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I visited briefly today too! It was a pretty hot day on the Coast and we popped by in the afternoon for a couple of hours, hoping to cool off on Storm, which unfortunately was closed. There was a crane on site and another construction vehicle but absolutely no sign of work activity around the ride. Given the Park only currently has 1 other ride I think it's a pretty shit show unless absolutely every possible step is made to keep both rides open for Guests. I get that essential maintenance necessitates rides closed from time to time, but given the current situation at the Park it shines a light on just how unbalanced the variety is nowadays. And wow is it Hot there! SW used to always be enjoyed as the cooler Park option but these days it feels less shady and with the absence of breezy attractions like Skyway and Water rides, the air con within displays is about the only welcome relief. Some other observations.. * Absense of water fountains throughout the Park. MW has these (and chilled ones) everywhere. * Park entry looking tired and run down. A coat of paint and general refresh would go along way here. IMO the whole entry needs a complete reconfiguring. It's a hot mess. * Creatures of the Deep outdoor display remains about a third half remaining and frankly utterly pointless. There are signs of some sort of development going on toward the reclaimed area, but once you reach about as far as before the Lighthouse the area remains closed off right around to along the South of Dockside. One can only hope a new ride is in the works. * Flume ride area sits snbo and is a pretty sad reminder of a park in better days. Not that VR was much, mind you. At least it was something more than a leaf filled Flume channel and the rest of the remaining ride, left to rot and for everyone to see. * Ray Reef remains closed with no sign of activity. Again this just makes you think that very little effort is going into SW at the moment. Perhaps someone can enlighten me on this but my hunch is this attraction may have been suddenly shuttered for reasons of Public Liability? Hmm.. * New Kids water play area is obviously a smash hit with it's target demographic. As cute as it is, I just look at it and think wtf. Honestly. There are plenty of Resorts on the GC that have this kind of thing covered. Oh well, I guess it shows how simple things can give little ones a lot of joy. * If they are going to close and refurb a ride right now, the Battle boats is looking pretty shit right now. Most Targets are not working and like with so much of the rest of SW needs some love. * Don't even get me started on the Seal exhibit at the back. Many wouldn't even know it's there and frankly that's probably just as well. Forget building a new Coaster or other single major new ride, this Park needs a masterplan with a megabucks rebuild and rebrand - now more than ever. A significant repurposing that starts from the front to the back and covers everything in between. Much like DW, most of SW's infrastructure is ageing faster than they can keep up. Just like DW, only a clear plan, vision and indeed the money to back it is what will work.

The land for the Australian Reptile Park & the former Old Sydney Town was on sale in late February/early March this year. The sale has not been finalised as of 23rd April:

100% And would be good for the people at DW and the industry as a whole in Aus.

Its a shame about Old Sydney Town. This land would be ripe for a theme park of some description, given all the positives that is position has been described. Close access to the M1 and nestled in between the major population centres of Newcastle and Sydney with a proven and successful wildlife park next door. One can only dream.

Back in November 2017, the South Australian Government released a future vision for Cleland Wildlife Park developed in consultation with LKF Attractions: You might notice the above vision plan includes a 'soaring simulator'. It seems they are aiming for the exact same type of flying theatre that DW is currently building. It seems the South Australian Government are currently consulting stakeholders whilst they develop the business case for the vision. If the business case gives it the go-ahead, they will commence a procurement process. Clearly, even if the 'soaring simulator' is one of their first investments, it won't be built until after DW's has opened.That is, if the South Australian Government decides to continue with the vision's implementation when they review the business case. Here is their plan for the cable car:

So after a 30 second research burst, ill say this proposal is a stretch at best. The aviary looks like Taronga and Healsville had a child and raised it in Singapore, the cable car doesn't have a valid enough attraction to warrant using it. Unlike the Kuranda cable car which i'm guessing it will be compared to, one has sweeping rainforest views, a reason to use it, and is fully educational. And then the other has sweeping views of bushland and Adelaide. I'd give it a 5/7 on picturesque-ness. Its incredibly hard as is to turn a wildlife park into something worth more than 2 hours of your day, yet they want a Hartleys like layout over Taronga zoo. Trying to turn the equivalent of Australia's Delaware into San Diego? It's a no from me. Bonus points though if the state does somehow find a tourist attraction that doesnt involve getting drunk, hunting backpackers or watching cars.

Oh dear, seems like Village are attending Ardent Leisure's "How to run a theme park" seminars...

Maybe Sea World could try this as a new show (it would probably be more entertaining than Seal Guardians)!

If I rock up an hour late to a meeting, the expectation is that i'll let the organiser know in advance - it's when communication is sparse about my tardiness, why i'm late or when i'll finally rock up is when people get annoyed, and that's exactly what's happening here with VRTP's communication. Luckily @Richard has a good rapport with the team there and was able to snag that interview with the CEO who gave us a timeline as to when they'd go to work on Scooby Doo, otherwise we'd know nothing at all.

Strip the themeing and you have a basic and boring mad mouse coaster with a weird slow section of track. The themeing is what helps make that ride something great and is what has helped the ride become a “legend” as such. Mention Movie World to anyone that doesn’t regularly visit the parks, and they will probably recall the Scooby ride and Superman. The ride is in an extremely poor state right now, and for a park that calls itself Hollywood on the Gold Coast, it’s certainly lacking anything that makes it memorable.