Giant Drop or Space Probe

[rappa]

I just love the fact that you guys keep ignoring what I have said in that the state of the theming on SP is ****!! Its in a disgusting state, if you theming is all crapped up and broken then it don't count. No your wrong 100% on the 'what you remember factor.' I don't know anyone who says, hey the ride was a complete load of crap but WOW IT HAD GREAT THEMING lol. You only have to look at how people charge through the tunnels to the launch to see how much they dont give a rats about the theming. Richard is right, SP is nothing more than a half rate GD with some dark tunnels that 'used' to have some poor theming.

[Jaggie]

Yes it's true that the theming isnt up to scratch at the moment but we are talking about what the ride was designed to do. If you would like to refer to space probe as a half giant drop well then say that but i could say that the giant drop is half finished because the complete package isnt there. Space Probe video still works, the water fall is still there and working, the tv's work most of the time up the top, the tunnel is still filled with flashing lights and special effects i hardly call that in a bad state. What doesnt work that was there in the first place: the roof doesnt open. That's all, i have spoken to wonderland and people there told me that in the period leading up to xmas there may be a whole clean up of space probe. What does the Giant drop offer more than the space probe you ask. - Extra height What does the space probe offer more than giant drop - Video - Hood on top - Theming -story behind the ride Im sure anyone can see that these things outweigh the one advatage that the giant drop has over the space probe. The last thing im going to say at the moment is that Space Probe was the first of it's kind in the world. Dreamworld had many years to perfect what wonderland had done so that is an unfair advantage.

[Daniel]

When I was last there, Space Probe was in a pretty dodgy condition. It was filled with rubbish (a lot under the walkway which looks pretty disgusting. I hope they've got under there since June), the flashing lights weren't working and the pre-show video would keep freezing. Probably due to the Windows 95 Operating System it works on. Don't get me wrong I'm a big fan of the ride and I do like the theming, but like the rest of the park it's not in the best condition. That place would be awesome, it has a lot of potential if they'd just spend the money. The reason the roof doesn't open and close is because there is no way they could fail-proof the system of it opening in time or opening at all. Space Probe 7 as it was known, was an Intamin prototype, the first of it's kind anywhere and Wonderland were really the "crash test dummies". Good on them for that I say. They took a chance and it paid off. They got it dirt cheap being a prototype, why not take another prototype from a manufacturer? It's a good option as far as I'm concerned. Just keep the maintenance upto it please.

[rappa]

Okay as Daniel says the theming is in a bad condition...I heven't been to WL for a while now and they are really going to have to pull something out to get me back there. I was pretty disgusted on my last visit. When I was there a few flashing lights worked, there was rubbing everywhere, the lights on the doors didn't work and yeah the roof didn't work, and the crew just treat it as a ride not a theme... As for the theming itself no its nothing great. I'm sorry but I work in the business and a few orange beacons and some blue lights don't cut it as decent theming. The roof never closed after launch, it opened just before launch, locked open and then closed once the 'catchers' had returned to the station. Giant drop isn't half finished it wasn't suposed to be heavily themed, therefore I say SP is half finished because it was suposed to be heavily themed but it was pretty second rate. The staff play a part in theming, and basicaly wonderland's don't so there you go. The hood doesn't count because as this thread has showed just as many people like it as don't. Yes Space Probe WAS first, thats the point it was a fantastic concept. Dreamworld were able to go ahead and improve upon that concept and build a superior ride. Just as they did with Superman the escap from SFMM. Doesn't mean that Superman is now a crap ride, just means it has been bettered. Now this is just my opinion so I'm not saying anything against anyone who disagrees with me. However I don't think any 'thrill' ride like these can be themed to any great detail. At the end of the day the ride shoots up a pole and comes back down. Its the same for most coasters, you can themed the station all you want but at the end of the day you then dispatch a train around a track. I don't have a problem with this, thats the idea with rides. Some (like scooby) are theme based rides, others (like TOT) are thrill rides. Why waste your time doing a dodgy job of trying to theme something that doesn't realy need it. Better off putting the money into another more suitable attraction. But again unlike what I've said above thats just my opinion.

[Daniel]

Apparently, the original idea of the roof was to open for the cabins to exit the launch pad and then close again, and open in time, for re-entry. The concept of the theming is good, but hasn't been maintained. Don't bag the Ops at Wonderland mate. They've got no say in the part they play. Wonderland owns the Commando uniforms but aren't used simply because of the rotations throughout the day. Space Probe operating properly is 5 or 6 person op. You're kidding if you think they're going to pay 5 or 6 people to be up there. The operator is doing well if they can get a pre-show offsider. They might get a 3rd person at the front of the tunnel, only when the air-conditioning is broken, so they line people up down the pathway.

[Flea]

Well, as much as I love Space Probe, I'm going to have to join the "bag Space Probe team". I'm totally agreeing with Daniel here, Space Probe has so much potential. I'll target each point of the ride one by one... The queue line is in an extremely poor state. They did clean underneath the queue line floor a few months ago, but a once-a-year cleaning is not enough. In only one week after the queue line was cleaned, the rubbish returned. It would be great if the queue line was cleaned every week, hopefully every day. Strobe lighting is still used in the queue line to this day, but what about low flying fog? The name speaks for itself, this is not the type of fog that creeps up your noses and makes you choke.. it's low flying (ankle high). This would create an amazing effect in the queue. The beacon lights in the queue still work, but the casing on the beacons are broken. The top of the tower is just... disgusting. The TV's do not work, I haven't seen them work for the past 4 months. The TV's are filled with cobwebs and gunky stuff on the screen, it's disgusting. There is only one TV that displays some kind of image, and that's one flickering line on Cabin one's side. Unfortunately, the only thing that guests remember about Space Probe is the shoe in the dome. It's disgusts me that Wonderland hasn't been bothered to go up there and clean the screens, plus remove that shoe. Instead of the countdown at the top, why not have some kind of movie involving Aliens? After all, aren't the riders volunteers to inspect the "probe"? The station is where the low flying fog comes back into play. A green laser that would sweep the stations floor would also be great. I'd also like to see a more dramatic effect when the cabins leave the station.. Possibly more lighting effects (Scanners, moving head light's etc.) Now who doesn't miss the operators dressed in black Space Probe suits? I'd love to see this again. It was a great feeling to be told to literally run through the tunnel, the operators were really into the ride a few years back. Now unfortunately it just consists of lazy operators, not even saying a spiel (excluding Billy, Mathew and Michelle and the ex-operator Daniel.. they rock!). Operators now come into the subject. What if the staff didn't rotate rides like they did a few years back? You'd have one in the pre-loading room, two in station (one for control panel and other for checking restraints) and one just outside the tunnel, telling people to run through the tunnel once the op in the station has screamed "evacuate" over the microphone. The ops would rotate positions every 30 minutes so they don't get bored. That is what I'd like to see of Space Probe, ~Liam

[Daniel]

Firstly Flea, thanks for the wrap. The cheque's in the post I can't remember the last time the smoke machine's worked in the launch area. It's been a long time between drinks. I like the idea of the smoke in the tunnels. Sounds good. Good to see the shoe still remains. It'd be going on 6 months or more it's been there now. I'd have loved to have been there when the guy came down with one shoe. I'd have pissed myself. We'd get numerous complaints about the screens not working, and every maintenance request put in by our department about them would go unanswered. The rotations are compulsary. It was confirmed in the Australian Industrial Relations Commission in August/September 2002. http://www.airc.gov.au/documents/transcrip...02c20024052.htm They'd get their ass kicked if they didn't rotate ops. Believe me mate, you wouldn't want to be stuck at the same ride all day. 4 or 5 hours is hell, especially when the park is dead. However, there are some exceptions on some of the rides. The "Commando Evacuate" was always fun to do, however like I said in a previous post, a third person is an absolute luxury, the op is lucky to get a pre-show offsider.

[rappa]

Hi Daniel I wasn't bagging out the ops themselves, they only follow orders. I was talking about managements aproach to the ride crew. It wouldn't be hard to have staff change for rotation, its only a jump suit, SW do it with BT don't they?

[Daniel]

Yeah I know you weren't mate, sorry if it came across as though I was. I know it kinda sounded like it when I look back hey? Sorry The problem is it can be time consuming, and the breaker (lunch person) would run later than they already do. Like before, most of the time there's only one person up there anyway, so the suit would be kinda funny. I'm all for the ops getting suited up whenever possible. But I think it needs to be done properly with atleast 3 ops. And that, is a couple of times a year thing... if you're lucky. Should be done Saturday nights atleast. The suits are also very hot too. And usually the air conditioning in the launch doesn't work so it'd be pretty uncomfortable.

[rappa]

Yeah its pretty much a whole 'nice in a perfect world' type senario. In the old days where you at an op. at the que, and op. in pre-launch, and 2 in launch with air-con that functioned it made sense. These days the suits are just the tip of the ice-burg with whats wrong with the thing. The right way to do it is as I said above with staff working space-probe for a whole shift, and rotating to other rides the next day. You can still do rotation that way by rotating the SP ops around the different stations of the ride. But hey its been a long time since WL management had things working the right way!

[Jaggie]

Ok well now we say all this i do believe that they have let the quality of the space probe drop alot. The Space Probe when it openend would have been one awesome ride. When you go up in the carrige just upon reaching the roof you can hear a sound that sounds like foggers going off, but as a drama student at my school we have foggers and i know you need liquid to make them work. This is why they are not in working order. The thing i cant see is why wouldn't wonderland employ say 5 staff and get them to clean the whole thing up and reopen the ride to it's original state. Really how long are we talking to do this? 3 days? Then at the moment there is usually 2 staff operating but why not employ just the extra one that will make the ride more of an experience and the guests would be able to go wow at! The park really does have an understaffing problem. I hear people all the time (guests) saying, oh that's terrible having one person operaiting that. What wonderland mangement has to understand but they obviously dont, is that they need to put in to keep the people coming in. At the moment all they seem to do in my point of view is hire the minimal staff requirements, and just open the park as it is everyday day after day. They seem to put in no extra effort towards making the park a great day out for people. tHE $50 admission price for adults is totally ridiculous. $35 for children is even more stupid. All these people who go there probably arn't going to go back until something new goes in. Wonderland may think that Sydney has over 1 million people in 1 hours reach of wonderland but if they keep just doing the bare minimum to keep it open the people are going to slowly but surely dry up, then the park is left in a bad situation with no money and no guests. Hopefully the park is going to pull something big off next year because i can't imagine another year of the park going like it is now. [Jaggs]

[Shaun]

Totaly agree with you jaggie. Why can't managers take a little bit of pride in their park, spend a few extra dollars and make a great place worth being prowd of. I reckon a great theme for a drop ride would be to a missel silo. The tower would be built in a bit of a hill and would have like and 10 meter high concret cylinder sourounding the bottom of the ride. The stair way to get to the loading area at the bottom would wind down like a stair well through the inside of the concrete cylinder with windows at regular intervals on the inside wall of the cylinder so riders would able to see people loading and takeing off in the cars below and also hear all the echoing industrial nosies comeing from far below. The whole place, including the loading zone would be dark and porly lit with old blinking worksite lights and look like something out of a james bond movie. The whole place would be made of concrete and when the ride was finsished you would catch an elevator back to the surface. The tower would be probaly built in a bit of a hill so that you didn't have to build the tower to far into the ground. So to enter the ride you would walk to the top of the small hill where you would walk through the entrance and then down the spiral staircase (spiraling around the tower) to the bottom where the loading zone is. I reckon an intamin 6 sided tower would be best as there would always be lots of movement and noise in the loading area to keep up the atmosphere. I hope you got the general jist of that but I think the ride would have an oustanding atmosphere, with like a 'walking down to your doom' sort of feeling. I got more ideas for that tower but thats the basic idea Tell me what you think Anyway i hope I havn't got too far off topic Shaun

[Jaggie]

That would be a good idea there Shaun. I'm glad you agree with me, i tell ya if i was on management there with some other people from these forums i would make a gem out of that place. I often wish that i was on mangement but it looks like the management there atm are stayin.

[Daniel]

Unfortunately the rotations don't work like that. There are good people in management. Some just have no say. Management are part of the furniture around that joint. They aren't going anywhere in a hurry. Mate, 2 people on weekends and school holidays if the op is lucky. Sometimes they'll only have 1 unloader between Demon and Probe. Same thing down at Snowy. As far as I'm concerned it's a safety hazzard replacing the staff in the towers with cameras. Not all of the ride is in view of the cameras, and of a night time you can see a big part of stuff all. 2 op at Snowy is not enough. I agree with the admission price being a joke. The price has only gone up and the number of attractions keeps dropping. What are they down to? 15 now? 16 with the WLX, which when I was last there doesn't run during the week. Taz is out for who knows how long, and Bush Beast is closed every time I speak to someone. $50 is ridiculous. There's no way I'll ever pay $50 to get in there that's for sure. For a family of 4, it's a $170 bucks before you even start. Then you've got to buy lunch (take out a 2nd mortgage) and don't forget your costs of getting there. Then if you want to a buy a photo from Demon or a character apperance, there's another $10 or $11. You're looking way in excess of $200. That's not on for what you get. I personally have no problem paying 50 odd dollars for the Coast Parks. Value for money if you ask me. Minimum staff requirements is an understatement mate. You shouldn't have got me started. You've got your cutdowns on operators at Demon, Probe, Snowy. I remember the days when there was always 2 people at a ride. Even the HB rides. Now they have cutback so much they often rotate the same operator between rides, i.e. Taz and Endeavour, Dragons and Galleons and Merry and Baby Bumpers. Is this still happening? This is a safety issue. RIDES ARE BEING LEFT UNATTENDED for an hour at a time. That's just not on is it? Wonderland have explained the implications of leaving rides unattended to their operators. Oops, there's the good ol' double standards shining again. Bugger... I forgot, still on cutbacks, some days, there'll only be 2 cleaners in the park. So if there's a spew or similar on a ride, the op has to wait sometimes 30-45 mins for it to be cleaned up before it can be operated again.

[Daniel]

I forgot, still on cutbacks, some days, there'll only be 2 cleaners in the park. So if there's a spew or similar on a ride, the op has to wait sometimes 30-45 mins for it to be cleaned up before it can be operated again.

[Richard]

Let's get this back onto the topic at hand. There's a Wonderland Sydney forum for all these discussions. And please use the 'Edit" button if you wish to add something to a post Daniel - don't just post twice in a row.

[GoGoBoy]

Daniel, I liked your above post regarding all the staff cut backs etc. It's interesting to hear an opinion from someone that has worked there. I have started a new topic in the WS forum for those of you that want to continue to discuss Wonderland's lack of expenditure etc. etc.

[joz]

It seems a real shame that Wonderland have gone down the route of cut-backs. WVTPs experimented with a cutback in staff numbers this year, but were very quick to bring the levels back up again. By cutbacks, I mean one person operation on Corkscrew and 2 ops on Cartoon Beach (4 rides) and the 'more controversial then it should have been'; ride rotation at Movieworld. Also, to correct a point from earlier, genrally, staff on Bermuda work there all day. They change between Platform, Pre-show and queue control every half-hour, and every 15mins later on in the day. After 4, everyone stays where they are for an hour, although sometimes a person working Bermuda will close the Pirate Ship in full Bermuda clothing. It is my opinion then that Space Probe staff can work there all day, but its a bit difficult when there's only two jobs to do . >>Back onto topic<< I think that themeing does play a role, and indeed, if every effect was working as it should, then to me, space probe may be a contendor. As it stands, GD offers more thrill, and just as good themeing as what SP does. GD is after all themed to a Giant Oil... thingy. When I went on it, all I saw was a themed queue line, which I walked straight through and very little else. Based on the ride itself, GD to me (my opinion) in the better ride of the two, and the themeing to me is not enough to give Space Probe the edge. Even if all Space Probe's themeing was working, I dare say GD will still get the nod from me. Also, before anyone says I'm biased towards Dreamworld, read other most other posts to find I'm quite anit-Dreamworld

[Daniel]

Usually, the unloader at Probe or Demon is only trained as an unloader. In the case of Probe it's pre-show. Unloader is trained to check harnesses. Besides a couple of baby rides, the first thing you're basically trained on when you start working at Wonderland is on SP/Demon unloader/pre-show positions. They aren't trained as ops so there isn't any way they can rotate, unless it's only experienced trained ops up there.

[rappa]

Well yes obviously as your saying Daniel someone who isn't trained can't be rotated. However if WL were running the correct number of staff there would be 4 on probe and at least the Unload, Pre-Show, and person at the Tunnel entrance could be rotated. As for the actual Op. that would be something that would have to be looked at in terms of rotation. However it is done at other parks so I'm sure there is a way.

[mx5_boy]

8) Well, I love both rides. Space Probe was a world first and set a precedent for Aussie theme parks in trying new technologies and ideas. But bang for your buck would have to be the GD. I don't think they themed it terribly well, considering the monster size of the the thing and it's *big ride* classification. But I still have yet to ride on anything else across the planet that scares me so silly as GD. Mainly because I am terrified of heights! Personally I like rides to be themed, so long as it is done well and creates an additional experience. The absolute huge media build up to the opening of Space Probe 7 (as it was formerly known) in partership with channel Seven was unprecedented in it's hype! Every teenager in the greater Sydney conurbation was just wetting themselves at what it was all about. We knew very little, only that it was going to be big, world's biggest (blahdiblah) and something that we all had to experience! I can remember the very first time on Space Probe 7 and *just like on TV* thought the theming of the ride was awesome. There was a total experience package here, that I had only seen at the big American theme parks before. My mate and I checked out the people coming off from SP to see if they were truly terrified or acting as if it was lame. To our horror and excitement most people were speechless zombies! The 90 minute queue was a pain but when we got to the tunnel entrance (after watching *Anne Sanders* (I think) and the whole evacuation spiel countless times) and were made to run through to the next section - gave a huge amount of expectation. The ride ops in SP7 suits making it a major experience was even better and kept the riders in a total state of *what's next*. You also have to remember that you couldn't see the ride happening for about 15 minutes before you got on and heard virtually nothing inside the tunnels. By the time you went through to the loading gate all you could think of was *sh!t*! You were rushed through to the seats and strapped in pronto and off you went! Gosh! It seemed so high back then and no sooner were you horrified at the height, you were in the dome with the silly countdown that always seemed to start at 9, 8, 7, 6, *boom* down you went - trying to scream but unable! No *cruise* time like a coaster - just harness up and out you had to go. Both my mate and I were speechless and had to sit down and ended up giggling uncontrollably! It sticks in my mind as one of my favourite park experiences anywhere in the world! I still have my WS ticket from that day. I can remember all the openings of the GC theme parks rides and making the effort of either getting my parents to take me or travelling up when I was older for the newer ones. But nothing sticks in my mind more than the opening of SP and the associated hype! mb