Leaderboard

It doesn't look 'Bad' by any stretch. It just looks bland and lacks any real imagination. I mean what is there? A metal frame that will presumably have plants on it one day, a single statue, some fences and a sign. It doesn't invoke anything really, it's certainly not themed, at best you could say it's 'styled'. Nothing wrong with styling a ride though, hell most things at SW in its history haven't been themed and it's worked out fine. I think themeing wise the worst thing about it is it's trying to be Atlantis themed. I think remove the statute, plant a heap of trees, build a few wooden huts with thatched roofs and make the presntation be 'Vaugely nice and tropical' rather than 'Vaugely nice and Atlantis' would be much more successful. That's all you can really say about Vortex. It's all neat, and clearly much more effort went into it than went into Sky Flyer, but thats not really saying anything. Will the rest of the area compete it out and make it fit more? Maybe. I still think it's the wrong ride for that plot of land and a top spin really should be closer to the coaster or somewhere else entirely, but it is what it is. A thrill ride should be nowhere near dolphin pools. Given how soon after Wipeout's closure the announcement of Vortex was and how far away it is from the other 2 planned rides, I strongly suspect that it was a pretty late addition to the project, so presumably if there is any kind of vision and imagination being put into Atlantis, you won't see it till stage 2. Fingers crossed but don't go holding your breath. So yeah, this post is all over the place and doesn't really go anywhere but just a few random thoughts

Maybe unpopular opinion? not sure but I don't think the Castle does anything for SeaWorld and personally isn't nostalgic. Vikings was also pretty lame. Even as a kid I remembered I liked Dreamworlds better. I have no issue with them flattening the whole area and starting from scratch.

My partner is a marine scientist and she supports most things Sea World has done. But when she saw the vortex the other day, she did question it and whether they would be returning dolphins to those pools. Dolphins heavily require sound for interaction and movement, and the amount of noise the ride would be produce will be quite significant

Some old photos of Sea World.

... or they could put in some actual effort for once?

I attended SeaWorld yesterday It was really great to be back at the parks again Unlike others on here, I don’t have pictures to share of my visit to share but I do have a video prepared for you all to watch including updates to New Atlantis as well

I saw it hit the O in its final legs, I also saw it struggle to hit the F, it’s reach was variable. It was really only at the beginning of the rides life that it hit close to the very top and kiss those brakes. If what I’ve been told is correct, it was a struggle to get it that high during those early days.

Dreamworld under construction and other photos.

I think Handicap is a bit of an antiquated term, hence words like Accessible parking space or PWD parking being preferred.

I drove past Dreamworld today and The Claw and Giant Drop were being tested.

I'm not saying it's the best it could be, but I really like how it looks. Just because it does not have much theming doesn't make it look bad. Also the wall behind the sign might be a water feature i'm not sure tho (It looked it was on on Friday)

does anyone have a new photo from this angle in its abandoned state if you do could you please upload it if you can in these 2 photos, you can see the colour of the castle has changed as well as the landscape that had changed when the cable cars were added if you notice anything else bring them up.

a new flat ride would be good but it should be a higher thrill level and not some flat ride that should belong in Nickelodeon land

1. It seems like the monorail will be SBNO until the new area is done. 2. Vortex looks great and I can't wait to ride.

I think maybe it’s all that solid blue. If they had created some rock work that blended the landscape, control booth etc into one, then it would’ve looked a lot better. Then have a timber ‘collapsing’ queue shelter and it would have made it feel immersive. And once all those plants grow, it probably would have worked really well TPSN shared this picture and you can see an octopus has been painted onto one of the walls to add to that ‘theming’

Also went for a visit today. Arrived at about 1:45, and there was no queue to get inside. I can confirm there are no hand sanitising stations at the end of rides, which is very surprising. Storm coaster can actually have a maximum of 6 riders, depending on the group sizes. On my ride, 5 of us were fit on, with a group of 4 in the front, and myself in the back row. Vortex is certainly interesting. It will be interesting to see what the area looks like once it has become overgrown with the greenery around it, but for now, I do think it looks very cheap and tacky. Time will tell. Also, it seems like Jet Rescue is getting a re-paint. I'm not very knowledgeable on how the painting of a ride works, but i'm going to assume the paint in which is being put on the coaster now, is not going to be the final colour.

So I briefly visited SW today, did a lap around the park and through some of the exhibits to see how things were set up/operating, etc. As expected, there is a heap of signage everywhere, most of them looking like this: At the park entrance there is signage showing how to use the app and add your tickets in Some of the carpark has been fenced off, as it is being used for the extended queue area for park entry We arrived at around 1pm and there was a quite the queue to get in. Partly because there were only two booths open, but also because for people who didn't have the app and hadn't added their tickets, the staff member had to take all the detail about each person of the group. I imagine this would have been the entry process when the park opened very long and slow. Inside the park, every store has an entry and exit door, with queue markers throughout the park. There aren't too many of these, particularly around food outlets, so I imagine this could become chaotic during busy times (A staff member did tell me that they are prepared for massive crowds this weekend, with plenty of staff on). All indoor animal exhibits, have set up outdoor queue areas with green tape (as seen in the carpark), with a staff member at the entrance counting people in and out. For Penguin Encounter, they are only using the back door. For Shark Bay, they have set up a very long (back to Polar Bear Shores) queue area, as the capacity was only around 100. All touch pools are now 'no touch, only look pools'. In the underwater viewing area of Shark Bay, while there are markers for social distancing, no one was really obeying them and instead would stand where ever there was a view. The underwater viewing area for Polar Bear Shores has been closed off too. In Castaway Bay, only the splash pad and boats are open. Storm Coaster are seating every second row, so that means the capacity is now only 4 people per boat. The queue wasn't very long, but there was a 30 minute wait. Jet Rescue was closed for maintenance, but I would imagine they will skip every second row too. For stadium seating, they have marked out 1.5 metres as a guide for guests One thing that did surprise me was I didn't see any hand sanitising stations. I was on the look out for them, but could not see them anywhere. I expected there to be one at the end of Shark Bay (as it is a one way system), but there wasn't. I did go on any rides, but I'd like to think they is some at the end of each ride. Also, I can confirm Sea World's current capacity is set at 6,500 (there was a sign at the entrance). The carpark was about 75% full and the park didn't feel too busy. Will be interesting to see if they reach capacity on the weekend. Overall, the park was doing what we would be expecting and it was great to be back in the park. It was also nice to see VRTP staff happy and enjoying themselves. The staff that I spoke too/was served by were all really nice and welcomed conversation. GENERAL PARK UPDATE: No photos, but all park signage throughout has been replaced with an updated style. All references to the monorail and Spongebob 3D have been removed, this includes attraction signage.

Enjoyed a fun and relaxing day today at PC. Don’t think numbers would have been above 100 in the time I was there, Only noticeable impacts from covid were social distancing in the seated show areas (1 row gap), no buffet component with meals (as expected), no damper to share (self explanatory) and all seats and contacts points wiped down after every cycle of the tractor ride.   oh, and the marmoset says hello

"...fully immersive precinct..." "...the ultimate Atlantean adventure" "...world-class attractions..." All quotes from Clark Kirby, found in a Blooloop article about New Atlantis. I'm aware that Marketing and PR are always going to try and spin things in their favour, but I never expect them to deceive us. If New Atlantis was never going to be "fully immersive", then don't claim it to be.

And here’s a look at the slab

Pretty sure Walt Disney himself said that he never wanted a ride to stay the same forever and he wanted people to have different experiences. The ride may be a classic but it's a no brainer to re-theme, a new generation will love this.

From what I have heard, Splash Mountain is based on a controversial 1946 film “Song of the South” and there was a online petition to retheme the ride because of the racial stereotypes from the film it is based on.

FlowRider also appears to be removed from the website.

Look you handicapped sjw take it too some leftist forum.