DRWP2005

There is a way to prevent this from happening and I'm guessing that it failed...Filter Systems are usually designed with a pressure switch on the effluent side of the filter. The pressure switch is tied to the chemical feeders, so if there is no pressure on the switch (ex. pump turned off) then the feeders can't get electricity to feed because the switch is denying the power, even if the chemical controller is calling for chemical feed. So I'm guessing that the pressure switch failed and didn't stop the chemical feed, so once the pump was turned back on all the built up chemical in the pipe was instantly released into the pool.

^ $35 Million is just starting bid for the park So it could end up selling for more then that, who knows. Although I'm guessing that someone will buy it then sell off the rides, then eventually the land. If a park that cost $400 million to build ends up selling for $35 million...then thats really a sign of the times.

I just got back today from the show...I was there all week for work, and I must say I couldn't believe the texting game either. However, I have a feeling that it will end up being quite popular, as I've read about actual texting competitions being held and such. So I suppose why not let people pay to find out how good they are at it. The fish thing was odd, and there's no way I would ever pay to let fish eat me. To answer a question earlier in the thread about the new Whitewater slide...no it does not go upside down. The rider speeds down a steep hill, then uses that momentum to ride up the next hill. The concept photo they had there was kind of misleading about that I thought. I thought the show seemed slow to previous years with fewer vendors, and smaller booths. However, the tour at Aquatica was pretty neat, and the food was really good. I can't wait to see what kind of tours they have next year in Vegas, it should be interesting! For those of you who say you're going...this really isn't something that I would recommend going to if your not really in the business. First of all it's quite expensive. And, yes it's neat to go see all the booths and vendors of your favorite rides, however the companies aren't really there to meet the fans of their rides, they are there to sell new ones.

My best advice is to get a degree in the Hospitality and Tourism / Resort Management, although not every general manager has a degree in Hospitality management, the general manager at my park has a degree in Sports Management, and the guy above him has a degree in Forestry. With a Hospitality degree you can be prepared for a number of jobs, and not just managing amusement parks, as a GM spot at a park are usually few and far between. If you're looking for a job in the waterpark industry, many schools are starting to offer an aquatics degree, which prepares you very well for managing at a waterpark. Also, general manager spots at big parks are filled with people who have been working in the industry for years at many different parks, or have worked their way up in one park...so I would recommend getting a job at your local park, and start to learn the in's and out's of how things work, etc... As for what a general manager does, it just depends on how big the park is and how many employees they have, at my park the general manager, not only deals with the various departments, but also will be out helping fix things, and building things. It just really depends, and varies from park to park. In order to be a successful park manager, not even necessarily the general manager, one must have a few key things...First and foremost an understanding family, which is probably the hardest as a manager works a ton of hours (in the summer when we're open, all managers work 6 days a week and about 9 hours a day) Second, great people skills, as you have to deal with many employees and customers, many of which will be mad at you for something that happened and will expect something in return. Amusement parks are really fun and amazing places to go to and visit, however not everyone can work at them. I see many a people start working every year who love waterparks, but just can't handle working at one. I myself have been working at one for 5 years now, and everyday it's always something different, and as with any job it has its days. I've been fortunate enough to have been moved up quickly...I started as a regular maintenance employee, and now I'm the Water Quality Manager / Park Supervisor. However that hasn't come without many many hours of hard work. I hope this helps some...

I find it funny people are saying how this doesn't make sense and is pointless if you can ride the real thing at a park...I mean why go to Disney and ride Mission Space, when you can join NASA and go, or pay a ton of money to ride the planes that go to space? Disney did the same thing at DisneyQuest with roller coasters, and yes I know DisneyQuest failed, however you still see those simulators today. Not to mention VR arcades with simulators tend to be pretty popular. An attraction like this could bring joy to many people lives, just think of one of the biggest challenges waterparks face...they have stairs. Not everyone can climb up 70 feet of stairs to ride slides for an entire day. People who can't walk or injured people could ride something like this with very limited stairs, and have a good time.

^^Yea I didn't really think about the whole big park capacity issue there, you're right the lines would be crazy for it. Although look at the Flowriders...they have poor capacity yet people line up to ride them and even just watch them for that matter. However, I was thinking of it more along the lines of an extra fee attraction, or something for an indoor park that doesn't get that crowded. Plus it fits right in with a lot of Splashtacular's trade show concepts...none of them have any capacity!! I think a small outdoor park could maintain this, as long as they had it worked out where most of the programming stuff had failsafes and always worked. All it really had mechanically was some hydraulic cylinders, with a pump for the hydraulic fluid, and some motors with drive wheels. A lot of that design you're own ride stuff already exists, as you mentioned with DisneyQuest.

Its a simulator, it spins 360 degrees around, and tilts to either side 18 degrees. It can also rise up and down to simulate different g-forces. It is designed so that the rider can build their own slide then ride it via the simulator. The POV of the slide they designed was projected right in front of the rider to give them the full effect. For those of you who watched the show, I really think this is going to be the next big thing in the waterpark industry. They even had help from Splashtacular, who I'm guessing will be the first to make this now. It just makes sense, since they design some pretty crazy rides. However there are still a few things to fix/design. Mainly, in the show they just added in some water with a hose, some sort of filtration system would have to be designed and could give a better ride, and better experience. I didn't understand their problem with the, "how to display the image problem," that they had...that water curtain technology already exists from Technifex. In fact the ride they rode researching had one of those projection systems on it, so I don't know why they didn't think of that, and just borrow how they make their water curtain. I couldn't believe that the roller coaster wheels didn't last and melted. I mean that entire thing weighed 9 tons, so the slide portion had to weigh about 5 tons I'm guessing...even at 9 tons, roller coaster cars weigh more then that and travel much faster, so maybe they didn't have true roller coaster wheels? I really thought those would have lasted. For those of you who didn't see the show...it worked, and they had people riding it, including one of the head guys at Splashtacular. Anyways like I said, I totally think this will be the next big thing, and with IAAPA coming up next week, I'm guessing it will be the talk at the Splashtacular booth. Well I know I'm going to ask them about it there!

You know, as its already been said this park had a lot of problems... No out-of-market marketing. The loan they took out to operate the park for 4 years, lasted less then 1. They sold 11,000 season passes. (Way to many) Gave away another 7,500 season passes. Only brought in $20 Million through the front gate. Whoever did their feasibility study and said they would bring in 30,000 a day was way off...Partially due in large part I believe to the economy. I'm not saying that all their problems are related to the economy, however a lot of parks this year simply didn't bring in the numbers they were hoping to because of the economy. But they also had a lot of other problems, like not paying their suppliers and other companies, way to many employees, and crazy long operating hours each day. However I think that after the restructuring, they do have potential to turn out being a pretty decent park, putting up some pretty good numbers...I really hope things work out for them.

First of all I don't like American Idol, and I think this is a dumb idea especially for Disney, who is in all reality, as its been said already, promoting another networks shows. It doesn't matter who owns it, its still a Fox show. When I read the title of this thread, the very first thing I thought was, "Isn't Idol on Fox?" So I don't really see how this makes sense. However, I think this will be popular, just look at all the people you see in the news that show up at the casting calls for Idol...and now if you're saying you have the chance to win a front of the line pass at the audition, you're going to get a lot of people who want to try this just for that alone. Everyone wants their 15 minutes.

This park does seem like it will be really neat when it opens. That one video says spring of 08...if that second video is recent, they still have a ways to go it seems! From the looks of it, I'm guessing the slides were done by ProSlide?

Along the lines of really awesome new things to put in slides such as the LED's are these 2 things. One uses a projector to place an image of whatever you want onto a waterscreen. It's actually really bright when you're looking at in from within the tube. I can see some people getting really freaked out by this. Only problem is these things are expensive! The other one is solar powered LED's that shines images onto the slide. They are neat, not as expensive but nowhere near as cool. Projector Lights

^^ Yea I agree the runout should be a lot longer I think. Considering the rider will be going about 40MPH at the bottom! From that picture it doesn't look long enough to slow someone down.

Apparently the looping slide is being tried again, this time at a park in Germany and is supposed to open later this year. It looks like a corkscrew/loop hybrid. From what I can gather, they have already tested it and right now the rider experiences 6G's going through the loop, however the company is going to change the loop so that the rider experiences 4-5G. Photo Credit Looping Slide

A lot of older water slides started out like that...Schlitterbahn has a few that are like that in one of the sections of their park. I'm not really totally sure why a lot of old slides did that, however I would venture to say that it might just be due to the fact that it uses less water that way, instead of a steady stream, you use only what you need to send the rider to the bottom. However that slide in the video looks pretty fun anyways. I was impressed with the ride time, it seemed to go on for a long time...something you don't see a lot these days.

Ok, I've seen these SlideWinders Advertised for years now in Industry Publications, and to me they don't seem all that exciting. Are they fun at all? I've never been on one, however parks keep building them...to me in a way its a cheaper substitute for a ProSlide Tornado.