Sea World Storm Coaster construction 2013

[Reanimated35]

Hi guys like heaps of you on I've been a long time lurker but new member. I emailed Sea World yesterday with a stupid email asking why the fire that was seen on the TV ad wasn't in effect on the ride. Got a reply this arvo and thought I would share it with you all. Dear Michael Thank you for your email. Unfortunately the effect of fire has not been commissioned for the Storm Coaster; regrettably it was not known it would not be in effect until after the television ad was made. Sorry to cause you any disappointment. The idea of fire has not been completely ruled at this stage so feel free to contact us again in the future for any updates. Kind regards, Paige Guest Services | Sea World | T: +61 7 5588 2178 | F: +61 7 5588 2423 Village Roadshow Theme Parks | Sea World Drive, Main Beach, QLD 4215. | Thoughts? Kind of disappointing really

Wonder what happened. Did the build it just in the hope they'd get approval for it? Did they forget to order non-flammable construction materials? Did they build it then realise they had some leftover neon light from bemuda?

[Slick]

Speaking of Bermuda, I wonder how much of that ride was salvaged? I'd imagine there'd be some cool houses around the Gold Coast with weird looking alien animatronics in them by now.

[rappa]

^^ Could very well be that it's just waiting on its certification which wasn't achieved before Christmas and now has to wait for relevant authorities to be back at work...

[GoGoBoy]

She certainly makes it sound like the fire might never be implemented - but that assumes she has accurate information. If that's the case, they definitely need to bring back the proper water drench scene at the end with the boats actually stopping (incl. the lights and SFX etc.), otherwise there just aren't enough features in the dark ride section

[Reanimated35]

^^ Could very well be that it's just waiting on its certification which wasn't achieved before Christmas and now has to wait for relevant authorities to be back at work...

While I really hope that's true, and sure, it does seem pretty plausable, the message does read as though it won't be coming, ever.

Wouldn't approval have been given during construction though? Or can they just build whatever they want and just hope for approval later?

[Slick]

^^ Could very well be that it's just waiting on its certification which wasn't achieved before Christmas and now has to wait for relevant authorities to be back at work...

While I really hope that's true, and sure, it does seem pretty plausable, the message does read as though it won't be coming, ever.

Wouldn't approval have been given during construction though? Or can they just build whatever they want and just hope for approval later?

Preeeeettyy sure djrappa would know. Just read between the lines a little.

[Reanimated35]

Preeeeettyy sure djrappa would know. Just read between the lines a little.

Yeah, I get that, but to me it doesn't make sense that if approval is needed to turn it on, that approval wouldn't be needed to actually build it in the first place, and if so, surely I'm not the only one who thinks it's stupid that they can be given approval to build it and then get knocked back approval to turn the damn thing on?

[GoGoBoy]

Yeah, I get that, but to me it doesn't make sense that if approval is needed to turn it on, that approval wouldn't be needed to actually build it in the first place, and if so, surely I'm not the only one who thinks it's stupid that they can be given approval to build it and then get knocked back approval to turn the damn thing on?

I suppose it's similar to the actual certification of new rides. They can get approval to install it, but then once built (and just prior to opening) it must be certified to ensure all safety requirements are met and the ride is functioning correctly.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

While I really hope that's true, and sure, it does seem pretty plausable, the message does read as though it won't be coming, ever.

Wouldn't approval have been given during construction though? Or can they just build whatever they want and just hope for approval later?

As i've said several times in the past - my wife is a construction administrator for a very large building company in queensland. The construction they do undergoes several 'certification' or 'approval' steps, which include among others:

• approval for the development
• approval for the plumbing sewerage plans
• gasfitter's certification
• 'final' approval which is an inspection done by the council to confirm that all the conditions of the construction have been adhered to

Theres a bunch of others, and i've probably gotten the names wrong, but you can get approval to build, and then get the 'building' signed off, but that doesn't mean the gas fittings were signed off. The relevant authorities would sign off that the construction was completed as per the DA, but the gas supply cannot be enabled until the authorised gas fitter has certified the work.

Think caravans - you can build a caravan from scratch, and get it registered by the department of transport (it's nothing but a trailer at the end of the day) - but the gas fittings installed need to be certified by a gas fitter separate to the registration... and you can't use the gas stove until that's done... make sense?

[Reanimated35]

Yeah fair enough. Makes sense.

I guess it's too hard for anything to be overly easy these days.

[rappa]

Yes purely speculation on my part but as above that's exactly how it works. An approved design doesn't equate to being allowed to turn on something like gas when built. It needs to be certified. The original post states the effect is not "commissioned". That means it's not be handed over complete for use. And it also says "has not been ruled out" so no where does it say there won't be fire ever at all.

[Reanimated35]

In your opinion then (you too Alex) would it be a fairly simple thing to get approved you think we're likely to see?

I'm guessing not as surely they would have done so by now?

Their comment doesn't instill too much faith in it ever making an appearance since it's been open for a while now leaving plenty of time to submit things for approval and they say that it hasn't been completely ruled out. To me, and it's just my interpretation, that it has been ruled out for the foreseeable future. I'd love to be wrong though.

[rappa]

I think you have to look at the timeframe here. Trades and governments are closed all over the Christmas break so you'd see little movement of anything like that since the time the ride opened... So don't base things on the time frame. IF the ride was built with fire effects they would have been built to code you'd imagine and all the expensive work has been done so it's likely they'd come online at some point. Now there may have been no fire effects at all. Looks to me that there are steam effects in use and the insulated pipes AlexB has been referring to May just be for that??

[Reanimated35]

Oh hang on a minute, I kept thinking they'd opened in September when it was initially planned. I forgot it was delayed. That makes more sense with the time frames.

Overall, even if they don't have fire effects in (and based on Bemuda at the end, I'm leaning more towards them not making an appearance, but there's still hope) I just hope that someone's reading this and beg you, please, whatever you do, DO NOT put a shitty neon light in as a substitute. If there's no fire, leave it at no fire.

[themagician]

They would be installed otherwise they wouldn't have advertised it for months. They have obviously only just realised that there is an issue and they need to get permission. I'm sure they won't use neon lights though.

[Zanstabar]

Oh hang on a minute, I kept thinking they'd opened in September when it was initially planned. I forgot it was delayed. That makes more sense with the time frames.

Overall, even if they don't have fire effects in (and based on Bemuda at the end, I'm leaning more towards them not making an appearance, but there's still hope) I just hope that someone's reading this and beg you, please, whatever you do, DO NOT put a shitty neon light in as a substitute. If there's no fire, leave it at no fire.

That neon sign was absolutely horrendous. First ride of Bermuda and I didn't even realise it was meant to be lava (having no audio probably made it even worse)! If they did have to replace, what would work well? A bright orange light and a steam/mist cannon?

[Reanimated35]

Just steam, no fire. Steam and a nice hissing steam sound.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Disney does fire well in dark rides without gas or flame - just lights, fans and fabric.

It may be that the features were installed, but the certifiers wouldn't sign off because of a risk of (uncontrolled) fire because the effect was too close to something... and that's put them back to the drawing board? That may explain the response you got from guest services.

Many dark-rideattractions use fire. It's safe where it's done properly. Bermuda did it for many years - Wild West Falls had sparkers before the fire. Backdraft at universal studios (and then the Mummy). It can be done... and with the heat elements etc present in the ride already, they've definitely tried to do so... but who knows what will come of it if there is a problem.

[themeparkgc]

Storm Coaster is the cover story of the latest edition of Park World Magazine. The two page spread goes into detail about DyMoRides, who coordinated the theming and effects for the ride.

[mba2012]

Storm Coaster is the cover story of the latest edition of Park World Magazine. The two page spread goes into detail about DyMoRides, who coordinated the theming and effects for the ride.

Park World Storm Coaster.PNG

That's an interesting article. I noticed right at the end, they referred to White Water World as Whitewater Bay.

[Gazza]

Popped into SW for a couple of hours this arvo, some more observations about Storm Coaster:

-The line seems to always move, I was counting 45 seconds between each boat.

-Bloody popular. At 3pm the line was out a few meters beyond the shipping container entrance.

-I spotted another effect which has yet to be commissioned, but can't remember if it was even there previously. Between the water dump and the load station is what appears to be a water curtain effect from some overhead pipes. There are even some rectangular led lights up with it, so I'm guessing the waterfall will have a bit of light thrown on it to make it more visible.

-No fire yet.

-Several giant fans are in the queue now (Kind of like the mist fans they have around DW in summer, but bigger, and no mist). Some ducting for A/C has been installed inside too, including some big flexible ducts that hang over the first flume section.

-The containers at the entrance/exit have had the rubber flaps removed, and whirly ventilators have been installed, so it's not really hot in there anymore. The lack of flaps didn't make a difference to the indoor light levels actually, so good riddance I suppose. Sadly, the wall inside the container has been scratchittied to death already.

-Loose items.... I asked, and the attendant said that things in pockets are allowed, but not bulky things like bags. Lockers are available, but a lot of people just had bags left lined up along the fence next to the entrance :S

-Onride photos were working, happens just before the splashdown.

-The tunnel you dive into has a ridiculous amount of fog in it, so it's basically a full whiteout. Very cool.

[GoGoBoy]

Thanks Gazza, sounds good. Is the water dump working again?

[Jay Jay The Jet Plane]

Is the water dump working again?

I was there on Sunday yes it was working when I was on the ride

[Gazza]

Ah yep, forgot to sau, yes it was.

[themagician]

Thats good to hear, it also sounds like they have either added or turned on a few more effects. Maybe this is because the fire effects aren't working.