Theme Park Girl

Here's a nice close up shot for y'all ☺️

Already on my way ??

@mikeseven bet you're having a good ol' chuckle now in light of this morning's revelation! Seems you knew something the entire time and were dropping us all a subtle hint with those photoshopped pics without us even realising. Makes me wonder who you really are... ??

@MickeyD True... but if they were gonna go with another DC ride (which we kinda knew they were going to due to the coasters placement, and their obvious preference in DC theming over recent years) at least they have decided to play a major card here - no pun intended lol. The Joker is arguably the most infamous, well known and recognisable villian out of their entire DC Universe. If they were gonna go DC, then in my opinion they have made an excellent choice! Although I still did have my heart set on this.... (Still haven't given up hope yet. Would be the ultimate troll) ??

@MickeyD More like this....

It's all good dude, I don't hate you and have no reason to. I'm just being helpful and supplying correct information for the discussion at hand ☺️

Not sure where you heard or read that, but Sunday penalty rates aren't being culled altogether, but cut/reduced by a certain percentage. The Retail Award, for example: "Sunday penalty rates will change from: ~ 200% to 150% for full-time and part-time employees ~ 200% to 175% for casuals. Public holiday penalty rates will change from: ~ 250% to 225% for full-time and part-time employees ~ 275/250% to 250% for casuals." All the relevant changes for each affected industry are listed here: http://www.fairwork.gov.au/about-us/news-and-media-releases/website-news/changes-to-penalty-rates-in-some-awards (sorry TomiJ, couldn't remove the damn tag!)

That still doesn't explain why, after 15-20 years, the non-payment of Sunday rates has suddenly become an issue to kick up a stink over? If they never agreed to them, then why not tackle the issue back when it first started?

@YLFATEEKS possibly. There's a LOT of workers in the area atm, so hard to tell specifically who is doing what. There's also some bobcat work happening down JL corner way. Will be driving past the front again after lunch, so I'll see if I can spot anything specific happening.

New kitchen now being installed ☺️

Not directly, but also not far down from it. You're definitely thinking what I'm thinking haha ☺️

Pic of the shelter being erected... A section of fencing to the coaster area has been removed, with temporary fencing in its place. My bet is that this is where they will be lugging in coaster parts ? Some concrete cutting is taking place around the right kerb inside the entry arch as well.

Well that's exactly it. As I mentioned before, in my numerous experiences of doing their interviews and inductions they have always provided full disclosure of their hourly rates - including no weekend penalty rates-PRIOR to employment contract signing. So every employee of theirs has voluntarily signed & agreed to work under those rates. Nothing has ever changed, and nobody has been forced into anything, if they didn't agree with the rates then they could have easily walked out before contract signing. Yeah, I do admit that it's a bit sucky that the parks don't pay a lot of penalty rates, however I don't believe they are doing anything wrong, and I don't think the AWU really have a leg to stand on with this matter, especially given the time it has taken for them to flare up about it ?

As I mentioned in the other thread on the same issue, I personally don't understand why the non-payment of Sunday penalty rates in the parks has suddenly become an issue, given its been a practice of theirs for at least 15 years now. Wehen I worked at Sea World from 2002-2004, it was a flat rate 7 days a week. I've worked for them twice more since then, and nothing had changed. So I don't get the backdating to July 2015 thing, since it's been a standard practice from well before now? I also believe that Dreamworld has the same deal with their pay rates for a long, long time now. So why are they not being targeted by these protests, too? Yeah, VRTP always clarify straight up during their group interview orientations that they have an AWU/EBA agreement in place, as well as their hourly rates and lack of weekend penalty rates. However the AWU has recently been claiming in their protests that this was never actually approved by them to begin with. So who knows ?

It's interesting they mention that the only wages outstanding are Sunday rates. Every other hospitality industry I've worked within has also had Saturday, evening and early morning penalty rate loading on top of regular hours (including my current job as per my latest payslip, see below): Heaven knows how many times I had to work back past 7pm whilst working for VRTP, especially during extended trading hours. I'd be interested to know whether such rates should also be relevant to theme park employees as well, not just Sunday rates?

Ugh. Memories. My first real spin & spew experience when I was 19! My sister in law and I both got off this one dry retching and running for the closest toilet lol ?? Didn't do much better after riding Aussie World's Redback, hence why I tend to avoid these type of fast spinny rides now ?

Gah. Bit misleading. You said "the other day" in your original post. Lego store opening weekend was Jan 27-28th, nearly 2 months ago and, as @TomiJ has pointed out, still within interstate school holiday period ?

@Aimsley81 D'oh! Yep, I was there at that time, but up the back in the Corroboree watching all the early goings on toward the Stage 2 upgrade lol. I guess this adds to my list of exciting/interesting things that happen behind my back at the parks whilst I'm there, or have just left (although I dare say that there was one fateful day late last year that I'm very glad to have left the park when I did! I consider that a blessing ??) You're lucky to have gotten that experience haha! Should have asked them for a copy of the ride photo of the rollback, would have been hilarious ?

@MickeyD thank you! You're welcome ☺️ I try to be thorough with my coverage. I personally believe that the little things count just as much in the bigger picture! ??

What day, exactly? Every day I've been over the past fortnight (which has been a few times) hasn't had queue times that long. If anything it's been practically walk on, since it's off-peak atm. In fact last week we had to wait about 10 minutes for the minimum amount of people for ToTII to accumulate, just so we could ride it. So I'd love to know exactly what day you speak of when every man and his dog apparently attended the park?

Bugger. I was at Dreamworld today, but missed this moment lol. Around what time did it happen, @Aimsley81?

ust thought I'd point out one of the new improvements going on at WhiteWater World of late. I noticed this afternoon that a new sound system has been installed into the Cave of Waves wall, so now the park music and also the Huey wave warning can now be heard clear as day ☺️ Also I know it was a couple of months ago, but not sure if it was mentioned on here at the time - the original water effects for the wall have been restored (they were turned off in the above photos as it was just after 5pm, so here's a photo below from another recent day lol. New cabanas are also being built in place of the old Frozen coke stand that used to be behind the Green Room.

@themagician just for you

Not entirely a theme park per say, but stumbled across it on FB just now, and thought that it was worth the mention in here since Topgolf has been of interest lately. First golf. Now it looks like we have skiing on the way for the GC too ☺️? "Plans are underway for Queensland’s first snow park. A series of artificial ski slopes made out of synthetic material with properties similar to snow may be built on the Gold Coast." https://au.news.yahoo.com/video/watch/34624541/artificial-ski-slopes-planned-for-gold-coast/

Lol. Could be worse. I could be posting photos identical to the last lot that were shared as an 'update'. Decided to just do a brief post instead ? Lol no worries. Exactly the reason why I think it can't hurt to know if someone's had a look recently, that way we aren't all wasting trips out there, or wondering if we've missed something in each others absence. Sharing is caring, right? #teamwork ??