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Hello folks It’s been a while Decided to back on here just in time for the launch of Sky Voyager opening within the next few weeks Today was the first day I have fully seen the facade complete and I must say it looks a lot more better than I was expecting it to be and the photos don’t do justice of how big it is I managed to grab a few pictures of the facade and workers making the finalising touches (Please excuse the fact that my contribution may be very similar what however users have posted recently but I have tried to go at least some different perspective shots of the building) I have very good faith that the park might be able to get this open for Wednesday and I’ll be down at the park no matter what

Ok now there's a bit! Group of construction workers standing outside main entrance to SkyVoyager taking photos, and just did some sort of short ceremony involving a small smoke machine of some sort. I suppose their cultural way of "blessing" the ride / building maybe?

Needs more love. If you want to skip the below i'll simply say that it seems that it seems like it's still very much a work in progress. Lots of technology used and lots of it still needs refinement (and a bit more coin spent) to bring it up to either what they're selling in their TVC's or up to the standard it was at previously. Main queue line hall is still very sparse - black walls where there was facades previously plus the same behind the scenes reel is still showing. If it's "next generation" i'm sure it's worth the money spent to put something new or additional on the screens because without much else to look at all eyeballs are on those screens. I suspect something unexpected happened there with the main hall facades and am guessing it'll return soon, so not a big deal. Strobes are missing from load. Are they still there? A lot of the dark ride component is as it was which is great to see - new facades do blend in well and it's hard to figure out what was actually old and new. Great job there. First sign of newness are two gigantic screens in the dark ride section (not project mapping) with videos of the purple gargoyles trying to jump at you. It's fine but a bit meh for my liking. It's definitely missing something (like a facade to project map onto, methinks.) Second newness you see happens as you approach the swinging swords - there's a giant green screen that sticks out like a sore thumb that's used for a big projection screen effect that succeeds the mirrors - essentially more purple gargoyles seem to appear from behind you and try and attack you. Again, it's okay but with a bit of love and refinement of the timing between cars and effects would mean you wouldn't see that green screen and the illusion wouldn't be ruined right off the bat. I think personally taking the super old school approach of something like a simple pepper's ghost effect would've been way more effective, but to each their own - at least in this situation it's an easy fix so not a big complaint from me, and if it can be improved upon and refined it'll be great. TV Screens line the lift. Great idea, but needs way more love. One car (and i'd say only the front row of the front car) gets to see Scrappy, with the rest seeing two screens that are out of sync with the front screen's faux-rock wall graphics - meaning when the lift hill moves it's not only out of sync with what's physically happening but the screens are out of sync with each other. Again, just needs love to get right. High zone (party room) is strange. The turntable is a...thing? Is it a mirror room now with kebab-shop LEDs? Is it a breaking mirror room because of the car entering it? Is it supposed to be a laser and i'm being zapped? It doesn't make sense and I don't get the story being told there. It's from here through to the end where I become really lost - one laser was working in the high zone but there was plenty of random props on the floor of the high zone. Just seems off. Cool strobey lights and effects for the drops along the track but neither seemed to be in sync when the train zoomed past. Again not a big deal, that'll take time to get right, so no complaints there, but the cool, epic track was missing (is it supposed to be playing?) and with one laser it just seems flat now. Not hard to get back to being super awesome, just needs someone with the right expertise to spend a bit more coin to bring it up its former glory. The last scene with the faux drop has more projection screens. I much preferred the faux drop being hidden by plenty of haze and a laser cutting across. At this point there's been so many gargoyles randomly jumping out at you with the volume set to 11 that the novelty of the jump-scare has worn off. I'd maybe try something different, or fun, or novel, or something with the screens to round off the story. Ends back in a Tiki room theme along the brakes with a jump scare at the end which I will admit I liked. TLDR - I walked away kind of lost of words - i'm not sure I like it yet - it feels rushed. Is all hope lost? Nah, it's salvageable with some more love, which I hope it gets and it's what i'd like to see in the future - it's fine for the summer break, and then come February, having someone spend a bit more time getting the timing bang on, spending some time getting the screens (and some real project mapping) happening and even getting a specialist in to do the lasers right will make this ride epic.

Tailspin and the rip have also reopened early from maintainence, and escape from Madagascar will be reopening on Boxing Day rather than early January. This means dreamworld/www will be starting the summer holiday rush with only 1 planned ride closure (HWSW).

Seeing the ride system has probably been in place for a while now, I would assume all that has been happening inside over the past few weeks. I really look forward to seeing how this ride ends up, and whether it'll help get more people through the gates! A big thanks to @pushbutton and everyone else who has contributed to the regular updates of the construction.

Actually looks great.

I was definitely expecting a lot more. They could’ve planted a heaps of trees and really immersed it. Volcano looks a bit tacky too, and just concrete walls on the side isn’t appealing

Staff could very certainly have entered the actual internal ride area for training without going near the external works that were under construction. I would imagine training would be well underway unless opening is still a couple of weeks away

The storm smashed the Coast. I guess WnW were onto something. I wasn't expecting such crazy storm activity so quickly. WnW for new weather presenters?

That has been the problem at VRTP historically in that everyone worked in silos. They’ll say have a team of experts at Outback, yet at MW there will be a different group people ‘trying to figure something out’. Or they will use two totally different suppliers from the same industry at different properties. Hopefully those days are behind us.

The temporary construction fencing is now coming down, replaced by even more short-term low barriers. Windows being cleaned too. This all gives me more reason to think they are still aiming to open Boxing Day!

And that's the thing. They got that so right at Outback Spectacular no doubt testing it between the previous shows and fine tuning it during the brief shut down. But with 5 months straight of closure they screwed it up so badly. That's assuming the one company did both facilities.

Buzz Saw was originally meant to reopen on the 28th December, now opening on the 26th possibly Sky Voyager will be opening on the 26th as well.

But what is window dressing, and what is real make-a-difference infrastructure? You talk about the redevelopment of the ice cream shop a few years ago. A few weeks back I talked about looking at buildings that were falling apart and I wondered how much was held together by paint. The building I was specifically referring to was THE ICE CREAM SHOP. As the saying goes, you can't polish a turd, but you can add glitter - and it would seem that that is precisely the kind of redevelopment they did with the ice cream shop if a few short years later the building looks as it does (go and view it from the train station and you'll see what i mean). They removed thunder river - It killed people. They removed Eureka Mountain - it sat rotting for more than a decade They removed the rest of gold rush - without TRRR and EMMR, what exactly was left? - Oh wait - the disused Skylink chairlift station that also sat rotting for a decade. You suggest they might have plans to remove rides - but history suggests that they need to shutter the ride and let it sit for 8 or more years before they do. How many years did the gravitron ride sit in the boneyard? So they renovated a store to capitalise on a new hot craze (lego). They rebuilt their old food outlet into something modern - which was only about 15 years overdue. They redeveloped tiger island, yes - but they botched it with the giant green prison. Coroborree was only done because of generous government grants for indigenous cultural projects. This wasn't done with their own money or because they felt strongly about the subject matter. The expansion of White Water World? A lazy river that WNW has had for more than a decade is hardly an inspiring investment - and its still just one attraction. The plans for that park had staged developments including numerous attractions, none of which we've seen - instead we've seen the kneejerk reaction to Aqualoop that is the Wedgie, Triple Vortex, and finally the lazy river... 3 new attractions in TWELVE YEARS. Shall we talk about the cock up that was Trolls Village that was supposed to open last Christmas, and didn't open until more than 8 months later? Plonked smack down in the middle of an ocean themed area? Shall we talk about those big screens or the revolving globe? Dreamworld have had screens all over the park for years, showing music videos and crappy advertisements for related products. I'm not getting excited over a few outdoor LED screens when their marquee attractions can't even stay open, or carry a full load of passengers. And the globe. Yeah - what a photo opportunity. Its pretty, but its just window dressing. It is a take it or leave it thing that wasn't really necessary. Things they could have spent their money on instead: Upgrading the control system on their flagship 21 year old coaster to newer technology (and actually running it at its capability Properly rebuilding Wipeout so that it can run as designed Running rides at capacity - both sides of Giant Drop, for example Maintaining a working steam railway, instead of wasting money on a glorified yard tractor that tears up the rails and constantly breaks down Maintaining the park's people soaking paddlewheeler attraction The article points it out better than I ever could - but there are just so many things WRONG right now, its hard to be positive in the face of such blatant mismanagement. You choose to focus on the positive, and let the negative slide, and thats your choice - but don't decry others who speak the truth - you can't live in a dreamworld and pretend that the issues don't exist, just because it doesn't fit your mould of 'fun'. If you're going to ignore the negative, then you shouldn't be complaining about bored train conductors. You can't have it both ways.

I can't help but echo these sentiments. In terms of how well they have utilized the mediums, the 'next gen' screens and animations stand out as poorer quality than the original 3D set pieces and animatronics. The drop down monster actually gave me a jump scare as it has been so long since riding with effects that I forgot it was there, but that pitiful attempt at a scare at the end was just pathetic and out of place, I doubt it'd even scare small children that much. If you don't have the budget to get the new tech done properly, you could have better spent your money improving the original effects. I can imagine with the money wasted on the screens they could have added extra lighting to spice up the original set pieces and scares in the haunted house section. They could have improved the smoke and lasers in the wild mouse section, maybe even still adding the cool lighting effects that we now have in that section. I think going for a 'next generation' approach when in reality you only have the money for a bit of a refurbishment was a bad idea. It's not just smartarse enthusiasts who pick up on this stuff either. Most of the GP have an understanding of what makes good and bad animation quality through movies and video games. They also know a lot less about the challenges involved in making theme park attractions and won't take it into account when they evaluate their enjoyment of the experience. A friend of mine can attest to that, he was more disappointed with the screens than I was.

It's possible to love theme parks and still hold them to account push. Entering peak period with so many rides out of action is ridiculous and Parkz is not being unsupportive of the GC tourism industry for calling them out in my opinion.

Was in the park and snapped these on the way out. Still think the original facades looked a million times better, but it's not the worst thing in the world. Will say i'm now excited to jump on this thing in a week or two - bonus points to Dreamworld / Cutting Edge if they pull a Soarin' at the end of the ride's film and the fly-over ends back in at Dreamworld. Switchbacks are all in. Sails look nice. Not sure about all the white. Bit boring. With the huge barriers down it's much easier to see now. It's a tight fit. (THATS WHAT SHE SAID) The connection between old and new is... interesting. 😕 Note the switchbacks on the left - i'm guessing for Ride Express? A closer look at the main entrance. Three stories? Signs. There was another sign near Billabong which shows something different as well. It definitely wasn't always going to look this way outside. Big ol' white bum with a lot of exhausts. A wider look at what's going on. And some panos for the pano folk.

As someone who absolutely loves living in SE Queensland, and the amazing access we have to so many theme parks (Dreamworld being the largest), it saddens me to see so much negativity about it. This on a site that's all about theme parks, in a forum whose members love theme parks. Anyone who visits Dreamworld can easily see investment all around the park. Sure there's a lot more still to be done, but I would like to believe it will be. Of most immediate interest of course is SkyVoyager, which I'm sure will be one of Queenslands (and Australias) best theme park attractions! The atmosphere in Dreamworld is energetic, and most of the staff offer guests great friendly greetings (some train announcers excepted)! Exciting things are happening! Let's show our support for Dreamworld!

Yeah I think @webslave has the right of it. I'd also suggest that a lot of this crap is a downgrade. I think everything about the execution of this upgrade from the sign out the from (The fuck even is that?) to the final scare is worse than what was there when the ride opened. When I talk about the evils of installing technology for technology's sake, this is exactly the sort of thing I'm talking about. The only thing I'll give it credit for is what it tries to do; it tries to tie the ride back to the movie more, so credit for that. But the laziness of the animation, how badly blended the screens are to their surroundings, the junk that's been added in there all take away from what they're going for. The animation is significantly worse than the move, which normally I wouldn't complain about but the movie is from 2002 and the effects weren't all that great back then. Finally, the marketing for the ride just made promises not based in any kind of reality; we were promised projection mapping, we got screens. Of course that'll be disappointing for anyone who follows this sort of thing. Maybe the public won't notice as much but if you're following the stuff they were saying like fans were, then you'll know how much it doesn't deliver. Also you can't put an A-frame out the front that says 'Technical rehearsal' after the fact and think that makes everything OK. Where on the Facebook posts or on the website does it say 'Tech Rehearsal'? Oh that's right it doesn't, it just says in multiple places it's open. I hope it gets better, I hope the animation is improved, I hope that the levels get sorted, I hope the queue gets fixed and I hope marketing have learnt something. Ultimately, it's a downgrade, but the only reason I felt compelled to write anything about it at all is because of the apologists who come on here saying how wrong anyone is for feeling let down and how great MW are for putting the themeing back in. I'm sorry but this is objectively worse that what was there originally. Tech doesn't automatically make things better, particularly when it's as badly done as it is here. It's not unsalvageable but any means, and there's some decent creativity gone into it, but as it is it looks either lazy or very amateur.

Can't disagree with much of what you've said there @aaronm. It would be interesting to see what the original brief for the project was to know whether marketing went over the top or the project itself under-delivered.

Here's the latest update!

Now Sky Voyager is complete are we going to see Hot Wheels Side Winder and Tower Of Terror Replaced???

For the 17 nights of the year when it would actually be visible? That's a solid investment right there!