Gav

2006 - Superman Escape 2007 - Batwing Spaceshot - Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage - Sierra Sidewinder

Only a little thing, but we were on Tatsu and were waiting in the brakes before the station (Woooo one station going) Anyway, after all the usual whooping and "woah that was great" a girl that must have been a few rows in front just yells out "I've got a blood nose", with that the whole train was pissing themselves laughing at her. When we finally pulled forward there was a small puddle of blood on the safety platform and then a trail leading along up to the station. I also thought it was pretty disgusting, though partially funny how everyone spits off the lift, I thought people would be a bit more civil than a Llama.

In other news, down here Dreamworld have been in the media spotlight for not closing the Giant Drop. http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,21960126-952,00.html I actually agree with DWs decision to keep GD open , a cable snapping is IMO not related specifically to Intamin Drop towers, cables could snap anywhere: in lifts, on boomerangs, on a crane, on a suspension bridge etc etc. To me, it would be more logical to shut off equipment using cables of the from the same manufacturer that SFKK was using on S:TOP rather than closing all rides of the same type as S:TOP. In other words, I think the blame lies more with the cable manufacturer (or possibly park maintenance) rather than Intamin. It wasn't Intamins engineering that caused the cable to snap. Its just a freak accident, i mean the odds of a cable snapping are next to nothing, what are the odds of it acutally looping itself into a position where it could lop your legs off, I mean it managed to do it to one of the four people on that carriage. It a bit of a chain of events that would be tough to repeat.

^Most likely, Mayonnaise is a popular condiment to have with fries in the Netherlands.

Well, I thought I might report on my experiences now my trip is done. While I think SFMM is potentially a pain for most people, since its a long bus ride (and services finish early) I think Rob could have given SoCal transportation a bit more credit though. I was fine with it, the websites had good trip planning facilities and I managed to get down to Orange County a couple of times via Amtrak for Knotts and Disney. Metro services were frequent and it was a cheap way to get around ($3 a day) You might have to make a lot of connections or leave early, but It was a lot of fun trying to navigate a foreign city and simply seeing how things are.

I am currently visiting my sister here in L.A. so I was able to visit Disney on Friday to check this out. I managed to get in early and be amongst the first riders of the day, but I still waited an hour. I found the ride quite enjoyable and well done, though I think perhaps the waiting area could be a little more interesting, those seagulls are the only real thing there. It looked quite beautiful in parts, especially the coral reef sections, very realistic. It pretty much follows the story of the film, but with a different ending and with some of the scenes involving the sub directly (Eg when the sea mine is set off) Being Australian, the narration of the ride was quite funny, they seemed to butcher Australian phrases, and the female first mate sounded more like a cross between New Zealander and English, though considering the audience I think being a bit stereotypical works.

It means saying "dub" instead of "double-u"....the alphabet letter W. For example some people call a Volkswagen (VW) a "vee-dub".

^I cant be bothered fixing the pumping, its a lot of time and effort for something that doesn't make the ride much better IMO, I cant really spot it unless I sit in the back seat, I mean obviously if it were a real ride you would have the design tools and expertise to get ride of pumping, but I have neither, I was more aiming to show my vision for the ride, not a blueprint of one. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the ride is realistic enough and a final version would be very much like this one anyway. What did you mean by "banking problems" too? All the lateral forces were within range....

Here is an Intamin Accelerator I put together over the weekend. I guess the sort of theme I was going for was an classic English navigational rally through the countryside. I didn't really bother with custom supports or getting rid of pumping, but it's smooth and paced how I wanted it to be which is the main thing. Its part of a greater thing I am developing so I was really trialling a layout to see what people thought. Enjoy. Top Gear Rally.nltrack

They wont have to do voice dubbing for the international releases since all the dialogue will just be gibberish anyway...

Maccas...Breakfast from there is nice (In particular I like the Bacon & Egg Roll), plus McCafe is in most restaurants so you can get a hot chocolate. Hungry Jacks (What burger king trades as in Australia) doesn't even have breakfast in all stores, and even when they do your egg and bacon is just nuked in a microwave. But even with the normal menu Maccas wins out, its fresher and there is more to choose from, I quite like the Quarter Pounder and the McOz. Plus their stores are a lot nicer these days, they renovated them all a couple of years back, so they are much more modern and stylish than the plastic look of Hungry Jacks.

^Should have written "witch" or "ditch".

I have seen numerous references to "Elissa Friendly Food", but there is something you can get here in Aus that is potentially the friendliest. It is Plain Pasta from McDonalds. Both of Elissas food groups in one (sorry a out the crap pic, the only one I could find) Pasta Zoo happy meal.

If you mean the pic above, they are putting in the maintenance/evacuation platforms, if you mean the pic below they are building a urinal ^That is quite a nice looking sign, great use of materials, but I think the font they used for "Furius" looks a bit out of place.

I guess I prefer the front, but whenever I am at a park I try to get a ride at the front and back on everything so I don't really limit myself anyway.

That new dropping floor system looks pretty good, much more refined then the old split and pivot system, which makes me wonder why they didn't implement it earlier. And pkd coaster, i share your sentiments about the loose items policy, a similar rule was imposed on us when Superman Escape opened...apparently the employees supervising the lockers here copped a lot of abuse. Its silly, why should guests be forced to pay out of pocket just to avoid breaking the rules? Universal and Disney have a good free locker system on some of their rides and IMO something like this should be used whenever item storage is difficult due to the station set up. It seems odd though that in the fourth pic down you can see property boxes behind the gates , why put them in and not use them?

^I think you do represent a minority view, I have a TV in my room, as do a number of my mates (off the top of my head about four of them have one) Younger kids dont tend to have them, but I think most teenagers would. Definitely not this 1 in 100 distribution you are claiming, plenty of people have TVs in their own room. Because doing that is a pain (it would be cheaper to get a second TV than a recording unit), and TVs aren't just used for watching programs, there are those things called gaming consoles and DVD players. For example if someone was in the middle of a game, and someone wanted to watch the news then taping the news and watching it later isn't really a good solution. A bit of an extreme example, but you can see where I'm getting at. It could simply be you aren't old enough to have bought a TV of your own or had enough birthdays/Christmases to have received one, judging by your avatar this could be the case.

I'm sort of confused here.. . but in the US does the school year follow the calendar year (eg start some time in Jan-Feb and then finish up in December) or do you start the year halfway through and finish half way through (So all you people graduating started year 12 at some point mid last year)?

I'm surprised this comment was overlooked, but it actually points out another flaw in the argument. The original post at the start of this thread said But in reality all Internet users don't buy petrol every day. This is a rough calculation but in reality only about 1/7 of Internet users would get petrol on a given day (im just using 1/7 so i have a figure to work with, i am aware it wouldn't be like this exactly as people might get more petrol later in the week ready for weekend trips etc.) So anyway, it would really only be about a $372.4 Million hit on the Oil companies, assuming everyone took part in the protest. Big dent in the companies Another little thing i spotted, the original post says How is $2.29 Billion almost $3 Billion? Someone didn't learn how to round of numbers properly in Maths class....

One thing I really hate is when people write "k" instead of "ok", it's pure laziness because you only save one keystroke (and O touches K on the keyboard anyway so its not like its hard to move your finger an extra 1 cm to press it) But what really bugs me is that it is so condescending, it sounds like a mother talking to a little kid; "Sorry Johnny, we don't have any ice cream left, k" And its usually said by people when they are being a pratt anyway. And this probably comes down to cultural differences, but it always sounds weird to me how in America people say "I need to go to the bathroom", even if they are in a public place (like a theme park) where there wouldn't be any bathtubs available. I also get this sort of gross mental image that when people say "I'm going to the bathroom" they're going to go and pee in the bathtub. I guess Im used to people saying, "I'm going to the toilet".

Problem is, every coaster available to build with in the game is based upon products by real world manufacturers....why should people have to limit their creativity and just do stuff in the style of rides that exist? (Eg, Hyper coasters without launches) It is No Limits isn't it?

The word "nuff-nuff", a couple of people I don't like use it, it sounds so bogan.

I think then the issue is why Governments aren't providing good transport networks/pedestrian and cyclist facilities. Wouldn't it be more effective if everyone spent 15 minutes writing a letter to the local authorities asking why these areas are lacking rather than doing something lazy like putting off fuel purchases for a day.

True about rural areas...I live in a rural area(Town only has 35,000 people) but then it comes back to possibly having a more fuel efficent car, I don't think an SUV is really necessary even in places like this since all the main and town roads are ashphalt anyway, and even people I know who live on farms only accessible by dirt roads still dont have SUVs since a regular car is fine for the short part of the journey on a dirt road. And we do have a town bus service with 6 or so routes, plus cycleways so the options are there. I mean, there are always going to be people who dont have a choice but to use their car, but really, the only reason fuel prices are high is because society as a whole is using too much. But most people live in urban areas, so they have the potential to do the most...

Well, for one of the trips I'll be in a car, and since people have given a couple of different routes I'll try them both for the other two trips down. I dont really mind since I'll get a chance to see more of the city, even if it is just fairly ordinary stuff.