Richard

It's pretty clear that this isn't regular annual maintenance and the extensive fencing is just further proof of this. Typically the ride will just be roped off with signage saying that the ride is closed for annual maintenance. With construction fencing up, that points to one thing alone - construction. This points to some form of modification or replacement to components on the coaster that may require heavy machinery or other work which needs to be kept away from the public's eyes and ears. For instance, when the Log Ride had its drop replaced the area was extensively fenced off to keep noise and more important dangers like eye-damaging welding flames away from guests.

Let's try and keep things on topic. If you're sick of reading about something (especially when it's as relevant and on-topic as Alex's comments were), we don't need you to announce it to the world.

We've discussed the possibilities of a Fastpass-style system before here. I think it was generally agreed that our parks are too small and don't have capacities high enough to make anything like it work properly. Even on the busiest of days, at Movie World it's easy to ride everything. Sea World only has three major rides and they're all pretty decent capacity. Dreamworld's only problem with queues is most of the rides run at a fraction of their maximum capacity because of inefficient operations.

Let's not forget by their nature ("a chain is only as strong as its weakest link"), chains are made up of hundreds of connected segments. In the case of roller coaster chains, they are steel sections bolted at a hinge that only allows two-dimensional rotation. The bolt would be the part that fails 9 times out of 10 and most parks would keep ample surplus parts such that this kind of occurrence could be quickly rectified. I'm not going to say it's not a chain-related problem because the circumstance are such that we don't know any of the full picture of what's happening with the coaster and why it's down, so it'd be a bit premature to suggest that this couldn't be the cause. I'm leaning towards perhaps it being an insurance issue. If something has to be upgraded or improved then it could be an open-ended maintenance period. I could imagine something as simple as needing to add further head clearance would create unpredictable delays.

I'd recommend reading about how exactly they judge this competition, because it's clear from this discussion that there are some misconceptions regarding what this award is about. It's not a theme park award, it's a tourism industry award that is based on all aspects of the operation and how it contributes to the industry as a whole. When they judge the awards, they don't look at the same things we do. This award is given based largely on a submitted report. It focuses on the management techniques that go into the operation of the attraction and the strategies and plans they have in place. This isn't a "best tourist attraction" or "most popular tourist attraction" award, it's an industry-based award that promotes good tourism management practices. You can read about the outline for entering here: http://www.queenslandtourismawards.com.au/...attractions.pdf

Article: Sea World gives Gold Coast an eye Tuesday 14 November 2006 - Sea World Sea World is busy underway in preparation for the opening of a 60m Giant Wheel that will give up to 250 riders at a time unparalleled views of the Gold Coast theme park and its surrounds. Read On...

It ultimately falls down to a situation where they had no other choice and it's really the best solution for a tricky situation. If WhiteWater World were any bigger it would have been too expensive, making it an unattractive investment for Macquarie Leisure. An extreme example of this is Universal's Islands of Adventure in Orlando. Universal went all-out and built an amazing, complete world-class park in one hit. This park has been a financial burden for Universal since opening, not because it's failing to get good attendance, but because its huge cost (a reported USD$2 billion) makes loan interest repayments huge.

If you want to visit a water park over the summer to escape the heat, WhiteWater World is not the annual pass to go with. Go with Wet'n'Wild because unlike WhiteWater World's pass you'll actually be able to visit during the summer.

Don't get your hopes up. All WVTP will be announcing is what we already know to be coming - Batwing and Sea World's Giant Wheel.

I've been witholding publishing this news until Dreamworld or another public source release the information properly, but expect it to be very similar to their previous attractions at Dreamworld (Lynton V. Harris produced Tomb Raider in Gum Tree Gully a few years back and The Mummy before that). It'll only be a seasonal attraction as an added bonus to help handle excess crowds, especially since the closure of Blue Lagoon. I'm not sure 'tacky' is the right word, but they're typically fairly low-key inside with all the staples of a walkthrough haunted house. Staff training isn't really an issue. It's anything but a theatrical masterpiece. There's a few simple scares that they'll be taught as well as some basic operational skills. I don't mind this style of attraction. Know that they're certainly not installing it in place of what could have been a major attraction - it's just a filler as they've done in the past.

Just thought I'd clarify that I didn't say it was probably cracking in the track - this was merely a suggestion of a possible situation. The issue could be anything.

I'm also definitely a fan of the "TV Town" idea. Hollywood these days pretty much revolves around TV rather than movies so I think it'd definitely be appropriate. Perhaps a revival of the Special FX show but focusing on the making of popular TV shows with a sitcom set, selecting people from the audience to do a scene (this would go badly enough to make it work awesomely, and Friends is a Warner Bros. show), a popular primetime drama series showing off modern green screen effects (Smallville comes to mind) and maybe a third outdoor set for a backlot (if Police Academy ends up leaving they could make this a "TV stunts" section with some explosions and falls etc.). Not sure I'm a fan of the Neighbours/Home & Away idea but I can see it having some decent success, especially up against Big Brother.

A few things that are safe about wooden coasters. These days most of the "lesser" wooden coaster builders have been weeded out in favour of the three or so quality companies who seem to get it right every time. Between The Gravity Group, GCII and Intamin it's all good these days. With steel coasters, in terms of major rides there's Intamin, B&M and Vekoma. Don't hold your breath for B&M just yet so it's a toss up between Intamin and Vekoma, and Dreamworld could go either way. As Clint said I'd rather see a good, substantial steel coaster over an uninspiring wooden coaster and vice versa. With the very vague nature of the question at hand here, I just feel it's a safer bet to go with a wooden coaster over steel because it's less likely to be an off-the-shelf Vekoma coaster or a short, gimicky Intamin.

Brendan I really like some of your ideas. I'd love to see something along those lines. Like the old Studio Tour but without actually going into the working studios, thus making it safer. Unlike Disney-MGM Studios' Great Movie Ride I'd also like it to be completely outdoors, which would better suit the themes you suggested. I can see it now - The Great Australian Movie Adventure. I'd like to see them recreate entire sets from some of Australia's most iconic films, and allow guests to explore them and see excerpts from the films, read some interesting trivia or information about them and maybe even where possible record some scenes with stars or directors talking today about what the film means to Australia. I'm already picturing Crocodile Dundee and I see room for things like Ned Kelly (perhaps including sections from the first ever feature film of 1906), Gallipoli, Babe and something like this simply couldn't be done without Young Einstiein. For this to work it'd need to be an entirely new area of the park (out behind Scooby-Doo), and they couldn't just rotate the exhibits; I'd like to see it as an ever-evolving area where new sections are added every year or two. It surely wouldn't be too expensive to add to, so I'm seeing this as a great opportunity to add something in the years when major attractions aren't on the cards

I'd rate it slightly higher than Wet'n'Wild's website where a stroke of genius saw them make the website yell at you periodically without any discernable way of muting it. As for theming, why can't a park or ride just be that, without some need to come up with a grand storyline? The theming elements seen around the park are great, but a lame story doesn't do any justice. Walt Disney World gave its two water parks themes and intricate stories because they have the creative minds and theming budget capable of delivering these ideas successfully.

I'd disagree. Riddler's Revenge was one of the most unique and enjoyable coasters I've ever been on. As we went down the "pre-drop" after the lifthill it dawned on me that I was standing 150ft in the air and about to head down a drop that twists almost horizontally. That's a pretty crazy feeling. In terms of marketability, the standup coaster is the most unique style of coaster an Australian park could get since Lethal Weapon. I'm not saying I'd necessarily want to see one over other styles of coasters, but building one would be a pretty good move if one of our parks were to go down that path.

I'm never a huge fan of closing topics (and that's now two today!), but we've been discussing this new annual pass options in the Ticket Price Hike topic. It's easier to follow if we keep it all to one topic.

Dreamworld will announce the attraction in due course. Until this stage there is no point in emailing them as until it has been announced they won't be able to say anything. If you just keep an eye out here we'll have all the news the moment it is officially announced.

But everyone knows if you rename it and paint the ride a different colour the guests forget all about it. Seems strange that they've taken a more defensive tone in there instead of the usual "this ride will be down for annual maintenance" kind of thing. That newsletter tends to agree with what I suggested earlier in that it's definitely unscheduled and they probably did find something that was or could turn out to be bad. Our parks do have rigorous maintenance and inspection programmes in place and it's most likely a testament to this that there was no apparent incident that led to this temporary closure.

Well done Dreamworld! Having the Dreamworld annual pass priced at $185 was ridiculous and would ultimately lead to price increases at WVTP. I agree it is still quite expensive but at least they've taken a step in the right direction. I'd like to see it extended to all-day access during off-peak periods depending on crowds. In terms of operating costs, it'd surely be cheaper to have them at WhiteWater World rather than at Dreamworld. Obviously it'll be a trial-and-error kind of situation because this is the first time an Australian park has had a partner park directly next door, and it's one with pretty tight capacity restraints. I hope with time we see them become more flexible with the options, especially as the park inevitably expands and becomes better equipped to handle larger crowds.

I actually thought Men in Black was a great ride with some of the best theming I've ever seen. I don't think I rode it more than once but I saw definite potential for rerideability and would probably have queued again had I had time or queues were short enough. They're a ride style which appeals to very nearly ever possible guest at the park, and is a true family experience. The problem with this style of ride is the levels of theming required to pull it off would be out of Movie World's scope - Men in Black was $80 million. Terminator would be an ideal franchise for this style of attraction at Movie World but without the resources and budget of Universal it's not really something I'd like to see in a hurry. Maybe a Harry Potter themed version targeted more at kids? I haven't read the books (yep that's right, I'm the one), but I'd imagine there could be a very easy storyline here, and we saw with the old Harry Potter walkthrough that they can pull of this style of theming pretty well. The only issue would be licensing, as I believe it may be difficult to secure a long-term license as I don't believe Warner Bros. directly holds all rights to it, hence the original attraction only lasting a couple of years.

It's been like this for a week or so - see this thread here: http://www.parkz.com.au/forums/in...?showtopic=2832.

It wasn't so much that Waterworld was unsuccessful - it achieved fairly decent box office figures - it was just a ridiculously expensive movie to produce to the point where it didn't come close to breaking even. When it comes to developing rides, they'll always choose films which had or will have good media exposure. Box office figures don't matter so much as its marketing budget does. The ideal film needs to have great exposure, appeal to a wide demographic and have longevity (sequels are handy in this sense). This is why comic book concepts work so well; they're household names and will always be around, not to mention the possibilities for tie-in products. I'd look less at one-off films and more into franchises which Warner Bros. holds the rights to or they can acquire without too many dramas (e.g. rule out Disney licenses). Terminator might be a good example of this. It's no surprise that the most recent three major attractions are very general and aren't really bound by their film counterparts, and even Wild West Falls and Lethal Weapon have been debranded to the extent that they're fairly general. I'm sure we'll see more direct film tie-ins, but more down the path of Harry Potter and The Matrix where they're cheaper and easily changed. I'd love to see that building redone ever year or so with a new film to keep things fresh.

Expect to start seeing their marketing efforts really kick off by next week. Not long now and it'll be all over TV.

At this stage Hong Kong Disneyland is the only "Magic Kingdom" theme park without Pirates. Allegedly it's on the drawing boards at the moment, and will feature a ride system that's a hybrid between Splash Mountain and POTC; I'd imagine the introduction of thrill elements such as drops. The genesis of the original ride - as with many Disney classics from that era, arguably Disney's "golden era" in terms of attraction development - is fascinating if you ever get the chance to read some of the books out there that deal with Imagineering at Disney's history.