Scooby-Doo Spooky Coaster fire and lighting effects

[Spotty]

Ah yes... the fire eyes. See, when I worked for the parks I was very careful with what I would say to anyone. I wouldn't say anything that could get me in trouble. But I will admit that I did enjoy sometimes stirring up various people that I knew by saying things that were downright ridiculous. Not to mention it was very entertaining to see them later on post it on forums / Facebook as fact...

Not to mention generally speaking attractions staff don't know that much information about new attractions until about the same time as Parkz members do. I think what was funny is I found out about Storm Coaster before it was even announced to staff within the company. It was hinted at but when I told my supervisor I got the "How on earth did you find out about this" from them haha. In short, attractions staff can be a very good source of information if it's someone you know. But the majority of staff that have been there a while know the main Parkz members and do like to tell you things that may or may not be the most accurate information. But I know personally that none of them would risk their jobs by saying something that could get them fired.

Edited April 27, 2014 by Spotty

[MaxxTheMonster]

I thought with Scooby it was a ring of fire but that there were issues with it setting off the fire system in the building... This I learnt from the many times the fire brigade had to attend... The gas line around the mouth was also very visible for the first few months at least...

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

nup - the building was fitted with a cantilevered roof so the entire building could vent any smoke within minutes. Coupled with the auto-reversing coaster cars that allowed the cars to back up in case of fire - there was never a need for the fire brigade to be called...

[Spotty]

nup - the building was fitted with a cantilevered roof so the entire building could vent any smoke within minutes. Coupled with the auto-reversing coaster cars that allowed the cars to back up in case of fire - there was never a need for the fire brigade to be called...

PMSL

[MaxxTheMonster]

So I must have imagined the multiple times I saw the fire brigade attend through the gate near Intencity... I must have also imagined the conversations I had with Supervisors about the reason they were in attendance... Oh and I also must have imagined seeing the pipe lines and information about the ring of fire in the mouth before the last little drop which had to be quickly replaced with the laser instead...

[Richard]

Split this one off into its own topic so it can be discussed properly.

So I must have imagined the multiple times I saw the fire brigade attend through the gate near Intencity... I must have also imagined the conversations I had with Supervisors about the reason they were in attendance... Oh and I also must have imagined seeing the pipe lines and information about the ring of fire in the mouth before the last little drop which had to be quickly replaced with the laser instead...

The other guys are referring to a long-standing Parkz (or Roller-Coaster.com.au) in-joke about misinformation... no one's actually saying that the roof opens or that the cars can reverse themselves nor are they actually disputing your claims about fire brigade visits.

In regards to fire effects on the ride, I first rode Scooby-Doo during trade previews and somewhat regularly after that. While the ride's original announcement referred to a ring of fire, I've never seen any evidence of actual fire effects on the ride. It opened with pretty ordinary lighting/laser on that final drop that was fairly quickly upgraded to that foggy green vortex laser effect (queue lighting experts...) that has been there on and off ever since. I don't believe anyone's ever mentioned actual fire effects on this ride until now... I'd be sceptical that any such effects ever made it to fruition.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

no one's actually saying that the roof opens or that the cars can reverse themselves nor are they actually disputing your claims about fire brigade visits.

Thanks Richard... seems like we may need those sarcasm tags back after all...

Although I have no inside knowledge on anything to do with the ride or the issues experienced, I find it much more likely that issues with effects (say - smoke effects) may have been causing issues with the fire systems.

Many commercial fire protection systems utilise particle-sensor type equipment, and the vapour generated by smoke-effects sets it off.

It may be the reason we don't see much in the way of smoke these days? (a question - not an observation).

[rappa]

I've never seen any evidence of a decommissioned fire effect that never made it into operation or anything like that. I'm not saying it was never there, but there's certainly no sign of it now.

The Scooby building actually has a particular sort of fire detectors that are not affected by theatrical smoke effects, you need more of them and they are all sorts of rules and regs that make them prohibitive in many places but the Scooby building and the arena at the Outback Spectacular both use this type of system, so you can smoke up to your hearts content without having to isolate the system which menu venues do.

[Spotty]

I can assure you that there were never any fire effects installed on Scooby Doo, the "Ring of Fire" is referring to the mouth that you enter before the final drop. If you have watched the original Scooby Doo movie you will recognise this particular set and it's referred to as the "Ring of Fire" in the movie as well.

I can tell you this much, the original evacuation procedure for the ride has changed to make this room one of the first rooms to be evacuated by the unloader due to the sheer amount of fire alarms that were set off in the early days of the rides operation. Not to mention due to the amount of set pieces etc in the small area, in the event of a fire it's probably the most flammable area. The door order used to make sense (14, 15, 16, 17 and 18) but when this was changed it was changed to something like (16, 14, 15, 17 and 18) I can't remember the exact door numbers but yeah... Hope this answers your question about the "Ring of Fire"

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

The Scooby building actually has a particular sort of fire detectors that are not affected by theatrical smoke effects, you need more of them and they are all sorts of rules and regs that make them prohibitive in many places but the Scooby building and the arena at the Outback Spectacular both use this type of system, so you can smoke up to your hearts content without having to isolate the system which menu venues do.

Interesting - As I wrote my last post I kinda figured that would be the case - which still leaves the question open - why all the fire alarms?

[rappa]

The whole building doesn't have these. Just the laser portion.

So if due to air movement you ended up with say smoke back at the load dock, you could get an alarm.

[Spotty]

Which used to happen occasionally... I remember when they got the new / old machines from Fright Nights put in there... I was up in High Zone and there was a truckload of smoke pouring out of it... and I mean a truckload. I called the supervisor to let them know... and sure enough about a minute later after they shut them off... fire alarm went off as it went into the load dock...

I think it was the one time they had too much smoke going... I can tell you though, every morning the smoke machines were turned on... and if they didn't work AV would be called... weather or not they were fixed that day was a different story... However the lasers had a tendency to freeze up, but that couldn't be reset unless one of the operators in either the lift room or high zone told the supervisor about it as they are watching millions of other things and don't often realise. Sadly though, most of the operators don't really notice or care about it. There are a few that do though.

I really would love to see the ride brought back to the way it used to be, perhaps a overhaul of the system would be nice... but considering the ride is 12 years old now I don't know...

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Ok that makes a lot of sense. Thanks guys!

I really would love to see the ride brought back to the way it used to be, perhaps a overhaul of the system would be nice... but considering the ride is 12 years old now I don't know...

Wouldn't we all? There have been a few patch jobs over the years (and it is getting on in years) but I think the multi coloured lasers just don't have the effect the old green ones did. It's great that they've replaced them with new ones, but i'd like to see them once again aligned to bounce off the side mirrors, and create the two tunnel effects (one at the turntable - the other at final drop)...

that said - Dreamworld is overhauling the 21 year old Wipeout - so maybe in another 9 years, MW can do the same for Scoob?

[themagician]

Besides the lasers and smoke, are there any other major components to the ride that have changed since opening day

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

^What - you mean apart from the giant fucking spider?

[themagician]

^What - you mean apart from the giant fucking spider?

sorry the first time I went on the ride was in 2011, so I don't know

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Wow - the spider has been there that long huh?

There've been very minor changes alterations etc within the ghost train section - mainly changes to lighting more than anything else.

The disco room has had several variations on lasers, from the previously mentioned green lasers hitting multiple small mirrors around the room to bounce the laser around the place through to the current 'multi-coloured lasers', and the addition of the giant spider and a red spotlight on the spider (which in my opinion killed the disco room altogether).

The lifts previously had some nice red rope light (which I presume they took away and used on Bermuda - lol) which gave a nice little optical illusion as you went up the lift. In addition you could hear Daphne calling out 'Scooby.... Scooby Doo - Where are you?' - it was quite loud - you could hear it outside the showbuilding in the Lethal piazza.

I'm pretty sure you can hear Daphne still but it is nowhere near as loud as it ever was... The theme music by MxPx was also MUCH louder than it is today too.

[westical]

^What - you mean apart from the giant fucking spider?

Easy tiger, not everyone knows the complete history of rides.

My main complaint is the shuddery Scooby animatronics.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

No tiger - i wasn't having a go at him - i was just pointing it out as a large ..... spider...that was an addition to the ride... sorry - tonality obviously lacking - Wasn't meant to be abusive towards you Magician.

[themagician]

No tiger - i wasn't having a go at him - i was just pointing it out as a large ..... spider...that was an addition to the ride... sorry - tonality obviously lacking - Wasn't meant to be abusive towards you Magician.

thats alright alex. I do think the volume should be turned back up a bit because sometimes you can hardly hear it. It would also be good if they had a few extra coloured lasers.

Another thing. It seems every time I go on it the.breaking is really hard or nice and smooth, why isn't it ever the same?

Edited May 6, 2014 by themagician

[Reanimated35]

Possibly wrong but I'm fairly sure it's due to the weight of each car being different and taking a different time in each section. They brakes have to be harder or softer depending on how much space is between the cars.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

I'm with you on that one Reanimated. The blocking system is trying to keep a safe distance between each car as well as maintain a safe speed.

Generally the heavier you are, the faster you go, so a car with 4 big guys in it is going to catch up to the one in front if it's got 4 smaller kids.

The ride braking system ensures that you - 1. don't catch up to the people and 2. don't take the corner too fast for the forces you (and the ride) can handle.

If you ever get the chance on a quiet day - ride in a car by yourself to see if you can actually trip the brakes on your own - or otherwise jump in with 3 heavy guys and play 'corners' as you go through the wildmouse turns... it's one of my favourite things to do and i'm not satisfied until I can get an almost total stoppage

[Spotty]

It will also depend on how quickly cars are being dispatched from the load / unload station. The ride system is able to safely handle 18 cars on the track at any given time with several blocks to spare... but the ride normally runs with about 14 cars at a time... it just gives a little bit more time for the cars to be dispatched. If the cars are constantly backing up at Unload because they can't send them to the load platform the ride would crap out and go into an e-stop...

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

^ yes but given the lift-stacking, if you're the first one into the lift (and the last one out) theres always a car in front to try and catch.

Provided load isn't stacking the entire ride, the lift dispatch and turntable should be timed almost identically between the first and second cars...

ie: first car out of lift, backwards drop, turntable, go, second car out, drop, turntable, go - should all be spaced the same as the blocks would clear in the same order at the same rough timing (allowing for weight and friction differences if anyone wants to get technical)...

i'm probably not explaining what I mean very well - does that make sense to anyone?

[Santa07]

^a little... i think i get the gist of it...