Scooby Doo Lately

[S.W24]

Im not saying that is the reason why the effects aren't on sometimes but after everything that has been said about the issue this would be the most logic reason as to why. It's not hard to turn them all on in the morning shorly. But they wouldnt be doing this if it wasn't a substantal amount of money the are saving think about how often lights turn off and on in this attraction the power bill just for effects alone would be huge. It's cheaper to keep a light on all day than turn it on and off all the time. You dont often get many types of rides like scooby doo in Australia for the pure fact of the operating cost's. This is a stupid comparision but Disney for example. 90% of there attractions are like scooby doo in the fact they are inside mainly and have different sound and lighting effects. I Watched a thing about this on the history channel i cant remeber how much but they said how much each year disney's rides and attractions operating cost are each year. It was huge compaired to a standard theme park. Disney sets the standard for the best parks in the world and by far im shore any company could come close if they put in the attention to detail that Disney does. In the end it all comes down to saving money because every cent counts. Iv seen cash flow statement's from both Seaworld and Movieworld they dont make as much profit as most people think. 40% of profits straight away goes to the government in tax. You then have labour. Power, Water, Sewerage, Rubbish dispposale. There are so many cost's involved. This sounds a bit stupid but when we do get our Disney it will open up a all new ball game. Our parks will have to keep up with the Disney demand which will make them better and better than they are now. Movieworld is already planning for this. They are hoping to have a interactive park map when you first enter by the end of next year, Which will feature live que times for all major rides. This is why they having been doing all the line que times trial. Which from my understanding they are still doing at the moment. I recon we will be seeing lots of changes over the next 24 months.

[nev]

I really don't think you can blame operating costs on a lesser guest experience. My business has exactly the same proportions of it's cash disappear into tax and dozens of other expenses that make me watch my bottom line, as does every business in Australia. The key to a successful experience is managing these costs and still providing your clients with an exceptional product. Now in Movie World's case, the product they need to provide is an exceptional guest experience - that's what they're selling. So if they can't afford to run and maintain their rides and subsequently fail in delivering the experience, then something's wrong with their management style. In the case of Scooby, the lighting and haze effects would be a blip on the radar in a management budget - nothing massive at all - certainly nothing compared with actual ride maintenance. So saving money is all well and good, but if it compromises your end product, then as a business you need to look at saving money in other areas.... rich

[Gazza]

Just a little side note, but the Australian company tax rate is 30% The live queue time system sounds like a good move, but it would only be effective if it were in key locations around the park (eg at the T junction at the end of main street, one in WB Kids, one up in the Wild West area) since nobody is going to walk right back to the front gate to check out the times when it would be quicker to just walk to the ride itself. A better suggestion I have heard is that each major ride should have queue times for the other rides too...if you went to Scooby and saw the wait time was 40 mins, but the other rides were listed too you could right away make a comparison and opt to go on something else. I don't think I have seen the board with all rides though that surfaced a few months back, only the individual signs at each entrance.

It's cheaper to keep a light on all day than turn it on and off all the time.

I remember seeing a Mythbusters story on start up power loads of lights versus the amount used leaving them on...for the vast majority of lights (incandescent, LED, halogen etc) it only uses about 2 secs of electricity in the instant when they are turning on. The main exception is Fluorescent Tubes, which use about 20 seconds worth of power in the instant that they turn on....So if you are out of a room for longer than 20secs, then it becomes worthwhile to turn off a fluorescent light, and for the others, even less. Now, I don't know much about the characteristics of lasers, but for diode based lasers at least, I would imagine the case would be the same as above. personally, I think WVTP could do a lot better with power saving, I think its a joke that they have full lights on at WnW on the towers at night when they are closed, and the big screen at MW is still on hours after park closing time. PS, dunno if you still want feedback on posting, but it is spelled "sure", and "assure"...."shore" and "a shore" means the edge of a lake or sea.

[rappa]

There is a no way its about saving power. The company pays very little for power and really doesn't care about how much it uses in terms of costs, that is fact not my hearsay... I would say it's a case of staff not bothering to do the proper ride checks. AV would come in of a morning and start up the ride and the effects, I would like to think baring any equipment problems all the effects are running when they leave, that's their job... Now once the ride is handed over to the operations department it's their job to constantly monitor the effects keep working. If they stop and they don't notice or don't care and don't bother to contact AV to come fix them then they will go the rest of the day not working. When you have young part time labour who don't really give a damn doing this job, you see where the problem goes wrong.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

just to clarify - company taxes are not fixed across the board. They are quite variable. Power wise, The lasers would use less than a typical household lightglobe - the ancilliary usage however - cooling fans and servos to move the mirrors would bump it up to be somewhere in the range of a household lightglobe. Lasers are rated in mW, mine for example is 1200mW, and as far as I know, the wattage escalates the same way that bytes do. I agree with Clint that it is more down to the operators. AV would be checking this stuff every morning, so anything that isn't working would be logged and fixed. If it's just running out of fog juice, or overheated, and they don't notice it - it won't be fixed until the next day.

[S.W24]

As i said as the first thing in my post, "Im not saying that is the reason why the effects aren't on sometimes " It was just my ussumption or guess seeing i cant seem to think really of any other reason. Except for lasyness. The Interactive Park map is positioned in Two key locations at the fountion as you enter which is a key area with both Batman rides and Superman and will also as you said be at the T junction. The maps system updates its self every 5 mins allowing a reasonable time bracket for when people see a short que everyone will go there so with in 5 mins the que will then be larger and will then update showing guest's its probably not a wise move going to that ride at the moment. It also gives out tips for during your day and any live info like ride closures that may happen during the day. Both Universal and Englands Alton Towers already have the system. The system is hoping to be installed by christmas next year if it is a go ahead. So it will be a good added feature along with next years major new attraction?????

[cadboy]

Woo Hoo! This new map system sounds great. Is it going to show a digital map of the park with queue times post over the top of the ride ? Oh and another question how are they going to get queue times. I mean I went to MW during the trial period of the other queue time boards and got one of those little pieces of paper that you have to hand to the ride op when you get to the front of the line so as they know the length of the queue. Arre they going to use the same method to get the 5 min queue times? Hmmmmm 2009 major new attraction you say. I'll take a hyper or a B&M LOL not likely. Well Its about time for antother big ride/rollercoaster. Lets just hope they don't remove an existing one to make way for it. Cheers, Edit: Mabey a new thread needs to be started

Edited August 23, 2008 by cadboy

[rappa]

Disney use the system also. At regular intervals a rider is handed a card when they enter the line, they then hand it to the attendant when boarding. The attendant informs the supervisor they have received a care and the time is updated. I really don't know if MW needs this system. The Universal and Disney Parks are much bigger and Alton Towers is HUGE. I can really walk all the way from one side of MW to the other in 5 mins to check a wait time if I really want to...

[Gazza]

I think they also have some physical hardware that works out throughput at Disney, at the exit of each ride you walk between bars that have light curtains across them (the space between each bar is only wide enough for one person) so the number of people exiting can be counted accurately (I guess they then use this to work out how well they are doing for hourly throughput) They must have some means of counting people going in too, I remember at DCA being in the first rush of people heading to TOT at opening time, and as the crowd began to pour into the entrance you could see the wait time sign starting off at 0mins and rapidly flipping up through the numbers as more and more people went in.

Edited August 23, 2008 by Gazza

[rappa]

So I thought I would make a bit of an update. Now I have no hard facts or anything like that to post (because I can't) but I have it on good authority that there is a lot of work going to be happening soon on Scooby's effects. I believe one of the projection people has been working hard on getting the ride up to its former (and more even) glory and we're going to be all blown away. I for one can't commend the park enough for this, as nev said, the ride has had its day in terms of an investment so to see time, money and effort put into it just for the sake of improving the guest experience is awesome. I can't wait to see the final outcome, and am surprise and excited that some comments on here could in fact lead to such big things. Way to go Drs everywhere!

[joz]

^ Oh no, not that bloddy DJRAPPA again

Edited October 3, 2008 by joz

[BNErider]

I went yesterday and there was no fog to be seen. The main room also had most of the lasers not operating. As for the last room, EVERYTHING was off. Including Scooby.

[rappa]

I did say going to be... not already happened.

[BNErider]

I know - I am going to take a stab and say something is going to happen in that last part.

[cadboy]

Thanks for that rappa, great to hear this finally happening. I really hope it all goes ahead and it probably is about time they put some money backin to the ride as it is still one of the most popular and favourited of many guests. Any idea of how soon, after the Christmas holidays mabey. Although it could be sooner on myfun it is schelduled for maintence in November.

Scooby-Doo Spooky Coaster will be closed from 3 - 16 November inclusive for scheduled maintenance.

[ads086]

Just thinking about the proposed upgrades to effects. Last year at halloween in the walk-thru, there was a mist-wall with a video projection onto it. Perhaps this will be replacing the fog/laser effect to hide that final drop. With halloween coming up again shortly, perhaps Movieworld have purchased the equipment rather than hire it, and will install it into the Scooby ride. They have the actors and costumes to record a video to project if they so wish.

[DonjaiInLA]

Word on the street is there re lazering and smoking Scooby Doo this month sometime.. anyone know if this is true?

[S.W24]

I had also heard a very similar thing as to Djrappa but i wasn't sure if it was true or not as scooby hasn't got any longer period's of maintenance scheduled yet. But I'm guessing other people have been told a similar thing so something must be happening. I see the last laser drop which we all complain about has been in full light lately so you can see it clear as day. So i presume there might be some work happening there during this months down time.

[DonjaiInLA]

It goes down tomorrow until the 15th, is that enough time?

[S.W24]

Hm mm depends on 1) How prepared they are as in are they going to start right away tomorrow or are they going to start prep tomorrow, and 2) depending on how much work they are going to do. fixing it back to its normal glory could take a bit. I would have to say though there has been some changes like the red down lights that have been put in on some of the dark ride section. Oh anyone agree about the music sounding bad at the moment. It is really muffled.

[Gold Coaster]

Yeah! So I hear. And the music certainly did sound half-baked the other day. I only rode once though so aren't sure if just a temporary problem.

[sonic123488]

when we do get our Disney

You seem awfully sure of yourself

scooby doo sucks ass!!!!!!

That's an awfully brash statement What features of the ride suck? When it's at fully operational scooby doo is one of my favorite rides.

[DonjaiInLA]

Your forgetting Doc Brown only likes truly awfull attractions that should be closed many a decade earlier, I.e Batman.

[jayw]

The music sounded awful on friday night - like they have blown a speaker or it was face down on the floor or something. So many of the effects are down at the moment pretty much from when you enter the lift...it is in desperate need of maintenance. ( and fog! ) Jay

[sonic123488]

The music sounded awful on friday night

I reckon that was because it was a live peformance.