The New Atlantis - Construction Updates

[Brad2912]

Fair enough, We’ll put it down as Lost in Translation...

[ParkPundit]

20 hours ago, red dragin said:

The first two letters of Parkz stand for "Passive Aggressive".

You'll learn to ignore it soon enough. 

That's the phrase I was looking for.. Sums it up really.

21 hours ago, Brad2912 said:

Who is attacking anyone? It’s a conversation. 
you can express whatever you want, but these are discussion forums so people will question or give commentary on what you post, good or bad.

if you consider someone questioning you an attack, then I best suggest you learn to deal with it as it happens in real life not just on forums and you’ll find yourself in the foetal position your whole adult life if you regard conversation & questioning as an attack...

You have an abnormal view of what a conversation is if you think that was one. You could have worded your response in an entirely different manner than what you did. You could have easily said "Actually, wooden coasters are quite common etc" and been a good Samaritan. Instead you dished out a hostile response simply because I didn't not express the same level of theme park knowledge and connoisseur-ship. 

I am absolutely fine with being questioned but what you did was simply condescension. There was nothing to question, I stated I am not entirely knowledgeable about the parks developments in 2020. 

[Richard]

How about we cool it with the faux outrage? Nothing here comes anywhere near personal attacks, gate-keeping or passive aggressive, so this whole exchange is thoroughly uninteresting.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Me on monday morning coming into Parkz after a weekend off the boards...

[Gazza]

17 hours ago, ParkPundit said:

That's the phrase I was looking for.. Sums it up really.

You have an abnormal view of what a conversation is if you think that was one. You could have worded your response in an entirely different manner than what you did. You could have easily said "Actually, wooden coasters are quite common etc" and been a good Samaritan. Instead you dished out a hostile response simply because I didn't not express the same level of theme park knowledge and connoisseur-ship. 

I am absolutely fine with being questioned but what you did was simply condescension. There was nothing to question, I stated I am not entirely knowledgeable about the parks developments in 2020. 

I thought it had been a pretty major piece of news at the time of the announcement that Australia was finally getting a modern wooden coaster? That has long been something lacking considering most major parks will have a good modern one.

I'm not saying you have to be a connoisseur, but it was announced over a year ago....

 

 

Edited August 2, 2020 by Gazza

[Coasterlife]

does anyone have any updates in August?

[Jay Jay The Jet Plane]

12 minutes ago, Coasterlife said:

does anyone have any updates in August?

AlexB posted Nearmap updates a few hours ago

[Coasterlife]

2 minutes ago, Jay Jay The Jet Plane said:

AlexB posted Nearmap updates a few hours ago

ok thanks, I'll go check it out 😃

[colonelbmx]

Timber piles have now been moved out on to the slab. Hoping this may be a sign things are about to start moving 

 

[Rydah Hi]

15 hours ago, colonelbmx said:

Timber piles have now been moved out on to the slab. Hoping this may be a sign things are about to start moving 

 

And it Looks like Construction is now moving forward.  😮

Edited August 15, 2020 by Rydah Hi

[Slick]

How are we feeling about how wildly different both Dreamworld & Sea World's announcement renders are compared to what we're getting at this point?

I don't want to jump the gun too much as both projects aren't actually complete (hell, one hasn't technically broken ground yet) but it has been interesting to watch not just minor but major aesthetic changes to both projects transform basically overnight. Is it then a result of both brands making it up as they go or perhaps, like many major engineering projects (skyscrapers in particular come to mind), there's been a disconnect between expectation vs. reality?

Edited August 17, 2020 by Slick

[rappa]

I think it's pretty say that we'll get what we expected from the coaster at Dreamworld. Sure maybe a couple things are in a nolimits render that won't be exactly right in the finished product. But I'd say that my expectations of what DW put out there are of a nicely presented thrill coaster. And I expect them to deliver exactly that. Which I'll be happy with.

 

Sea World however really has given this expectation:

 

So I really hope I don't get this:

[Baconjack]

2 hours ago, Slick said:

How are we feeling about how wildly different both Dreamworld & Sea World's announcement renders are compared to what we're getting at this point?

I don't want to jump the gun too much as both projects aren't actually complete (hell, one hasn't technically broken ground yet) but it has been interesting to watch not just minor but major aesthetic changes to both projects transform basically overnight. Is it then a result of both brands making it up as they go or perhaps, like many major engineering projects (skyscrapers in particular come to mind), there's been a disconnect between expectation vs. reality?

I think its quite a common practice in the theme park industry to create an ambitious vision for a ride and then suddenly things like budget come into play and things slowly get cut over time. Its not a new thing for our parks either - remember Storm? Buzzsaw? I don't think the creativity and ambition to build those themed experiences is there when compared to the time when Bermuda Triangle and LTRR were built. For quite a while Village has taken the angle of building big coasters and flashy flats with bare bones presentation over a truly cohesive and themed experience and that can be definitely seen by any ride at MW built in the last 10 years which has a nice sign, some 2D graphics here and there, but when they try to create a themed experience such as the Scooby-Doo refurb they fail.

To demonstrate what I mean with difference between expecation/reality here's a concept made for Superman at SFMM. You couldnt even tell that this project was going to be for a Six Flags park, but when budgets came into play, obviously much of this extensive theming was scaled back.

Even Disney projects have had at least some degree of difference between expectation vs reality at some point, need one only glance at the difference between concept and reality for any post-Paris Eisner project neutered by budget cuts such as New Tomorrowland, the Hong Kong park and DCA to see that. 

On the topic of the DW coaster I don't necessarily see any major differences between concept and finished product. On that end it will be similar to what we see in the NL render with decent landscaping and what have you. Given, DW hasn't promised anywhere remotely close to the level of detail that SW have put on the Atlantis precinct, so its much easier to deliver on that regard.

Edited August 17, 2020 by Baconjack

[colonelbmx]

It’s finally happening the first lot of timber is being bolted together. There’s also a time lapse camera been put in place excited to see a woodie being built in Oz 

[Brad2912]

That is fantastic news, and like most I can’t wait to see this coaster ride above the Broadwater over coming months. 

Further covid closures not withstanding, are we Expecting a construction timeline of say 7-8 months? Another 6-8 weeks for testing etc. 

May just make it for an Easter 2021 opening? If not, I’d say Sept 2021. Winter holidays not ideal for a launch imo...

 

[themagician]

I think realistically it’s going to be September 2021

[colonelbmx]

Apparently it’s a 6month build for the coaster. No idea how long testing will take after 

[themagician]

Inspecting every part of the track and structure will take much longer than a usual steel coaster too

[Slick]

As far as I know (and I don't know much about wooden coasters to be frank) the skill behind making a steel track smooth happens at the factory, whereas with a woodie that skill happens on-site. Therefore, if they're pushing ahead with construction, does that mean they're going to try and get as much done without the specialty skills required to finish the job? And then is the plan  to hope borders open when they get to that bit?

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

The PTC woodies at Wonderland were entirely constructed by local tradespeople based on plans provided by PTC.

I'll assume GG have progressed the track lamination process somewhat since 1984, so it is fair to say that there is probably a higher level of skill required to produce the required track to spec, but the rest of the structure isn't rocket science. Its also quite possible that the track lamination techniques used can be shared (judging by the carpenter jobs advertised recently, that technique would be shared with the park chippy anyway), so while slightly more difficult, its not impossible for foreign skilled workers to provide that instruction remotely to the local specialist tradespeople working on site.

[Richard]

Virtually all the modern advancements in traditional wooden coasters come down to computer design and better trains. All the big manufacturers share near identical specs that have remained unchanged for a century. Even RMC uses the same track gauge and basic specs on their hybrids as just about every wooden coaster in existence.

There's really nothing to a wooden coaster at its core. Measure, cut, bolt, repeat. Tolerances aren't critical until very late in the piece and are easily corrected; even then we're not talking millimetre precision like on a steel coaster. Martin & Vleminckx as a manufacturer would certainly have their own preferred methods (and Gravity Group would have their own design preferences that other designers wouldn't) but they aren't bringing some magic recipe so much as a history of delivering wooden coasters on schedule and budget.

More so than Vortex or Dreamworld's coaster where there's local firms skilled at building these rides, I'd be inclined to say that neither SW nor M&V would be too keen for significant progress without that wooden coaster expertise on site.

[rappa]

8 hours ago, AlexB said:

The PTC woodies at Wonderland were entirely constructed by local tradespeople based on plans provided by PTC.

I'll assume GG have progressed the track lamination process somewhat since 1984, so it is fair to say that there is probably a higher level of skill required to produce the required track to spec, but the rest of the structure isn't rocket science. Its also quite possible that the track lamination techniques used can be shared (judging by the carpenter jobs advertised recently, that technique would be shared with the park chippy anyway), so while slightly more difficult, its not impossible for foreign skilled workers to provide that instruction remotely to the local specialist tradespeople working on site.

This construction approach also resulted in one of the worst wooden coasters in history so probably not keen to copy it. 

[T-bone]

Which coaster are you referring to rappa? Likewise there are many decent coasters from before the BB period which are still great examples of the craftsmanship involved with maintaining a wooden coaster. 

[rappa]

Bush Beast. I think we can all agree it was a fair piece of crap. 
the Beastie was a great little coaster though. 
 

There’s a heap of amazing examples of the craft of maintaining great wooden coasters. Grand National is an awesome one. 
But Bush Beast certainly was not. 

[A.H]

Bush beast was one of those Taft Grizzly clones and it's not very well received by modern standards but since it's Australia it's obviously held to a higher regard.

One question was Beastie one of those Woodstock express clones?