Green Lantern incident at MW

[Theme Park Girl]

Well that's what you'd think, and assume that would be the case. Ultimately no amount of testing can prove the test of time except time itself, though. I guess am just still struggling to get my head around the physics of this ride.

[Noxegon]

It's the only one with eight seater cars. It's also several of orders magnitude smoother than the ones with four. I don't know what they did differently, but it is by far the best of the El Crappos.

[El Dub]

Long time stalker, first time poster so take from this what you will. I have heard from several Movie World employees that the call has recently been made to pull the coaster down. This has come from more than one source but I suppose we won't know for sure until an official announcement is made.

[pushbutton]

Could be just gossip going around the staff, and if so it probably contains SOME truth. The question is, how much truth? Could be that someone overheard a conversation where "pulling down" was mentioned, but that could mean making relatively minor alterations to better ensure safety.

Given that it's not very old and would have cost mega $, I am sure they would want to try any possible way to get it back in action before resorting to scrapping it.

As you said though, we won't know for sure until an announcement is made, or we see it either being pulled down or (and I think this is much more likely personally) back in operation.

Edited May 18, 2015 by pushbutton

[Zanstabar]

No offence El Dub, but you aren't exactly in a reputable position. First time poster with inside gossip? Sounds a bit suss, doesn't it?

Anyway, I feel oddly content with the ride being removed. A coaster that wasn't terrible in the first place will be gone, but if it reopens, what will everyone think? Will no one ride, leading to MW burning through money for wages and operating costs?

I'm now really interested to see what everyone else's take on the possibility of it being removed is.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

If there's any truth to that, i'd like to think we'd have heard something... outcome of investigation, or something like that. There hasn't been a whisper of anything...

It's also a very large investment that they'd be losing... if it isn't the manufacturer's fault, i can't see them throwing it away... and I can't see the manufacturer giving up without a fight and at least TRYING to fix the issue... testing etc... before resolving that the only thing left is to rip it down...

It may very well be the end result... but I don't think we've got a decision on it this quickly.

Edit: Zanstabar - you echoed my thoughts. We're always very critical of new posters without credibility as there are many trolls out there... however we have had first-timers turn out to be incredible information sources... I'll treat this information with appropriate skepticism until confirmed through some of our usual sources... but i'll allow for the possibility... it IS possible... however unlikely.

Edited May 18, 2015 by AlexB

[joz]

Could be just gossip going around the staff, and if so it probably contains SOME truth. The question is, how much truth?

There's some truth to it, in that they're going to demolish half of it.

Nah I haven't heard anything on this. But I can say if they can't rectify the problem to both their satisfaction, and that of their insurance company, it'll go. I'd suspect if it was taken down S&S would be up for some damages.

Also if it does reopen I doubt it's popularity would be much less. I suspect most people wouldn't know how bad a malfunction it was, and if they saw it running most people would assume it's safe.

[Rabbit2014]

If they were to pull down the ride it would be a huge loss when the ride was only built in 2011 so movie world would take a huge loss. I believe the ride won't get pulled down as it was an issue with the wheel system not the track design. Maybe we will just get a smaller train lets hope for a good decision from movie world.

[Zanstabar]

I find it actually quite odd that we haven't heard anything about the investigation. It's been a couple of months and we've heard jack.

Maybe we will just get a smaller train lets hope for a good decision from movie world.

As for changing the trains, I think that may cause a lot more pain in Movie World's behind. Not only will capacity already take a hit, but remember that the stations was also designed to accommodate wider trains, as does the catwalks. Not to mention the the track was scaled up to suit the experimental trains. If they suddenly went with smaller, 4-seater cars, they would've have to refurbish the station, all the catwalks, and review whether the train can manoeuvre through a layout designed for much more weight, therefore more speed and force behind it.

Changing trains wouldn't be like Lethal Weapon to Arkham Asylum or Mantis to Rougaoru, this would be like changing out Kumba's trains for Wingriders.

[Brad2912]

The cost to MW to remove could range from monumental (as the ride would surely have to be replaced with something) to nothing if found to be a manufacturing fault.

If a manufacturing issue, the manufacturer may just say the cost of purchasing new trains and modifying the track/station/emergency access/shipping etc outweighs the value of the coaster itself, and consider it, in car terms, a write off.

MW could potentially make a deal with the manufacturer to pay for removal themselves, in return for a new coaster at zero cost, or decreased cost if said coaster price exceeds that of GL. Plenty of options.

But with the 2 month mark now passed, you would think something would have been said/heard/leaked regarding an update

[westical]

Anyway, I feel oddly content with the ride being removed. A coaster that wasn't terrible in the first place will be gone, but if it reopens, what will everyone think? Will no one ride, leading to MW burning through money for wages and operating costs?

Big Thunder is as popular as ever, and someone died on that.

Edited May 18, 2015 by westical

[Brad2912]

Yeah but its Disneyland.

Winnie the Pooh could stab 10 people and the next day kids would be lining up for a hug.

[Reanimated35]

Also if it does reopen I doubt it's popularity would be much less. I suspect most people wouldn't know how bad a malfunction it was, and if they saw it running most people would assume it's safe.

All they need to do is remove 1 section of track then replace it and people will just forget all about its previous problems.

[BigKev]

Could it be an insurance call? Ie the cost of decommissioning will be covered by insurance and therefore no loss financially?

[iwerks]

^Sounds like it. It's still early days. If you look at what happened to Battlestar Galactica it could be another five years before the ride properly reopens. USS is going with 'wings' on their BSG trains to make up for the width of the station.

Edited May 18, 2015 by iwerks

[themagician]

I doubt that they remove the ride since it is new and I think its a great addition to the park. Once it reopens I'm defiantly going to be going back on. It may take time, but I'm sure it will open again. As for the change of trains, as Zanstabar said, the track and station was designed for the 8 seater trains and if they replaced them with only 4 seaters, then I would say that it would affect the performance of the ride. I think they are going to figure out why things went wrong (obvious they will do that) and then check all trains (maybe buy new ones) do weeks of testing and then reopen it.

[Theme Park Girl]

I wouldn't be surprised if GL was pulled down. I get the impression that Movieworld - along with other Gold Coast theme parks - takes it's safety record very seriously.

Take Dreamworld for example... what happened when there was that Kodak chairlift incident? They permanently closed down the ride. What happened when they had the helicopter incident? They got rid of the helicopters. Nobody died in either of these scenarios, but they didn't want to take any more chances.

The exact same fate could very well be now in store for the green lantern coaster, given how serious the accident was. I'm sure most of us know it could very well have ended a lot worse, given the information and photos we have been fed on the aftermath. And I am sure the village roadshow bigwigs are very aware of this as well and won't want to take any chances again :/

Edited May 18, 2015 by OceanGirl

[grrofunger]

shame , was a good ride

[Brad2912]

All speculation at this stage.

[themagician]

Driving past MW this evening and the Green Lantern logo has been turned back on. As far as I'm aware it has only been turned back on in the last few days, unless I haven't noticed before.

[pin142]

Recall it being off on Sunday so it would be a recent thing.

[Theme Park Girl]

Hmmm..... interesting.

MW website says "The GREEN LANTERN Coaster is currently closed, re-opening date to be advised." Has it always said that? Or was it "closed until further notice" or something beforehand?

The way it is worded atm does suggest that they do intend to re-open it at some stage. But then again who knows

Edited June 4, 2015 by OceanGirl

[themagician]

^yeah it has always said that

[ScienticianLady]

If it does reopen I will happily ride it IF there is some kind of release that states what went wrong and how it has been fixed. 

[Reanimated35]

I'll happily take my chances and make use of the shorter queues.