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There is going to be a new kid on the block, opening around Mid November. Great to be involved.

While Dreamworld/Ardent is looking for new experiences for their theme park. I would like them to explore the idea of a daily parade. I feel they could show off their attractions and create an exciting experience with licences they already have. In no order they could have as follows: * DreamWorks Characters like Shrek, Kung Fu Panda and Puss in Boots * Two tigers walked from Tiger Island * Someone or displays representing the Corrboree section * Vintage car promoting that ride * A car from the Peter Brock museum or replica * Characters from ABC kids * Singers and dancers from their Main Street line up * Dreamworld Mascots Belinda and Kenny This would be something for crowds to look forward to at the end of the day and would be great promotion on social media. Would like to know if others feel a parade would be a good idea and if they have any suggestions.

I look forward to riding the inevitable B&M gigacoaster!

Why don't they just hire a couple of vapers to sit up there and blow smoke? Pay them in fidget spinners and you've got endless smoke effects

Buy whatever the expensive qbot is at Magic Mountain. You've spent thousands to get to the park, don't skimp on the $100/$200 and get the most out of it. Disneyland musts are pretty much everything. Get there early, get a fastpass to Indy, go ride Splash, Big Thunder, and get another fast pass as soon as you can. Haunted Mansion and Pirates have massive capacity so you can come back later, and with that you've knocked out 5 of the big rides. The other big 'must dos' at Disneyland park are Matterhorn, Space Mountain and Star Tours so worth heading over that part of the park to get those done. Should take you to mid to late afternoon where you can pop over to DCA if you want. GOTG will be busy as hell so pretend it isnt there and get your Cali Screamin', Grizzly River and what ever on, before heading back to Disneyland for the second Fantasmic and jump on a few rides late when the queue dies down. If you want to eat at some point you can do that too. Good luck!

Good to see Australia's first Parkz themed park under construction. Everyone gets to choose a ride to get built. 👍 Great news though, I hope it's a thoroughly successful endeavour for you Mark.

That's a fraction of it!

Basically there are two types of Swing ride. Some use a series of kicker wheels to give the gondola a bit of a boost and then it freely swings under the force of gravity. Other types have the drive motor geared directly to the gondola so the speed is always controlled at any point. Think about like the difference between giant drop and Batwing spaceshot. Giant Drop is a natural drop but on Batwing you are actively force downwards

You don't actually even need projection mapping. You can achieve this very cleverly just with some smart led strips suitably themed. Dont think smoke (as in glycol smoke) would be ruled out other than cost, as it would go through a lot of fluid with a blast every minute or two. Id love to design a new finale to that ride for a modest budget, but you still have to consider the ROI on an old attraction

What is the distance from the Melbourne airport @Mark Shaw?

It's laughable how Deborah Thomas was able to throw the Disneyland buzzword out there and distract people while saying exactly what yesterday's ASX release said. It is a transparently obvious attempt at damage control. I can't work out if this company is naive enough to genuinely think that shops and apartments to cash in on the Westfield development will benefit Dreamworld. I want to say that this zoning review is motivated by pure dollars and cents, but this company's strategic blunders in recent years makes me think they might actually believe themselves when they say Disneyland.

It's such a beautiful attraction. The 'Mountain' is a world class 'weenie', as Disney would say and the very fact that it exists raises MW's all round profile. I am so glad the ride gets such an expansive refurb every year - it shows how much MW value it. I understand that most of the budget went into refreshing the facade last year and appreciate the little touches like whimsical signage etc were at least added. Hopefully this year we will see a focus on the 'show' scenes of the ride. It has always needed more kinetic energy going on around riders and the final scene in it's current form is a big let down. Mapping technology and a blast effect like Disney's Big Thunder would be great! I am sure you they could pull off an exciting finale using air cannons and flashing light without a need for smoke effects which are not an option.

You don't create a Disneyland by building accomodation/retail/entertainment options next to a lacklustre theme park. You significantly invest in that theme park with incredible rides, attractions and beautiful theming to take it to the next level, and only then consider complimentary facilities next door. And you certainly don't eat into all of the land that could otherwise be used for actual theme park expansion.

Won't post the whole article as it's yet another Dreamworld disaster rehash article (enough Already). But an interesting comment from the family/spokeswoman for the Dorset Family Ms Brookfield said her friend’s fierce wish was for Dreamworld to be rebranded, to be a landmark and an attraction, without rides. “Kim has told me she would love the theme park to become a zoo, it would be a fitting tribute to those lost,” she said. Whilst I totally understand grief, it has clearly clouded her judgment of the financial implications of the suggestion. In an early quote she said she knew livelihoods were at stake so didn't want the park to shut down. Those 2 ideas don't go hand in hand. Retro-fitting a theme park into a zoo, apart from basically being impossible, would require almost a complete levelling of the site and re-development, which would cost hundreds of millions of dollars

That headline is after you click on click-bait headline. It's 2 for the price of 1.

I like Scooby being themed for the movie that was filmed at the park, but changing the theme for the new Scooby Doo movie also makes sense. 3 years is too long to wait for a fix though, hope it goes back to being roughly how it was, with a few enhancements here and there to make it worth advertising. As for the rest; Jetsons would be an interesting franchise for a ride. A trip through a cartoon future could be kind of fun. Can picture a screen heavy darkride working rather well. You'd have to do it in the style of the movie though because the original Jetsons is pretty hokey by today's standards, and given how bad Warner Brothers are at making movies at the moment you'd have to be brave to back them to handle a reboot of something made for a different era. The Matrix is about the most perfect movie concept for a big outdoor coaster ever, it's one of the only themes where you literally only have to theme the queue and station and still have a ride which tells it's story perfectly (The queue is 'real world' the coaster chair plugs you into the matrix and the coaster is an advanced training program. That easy!). Providing they don't stuff up the reboot then you'd theme it to that, if they do screw it up just theme it to original, reckon it's a proven classic at this point. Short Circut I'd love to see but not as a ride, but by having a Number 5 robot roaming main street interacting with guests. It's been done before with PUSH at Disneyland, and Universal did a similar sort of thing with that fountain at IoA.

I think the stage is actually being removed. They will be using the area for something else.

That's the worst headline ever but that's a nice spin on what is a pretty grim situation for theme park fans.

Ardent Leisure mulling Gold Coast’s Dreamworld site boost to turn it into Disneyland Ryan Keen, Gold Coast Bulletin an hour ago OWNERS of icon Gold Coast theme park Dreamworld want to super-size the site with accommodation and entertainment to turn it into Australia’s Disneyland. Dreamworld parent company Ardent Leisure sent shockwaves through the city yesterday with a statement to the stock exchange appearing to suggest Dreamworld’s footprint was under threat. But Ardent CEO Deborah Thomas later clarified to the Gold Coast Bulletin any redevelopment would be on unused land and enhance Dreamworld, not detract from it. “We aren’t selling or closing Dreamworld,” she said, adding Ardent would invest to create a “more attractive and entertaining theme park”. “We are considering opportunities external but complementary to the park that could include retail, hospitality, accommodation and entertainment precincts, similar to Universal Studios and Disneyland in the US. “There is 25 hectares of land at Dreamworld that is not being used. “We are exploring options to develop that unused land, while continuing to invest in a world-class theme park.” The Ardent site is 60ha with Dreamworld and WhiteWater World across 35ha. Ms Thomas said some areas would not be suitable for development and remain as open green space. The site review would take anywhere from a few months to a year and was about understanding council’s and the Government’s strategic plan for the area and working with them, she said. The revelation of Dreamworld site’s potential expansion was warmly welcomed by Gold Coast leaders and comes seven months after a river ride malfunction killed four people in the darkest day for Australian theme parks in 30 years. Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate said the potential expansion was exciting news for the city. “I’m sure this will result in the theme park evolving to the next level,’ Cr Tate said. Northern Coast councillor Cameron Caldwell said Ardent Leisure controlled a significant site in the city’s north. “A lot of it is undeveloped and the council would consider any development opportunities proposed.” Ardent’s earlier statement to the Australian Stock Exchange said a review of its Master Plan for Dreamworld’s site would consider the impact of “recent events” in reference to the tragedy and feasibility of rezoning parts for alternate use. It prompted Dreamworld CEO Craig Davidson to clarify Ardent’s priority was the “recovery of Dreamworld” and Tourism Minister Kate Jones to make a statement in Parliament saying she could confirm the park was “here to stay” and committed to the “long term”.

Signage for The Parkway (Photo TPSN)

I read the whole thing and was disappointed there was no monorail to connect everything

@MickeyD I must be in a good mood! I'm less optimistic we'll see anything this year with Village being on something of a spending freeze of late, in fact it wouldn't shock me if that was the bulk of the reason why it was closing for so long. But I love being surprised and at the very least if they can get the outside stuff working while it's closed then I'd see it as a worthwhile use of downtime

A few posts have been removed from view here, your particular post was removed by me. For info on why, see here: Have a nice night!

For Magic Mountain, I’ve actually done the park in one day a few times, and if you get a Flashpass (Minimum Gold) that should be sufficient. Gold Flashpass tends to be pretty good anyway. If you are hiring a car, then be at the park for opening (Typically 10am, but ideally you want to be at the gate 9:30 so you can be in the front crowd when the turnstiles open, and get into one of the major rides without a queue) then do your scenic drive after. (Or maybe forego a bit of a sleep in for one day and do some driving in the hills in the cool of the morning...... just so long as you get to the park for opening, I cannot stress this enough) In terms of the non coaster attractions, the only ones to worry about would be: >Justice League (If it is completed in time for your visit...it’s completely different to the one at MW, and has a motion base vehicle) >Lex Luthor Drop of Doom. Granted its only a few meters taller than giant drop, but it has single rider, so you won’t waste any time. Nothing else is noteworthy, and the rapids are overly wet. The flume ride is much the same as any other. For the coasters, there are 15 adult sized ones....If you can ride at a rate of one every 20 mins using flashpass or through lack of crowds, then that means 5 hours. I think this is a good rough priority order in terms of the must ride ones....The top three should be absolutely done. 1 Twisted Collossus – Racing, heaps of airtime, crazy twists and inversions, and very smooth. One of the world’s best coasters. 2 Tatsu - Flying coaster, but this one works because it is literally on top of the mountain, so the whole ride has you soaring well above the trees. The pretzel loop is an awesome intense finale. 3 X2 – Groundbreaking coaster with seats that can flip, so about 3-4 times in the ride you get turned upside down. The first drop makes the most of it by dropping you down head first. 4 Riddlers Revenge – A big lengthy stand up coaster. Single rider line via exit to get straight on. 5 Batman the Ride – Smooth intense inverted coaster...It’s just a really good package. 6 Goliath – Hypercoaster. The main reason this gets slammed is because its only got one airtime hill, but objectively, it’s still a great ride. 7 Apocalypse – Wooden twister coaster that is nonstop, and runs fairly well. 8 Full Throttle – Interesting, has a couple of launches, a huge loop, and a big hill...it’s fun, but not as fleshed out as the other coasters. 9 Scream – Multi looping coaster with floorless cars. Its good, but the floorless gimmick isn’t as great as you’d think. Do riddlers first. 10 Green Lantern – This is polarising, people either love the intensity and insanity, or find it so intense it is unenjoyable for them. Single rider is on this one via the back stairs, so give it a go. 11 New Revolution – Has Single Rider for non VR riders. If you want to ride VR, expect to wait 90 mins, or fork out for the platinum flash pass. If you want to see what all the fuss is about with VR, then just wait to ride Arkham at movie world with it.....Otherwise, a lap via single rider non VR is fine, it’s a fun classic coaster. 12 Ninja – Suspended coaster with swinging cars. Its good, but not that extreme. 13 Viper – Looping coaster. It’s not as rough as people say, and is decent, but if you have a choice the other coasters should come first...But it has Single Rider, ask for directions if you can’t find the Singles entrance. 14 Superman: Escape from Krypton – If you have ridden tower of Terror at Dreamworld then this is the same. 15 Gold Rusher – A bleh mine train. If you are riding Big Thunder Mountain at Disney, then this will be a disappointment. To sum up a game plan I tend to use, basically, be there for the gate opening, then move with purpose straight to either X2 or Full Throttle (I’d say X2) and get a ride in before the hordes, then try and get a 2nd ride on another one nearby (I tend to pick Tatsu), and from there, assess queues, get a flashpass if needed, then work down the list. Also, if you have only got limited time, have you considered Universal Studios? That park can definitely be done in your timeframes, and is closer.

So Volcano Bay opened in the States today, and in 2 days, we get GOTG. http://micechat.com/161861-volcano-bay-new-water-theme-park-now-open-universal-orlando-resort/

Can you provide a link for this? All I've seen is that they visited the USA. They could have visited ride manufacturers, entertainment precincts, fast food chains, zoos, or anything else related to the business...

Build an RMC plz

Victoria.

@Theme Park Girl Wasn't the rumoured cause of the fire one of the spark machines (not smoke machines) they had running up the lift hill? There is no naked flame or spark generated by smoke machines (unless something goes really wrong, I had a cheap Chinese machine catch fire on me once), and there are alternative methods of generating 'smoke' - for example, the new effect used on Big Thunder Mountain at Disney parks is Co2 based, there is absolutely no heat involved using this style of smoke effect. In my opinion, you can't just completely rule out a smoke effect because there was a fire on the ride a long time ago... @Reanimated35 I've been around here a long time, so I'm very aware of what happened to the ride in the past. I wasn't questioning what happened, I was questioning why a smoke effect could just be ruled out.

With all the rumours flowing through now and early last year, do you think they're regretting not pushing harder to sell the place earlier?

It suits Sea World better, but I think it would be a bit of a waste of effort to move it to Sea World now. The ride is old enough that a new location probably isn't going to reintroduce a lot of interest (some, probably not a lot). Plus, Sea World obviously has plans for at least one new ride in the next 2 years or so, and I would certainly hope that they have plans for more. I think the key to boosting Sea World at this point is new things. New exhibits, new rides, new attractions. It's starting to get a bit empty, so they need something to boost that image a little, and get their name out in the advertising sphere. I'm not sure what the costs involved with moving a ride from park to park would be like, but I'm sure it's not an investment that should be taken lightly. That is money that VRTP could be using for new and exciting things at Sea World. I agree with the posts above, my suspicion is just seasonal closure, probably also taken as an opportunity for extensive maintenance.

Deborah Thomas was on ABC Brisbane this morning. Nothing much new. If you want to listen, it's from 39mins 20secs, and clarifies a few things, but she's in dealing-with-the-media mode here.

Think Jurassic Park wants their font back?

OzScrapers on skyscrapercity might?

Not that interesting. The state gov through QIC.

Had my first ride of DD on Monday. The rider sorting into coloured groups was a well thought out idea, with everyone knowing what was going on. We were strapped in and waiting for about two minutes before the restraints loosened. The rideops announced that they had to reset the restraints, but left the buckles done up. Ride started fine after that. The ride certainly felt very controlled, I guess I was expecting a not natural swing feel like Claw. The slow parts while inverted were fun, although it led the poor young lady across from me to have a wardrobe malfunction (I was a gentleman).

sadly the information on who owns Area 51 and what it's used for is classified information! 😂

Maybe it is to prevent simpletons from falling and attempting to get money as a result.

^You guys can't be serious can you? I mean c'mon everyones been praying for a ride like this for the past 10 years now, and when we finally get it people are complaining that it looks to intense and doesn't look fun. Im honestly not sure if you're taking the piss @Glubbo by saying you need to get conditioned to ride it more then once because that made me LOL. As far as my thoughts for the ride are I'm fucking pumped and keen to ride this beast!!! Btw I've already booked a plane ticket to fly up in october to ride it Also if you guy's can't handle this ride then don't bother going to any six flags or cedar fair parks just saying :/ Also no hard feelings Im praying

I didn't mind Gremlins, and I hold fond memories of it. It wasn't the most thrilling ride by far, but it was worth it for the awesome theming and experience. I guess the closest comparison I can make of it l to today's rides is Justice League without the game (laser gun & 3D) component and more active animatronics as a whole. I also enjoyed the aspect of it being tied in with 'real life' as well, with the attraction presenters acting out that it was a real invasion. That said, I don't know if it would work today. It was impressive in its time, but would need a lot of work and a major upgrade of modern technology to wow today's generation I think. In my opinion, Scooby isn't worth that sacrifice. But if they ever decided (extremely unlikely, I know) to bring it back as a new & updated attraction as opposed to a replacement one, I'd totally be up for it 👍

To be completely honest, and I'm really not bothered whether people agree with me or not; but I feel this ride is going to be a little too forceful and extreme for me. The constant turning screams "grey out" 😂 I really really enjoy rides with loads of airtime moments, twist and turns but this looks 10x more than what I consider fun, at this point I'd prefer flashs layout which is the perfect hypercoaster imo. This ride still has potential to win me over if they finally start adding more direct ejector moments rather than the state it's currently in (a spaghetti mess) but that's been looking slim. - for those will likely downvote me, not everyone has to love this ride 100% - I'll still ride it of course but I agree with the above ^^ I'll probably give riding this 20 times in a row a miss.. 😬

Movie World

Same reason that all the admins on here know exactly what's going on much more than they admit and yet they don't share it. They're asked not to. They have that trust that they won't spread the info around and make it public until they're asked to. Now if you love @Skeeta like Skeeta loves his personal massager, then maybe he'll give you a bit of info. I doubt it though. He's a bit of an ass with stuff like that.

I just think there isn't as much as a demand for the ride, so they don't have it open. I drove past on the weekend at about 1 o'clock, and there was probably only about 100 -200 cars that I could see in the car park What's the point in having a ride open that doesn't have enough demand for it?

Build an RMC Trex, B&M giga and a Intiman Launched Coaster Please.

Who is deleting my posts?

I must admit that's what I thought when I saw it this morning. I will probably give it a try when it opens, but I doubt it'll be a regular one for me. Doesn't look much fun.

Given that execs from Ardent have recently visited US theme parks, and also considering the statements they've made about moving away from thrill rides to experiences that stay with you, and quality over quantity (and assuming that isn't all entirely spin) I am quite optimistic that they may indeed have great things in mind for the future of Dreamworld. Time will tell.