Jamberoo Fan

I see where @pushbutton is coming from but let's wait & see. Given MW is a theme park, I expect some theming (I would be disappointed if there is only a 'name'/franchise logos for the hypercoaster though) but the bigger the attraction, the less chance of immersive theming. In the end, creativity is all about doing more with less. We got an out & back hypercoaster heading our way, remember. At most, I'd expect theming in the queue, station, brake run or exit - nothing more. For all we know, those elements may have a pre or post-ride segment and similar to what I just wrote, I'd rate the 'narrative' of the hypercoaster based on how creative they are in regards to theming in those areas and how it links to the hypercoaster layout. How the hypercoaster's train is going to be utilised in the theme is also key - look at previous MW coasters: Lethal Weapon - themed to a car (mainly through imagination). Road Runner Rollercoaster - themed to an ACME firework rocket. Scooby Doo Spooky Coaster - themed to Spooky Castle carriages. Superman Escape - themed to a Metropolis Rapid Transit subway train. Arkham Asylum: Shock Therapy: themed to an Arkham Asylum shock therapy chair (mainly through imagination/VR). Green Lantern - themed to the Green Lantern power ring. Hypercoaster - ??? @jake_hunt, all MW attractions have some sort of 'narrative' but yes, some of those rides' theming aren't as immersive as others. Sometimes you need to use your imagination to continue the 'narrative' (like imagining you're inside the Batwing accelerating in and out of outer space on Batwing Spaceshot).

Judging from this Facebook post, if the public are going to be educated on how safe theme parks really are by the media, maybe DW should lead this PR campaign by communicating with affected guests first?

From the Sydney Morning Herald:

DW's first scheduled maintenance since the Thunder River Rapids incident: Dronkey Flyers: 30/01/2017 - 12/02/2017

From DW's LEGO Store webpage:

They could be actually beginning to remove Viking's Revenge during the Storm Coaster maintenance period? They've already begun removing the queue lines & signage (which is pretty easy to do) but maybe they are indeed going to quickly remove the flume channel around the Storm Coaster then? Like I've said before, it looks complex to remove & may be deemed too risky to do while the Storm Coaster is operating. With limited rides & limited times to close Storm Coaster for scheduled maintenance, maybe SW has decided to do a quick but careful removal in case of future delays (i.e. weather/damage to Storm Coaster) particularly as they've set themselves a deadline of 2019? There's no evidence that says they will remove that flume channel around Storm Coaster during Storm Coaster's maintenance period but they should take the most of the opportunities presented.

Yeah, I agree but I wasn't 'overestimating'. I was just saying what I've read people say on here (as I assumed they know better than me due to being local passholders & what they said was fairly reasonable) but given I still wasn't exactly convinced (due to the same arguments you wrote above), that's why I wrote:

For Magic Kingdom, I don't know but I'd assume for DW, that it would be similar to VRTP's 60% QLD visitation. Either way, the 'missing' general admission ticket sales would probably be mostly replaced with extra F&B/upcharge/retail sales from season pass holders. True - this is a comparison of annual passes though: Disney Platinum Pass: AUD$985 Dreamworld Annual Pass: AUD$109 Difference: AUD$876 Note: Disney Platinum Pass comes with more features (i.e. 2-3 extra theme parks, parking, photo downloads etc.)

It is the oldest theme park ride in Australia so they were probably expecting it's eventual demise for a while but this is what makes me think it was unexpected: They had a maintenance period scheduled for this year between mid-July & mid-December. (To me, this means prior to early November last year, they expected it to operate into 2017 & after late-August last year (when the 2017 maintenance period was announced), also expected a major refurbishment of the ride in mid/late-2017 for operations beyond 2017) This Facebook comment says "...the Viking Revenge was closed for its annual maintenance review and a decision was made to retire the ride". (To me, this sounds like the decision was made during it's annual maintenance review) This Facebook comment says "...after a careful consideration, a decision has been made to retire the ride..." (To me, this means they had to think about it before deciding) The above Facebook comment also says "...there are several new and exciting options in the pipeline". (To me, this means they haven't decided on the replacement attraction as of late December - which you would think they would have done before closing Viking's Revenge - though they probably expect a decision to made by the end of this year as they have announced that the announcement of the replacement attraction would occur this year: "We look forward to announcing details of this attraction in the new year") Lastly, the fact the replacement attraction is not planned to open until 2019 - 2 years away. (To me, this makes Viking's Revenge's permanent closure occurring earlier than what they wished) If anything, I think it was unexpected until mid-way through the maintenance review last October/November where a problem was found (or the DW incident had an affect) which built a growing expectation for a permanent closure which they decided to implement in early December. Agree with your whole post @joz but am confused about the statement above and how it fits in exactly? Quick comparison of annual attendance: Dreamworld (2015/2016 - inclusive of Whitewater World & SkyPoint): 2,413,937 (6,614 people/day on average) Magic Kingdom (2015): 20,492,000 (56,143 people/day on average) With attendances like that, the US theme parks clearly earn more money to spend on their theme parks.

Not the media's fault if VRTP decide to release a trading update mentioning less local visitation to the parks on the same day as DW's media launch for the LEGO Store. It's just unfortunate timing & clearly, the media are going to combine them into 1 story.

Looking at Wet 'n' Wild Sydney's attendance trends, I'd say that decrease is due to both DW & the general state of the park's operations. Assuming you're speaking in the present tense & responding to @Redboost, nearly everything has re-opened - just Wipeout, The Giant Drop & maybe Rocky Hollow Log Ride to go. You can't blame them for leaving it sitting there. The decision was unexpected & like I've pointed out a couple of times, it's removal is probably going to be complex. It might require the temporary closure of at least 1 extra attraction at times - something they can't afford to do right now.

From The Courier-Mail:

I think this is the closest we got to a 'timeline' @joz which would indicate it closing again tomorrow when school holidays finish in QLD. The only flaw to that 'timeline' is that SDSC actually re-opened on Boxing Day & not the beginning of the QLD school holidays - so peak season is probably what they meant instead of the QLD school holidays. Given there is still no announced scheduled maintenance for SDSC, I'd say that 'timeline' is no longer valid anyway (unless they did mean peak season - when that finishes exactly I don't know). It also points out that the thematic enhancements commenced during it's initial maintenance period late last year (but like you said, it does not exactly imply that it was the plan during it's scheduled maintenance).

What was the change in theming?

@AllegroCrab, in my opinion, I wouldn't think so until either whenever Arkham Asylum re-opens or when peak season finishes, whichever happens first.

Several pictures in fact: Also:

The 2nd last line in the video of this latest story will please Parkz forum members....not:

Remember @Slick, DW already announced everything that will be part of Stage 2 back when Stage 1 opened. You can read it all here.

Not exactly 'an option' - you can only pay per lap - not pay per lap or per 'hourly' session as before. Are the in-park prices (below) different to the online prices above?

In case anyone forgot, the hotel is pretty much confirmed to be on MW's grass overflow car park. This is dependent on the approval of the Kopps Road car park - which is why I don't think there has been any progress on the hotel/lakeside/entertainment precinct yet. I feel they are all connected somehow but how they are connected is where I'm confused. As if for what would go in the yellow space, I feel the swamp would remain (possibly landscaped to look better too). I feel if VRTP spent big on the 'lakeside' precinct, the swamp would end up like Paradise Pier at DCA (replace California Screamin' with MW's hypercoaster & everything else except the bay as TopGolf/anything else that's part of the 'lakeside precinct'). I can imagine the 'lakeside precinct' being built adjunct or into TopGolf's main building (making TopGolf the standout attraction out of the whole precinct) & even being connected to MW via a 2nd gate near the hypercoaster entrance. As we know, there is also an 'entertainment precinct' planned. I don't know if this is the same as the 'lakeside precinct' (though I feel it possibly is) but if it isn't, I'd expect it to be located near the hotel. This is where my 'connection problem' comes in - how would they connect the hotel to TopGolf via the lakeside/entertainment precinct if there is a massive hypercoaster & car park in the way? Surely for something similar to Downtown Disney there would be some 'consistency'. It would look odd walking through a buzzing & vibrant dining/shopping precinct at night before having to cross a decent section of empty car park or a non-operating hypercoaster site to get to the other half of the precinct. Something I just thought was does 'entertainment precinct' actually meant to mean 'Entertainment Road precinct'? That way from the hotel, the 'precinct' runs along Entertainment Road, crosses MW's car park entrance/exit road, goes around the hypercoaster before heading west towards TopGolf & the swamp's southern bank. One problem with that idea is that I think MW can't build near Entertainment Road as it is part of the motorway corridor. If they did build such a precinct on the edge of their property though, they would probably need to remove part of the existing car park. If they lit the hypercoaster up at night with a light show on it's supports, it would make walking around the hypercoaster site fit the feel of a vibrant retail precinct more.

For everyone's information, it is actually 4 rides in 1 week as far as I know. Keep in mind, MW has more chance of being reported in the media than the other VRTPs - SW has only 2 proper rides currently while WNWGC has an extreme unlikelihood of any incident occurring to have a stoppage for - most of their rides are waterslides after all. Also, given some of the media are referencing the 2004 fire on WWF, can one of the media outlets be kind enough to ask MW what caused the fire so we can solve that mystery once and for all? Nine News took your advice: Not having full knowledge probably doesn't cut it (unless they deliberately avoided to learn the knowledge or published something that they knew probably might be incorrect due to having no knowledge on the topic) but misrepresentation of events would. It depends on the exact wording. Most reports are probably not defamation but it is the fact that they are suddenly reporting them with greater frequency after the DW incident that is annoying people the most as the media think the heightened 'fear' of theme parks would sell their media products/advertising space more than usual. VRTP haven't - none of the media have been inside the parks. Other than that 1 media statement read outside the park by the General Manager for the AA incident, they have only been releasing brief statements, which is a wise thing to do so it does not give the impression you are 'hiding' something to the media. It's only the Gold Coast theme parks (and potentially one day, Aussie World) they are reporting on because they are the iconic theme parks and are only kilometres away from DW, where the recent fatal incident occurred. If AW, LPS, LPM, Funfields, Jamberoo or even Wet 'n' Wild Sydney etc. made the news more frequently than usual then you know they are targeting theme parks in Australia overall.

I know - I realised my mistake and edited my post to correct the change that was made. Unfortunately, you didn't see the change in time.

Just noticed on DW's updated park map that they have re-coloured the pathways of Town Of Gold Rush from the green of Main Street back to red. Also, I like DW's new front cover of the park map - it really makes it look like you are going on a journey of discovery with the unique use of the DW Globe:

RRRC & EFM have the exact same ride layout - one is just higher due to being a suspended rollercoaster. Whilst I haven't seen EFM's theming, I believe RRRC has more immersive theming still plus for it's target market, the rollercoaster is a lower height making it easier to be brave to ride. EFM does have better restraints though in my opinion as it clearly has more room for the legs - RRRC has little room making it uncomfortable (particularly when you hit the brake run - the lap bar goes straight into your abdomen) - the taller you are, the more uncomfortable. So I think RRRC wins this round in my opinion - it just suits the target market better.

Judging from the latest photos of that area @themagician, I don't think that part will open on January the 28th but I do hope it does. At least, the LEGO Store is fully complete by then which I'm very confident it will be. Also, DW has updated their park map since The Fire Machine has finished. They fixed up the small mistake in the last park map where the Surf Central retail outlet's number marker was placed on top of the LEGO Store's external entrance. Rocky Hollow Log Ride is still not on the park map but from the park map, here are some new food outlets coming soon to DW presumably next to the LEGO Store in the new Market Place area: