DaptoFunlandGuy

Given most passholders have this as an inclusion, I didn't expect them to do much.

I had lots of thoughts here but i'll go with this one. The general public sentiment towards Dreamworld and Village at the moment would tend to agree.

The hotel room designs for Nara are from the 80s, and much of the cosmetic upgrades since that time have very much been the definition of 'lipstick on a pig'. The Executive suites are the only area of the hotel currently worthy of boasting about, and even they are probably overdue for a refurbishment. I'm confused about their target market here given the floorplan represents a double \ queen configuration. Either you're marketing this to families who need space, in which case you should have some bunks in the back, or you're setting this up to be a premium, private couples retreat - in which case there should only be one king size bed, with the extra space given over to a private dining table perfect for romantic room service dinners watching the sunset. Looking at their current room pricing (midweek, outside of school holidays, non member rate for two adults) shows the following pricing for a room: (recording here for posterity so if these cabins get built we can see if it impacts the scale for the current water view rooms) If you didn't bother to read all of those, basically you've got 5 different refurbs across the resort, with two doubles, two queens, or a king as your bedding options unless you go with a suite (of which they are limited in number). Kings are only available in waterview rooms, and cost $20 less than a double queen room with the same view because the room is smaller. Changing from a queen to a double in any category will save you $20, losing the water view but keeping the bed the same will save you $20, doing both will save you $40, and if you're ok with the oldest fitout, smallest beds and no view, you can save an extra $40 again. That's 10 different room categories \ configurations with $100 between them all. Suites start at $50 above that. The 1 storey cabins all face the broadwater, and so add to the stocks similar to the Executive Suites with private space and undisturbed views. Most of the two storey cabins (which I assume are designed to suit families) are overlooking either SkyFortress (replacing the resort's hedge maze underneath the old monorail track) or the massive heatsink that is the Muriel Henchman Park carparking area (replacing the children's playground space on the north side of the resort) TL:DR - This doesn't feel very well thought out. The resort has every possible combination of room offering, and occupancy isn't an issue for most of the year outside of peak holiday periods. They're adding capacity because on paper the new rooms provide additional inventory when they eventually try to sell, but the resort doesn't need more rooms - it needs to upgrade it's existing facilities as some areas are in desperate need of a renovation.

This term is degrading into being used to describe anything that is generated with AI assistance and is losing all meaning. Slop is usually mass produced content generation for engagement farming rather than things like this, though I know some in the anti-AI camp will label everything as slop without realising it's just normalising the word and robbing the impact from truly useless application of the tools. I do like how they are trying to integrate the exterior development as a type of 'citywalk' and if they actually build something like this, I think it will invigorate the park as more of a destination. I am a bit saddened that the grand disney-esque entrance is losing prominence, especially as the approach is not 'front on' so you never truly appreciate the grandeur of the design. In case you missed it, the guy pushing the development left the company, and the company itself is now embroiled in an embezzlement scandal that is yet to be resolved. Wonderland had hotel development plans too - though it never eventuated due to a mix of planning approval hold ups and eventually the loss of funding with the ownership sale. The thing about these plans and announcements though is to excite people enough to jump on board. People invest in things they think will pay off. If everyone shits on the idea, nobody is going to invest and you're creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. Parks bringing people to the coast mean they need somewhere to stay. All the parks being on the northern gold coast creates a vacuum between the surfers accommodation bubble and the parks up north requiring shuttles or rental cars to transport the family. Additionally with accommodation so far away from the park, when the park closes, everyone jumps on smith street to head back for dinner. It's pretty obvious accommodation is needed on the northern gold coast. Paradise country has high occupancy, the Big 4 at Helensvale is routinely packed out, and both major tourism operators have proposed multiple accommodation developments over decades. They all recognise the need for it - they just need the right people, and the right time. I'll go with the analogy - you announce you're ready to make the baby so you can let potential sperm donors know you're interested in their services.

Not their photo. Credit (which was included in the golden years post) goes to @daniel_mitchell1980 on instagram

Doomsday was an attraction the park needed. we all said it when it was announced. It was just unfortunate it was a lemon, and then it was further nerfed. The area itself is still a great area for people to take photos of theming, and it is a theme park. for DC fans out there, having some of those set pieces available is better than nothing.

I take your points on management I see the comments have already said almost everything I was going to say - however just to recap \ add onto the pile-on: It opened on Boxing day 2005 to be precise - so as far as i'm concerned, it's a 2006 baby as far as age goes. It's not even 21 yet. Based on Brad's estimates, If it only had 10 years left when it was 25, that means it's got closer to 15 now making it far more worthwhile of an investment to keep running Adding to this, this 20 year old ride consistently gets the longest or second longest queues in the park behind Rivals. They would be stupid to get rid of it without a plan to fill the gap They don't need an upswing in visitation, but they do need to maintain their current levels - losing what was for many years the park's flagship, that still pulls crowds as big as the hypercoaster next door, as well as the 720pph theoretical capacity loss to the park. BGH are certainly tightening the belts, it's what private equity does, so isn't a surprise - but that rule doesn't apply to capital improvements. They need to maintain or improve the valuation of the asset before they sell - they're not here to make money and so far the investments that have occurred haven't paid off - though possibly because part of the money for that went on someone's pergola or kitchen. If the new launch can potentially hit a higher launch speed on the hat, even if they trim it off afterwards, the new top speed would be something marketable. As for the queue changes - I haven't heard anything recently about it - but I believe they had intended to do them during downtime, but pulled it when the park had capacity issues in order to get the ride back online. These things are scheduled a ways in advance so they may not have had another 'slot' to do the work in until the next cycle - it could happen sooner than we think I'm curious why you think Superman would require a track replacement in the next 10 years? Even with your incorrect age assessment that would only put it at 35 years, and meanwhile there are old arrow coasters built in the early 70's that still operate today, almost 60 years later. Revolution at SFMM turned 50 this year as did Cedar Point's Corkscrew. To be fair, if they keep axing entertainment, they won't need the parade float storage they've already got.

Curious how you can be so confident?

I suspect whatever they're doing in the next downtime is designed to keep it alive over summer.

Alright, but you started it. Road Runner Rollercoaster is listed on the park's website as a 'kids ride' and is located in the children's section of the park, is marketed as 'perfect for young kids' with 'thrill level - mild' and has a minimum 110cm height requirement. Kansas Twister is listed on the park's website as a 'thrill ride', is located in WOZ land, is marketed as 'thrilling' with 'thrill level - moderate' with a minimum 95cm rider height. Flight of the Wicked Witch is listed on the park's website as a 'family ride', is located in WOZ land, is marketed as 'wickedly fast' with 'thrill level - moderate' and has a minimum 105cm height requirement. Height requirement has nothing to do with marketability. The lowest height requirement on the three rides above is actually categorised and listed as the most thrilling, and the ride with the highest requirement is marketed as the 'lowest thrill' tier for kids.

So, if i'm to understand you correctly - a park should reduce hours or not open during periods where visitation is low? #whataconcept

Is that because BRB Coaster has theming elements that the train interacts with? :sigh:

Just because the invoice says Sea World, doesn't mean the money didn't go into someone's backyard entertainment space.

You should complain a little louder about how they aren't open for the whole year.

I think that's a short-sighted and narrow-minded view. The ride has always been lambasted as unsuitable. Ride experience, ridiculous dispatch times and uncomfortable and restrictive harnesses, themeing and location, none of it worked and it was a poor decision from management whom we now know should never have operated a theme park. Current leadership have shown that they are willing to go the extra mile to deliver an immersive and cohesive experience, albeit within budgetary constraints. MDMC stuck out like a sore thumb against the backdrop of their flagship Rivertown, and management made it very clear that while they couldn't fix it during the construction of Rivertown, they would move to change that as soon as they were able. The retheme will fix the issues of theme and location, the new trains will fix the harnessing issues, while simultaneously improving the ride experience - which - based on what the park has said - will also be enhanced by additional themeing elements too. While we don't yet have information on whether this will speed up operations, I feel confident that anything has to be better than those trains, so thats a plus also. Everything they've announced goes directly to fixing the inherent issues with the ride since day 1 while focussing on improving the park as a whole, bit by bit. There's very little in terms of direction and capex at Dreamworld in recent times that I could complain about. I was never really a fan of MDMC - but i'm keen to see what they can do with it - rather than shit on it before it's even started.

agreed. the station will remain single sided. Hopefully Dreamworld commit to operating with two stations and staffing it accordingly.

i've no idea what part it played in this tragedy - but i'm always comforted by Australian standards requiring a seatbelt. Sure it takes longer to load and dispatch, but that little extra safeguard gives a lot of peace of mind.

given the shop goes practically up to the rail line, it seems reasonable to assume that any opposite side exit would lead back under the brake run and into the shop. Not sure there's room under the brake run for it though.

Yeah, Dreamworld's marketing staff have produced some really cringe promo videos in the past, but being in house, and not needing multiple layers of approval for every step does pay off at a grass roots level for those very reasons.

it's not just the hours either. I've seen two separate unrelated instances of their absolute contempt for the guest experience in recent months: An annual pass, sold with a '12 month' photo pass. T&Cs said if the annual pass wasn't activated within 3 months it would start at the end of the 3 month period. The photo pass which was included with the annual pass stated it had to be activated within 3 months or it was void. An error on the passholder's part, but it's not an unreasonable assumption that inclusions sold with an annual pass would have similar validity rules. Guest services in park and over the phone had zero interest or empathy for the situation and were not empowered by the organisation to do anything to try to salvage the guest experience when they visited for the first time after the 3 month cut off. Both In-park guest services and the call centre provided an email address (but not the SAME email address) and one email address responded pretty much 'rules are rules' and closed the ticket. The other, after over a month, eventually came to the party and provided the guest with a photo pass that would last the remainder of the annual pass validity. A family holidaying on the GC purchased 3-day tickets to Village (which requires the 3 days to be consecutive visits) and after visiting on day 1, two of the kids tested positive for Influenza-A. The mum tried reaching out to guest services to see if there was anything they could do with the tickets so that they could use them once the kids were feeling better \ not contagious and just got a flat out no. Again this came across as guest services were just not given any flexibility to try to plus the guest experience, and 'rules are rules' was the general vibe. This has only just happened so i'm not sure of the outcome of any email escalation the family may have done, but I did see this morning that Dreamworld has actually commented on the mum's social media post offering them two-day tickets to Dreamworld when the kids are feeling better. Like i'm all for the park reducing hours if it isn't profitable to operate - especially in the off season. Dreamworld as been doing this for a while and almost nobody has had a problem with it. But you have to care about the guest experience, and that's the main difference here. At this stage they're just making it so easy for Dreamworld to ride in like the white knight and save the day. Cutting back on events, removing entertainment, reducing hours and reducing the ability for guest services to... provide services to guests... - it's clear VR are slashing everything they can to save a buck. The tables have absolutely turned on the GC, and Dreamworld is fast becoming the new top dog.

I'm sure they have years of data on visitation over the period. if the additional hours don't make them more money, why spend it? People come to the GC, they visit the parks regardless of the opening hours. This is just going to tank wait times and guest experience, but BGH will already have their ticket money. I don't agree with this philosophy... but if its the most profitable angle, I can see why they're doing it. I said all this when Skeet was banging on about Dreamworld's trading hours - seems kinda relevant now

Say the line, @New display name !

it's certainly unusual. I'm quite sure there's a good reason.