Fire on Wild West Falls

[Ian]

at work today the ride was open which was great news as it was 40deg at the park today i think ive lost 10kg today alone.

[Daniel]

You got our weather from yesterday mate by the sounds of it. I nearly carked it! Our hottest Christmas Day since 1983.

[rappa]

I was talking with some friends today and the topic got brought up... Does anyone know what ended up being the result of the investigation into the cause of the fire?

[Inverted]

So has anyone here been on the ride since the fire? I would like to know if the themeing has all been restored in the WWF.

[Daniel]

I was on WWF in February. At that time, there was of course a lot of the normal stuff missing due to them wanting to get it reopened. If you looked up you could see the extensive smoke and fire damage to the roof and on one of the light globes believe it or not. I'd say by now, it would have been pulled down for extensive repair and returned to its almost original state I guess. Or more accurately how they want it to be for some time to come.

[joz]

Sadly the parks website still states that "The Wild West Falls Adventure Ride is temporarily closed but will reopen by 26 December 2003." If it hasn't been repaired yet, it'll probably be done in the cooler months after April.

[Ian]

the rides open or the people I see at work each day are just there for fun. its been open for ages.

[rappa]

Well yeah I was there late Feb too and yes the damage was incredible. Fortunately for your average GP member that would have no clue, a true credit to the MW crew for getting it back so quickly. There is still much work to do and as it has been sugested I imagine it will go down for quite some time once the weather cools off a bit, possibly post holidays Rabid? You wouldn't want to have a major water ride closed in this weather!

[joz]

its been open for ages.

I know, just saying the site hasn't been updated Any idea when its going down to have the effects fixed Ian?

[GoGoBoy]

So what's the status of this ride now? Have the effects in the final splashdown room been fixed? Does the barrel still expand? Does smoke and wind still push you out of the top? I hope so as those were some of the best bits. Truly an amazing ride but it needs all elements working for it to be the same. Are there any obvious signs of fire or smoke damage?

[GoGoBoy]

No one has answered my question yet so thought I would add another post to bring this topic forward. Surely one of you has been to Movie World recently and knows the state of this ride? What about you guys that work for Warner Village?

[joz]

Not sure myself, its been quite a while since I've done any work out at Movieworld for nearly 5 months now. The park's website doesn't make a mention of any closures (weird), so if your planing on visiting the park I'd suggest giving them a call. Otherwise, I'm looking over at Ian for some insight on this one.

[GoGoBoy]

Yeah I'm not planning on visiting the park anytime soon... just wondering out of interest whether or not all of the effects in the final splashdown room have been repaired/fixed. It's one of my pet peeves when theme parks don't upkeep rides to their original standard including ALL effects

[Ian]

I have no idea on effects as im too busy working in the middle of the park taking photos dont have time for rides. plus I would rather eat of my breaks the hope in line with the general public

[rappa]

Would it not be pretty easy for you to just ask one of your co-workers Ian?

[Ian]

had training at work today and was finished by 10am so decided to get some rides done before going home. About 3/4 of the way up the lift hill on the final drop it has a new theme which is Dark with tin sheding and sign and dynamite. also all the water features on the ride eg Geyser ect now soak the boat each time so you will get wetter thoughout the course.

[rappa]

Yeah that tin shedding and the strobes were put in after the fire it would seem... Looks a bit like a 'patch up' job if you ask me. Nothing against them doing that at all just I think that's exactly what it is, an interum measure. Look forward to seeing the effects fully restored, whenever that may be.

[joz]

Just in time for Winter too Ian! Not sure what the plans are, but the operations did say something about closing the ride to re-work it earlier this year. Probably kept getting the same rating on guest surveys so they decided not to worry about it

[scott]

How come this thread is being advertised as hotnews?

[joz]

You trying to say fire isn't hot?

[GoGoBoy]

So does the dynamite barrel thing still 'explode' at the end of the ride? This was one of my favourite effects. For those that don't know... when the boat reaches the top of the final lift hill it is turned around on a turntable and faces outwards. There is then a large explosion noise followed by a big gust of wind and smoke. This has the effect of 'pushing' the boat out the top and down that awesome drop. Does this still happen?

[rappa]

My guess would be at the moment no, it doesn't still happen. I have no problem that MW still haven't gotten to fixing it and replacing the theming though. However if they have decided not to bother then I think that is pretty poor because the ride is pretty 'cheap and nasty' up there at the moment.

[joz]

I had the chance to check out Wild West today. The ride is still very different at the top of the hill. Its now themed to look like a gold mine, with open mine shafts and barrels. There are flashing lights signage and whatnot. The same soundtrack plays ("Once the spark hits the powder..... all the sound effects are still the same, but there is no smoke and no wind. There is a more obvious flash of lights as the explosion sound effect goes off though. Its not the parks best themeing job, and reminds me of the job DW did themeing Cyclone. Having said that, in the time frame they had to do the job, it all looks pretty good. We'll see what happens when annual maintenance time comes around.

[rappa]

Good to hear they have progressed from the originat 'tin shed' quick fix. Still hope to see a proper 'first class' theming redo when the ride goes down for its rehab though. Anything less would do this world class ride no justice.

[T-bone]

Did they work out what the cause of the fire was?