to the themeing

[Harrop]

Did you get to ride on it?

[zane]

no, its still a construction site

[Chaos-Maniac]

yes they were testing yesterday and training staff that also went on and the park engineers did too, it's a very fast ride ride, over in like 5sec and then it just bounces back down, thats it, the theming is done, however the bat car is not at the arch yet but the other car is (around the other side) its brand new too. they were instaling the exit path gates and around the ride itself I was talking to a worker there and he said that when it goes up 3-4 meters off the ground to weigh the car, there will be steam/smoke that goes off that smothers the car when just about to launch, it will really add to the themeing

Photos? Also, what is the "theming"? Like, does the ride have a scenario? EXAMPLE: Superman has the earthquake in the subway. Does Batwing have this?

[Swanny]

Also, what is the "theming"? Like, does the ride have a scenario? EXAMPLE: Superman has the earthquake in the subway. Does Batwing have this?

I'd say that is the last thing on MW's mind at the moment. They would be more focused on testing at getting all construction and theming completed. I doubt we'll know for a few days.

[myk]

If there is it certainly doesn't look like it. There is an arch saying which way to go for the rides, gotham city style, But... other than the cars and the thing at the top of the tower it doesn't look like there is going to be much more themeing. It would be impossible to get a structure up for queue gates by Saturday. Im guessing its outdoor with shade sails.

[Chaos-Maniac]

I'd say that is the last thing on MW's mind at the moment. They would be more focused on testing at getting all construction and theming completed. I doubt we'll know for a few days.

That really makes no sense. The scenario is part of the theming. It whats the theming. Imagen SuperMan Escape with no scenario to it, You wouldn't have a subway earthquake.

If there is it certainly doesn't look like it. There is an arch saying which way to go for the rides, gotham city style, But... other than the cars and the thing at the top of the tower it doesn't look like there is going to be much more themeing. It would be impossible to get a structure up for queue gates by Saturday. Im guessing its outdoor with shade sails.

I think this has already been established that it'll be an outdoor ride. However, Where are the shade sails going? Over the queue area, or everywhere? I think they should stick to all the trees like with Batman; The Ride 2.

[Richard]

The queue for Batwing will be half of the under-utilised Batman Adventure queue, which is heavily shaded by the trees that were planted in the queue as part of the original ride's theming. Other than the ride's equipment and control rooms the area should be fairly open to maximise the impact of the ride.

[Gazza]

Going by what Ian has said previously there wont be a story as such, but the theming will be good, so I'm guessing it will be up to riders to sort of construct their own ideas as to what is happening. I think it will simply be a case of riders being in the Batwing as it takes off, and the smoke that is will engulf the launch area before lift off seems to reflect this.

[rappa]

Okay so I will state firstly that the ride is STILL NOT completed and NOT yet open to the public. There is still work to be done on the fencing around the ride itself and the paths that lead up to and away from it. Other than that the ride is complete and fully operational. I firstly wanted to address the 'expert inside info' provided by a few posters. As I have always said it is a SIXTEEN person gondola (4x4) and the ride model is a SPACE SHOT, not a combo tower. I rode the ride this morning a bit over a dozen times (that was enough for me, 4 or 5 rides non stop on a space shot starts to take its toll on your insides). Having been on at least half a dozen of these over the world I would have to say this is probably my second favourite, coming in second the the Stratosphere. The strat model has its location but mostly its an older design where by the cables only run half way up the tower so you get a floating sensation when you go above the top pulleys and then slam back down, quite cool. Batwing however has one of the best 'kicks' to its launch of any of the others, much better certainly that the maliboomer and doctor doom. What makes Batwing great is you have so much close around it that the height factor is really added to. When you launch and you are looking down on Superman's tophat you really feel pretty damn high. I must say I am impressed with the 'presentation' (I wouldn't go as far as saying it's impressive theming) of the ride and it's exceed my expectations, or fears. The gondola has hard signage, not the usual cheap cable tied vinyl stuff, the concrete all around the ride has an awesome texture to it and the vehicles and other touches around the area really add to it. There are some special effects added to the ride to enhance the launch but I'm not going to tell you anything about them, wait and see. As I said there is still work to be done but the ride is expected to open for the Looney Tunes Christmas event later this week. All in all definately a plus for the park, and certainly enjoyable and re-ridable (maybe just not a dozen times in a row).

[Gazza]

Would have you had a role in installing any of these effects But good review, it sounds intense (And i thought Superman was, but then again you can ride that thing many more times in a row before feeling even slightly queasy) which is a good thing, theres nothing like those rides you need to take a break after, and it could work well to discourage excessive re-riding. The theming is about as I expected it, but then again it is a space shot so there isn't that much they could really do without running out of space or blocking the view for bystanders. But at least it is presentable, and will probably look quite nice when it is fully established. But one other thing, from what you could see how was the capacity aspect? Was it easy to get on and off, and will the ops be able to work comfortably and effectivley? Oh, and im guessing the rides storage is simply putting it on the ground at the bottom and no bloody lockers.

[Harrop]

.... and no bloody lockers.

Yeah that is a complete joke with SE - rip off !!!!

[rappa]

Well the fencing and loose articles storage wasn't complete yesterday but I'm guessing by now it is. From what I know of it will just be like all other space shots out there, buckets in front of the seats to leave your crap on. The ride should be pretty efficient, it will likely operate with a crew of 3 and maybe 2 when not busy, it took about 20-30secs between dispatches yesterday. It's certainly a ride that is waaaaay better to ride than you would think from simply watching it, so no one get dissapointed just yet.

[PattieBoi]

Batwing in Action! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1hkHx6bHN8&NR

[PattieBoi]

Are there on-ride Camera's on Batwing?

[Gazza]

It certainly looks impressive, the launch looked very quick, and the directional change at the top looked fast too, airtime anyone? What people need to remember though is that travelling vertically gives a very different feeling to doing the same horizontally. So speeding up to 60km/h in a car might only be slightly thrilling, but shooting up a tower would be much more forceful. I think the camera perspective didnt help either as it looks shorter from that angle. Also, i think we could be waiting a little while for the ride to look its best, it appears there are hedges planted around the loading area, and once these mature it will look very gotham city esque. Perhaps the only aspect i think could be improved is the downwards part, it would have been cool to pull up a little closer to ground level. As always though, i have a couple of questions. -How much did this thing cost? They usually say this sort of stuff, but im guessing about $4 mil -Will onride photos be avaliable? -Was that motor sound you could hear at the start the air system, or simply a circular saw being used by someone doing the finishing touches?

Edited December 20, 2006 by Gazza