Figured this topic deserved its own thread. Yesterday's announcement posts may or may not appear over here eventually.

I'm just transferring some of the details from the Motocoaster thread over here for posterity's sake... if you want to whinge about AI go and create your own thread.

Care of The Adventures of Theme Park Girl / @gcthemeparkgirl on insta 

⛏️ LOST MINE MAYHEM: SO, IS IT *REALLY* JUST A MOTOCOASTER REFURB? 👀

There’s been a LOT of discussion since this morning’s announcement by Dreamworld Australia about whether Lost Mine Mayhem is simply a refurbishment of the former Motocoaster.

And yes, it's true... the existing Motocoaster track layout IS being reused.

HOWEVER... read on, my friends!

After being invited along to today’s announcement and hearing directly from Dreamworld CEO Greg Yong, I can tell you there’s a LOT more to this project than simply giving the old ride a new name and a coat of paint! 👀

In fact, Greg was very clear:

"This is not a refresh. This is not like a lick of paint.”

Lost Mine Mayhem represents a near-$20 million investment, and while the track layout will remain, the entire track will actually be taken down, remediated, completely repainted and rebuilt.

And that's just the beginning...

A BRAND-NEW LAUNCH SYSTEM ⚡

The old hydraulic launch is being replaced with a new electric tyre-driven launch system, bringing a more modern launch technology to the attraction.

NEW ELEMENTS ON THE TRACK 🎢

While Dreamworld isn't revealing everything just yet, Greg confirmed that there will be new elements on the launch and out on the track, including additional experiences and near misses designed to make the ride more exciting.

BRAND-NEW ATV TRAINS 🛺

The old motorcycle trains are gone. Instead, riders will climb aboard ATV-style vehicles, sitting on top rather than inside a traditional coaster train.

The new trains also feature a completely different restraint design, with a waist-level harness providing greater freedom of movement, better visibility and a much more comfortable experience for a broader range of guests.

There will be two 20-seat trains, with the new design also allowing for faster loading and dispatches.

A WHOLE NEW EXPERIENCE ✨

The attraction will feature a new station/load experience, new theming and a completely new queue experience. And the queue won't simply be somewhere to stand around waiting!

There'll be interactive elements, story details and little discoveries throughout, with the narrative continuing from the moment you enter until you leave the attraction.

AND THEN THERE'S THE STORY... ⛏️🪙🌿

On the fringe of Rivertown, an undiscovered gold store has been found deep beneath the valley.

But treasure raiders are moving in...

Guests will become part of the expedition, climbing aboard their ATV and heading into the mine to uncover its secrets and beat the raiders to the treasure 🪎

The story will flow through the entrance, queue, station, launch, ride and exit, with details for those who want to stop and explore, while still allowing those who simply want to jump on and ride to enjoy the experience.

A NEW CHAPTER FOR RIVERTOWN 🌄 🌿

Lost Mine Mayhem is being designed as an extension of the Rivertown story, rather than simply an attraction sitting alongside it.

So, is it the Motocoaster track?

Yes.

But is it just a refurbished Motocoaster?

Definitely not!

The track layout is indeed being retained, but we're getting the following:

_____

NEW LOST MINE MAYHEM RIDE ELEMENTS IN A NUTSHELL:

⚡The launch system: completely new and electric tyre-driven.

🎛️ The control system: brand new!

🛺 The trains: gone are the motorcycles, replaced by brand-new ATV-style vehicles.

🔒 The restraints: a new waist-level design aimed at making the ride much more comfortable and accessible.

🎢 The track experience: new elements, experiences and near misses are being added.

🕍 The station: a completely new load experience.

🚶 The queue: a whole new immersive environment with interactive elements and storytelling.

⛏️ The theming: completely reimagined around the Lost Mine story.

📖 The storyline: entirely new and woven through the attraction from entrance to exit.

🌄 The setting: a much stronger connection to Rivertown.

_______

And all of that is part of a near $20 MILLION investment.... that's definitely NOT a figure to poke a stick at! 😱

So rather than thinking of it as “Motocoaster with a new theme”, I think a better way of looking at it is this...

Dreamworld is giving the Motocoaster track a second life, and building an entirely new attraction around it 💖

Personally, after everything I learnt at today's announcement, I'm absolutely thrilled for what's in store for Rivertown with this latest addition 🥳🥳

There are still plenty of details we don't know, and Dreamworld has already hinted that more information will be revealed as construction progresses.

But one thing is certain... the story is only just beginning! 👀

2 hours ago, wikiverse said:

Hopefully the redevelopment doesn't close the train for an extended period. There will be a lot of construction access required to the MC track area. I know they can just do a U-cycle around the park like they did during JR construction, but it would be great if they can just drive over the rail tracks instead of ripping them up to keep the full loop during most of the construction.

Unlike during the construction of Rivertown, they don't have a back-door access path open to them, and they aren't going to close down Rivertown either. Given how close the rivertown store is to MM, no access will happen that way, so it will all need to be brought in from the Giant Drop side... Either they're closing off access to wildlife behind Giant Drop (the long way round behind Rivertown isn't that bad), or the site will only be accessible to vehicles outside of park hours.

I do wonder, they really don't need a load and unload station... as shown with JR and ST... If one of these goes and they use the space to create either a show scene before the launch or at the ending? And if maybe they put in some sort of bounce or drop track because nearly $20 mill is a lot to spend and they're promising "surprising" elements, so doing something like that wouldn't surprise me... Plus if it is a "mine", then mines and drops kinda go hand in hand!

2 hours ago, Original said:

they really don't need a load and unload station

Yes they do! It creates much better immersion, as proven by Superman and Scooby.

8 minutes ago, themagician said:

Yes they do! It creates much better immersion, as proven by Superman and Scooby.

Yeah, because nothing says immersion like re-entering the load station from the unload station to collect your belongings from cheap steel storage boxes.

31 minutes ago, themagician said:

Yes they do! It creates much better immersion, as proven by Superman and Scooby.

Superman has doors between the queue and the load station. They could unload there before opening the doors and it wouldn't change the immersion at all.

31 minutes ago, themagician said:

Yes they do! It creates much better immersion, as proven by Superman and Scooby.

Shit, someone better tell Disney to go back and create separate load and unload stations on some of their most immersive attractions!

No, it’s not needed if you’re only using 2 trains, all it does is need extra staff to work the unload station, especially for the times when you only use one train, you just slow down operations, then as you can see with Jet Rescue, it has to park, unload, move forward, park again and the load and then needing staff to go between if you want to save staffing costs, again only slowing down operations.

Running multiple trains to increase capacity? Sure! Two trains? Nope!

I’d rather scrap one of those stations for a show room or something like a bounce track. That creates more immersion than separate load and unload platforms.

9 hours ago, Original said:

Shit, someone better tell Disney to go back and create separate load and unload stations on some of their most immersive attractions!

Like ROTR? JC? HM? MMRW?

4 hours ago, jjuttup said:

Like ROTR? JC? HM? MMRW?

Sometimes acronyms isn’t the right choice! No idea what any of these are.

15 hours ago, Original said:

Shit, someone better tell Disney to go back and create separate load and unload stations on some of their most immersive attractions!

TravelGuides & Travelogues

No, it’s not needed if you’re only using 2 trains, all it does is need extra staff to work the unload station, especially for the times when you only use one train, you just slow down operations, then as you can see with Jet Rescue, it has to park, unload, move forward, park again and the load and then needing staff to go between if you want to save staffing costs, again only slowing down operations.

Running multiple trains to increase capacity? Sure! Two trains? Nope!

I’d rather scrap one of those stations for a show room or something like a bounce track. That creates more immersion than separate load and unload platforms.

The trouble with both Jet rescue and Motocoaster is that unload doesn't exit the opposite side. The design is inherently dependant on a separate unload station, otherwise those getting off, and those getting on have to push past each other.

The alternative is unloading at load and then waiting for all the unloaded guests to clear the station before opening the load gates - so the time you've saved by eliminating the unload station is eaten up by convoluted operations procedures.

For attractions designed to have a separate unload, they should operate with one wherever possible. Single train ops are the exception to this but the better alternative is - buy three trains.

1 hour ago, themagician said:

Sometimes acronyms isn’t the right choice! No idea what any of these are.

• Rise of the Resistance (ROTR)

• Jungle Cruise (JC)

• Haunted Mansion (HM)

• Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway (Should be MMRR)

Admittedly I really had to think about it to get Jungle Cruise, but got there without googling in the end - but absolutely agree if it is not common to the thread, acronyms should be defined - especially overseas parks (even if it is Disney)

He means Rise of the Resistance, Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion and Mickey & Minie Runaway Railway I'm guessing. All examples that are not coasters. Conviently left out what most consider Disney's best ever dark ride, Pirates of the Carribean in Shanghai.

Dark rides I will agree think do work really well with seperate load and unload for immersion i.e. Looney Tunes River Ride, but at the same time you could see people unloading from Bermuda and at the end of the day did it really break the immersion that much? And clearly it doesn't bother Disney that much since their latest Pirates ride doesn't feature it.

Even some Disney coasters that feature seperate load and unload they're on top of each other, like Tron or Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, so you can see from load the train coming in and unloading people, so unless they put a door in between the two, its not doing much for immersion and more so for capacity.

My personal opinion, unless you're running more than two trains, keep one load and unload station, to keep operating costs down and speed up dispatch.

Good point though @DaptoFunlandGuy , maybe with $20mill to spend this might be their chance to change up the design and get it right, time will tell though 🤷‍♂️ If this was Village your point wouldn't matter, last time I visited (although a long time ago), that was their loading procedure, wait till everyone has left the platform before letting a single soul step forward lol. Greg has mentioned getting loading times better, it is refreshing to hear.

Edited August 23Aug 23 by Original

17 minutes ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

The design is inherently dependant on a separate unload station, otherwise those getting off, and those getting on have to push past each other.

Which is why I think the seperate stations will be retained, as will most of the structure for the existing station/queue building. I think all of the decor and maybe even the roof will be removed and replaced to suit an enclosed station that has been dedicated.

19 hours ago, Original said:

nearly $20 mill is a lot to spend

I can’t imagine the trains themselves being less than a million each, plus the couple of million for taking all the track off, stripping, priming, repainting and all of the new launch and electrical systems the ride is getting. So that leaves no more than $15mil to strip back the existing building, extend/enclose to whatever extent they have planned and complete all of the theming and elements around the coasters layout.

I suspect they’ll be using a more reputable (and probably expensive) contractor for the theming elements to ensure its not going to start cracking after 18 months.

MDMC was a $10M attraction. As a benchmark i'm pretty sure that roughly half that cost is the ride and systems, and the other half is shipping and construction. Pulling all the pieces apart, resurfacing and putting them all back together is probably not leaving any change out of $5M, and a train is almost definitely around $1M each. Upgrading the launch systems and likely all new PLC is probably at least another $1M, so you've got around $12M remaining to transform the building, theming and 'other elements'.

5 hours ago, Original said:

Running multiple trains to increase capacity? Sure! Two trains? Nope!

I believe there's strict internal policy that prohibits this most of the time.

1 hour ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

MDMC was a $10M attraction

In 2007, it would now be roughly 16.3 million. New trains would be one of the biggest cost, probably looking around 1.5-3million each (shipping being a large cost).

Somewhat confirmed that the current roof that the station has will be removed to allow for the track to be removed, assuming they use a crane.

12 hours ago, TV15 said:

New trains would be one of the biggest cost, probably looking around 1.5-3million each (shipping being a large cost).

How do you figure?

The DW Express is closed until next weekend, could this be related to LMM construction?

24 minutes ago, themagician said:

The DW Express is closed until next weekend, could this be related to LMM construction?

You wouldn’t think they’d purposely schedule that during the school holidays when pushing it a week would miss them entirely, sounds more unexpected

Train will be about 3 million buckeroos but whilst getting new trains why not design them to unload from the opposite side and mod the station

…you kinda still want riders entering the shop though, right?

given the shop goes practically up to the rail line, it seems reasonable to assume that any opposite side exit would lead back under the brake run and into the shop. Not sure there's room under the brake run for it though.

Could flip it and have the Queue come in from the other side and exit back down the old Queue? Or... anything else.

The concept “art” doesn’t reflect that being what they plan to do..

agreed. the station will remain single sided. Hopefully Dreamworld commit to operating with two stations and staffing it accordingly.

14 hours ago, Whombex said:

The concept “art” doesn’t reflect that being what they plan to do..

I wish DW did this to it.

MC2 is unlikely to be much better than MC1, as the track layout will still be terrible.

8 hours ago, New display name said:

MC2 is unlikely to be much better than MC1, as the track layout will still be terrible.

I actually think the ride will be a good improvement, MDMC was so much more fun in the side cars then the actual bikes.