Gav

Just a little update, but these slides are nearing completion: For those not willing to try the full sized slides straight away, they've also added one of those mini Hyper Drop slides like the one seen at IAPPA. The full gallery, which follows from the earlier stages of construction, is available here.

Haha, I'm loving the face drawn on the larger person on the right hand track:

In what way? Everyone in that video looked pretty chilled, and you could spot security guards (One in JP, another near 'gasoline alley' in Toon Lagoon, plus a guy with a megaphone near the end)

If we're talking POVs, heres one I took of the tobbogan at the Plymouth Ski & Snowboard park in the UK: It was fun because it was raining and I was the only one using it. A wet track means your back wheels are able to slide sideways a bit more easily in the turns, so you can corner faster with less fear of a spill.

One thing I still don't understand about Japanese parks is why so many of the signs (How many locals are going to understand the pun in the name of that food outlet?) and ride names are in English, yet the ride soundtracks are in Japanese...One or the other surely? Fair enough, English signs in the NY/Hollywood areas makes sense because it relates to the atmosphere of the area (In the same way that asian themed areas of theme parks often have banners etc with Asian script) But why would they call their latest coaster Space Fantasy instead of " スペースファンタジー " for instance? Surely it makes more sense to cater to the majority of locals (and children especially who might not be able to read romajii yet).

Check out the manufacturers website, it has what all those things are... http://www.wiegandslide.com/products.html Alpine Slides, Toboggans, Luges are all terms for the same thing though.

So is the 'World' of Colour an entirely new park at the Disneyland Resort, or is it just an addition/modification of an existing area of one of the parks? I'm sure some people, especially the fans, will enjoy such a new, happy and colourful place, but to me the media is making out to be an entirely new park so I think a lot of people could be potentially disappointed.

5 Bucks...not free. The roads within reasonable radius of stadiums here are set up as special traffic areas (eg this), with 15 minute parking enforced. Given there are plenty of police on patrol for major events anyway it means violators (Including people who illegally park on private property) are dealt with fairly quickly (Either fined or towed) These 'it wont work' arguments are absolute cop outs. If you enforced the traffic restrictions properly, then people would have no choice but to comply....even if "people" like to drive everywhere, they aren't above the law. If they followed international best practice, people would find they could get to the games easier, CGA gets to operate uninterrupted, and less money gets spent all up on the project since parking garages aren't needed.

Then don't give people a choice, and make it required. If game tickets had it printed on them that they included free express transport, and it was heavily advertised that the stadium didn't have parking, then that would be a pretty strong motivator as to what was expected of people. This new stadium would actually be in a better position than some of the stadiums here since it already is serviced by rail. The 50,000 seat AAMI Stadium in Adelaide is only serviced by buses: Check out this aerial image: http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&q=Aami+Stadium+Bus+Access,+West+Lakes+South+Australia+5021&sll=-25.335448,135.745076&sspn=55.047272,135.263672&ie=UTF8&cd=1&geocode=FVPI6_0do01BCA&split=0&hq=&hnear=Aami+Stadium+Bus+Access,+West+Lakes+South+Australia+5021&ll=-34.879823,138.497359&spn=0.003147,0.008256&t=h&z=18 That little loop of roadway to right hand side of the stadium is able to do the same job as acres of car parking. Event services don't typically have a complex timetable to understand, it's pretty much a simple statement along the lines of "Services run every 5-10 minutes, from X hours before till X hours after the game". I'm calling shenanigans on that one. Australians tend to drive everywhere too, (We certainly don't have the level of public transport as in Europe/Japan) but it's just accepted that major events are one thing where you leave the car at home, and people know that taking public transport is faster/cheaper than trying to get through the inevtiable traffic jams that come with major events and paying extortionate amounts for parking. It's just crap that CGA should have to suffer when there a proven solutions to getting people to and from major events in a way that minimises the impact on the neighbours.

Coconut Ice isn't specifically a Harry Potter thing. It's basically a combination of desiccated coconut (dried flakes of coconut), icing sugar and condensed milk, which is put into a tray, cooled in the fridge, and cut into squares like brownies...I'm presuming its unknown in the US, but it is popular sweet/dessert/ in the UK, Aus and NZ, and a staple at kids birthday parties.

??? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_America-Santa_Clara_Station http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_America_%28VTA%29 Thing is, they are spending hundreds of millions on a stadium, so infrastructure improvements should logically occur at the same time. The stadium owners can't just expect to plonk it down without thinking of these things. Furthermore, I think my original point still stands...It would be significantly cheaper to upgrade the two train adjacent stations with extra platforms to deal with game day crowds etc, and perhaps even go for even more capacity with a bus station similar in format to the ones at Suncorp Stadium and the Brisbane Cricket Ground, then it would be to try and build huge multideck car parks (That would suck anyway due to traffic congestion when everyone tries to leave at the end of the game) I mean, fair enough, other stadiums might have been built around the notion of providing acres of car parking, but if it's a new stadium, a with an amusement park next door to worry about, and a virtual clean slate then why would you do things the "wrong way" ?

Why does the stadium need a car park? Here in S.E Queensland, stadiums don't have car parks (Most stadiums in Australia don't actually). The way it works is that whenever a major game or concert is on, your event ticket also includes your public transport to and from the game, and extra trains/buses/ferries are scheduled to deal with demand. From what I can see, the stadium will be at the intersection of two rail lines, so surely it would be more cost effective to get people coming to and from the game via these, rather then spending lots of money and land to build multideck car parks that only get used a few times per year. You could couple this with some sort of parking restriction on game days. People who do choose to drive to the game would be charged significantly more than what is normally charged to park at CGA. If you were intending on into CGA on a game day you could show your receipt, and the difference would be refunded. That way, the car park would be freed up for CGA and game attendees would be discouraged from using it.

Oops

^This. In any theme park that bases its attractions around existing I.P. you're always going to get a segment of guests who haven't seen the movie in question, so the trick is to just make the rides interesting enough in their own right. Furthermore, if a person was the type who got hung up and felt alienated by not having full familiarity with the films that form the basis of each ride, why would they be visiting Universal in the first place? Lastly, I thought Harry Potter was somewhat popular So wouldn't be a first choice for a park operator wanting a hot bit of I.P. to have at their disposal, that people would be familiar with. The Mummy is another film I haven't seen, but not only that, I haveno knowledge of even what the basic plot of the film actually is. But because the ride had cool projections and animatronics, and fire and an exciting coaster portion I came off satisfied.

I'm not sure if that is necessarily a negative though. I mean, when you are doing any theme, it should be done properly as a matter of course, and true to the I.P. as much as possible...I mean, a good example would be Saw at Thorpe park, and am not into horror movies, but I thought the theme came across pretty well....A big scary warehouse littered with deathtraps and torture devices, so I sort of 'got' where they were coming from. However, from what I have read, much of the theming and traps are actually based directly around stuff from the films. Now I don't actually necessarily appreciate this directly, but I guess it's a positive if a fan of the Saw films can come in and see these details and appreciate them...Similar thing is probably what is going on with WWoHP. The other thing to keep in mind is if the deeper detail wasn't there they'd begin to get negative feedback from the people who do have some knowledge of the story. A few rides take this approach...For example on TOT I know that for the preshow the Imagineers did a lot of research to make sure they captured the exact style and mannerisims of a Twilight Zone episode. On Star Tours, I'm sure there would be lots of detail in the queue that star wars fans would specifically be able to pick out. Horses for courses I guess. I guess the key is to create a sufficiently rich and visually appealing environment so that the majority of guests will be blown away, and if there is another layer of detail that hardcore fans can get something out of, then thats a plus too (I think Universal would have been forced to do this by JK Rowling anyway) The other key is to make sure the storytelling gives enough background information for somebody who has no knowledge of the franchise to be able to get what is going on, and I guess this is a 'wait and see' for when the area is open to the GP.... In some ways, I'd expect this to be the case...The story for forbidden journey is that they are letting non wizards into the castle for the first time ever, where you go on adventure. The logical way to tell that story is to treat park guests as if they are actual outsiders that previously never knew about the secret world of witches and wizards, and explain what everything is about accordingly. But again, it's a wait and see. I think Knottslover might have a point too though, if the actual ride experience for Forbidden Journey is significantly impressive then that could be enough for the GP...It's sort of how I feel about Indy, I don't follow the films, but geeze that ride is bloody amazing!

^Looks fine to me. The train is sitting at the staging end of the launch track (Notice the two sharp turns that lead from the station to the beginning of the launch)

But surely the differences are a bit deeper than being made by a different manufacturer? On Spiderman and DarKastle you're basically trundling on the floor, you can spin around, and tilt a few degrees. With this you're off ground level, a completely free range of movement, and because you are on the end of an arm actual g forces can be generated. I mean, the 'static alternative to Spiderman/Darkastle is a regular simulator pod (Eg Star Tours), the 'static' alternative to Forbbidden Journey is a robocoaster (Eg Legolands) You couldn't say that both offer the same sensations right?

^Agreed. The same could be said in the way the various types of coaster are able to offer completely different experiences despite sharing the same basic set of principles. I mean, yeah, it is projections + a moving ride vehicle so it has the same roots as Spiderman. But the style of movement is very different. I think too the degree of movement would be harder to gauge without riding; The circular, enveloping nature of the screens means they can do tricks like rotating the image in sync with the screen etc*, and these sorts of things are impossible to perceive in a pov. *Eg on Soarin', turns in that ride are simulated by rotating the image and heaving the seats up slightly, not by tilting the seats, but when you are actually riding it is difficult to perceive that this is the case. I suppose a lot rides like this follow the same format...Star Tours, BTTF, Sea Odyssey, Indy. wouldn't be a major dark ride without "something going terribly wrong" at some point

Am I obliged to put this post in spoiler tags if I'm discussing the ride?....Ah well, skip over. Despite the crappyness of the video, I think this actually looks like a blast. I loved Spiderman, but to have a similar approach where your legs are flapping about as you spin through the air (With a higher amount of movement) seems incredibly fun....Spiderman managed to be really immersive even though the vehicles only tilt a few degrees, I can imagine this being much more so. Plus the switching between projected images and real life effects seems pretty cool too (Eg the bit with the dragon seemed like a good suprise) Reportedly you only go onto your back during the ride and don't flip which is a bit of a shame. If it were up to me I'd have taken a similar approach to Mission Space and offered two versions of the ride, -The version you can 'see' (lol) at the moment, for 'everybody'. -An intense version. The way it would work is that a second set of footage would be used in a couple of the scenes that would have a slightly crazier flight path with barrel rolls etc. Obviously it would be timed to be exactly the same length as the less intense versions, and would have identical start and end images so the flow of the ride would be the same. Then it would just be a case of assigning vehicles, and the vehicles would know which 'show' to run. I'm daydreaming a bit, but even so, it seems like they've got a nice balance of thrills/accessibility with what they came up with.

Since Australia is mentioned in the topic title, its worth mentioning that WB Movie World has a couple of American inspired areas.... You've got main street, I think it's supposed to be a collection of buildings from the golden age of moviesL (Complete with american flags draped from the buildings) http://www.parkz.com.au/photo/AU/Gold_Coast/Warner_Bros_Movie_World/5,2,2761-Main_St_Roof.html http://www.parkz.com.au/photo/AU/Gold_Coast/Warner_Bros_Movie_World/3,5,2594-Main_Street_roof.html http://www.parkz.com.au/photo/AU/Gold_Coast/Warner_Bros_Movie_World/2,1,420-Warner_Bros_Movie_World_Main_Street.html There's also a Wild West area: http://www.parkz.com.au/photo/AU/Gold_Coast/Warner_Bros_Movie_World/20-Wild_West_Falls/2,2,552-Wild_West_Falls.html And I guess the Lethal Weapon ride has a Los Angeles backstreet/chinatown/Industrial area sort of theme: http://media.photobucket.com/image/lethal%20weapon%20movie%20world/Pawlse/Brisbane%20Sept%2009/P7250034.jpg http://www.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://image14.webshots.com/14/5/12/94/162251294ctSTJb_ph.jpg&imgrefurl=http://travel.webshots.com/photo/1162251294045995470ctSTJb&usg=__SFDfC2MITrXwEq8uOqmAqv3IKI0=&h=519&w=800&sz=75&hl=en&start=9&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=gtFV-BT-zGoOrM:&tbnh=93&tbnw=143&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dlethal%2Bweapon%2Bmovie%2Bworld%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-GB:official%26ndsp%3D21%26tbs%3Disch:1

This is why when you are finished with your park map you should throw it in the bin, not litter it and let it blow around

Haha, check out who is in the Legoland driving school: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=sl4+4ay&sll=51.465037,-0.649929&sspn=0.000658,0.001206&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Windsor,+Berkshire+SL4+4AY,+United+Kingdom&t=h&layer=c&cbll=51.464915,-0.64972&panoid=0Bp9C1mLJX8_W5lIsT6sCQ&cbp=12,21.3,,0,6.83&ll=51.465102,-0.650016&spn=0.000642,0.002064&z=20

Thats my point though... A couple of years ago Proslide for instance came out with the Tantrum: http://www.proslide.com/rides_03.php Then in the last year they came out with the Topsy Turvy (Omaka Rocker being the first installation of this) http://www.proslide.com/rides_06_c.php which is pretty much exactly the same as the Tantrum except it uses inner tubes rather than the larger 4 person rafts. This is just one example, but to me it seems like the bulk of innovations are just existing slides with a some sort of small modification (often just a change in size), but still largely the same experience. Another example is at IAPPA where Proslide showed off this (Two on the upper left): http://www.westcoaster.net/updates.php?updateCD=111909&page=6 Which seems suspiciously like something we have seen before from Whitewater: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cVF2LlOx6Zc/Sb59W7DrXxI/AAAAAAAAIXc/1zbF1stkCwk/s320/upsurgealabama.jpg As I said, we get the odd completey new thing (Eg Aqualoops, LIM powered water slides), but in the past 3 or 4 years, the rate of true innovation has slowed quite a bit, and it seems to mostly be mutations of things that are already out there.

This looks pretty cool, but it pretty much confirms my thoughts that the water slide industry is sort of running out of ideas, and all the new stuff we are seeing is just amalgamations/variations of slide types that are already out there. In this case what we have is the equivalent of a Proslide tantrum alley, though obviously they have used a giant pipe instead of a funnel to avoid infringing any patents. I mean, we've seen the odd completely new thing like the AquaLoop, but for the most part it seems to be 'more of the same'. Don't take this as me having a negative opinion on the slide itself, it looks like a blast, but i guess there really are only a finite number of ways you can wash people down a water slide.

Jet Rescue at Sea World has two Hydraulic launches, with the second one being a rolling launch. Granted, this is all achieved with tyres rather than a cable, but down below it still uses exactly the same system of accumulators etc as other Accelerators, the only difference is the hydraulic fluid is fed into lots of smaller turbines (one for each wheel) rather than one big one.