I definitely agree that theming doesn't make the ride, it's just with WBMW's track record of theming, which ranges from decent to fantastic, an unthemed (or relatively unthemed) ride would be like an unthemed ride at Disneyland.

Whoa. Did you just compare Movie World to Disneyland?

come on... Movie World has done a great job with DD, and a few others before it, but that doesn't justify that sort of comparison... Batwing? Green Lantern? Lethal Weapon \ Arkham (pre-VR), pretty much all of WB Kids, HWSD v2, v2.1, v2.2 all the way through to - wait what is it now? v2.97853?

With Movie World's track record on theming, with the exclusion of Scooby Doo, I think we can expect a nice full circuit coaster, with a decent theme applied to the station and queue... which i'm taking to translate to your 'relatively unthemed' classification.

No massive coaster like this is going to come off looking good with theming around the entire ride. The immersion is broken as soon as you can see the highway, the car park, WnW just down the road etc. There's no point.

As long as the station and queue look nice, I will be happy. I'd really love to see a body of water for the ride to interact with but I don't know the chances of this being a thing. Would also like some trees so that the area looks nice.

Personally I think the theming for Green Lantern is a bit drab, hoping for a more aesthetically pleasing station building and a queue that's in the shade. If the coaster is good though I'm hardly going to care about any of this anyway, it'll just be icing on the cake.

I think people are still misunderstanding me. Probably my bad, I've never been good at phrasing things.
The reason I don't like rides that don't make an effort to, if not be immersive, be visually stimulating or interesting, is that it just doesn't appeal to me to just be on a roller coaster that's called, for example, Batwing, when it has nothing to do with it except for a bat painted on the side and the fact that it's black.
I agree that, with it being a large roller coaster, any storyline etc will go out the window, but what I'm saying is that GL is too little on the theming side. It's just... there. With the GL logo on the side and a few pictures of some villains.

The other thing I think people misunderstood was comparing to Disneyland. I never meant to suggest that MW was anywhere in the leagues of any of the Disney parks. What I meant was that, for me anyway, WBMW's strength is the immersiveness, attractiveness and overall theming of their attractions, particularly compared to DW, its main competitor. This is similar to Disneyland's advantage over, say, a Six Flags park. While the attractions aren't as thrilling or even as world-class in their construction, they're immersive and built with incredible attention to detail.
Look at SE compared to TOT. AA compared to HWSW. SDSC compared to MDMC. Just DCVU has more theming, and much better theming, than almost every attraction in DW combined. I honestly would be a bit upset if that went out the window in favour of, like I said earlier, RCT3/fairground-style rides that are just there.

Clearly I've ground a lot of people's gears with that comment. Sorry. Just an innocent opinion passing through.

2 hours ago, jake_hunt said:

Clearly I've ground a lot of people's gears with that comment. Sorry. Just an innocent opinion passing through.

I don't think you've ground anyone's gears, it's all part of discussion.

I get what you mean, I also think GL's queue and station is lacklustre in theming when compared to the other rides in the park. Just don't think it's feasible to theme more than just the queue and station.

You just have to look at a ride like Fury 325, voted in the Amusement Today Golden Ticket Awards as the number 1 steel coaster this year and the station it has. It is basic and does the job it needs to, the ride itself however makes up for the minimal approach to the station. So long as the ride itself is solid I have no issue with a Fury 325 or even another Green Lantern type of setup for the station and themeing.

25 minutes ago, pin142 said:

You just have to look at a ride like Fury 325, voted in the Amusement Today Golden Ticket Awards as the number 1 steel coaster this year and the station it has. It is basic and does the job it needs to, the ride itself however makes up for the minimal approach to the station. So long as the ride itself is solid I have no issue with a Fury 325 or even another Green Lantern type of setup for the station and themeing.

Absolute bullshit. Millennium force should be number 1 imo!!!! ☺☺

I kinda of disagree with the it's just a station. 

At Dreamworld yes, Sea World maybe, Movie World no. 

It's already a stretch that the park now has bare roller coasters given it was meant to have an immersive movie theme. Green Lantern though is just sub par. There is nothing themed about it at all. It's barely more than a traveling carnival ride in its presentation. 

Fortunately it's the exception to the rule and anything that's gone in since has been really great. I don't think we should set any sort of standard by GL. 

15 minutes ago, djrappa said:

I kinda of disagree with the it's just a station. 

At Dreamworld yes, Sea World maybe, Movie World no. 

It's already a stretch that the park now has bare roller coasters given it was meant to have an immersive movie theme. Green Lantern though is just sub par. There is nothing themed about it at all. It's barely more than a traveling carnival ride in its presentation. 

Fortunately it's the exception to the rule and anything that's gone in since has been really great. I don't think we should set any sort of standard by GL. 

What would you suggest for Sea World, say budget is no restriction etc but you have to make use of the existing rides and stations. What would you add? Same with DW and GL. (Just stick to coasters for now though) 

I think something like Mako's (SeaWorld Orlando) queue & station would be great. It's not overly themed, yet still delivers. 

I think the Storm Coaster at Sea World is one of the best themed roller coasters in Australia (both the queue and the ride itself), the Jet Rescue has a decently themed track, however the queue and station lets it down. 

It would seem that many folks out there do not clearly understand the differences between 'Themeing' and 'Landscaping'

5 minutes ago, MickeyD said:

It would seem that many folks out there do not clearly understand the differences between 'Themeing' and 'Landscaping'

In the case of the Jet Rescue Coaster the 'landscaping' is what contributes to the theme of the ride though, by enhancing the illusion of riding a jet-ski around a rocky shoreline, The ride also includes the tunnel with the seal figure inside and sound effects, this to me is good 'themeing' for a track portion of a coaster.

The compressed gravel under the GL and SE would also be considered 'landscaping' but in no way contributes to the theme of the ride.

The thing is though, Although Movie World is meant to be this big themed movie park, the people want coasters. They proved that when Lethal Weapon was installed.

Scooby was an easy gimme. They already had the soundstage built for another attraction, but to expect them to have a fully enclosed full circuit coaster is insane. Well out of MW's budget. So we either get coasters, and be happy with the minimal theming to station and queue, or we do away with coasters and build immersive rides that are fully enclosed. I know that would make some people happy but the GP would then view it as the subpar park to Dreamworld, simply because dreamworld would have more coasters.

A tip for bored kids at school: don't sign up with your official school email address if you want to troll. It makes it really easy for admins to see who and where you are.

58 minutes ago, Richard said:

A tip for bored kids at school: don't sign up with your official school email address if you want to troll. It makes it really easy for admins to see who and where you are.

At Sea world I wouldn't really change much that's there now. 

For Jet Rescue I probably would make it look a bit more like a dock. Timber and rope fence at the station, etc but that's about it. 

For that park as long as it's not trying to be a theme, like storm is, then I'm happy with Landscaped stations as Mickey suggests. 

More than happy for the park just to have well presented rides. As with DW. 

 

For Movie World I don't want to see landscaping, I want to see theming. 

In my opinion, given the scale of the rollercoaster that is being constructed, we will only see theming in the land next to Justice League. Like I pointed out in an image I posted previously (above), I'm expecting nothing more than 1 narrow but immersively themed show building at a maximum. Within the show building, it may include theming immediately after you leave the station or just before arrive you at the station. It may even have great theming in the queue or a pre-show room like Batman Adventure etc. The externaI sides of a show building may even be themed like Justice League or DCSVU. I also like to point out again my speculation that this could one of the first rollercoasters in the world that could be built purely for VR:

On 15/09/2016 at 8:18 PM, Jamberoo Fan said:

The above may seem unlikely but given Mack Rides is currently the most likely rollercoaster manufacturer, this frequently asked quetsion from VR Coaster's website should be noted:

Quote

Are you also planning new roller coasters that are build only for VR right from the start?

Yes, our partner Mack Rides will build any kind of roller coaster, optimized for a pure VR experience. At the moment, we are already developing two such coaster facilities, but as there's a lot more engineering involved, these will not be finished before 2017 / 2018.

The only way to figure out if Movie World is associated with this is if someone can figure out how many rollercoasters Mack Rides are manufacturing. If 2 are currently scheduled for completion in the timeframe given above & Movie World's one of those, Movie World's rollercoaster could be one of those designed specifically for virtual reality.

Adding a VR element (particularly one when the rollercoaster is built for it) would allow the entire rollercoaster track to be immersively themed rather than just the station. The only strengthening of this speculation that I've had is when I found out that VR Coaster was indeed the company that did AA's VR, which indicates MW has been speaking to them recently but about how many projects?

One of the world's 1st rollercoasters built for VR (rather than the other way around) would surely count as "one of the world's best theme park drawcards" particularly if it is a hyper-(or bigger)coaster that rivals the best of their type with great theming to one of the most popular entertainment brands globally.

I haven't experience GL (and don't know much about the GL franchise) so I can't judge the theming quality or whether it has a narrative but judging from what I've read here, it is very minimal but does have a narrative. AA had no on-ride theming (until VR was added) but it's pre/post-ride theming seems pretty good. Even when it operated as LW, whilst there was no on-ride theming (it was themed to a car chase after all), the Chinatown entrance, cinema/garage, car scrapyard etc. made up for it. Batwing Spaceshot is even themed enough - you're just travelling in the 'Batwing' up in the air & back to the ground - the giant pictures of the 'Batwing' attached to the ride proves this. To sum up, every ride at MW has some sort of 'narrative' & this new rollercoaster I'm sure won't disappointed narrative-wise.

On 12/10/2016 at 7:54 PM, AllegroCrab said:

I'd really love to see a body of water for the ride to interact with but I don't know the chances of this being a thing. 

Like in my image above, there is a chance the rollercoaster may dive or have the brake run over the swamp at it's narrowest point. A few fountains inserted into the swamp around there may add a bonus feature/theming to the ride. They may even clean up the swamp to make it more scenic particularly with the lakeside precinct due to begin construction in the future.

Edited October 13, 20169 yr by Jamberoo Fan

For the love of God NO VR!

We don't need more than one coaster with VR, it's not a slap it on every ride item. One unique experience is fine. 

 

Just enjoy the real outdoor actual life life kids and get out of the video game for just one day. 

Edited October 13, 20169 yr by djrappa

Remember VR is an upcharge. I doubt they would design a roller coaster around what suits an up charge item.

Edited October 13, 20169 yr by Tim Dasco

I just want a roller coaster that is fun, thrilling and re-rideable. Mack have produced amazing rides in the past & I'm sure we will be getting something amazing. It doesn't need VR to make it a worlds best.

3 hours ago, Tim Dasco said:

I doubt they would design a roller coaster around what suits an up charge item.

Nevertheless, like my quote says, it seems VR Coaster/Mack Rides has 2 projects of that type underway. Just don't know which parks they are for.

3 hours ago, djrappa said:

For the love of God NO VR!

We don't need more than one coaster with VR, it's not a slap it on every ride item. One unique experience is fine. 

If you speak for the majority, tell DW that (quote from DW CEO referring to introduction of VR on MDMC):

Quote

“All going well, we hope to introduce VR as an option on other rides and attractions in the park to further extend and enhance the guest experience.” 

Remember, DW has already added VR to a 2nd attraction - Corroboree. I'm not endorsing VR (having not experienced it yet myself) but I feel it will be a trend in theme parks (whether we like it or not) at least in the short term. If DW thinks the general public wants VR attractions, then VRTP might be thinking the same too. And with a limited theme park industry in Australia compared to most of the world, I'd expect a lot more VR attractions per park here than in other continents.

It's also probably going to become a general rule of theme park rides (again, at least in the short term) that the less themed the on-ride experience is, the more chances of VR. That's why I think there is a chance VR could be added to this rollercoaster as most (or maybe all) of the track layout will be unthemed due to the size & location of it. Also, it's highly coincidental that:

1. Mack Rides is the manufacturer of this new rollercoaster (like the quote says, they're also partners with VR Coaster to develop pure VR coasters)
2. The new rollercoaster is probably opening after June 2017 (fits the 'not before 2017 / 2018' timeline mentioned in the quote)
3. AA only recently started using VR Coaster technology (indicates that MW has been talking to them or are maybe 'testing the waters' of the VR technology operations/market before this new rollercoaster goes operational)
4. The 1st existing rollercoaster to add VR to it opened in mid-September 2015 - 3 months later, MW's rollercoaster DA was submitted/approved. Maybe MW took the opportunity for Australia to be a world leader in this type of rollercoaster especially given before that time period they would have been in talks with Mack Rides?

Like @Tim Dasco said, VR is optional/a recharge in all cases too so if you don't like VR or just prefer the traditional way to ride rollercoasters then just don't use it.

Also, not everyone may be a fan of the Batman franchise. There may be people who would really like to be in a VR world of another franchise.

If VR rollercoasters are just simply a short lasting trend, it won't take much to remove the VR headsets completely or they could become 'seasonal' attractions. And if everyone is over VR by Boxing Day 2017 and MW decided to drop a possible VR element in the new rollercoaster, there would still be a massive rollercoaster there ready for operations anyway.

Given for years it has seemed unlikely Australia would ever get a hypercoaster at a minimum, a pure VR coaster would nowadays be the most likeliest 'world's best' rollercoaster Australia could get (unless we did a faster, longer & higher TOT). I do think though that this new rollercoaster is a hypercoaster at a minimum anyway.

Still, I haven't found anything yet to rule out a VR experience on this new rollercoaster - the opposite is happening so far...more connections are being found but in the end, it is still just coincidences so far. This is just all speculation so far.

Edited October 13, 20169 yr by Jamberoo Fan
Added paragraph about most likeliest 'world's best' rollercoaster Australia could get

We are just going to have to wait and see. Its going to be a long year!

Doesn't the swamp flood?

9 hours ago, djrappa said:

For the love of God NO VR!

We don't need more than one coaster with VR, it's not a slap it on every ride item. One unique experience is fine. 

Just enjoy the real outdoor actual life life kids and get out of the video game for just one day. 

I'm fine with it if VR is an option, since I can simply ignore VR and ride the coaster traditionally which I've grown to love, but if VR is compulsory, god help me because I have to put up with a stupid gimmick that ruins literally any roller coaster that isn't indoors. If the short-lived Sega World in Sydney came back from the dead, that would be the perfect match for VR since that park was supposed to be interactive. But MW =/= good idea to use VR.