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Im sorry but what has made anyone think that Sky Voyager was ever going to have a different experience every ride? Every installation of this ride type that I am aware of is only 1 film that shows every ride, so why would Dreamworlds film be any different? If the film and experience is any good, then it doesn’t need to be different each ride, a good experience will mean you will want to re-ride. The reduced operating hours thing, it’s not the first time Dreamworld have done it, and it won’t be the last time. With the lower attendance at the moment it’s not a bad idea if it saves some coin. Finally, does WWW need to be open year round? I personally don’t see any need or reason apart from looking after staff, but if keen they can I’m sure be moved elsewhere during the slower months.

Hi guys,THIS WILL BE A HELL OF A LOT OF INSIDER INFO FOR EVERYTHING HAPPENING AT DREAMWORLD AND SKY VOYAGER ITSELF but I can't give away too much personal revealing information due to my job being on the line: but Sky Voyager is now fully operational and test runs have been happening for more than a week now behind the scenes. Staff have been invited to ride it nearly every day for the last week while ride operators are being trained up. (Additionally, insider information has suggested White Water World will be closing down for the entire winter period and not just revised trading hours. first time in its history other than the Rapids incident. The park simply isn't making enough money and the costs are higher than profits, which means lots of staff will be laid off but invited back for the summer. Which isn't gonna happen: The lifeguard staff are gonna say "See ya later" and WWW will be absolutely screwed). Also, insider word is that WWW will have its hours revised 11am-4pm in the coming weeks - while it is still summer! This is unprecedented news. Believe me if you want, but I'm speaking the truth of what I've heard. Also, certain themed areas inside Dreamworld (such as Dreamworks and Ocean Parade) will have revised hours of ride operations from 11am-4pm while Dreamworld itself will stay open 10am-5pm. As you can imagine, all staff are extremely irritated by this to say the least. Another piece of devastating news: the lazy river has been completely put on hold with no intention to bring it to life anytime soon (due to extreme cost blowouts and low attendance, it was originally going to feature an 8 million dollar crocodile enclosure as you floated past) - even though earthworks have significantly dug, there is no more lazy river in the works. Not at least for another 2 years is my opinion. The dug out earth was used to fill the old river rapids track area. Now back to Sky Voyager *SPOILERS ALERT*, after you line up in the front queue lines, 60 people will be taken inside at one time. There are 2 x seperate holding rooms that will hold 60 people per room, and the main ride room itself will host an additional 60 riders - the ride consists of 6 x 10-seat gondolas. Two levels with 3 x 10-seat gondolas per level. So 30 on top, 30 on the bottom. There will be a total of 180 guests inside the building at any one time with 60 people for each of the two holding rooms + ride room itself. Now the experience: after you enter from the outside doors, in the first holding room guests are sorted into two separate groups of 30 (one group on the left, the other on the right). Tthe left holding room will ride on the lower level, the right holding room will ride on the upper level of the gondolas. Both of the holding rooms are technically one big room, the first has a metal bar dividing the two groups (similar bars to the queue line bars). You then move into the second holding room which is where the real journey begins. there is a screen dividing the two groups, with 30 on each side of the screen. In this holding room, you stand for about 7 minutes watching a preview video that talks about indigenous culture and Australia in general with cool imagery - but not birds eye views of locations. The sound is a little echo-ey in this room due to the size. There isn't much space to stand though with 60 people in the entire room (30 on each side). You're then invited into the actual ride entrance area, left -side staying on ground level to cater for disabled, the right group walks up stairs. Once you have arrived at the actual ride entrance, you have to stand on a sticker-marker on the floor that will determine your seat position and this is where you are briefed. You then walk in, ride, and exit out the opposite side through the gift shop. The ride itself is pretty cool. It's very unique and unlike any other ride the gold coast parks have to offer. The ride goes for about 7 minutes. There are multiple scents, lots of mist experiences, lots of different ranges of movements depending on the scene shown on the screen. I would recommend sitting on the bottom level over the top, and ALWAYS try to sit in the middle gondola regardless of the level otherwise the screen is a little skewed if you're on the side gondolas. The reason for the bottom level is because the screen is curved at the bottom and on the sides, but not on top (which ruins the completely immersed aesthetic as you can see blackness at the top of the screen where it cuts off (hard to explain til you see it), so you dont feel 100% immersed, only 90%.The ride had a budget blowout of a total cost of $23 million dollars, making this the most expensive ride in Dreamworld's history. It is a cool ride, but i don't think it will draw crowds in like they're expecting simply due to the fact that it isn't a thrill ride (or a ride with a title of 'tallest' or 'fastest', like Tower of Terror was when it opened). I have rode multiple times now, even expecting what I had heard from other stuff, I wasn't expecting it to wow me - But it definitely did - although by the second time the wow-factor was somewhat diminished as there is only one video and no other versions in the works for the time being. This ride will amaze families, middle aged and elderly guests, but not thrill riders. I can imagine the Chinese absolutely lapping this up when they come to visit. Very, very suited to those who want a completely immersive pleasure ride (and not a tradtional thrill ride). This is undoubtedly one of Dreamworld's best assets due to its suitability to all audiences, but a definite crowd favourite with those previously mentioned groups. I predict an opening of about 14 February (Valentine's Day), but there is absolutely no hear-say on that even amongst staff - there has been no opening date set even within the park. But the merch shop at the end isn't finished yet, which is why I predict this date.

Despite the spate of fake accounts of late, we can confirm that @henryjones doesn't appear to match any recent troublemakers. Personally I would be taking this post at face value...

Just been on the ride for the first time since reopening, and it’s shit. I honestly preferred it when there was no theming, because some of what they’ve got is embarrassing in its current state. The screens are a cool touch, but don’t live up to what the ride used to be. And when the animation is that bad, out of time, and so loud, it ruins it. The screens in the lift were the worst of them all. The rock wasn’t in time at all, and then it just ends and scrappy is there in front of black. There were a couple of couple lighting effects in the disco room, but no smoke at all today. The mirrored room was cool, but pointless. The last scene, again, bad animation. The last drop before the station had cool theming, and the screen that try’s to scare you is also pretty good. Someone did say at some point that Scooby doesn’t make an appearance at all. He still is at the start in the Knight suit, but he’s too the right more and in bad lighting so he’s easily missed. The whole queue area was still dark, and no curtain separating the two sides currently. After spending apparently so much money on this ride, it’s difficult to see where it’s been spent. I would have rathered they just put back everything that was originally there, and add some projection mapping to add to what was there. Honestly the best part of the refurb was the exterior repaint.

.Glad to hear about Sky Voyager. The issue with the dome is something I’ve experienced a couple of times on dome screened rides, so that’s expected Shame to hear about WWW but hopefully this will give the maintenance team some tome to clean the slides and perform all the inspections and work needed. It sucks it has come to this, but we can only hope it turns into something better in the future. If i were the park, regarding the new attraction, I wouldn’t bother with this adventure and animal aspect. I would purely just make a lazy river, maybe feature a section that has some rapids. But make it a tropical hideaway within the park. Plant a hell of a lot of trees and bushes, feature a sandy beach and huts throughout. Basically make something like Calypso Beach, but more immersive. And if they are going to reduce trading hours throughout DW, Dreamworks is the one area they shouldn’t. Maybe close anything past DW and OP until 11, but not the other way around

Slowly but surely... Safety A-Frame has now been put out the front of SV.

Sarcastic me wants to say its amazing that you can put prices up in a year where you aren't introducing any significant attractions, on the proviso that you haven't killed anyone recently.

Cage time

Just noticed today that park entry at VRTP has recently gone up. Adult pricing is now MW: 95, SW: 85, WNW, 79.

Just walked through the exhibit and I think it is awesome. To be able to sets and costumes that close is really cool. I hope they continue to feature something like this and change it every year or so, because the park needs something like this

Personally I would be taking this post at face value...

TBF, Kids are all back at school now though, so the IP could belong to the school daycare nursery..

On my last visit I caught the train to Sandusky, it kinda sucked though as it leaves Cleveland at 2am (It is part of the New York to Chicago line) but it was super cheap (US$6 one way!), it is also quick and was generally much much better than the bus (Which I have also done in the past). There is a taxi service in Sandusky, most trips to and from the park cost me about $10 each way. It is not your normal kind of taxi service though, more like Uber. You call their mobile number (Which I still have if you want it) tell them where to pick you up and when. I highly recommend getting the parks mobile app, it's great for queue times etc. and the park has free wifi throughout. I stayed off the Point at a budget motel, wasn't anything super fancy but it was clean and the owners were really friendly (They let me stay in the room the day I checked out because my bus didn't leave Sandusky until 7pm).

Highly recommend getting a car. I made the mistake of not researching a great deal about Sandusky... The biggest issue is transportation. There aren’t any Ubers/Lyfts around so getting to the park is a pain - I ended up finding a transfers service but it was $20 + tip each way (for a 10 min drive) and was bound to their pickup times, not ideal if you want to maximise your time in the park. The other issue is the town itself is spread out, so unless your hotel has a restaurant or a Maccas across the road you’ll be walking a long way for food. This was 3 years ago and I visited during the quietest week of the park’s season, so the Uber/Lyft situation might be different during peak. For the park itself - TTD is still as unreliable as ever and fickle to weather conditions so I agree with above, as soon as you see it running get in queue. Something you won’t ever forget. Maverick has relatively low cap, hit up as early as you can. Raptor and Rougarou churns through people so even a long looking line moves quick.

I did it by Greyhound bus once just for a laugh. When you get to the airport catch the tram thing to downtown Cleveland, then it's like a 2 block walk to the bus terminal, then there's a bus you can catch to Sandusky. Drops you off in the middle of butt fuck then you can catch a cab or uber to you hotel. I kind of did it as a laugh since the people I was going to the park with (who'd hired a car) weren't due to land for 8 hours. Honestly it's pretty ghetto way to travel but if you're on a budget and don't mind spending half the day doing a drive that would otherwise take an hour and a bit, go for it. Queues will be long and any chain motel will be fine, but again, ghetto as.

I'm surprised nobody has pointed out the biggest tragedy of this entire change - the loss of the batmobile!

I am pretty certain most of the lanterns (and the stone lions) came from the lethal chinatown originally - its probably fair to say that if it never existed, we'd never have seen them do anything for the period. It was always just a case of 'hey, we've got this shit lying around, we could put it out there and look like we're embracing culture!