Richard

The lack of serious injuries and media interest are two factors that will likely limit the amount of publicly accessible information regarding the incident. Someone with intimate knowledge of OHS might be able to answer this better, but I wouldn't hold my breath for the kind of reports that surface from US incidents. At the end of the day it has been closed long enough to suggest that it's more than a simple maintenance or procedural issue. That there's likely a design or fabrication issue that has had to be rectified. When it does reopen it will have satisfied the park, their investors, lawyers and insurers, plus S&S and their investors, lawyers and insurers. I'd personally take this implicit tick of approval over a government commissioned report. An in-depth report would be interesting to read, but I suspect it would say exactly what I've said above, along with 50 pages of metallurgy test results.

Any statement from the park would speak only in the broadest terms about their commitment to safety. I wouldn't expect mention of any incident. There may be other information available through other public channels (RTI/FOI) but there's no logical reason that VRTP would share details of a major failure of the ride's safety systems in their PR efforts. After all, all the wider public knows is that the ride broke down and folks had to be rescued. By virtue of the dreadful, shallow reporting by the media, VRTP dodged a huge bullet with negative publicity from the incident.

While it's admirable that Dreamworld are trying a different angle on it, it's surprising that after all these years of Fright Nights that this is how they decide to dip their toes in. Sea World tried the family angle on Halloween several years back. It evidently didn't work because it never came back. Meanwhile Fright Nights grew and grew into the month-long beast that it is now. Fright Nights work because it's an adult-oriented scare-fest that has no real basis in traditional Halloween. Traditional Halloween is jack-o'-lanterns, trick-or-treating etc. and is a sight to behold if you've ever been in the American suburbs or on a rural farm with hay bale mazes, tractor rides etc. Even if Dreamworld pulled off that level of charm, could it ever foreseeably grow into the sort of money-spinning juggernaut that Fright Nights are?

If Village Roadshow wanted to distance themselves from the USA SeaWorld parks and the negative publicity associated, the first thing they should probably do is not enter in a partnership with SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment to develop theme parks in China, SE Asia, India and Russia. It kind of undermines the whole "But we're not them!" argument when you're quietly in a partnership with them to develop marine animal oriented properties in parts of the world where environmental regulations are minimal and the specifics of how they'll source marine creatures are unclear at best. As for changing names, the whole saga -- 40-odd years in the making -- is a really good branding lesson. It probably made perfect sense at the time to borrow the well-known SeaWorld name while it was unclaimed in Australia. That same goodwill that they capitalised on is one in the same as the negative publicity they're now distancing themselves from. Questionable international deals aside, all Sea World needs to do is keep doing what they're doing. The're an important pro-environment and pro-animal voice in Australia, and with time the Blackfish furor will ease.

The big deal is simply that they're really well-designed and well-built rides. They get a lot of hype because they make great roller coasters. Smooth, comfortable and really well paced rides without any gimmicks. Whether they're affordable for Australian parks is something that is discussed like clockwork every six months. The answer is probably not anytime soon with the current exchange rate, pricing/operating strategy of our major parks and the general construction costs in Australia. But the attitude that it'll never happen is probably a bit too pessimistic for my liking.

It stands to reason that a cold, rainy day with 50 people in the park will make less money than an average Saturday with several thousand pass holders. Fixed costs are basically the same -- it's only when service is ramped up for peak season that costs would increase. There's no doubt at all that the passes and overall pricing strategy have contributed to reductions in overall quality and service standards, so they've had an impact absolutely, but cost-cutting ("operational efficiencies") has kept profits in check. The parks are doing fine. As for buying food or merch to support the next big attraction, I suspect that if every guest chipped in and bought a Frozen Coke, about the only new thing we'd see is more Frozen Coke machines. If you want to play your part and help get new rides sooner, then your best bet is to not renew your pass. As counterintuitive as that is...

Just a warning -- we're keeping a close eye on this one and we'll be deleting any posts that veer too close to being on-topic.

While it never looked that lush, Cyclone's entrance was originally out where the concept art indicates. Between WhiteWater World, Flowrider and Redline they changed things up and we ended up with the ride entrance being strangely tucked away where it is.

Movie World's efforts with Hollywood Stunt Driver 2 (2.1?) gives these Six Flags train a run for their money in tackiness...

Certainly not an issue in terms of the product offering and pricing, but perhaps naming the memberships 'Unlimited' when there are in fact limits on the different levels is a bit of a questionable marketing choice. Then there's the fact that the premier membership is below elite despite premier literally meaning top-tier/highest. Interesting too is the inclusion of Village Theme Parks and their logo in the branding. To date they've never really used this umbrella to interact with the public. With the transition from Myfun to themeparks.com.au they lost their encompassing brand name -- themeparks.com.au is a great category killer name, but it's not a brand. (Interestingly, we did the opposite here when Roller-Coaster.com.au became Parkz for this exact reason.)

The last place a ride like this should be is in a pitch black shed. Those hypnotic rotations need to be on full display... the real appeal here is in the visuals, because there's a million other simpler rides that can flip you upside down 50 times. Not sure about the Contact theme given the age and obscurity of it, but Movie World definitely lacks flat rides. The fact that almost every other ride in the park is immersively themed is precisely why they need rides like this. There'd be dozens of modern WB or DC brands to theme this sort of thing.

They give the in-park discount because passholders statistically just don't spend. I don't see this as incentivising the purchase of the pass so much as incentivising spending in the parks... they shouldn't (and I'm sure don't) expect to profit from the offer of the discount itself considering it's purely designed to stimulate spending. What this membership option should really mean for VRTP and their bottom line is a reduction in churn rate. The VIP pass system was a fixed price for a fixed length of time. Under the old system 100% of customers were gone come June 30 and had to be convinced to renew at great expense (advertising, x-for-y promotions etc.). Now it's been turned on its head and customers have to go to the effort of cancelling if they don't want to keep going. The key factors here are: How many people will just keep their passes active because it's *only* $9/12/15 a month, even as their visit frequency diminishes?What will be the average contract length? It won't be 12 months. The average customer will now be worth much more than the $108 minimum.From a sales/advertising perspective, how much cheaper and easier will it be to draw people in with $9/month rather than $99 up-front?I do like this idea from a business perspective. The certainty in cashflow and forecasting should also do wonders for planning and execution of new attractions. But I echo @T-bone's thoughts on how this could also be a disaster if they don't properly manage a potential influx of new customers, and the associated disappearance of the low-season. Movie World in particular already suffers from overcrowding and poor capacity outside of peak season far too often.

Totally unnecessary rehashing of a months-old story. This has been discussed in great detail here.

The closure of the shortcut through the Chinatown alley is just another example of VRTP's cynical concept of significantly inconveniencing guests to ensure they pass F&B and retail outlets. I fail to see how uncomfortable, claustrophobic bottlenecks would put people in the right mindset for spending, but evidently a bean counter in a backroom has done the sums and decided it's worth pissing people off.

I came in expecting a rehash of the great timeshare debate...

Though I never signed up so never saw what was offered and as such can't miss it all that much, posts here over the past few years suggests this website was responsible for the death of both Wild and the Doomsday tower. That right there should be reason enough to keep it going. Realistically I'd say what has happened is that the individuals that once championed this platform no longer work for VRTP or there's no longer the budget to keep it going which seems most logical considering the June 30 shutdown date. Or there's just nothing planned for the future... I'm sure they knew from day one that information would be leaked, and that their competition would be keeping a close eye on it; I can't imagine this had much to do with its demise. Information leaks from market research all the time (and did from theme parks when it was just a guy with a clipboard and pen); that's one of the trade-offs an organisation has to make.

Initially RCDB confirmed the Zamperla ride -- Duane is pretty good when it comes to reliable sources and rarely gets it wrong. Generally we don't spread information like this until we have either official confirmation or visual confirmation like construction photos -- if you're familiar with the Zamperla's simplistic layout you can piece it together from the rebar footing locations in the photos posted above. If you're hoping I'm wrong for the sake of a better ride, do keep in mind that the park is referring to it as a mini roller coaster; if the park is talking it down, you know it's not going to be significant.

It's probably safe to assume that the causes of the incident have been determined -- from all the blurry photos and footage from the day of the incident it's reasonably clear that bolts have either worked loose or failed. I'm sure officials had the cause figured out very quickly. Were it maintenance and nothing else I'd say we'd have seen the ride reopen by now. I'm inclined to think it's a design issue, which means there's a lengthy process of designing, testing and fabricating new parts -- which could be as simple as replacement bolts, right up to completely rebuilt or brand new cars. Not to mention there's likely legal and insurance discussions taking place as blame/responsibility is assigned.

Please let's try and be a bit respectful and welcoming of new members. I can confirm that this is a representative of the park. Considering the information provided why not just accept it at face value and start a discussion about what it might entail?

While the inclusion of Sea Viper footage was likely unintentional, there is a fairly reasonable argument their in-depth reporting left out: that Sea World is just as short a ride since its removal as Movie World. Of course not much they can do about this right now other than cross KumbaK off the preferred suppliers list for future reference and move forward with replacement plans. We all know that the Storm Chaser (probably a better name than what they ended up with to be honest) incidents are basically nothing, but off the back of the high profile Green Lantern closure it does increase public awareness and as such media scrutiny. If they choose to install a ride system that's well known for its less-than-perfect reliability then I think it's fair enough to say that yes, it's a complete non-story but at the same time they brought the attention upon themselves.

Could well be the final nail in the coffin for the Skyway. They've been running it like it was about to break for a long time now. Down to three gondolas per group and operating at ridiculously slow speeds. It would be great to see this ride replaced with a modern version that extends over the castle to the far back of the park to balance out foot traffic and make the most of the beautiful dolphin pools that have been off limits for many years now. I'm sure Doppelmayr could do a great job here.

I'm sure I've waited ~15 minutes back in the days when they'd have 3-4 main outlets running. They're now down to two and one of these is closed, so 30 minute waits doesn't seem that implausible. There's the old service adage. Pick any two: fast, quality and cheap. VRTP right now seem to be scoring 0 from three...

​See, this is what the discussion should be. Not the nuances of contract law. The park got negative media coverage for the way it's run. Despite some of the over the top points like Scooby-Doo not being fast enough, the article is pretty much on the money. The park has a total of six rides adults can go on and two of these are closed. The park has two main outlets for food and one of these is closed. Signage out the front is one thing, but do you really think the park did everything they could for people forking out $80 for a single day ticket? Evidently not, because they are speaking to reporters and ranting on social media. A "free" VIP upgrade or a food discount voucher which cost nothing compared to the damage a disappointed customer causes. Unfortunately we have a number of attractions closed today, but we can upgrade you to a VIP pass for no cost and you can come back anytime you want for the next year. Having staff say that at the ticket booths isn't just effortless customer service, it's also selling the VIP passes at a higher price than the current 4-for-3 offer. If a media outlet devotes column space to how badly you're running your business, you're probably doing it wrong.

The whole heartline thing is an interesting can of worms. Werner Stengel developed the concept in the late-1970s while working with Schwarzkopf and it's been present on most European designed rides since. It's an easy argument to explain why Arrow = rough, B&M = smooth. But it's not entirely true. Vekoma rides are designed in this method and more often suck. And the fact that the heartline on a 4, 8 or 10-across B&M is going to be basically impossible to actually design around considering up to 5 metres separates the end riders. These riders are being subjected to far greater variances in force than say the train and riders on a non-heartline designed Arrow. The most logical argument is simply that Arrow/Vekoma trains simple don't track well like djrappa suggested, which I think is absolutely true and the biggest cause of roughness. But then you have rides like Arrow's Tennessee Tornado, which is said to be B&M smooth (@djrappa?), or Vekoma's Rock 'n' Roller Coaster at WDW which I found to be remarkably smooth. Both feature the same track structure and rolling stock as earlier rough rides. In these cases I think it's a combination of advances in design -- they started designing rides that suited the limitations of their trains -- and really good maintenance.

@AlexB I saw that petition on Facebook being forwarded by a friend in London who has no interest in theme parks at all. Glad to see that the wider community saw the interview for what it was.