Will we ever see a new rapids ride in Australia?

[Prequel]

I originally popped the question in a different chat, but it probably does deserve its own thread.

Will we ever see a new rapids ride here in Australia?

If so, when? 

Edited May 22, 2020 by Prequel

[Smol bean]

Probably parks here might want to avoid rapids rides here for a few more years especially after the trr accident so I say another 5 to 15 years

[Taj O'Neill]

50 minutes ago, Prequel said:

I originally popped the question in a different chat, but it probably does deserve its own thread.

Will we ever see a new rapids ride here in Australia?

If so, when? 

i doubt it but give it 5 or 10 years till a rapids ride might get constructed in Australia probably at the world's of wonder theme park Ammar khan has proposed a few years ago but at the moment is still in town planing stage

[gavinfulikes]

If Australia can get the trust of the general public again then it could just happen one day. However that will take time to regain trust and will probably take several of years to. The chances of an in house River rapids in Australia is going to be very very low. A new more modern River rapids ride built by a manufacture would be a lot more thrilling and enjoyable than the old TRR. I would say the chances are unlikely because it is an enjoyable type of attraction but Australian theme parks probably just wants to move on from the accident.

Edited May 22, 2020 by gavinfulikes

[Jobe]

Get a high quality , immersive ride from a reputable manufacturer like Intamin and the public would soon lose its fear of rapids rides. However, it needs to be another park that actually installs it. Too many memories and the inevitable comparison to TRR would not be the publicity that Dreamworld would want. Plus it would not  be a good look on behalf of the four families that lost loved ones on the TRR tragedy. If not Dreamworld then what park? It certainly doesn't leave a lot of candidates.

Seaworld would be the obvious choice but does it have the land to support one?

Movieworld would also be a good option but would need a major shift in footprint in order to fit one in.

Other than that the list draws very short indeed. Adventure World in Perth would appear to be an excellent choice for an installation.

Similarly Funfields could also be an option in the future.

Beyond that , its highly unlikely.

Dreamworld, as has been stated before on the boards, should concentrate on either a new immersive family Log Flume or a Shoot the Chutes style ride.

However, if ANY park was to install a similar attraction as Infinity Falls at Seaworld Orlando then I am so there. This thing looks unbelievable!!

 

[Prequel]

23 minutes ago, Jobe said:

Get a high quality , immersive ride from a reputable manufacturer like Intamin and the public would soon lose its fear of rapids rides. However, it needs to be another park that actually installs it. Too many memories and the inevitable comparison to TRR would not be the publicity that Dreamworld would want. Plus it would not  be a good look on behalf of the four families that lost loved ones on the TRR tragedy. If not Dreamworld then what park? It certainly doesn't leave a lot of candidates.

Seaworld would be the obvious choice but does it have the land to support one?

Movieworld would also be a good option but would need a major shift in footprint in order to fit one in.

Other than that the list draws very short indeed. Adventure World in Perth would appear to be an excellent choice for an installation.

Similarly Funfields could also be an option in the future.

Beyond that , its highly unlikely.

Dreamworld, as has been stated before on the boards, should concentrate on either a new immersive family Log Flume or a Shoot the Chutes style ride.

However, if ANY park was to install a similar attraction as Infinity Falls at Seaworld Orlando then I am so there. This thing looks unbelievable!!

 

"Theme Park Worldwide on Youtube!"

Also, just wanted to take this opportunity to express that how much does it suck that this will forever be the legacy of the ride.

The ride back when i went always had the longest queue in the park, and i had a lot of fun on it. It is a bit of a scary feeling that the ride that i have been on countless times ended with the deaths of four unfortunate people. 

[Jdude95]

I doubt any Australian park would install another freefloating vessel ride. Especially not DW. Any new ride like that would need to be on a rail or secured so the movement is mostly controlled. Macks new tracked water ride is a fantastic and versatile system but it's still in the early stages and hasn't even been signed off in their own country yet. That would be one of the biggest contenders for a ride that is anything like a rapids raft ride. Mack have had a few inquiries but haven't been able to promise anything concrete yet. With the Covid delays, it's likely we wont see this ride system for a few years at least unfortunately.

[Baconjack]

Short answer no.

Long answer, unless a park really wants to give the media an easy comparison of their new rapids ride to TRRR, a rapids ride is something parks on the Gold Coast are going to avoid with a ten foot pole, especially Dreamworld.

It wouldn't take much to imagine the amount of bad publicity a park would get if another rapids ride was built on the Gold Coast. In my opinion, this publicity that I'd anticipate is far too great to warrant ever buying one of these. You'll see the news having a field day comparing the new ride to TRRR, the conjuring up of memories of the TRRR disaster, and thus, subsequent GP criticism of a park buying a ride that killed people only a few years ago. Unfortunately thats the way the media reports on theme parks today, even if the amusement industry (both parks and manufacturers) has worked hard to make sure guest safety is at the forefront of everything they do.

Maybe a decade or so down the track when the TRRR disaster inevitably becomes another footnote in history, but as of right now, it would be in poor taste to build a new rapids ride and would probably leave a stain on the park's reputation. The stench of the TRRR disaster will still remain in the local industry for at least another 5 years, if not longer.

Edited May 23, 2020 by Baconjack

[rappa]

Just to put things into a bit of perspective...

 

If a roller coaster crashed and killed people because the park had made in house dodgy modifications to the braking and control system would there never be another roller coaster built in Australia?

Because that’s kind of the same as saying we’d never have a traditional water ride built again...

[CR4ZE]

On a related note, WWF is on a timeline and when it inevitably closes, a water-themed ride would be an obvious and worthy successor. Guaranteed the media will have a field day about it, whatever it is, even if it's one of the newer Mack water rides as suggested above.

[Brad2912]

48 minutes ago, CR4ZE said:

On a related note, WWF is on a timeline and when it inevitably closes, a water-themed ride would be an obvious and worthy successor. Guaranteed the media will have a field day about it, whatever it is, even if it's one of the newer Mack water rides as suggested above.

Unless it was another Rapids style ride I don’t think the media would say boo. The media is also a lot more pro-VRTP than DW as well from what I have seen and I think that’s in a large part due to Clark Kirby’s direction and willingness to involve them in all aspects. 

[CR4ZE]

3 minutes ago, Brad2912 said:

Unless it was another Rapids style ride I don’t think the media would say boo. The media is also a lot more pro-VRTP than DW as well from what I have seen and I think that’s in a large part due to Clark Kirby’s direction and willingness to involve them in all aspects. 

You could be underestimating how much the media likes getting clicks. 😉

[Brad2912]

Just now, CR4ZE said:

You could be underestimating how much the media likes getting clicks. 😉

Not as much as they love VRTPs advertising dollars....

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Honestly though any hysteria about a new Rapids attraction (when, and if) is easily dispelled.

Modern technology means rapids rides don't need to load boats in the trough - all guest loading and unloading can be done on a solid, flat surface out of the water...

Obviously the transitions on and off the conveyor are still risk points, but the continuous movement of the conveyor means there is unlikely to ever be a collision. Oh... and they'll probably have an e-stop.

[T-bone]

The thing people have to remember is that the issue with TRRR wasn’t what occurred during the ride course, it happened at the unload point of the vehicles. If any park is to say “look, this is why this is safe” and show the public, then it shouldn’t be an issue.

When the LPS ghost train fire happened, it didn’t kill the prospect of further dark rides in Australia. 

People will move on, they just need the industry leaders to move on and show them there isn’t anything to worry about. 

[TomiJ]

2 hours ago, AlexB said:

they'll definitely have an e-stop.

Fixed.

[Naazon]

Aussie World could get away with one. They have the space and its rarely in the same circles of chat as the GC Parks so its distanced its self that way.

Another option is Wet N Wild. Add a few more "Waterfalls" and it becomes a water ride.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

1 hour ago, TomiJ said:

Fixed.

How can you be so sure of that? I'm sure that, prior to TRRR, all of us would have categorically stated that TRRR had a full power disconnect e-stop, and some people would have even claimed to have seen it...

So to state 'definitely' is pretty ballsy, after all we've learned of 'behind-the-scenes' theme park maintenance...

[Gazza]

On 25/05/2020 at 11:52 AM, AlexB said:

How can you be so sure of that?

Because it's a new ride from a major manufacturer who puts them on their other rides, not an in house one with adhoc additions and incomplete drawings.

Are you on a contrarian streak these couple of days mate?

Edited May 27, 2020 by Gazza

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

About as much as you 'take everything totally literal' streak...

It's true though - we'd all have sworn blue in the face that a person would be an idiot for suggesting there was no e-stop on TRRR. I think in the aftermath of the incident the discussions here surrounded how they 'must not have pressed it' rather than 'there wasn't one' until more info started to come out.

Yes, more likely, a new ride from a major manufacturer will have it - but to say 'definitely' before it's built, without knowing who the manufacturer is, where its come from, what park it goes into - theres a lot of 'ifs' there to confidently say 'it will definitely have it' when for all we know the wiring on SkyVoyager wasn't even up to code when it arrived.

[rappa]

We can say definitely because in order to open it will have to be inspected and certified as having a code compliant control system.

So that's the definitive case closed on that one. Yes it will definitely have an E-Stop, not even open for debate unless someone is relocating the park to Mexico.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Fair enough. Now that we're all done overanalysing my throwaway sarcastic and tongue in cheek comment, i'm off to count my chickens. They're still eggs you see. That's why i'm counting them now. Because I already know.

[elemist]

I don't think we'll see one for 15+ years at least if ever for a couple of reasons

1) There's just no need. Lots of other slides and water type rides that the parks can go with. 

2) Any new rapids ride will be compared to TRRR - whether its today, tomorrow or 10 years from now. The headline won't be new ride launched. It will be park builds new murder ride or new ride just like the one that killed 4 at Dreamworld.

There's always new designs and concepts being created. What i imagine will happen is someone will come up with something similar but different enough not to immediately draw a comparison. Might be a rapids style ride, but with a totally different type of craft and loading/unloading system.

[rappa]

I’d argue the point that there is no need. 
 

But agree on the other points, mainly because Australia is stupid. 

[Brad2912]

2 minutes ago, elemist said:

1) There's just no need. Lots of other slides and water type rides that the parks can go with. 

2) Any new rapids ride will be compared to TRRR - whether its today, tomorrow or 10 years from now. The headline won't be new ride launched. It will be park builds new murder ride or new ride just like the one that killed 4 at Dreamworld.

1. There 100% is a need for more family water rides in our parks imo, especially at DW.

2. Money controls the media. You make the differences between what you are now building and TRRR, that this is manufactured by a leading international company and not an in-house job, what safety features are included. 
 

whilst I would envisage it happening medium term, the only reason not to do it is fear, and that’s never been a good emotion to heard successful decisions on...