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I believe Dreamworld is an asset to the community and should be saved by the government, same for SkyPoint. However Ardent should not get a cent of that in terms of bailout. I feel something like QIC should be buying out ardent at bottom dollar and then leasing the park back to a competent operator at a pittance until they turn it around. That’s my thoughts anyway.

Such a great long-term business practice they've got going there. Really shows the forward thinking of the company. "Let's reel them all in and then severely disappoint them. It's their fault that they're deciding to come to our park!" This is a fast-food tactic. Show an amazing, incredibly crafted burger and then sell an awful mass produced mess. I expect that from a company that sells $2 cheeseburgers not a company that sells $89 day passes.

The problem is village can go to banks and capital partners and request a loan. Even though their figures arent great either, it just basically means they'll pay more in interest, but they have a lot of equity in the company just in terms of value of the holdings, ie each business adds up to being worth a fair amount of money, so while it means the company will be further in debt, they'll get the money if they need it. The share offering is way under realistic value of the company if you want to use it as an example, with the near atomic bomb that covid has been, a capital firm still thought enough of the company in these terrible times to offer them a buyout to nearly half a billion dollars. Even if your company has debts to 300 million, you can look at profitable divisions and see the result (and return) of securing capital to fall back on when needed. Ardent... well, they sold off pretty much all their capital in the US because the company was going backwards. In Australia they sold off what remaining capital they had in things like AMF bowling centers too. So it puts the company in a position where they don't have a lot of tangible assets and they want to borrow money to recovery a struggling business that has been written down in value each year since the accident. Don't forget the legal issues still haven't been resolved yet either. So what are they borrowing against? You could argue they have no goodwill and the company still hasn't recovered so you have no cash reserves from trading, so anyone lending them money is basically running the risk of becoming a creditor if they fail. That's essentially the same with everyone else that borrows money, but lenders don't like risk, not unless that risk is calculated to work in their favour (ie they lend money, they step in and negotiate the outright purchase of the business when the loan gets called in and the company has to default). The risk lendering dreamworld must be huge, possibly so large that nobody will offer them any credit. So it means Ardent are in the position when their biggest asset doesn't offer any equity to secure the loan which makes it difficult to drum up another 100,000,000 - 150,000,000 to cover their COVID losses and get the redevelopment back on track. You could end up with a situation where all these things happening within the last 5 years has completely sunk the company and the only way out is for someone to buy them out, possibly renegotiate some of the debts they have and have enough capital behind them to rescue the business. That largely depends on if someone big enough thinks there is a long term investment to return the park to the 400+ million it was worth prior to the accident and even if the company has fallen so far they are close to insolvency.

It's been pretty obvious from day one that Vortex was a calculated move based on the demise of Wipeout. Opportunistic sure, but the opportunity was there for the taking... If the public perception is "there's one like Wipeout at Sea World", then how exactly is that a bad thing?

The nature of some of the work I do in the community means I’m constantly coming across videos and photos of the Wipeout among other things. I share these with my daughter. So it isn’t a case of only seeing the wipeout since before it was pulled down, however prior to it being pulled down, she had a fascination for the ride. We might be like that, but have you seen the types of people that visit theme parks?

I am sure they are working on something. Whether that be funding from the parent company or a lease on the land etc. It is a bad time for Ardent and even if you dislike the company you must feel for them. They want to make a change and started doing a decent job. Then COVID came and look what it's done. I think it is smart keeping the place closed. Many won't agree but if a company is struggling its best to minimise the debt. It is sad people lost jobs. Many people have tho during this pandemic and it is rather unfortunate. Even tho VRTP has opened all properties it will be interesting to see the attendance figures in the next fortnight. I would love to see this coaster built on our shores. I would think it is still possible but I don't have the solution to the problem. I can only assume a buyout occurs allowing this to happen.

Atmosphere was dreary at Movie World today. You could tell many families were disappointed with their visit and I've never actively heard children complaining about being in a theme park because they're bored until today. Village really dropped the ball on managing expectations with this one. You really shouldn't roll out the carpet and celebrate reopening when half your park is basically a construction zone. It would have made much more sense to quietly reopen with a focus on local community attendance whilst aiming to really ramp things up for the next holiday.

Queue lines a little bland but I do Like the entrance with Poseidon on it

Established plants are quite expensive, hence why they use smaller trees and wait for them to grow.

Wouldn't a 3 year old find it harder to tell the difference?

2 things: 1. Animals are not being mistreated, I made sure to mention that FIRST in my previous post, and I'll say it first again in this post. They (DW) don't grasp how important the animals are in the mix that is the park, and this is a recent thing to have happened. That's the allegation. Again, can't provide evidence or really go into it, so I don't mind or care if you don't believe me. 2. Ardent is what Macquarie Leisure became. It's pretty much the same company that's been running the park for basically the past 20 years. They can ABSOLUTELY get fucked. If you think that sentiment is based exclusively off of 50 people getting sacked I think you've missed the past 20 years of mismanagement at a Corperate level. I'm not going to carry on and say I hate everything that they've done at DW in that time, but I will say that the state the park is in now is a direct result of chronic under investment over the long term by Ardent leisure, which came about because they were more focused on Main Event. They didn't seem to really care what happened to DW so long as it was giving them a steady pile of cash to fund ME. So yeah, they can properly fuck off. Gary tried to make a go of it? Sure, but I suspect he under estimated how badly they'd fucked the place, and it's not a different company just because it's got a couple new board members.

I've not heard anything that worries me in terms of animal welfare or anything like that, just want to get that sorted. I've just heard it said that there doesn't seem to be much value placed on the animal attractions and their role within the park, like they don't seem to ,'Get it'. While I've heard this from a couple places now, I'm still not really at liberty to really go deep into it and explore it, and I'm not offended if people go with 'He's talking out his arse unless he's going to reveal sources or what exactly he's heard'.

Ardent can go fuck itself as far as I'm concerned. Zero sympathy at a corperate level for them from me. It took them 20 years to get someone who understands theme parks to run their theme park. They milked DW for everything, ran down every last cent, and only when it was too late did they start giving a shit. Imagine what that park could be now if they had started trying a long time ago, maybe if they started being not shit before 2016 even? I agree that Covid fucked them, and the talk out of the park was starting to be good (though they don't understand how important the animal attractions they have are, which is a worry) and I was willing to back them. One year of trying after you've fucked it doesn't undo 20 years though, so Macquarie Leisure / Ardent can totally fuck off.

Virtual queue system at the park works in the same vein that fastpass at Disney works. Queues were packed today, and very little social distancing occurred. Was rather worrying.

I’ve always been fascinated by the cases of coasters around the world that get bought/delivered and are never constructed. Seems we’ll have one of our own now.

The bloody track will need a repaint before they out it together

Update from July 2

DW removed theirs and now MWs is closed all year, I wonder if they are having similar issues and may end up removing it

Commercial awnings, commercial light fittings... There just isn’t anything themed about it. Nicely presented yes, themed no. Themed