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Wow, thanks IWERKS for your very generous donation tonight. The reasons most people finding themselves homeless are not what most people imagine. The root cause is usually about traumatic experiences like domestic abuse, violent abuse by parents (unthinkable) sexual abuse, gambling/drug/alcohol abuse of parents and so many (not all) are worthy of our support. Iwerks has donated considerable amounts over the past 4 years and I think that is a measure of the man. Kudos to you Iwerks and big thanks for getting my 2018 fundraising off to a great start! His generous donation is already making a difference tomorrow. I would love the community here to support me in my efforts to raise another $15k this year. Its not easy. Every donation, small, medium or large certainly counts. Do what you can. I assure you Vinnies make every dollar count. Announcement of my next theme parks chapter coming next week. Exciting times ahead. Thanks IWERKS. Wonderful support.

That's right - upgraded not updated. After the debate on MW's new park map and the news of updated websites for DW and MW, Jamberoo has made some small changes to their website which are above and beyond anything in the Australian theme park industry. Let's set the scene. Here's Jamberoo's latest online park map (since the 7th of September 2016): Until now, it was just the same static image with ride descriptions/images appearing when you click on a ride's blue information button, which is located near the ride on the online park map (Not seen in the image above). These features still remain. Now click here - this takes you to the current park map webpage. It's the same but... Firstly, you should notice in the bottom right hand corner, Jamberoo has added a 'live chat' feature. Just by adding your name & e-mail address, you can chat with Jamberoo! Social media, in general, already has similar features in commenting/messaging but they are more 'optional' - that is, businesses may take their time or even not respond at all to comments/messages. A 'live chat' feature on Jamberoo's website displays their dedication to customer service as a response should be guaranteed every time and providing your e-mail address allows a more detailed answer to be provided later if it is too difficult to answer instantaneously. Secondly, you may notice pink buttons located around the park map. The pink buttons have an image of a 360 degree webcam with spinning arrows around it. That's right - it's a virtual tour! And it's not just a 360 degree panorama of selected locations in the park - you can pretty much 'walk' around the park! Simply, it's like Google Street View. A menu on the left hand side allows you to access views of all the rides/attractions/amenities quickly while arrows around the image you are viewing allows you to move around the park. It also includes descriptions of the rides/attractions/amenities and an embedded YouTube video of The Perfect Storm TV commercial as well as the static park map in the bottom right hand corner. For those who rarely visit or have never visited Jamberoo, why not start your virtual tour by 'driving' into the car park? The first view you should get is looking north up Jamberoo Road. Haven't been to Jamberoo since The Perfect Storm opened? Go check it out! Impressive, huh? But wait, there's more! You can even use this new feature with virtual reality headsets! So you can 'visit' Jamberoo in virtual reality! Just click the 'VR Mode' button in the top right corner - it even works in a 'headset-free mode' but this is no more than a 'full screen mode'. Unfortunately, you can't access the top station of the Chairlift/Bobsled entrance but you can access different vantage points of the Chairlift ride. Hopefully, it can be added in the future. Overall, this 'Virtual Tour' feature allows potential visitors to learn how to navigate the park prior to their visit in more detail than ever before. It brings a new meaning to a park map online. This is something the Gold Coast theme parks should take note of when they do their next website upgrade (which is probably next decade ). Adding more features such as food outlet menus, ticket prices, lists of souvenirs and their prices, ride/attraction videos & online (non-food/drink) shopping capabilities to the Virtual Tour could allow those visitors to plan their visit with even more precision. However, this 'Virtual Tour' as it is is impressive enough. What do you all think?

So, we don't know how much comes from the gate and how much comes from SS's pocket. Let's just say we appreciate his efforts. I have a feeling if it wasn't for him, AW would have long gone the way of Wonderland, and I can only guess how @AlexB feels about that.

Yes, Adventure World doesn't get a new attraction every year. Except for Abyss, they're all under $10 million. I think it's good the park has invested so much back in year after year - even before the naming of the Mi-s. Nothing worse than when a park doesn't open new rides and gives you no reason to go back. AW has also not been guilty of giving away the gate - charging at least $150 per adult for a 7 month season for sometime now (or more for those of us with the platinum pass). They're trying new things, like AW Nights, without seeming to put themselves at risk. I realise it's not on the same level as the GC parks, but it's steadily plugging away in a fairly monopolistic situation. And Steve Sicerich has no shareholders, but his family to answer to. He is the random factor.

Aside from Abyss though their level of spending doesn't seem crazy high. Goliath isn't something that's a bank breaker, and last year was a Tornado. They've spent a bit updating the place but to me a moderate ride (by GC standards) every couple of years with something cheap like a water slide in the off years isn't totally unreasonable.

You argue that you're being reasonable, I'm arguing that you're not. Everything we've heard points to continued expansion. You're like a d-grade star who complains about snap chat and ends up devaluing the stock of the company. If you post in this thread, this is the response you'll get.

So I made a list of the MAJOR spending that has happened in the Park since Steve brought it in 2000. However in 2010 there annual attendants was only 250,000 a season, now 7 years later its doubled. Which means they make more revenue and passes cost more now also. 1997: Tunnel Of Terror $1 Million Steve Brought the Park 2001: Rampage $3 million 2002: Power Surge $3 Million 2003: Dragons Kingdom 1: Little Leaper & The Barnacle, Dragon’s Flyer & Dragons Express (Lets say $2 Million for 4 rides) 2005: Super 6 Aqua Racers 1 Million 2007: Shut Gun $500,000- 1million 2009: Freefall (A Lot more than its worth) 2010: Dragons Falls $500,000 2011: Kahuna Falls $3 Million 2012: Dragons Kingdom redevelopment: Yarlis Safari & Yarlis Barrel Spin ($1 Million) 2013: Abyss & new toilet block $12 million 2014: $300,000 retheme of Black Widow and Rampage 2015: Kraken $7 Million and Buccanier Battle 2018: Retheme of Water Moutain, 1.6 million on a new car park 2017: Goliath $7.5 Million & $1.5 million power Line 2018: ????

I'm really getting tired of this, and as I mentioned, you're clearly reading only what you want to read. He agreed with what i'd said He was ok with them 'taking a few years off' - which in context would be not doing an "MI every two years" He suggested a 'small spend' on some water attractions. A family friendly water ride wouldn't really be a 'maximum impact' attraction. This doesn't mean it wouldn't be an awesome addition. This doesn't mean it isn't something the park really needs. But like we've talked about (and the GC parks comparison is only because it's what's talked about here the most), when one park builds a thirty million dollar hyper coaster, and the other park has most recently installed a flat ride - which would you consider 'maximum impact' ? certainly not a family friendly water attraction. that DOESN'T MEAN ITS A BAD IDEA - But as i've mentioned before to go on with EVERY new attraction as if its as 'maximum' impact as Abyss, or Kraken, or Goliath weakens that 'MI' as a brand. Just go 'hey folks, we're excited to bring to you our newest attraction - the "Calypso Beach lazy river!" - what better way to laze about those hot summer days that in our lush tropical paradise!' It'd be a great addition. It'd be very family friendly. It'd be a lot cheaper than Abyss. This is all i've been saying. Improve what you've got. Replace what needs it (bounty, inferno), build some nice filler that the park needs to round itself out and take a 'step up' in terms of what it has to offer. This will bring the crowds, and fill the coffers, which in turn will let them turn their minds to the next big thing (a second awesome rollercoaster perhaps?). Many folks here point to sea world as the park that has 'ride'. It's got two coasters, and while it has more to offer, if you take away 'looking at animals' - there's very little else. I love what AW is trying to be. I don't see them continuing to install $8+ million attractions every two years - something's gotta give. By all means, start buying some new water attractions that are 'X hundred thousand' rather than 'X million' - that'll keep filling out the park without breaking the bank - but they will by nature be more 'minimal' developments, and in terms of expenditure - a 'very big slow down' from the millions on coasters and flats. I really do hope that you've actually read this, and realise that I don't disagree with you. I am perhaps not explaining myself as well as I could, or you're only reading what you want to read... TL:DR - you agree with what Ben said. Ben agreed with what I said. We're saying the same thing. We just don't like the words the other is choosing to use to say it. Let's just have a beer and move on, hey?

Ben said that he thinks they should get family friendly water rides - I agree. He didn't say the park would wind down its spend every two years. What I was trying to explain to you is that you're making your predictions based on a false premise - that AW is like the GC parks. We're not writing in a vacuum - lots of people read this stuff. So if you're smacking down David Bakas or being condescending to Mark Shaw you damage the reputation of these forums and theme park fans, in general. How old are you, @AlexB? I went to Old Sydney Town and Adventure World in their first year of operation.

That they keep investing on a regular basis? I'd be happy if it wasn't a spin and spew. 😀🤢

@grrofunger there annual attendance is just over 500,000 a season. Also investment has been 40 million in 7 years.

Just out of curiosity then. You don’t want your daughter to ride anything at the park (which I respect your decision) because of the owners of the park, and simply by changing the owners you think that their safety will improve? Or is purely just because of what the company has done to the park and you don’t want your daughter to experience that? Im personally not a fan of Ardent, and what the park had become to just a few years ago was disappointing. I think over the last couple of years and the improvements they’ve made (refurbishing rides, repainting facades, etc) has been great and has improved the park, but still some of the decisions made don’t make sense. I’m very glad they reopened the log ride, and if the only way they were going to reopen it was with the canopies, then sure, still don’t agree that was a good idea, but it’s operating, and one day they may come up with a better solution. Saying that, refurbishing Tiger Island, awesome. Adding the LEGO store and getting rid of the old dark exit area, awesome. A soon to be added flying theatre, awesome. Getting rid of SBNO attractions, awesome. Whether it was Ardent directly that made these decisions, or the parks head staff having to fight for money to get these things to happen .... I’m glad they’ve made these changes and do look forward to seeing what the park will become, with more money being invested into it. It’s just going to take a couple of years.

But Falcons Furry costed 6million USD total. So for around 8Million AUD they should be able to get some form of Falcons Furry costing them not much more than Goliath. Which Joz is saying is "Is not a bank breaker". Didn't mean Joz was putting it down. More that after being open 2 years Kraken is still a very popular ride.

To reiterate @Skeeta's point -- let's keep insults and personal remarks out of it. It's an interesting topic of discussion and one I'd like to see continue in a mature fashion. I am curious @iwerks, given your knowledge of the park and Perth in general. In what sense is Adventure World fundamentally different from the Gold Coast parks? What market conditions or other factors do you see allowing the park to maintain this pace of investment and development?

I'm not denying my involvement. And sure, I do relate it to topics where it is relevant - but that's because its a park i'm most familiar with. It's not like i'm just randomly starting threads about the park all the time... that'd be weird.

The volcano still has smoke continuously coming out of it

Just a quick SW update After vanishing for a few months, the Whale Shark has returned And renovations are being made on one of the pools in the Dolphin Nursery, which has meant the majority of Creatures of the Deep is closed

Who said anything I said was concrete? Am I not allowed to express an opinion different to yours? And I never said the MI series would 'stop' (although I do think they should stop with the whole 'MI' thing and just announce a new ride when it happens. As you say - you don't know either - so your opinion is just as educated as mine, and we're both entitled to express them. Nowhere in there did I say "stop". Nowhere in there did I say it was based on anything solid, but just my own views an opinions after visiting parks, working in parks, and talking to people who know things. I'll agree that AW Is a different model to most parks given it's funding arrangements, so sure, much of what I take into consideration may not apply to it in the same way, and i'm happy to be proven wrong. I'd love to see the little park grow... however as @Roachie points out - rapid massive expenditure cannot be sustained, and i'd hate for the park to suffer because they spent beyond their means. I have no ending for this so i'll just leave off with this.

It's almost that time of the year, again. Mark's sleeping out again in June. https://www.ceosleepout.org.au/fundraisers/mark-shaw/perth?ref=ch_1BzlgAA8Lc2dSwJO8stVdL0T Mark has also been in touch to say that he's got an exciting announcement coming up soon. Can't wait to find out what it is!

@AlexB At least I have glasses! I didn't know you knew Steve Sicerich or had been talking to the staff there? Why compare AW with the GC? Steve Sicerich does what he pleases. You don't see me making concrete predictions about what the park is going to do, because like everyone else, I don't know either, but I don't say the MI are going to stop based on no evidence whatsoever. Your arrogance is astounding. Every chance you have to put down any park outside the GC you seem to take it.

If I was running the show at AW, I would be selling or scrapping the current HUSS Inferno asap. There's nothing particularly special about HUSS towers, so for me I see no point in keeping it. I'd replace it with a new S&S combo tower that performs both the Space Shot and Turbo Drop motions on one tower. Which will set it apart from Batwing, as it only performs the space shot sequence. OR I'd get a double tower from S&S and set tower 1 to perform the space shot motion, and tower 2 to perform the turbo drop motion. The 2 towers would help with capacity, and provides 2 different experiences.

That Inferno ride has to be the greatest piece of shit ever.

Well done WnW