Leaderboard

Today’s update

Former VP of Park Operations for Hong Kong Disneyland, and current leader of Apex Parks and Entertainment Services, Noble Coker was good enough to give me an hour and half of his busy schedule to discuss all things customer experience on Friday. Noble spent 16 years with Disney, learning from Senior Managers who could still recall Walt Disney walking around the Parks. Noble had some fantastic insights to share that I shall be posting soon on my YouTube channel and from which some nuggets of Disney magic will be incorporated into my new book. Look out for Noble's response to my question, "tell us about your favourite Disney memory" I will post here next week. It was really quite a moving response. Thanks Noble, you are a true industry star and friend.

I think the fountain and a facepalm mean different things. I can picture a world where both exist in harmony. On topic, yeah the train is gross. If you think the train at Aussie World is better themed than the same ride at MW I suggest you don't know what themeing is. The trains at Currimbin sanctuary are at least themed to look like different famous Australian trains, this looks like nothing. It's bright and garish and in no way reinforces the 'Aussie' theme of the park. It looks like its painted in such a way that it'll stand out on the midway of the Ekka. But for an off the shelf design with nothing customized on it; the landscaping is nice, and while the design is gross the paint isn't faded and everything looks like it's in good condition. If Dreamworld or anyone building a real theme park added that I'd be slamming it. But for a small park like Aussie World, I actually don't have a problem with it. Aussie World is a collection of nicely presented carnival rides, not a theme park, and so this fits in with that pretty well. But yeah Movie World has the same ride and themed it to the world of Yosemite Sam. That's themeing.

Yosemite Sam's was another fast food diner originally with Hotdogs being the main focus. Later in it's life it promoted healthy food choices, salad rolls and juices. The Studio Commissary was original the other main Dining room at the Park. The building replicates the original Studio Commissary at the WBs studios in Burbank. In better days it was popular for "Breakfast with the Stars". The 3rd building at the rear is Sundowners which was a retail outlet to the right, specialising in Western themed souvenirs. The food outlet next door was also referred to as Sundowners and in the early days was the better choice over Gotham City because it had a big outdoor sitting area. It was also always open The Games buildings were originally Garden beds.

I don't recall the bands ever being free. ???????????????????????????????????????? If you're not feeling well @pushbuttonas a friend I would like to suggest a tablet right up your ally -

The only thing wrong with Motorcoaster is the lack of any enjoyable elements of the ride beyond the launch, the height and lack of transitions in height, the terribly designed trains, and uncomfortable restraints. Everything else about it is great, especially those spinning loose items holders...

Hopeful yes, but the voices in my head keeps telling me these are the guys that did HWS2.

Just a quick update that as we all know, Volare is virtually complete and should begin testing by the end of the week. There is also an orchestral accompaniment that is set to feature with every ride cycle. This should bring an excellent atmosphere to the ride and will be unique for a Waveswinger in this country. I get that Zierer are Waver Swingers of choice in the industry, but from the surface, it appears that Preston and Barbieri have done an excellent job on this particular unit. This will be a most welcome addition to LPS's ride lineup and I predict that it will be a firm family favourite. Below are some pics courtesy of Brad Loxley that he kindly sent me. This ride has certainly had a long genesis and it has been a long time coming but I think it will have an enormous impact on LPS as a whole. Hahaha. Yep we all evolve eventually AlexB!!! 😆

Gumbaya World has updated their Facebook page and have revealed their new expansion plans. In summary, the park will add Victoria's most impressive Wave Pool 6 brand new slides including: 2 new "monster Twister slides Four lane racer slides. Gumbaya World has certainly arrived with this announcement. This is fantastic and exactly what the park needs. How good is the theme park industry in Victoria going with 3 excellent medium sized parks to choose from? Why cannot NSW replicate this sort of success and investment in this state?? Its mind boggling.......

Good news, MW have got rid of the Topgolf sign outside the entrance and have gone to these efforts

Am I tripping balls right now?

Gaudy. Hideous. Reminds me of the colour scheme you see on cheap chinese ride imports. I hate it, and its a great example of what I don't want to see in our parks. Go and have a look at bug run for how you take a fairly similar attraction and do it right.

Based on this news report, this looks like it might actually be an improvement on the Jet Ski rubbish we've endured over the past few years!

If they had put a flower show in as an attraction, I literally would have handed my pass back. i can accept never opening new attractions, extended downtime for rides, reduced hours and no real light at the end of the tunnel, but I draw the line at contributing to pay for f**king flowers when you can’t open your rides on time...

Dreamworld engineering and projects departments both knew as early as the 3rd week of October last year that there was a extremely high chance that the Sky Voyager wouldn’t be ready to open before January 15th. They were planning alternative temporary Christmas holiday attractions that they were happy to spend $100,000 + on. One of the ideas was to have a flower display show similar to Toowoomba’s annual display. Then days later the 2nd part of the inquest started with very damaging new evidence from Dreamworld engineers and management. The planning on alternative temporary attractions was quickly stopped. At least part of the reason why the ride is not yet open is clearly due to the initial poor projects planning. Also what may have contributed is that with such an initial small timeframe, more than 3 technicians/ mechanics from the ride supplier needed to come to Australia to help assist work on the ride. Theme park attractions over the previous years have been delayed before, but not at the same time as the theme park is on it’s knees.

but it honestly isn't worth keeping a waterpark open for 4-5 months if you're only seeing locals through the gate - they pay nothing to get in, yet you have to have a full staff on site to cater to them, and because they're regular visitors, they aren't buying merch, and they probably aren't eating there. the losses would be phenomenal. you might as well cut off your nose to spite your face. It's worth more money to save on wage costs, maintenance costs and operating costs than it is to lose a few people who want to swim at a waterpark in winter.

TRIGGER WARNING - The following contains an opinion, viewer descretion is advised. I enjoy MDMC and a lot of the general public enjoy it aswell. It is mostly in part to enthusists that is has a terrible wrap. Most people I know that are just general visitors really enjoy it, especially families. And Movie World already have AA which in my opinion is more uncomforable than MDMC.

I know we all hate MDMC, but one of the issues Dreamworld had was it was all off the ground. Cut all the supports and drop it low to the ground, and it could be something.... more if you can find a spot to drop a second set of launch wheels too... and replace the trains - or at least the restraints.... You have to understand that, even before we knew about the lack of maintenance, and the care-free attitude towards killing people, everyone hated MDMC. It wouldn't matter what park it was in. As a matter of fact it ranked in dead last on some coaster polls a while ago. Everything about it sucks.

Bikash said it’s amazing, you can take his word for it...

If it wasn’t a safety issue and was just aesthetic it would not be stopping them from registering the ride... that doesn’t mean it’s a safety floor in the ride, but it could be to do with evac routes/fire safety, fire door clearances, a plethora of things.

I think as soon as you sit down at TG people feel like the clock is ticking and people dont want to chill and buy food. An offer like '3rd hour free' would help to that end. I think a lot of people would take it up and if know upfront you'll be there for 3 hours you'd be more happy to order food.

Oh I know all about the Floriade. Not my cup of tea, nor is it the cup of tea of the majority of the target market for our theme parks imo.. when you are performing poorly, $100k is $100k, and in my opinion could be spend far more wisely. In the absence of the train, I’d rather they buy/rent one of those trains you see going around fairs or like the one added at PC to taxi people around the park than flowers.

$100k+ on a flower show? Seriously what the fuck are DW Management on? Opium Poppys?

Perfectly done MickeyD! To add: Yosemite Sam's Diner used to be right next to the Looney Tunes stage \ theatre. It was a covered, but open air ampitheatre, and used to host a LT stage show. Naturally, it made way for RRRC, at which point the food outlet kind of lost most of it's audience. As for sundowners - where Intencity \ Matrix \ Harry Potter was is where the Young Einstein Gravity Homestead used to reside, (from memory)...

I'll respond to your PM to save you further embarassment, but Since you added your own 2 cents, i'll respond too. What's clear enough (now that i know what part you're referring to) is that the part from the 'website' you couldn't possibly have referenced, is almost word for word also quoted in the article you quoted above. If you'd just referenced the quote, or pointed to what specific part you were trying to compare to, it'd have been much easier for everyone to understand what you were actually referring to. I'll see you in PM.

The train doesn't match the track theming. Not even 0.0000000000000000000000001%

Poison Ivy has returned And look what else is back

That explains a lot. That explains a lot. I'm sorry - but i've never waited for this ride for more than 1 cycle. For a ride of it's age, it doesn't get the patronage - don't tell me it's only enthusiasts that dislike it. Anyone doing the parks on the coast will at some point ride both MDMC and Jet Rescue and immediately regard MDMC as the poor cousin. For the record, since you brought Arkham in - i've regularly waited 30-45 minutes for Arkham, even today - and Arkham is 12 years older than MDMC.

Sea World = YES! Every attraction = NO!

Hang the whole ride upside down.

I'm not judging you but I don't believe Paw Patrol is aimed at you.

It honestly has a low bar to clear to be better than the previous jet ski show and better than the other current performances at Sea World. Although I haven't watched Paw Patrol, maybe that is a high bar? If it is not better than the current seal show, it is a fail.

The wooden boards are a gorgeous touch and I can't wait to see this thing flying over the midway, will certainly create an interesting atmosphere for people walking below. I'm still surprised at how fast the ride has gone up, it's feels like only last week that we started seeing parts arrive...

Rule number one when operating a potato camera... the sun creates a shadow... spin around 180 degrees on the spot and that shadow won’t be cast onto your subject matter

As long as if there is some form of story, concept behind it, and there isn't any cringe comedy, they should be fine... surely?

Thanks for the photos. I wanted to head into town today to see whats happened with the ride but wont be able too. I love how it looks so grand and elegant. Its the best looking themed ride in the park for sure. At first I was unsure about the location but its a great view from the section of the park. This attraction is much better suited to this site then the UFO was.

Not long to go now. I'll stop by the park tomorrow and get some daytime shots.

A $5m reduction in expenses means they either have a lot of fat in the operations or they are going to make the kind of cuts that lead to a further deterioration in the experience delivery. I suspect the latter. Ouch.

You are right - I spoke out of turn and I apologise for the baseless statement I made. I have been bashing DW a lot lately, and it may be time to pull back. With that said, I still think the ride is old and retiring it wouldn’t hurt the park much. Unlike some of the other old and decaying rides at the park, I personally don’t think this brings much to the park any more.

WEEKLY VOLARE UPDATE: It was a wet and miserable evening tonight but I braved it so I could check more of the ride's progress, as I'd already noticed on Wednesday that construction had significantly advanced (I was able to see the ride from Circular Quay station, your right @Jobe the former Flying Saucer site is a great location!). Anyway the ride looks close to completion.

Because it IS both, I don’t know what I’ve apparently been busted on. I worked on the park for years, right up until just weeks ago.

Best guesses are not all we have - there are several people on the forums who know the precise reasons. Or, you know - you can listen to @Www worker 3.0 - i'm sure there's another award winning fiction out there just waiting to be told... I would suggest the 'defects' alleged to have been the cause of the delays are probably either construction defects, requiring rectification by the contractor, or safety defects identified by WHS inspectors, requiring rectification by the park. Nothing about 'defects' screams "a company that has built quite a few of these already couldn't get the video synchronised"..... that's just laughable, IMO.

I DON'T NORMALLY DO THEME PARKS, BUT WHEN I DO

There is no need to go to DW when the world holds so many good parks.

With all major spending now cancelled including the lazy river extension to WWW and replacement for the Mineride, Ardent Leisure is reflecting exactly what most companies do before they put a unit of their business on the market for sale. They all try to make the financial books look as best as possible. Limit spending and have no long term plans. Unfortunately due to the large cost in the earthworks already done on the lazy river and low Christmas holiday guest numbers , the 3rd quarterly financials will look ugly as well. If it is, or could be rezoned, then land and housing developers would start circling when ( and not if ) Ardent Leisure sell.