Wild West Falls Maintaince 2017

[Theme Park Girl]

So similar to last year, WWF at MW has been scheduled for a lengthy 2 months of annual maintenance as well:

Although I do recall last year the date was pushed back by another month in the end due to delays with getting the major refurb work done.  

I wonder if this means they will be fixing a lot of the smaller, non-working theming elements as well as maintenance on the ride itself? We can only hope 😁

[MickeyD]

10 hours ago, Theme Park Girl said:

 

I wonder if this means they will be fixing a lot of the smaller, non-working theming elements as well as maintenance on the ride itself? We can only hope 😁

It's such a beautiful attraction. The 'Mountain' is a world class 'weenie', as Disney would say and the very fact that it exists raises MW's all round profile. I am so glad the ride gets such an expansive refurb every year - it shows how much MW value it.

I understand that most of the budget went into refreshing the facade last year and appreciate the little touches like whimsical signage etc were at least added.

Hopefully this year we will see a focus on the 'show' scenes of the ride. It has always needed more kinetic energy going on around riders and the final scene in it's current form is a big let down. Mapping technology and a blast effect like Disney's Big Thunder would be great! I am sure you they could pull off an exciting finale using air cannons and flashing light without a need for smoke effects which are not an option.

 

 

[jcgoldcoast]

@MickeyD why are smoke effects not an option?

[Theme Park Girl]

@jcgoldcoast after the fire incident in 2003 they don't want to take any chances, especially when one of the rumours for the cause of it was a faulty smoke machine. Alas I don't know if it was ever publicly confirmed what the cause was. But yeah, unfortunately due to that it means they are keeping the visual effects inside the mountaim down to a minimal. 

[Reanimated35]

9 minutes ago, Theme Park Girl said:

@jcgoldcoast after the fire incident in 2003 they don't want to take any chances, especially when one of the rumours for the cause of it was a faulty smoke machine. Alas I don't know if it was ever publicly confirmed what the cause was. But yeah, unfortunately due to that it means they are keeping the visual effects inside the mountaim down to a minimal. 

And for anyone who wants to know more, please search the forums. It's been discussed many times in the past. 

[jcgoldcoast]

@Theme Park Girl Wasn't the rumoured cause of the fire one of the spark machines (not smoke machines) they had running up the lift hill?

There is no naked flame or spark generated by smoke machines (unless something goes really wrong, I had a cheap Chinese machine catch fire on me once), and there are alternative methods of generating 'smoke' - for example, the new effect used on Big Thunder Mountain at Disney parks is Co2 based, there is absolutely no heat involved using this style of smoke effect.

In my opinion, you can't just completely rule out a smoke effect because there was a fire on the ride a long time ago...

@Reanimated35 I've been around here a long time, so I'm very aware of what happened to the ride in the past. I wasn't questioning what happened, I was questioning why a smoke effect could just be ruled out.

Edited May 25, 2017 by jcgoldcoast
Additional comment

[MickeyD]

@jcgoldcoast I believe the cold smoke effect that Disney uses on it's Big Thunder Coasters is also extremely expensive to maintain. 

I'm thinking mapping light effects that look like burning fuses travelling up the shaft, accompanied by some good subwoofer speakers to create a deep rumbling effect and swinging mine lights as riders assend the lift. Position 3 air cannons above the turntable  and a number of strobe lights to complete the effect. 

The show finale of the ride needs to match the spectacle of the grand Mountain facade and it's huge drop. I hope that a few extra dollars are put aside for plussing the show this time around because this is one ride that could easily be made awesome with some enhancements.

[Reanimated35]

1 hour ago, jcgoldcoast said:

 I've been around here a long time, so I'm very aware of what happened to the ride in the past. I wasn't questioning what happened, I was questioning why a smoke effect could just be ruled out.

Then I'm sure you're aware that you're not the only person on the forums who might have questions about the history of the ride and at no point was the comment directed specifically at you. 

[rappa]

You don't actually even need projection mapping. You can achieve this very cleverly just with some smart led strips suitably themed. 

Dont think smoke (as in glycol smoke) would be ruled out other than cost, as it would go through a lot of fluid with a blast every minute or two. 

 

Id love to design a new finale to that ride for a modest budget, but you still have to consider the ROI on an old attraction 

[jcgoldcoast]

45 minutes ago, djrappa said:

You don't actually even need projection mapping. You can achieve this very cleverly just with some smart led strips suitably themed. 

Like they put in for the finale on Bermuda instead of the fire... 

Edited May 25, 2017 by jcgoldcoast
Make the wording make sense...

[Jdude95]

Why don't they just hire a couple of vapers to sit up there and blow smoke? Pay them in fidget spinners and you've got endless smoke effects

[Whombex]

20 hours ago, Theme Park Girl said:

So similar to last year, WWF at MW has been scheduled for a lengthy 2 months of annual maintenance as well:

Although I do recall last year the date was pushed back by another month in the end due to delays with getting the major refurb work done.  

I wonder if this means they will be fixing a lot of the smaller, non-working theming elements as well as maintenance on the ride itself? We can only hope 😁

...hopefully all that chewing gum is removed from the underpass and surrounds at the start of the ride.  
Never understood why people vandalise/gum up/tag at Theme Parks. If I ever catch them..

[MickeyD]

@joz any chance we can split this off so WWF refurb can get it's own thread?

[joz]

@MickeyD I must be in a good mood!

 

I'm less optimistic we'll see anything this year with Village being on something of a spending freeze of late, in fact it wouldn't shock me if that was the bulk of the reason why it was closing for so long.  But I love being surprised and at the very least if they can get the outside stuff working while it's closed then I'd see it as a worthwhile use of downtime

[wikiverse]

@joz A few people I know that work at VRTPs have said that cost - not maintenance - is a large reason rides are closed for so long.  So, I think you make a legitimate point.

Also, July and August are the two coldest months of the year and are outside of school holidays, so the amount of people wanting to get wet in the cold weather probably doesn't justify the operating costs.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

On 25/05/2017 at 7:20 PM, jcgoldcoast said:

Like they put in for the finale on Bermuda instead of the fire... 

Bermuda had a cheesy rope light with a standalone chaser controller. What @djrappa is talking about is completely different, programmable LED smart strip that can be controlled precisely - and is a great idea.

[themagician]

The idea is the mountain is about to blow, so i think if there's a projection of someone at the base of the mountain lighting TNT, and then the spark trails (LED strips) lead all the way up the mountain, and then into TNT barrels at the top, with the sound of an explosion behind you as you exit the mountain. Maybe even some smoke machines just outside of it, to make it appear the mountain did explode.

[MickeyD]

The original effect featured Sparker units. The first one of 5 supposedly caused by the 'bang' of the old Miner's shot gun, a power box would swing open revealling the sparks in front of the Projector on the right side, followed by another to the left, back again on the right, left and finally one in the Lift2 turntable room which also had atmospheric smoke (fog juice), an expanding barrel effect and an air cannon that blasted smoke from behind riders as the doors opened :

"What y'all still doing here? God damn it! Look what you made me do! She's gunna Blow! Get out! Out now I tell ya!! GO ON, GET! GET!"

As exciting as all this sounded, the effect was actually pretty meh and seldom worked in it's entirety.  By the time the fire happened, 3 of the units had already been decommissioned.

Since then we have seen such huge advancements with lighting and projectors. Effects that will last and last, aren't massively expensive, won't fault out every two seconds and won't be potentially hazardous.

For these reasons I hope oneday soon we will get to see the WWF finale the ride has always needed, never had.

 

[themagician]

Just thought of an issue that my idea has. The majority of the time there will be more than one boat going up the lift hill at any one time, so the idea of the sparks following you up wouldn't work as the boat thats down the bottom would get the effect, but the one at the top would. So this would mean that only one boat at a time could enter the lift hill, which could slow down the dispatch time and capacity of the ride.

[Cactus_Matt]

13 minutes ago, themagician said:

Just thought of an issue that my idea has. The majority of the time there will be more than one boat going up the lift hill at any one time, so the idea of the sparks following you up wouldn't work as the boat thats down the bottom would get the effect, but the one at the top would. So this would mean that only one boat at a time could enter the lift hill, which could slow down the dispatch time and capacity of the ride.

I like the idea of the fuse slowly being lit as the boat goes up the hill, it's a great thematic idea that builds tension. As for this issue you mentioned, you could have an LED fuse (or something) going up the centre bottom of the lift hill, just a little bit in front of the boat so people in the boat can see it but it doesn't spoil the illusion for other people on the hill. And rather than audio sequences that have to be lined up such as dialogue, you could just have the sound of the fuse sizzling with some ambient music accompanying.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Technology these days would permit the installation of a fog screen, which could potentially hide the boat in front, and permit multiple boats on the lift at one time.

Its a matter of "how much of your wad do you blow on something that isn't likely to give any ROI?

upkeep, maintenance, maybe something new during each refurb, but seriously - who cares if you can see what the car in front of you is doing. just be thankful if we get an LED strip fuse that binds the story together just that bit better, and be thankful!

[jjuttp]

Also, if the right red light is used, the only way the 2nd boat would see it is out of the corner of their eye if they're lucky. Red light doesn't travel as far as things such as white light.

[Brad2912]

3 hours ago, Cactus_Matt said:

you could have an LED fuse (or something) going up the centre bottom of the lift hill, just a little bit in front of the boat so people in the boat can see it

If fuse was lit and running in front of the boat, would it therefore not explode before the boat got to the top? 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

nah just make it run up and over the doorways or criss cross it along some 'roof beams' or something so it didn't take a beeline to the explosives...

[Brad2912]

good thinking 99