WLS...Best? Fairest?.. Who remembers these Moments Awards?

[mnemo]

Just thought I'd start a thread for weird memories.. purely indulgent.. but who gives a hey.. ...the launch/media night of "Action Man".. anyone there will agree.. how the Marketing Dept kept that out of the papers I'll never know.. just proved the size/length of u're hose does matter... Great ending tho.. pity it wasn't actually scripted.. .. Good old Oh'Garth'rum. (yeah u tell me how to spell it) the epitomy of "somethings coming" culminating in "oh crap something went wrong" type of incident .. again.. some'things' caught fire.. the audience thought it was great!!.. Fire on the Hill!! Fire on the Hill.!!!..pity the fire didn't go as far as Gold Nugget Theatre.. what? personal preference.. so sue me! Anyone remember the opening of 'The Beach'??.. pools were half full.. 90% mud... Yeah Mick P. Someone remembers.. u sod.. lolnot Security Lads .. Honourable Mention.. deciding to test the Jets Ski's..at midnight..pity Lakeside was in the way.. should I mention Hovercrafts??.. naaah.. and.. who was pulled over in the Flinstones Mobile.. on the M4 !!.. legends!!! aah yes.. the day we welcomed our 1 millionth visitor.. we flattened the whole 'lucky' family in front of Chan's 7, 9 and 10.. Who said confetti bombs don't hurt..?? again.. kudo's to the Marketing dudes.. I could list a thousand successful moments.. but the F'ups seem funnier..? just me???

[Spotty]

^ LMAO!!! Someone DROVE the Flintstones Mobile on the M4! I would have paid good money to see that one!!

[Wazza1]

Just thought I'd start a thread for weird memories.. purely indulgent.. but who gives a hey.. ...the launch/media night of "Action Man".. anyone there will agree.. how the Marketing Dept kept that out of the papers I'll never know.. just proved the size/length of u're hose does matter... Great ending tho.. pity it wasn't actually scripted.. and.. who was pulled over in the Flinstones Mobile.. on the M4 !!.. legends!!! I could list a thousand successful moments.. but the F'ups seem funnier..? just me???

Hrmm a very interesting thread. I too remember the Action Man Media launch, deary deary me, too much pyrotechnics me thinks. I think personally the most amusing thing I ever saw was someone trying to put a train away at Bush Beast (lets call him Mr D), holding open the transfer brake and seeing the train go quite quickly into the garage, hit the stoppers at the end and the front two carriages pop up into the air and fall over the end of the track to be just hanging there in the air while the rest of the train was in the garage, I was laughing very hard untill a man with a very thick english accent (wonder who that could be??) told me that it was not funny. Or perhaps the day that some clown managed to leave a wrench in the back of one of the SP cabins that fell out and gouged a hole in the concrete when it fell out on the first cycle of the day. But good times were also had. I remember riding on Aqua tube with 3 boats tied together and 20 people crammed into the 3 boats, I have never gone down there so fast in my life. It was every man for himself at the bottom of the runout as you tried to stop before the end. Edited October 3, 2006 by Wazza1

[Bussy]

I'm still trying to decipher the first post. But yeah good times were had. I remember the shifter on Space Probe and the hole it left. We used to scare guests by getting a bolt and pretending it had come off the ride (Probe, Demon or Bush Beast) as the ride was dispatched. It was usually the mothers who would give us heaps when they got back but could always see the funny side. I could go on for pages and pages with crazy stuff we did or saw. "The Bus is now leaving for Crazy Corner, Western Australia"

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

I could go on for pages and pages with crazy stuff we did or saw.

Well.... no time like the present Bussy....??? I remember the filming they did in 2001 around the park. A group of actors and a film crew roving the park shooting lots of stuff. Endeavour was particularly funny. The camera crew wanted to record the family on endeavour, but of course, when Endeavour cycles, it tilts. Undercarriage and machinery made for lousy filming.... so what do you do? Hold down the button used to align the gangplank after the cycle, and just let it spin.... Of course, the operator at the time wasn't too sure of this, and I think a certain park supervisor came down to "give the ok". Well, of course, as you can imagine, nothing went wrong... until the operator released the button. For those unaware, Endeavour brakes by simply locking up the tyres used to spin the ship. This is a simple system in itself because the only time these wheels would lock up is when the ship is turning very slowly as the operator trys to stage the platform. So after letting it free spin without check for almost ten minutes, and then locking up the tyres... anybody guess what happened? Then there was the goldrush theming. A cool autumn day as I recall, when a woman and her group were sitting by Snowy watching their family ride. The wooden troughs that wound their way through goldrush overhead had been standing for a few years, and the trough over the observation area decided now was a good time to collapse right on top of them. I think it was a narrow escape... but the next day maintenance had removed every last one of the troughs that passed over pedestrian areas, and planted small flowers in the holes they left. Now to rehash an old classic story told on these boards a couple of times - but the time Skyrider locked up (like it never happened before....) and Zoe attended the HB station to supervise. She came out over the loudspeaker to the passengers (did i mention the loudspeakers were mounted on EVERY pole of skyrider throughout the park?)... and after addressing the guests with the usual "working on the situation, we'll have you down soon" speech, she put the microphone down, forgot to turn it off, and several thousand guests throughout the park heard her utter (shout) some very rude language... Then of course theres the composure our security control room showed... I was at a post that required a radio, and as I would not need to be contacted, I only needed the radio to make contact myself, I would frequently listen in on the operations channel. It went something like this: Operator: Dodgems to Post Post: go ahead Operator: i've got a fire on the floor of dodgems Post: Say Again? Operator: Fire at dodgems Post: Dodgems go to Channel 9 immediately. The operator had announced a fire on a ride in plain english on a channel open across most of the park - every operations person with a radio heard that, along with every guest in their vicinity. The action man crew also did quite well. I remember being the photographer for one of their shows, and seeing Dr X land quite badly after a particular stunt. He seemed to favour it a bit, but continued to do the whole show. At the end of the show, after posing for photos, I found out X had a badly sprained ankle, and he still completed the rest of the show despite the pain. My last story for the moment involved every single person in the park hearing a rather loud bang. The was of course when the cable snapped on demon, and - bogey and all, came rushing through the station, damaging several brake points and a few wheels as the bogey's under carriage entered the station.

[SP7Queen]

One of my favourite stories was the 2 guys working on Probe let 2 young male guests ride with ONLY shirts and shoes (nothing else) taking the safety/dress rules to the letter. Needless to say I don't know if the next year on park service as punishment made it worth their while!

[Bussy]

We used to go on the slides at the beach after it had closed for the day and do things like use food trays (which didn't work very well), also head first down the freefall slide or two people at a time. There were several Butcher Birds around the park that liked to swoop people (like Magpies do). One in particular lived around the rainbow on the hill at Zodiac and one morning a certain operations manager was walking up the hill doing a park walk before opening, she was talking to the cleaners on the radio (she also probably had the mobile to her head, cigarette in the mouth and a coffee somewhere there too), when the bird came down from behind her and clipped her ear causing her to scream while broadcasting and drop the radio. Everyone on the channel heard and pissed themselves laughing. We used to hold onto the outside of Zodiac as it was lifting and drop off about 2 meters off the ground the people in the carriage would have no idea what was going on. Or we would pick who looked the most frightened and give the carriage a big spin as it got off the ground. I can still hear the screams. "The Bus is now leaving for Butcher Bird Battery, Western Australia"

[Spotty]

That would have been... um... interesting to see lol

[rappa]

I think what's missing from here are some Snowy Stories... like for instance what happend the day of the Total Thrills meet. Keep the stories coming guys, very interesting stuff.

[Richard]

Oh absolutely. Fill us in on the Snowy River Rampage story. The dozen or so of us who were there that day have been in the dark for 2.5 years now! As Clint said, this has been great reading. I'm sure you all still have plenty more to coem. Just a shame it takes the closure of the park to get all this out - makes you wonder what's gone on at our Gold Coast parks behind the scenes over the past 20-odd years.

[Bussy]

Was that when Snowy was closed for the afternoon and Bush Beast was closed for sometime as well? "The Bus is now leaving for The Mystery, NSW"

[Daniel]

That wouldn't have been when little kiddy fell in would it?

[rappa]

I'm guessing that was probably the case. We were just in Gold Rush and all the suits, security and everyone else came running through the park. Then yes, they went and closed Snowy and Beast for quite a while. My guess is Beast was closed to stop you being able to see what was going on from up there? As for the GC parks, yes would certainly be just as many stories up here. I know quite a few, but like these guys aren't going to say a word as long as I value my job

[Bussy]

As you probably know there were 4 CCTV camera's around the trough of Snowy. These went back to the operators booth. Anyway the operator saw someone fall over the side of one of the boats at the second set of water spouts. The operator did the right thing and hit the e-stop and contacted security. I was the Beach supervisor at the time so I grabbed a oxy-viva and ran to Snowy. By the time I got there the other supervisors and managers were talking to everyone in the boats, which were all in the dock area (bottom of the lift), to find out who was missing. After several minutes it became apparent that nobody knew what had happened. We spoke to the operators to find out how many people had been in the boat or if they knew which boat it was. It became apparent that the boat in question had two girls in it who were about 12-14 old. When we asked them about it again they were very reluctant to tell us what had happened. When they finally did it turns out that one of the girls hats had blown off into the water. What the operator had seen was the girl leaning over the edge of the boat to get the hat back. It turns out that the hats was her Dad's and when she had left home in the morning her Dad had told her not to bother coming home if she lost the hat. In the end the whole trough was drained including the dock area and a complete walk of the trough was done just to make sure that no one had actually drowned. In the end the ride was closed for several hours and didn't re-open that day. It seems like a lot of bother for just a hat but we had to make sure that no one had actually gone over into the water. "The Bus is now leaving for Soakage Well & Trough, South Australia"

[Wazza1]

In the end the whole trough was drained including the dock area and a complete walk of the trough was done just to make sure that no one had actually drowned. In the end the ride was closed for several hours and didn't re-open that day. It seems like a lot of bother for just a hat but we had to make sure that no one had actually gone over into the water. "The Bus is now leaving for Soakage Well & Trough, South Australia"

I remember one day when there was a Charlie at snowy, (a few years ago now) when the water drained out, one of the boats came to rest ontop of one of the logs that made the rapids about halfway around the ride, it did not make it around to the dock area. I remember that the guests had to be exacuated out of the boat from in the trough and walked along the trough and out of the ramp near T1

[Daniel]

Hence why shoes were compulsory as much as knobs whinged about it...

[rappa]

Yeah it's funny that nobody ever thinks the reason why you have to wear your shoes is not so obvious. I will never understand though why all of these requirements go out the window with something like Lethal Weapon. Thank god we got to ride Valhala at Blackpool without shoes though

[joz]

Because the likelihood of a shoe flying off and hitting someone in the head is much more likely, (and more damaging) then stepping on a splinter on a cherry picker. Same with Claw, GD and pretty much any ride with no floor. Besides that, the guest is also likely to loose said shoes on the rides, requiring a person to retrieve them, wasting time and possibly causing an operational delay.

[rappa]

Sorry I phrased that badly, and upon re-reading it now seems pretty dumb. What I shiould have said is that I find it funny that shoes ARE of great importance on rides with a floor but on those without it suddenly doesn't matter as much. Makes the reasons for wearing them on floored rides kind of redundant. Then again... just wear your shoes you damn bogans

[Richard]

Hence why shoes were compulsory as much as knobs whinged about it...

Haha Daniel... you've been sorely missed around these parts.

[Daniel]

I try and stick my head in and check things out every now and then Richo old son.

[mnemo]

Hey... shoes?? geez. .. This thread "was" dedicated to fond memories...... .. as in..... The day Scooby Doo lost his head into the Lake.. during a one-off HB dance rep on the Wharf stage... much horrified kids.. mortified Stage Manager.. .. bemused Audio guy tho.. wonder if they sold the park inc. head.. sunk. OK .. I can't remember the gig.. or who played.. but basically the entire Lighting Rig blew into the Lake.. again off the Wharf .. mortified Contractor this time.. lots of hair-dryers and angst behind admin... AWL closed the Front Gate.... no more allowed in !! Has a QLD park been that full??!!! Thats one for Richard methinks... I'll check with my other-half... she was posted outside the Ticket Gates.. Marketing nightmare.. but thats why they get paid the big bucks.....heheh..(if ure wondering why i don't just ask her.. check the time i posted this thang) During a Pirate Stunt Show a female acro lost her grip doing a 'giant' and managed to punch a 50c size hole into her skull.. followed by a pat on the head by a compatriot who apparently sez "C'mon.. the show must go on..!" ... ?? Does anyone remember those Pirate Shows??. geez if anything established AWL as a "Park" it was the Stunt shows.. and of course the Gymnasts and Acrobats were shy/retiring types by nature.. pfft .. yup .. ask Shaz about the sunbathing sessions behind admin .. Altho no comparison to the bronzed Audio lads of course.. but we had morals.. and wives..... .. OK ..... Add more memories.. no shoes RN P.S. Late thought... not relevant tho....the night ... at a 'get to know the management' BBQ my 2nd in charge stole the CEO's Dimple Scotch.. wtg Rob

[mnemo]

C'mon ppl.. there are a million memories to be shared here.. Does anyone remember the 2nd (or was it 3rd?? ....anyone remember the first??!! anyway..) Dinosaur exhibit/thingy in HB theatre? We actually got to do some serious damage - in the name of entertainment, of course! - to a dead air-o-plane!. Inc. blow-torching a skeleton to make him look like a crisp pilot. and... I've never eaten a meat pie since I found out the best way to make a fake bubbling 'tar-pit' is to use the same chemical thats used in gravy.. that stuff lasted 2 months in that tub. ... i kinda recall the first exhibit/thingy/fiasco was happily lounged in Picnic Grove.. when it was Picnic Grove.. before many a rename. or try this.. True or False?... A little known reason the Putt-Putt Course got a gig in AWL was the CEO had a bet with his 2IC he was a better golfer? The max. speed of a Dodgem car is proportional to the alcohol intake of a Rides Mech. at the christmas party? pls..chip in..

[Bussy]

I meant to reply to this when the shoe issue came up. I wasn't there for this one but during an attractions staff party they had Dragon's Flight running. One of the supervisors was standing just outside the operators booth when a shoe smacked her clean on the cheek giving her a nice shoe print for a few days. "The Bus is now leaving for Shoeing Tool Bore, Northern Territory"

[Daniel]

I think it's still there...