John Longhurst's Dreamworld Stories

[themagician]

He has been back to back work projects, so he hasn't had the time to be able to finish them off and publish them, but the remaining parts will be coming soon.

[Slick]

@themagician is on the money - sorry guys - just a combo of work and man-flu right now.

[Slick]

The 3rd part is now live. Be sure to let me know your thoughts.

Selling the Dream - John Longhurst's Dreamworld Stories.

[westical]

Great article. Just a small error with the  Dreamco sale date, should be 1989 not 1981. 

[Slick]

4 minutes ago, westical said:

Great article. Just a small error with the  Dreamco sale date, should be 1989 not 1981. 

Good spot! Thanks for the kind words and letting me know about that error.

[themagician]

Awesome read @Roachie and great insight into the rest of his story 

[Gold Coast Amusement Force]

If only he never sold it.... Such big things were coming

[Jamberoo Fan]

Another fascinating article @Roachie!

It was interesting reading about John Longhurst's post-1989 plans for DW. It's not stated in your article but do you know if Wipeout was one of his ideas too? The only discrepancy being that Wipeout was put in the middle of Country Fair rather than a new area or an existing area that was more related to the ride's theme like Blue Lagoon. It doesn't seem to match John Longhurst's attention to detail.

The former Gravitron/Vortex & Skylink Chairlift may have been his ideas too particularly as there are no discrepancies there. Do you know if they were his ideas too? (I know Skylink Chairlift came from the nearby former Magic Mountain theme park but there is a 2 year period between that theme park's closure and Skylink Chairlift's opening at DW (3 months after he sold DW) - maybe during those 2 years he thought that would be a great addition to DW?)

Edited August 20, 2018 by Jamberoo Fan

[webslave]

Well capped-off, Roachie.  I know feel I know a great deal more about a park I was only dimly aware of the history of, and a man I knew nothing of.  Thankyou.

[themeparkaddict]

A good write up, but a shame that little information about his recent visit would be disclosed. Surely not all of it would have a reference to the rapids incident. Many comments such as friendliness of staff, current rides and attractions under maintenance and the quality of current attraction offerings could have been mentioned. One question that was floating through my head was... "I wonder if he had to pay for a ticket full price during 2017?".

Also thought there were going to be interviews from previous engineers and opening day staff? 

[Slick]

11 hours ago, Jamberoo Fan said:

Another fascinating article @Roachie!

It was interesting reading about John Longhurst's post-1989 plans for DW. It's not stated in your article but do you know if Wipeout was one of his ideas too? The only discrepancy being that Wipeout was put in the middle of Country Fair rather than a new area or an existing area that was more related to the ride's theme like Blue Lagoon. It doesn't seem to match John Longhurst's attention to detail.

The former Gravitron/Vortex & Skylink Chairlift may have been his ideas too particularly as there are no discrepancies there. Do you know if they were his ideas too? (I know Skylink Chairlift came from the nearby former Magic Mountain theme park but there is a 2 year period between that theme park's closure and Skylink Chairlift's opening at DW (3 months after he sold DW) - maybe during those 2 years he thought that would be a great addition to DW?)

Cheers mate!

The Wipeout was installed as part of Ernst & Young's / IOOF Friendly Society's plan to get Dreamworld out of receivership after Bruce Jenkins' vision didn't go to plan - basically it didn't have anything to do with John. Same with the chairlift - according to John he had nothing to do with it's installation and was one of the things Bruce did.

11 hours ago, webslave said:

Well capped-off, Roachie.  I know feel I know a great deal more about a park I was only dimly aware of the history of, and a man I knew nothing of.  Thankyou.

I think a lot of people are similar in that regard - John's understandably very private these days and as we all get older more and more of what was originally there is bulldozed, archived or just lost. It's a real shame.

22 minutes ago, themeparkaddict said:

A good write up, but a shame that little information about his recent visit would be disclosed. Surely not all of it would have a reference to the rapids incident. Many comments such as friendliness of staff, current rides and attractions under maintenance and the quality of current attraction offerings could have been mentioned. One question that was floating through my head was... "I wonder if he had to pay for a ticket full price during 2017?".

Also thought there were going to be interviews from previous engineers and opening day staff? 

I think what he didn't say speaks louder than what he did. I definitely have the intention of doing more projects like this in the future - this isn't the last piece by any stretch, but one step at a time.

And yeah, he paid just like everyone else.

[MickeyD]

@Roachie thanks so much for bringing this to us. A story that is totally underrated, have you thought about reaching a much bigger Audience with it?

Also this:

"but the best part [of owning it again] would be the excitement of doing it, because it was doing a beautiful thing.”

- suggests to me that he still hasn't entirely ruled out the idea of buying DW back?Maybe he should get you to help him run it @Roachie?

Edited August 21, 2018 by MickeyD

[Slick]

1 hour ago, MickeyD said:

@Roachie thanks so much for bringing this to us. A story that is totally underrated, have you thought about reaching a much bigger Audience with it?

Also this:

"but the best part [of owning it again] would be the excitement of doing it, because it was doing a beautiful thing.”

- suggests to me that he still hasn't entirely ruled out the idea of buying DW back?Maybe he should get you to help him run it @Roachie?

There's definitely some stuff in the works to bring it to a bigger audience, but it's early stages.

I might have to get John back down to the park and see what they're up to - maybe that'll inspire him?

[New display name]

2 hours ago, Roachie said:

I might have to get John back down to the park and see what they're up to - maybe that'll inspire him?

Or send him to an early grave.  </sarcasm

 

Good read @Roachie

[MickeyD]

Ah Mr Jenkins..

I had all but forgotten about such dark times for DW when a used Car Salesman bought the place.

Remind you of anyone?

[Jamberoo Fan]

On 21/08/2018 at 10:47 AM, Roachie said:

The Wipeout. ...basically it didn't have anything to do with John. Same with the chairlift...

So did the same apply with Gravitron/Vortex?

[Slick]

10 hours ago, Jamberoo Fan said:

So did the same apply with Gravitron/Vortex?

Not sure sorry buddy - as much as i'm a Dreamworld history buff the only history I have with that ride is that it made me nearly yack as a kid.

[New display name]

12 hours ago, Jamberoo Fan said:

So did the same apply with Gravitron/Vortex?

My logic would say it was after John's time.  The Demon from Expo didn't open for 3 years at Wonderland after the fun park closed.  Even thou the park closed in 89 I believe they didn't sell the rides straight away.

Fun fact about the Gravitron while the ride was at Expo it was involved in an accident.  The door was ripped off when the operator opened the door at too high of a speed and somehow it made contact with the shed it was in.

[Jamberoo Fan]

That's ok @Roachie. @Skeeta is right in that it opened at DW after the 1989 sale. The Parkz database says it opened around 1990 but according to aerial imagery from the time, it opened sometime between September 1991 & August 1993.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

23 hours ago, Skeeta said:

Fun fact about the Gravitron while the ride was at Expo it was involved in an accident.  The door was ripped off when the operator opened the door at too high of a speed and somehow it made contact with the shed it was in.

Fact or Lore?

Assuming the gravitron was a standard 'starship 3000' style pod - and my memory suggests it was - the door swung up and inwards. The structure had support beams overhead, which would be the upper envelope - and the door did not rise as high as the support beams (remember of course that riders would stand with backs to the wall, and at speed, those walls would slide up - so the roof itself was already quite high - i can't see the door exceeding the roof framework - especially since many travelling models had a vinyl roof spread over those support beams.

Hope i've explained that well enough...

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=images&amp;cd=&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=2ahUKEwiPg-XbtoTdAhUYAogKHQ1cCSkQjRx6BAgBEAU&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.funlandrehoboth.com%2Fgmedia-album%2Ftesting%2F%3Fgm9[album__in]%3D1&amp;psig=AOvVaw1pDzaEk-ew_2pn-XUGQGTz&amp;ust=1535156628553296

 

in the pic above, the door isn't fully opened as yet - but the additional height above the visible frame, which permitted the walls to slide upwards, would give the door quite a large clearance when open. I can't see the door physically exceeding the bounds of the ride frame

[New display name]

1 hour ago, AlexB said:

Fact or Lore?

Assuming the gravitron was a standard 'starship 3000' style pod - and my memory suggests it was - the door swung up and inwards. The structure had support beams overhead, which would be the upper envelope - and the door did not rise as high as the support beams (remember of course that riders would stand with backs to the wall, and at speed, those walls would slide up - so the roof itself was already quite high - i can't see the door exceeding the roof framework - especially since many travelling models had a vinyl roof spread over those support beams.

Hope i've explained that well enough...

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=images&amp;cd=&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=2ahUKEwiPg-XbtoTdAhUYAogKHQ1cCSkQjRx6BAgBEAU&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.funlandrehoboth.com%2Fgmedia-album%2Ftesting%2F%3Fgm9[album__in]%3D1&amp;psig=AOvVaw1pDzaEk-ew_2pn-XUGQGTz&amp;ust=1535156628553296

 

in the pic above, the door isn't fully opened as yet - but the additional height above the visible frame, which permitted the walls to slide upwards, would give the door quite a large clearance when open. I can't see the door physically exceeding the bounds of the ride frame

Thank you for you're research @AlexBbut it was pointless. 😝

1. The door was opened while the ride was traveling fast. 

2. The door isn't designed to be opened at high speeds. 

3. I believe the hinges twisted.

4. It didn't come in contact with the top of the shed it came into contact with the side of the shed.

 

 

Edited August 24, 2018 by Skeeta

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

your*

 

Thanks - i'd missed the detail that it detatched (you did say ripped off, but i assumed that was as a result of striking the shed, rather than the cause of it striking the shed). the detail about the hinges, as well as it striking the wall, rather than the roof makes perfect sense.

thanks, i couldn't get it the right way around in my mind.