2004 Thrill Ride Construction

[Daniel]

Shifty, The rides go down for annual maintenance, wait for it.... annually... Other maintenance will be carried out on a daily basis and will be taken down when required.

[joz]

Depends on the ride, but genrally once a year. Don't know about DW, but I'm guessing that they normally close rides down either side of the Jun/July holidays.

[Ian]

went to dw today lots has happen lots of steel noodles everywhere and the big hole has concrete going into it

[Slick]

Huh? Basically for some reason Dreamworld does most, if not all annual maintenance through the months of March-May and on October. The only time during March-May that maintenace isn't taking place is the first week or two through the Easter Holidays. But if things like guide-wheels shatter on the Tower Of Terror (believe me, it has happened quite a number of times before its last scheduled maintenance:) )they can also go down for a day or so, here and there.

[Richard]

Well obviously, this is typically the low period, and of course they're not going to have rides down for holiday periods wherever possible. Daily inspections and that sort of stuff is a given, as it is at most theme parks. And as Slick also mentioned, emergency maitenance can also be expected from time to time and by definition doesn't occur at any specific time of the year. Good to hear construction's progressing. Tomorrow for me is "do nothing Friday" (not quite, but I'm not heading down to Dreamworld ), so next update for Roller-Coaster.com.au will be a week from now. Now, let's try and keep this to the topic at hand - feel free to create a new thread if there's a different topic you want to discuss.

[Ian]

It was really quiet people wise at Dreamworld yesterday rich the op's were yelling for people watching Wipeout to ride it instead. Anyway photos are up from yesterday visit at link below.

[Guest ASHLEE]

It will be a gyro swing. It is a fact that is going to be a new gyro swing not a crap thing from wonder land. Anyway if it is a old ride from the park at n.s.w. it won't get not that many riders.

[Bussy]

ASHLEE, that has long been established on this forum. Have a look here. "The Bus is now leaving for Weapons Research Establishment, South Australia"

[Daniel]

I am King??? Pull your head out of your arse you wanker. You've got nothing. At least you got a 2-liner happening that time. It won't get not that many riders? Good English I don't think. Go back to saying nothing again. You made much more sense.

[rappa]

Yes Yes of course it is a Gryo Swing... Flea and I were just talking on WL's last day and I thought I'd stir you all a bit, hardly any worse than some of the far out crap that gets posted on here anyway :-p

[Richard]

See the latest update here. Footers are poured. Typically it is about 3+ weeks from pouring footers until a load can be applied to them (i.e. a ride support structure) because deep concrete like this takes longer to cure because of the lack of air way down there. It's a very narrow site and the footers are very closely spaced. Throw out any theories of "giant" ride coming to Dreamworld right out the window now.

[willsy]

Whats do you reckon the distance is between the footers is?

[Richard]

I'd estimate it at being around a 10m square, perhaps up to 15m. Very small. I forgot to add, the path will be rebuilt extending around the front where the Sandwhich Bar's outdoor eating area was once found. I'd guess that like Nick Central, they'll open this new pathway up as soon as possible, much before the ride actually opens, so as to remove the stress that the detours are causing on Nick Central.

[joz]

I was going to create a seperate topic on this, but what the hell, I'll add this here since Richard brought it up: What effect is this new ride going to have on traffic flows in the park? Having a ride so close to the entry to me at least seems like a risky move. My concern is that having everyone in the park walking right past it, you'll clog the entry plaza since most people will either be watching the ride or riding. What I was also wondering is will this affect the queues of rides like Wipeout and Giant Drop and Cyclone first thing in the morning? It seems like this is placed in such a place that it will be the first stop for many guests. What does everyone think?

[scott]

Is a Gyro Swing one of those crappy little swinging rides?Geese I hope not!

[mikrowave]

Well it seems like we'll have to settle with the smaller version of the gyro swing According to Intamin its measurements are 16m (I'm not sure if they mean the distance between footers or the length of the swing shaft or what really, but thats what it says on their website). & Scott, well that really depends on your definition of crappy, but IMO the gyro swing looks like an extremely enjoyable ride. Have a look at Intamin's website & see for yourself. http://www.intaminworldwide.com/r_products...thrillrides.htm

[Richard]

I've not ridden an Intamin Gyro Swing, but I have ridden Knott's Berry Farm's Chance Revolution, a ride that's almost identical to the smaller version of Intamin's Gyro Swing, with the exception of having inward-facing seats instead of outward. It's not an intense style of ride, but it is a very enjoyable and exciting ride. You swing to angles much greater than 90º (around 120º or so sounds abour right), so you're effectively upside down. There's absolutely no comparison between this style of ride and say a swinging ship - either Sea World's non-inverting style or Wonderland's full revolution model. Unlike a swinging ship, it's not nearly as nauseating, and the spinning greatly enhances the ride. Anyone else a tad let down by Dreamworld's choice of a smaller model? I mean, when Knott's installed their similar-sized version, it was done so with little if any fanfare. It was really just a small size-attraction to increase their offering. Now we're getting the same as a signature attraction. Out the window goes their whole alleged motto of "biggest and best in the world" - even though they'll still claim they are.

[kennykoala]

Well after looking on the intamin web site..the photo they have of the gyro swing. (the footers on that picture are like 10x further from the centre circle than whats in richards pics....so u can assume it will be nothing in size as shown on intamins website. Very disapointed, we could have had a ride that was a giant compared tto anyohter flats we have in oz. by richards pics, u could put this one on a trailer and take it to the EKKA!

[mikrowave]

The footer placement in the pics from Dreamworld look like they could be the footers for the edge of the ride platform (as seen in this pic from Intamin http://www.intaminworldwide.com/img/BILDER..._R/GYRO_SWI.jpg) They look similar in distance anyway. But thats highly unlikely, I'm not even sure the edge of the platform would have footers. Heres a pic from Intamin of the smaller version http://service.escapenet.ch/publisher/pict...6a_10324210.jpg I'm not sure even that would fit with what we've seen so far at Dreamworld....

[mikrowave]

Also you may wanna check out this on-ride video of the smaller version at Drayton Manor www.draytonmanor.co.uk/videos/Maelstrom_1_HIGH.wmv It's about a 2mb video, & it gives a good view of how close the footers are to the centre pit. I'd say this is most likely the model we're getting. Altho I havent seen the Dreamworld site in person, so I'm unsure if the 'footer to pit ratio' is the same as in the video

[rappa]

Id say its pretty much a done deal that they are the 4 main support footers with the central pit for the platform in the middle... Therefore its definately the smaller version we're getting. All I can say to that is "POOR FORM Dreamworld." Apart from Cyclone (and who would pass up that oportunity!) Dreamworld haven't added anything that wasn't a 'wowing' attraction in a long time. TOT, GD and Wipout are all pretty major kick arse rides that really made an impact when they were opened. The giant version of the Gryo Swing would have been equaly if not even more impressive, the smaller version will be nothing more than another standard flat as was said earlier. Not much impact than the Reef Diver really. IMO all they have done is clog up the main midway with something that may as well just be tucked out the back somewhere. All I hope is that they are planning a major kick arse re-vamp of the Thunderbolt site pretty darn soon!

[Gazza]

I think that the ride will still look impressive, the way that it swings past the 90* point will really be cool. We cant really judge it yet because few of us have seen one of these rides in the flesh, I mean, in photos TOT looked smaller that what i expected it to be, but in real life it looked amazing. I dont think they got the giant version because of money reasons and because the would rather let people queue than have a good capacity ride, Its not like we are an american park that needs higher capacity rides. Come to think of it, are any of DWs thrill rides that good in the capacity department? Anyway, here is a drawing of mine for a possible theme. It is to do with container ship wreck with life boats scattered in a pond, the ring of seats painted yellow so its like one of those circular life rafts, shipping containers piled up as if they have been knocked out by a wave, fountains and other nautical stuff. And a possible name I thought of : "Mayday"

[Richard]

Gazza, I started writing a response to your post, but it's become quite long and uses a lot of figures and other mumbo jumbo to prove my points, so I've decided I'll post it as an article on the main site. Just so you know, it'll be up later this afternoon or evening.

[Gazza]

Was what i said that incorrect? Ah well, ill have a peek at your article later on. BTW, in your chats with Tony Braxton, did you ever mention about what new rides you think DW should get or how good you thought the park was? Does he even know who B&M are?

[Richard]

Here's the article: Dreamworld, the inefficient park? (Discuss that article further here.) All that blurting what I think they should build will do is make me sound pompous and stupid. I frequently commented on the park and how I thought it was looking, passing on areas that I thought could be improved upon. I have no doubts that he is quite familiar with B&M and their work, though naturally I never asked him. You're underestimating the whole Australian amusement industry if you think they're that isolated from the rest of the world.