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From The Sydney Morning Herald: The exhibition of the new NSW Government policy can be found here. The big question is how will other New South Wales theme parks react? Luna Park Sydney is being treated differently from the rest of New South Wales' theme parks even if Luna Park Sydney is the most attended and iconic theme park in New South Wales. Jamberoo's Kangaroo Island expansion had a lengthy development application process lasting about 5 years and a few court cases mainly due to nearby residents being unhappy with the colours of the waterslides. Should Jamberoo be allowed to receive 'exempt development' on temporary rides as well?

Firstly, I’d love to see either Universal or Disney come to Australia but sadly, I think it’s a non starter. I was reading recently that the Disney Parks make all of their profit from Florida, Anaheim & Tokyo. Paris and HK barely break even and Shanghai is a bit quiet about how their doing. Now when Eurodisney opened in 1992, the French Government not only gave them the land outside Paris for free, but also threw millions of Francs at them to get the gig. At the time, Paris was at the centre of Europe (Europe stopped at the Berlin Wall), it was within 4 hours drive X million guests, 30 mins from CDG airport and right on the Freeway. Also, the French extended the RER A rail line to go to the front door of the theme park. Yet DLP continually struggles. Nearly one third of the visitors come from the UK and only 38% from France. Now coming back to Universal or Disney coming to Aus, I’m guessing there would have to be a lot of political/govt goodwill to even get the thing off the ground. Free land, a new access road/freeway, a ton a start up grants, etc. Then would the thing even break even? Let’s say the NSW govt were really keen on the idea and just for argument is offered Universal free land near the new West Sydney airport with a new freeway and railway connecting the park to central Sydney. I’m guessing just that bit would go into a couple of billion dollars. Then the initial outlay of building a resort that people will actually want to visit. Again another couple of billion ( I don’t have a specific breakdown but Space mountain at DLP cost $au 200 million on its own). So the directors of Aussie banks plc would need convincing that Disney Paris and HK wouldn’t happen in Australia. Finally, we’re a long way from the rest of the world. While a number of Aussies may support such a project, there’s a lot a competition for foreign tourist to visit clone parks that are closer to where they live. The only starter I can see is if Ardent sell Dreamworld off on the cheap and federal money gets pumped in to create Universal Gold Coast. But sadly, I just think the numbers don’t add up.

Well I assume temporary rides.

Considering that Dreamworld already has a good working relationship with Dreamworks, and that Dreamworks is now virtually part of Universal Studios, I'm a bit surprised if Ardent haven't been talking to them about a possible sale or partial sale. That way potentially Dreamworld could get some serious investment and ultimately become Universal Studios Australia. They could really go head to head with VRTP and we'd have two global theme park companies competing on an equal footing, rather than the poor little Ardent struggling to try to keep up with the mighty Village Roadshow! Ardent could potentially retain an interest too if both parties deem it favourable. Possibly Ardent could take responsibility for developing and managing new tourist facilities (hotels etc) adjacent to the park, with Universal taking over running the park itself. Seems like they've sort of already made a good start on rebranding at the main entrance! 😃

Do you not understand that there is NO line drawn in the sand? Armed forces, police, fire, ambo, doctors, nurses, there is no line drawn that says you may experience terrible things in the course of your duties so you are not afforded all the entitlements and coverage of, say, an employee that works a register at Aldi. That's exactly what happens. It's literally taken years for it to get this far, previously these people suffered in silence, especially after being discharged and left to their own devices. It's still a battle these people are fighting, to encourage those suffering to come forward before doing something drastic. How is this news to you? This means that if you suffer a mental episode or breakdown and can no longer return to your position on the police force, you are entitled to compensation just like if you were shot or stabbed. You have suffered an injury in the course of your duty. Do you not understand that? We are all covered under the same umbrella. Being called a bad name and seeking compensation because your declared medically unfit to return to duty are two VASTLY different things. That's what medical professionals are for, they not only counsel but help gauge the seriousness of their injury in an effort to return them to work. That's not always possible and opens employees up to permanent disability or incapability payments too. Take these 3 people for instance. It's a given that all would have been attending some form of counselling after the accident, even as simply a form of debriefing and not because you were having issues dealing with what you had seen. How do you know what has happened when they attempted to, or did actually return to work? They all have different times when they ended their employment with the company, so it may indicate they were impacted differently or responded differently when or if they went back to work. Take note, you can still be employed but not actually working while you are going through counseling. The telling factor that all people are still suffering is that they are still actively seeking counselling. They are entitled to compensation for what they have been through, including the potential for loss of income or being unable to return to work permanently. As the court proceedings are showing, there is proof that dreamworld have been negligent in their duties to provide a safe workplace which has opened them up to civil action from staff. It is a mandatory requirement of the work health and safety act. They failed virtually every key point of the act and they should be held accountable as far as the law extends. That includes by their employees who feel they have been wronged by the company.

I think it's just being treated like this because of it's heritage, and people are sometimes idiots

Yes, the original ride was more than 30 years old and did break down a lot in its last years, but there are many Mack Music expresses of similar ages to Luna Park's example that are still running. The reason the original ride closed was because it boiled down to maintenance costs - it cost too much to repair a ride that broke down often, which could instead be spent on buying a cheap factory new example. Unfortunately the park didn't do much research before purchasing as it doesn't take a lot to realise that crappy Italian built rides aren't exactly all that reliable, they're not going to get 30 years out of it compared to the Mack model.

Obviously he was talking about Dungeons. But i don't see them as a problem, given stuff like fright nights, Dracula's Cabaret etc are a thing.

If the hotel you’re staying in is officially Disney you can get your shopping delivered there, otherwise you can usually get it sent to the gate for you to pick up on your way out

But where are you going to draw that line? Police are abused on the front-line daily. You couldn't possibly go into the job not knowing that. Should they be able to take work cover or sue every time someone says something hurtful? What about our armed forces - some of them are instructed to kill humans; should they also be able to turn around and say they have been wronged? I think in Australia we have a concept of what a reasonable person should expect from their role, and that's what people apply here. We expect that the likes of paramedics and nurses and surgeons will see human pain, suffering and gore far beyond the likes of what many of the rest of us are likely to encounter, and accordingly we expect that when you make that your career path you do so in that knowledge. That's in many cases why so many of these professions are respected and revered by the general public - regardless of what they are paid. Some people are going to find it harder in general or in specific cases than they bargained for, and for that we should support them - but does somebody else become legally liable for that? I'm not convinced.

Yeah look as fun as shitting on DW is right now, we probably don't need a report on every stoppage. If a ride is closed unexpectedly for a day I don't care. That happens. 3 of the parks bigger rides being closed at the same time without a solid reopening date is story enough. Wonder what could be going on with Side Winder? I get buzzsaw needs a new part and ToT is about the most complex ride anywhere, but Sidewinder is about the most standard ride anywhere?

Ding ding ding points for everybody.

The hotdog stands old place has been replace with fake grass?? Rides are being filled because of the low amount operating and a large Japanese tourist group.

This came across, and I think I have a fair picture of what you were listening to. I'm really enjoying your coverage, and want to thank you very sincerely for providing this to us. We are very lucky, and I am sure that the majority of folk here will join me in thanking you for doing this.

Here's an idea to add to my earlier post about Dreamworld and Universal. I think I'd probably be right saying Universal Studios parks don't have animals in them. Dreamworld has a very large area dedicated to animals, and a lot of very experienced and passionate staff who care for the animals. There's also Dreamworld Wildlife Foundation which does a lot of very valuable work. They're actually very good at running that section. Just pretty hopeless at running the theme park! What if the park were split into two parts. The Coroberree section remained managed by Ardent and was essentially a wildlife park, whilst the rest would be gradually redeveloped into Universal Studios Gold Coast. Obviously the two parks would still be adjacent each other, and the two companies could offer visitors the option to get passes to both parks. There'd also need to be a new separate entry to the Wildlife Park ("Coroberree" would be as good a name as any), and the waterpark could either remain part of Universal Studios or part of Coroberree. If the waterpark was part of Coroberree that would make that section a much more compelling offer to visitors, and the remaining area of the theme park (Dreamworld minus Coroberree and Whitewater World) is perhaps not all that different to the size of Movie World or other Universal Studios parks.