New/Changed Theming

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Hi All Was at Movieworld yesterday, and besides it being overly busy, one thing I noticed was a few small changes to the theming on some rides. It appeared that WWF had more water in it than normal, or perhaps that was just the time of day and all sorts of other variables. However, Scooby Doo had been changed. The green 'false floor' effect created by the laser and smoke machine had been changed to a red laser, and it appeared the smoke wasn't working. Not sure if the smoke was removed or just not working that day. Any thoughts here? Also, on Superman Escape (when it was working) there was a new blast of air aimed at your ankles which either was new or I hadn't noticed before. Lethal Weapon (only running Blue train), however the train appeared to either be brand new or have alot of work done to it. The wheels looked quite new, the seats looked in incredibly good condition, as did the plastic on the back of the seats. It also felt alot smoother than normal, and the first part that appeared would hurt you is now after the sidewinder near the station. I also noticed on the helix the full effect of the G-Forces for the first time. However, just a quick question: has anybody ever seen the line back outside the cinema building? One other thing I noticed was that Batwing now has a phone in the operators section, which means it can now be loaded and unloaded by only one operator.

[lisalila]

Blue train looked brand new/touched up in Feb but it sure as heck wasn't any smoother. Hasn't the BW always had a phone there? I know when we were next on the ride broke down and the ride ops were on the phone to maintenance who then used the phone to call some other guy from maintenance.

[taronga]

Lethal Weapon (only running Blue train), however the train appeared to either be brand new or have alot of work done to it. The wheels looked quite new, the seats looked in incredibly good condition, as did the plastic on the back of the seats. It also felt alot smoother than normal, and the first part that appeared would hurt you is now after the sidewinder near the station. I also noticed on the helix the full effect of the G-Forces for the first time. However, just a quick question: has anybody ever seen the line back outside the cinema building?

The last time i can recall the line outside would have been sometime within the first 18 months of the ride opening. The line back then was still stretched beyond the chinatown alley onto main street, and wait times were about 1 hour.

[Gazza]

I don't see how LW could ever get significantly smoother, if you look up at the wheel assemblies when you ride you can clearly see that the up stop wheels and the side wheels dont always touch the track (you can clearly see this on the lift as the up stops wont be turning) so the roughness comes from it jiggling around the track, and unless you put bigger wheels on the trains, I don't know how rehabbing the train can make it more comfortable. A placebo effect perhaps? When I was there the final laser wasn't working, and the red one was there, a bit of a disappointment IMO as the green one hid the drop a bit better. Also, on SE where is this blast of air? Is it at the start of the launch when superman flies in?

[myk]

Nah it is way smoother, I rode it on Friday. My head only hurt a little bit when I got off and it went away soon after. The back seems to beat you around more than the front.

[saberon]

Nah it is way smoother, I rode it on Friday. My head only hurt a little bit when I got off and it went away soon after. The back seems to beat you around more than the front.

yeah i have noticed they have removed the Hazer/fog machine from the wildmouse section of the scoobydoo spooky coaster. the lasers in there seem to be quite tempremental. It was much better with the haze cause you could only see the lasers and it was very hard to see the track. but now its all very obvious.

[Gazza]

So what about that blast of air at your ankles on SE?

[MickeyD]

I rode Scooby the other day and there was some smoke out the back but not a lot.. The mirrors seemed to be gone from the floor though, maybe they are doing some work on it? Also, there is no air blast on your feet at Superman. Can you imagine the cost involved in such an effect??? Not to mention a point in doing it in the first place!!

[Gazza]

I rode Scooby the other day and there was some smoke out the back but not a lot.. The mirrors seemed to be gone from the floor though, maybe they are doing some work on it? Also, there is no air blast on your feet at Superman. Can you imagine the cost involved in such an effect??? Not to mention a point in doing it in the first place!!

Not much, just mount some air curtains horizontally beside the track and activate them as the train goes past. I don't know the whole story with this ankle blast thing, but I thought it would have been cool if a gust of air had accompanied the blue blur you see when Superman flies in to make it a bit more realistic.

[mickey_079]

What? What blur? When does he fly in or past or what ever it is? I noticed when I went (October), the blue train for lethal weapon was alot smoother. Maybe they dont use the fog because its just too expensive. And mirrors on the floor? I never knew there were mirrors on the floor. When you say more water... how so?

[MickeyD]

On Super before you launch and Superman supposedly comes to the rescue, there is an Intellabeam that streaks a blur of light on the wall beside the train to riders right hand side. There is no blast of air that accompanies this effect, well at least there never has been all the times I have rided. Maybe your referring to the steam coming out of the pipes at the start of the ride? anywho.. As for Scooby, it was built with Mirrors on the floor to add to the effect of height as well as the lasers. The fog juice machines should spray every time a new train enters the room. They are occasionally turned off if the fog gets too thick and spreads into the first part of the ride which is fitted with sensitive smoke detectors. For this reason, they may have toned it down to minimise the risk of costly visits from the Fire Brigade!

[mickey_079]

hmm interesting, I have never noticed the blur, next time I am up I will have a look. The last time I was there but you could barely hear superman speak, and when u were in the 2nd car you couldn't even hear him, just the catch car latch on. So the mirrors have been removed? When did this happen?

[TommyDig]

if there is no fog on scooby it will be really bad. the lasers and the fog made the ride

[Adam]

I couldn't agree more Tommy. It's a real shame seeing the main room with an insufficient level of fog. It really ruins that part of the ride.

[Chaos-Maniac]

As for Scooby, it was built with Mirrors on the floor to add to the effect of height as well as the lasers. The fog juice machines should spray every time a new train enters the room. They are occasionally turned off if the fog gets too thick and spreads into the first part of the ride which is fitted with sensitive smoke detectors. For this reason, they may have toned it down to minimise the risk of costly visits from the Fire Brigade!

Umm. Then make them not so sensitive? Or, why not put a door or something in to stop the smoke/fog going in? Plus, wouldn't it kinda look a bit better having fog (not as thick as the coaster part) throughout the 'spooky'/ghost train section too? Very disappointed in movie world for this news. I shall slap them, .. hard!

[nev]

On Super before you launch and Superman supposedly comes to the rescue, there is an Intellabeam that streaks a blur of light on the wall beside the train to riders right hand side. As for Scooby, it was built with Mirrors on the floor to add to the effect of height as well as the lasers. The fog juice machines should spray every time a new train enters the room. They are occasionally turned off if the fog gets too thick and spreads into the first part of the ride which is fitted with sensitive smoke detectors. For this reason, they may have toned it down to minimise the risk of costly visits from the Fire Brigade!

The fixture in Superman is an iSpot which is a pretty cheap, garden variety moving light... not an Intellabeam I'm not wanting to re-hash the good 'ol "smoke detectors in Scooby Doo" argument, but my guess is that the sensors in there are CO2 or heat based as opposed to particle based sensors. CO2 or Heat based sensors are not affected by fog machines and are installed in areas such as theatres, clubs, etc so they can still be monitored even with concentrations of artifical atmospherics in the air.

[jcgoldcoast]

And an Intellabeam is a moving mirror fixture.....The iSpot is a moving head.....very different fixtures!

[Adam]

How cool would something like this be? With an actual image of Superman projected. The blue dot, as it stands, is pretty lame. Edit: That product might not be the right one to project an image, but something similar.

Edited April 6, 2007 by Adam

[Gold Coaster]

Yeah that would be fantastic. How much would something like that cost though?

[nev]

How cool would something like this be? With an actual image of Superman projected. The blue dot, as it stands, is pretty lame. Edit: That product might not be the right one to project an image, but something similar.

A full colour glass gobo for a moving light would be about $500 - $600 to produce as a one-off image... this could then go in pretty much any moving light and get projected. I think the idea is to create a blue flash more than an actual superman image however - I think a projected Superman would look a little naff, especially considering the amount of ambient light in the launch area..... The orbital head isn't spectacularly fast... yeah itd need to be in a moving light methinks The orbital head is about $US8k for memory... and then you've still gotta buy the projector - HighEnd built the unit for the ChristieLites 20K projector which is a tad more expensive than your average home cinema unit Edited April 6, 2007 by nev

[GoGoBoy]

I always hate hearing stories of gradually declining theming. The park should be making a bigger effort to keep everything up to standard considering this is one of the big appeals of the park. Personally I've never forgiven them for not reinstating the very cool effects in the final splashdown room of Wild West Falls (after they were damaged in the fire). My fave part of the ride has been ruined

[jcgoldcoast]

Wouldnt a moving mirror unit (such as the Intellabeam ) be able to move the 'blue streak' accross the wall a lot faster than a moving head unit??

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

the physics are really the same. it is still moving an object, whether it be a mirror, or a light fixture, the speed is going to be relatively the same. Moving heads are being used a lot more these days simply because of the distortion you get from a mirror. The light is circular, but if it hits the mirror at an angle, it becomes egg-shaped. If you move the entire fixture - such as a moving head does, then the light is always the same shape, and it then falls down to simple focus, depending on the distance from the wall.

[jcgoldcoast]

But it is much easier to move a mirror weighing 100g compared to a head weighing upto 30kgs.....in the case of the blue streak, I dont think it would matter if it was slightly distorted because of the small amount of time its seen.....

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

One of the tour circuits most popular moving head units - the Martin 2000 Performance weighs approximately 39Kgs. Of this weight, it is primarily in the fixed base section, rather than the head. Power supply, ballasts, control circuitry, etc etc. Inside the moving head there is very little weight. As it is a moving head, the head is built as lightly as possible to allow the control motors ease of function. Inside the head, besides your focal lenses, you have cooling units, the luminaire, gobo wheel, and glass filters to mix the CMYK colouring, all of which are reasonably light in comparison to the base unit. The control motors that drive the head are three phase motors. They have the power to weight ratio to move the head as fast if not faster than a moving mirror. The mirror motors generally (and taken from my own moving mirror units) are small servo motors. They are used because they dont have to turn much weight, and reading against the specs of the MAC 2000, do not turn on either axis as fast as the mac does.