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Hi, clickbait YouTuber in question here. I don't normally respond to much on this forum, as I find it gets a little heated a lot of the time - as you correctly pointed out, I prefer to block that sort of thing out and allow commenters to enjoy their own echo chamber, since my channel is a hobby and I do it for happiness and a creative outlet, and I often find people tend to go for the jugular which leaves me feeling defeated and demotivated. I'm a roller coaster channel, not a platform for free speech, and I'm not obligated to give anyone's insults, or even rudely-phrased criticisms, any oxygen. But you've successfully baited me with this statement. I thank everyone for their feedback on my content. I genuinely enjoy taking on board feedback from those who do like my videos and those who don't. I appreciate that there are plenty of people who will disagree very strongly with my opinions on the current state of Movie World, or the way I approach video essays, or the way I run my channel in general. I've enjoyed reading your own takes on Movie World's current situation, and I actually agree with some of you. You've made some interesting points. I see no ill-intent in any of your feedback, and while I stand by my statements and my approach towards criticizing Movie World after my latest visit, I respect you all for voicing your own thoughts on it. I'm not sure when my next Movie World-related video will be, but I have genuine hopes that it will be a more positive one, and I hope some of you may even give the channel a second chance and enjoy it This statement right here, though, is why some commenters in particular are removed from my comments sections. This is not the first time that particular people have crossed the line from criticizing my content into drawing my personal issues into it and insulting me, and failing to see how there's a difference. Yes, I came home from my initial attempt at Coaster Odyssey due to health issues. I have a chronic illness. I spoke candidly on my channel about how it left me in hospital on the other side of the world, which was a terrifying experience, and also led me down a very dark path in terms of my mental health. I openly discussed how I spiraled into a depression badly during that time. I worked my backside off in casual jobs to save to start that journey, and I was still working casual jobs overseas to keep the journey a reality. Even putting YouTube aside, it was a dream of mine for a long time to travel and work long-term, and to pursue theme parks around the world. It hurt to have to come to the decision that I needed to go home so soon. And I've since been working my butt off yet again to make sure I'm recovering, getting the medical help I need, and will be continuing the series in July. I appreciate and respect that you have your objections to my content, and that's fine. But belittling my health issues and mockingly saying that I had my "tail between my legs" during what was objectively one of the most rattling, scary, painful and gut-wrenching experiences of my life is a stretch too far. Again, I was in a hospital, on the other side of the world from everyone I know and love, in a significant amount of pain, unsure what my insurance would cover and if I could even afford the healthcare, let alone the flight home that I eventually painfully realized I needed to book. And once I did get those airfares paid, I spent every night lying awake, still in pain, feeling like everything I'd worked so hard for over the past 2 years had gone up in smoke. I am so, so lucky that I have a wonderful support network because frankly, that trip was my reason to get out of bed a lot of days. So thanks for your input Jobe, but kindly leave my health issues out of your criticisms, please and thank you. We all have our struggles to cope with and I'd appreciate it if you could have the decency to separate your critiques of the content I create as a hobby from direct attacks on my health and suggestions that I'm cowardly for being forced to make decisions for my own health. Cheers mate.

@Gazza I am responsible for this, I was wondering if someone on here would notice 😂. We installed some long throw speakers at the front of the park and needed some impactful music, there’s plenty of European theme park tracks in there 👌

Nobody mentions how easily it could have been MW who killed 4 people. Oh I know. It was all S&S' fault right? 🤐 I don't think Village is suffering an image problem stemming from TRRR. They went gangbusters post-TRRR and pre-covid. Village's image problem is down to their contempt for guests, and their disregard for the guest experience. It has long ago been about making money, not memories. THAT is the fucking image problem at village.

Junior Driving School ruined Movie World.

The difference this style of music makes to the atmosphere of the park is incredible. Hearing generic pop music takes you away from the ‘themepark’ and cheapens the whole overall experience and atmosphere (ocean parade I’m looking at you) The music heard from the entire car park really sets up your day when you arrive and really finishes the day nicely as you walk back to your car, great idea! We went a few weeks ago and had some non enthusiasts with us. They all commented on the atmosphere and the brilliant music! Great job!!

I agree. For me, Movie World still had some magic left in it in 2019, well after many of the thrill ride additions and the transition away from the behind the scenes “movie magic” theme. I just saw it as a shift in focus, rather than a downfall. MW was still fairly well run and maintained for the most part in my opinion (or at least the public facing side of things were). The park’s decline is a more recent phenomenon and didn’t really start until BGH took over and staff like Greg left. In my view, it was a sudden, sharp decline that really became noticeable in late 2021. Many of the big problems the park faces today started popping up around that time. I do agree with several points made in the video and I too do miss old school Movie World. But to suggest the downfall started all the way back in 2005 is quite ridiculous IMHO. I also wouldn’t say the park is ruined, it’s just going through a rough time at the moment. All the foundations of a good park are still there, it just needs better staff and management to turn it around. It can easily be done with the right people.

This article about Wild Mouse was in The Sydney Morning Herald today, I copied it to bypass the paywall: ‘White-knuckled terror’: Luna Park’s most popular ride to reopen after years-long restoration Luna Park’s famous Wild Mouse rollercoaster will reopen to visitors after a two-year restoration project that left the amusement park to decode fading 60-year-old plans for the ride that were written in German. The rackety wooden rollercoaster, which famously takes riders to views of Sydney Harbour before sending them on a series of gravity-driven dips, turns and bumps, will reopen on Thursday after being closed since 2023. During its closure, the park’s operators removed every section of the ride and had to create a new 3D model of the site because there were no usable plans: the most recent ones they could access were more than 60 years old and entirely in German, the language of the original manufacturer. “We’ve basically replicated every element on the old ride and then made it much better,” said Luna Park maintenance manager Raees Rafeeq, who oversaw the restorations. “We’ve got better timber structures, we have newer control systems. Everything is basically new.” Luna Park chief executive John Hughes said the result was an “incredible engineering masterpiece that packs a lot in”. The rollercoaster uses a conveyor-belt system that drags riders up to the highest point, by the water’s edge, before they plummet through a series of ups and downs propelled by gravity. The Wild Mouse is one of the city’s iconic amusement park rides. It appeared in Sydney in 1963, after the park’s general manager, Ted Hopkins, had found the ride at Seattle’s World Fair years earlier. He purchased plans for the ride, which were created by German manufacturer Mack, and worked with his staff to assemble it. It was originally conceived as a temporary ride and was dismantled and taken to the Brisbane Ekka, Melbourne and Sydney’s Easter Show. The ride was replaced by the Wild Cat in 1969 but returned in 1995 and was immediately placed on the heritage register. “Its position is what makes it really different,” said Helen Pitt, a former Herald journalist writing a history of the park. “It’s right on the water. Unlike the Big Dipper that went high up and around the eastern side of the park, the Wild Mouse gives you a terrifying ride over the harbour of Sydney, and it feels like you’re going to go up and spring right into the water. “Most people don’t see the view though; they’re shutting their eyes and gripping on in white-knuckled terror.” The ride’s restoration is the latest in a long chapter of the park’s recent rollercoaster-like ups and downs. Last year, then-owner Brookfield announced it was selling the remainder of its lease on the site. In December, NSW-based hospitality group Oscars was revealed as the new owner.

I will check out your report when it doesn't take 5mins to load a page. @Gazza Has MW taken over the operations of Parkz today @Richard?

100%. That particular Youtuber has a history of clickbait titles that are only generated for one thing- viewership and monetisation with a particular focus on exaggerations and amplifying small issues into big ones to try and support his arguments. They are usually nothing but his own wild speculation and can be very damaging to the park in question. Please note how he toots his own horn in the video- several times- about how good his last MW rant video went and it garnered 75k views. He certainly sees this as some sort of validation when in all honesty its just people reacting to the click bait titles. He started a failed "coaster odyssey" where he was traveling the world and riding the best coaster in every country. Ambitious and it was laid out with much fanfare but he had some health issues and came home with his tail between his legs. His prior videos were ok- he has stolen and mined a LOT of material from a lot of different sources and he is quite mercenary in this.His video ideas seem to be lifted almost entirely by airtime thrills...best manufacturers coaster etc. He does not like anyone at all giving him criticism , be it soft, hard or genuine, and he is known to block anyone from commenting on his videos if they do. The video he did for Luna Park Sydney with the title of "Is Luna Park Sydney going to close forever?" did it for me. It was a wildly speculative opiniontated video that was very tenuous in its information and delivery and was made on the back when LPS had announced that the park was for sale. In short it was head shakingly terrible. I would avoid at all costs.

Next Minute:

So just on this, in the industry theme parks should aim to provide 1.5-2 Units of Entertainment per hour. That is, guests want to experience some form of attraction about every 30-45 mins On some days this will drop because "you cant design the church for Easter Sunday" and on certain days you'll get 2hr waits because its too expensive to build out capacity if you only get smashed a few days per year. But if a park is routinely getting 2hr waits on more than say 10-14 days per year then that might indicate there's not enough capacity for the attendance.

He was pushed out because some of those people were promoted AHEAD of him, not in his place after he left. Heh. What safety features do you think stopped the car? I'll give you a hint, it hit the cross ties in multiple places and ground along the track rails until it stopped. People complaining about shifts based on original opening attractions have absolutely no idea what was happening behind the scenes. Rides like LTRR were closed because 1) the attendance had dropped to levels questioning its viability 2) it was exceedingly expensive, and even quite complicated and border line unsafe to maintain. Think, lots of mechanical components, very, VERY poor access. These two major issues run true for just about every attraction closed by village. There comes a point where if it was to even continue operation it would need to be completely overhauled. Sometimes the requirements to bring it forward to current standards aren't even possible. Youd have to destroy the ride to do it and it's just not worth it financially. They literally crunch the numbers and look at the boost in attendance new attractions bring. There is absolutely an expectation from the public that new rides are frequently developed. Every time you get complaints on social media its almost an even split between those complaining about the good old days and demanding they bring back old rides they loved the last time they visited 15 years ago; and those complaining they still have the same old rides and they should build something new (frequently heard even when they literally are building new rides). Everyone going on and on and ON about the lack of anything relating to studios/movie magic, etc, just have to face the reality it is never going to happen again. There is NO relationship with the studios next door, they are separate entities, they are booked out by production companies who manage their own site presence and demand control over site access. Members of the public even existing within a working production facility is a risk. Not just to the privacy and all the shit you have to put up with when members of the public try to break onto set and take photos of back of house stuff, but it's a huge safety risk too. I jumped ahead to recommendations and this dude has cherry picked every, single suggestion raised by people on this site previously. Problem is, over half of his demands are already done or have been done by current management and none of it improves the employee experience. You know what will see the biggest boost in morale and quickly reduce apathy? Start paying them properly. They have used enterprise agreements to criminally underpay staff for exceedingly long periods of time. It's a big part of the reason why they have issues retaining experienced operations staff. Few now see it as a career choice, and lots move on once they finish their studies at uni or tafe, or go on to start families and never return once they have had kids. It's a job that often works for people based on the varied shifts on offer, especially weekend work. It's not somewhere filled with a lot of career progression, especially if you aren't part of the in crowd and all the little cliques that go on within different management teams. When he jumps forward to saying guests should be able to experience a minimum of 8 rides per day based on throughput, i switched off. Just couldn't listen to the ramblings anymore. For someone apparently so well traveled, he acts like he has never experienced the 2-3 hour waits for attractions are parks overseas. Where Australian parks let people down is in the queue line experience vs those same 2-3 hr waits overseas. There is nothing to keep them comfortable and ABSOLUTELY nothing interesting to try and keep people amused. Pretty much every suggestion surrounding the visual look, and especially things like merchandising and characters throughout the park is seemingly made with no understanding that even something like a person looking like a director walking around with a bullhorn can be a licenced image. All the seasonal theming, all the specific imagery used in events like fright nights and white christmas exist because of a large number of licencing and production agreements. You can't just build a water tower and stick a WB logo on it. Even without the WB logo, the water tower itself is likely iconic and has a trademark based on its image. Thats the level of detail you start to get into when some of the imagery experienced has been in use for decades. I have to pull him up though on suggesting staff are unsafe or your safety is at risk based on apparent attitudes though. Thats absolute BS and you should be ashamed for saying things like this, especially since you know the park are never going to respond publicly to bullshit like this. It's a pity people feel like they can say and do anything they want, because it would be great for the parks to fact check so many of the mistruths people spread on social media. It's all well and good to make demands costing hundreds of millions of dollars, but where does the operational budget come from? Every time parks even look at rising their entry fees or passes they are crucified by everyone. If they try to maximise attendance numbers during peak season or during events, they are crucified by people for allowing too many people within the park. You have to get the money from somewhere, and not enough people actually seem to understand this. The figures were publicly available in every end of year report while the company was still listed on the stock exchange. You could literally see where the budgets go, how much turnover the parks generate and how little actual profit this results in. Any suggestions to change in direction, change of operation and complete overhauls to attractions and facilities has to keep in mind the realities of what can actually be accomplished. Especially in very, very short periods of time.

Fwiw, Movie World's Google ranking now is 4 out of 5. Lowest of all major parks in the country. Also, I have let my annual pass lapse for VRTP - first time in about 9 years. Movie World is no longer a positive place to be. It's a shopping mall with rides.

Full price is $159, which is a fair comparison given Village's local's lite pass is $189. Retaining an existing passholder is far cheaper than attracting a new one. There's plenty of people who alternate properties - one year at dreamworld and one year at village. Offering a renewal with a 37% discount makes it a deal you can't refuse and locks them into another year at Dreamworld instead of forking out almost twice the price for a village pass. I don't know if $129 would be enough of a difference to sway people from 'trying the other side of the highway' if they haven't been in a while, but $99 sure is. Dreamworld needs to hang on to every passholder they have right now - retention is super important. They'll up their prices more in time, but there's still recovery time to go. 2016-2019 wasn't really recovery time because of the inept folk running the show who tried to build crocodile rivers and ampitheatres, and resurrect eureka mountain. Then we had Covid - every corporation's excuse for poor performance. Steel taipan should have been built near the start of 2020 and it didn't open until December 2021. I'd say 2021-2022 FY would be their first 'year of recovery' where they actually had good direction and backing. By that metric we're approaching four years in - and if I recall, everyone believed it should have taken 4. (and don't forget all the other good rides they lost along the way - through poor maintenance and management). So - while i'm not giving them a pass on those earlier years - i'm conscious that - because of prior mismanagement - they're not '8 years in' - they're only 4 - now is the point they should have been at in 2020. I suspect we'll continue to see modest lifts in the pricing, but they're still the 'underdog' so they'll still need to price themselves under village, not because village is better, but to win the 'cheaper' argument and maintain retention.

A new POV has been released Seems like the new design for the cars is based off their original 1960s look, which is very nice

Work has officially started on the 2nd and newest Alone Coaster in Australia. The Big Banana’s Plantation Coaster is due to open for the September school holidays. Here is a link to vision and a report of the start of construction ceremony https://www.facebook.com/share/1Bb4HryE3c/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Pretty knarly stuff from 30 mins onwards 👀

The most noticeable update in a while, the main ride sign has been removed. (Theme Park Ogre)

I identified a few IMAscore tracks playing at the entrance the other day. They definitely add so much to the atmosphere and are far better than the generic top 40 music that used to play in the area. I’m so glad Dreamworld is starting to move towards using proper themed audio instead of just relying on typical pop music. I know I talk a lot about music at parks, but it’s such a vital part of the whole experience and I feel as though our major theme parks have never really been great at utilizing themed audio in an effective way (apart from old school Movie World back in the day, but they have turned a lot of their background music off in most areas of the park now). At least DW is making an effort and doing a great job. It would be fantastic if they could gradually replace the remaining pop/dance music in the park with more thematically appropriate soundtracks though, as that would really help to elevate the overall guest experience IMHO. That would be fantastic, thanks (and thanks for creating the terrific in-park playlist too)! BTW, do you know if Dreamworld has ever considered commissioning IMAscore to produce an original composition for the park? They have composed so many iconic soundtracks for a number of European parks and it would be amazing to have specially composed theme music of that quality to compliment one of our attractions here in Australia!

Here's some things that would cost Village almost nothing. - Performance manage and support GOOD staff. Yes, they don't pay a lot. But you do have good people there. Managers need to do their job. That even includes greeting and saying goodbye to guests at the entrance. Be a leader! - Get some people in that know how to be creative. The Wizard of Oz alley could easily be made to look like a backlot leading to the Wizard of Oz area, or something generic. It doesn't have to be the way it is. Plant some greenery between GL and the carpark, we don't want to see the carpark as we're lining up. Have some shows or meet and greets AROUND the park, even though Main Street is your money maker. - Back on the staffing point of view, have ride supervisors talk to guests over a microphone. No-one wants to be shouted at in line. I would argue the staff don't enjoy that either. - Focus on safely pushing throughput. Have managers trained like Greg Yong was who were trained ride operators, to SUPPORT and LEAD staff. - Shade and water FFS. Guests need to feel respected. Turn on the mist fans in lines. It is not hard! - Stop pretending your shit don't stink and listen to all complaints. Dreamworld has respect for the guest. Village on the other hand seems to forget that. It comes from the top. - Don't bring in brands that cheapen the experience. Or at the very least, make sure they theme their food vans (I'm looking at you, Boost Juice). - The whole comms team need a kick up the ass. Scooby Doo isn't closed for maintenance, so why it is listed as such. Remove it from the ride closures page and create a dedicated website to its new 2025/2026 launch. In park, share some teasers to make it look like it's worth coming back for. That castle should be fenced up or covered in new artwork. Hollywood Stunt Show not showing any more shows that day? I don't remember the wording, but it it's very much along the lines of 'CLOSED'. Say something like "All shows for today have taken place". You need the place feeling ALIVE, not barely alive. Villains Unleashed... you can do SOMETHING there to make it not feel like a ghost town. It is not good enough to leave it barely alive. Key points: - Guest experience - Energy and excitement - Presentation standards that don't cost $$$$ - Leading from the top to keep GOOD staff, and remove poor performers - Listen to all feedback - Improve your comms to build that energy and excitement

People blaming the takeover as the catalyst for change in management styles and the focus of the business really need to look closer at what was going on behind the scenes between John and Robert Kirby, and John Kirby and Graeme Burke too. It started long before talks of potential buy outs, before the sale of assets and the change in management. The accident at Dreamworld and the huge dive experienced by Ardent was just the final straw.

Very much this, happy and valued staff make a huge difference. I have heard an absurd amount of stories from staff former and current about a toxic workplace culture and have witnessed firsthand management make threats. Very much agree with this, Greg leaving and BGH Capitol takeover marked a sharp decline and it's by no means irreversible. I think the response to the initial video speaks to the general reviews, and peoples experience over the past few years that in my opinion has caused reputational damage to VRTP. I have held an annual/membership since 2006, and I visit much less than I used to due to the declining standards across various aspects of the business and increasingly poor guest experience.

@jhunt2 I absolutely owe you an apology. My intention was not firstly to bully but merely comment on what occured. When I have re-read my phrasing I can definitely appreciate that it was 100% the wrong way to illustrate my view. In no way , shape or form did I wish to belittle you because of your illness ( or belittle you in general!), or attempt to mock you because of it. I can however, see , unreservedly, how you arrived at the conclusion that you did. I 100% agree with you on this and I feel very aggrieved that I have caused you such pain in how you have interpreted my poor choice of phrasing. That was never , ever my intent. I can see and empathise with you how you have arrived at this and I can feel and hear the pain in your voice in the video you have posted since. Again, I offer my humblest and sincere apologies. Please feel free to PM me as I would welcome the opportunity to clear the air further in an offline situation.

I think the work environment is ruined and has been for a long time, nothing new there. I don't agree with his new ride proposals/revamp of the park nor what he thinks a movie theme park is, but I do support the work environment changes, it starts from the top. I feel the same about this, for a while it was just day after day of clickbait titles. Superman escape aligns with the movie theme, it puts us into the story immersively. Batwing worked with Wayne manor beside it as it was an immersive mini land prior to the addition of GL & DC Rivals. Wild West Falls is timeless, despite it being the largest ride in the park and eventually the time will come to replace it. WB Kids worked with the looney tunes ride, but now its showing its age. Green Lantern is essentially a Six Flags ride, DC rivals is similar but the ride experience makes up for it. We've come full circle now Movie World doesn't have any space left without removing existing attractions. This is very true. I don't think Movie World understands the value of their annual pass holders as much as Dreamworld does. We visit the parks off peak and deal with the BS maintenance closures, we spend our money there, we are the backbone of the park during this time. The least they could do is give us some useful perks to show their appreciation. A discount on food/beverages and upchange experiences would be appreciated even if limited to eg, 4 uses per month. Similar to the Dreamworld events, give us after dark events that may come at a small cost on top of the ones already included in our passes. Movie World having extended hours in winter would be perfect. Park doesn't have to be open that late for everyone to get night rides. Renewing my pass is entirely dependent on when Scooby opens & the if the wait was worth it. I have no issues with taking my business up the road.

Yeah absolutely. I get that the owners of LPS were under a heritage order to maintain Wild Mouse as a heritage ride in its original form but i think we need to give kudos here to LPS for delivering what they have- a complete rebuild of an historic attraction to the original plans and specifcations. That doesnt happen very often on a world level let alone in Australia. Great committment by the park and this sort of attention to detail helps put our little industry on the world map. There have been so many prominent Youtubers who have visited Australia in the last 2 years ( Theme park Worldwide, Airtime Thrills, Coaster Studios, Canobie Coaster) who has lamented missing out on getting this credit. Thsi will certainly give them the impetus and motovation to return and that will mean focus on our parks and rides again and that can only be good for our local industry.

@Tv15 MW has many problems, but do you think MW is ruined? The video is all about generating clicks. (I got so many views on my last video on MW, I had to cash in on a second video) For some reason I feel I like I need to repeat my thoughts, and make it clear. MW has it's problems but MW isn't ruined.

I'll sum it up. 50mins of hating on MW because he misses the Studio Tour. Funny how things seem so much better than the really were, 20 years latter. The truth is MW struggled against DW because the lack of rides. MW has it's problems but MW is ruined. 🤣🤣

It it doesn't open it can't break down!

Say it with me everyone...

So we can't ride Storm with the temporary upgraded theming?

Random thought - I think most of us scoffed a little when we found out that the additional bracing into the car park on DC Rivals was necessary for Cyclone rating, to get approval, but here we are.

Kudos sir - the atmosphere is so much nicer than Hot Tomato's top 40. Would love if you could share the full playlist as not everything comes up in Shazam.

That would be the case. Around the rides base 4-6 anchor points were constructed with the land to secure the tower in an event like this.

Yeah I don't think there's any wisdom in anything (show, theme park, or any other event) going ahead in the face of a cyclone that has inched closer to the gold coast by the hour (this morning's track map has it somewhere over southern brisbane \ logan, whereas yesterday it was northern end of Bribie Island). Just because village made the decision earlier, doesn't make dreamworld late. they both made it in advance of the system's approach, and did it at a time where the data made sense. My organisation advised yesterday afternoon that all our offices in SEQ would close today. I've seen some private schools and bus companies also close today - however public schools remain open. I've seen a lot of people crying foul over schools staying open but there's many critical workers out there preparing for this event that wouldn't be able to go to work if their kids weren't at school. Today's forecast has wind and rain, but nothing is forecast outside 'usual' summer storm parameters, so schools being open today makes sense - however i've no doubt in my mind they'll be closed tomorrow. A lot of other things will probably announce closures today, and the disaster press conference today is probably going to have a lot more information now that the system tracking is close enough to reasonably predict landfall location. Wherever you are - stay safe. Your family comes first. possessions can be replaced, but you can't. Don't enter floodwater - even if your 4x4 is modded to the max. Take the time today to secure anything outside that could potentially fly away (and remember that the winds are a lot stronger so heavier objects can fly too), stay inside, away from windows, and don't go outside when the wind stops - you may just be inside the eye. Wait until you've confirmed with official sources that it has passed. Don't run generators in enclosed spaces. boil tap water before drinking until declared safe by water authorities. Turn on location services on your phone, and tag your location on social media posts. If you need help with flooding or storm damage, call the SES on 132 500. If anyone's life is in danger, call 000.

If people were still considering visiting the Gold Coast up until DW posting that they were closing, that level of stupidity is on them. Commonsense would say, don't visit due to the forecast, not what theme park announces their closure last...

It's been answered already but just want to make sure it's clear - no ride safety features prevented this incident from being worse than it was. It was pure dumb luck - nothing more. Yeah, nah. The ride vehicle could have ended up in the creek had the failure occurred at a different point in the track. The fact that the car was leaning inwards towards the failed bogey is the biggest factor. Buddy it's very clear from your knowledge of the ride and it's operation that you don't know the full details. Had there been a death on GL and a coroner's report released, there would be plenty of information out there to support the statements being made. I don't often like to 'pull rank' but take a look at the history of the people who are saying GL could have been a lot worse. Consider the possibility that there is more to it than you currently see. You see, the problem with making this argument is that Village used to operate another Flume ride, and in 1993\94 it closed and was refurbished \ rethemed into probably the greatest themed attraction we've ever had on the gold coast. Even Disney Imagineers were gobsmacked over how much they'd done on such a little budget. (For those who don't know, Bermuda triangle was a retheme \ refurb of the old Lassiter's lost mine.) This proves that it can be done - it's having the vision to do it, rather than cave and just buy an off the shelf product, slap a logo on it and call it a day. Universal manages to work this with their Hollywood Backlot. I know we're on different scales here, but the studios could be negotiated around. Granted, USH recently tore out their animal and SFX stages to build a rollercoaster, so there's merit in what you're saying - but it doesn't mean they have to move away completely (I could see showstage easily showing some sort of SFX show the likes of what USH previously had) Sorry - no. 8 rides in a day is a metric used by the biggest in the business and plenty of research has shown that guests who have achieved that number of attractions in a day will leave a park feeling satisfied... As for wait times, worldwide, the longest wait times consistently reflect Tokyo Disneyland, Tokyo DisneySea and Movie World. (I'll give you a hint though - one of those parks is not like the others!) Now, I can't quote attendance figures for MW, but I know that collectively TDR handles more than 27 Million guests per year. They routinely have 2-3 hour queues for their most popular attractions, including soarin' and Beauty and the Beast. While they do queues better, there are still plenty of 'outdoor' relatively plain queue areas in these rides too. But you can also see cast members working hard to get people through quickly. The wait time isn't 3 hours because it takes 7 minutes to dispatch a rollercoaster - the wait time is 3 hours because there's 6,000 people in the queue. However, as i've recently shared in another thread - we still achieved 20 attractions in a day when we recently visited TDL - and while we had some advantages, I'll guarantee we still got into double digits without those advantages. On the flip side, I can't remember the last time I got 8 attractions in at Movie World. Being obtuse as usual, but you are technically correct on the back of what Gazza said. I think the issue is Disney sees those 1-2 hours waits on the big headliner e-ticket attractions, but there are still plenty of classics with great capacity that round out the day - one can visit Disneyland and ride a bunch of D-and-below ticket attractions (and older e-tickets) and still have a fantastic day. If you go to the park to ride the big shiny thing, you go knowing it will have a longer wait than the rest of the park. When the 20 year old accelerator is also pushing 2 hours, and the family wild mouse, and the space shot, you start running out of other tickets for your guests to go on. MW's problem is they all have shitty wait times, not just the headliners. Sorry - didn't Morgan Ross (vomit) or the assistant come out at the beginning of HWSD in that getup? A director with a bullhorn needs licensing? fair suck of the sav mate, you're reaching. As for WB logos, the group already licenses numerous indicia from the company. I'm sure they could ask? Let's not rule out the possibility of building a studio water tower with the WB logo on it because it would need permission for use? (cough DC Comics cough Wizard of Oz cough Scooby Doo cough Looney Tunes cough) I for one have been quite vocal about supporting the parks increasing their prices - with the caveat that there has to be value in the pricetag - specifically because I would like to see them able to operate with higher prices and lower attendance numbers. Unfortunately they've gone with higher prices and higher attendance... I watched the video a few days ago and the specific details escape me, and i'm not about to rewatch it to capture the specifics, however I remember thinking during the video some of the suggestions could be easily implemented. Many of the future attraction things would need to be 'as needed' but a couple of cheaper flats could be factored into the budget fairly easily and would boost attendance even if not as much as a big thriller. Doomsday was meant to do that, it was just unfortunate about the chosen ride. But doing things like involving your senior operators in the ride manual, getting suggestions and considering improvements and that sort of thing don't really cost you anything. Case in point: There's some great suggestions in there, and most wouldn't cost too much but would be welcome improvements. There should be no reason for ops crew to have to shout at guests either while grouping or providing safety spiel. Pre-record the big spiel items, or give them a PA system... actually, do both anyway. Two caveats though - I'd heard about there being an issue for mist fans and some concern over legionnaires disease. It leaves me wondering how other businesses get away with it, but if that's the reasoning for it then I can't argue too loudly. Second, Scooby Maintenance - I think they took it away for a while and people were turning up and complaining because the ride (which they knew existed from previous visits) wasn't on the maintenance list so they had assumed it would be open and were disappointed. It needs to be shown how it is now to ensure returning guests are aware it isn't open. And that's the devious mindset that deserves to see them castigated online. The other parks around the world with consistent 2-3 hour wait times you pointed out earlier are also parks that provide water and shade in the queues. The infamous disneyland opening story about a plumbing strike leading to a decision to have water fountains or toilets, and them choosing toilets because people could buy pepsi cola is the tough, but understandable decision you make when faced with a crossroads. But you don't then open the park and go "well, people didn't get water fountains on day one, so they don't need them and we won't bother to do it at all" - you get those fucking water fountains online as soon as you possibly can. If the budget has been crunched - it means one of two things happened - either, you didn't budget properly in the first place (and you're incompetent and should be fired) or you allowed another part of the process to run over budget without allowing for this contingency or requiring the partner that caused the overrun to pay for it while happily making the decision that guest comfort elements which were originally included in the budget because they were deemed necessary are suddenly deemed unnecessary. In which case you're a devious asshole, and you're also incompetent and should be fired. Since Covid? or since BGH? i'm having a hard time separating these two events and their cause and effect.... if it were covid - why aren't other theme park companies suffering the same basic issues? Hint: it isn't "since covid." You're 100% right when you earlier talked about their EBA, pay and conditions are a huge part of attracting and retaining good staff... but pay is only 50% of that equation, and conditions aren't just what's written into the agreement - it's also how staff are treated on the ground. ETA: this was written yesterday but due to the server dropouts it kept failing to post, so apologies if the above has already been put to bed.

Im not disagreeing with issues with operations. Im talking about the fact if you travel to other major parks around the world you will find similar 2-3hr waits for major attractions at many parks too. The video made it seem like 2-3hr waits were only encountered at movieworld, when the reality is quite the opposite. We've also been over this multiple times before, the simple fact is village roadshow utilise additional safety measures, including operational procedures in the operation of their rides that contribute (not the only reason) to the slow load/unload times. Thats what I was having issue with. From what you are saying I can tell you don't know what actually failed, or the chain of multiple other failures that occurred afterwards. There weren't multiple bolts keeping people safe, there wasn't any safety feature or component holding it on track. The initial failure was caused by failure of multiple fasteners on a single stressed mounting block that attached the lower section of one of the wheel carriers to the main spindle on the front chassis. When people talk about "the failure" this is "the failure" people talk about (usually this is because they didn't know anything else happened), this is where the "design flaw" existed, this is what allowed a complete set of wheels to separate from the spindle and entirely fall away from one of the cars. In reality, it was only the source of the initial failure that caused the accident, but it was not the only one that happened during the event. Multiple additional failures resulted in damage to multiple wheel carriers allowing the whole car to move off the rails in the process of it grinding to a halt. Multiple sets of wheels came off both chassis and allowed the car to move on the track, with the rear chassis actually hitting the track with such force it leveraged the whole chassis up and tilted away from the track coming to rest against the front chassis completely in the air. You could see the whole underside of the chassis. Guide and upstop wheels are the only thing tracking the car and essentially holding it on track. The design of S&S cars places the wheel carriers outside the track rails with nothing inside, so if you lose one wheel carrier, if the chassis moves away from the missing side, the other remaining carrier slides off the track and the car is no longer attached as there is no sacrificial point of contact like a pin or spindle that can ride along inside the rail to hold it in place in the event of catastrophic failure like what is found on a lot of coasters. The front and rear chassis are tethered together through what are basically very large pillow ball joints allowing the front and rear chassis of the car to flex during operation as it passes through things like inversions. Neither the front or rear chassis (row of seats) that make up the car were still attached to the track and had to be mechanically anchored (ratchet straps) to the track and supports to stabilise the car before rescue as it was at risk of slipping and falling. It was only the friction of the front chassis that was stopping things from moving. So, yes, it was more than enough to cause a complete derailment because one actually happened, and in addition, hundreds of kg of steel fell from a large height that could have very, very easily fallen into the occupied queue line or onto the track at unload/entrance to unload. It was a miracle nobody was seriously injured or killed. The difference in reports between the dreamworld accident and the green lantern one is simply the coroner. In the event of a death, the office/court of the coroner investigates the deaths and the mechanisms of failure and any contributing factors that lead up to the accident. This includes everything, business operation, management, culture, work histories, not just the event or the ride itself. Frequently, if accidents are too gruesome and/or determined not to be in the public interest, the reports are often withheld. By comparison, investigations by worksafe are not released, with only compliance notices or prosecutions being made public. The coroner basically decided that even though the accident contained details of some horrific injuries, the failures were so systemic and such wide spanning, that it was in the publics best interest that the report be released. FYI. Even without any operator pushing any buttons, until a car passes through the current brake block zone, the car behind it cannot enter. So even if the operators did not respond fast enough, the stranded car still occupying a block would have caused a backup and the car behind it would have been held by the friction brakes at the previous brake block. It had nothing at all to do with the damaged car though. That is a fundamental difference between both rides. One operated entirely without a block systems, with only conveyor operation being controlled when fully loaded allowing rafts to bank up at the bottom of the conveyor, while the other is a roller coaster with a fully operating block system that monitors car position on the track at all times.

For those old enough to remember, all of these types of staffing/budget/licensing complaints are identical to what happened to Australia's Wonderland when Sunway took over. It took them 7 years to run the park into the ground before closing it. BGH have zero people experienced in Tourism/Themeparks/Hospitality operations. They are mostly invested in healthcare and digital businesses. They choose the management of the parks. If they don't know how to identify the right people, then the wrong people will get the job and the wrong people will hire more wrong people under them. I don't think the parks are at risk of closure, but this is a problem that takes a long time to fix.

They had pretty much all of this and drove the staff actually delivering on these ideals away over the last decade. Few people, unless working within a corporate environment and exposed to the decision making process understand just how much EVERY management decision is influenced by financial considerations. EVERYTHING you do, especially in this climate, comes back to cost. Want better scenery? want more immersive interactive elements? sure. You double the cost of the ride being developed. You also increase the maintenance budget to keep it running. Want an example of what happens when you put money into elements but don't step up the operational budget to keep things running? Look at pretty much every single ride or attraction at village roadshow over the last 20 years. I cannot think of any ride addition over the last 15 years that didn't have its budget amended prior to the build process being completed. Everything that was costed and agreed upon when approval to start the build ends up being reviewed and costs were reduced, usually at the expense of things they can control. Theming, visuals, operational stuff. Basically things they know will have an impact on guest satisfaction but don't rate the result high enough vs the cost savings. It's probably the single biggest reason why a wall doesn't exist, ruining any immersion left. Not because someone didn't raise it, or because it wasn't factored into it during the design or build process, but because someone likely said no. It's ok to see through to back of house or into nearby buildings. Same goes for shade and water. Someone, somewhere has decided it isn't cost effective, and it hasn't been implemented. I can imagine the pivot to this would have been to maximise retail options for people to purchase drinks instead. This is what drives the talented people away more than just wages. A lack of growth, a lack of improvements and basically just reducing everything to a budgetary consideration, results in those people leaving because their job satisfaction has taken a massive hit. Essentially, people just give up on the ideal of the business. Problem is, since covid, village parks have been having problems getting ANY staff, leading to major shortages across pretty much all departments. You can't get rid of people you consider underperformers if you trouble attracting anyone. I can tell you with 100% accuracy, that following the reopening period after COVID, a number of ride closures experienced had absolutely nothing to do with maintenance issues and everything to do with not having enough trained, experienced staff to open attractions. I would not be at all surprised if this is still going on today, operational decisions to reduce ride capacity based on cost reduction or staffing levels, not purely because of maintenance issues.

Dammit! I was hoping for beer slides.

Good to know you're keeping tabs. @Jobe @red dragin

Probably not your best moment....

The Funtime models for the most part have been proven to be very reliable, Sea World cheaped out and brought a lemon much like they did with Doomsday.

The trouble is it doesn't look like a gem. It looks like an egg

At a guess, given the height and the fact that they were frequently stored outdoors, or at the best, under the carport attached to the old carpenters shed, im going to say its for floats.

Just like that it's no longer our king

I’m pleased to hear the park is interested in bringing back the animatronic Bunyip. It was an iconic part of the Big Banana and I’ve seen quite a lot of interest and discussion about it online. I do wonder if the original Bunyip is still sitting in that lake? Last time I was there, I noticed what appeared to be the old control hut for it still standing beside the lake, along with a bunch of pipes and wires running into the water.