Wild West Falls Refurbishment

[Santa07]

1 hour ago, joz said:

and after you went past you heard an explosion

You mean, as you went past, not after (unless you were in the front seat)

[Theme Park Girl]

2 hours ago, GoGoBoy said:

And finally, are all effects working in the ghost town?

Not sure if it's considered "all" the effects, but a tombstone comes up out of the ground, saloon doors swing, and a verandah 'breaks' from someone falling off of it. More or less the same as before, although I don't really remember the tombstone bit from before the maintenance. 

OK, now I'm home I can elaborate a bit more on my experience ? Overall, I really like what has been done to beef up the ride as well. I confess I initially was a little disappointed to still see the absence of some of the original effects previously discussed, especially before the final drop. I don't remember the old TNT barrel with sparks that everyone keeps reminiscing about ? But it sounded awesome, and I was hoping it would make a comeback. That hasn't been the case. However I blame myself for any disappointment on my part, I think I just built my expectations a bit too high throughout the duration the ride was down. 

That aside, I think the train scene (love what they have done to the track!) and the abundance of TNT on the walls throughout the mountain are definitely the biggest improvements made. I also liked what they did in the first turntable room, one of the walls features a well lit mine shaft of fair depth. From memory it was there before, but all in the dark. It's good to be able to see everything now ?? 

As @joz mentioned there is still some bugs they need to iron out, the biggest one I could see was the dry final drop (they had the water effects turned off for it) which made it essentially just like a coaster track. I did also notice the lack of usual audio commentary before the backward drop. 

Either way, it's good to have our good ol' WWF back and I know these issues will undoubtedly get ironed out in the next few days. It's fantastic overall to see it in the best condition it's been in a long time (13 years?) ?❤️

 

[joz]

The tombstone has always gone up, it's more noticeable now but I think that has more to do with the audio being a bit quiet at the moment and it making a bit of a noise as it rises up (and drops back down).

 

Again, don't want to be to harsh on what wasn't working because I don't think they're done yet.

[Gazza]

Its a cool little sequence for those who haven't looked more closely....you hear a gunshot, the dodge city population sign has a small bit that falls off, so the population drops by one, and then a tombstone rises up in response.

[jjuttp]

Did they update the Peppers Ghost? Or is it still 144p?

[Jamberoo Fan]

Even though the final drop room's effects are still not operating, it is great to hear that they've improved the theming significantly on the rest of the ride. I just got a question:

1. As a few have said that not everything is working yet, would the final drop room's effects be included in that? It would be a surprise if tomorrow or in a few days the mountain had smoke effects being blown out of it again when everything is back in operation.

If that doesn't eventuate, given they've used this long maintenance period to fix and improve the theming on like 95% of the ride, I wonder if in a shorter future maintenance period, apart from general maintenance, they will dedicated most of it to restoring the final drop room's effects?

Edited September 19, 2016 by Jamberoo Fan

[GoGoBoy]

So just to add on to what Gazza was saying - as well as the population sign falling off, the saloon 'ghost fight' was simulated by a gust of wind blowing a window curtain out, followed by the breaking balcony railing, followed by a big splash of water in the horse water trough below. So apparently the railing still breaks away, but are the curtain and water effects still working? From memory from my last trip the water splash was no longer functioning, which was a shame as you needed all stages of the sequence to be functioning to give the idea of a ghost cowboy being thrown out the window and landing in the trough.

[AllegroCrab]

So glad they've changed up that bridge. It was by far the lamest part of the ride before, it really broke the immersion for a second when that explosion noise went off and nothing happened.

[Levithian]

Werent those effects before the big drop what was responsible for basically burning the mountain back to a steel shell? As in, the sparking and stuff ended up setting off a real fire.

[Jamberoo Fan]

Yeah but it didn't burn the whole mountain down or just the whole exterior mountain theming - it only damaged the interior of the final lift hill/drop room I think (as well as a bit of the exterior mountain theming around where the final drop begins).

[Theme Park Girl]

55 minutes ago, Levithian said:

Werent those effects before the big drop what was responsible for basically burning the mountain back to a steel shell? As in, the sparking and stuff ended up setting off a real fire.

Pretty sure it wasn't the effects that were responsible for that incident. From memory the cause of the fire was treated as suspicious, however there was never a follow-up as to who or what was identified in the end.

ETA: Here's a link to the original Parkz topic when the fire happened in 2004, if anyone is interested in reading it. 

Quote

 Firefighters initially thought the blaze, which erupted at the Wild West Ride almost an hour after the Gold Coast theme park closed on Friday, may have been caused by electrical equipment. But scientific police and arson squad detectives arrived from Brisbane yesterday to investigate the scene with firefighters, who are yet to complete their report. A police spokesman said: "It's possibly suspicious." Warner Bros Movie World chief executive John Menzies, who inspected the ride, was surprised by the news. "It's a little bit of a mystery at this stage," Mr Menzies said.

 

[jjuttp]

The ghost cowboy got tired of being shot out a window and decided to give fire a try.

[Levithian]

I thought i remember reading it ended up being tracked back to a welding unit that was used to create the sparks?

There was worksafe report on it or something. Not just a news reporting quoting and unnamed source. 

[Theme Park Girl]

@Levithian Interesting. I've tried googling for old articles and info on the incident a couple of times recently, but there's nothing really online about it. First I've heard of a possible conclusion, so thanks for that  Might explain why they removed the sparks effect as well (along with why they will probably never bring them back).

[Levithian]

Im pretty sure i read it on here. Maybe when it was rc forums?

Sparks and flashes, real ones are too dangerous to keep these days. Everybody wants them, but i would imagine it poses too much of a fire risk now. Basically have a lit match waiting for something flammable to stray in its path. Wind, guests dropping stuff, unit itself. Doesnt seem like an effect you can leave running to its own devices which is probably too much to maintain. 

Closest realistic sparks ive seen is that knocked over transformer in justice league. Its not bright enough to light a room though. Strobes might not be direct enough either.

[Jamberoo Fan]

This video from earlier in this topic shows you can create the sparks effects convincingly using 3D projection technology:

Well I'm now not sure if the sparks in the above video were done using 3D projections but I'm sure it is technically possible. 

1 hour ago, Levithian said:

Im pretty sure i read it on here. Maybe when it was rc forums?

I'm pretty sure the Parkz forums are also the original roller-coaster.com.au forums so if you read it on the old website, then it must be here in the Parkz forums somewhere.

Edited September 20, 2016 by Jamberoo Fan
Embedded YouTube video & a paragraph

[Brad2912]

Funny, I'd heard the ignition source was discarded cigarette from a maintenance tech..

[Theme Park Girl]

And funny you mention that @Brad2912, as a while back I brought the subject up with a staffie there, and they mentioned something similar - that it was allegedly started by a thrown cigarette butt. I dismissed it as speculation. Interesting to hear it come up again. Don't really know what to believe now, hahaha

Although worth mentioning that the fire apparently happened outside of park operating hours, so surely they wouldn't have had the ride turned off - at least the effects, including the sparks? Which would surely dismiss the rumour that the sparks were the cause of the fire?

Gosh, I have a feeling we will never know the answer to this one. All we can do is keep speculating, really 

@Jamberoo Fan the wall effects on that ride are incredible!!! Wow 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

I'm pretty sure the fire occurred late afternoon. the ride had already closed for the day when the fire was discovered, but as it was discovered quickly, I would suggest that it was only just after closing, meaning it could have been contributed to by a guest, by effects, or by maintenance.

only real way to know would be to ask the park... but unlikely you'd get a candid answer out of them unless Greg did a AMA or something.

[JaggedJanine]

They would have liked to do a lot more to WWF but just weren't able to. I was extremely happy with it. Everything looks so much cleaner and I love the white terraces. All the extra dynamite and signage and addition of the train all work so well. Also Pepper's ghost is not up and running at the moment but is definitely on the way.

 

[rac2703]

Has anyone got a video they could share?

[themagician]

Went on WWF this morning and was pretty impressed with all the extra detailing up into the ride. Some of the effects weren't working, and it felt like some of the timing was out. All the extra signage and TNT throughout the ride really added to it, and making the storyline make more sense. Old faithful has been pressure hosed too, looking much better now. The train scene was really good, but I feel like the trains whistle should be heard earlier, and the explosion sound should go off just as soon as you see the train, because the explosion sound went as we went past the scene. And the population of the town has increased to 167 now (if I remember correctly). Besides those couple of thing, well done to MW

[Theme Park Girl]

I did too, after queueing for about half an hour at least. Damn school holidays ? 

Was good to see that they apparently intend to bring the hologram back at the first turntable, however it was a bit awkward to see it turned on today, but with the message "insert card" and a Brightside logo. Whoops! ?

The water cascading down the final drop is still absent, it's currently a dry run down to the jets. 

The ghost town still has an effect or two inactive, like the population sign which appears to need adjusting. But I did notice a splash in the horse trough, which hadn't happened last time round. And the audio for the Indian village was playing as well. So definitely some improvements. 

Hopefully won't be too long until they get the bugs ironed out. 

[themagician]

Hahaha yeah, we all sat awkwardly there as we turned on the turntable.

[Theme Park Girl]

Following @themagician's earlier pics, I finally got around to digging up my pics of WWF just a couple of days prior to closing for maintenance as well, to compare to now. All taken with the same camera. 

The difference a good pressure hose and a bit of TLC can make is mind blowing, to say the least!