Tower of Terror Closing Down More Frequently

[Dreamworld Ride Op]

In recent days, I have been the queue control on the TOT. But I've noticed more and more frequently, the engineers and onstand ride operators have been giving me the pleasure (.__.) of standing outside the Tower of Terror having to tell young people, old people, Aussie people and tourists that "unfortunately, there has been a malfunction and the ride will be closed temporarily". This gets quite frustrating. Now, working as an onstand ride operator on the Tower of Terror, I am aware that there are mishaps and faults either mechanically or physically. And no-one is really to blame, it's just part of a ride's existence. It just seems that these 'malfunctions' are occurng more often, and on a few days, the ride has been through roughly 5 cycles and then, due to a problem, we have had to close the ride and not been able to reopen it. I'm getting worried about the permanality of these occurences. I'm hoping that we find the cause of these repetetive (not dangerous) malfunctions and fix it.

[Swanny]

Would you be able to provide any information as to what these malfunctions are?

Edited July 8, 2007 by Swanny

[Dreamworld Ride Op]

The reason I had the word malfunction written like 'malfunctions' is because I, like you, have no clue as to what they are. I'm only getting told, 'go and stop traffic to the queue, we've had a malfunction'. If you read the post correctly, my whole point was that I'm worried about what the malfunctions are. I could guess and say they may just be weathering problems, or minor mechanical errors in getting the TOT to begin its cycle, but I'm not definite on anything, I'm at the same level as you are.

[nessva]

Last time I was there it was raining the lighest possible for it to rain and the ride got closed. Now I'm all for safety, and I don't care when a ride is closed on me, but it worried me a little that it was *that* sensitive.

[Gold Coaster]

Oh well, crap ride anyway... I'm over it. I'd rather ride the GD a couple of extra times instead... cooler queue area too. Why we can't have the quality of air-conditioning of Superman's ice cave queue building at Magic Mountain is beyond me.

Edited October 21, 2007 by Tony Teulan

[easy-rider]

It's better to be safe than sorry. I hope nothing goes wrong.

[dodge53]

Going on to the Dream World website in rides maintenance they are closing the tower of terror on the 19th of December??? Quite strange for this time of year. Maybe closed for one day???? I rang Dream World as there is no reopening date for the ride and she acted dumb as if she new nothing about what was on the website for ride maintenance for this ride, she did however say it has been closed the last couple of days due to electrical problems. IS THE END OF THE TOWER OF TERROR? Tower of Terror Dates closed: Wed 19th Dec

[rappa]

It was running on monday/tuesday. Heard it go at least a few times.

[New display name]

TOT was not going on Sunday. The TOT did have 3 empty runs during the day but there was a lady at the entrance telling people it was closed. Being it was not that long ago that the TOT had its yearly maintenance you would think it would be running. The closing of the TOT on the 19th could be for many reasons. One thing that does happen is at time of maintenance an item is found that requires replacing. The part might take a while to manufactory or locate. So what I am saying it might be having a RDO or getting oil change on that date. Lets hope Dreamworld know what the problem is with the TOT and it will be fixed for good on the 19th.

[Gazza]

Just realized, the 19th of December will mark it being over 400 days since Eureka shut down, this is the second year running a major ride has had problems heading into peak season.

[Richard]

The page implies that it'll only be shut for the single day, not that this is the start of an indefinite closure. It falls in line with all the other scheduled annual maintenance that the parks generally always do at this time of year. The peak period doesn't hit until after Christmas so this would just be one last chance for some regular maintenance before the real crowds hit. TOT is and always will be unreliable, and it looks to be getting worse as it ages, but I wouldn't go ringing the alarm bells just yet.

[dreamworld_rulz]

On my last trip the T.O.T. was down for a few days.

[New display name]

Well Gazza we all know if you are not going look after something or you mistreat it then it is going to crap itself. We all know once you buy a new car you have to maintain it.

Edited November 15, 2007 by skeetafly

[Derwan]

When I was at Dreamworld a few weeks ago, it was making a strange sound just as it was coming back to the station. It made the sound as we arrived back at the station and there was a maintenance guy there. I overheard the ride op saying, "It was doing that the other day."

[mickey_079]

Lets just hope there is nothing seriously wrong with ToT. I know some people may think this is boring but its what put Dreamworld back on top... there are IMO due for another ride to put them back up there. One classic ride has been closed, it can't happen to another one. Hearing about all those noises and such, seems a bit weird for a mechanic to just sit there and go... yeah it was doing that the other day, its cool... NO ITS NOT!! Thats like saying your motorbike is making a grinding noise when you twist the throttle and saying keep riding its nothing. As Richard said though could be nothing. Only time will tell and again we should pray to the Roller Coaster God.

[Derwan]

seems a bit weird for a mechanic to just sit there and go... yeah it was doing that the other day

Just clarifying - it was the ride op who said this to the maintenance guy. As I was getting off the ride, I do not know what action the maintenance guy took. For all I know, he could've looked at it and fixed it straight away.

[flyonthewall]

Any idiot or social psychopath can extract short term gain for long term pain. Welcome to the pain Maquarie bank.

[New display name]

TOT was running today and it sounded sweet. The TOT did not miss a beat all day. But on the other hand the vintage car relocation is a bit dangerous. One of the guide wheels broke of a vintage car today. The ride attendant did not notice and loaded it up with a young girl and sent her on its way. The right guide is the one that popped off which is the wost one to break due to the first corner being a right-handed corner. As the vintage car went around the corner it went straight until the right wheels touched the centre guide. If you know the new vintage car layout the first corner drops away about one metre. The left wheel went to the edge of the bank and the vintage car was tilting and making a loud scraping noise (so close to tipping) The thing I could not understand was the attendant let it keep going to it got hung up on the exchange section near the shed.

[Original]

The Tower Of terror is closing down as everyone probably already knows this Wednesday for what seems just to be a day for who knows what reason, but I have been meaning to say this for a while now, but have forgotten to say it! The weekend before the 1st of December I was getting my half-price annual pass, which was so popular that half of DW's front entraence gates we for people buying a pass, no joke. You got a temporary pass, to come back get your photo taken cause the line was something like 2 hours. Anyway I went back the next day to have my photo taken. But one both days I was there TOT was going higher then it normally does! Everytime I see it it always just reaches the 'O' in OF on the tower. But both days I was there it was reaching the 'R' and even sometimes the 'E' in TOWER!!! Which is a lot higher than it normally goes! Have they cranked the speed up on TOT so that it is now a lot closser to the breaks, so its like it use to be? I haven't been there since, so I don't know, Does anybody else know? If so, it sounds like DW is doing something positive, restoring the ride, to how it use to be and what they claim it to be!!! But here's the thing if its going faster and higher why are they closing it down for a day, or longer?

[Spotty]

Original, the Tower of Terror is indeed going higher than it normally does. On Tuesday the "You reached ... KPH" sign was WORKING... but as of today it's not again I have heard several things from various people, but I'm not 100% as to how valid they are. But from what they have told me, they could be doing some minor upgrades to theming (lighting and smoke machines) and the 2nd rumor I have heard (and am leaning towards) is the installation of Air Conditioning / Fans throughout the queue line. Which could be why it's only closed for one day instead of several.

[stardust]

The weekend before the 1st of December I was getting my half-price annual pass, which was so popular that half of DW's front entraence gates we for people buying a pass, no joke. You got a temporary pass, to come back get your photo taken cause the line was something like 2 hours. Anyway I went back the next day to have my photo taken. But one both days I was there TOT was going higher then it normally does! Everytime I see it it always just reaches the 'O' in OF on the tower. But both days I was there it was reaching the 'R' and even sometimes the 'E' in TOWER!!! Which is a lot higher than it normally goes! Have they cranked the speed up on TOT so that it is now a lot closser to the breaks, so its like it use to be? I haven't been there since, so I don't know, Does anybody else know?

Ooh I bought mine then as well Yeah I noticed it went higher as well!! We still havn't been able to get our pics done, even today! 2200 people bought the pass.

[T-bone]

When I was visiting Dreamworld last, at 9:00AM for the pre-testing, the pod was reaching roughly between the R and E in Tower. With the pod being Half Full, the pod was just reaching the R in tower, and being fully loaded, was reaching the O in of. I do like the current cleanup trend which seems to be happening at the park. Let just hope they keep this up.

[Chaos-Maniac]

I've also heard that the reason it constantly broke down was due to the over heating of the rides motors. Sorta like a car radiator thing. Not sure if its true and I don't really understand all that certain stuff. It's excellent to see DW updating everything. Hope it carries on.

[saberon]

I rode the Tower of Terror today, to my genuine surprise the 'escape pod' was about 3 metres under the brake section at the top of the track, it's the fastest and highest i've ever seen it run. I know engineers have been working alot of the tower of terror recently mainly due to ebrake failure, perhaps they have sorted the problem but increasing launch speed (which is usually between 150-159kmph).

[Spotty]

The average launch speed for the Tower of Terror is 156kph, It is running at 159kph right now from what I have been told. While 3km may not seem like much, it is enough to send it about 10m higher.