DaptoFunlandGuy

*removes crown* And thats the post that does it folks - all hail and bow down to @themagician as your new leader!

That is so fucking hypocritical. You want to lift the standards on the forum, but its ok to treat people like dog-shit if they've gotten things wrong. You guys foster an environment where its ok to do that but then slam anyone else who follows your example. The difference is if I cross the line, I wear the penalty - whereas if you do.... its perfectly fine. The issue is they fucked around trying to fix it for so long that this 'window' never occurred. They've only started confirming it in the past few months. As I've already said - i'm quite happy to agree that you and I have a different opinion, and neither of us have to agree with the other person's point of view - but if we're going to continue having double-standard nastiness when i've tried to be reasonable and diplomatic - i'm quite happy to turn over an old leaf.

But this isn't a case of "we closed it, now we can charge people" its a case of "we did it all the time when it was open - whats the difference with doing it now that it's closed? its still an experience that people were willing to pay for before". I find your use of alternating caps insulting, implying mockery of my own words thrown back as an insult by using that format. I don't mind the spirited debate but when i'm chipped on this forum for not exercising a certain level of decorum and respect, openly mocking my opinion is extraordinarily disrespectful.

You're certainly entitled to disagree with me. Doesn't prove either of us is wrong. The climb was part of a unique experience you couldn't do anywhere else. Nothing has changed about that except that the ride has been decommissioned. I personally don't see why they can't still offer the climb on Rivals instead, but since that apparently has higher safety requirements that Arkham didn't it was obviously too hard to do. As for being asked the awkward questions, Village has never shied away from upcharging things and deflecting the questions with the usual copypasta PR speak answers. Why change now? As for "Parkz" being against half arsed attractions - we're not a collective hive-mind and entitled to have differing opinions. (Proven here by me not agreeing with you). I personally don't like half arsed attractions (but that hasn't stopped the GC parks in the past), but it wasn't considered a half arsed attraction when the ride operated - and almost nothing has changed now, except the ride doesn't operate anymore (and given it didn't operate while you climbed it - there'd be no difference to climbing it today except maybe a missing lift chain). There are plenty of people (arguably most of them not 'enthusiasts') on social media who continue to discuss Arkham \ Lethal and how much they liked it. You could probably make a bit of coin marketing the climb "climb the Arkham Asylum tower one final time before it's gone for good!" - just look at how many people on social media decried the announcement that wipeout, towerr of terror, arkham, vikings, bermuda, etc etc closed down with virtually no warning and all the people that were hoping to get on it one last time. Adding on a 'ground-level' experience, letting people inside the envelope for a unique picture you couldn't take during operations isn't a terrible idea either. Plenty of non enthusiast folk have fond memories of certain rides as their first, or the place where they met their spouse, or the place they proposed etc etc. There's a market out there. And not doing it solely because you can't PR spin your way out of a few questions that some people might think to be awkward suggests you probably couldn't fight your way out of a wet paper bag and therefore probably shouldn't be in business. Just because it isn't your bag, that doesn't mean others wouldn't go for it, nor does it prove this is no more than a superficial concept. It is my opinion, I am entitled to it, and you are entitled to disagree. I'm happy to agree to disagree and leave if there if you like, but i'm not backing down from my opinion simply because someone holds a different view. Have a nice day.

Yeah, maybe. I'm not convinced. Its an experience you can't offer on an operating ride unless you get up at a sparrows fart. I knnow non-enthusiasts who enjoy this type of experience (bridgeclimb etc) and while arkham isn't as high, its still quite a unique thing to do.

Why is that funny?

Wait - what do I do with the fundraiser money? I guess i'll announce that i'm cancelling it, but not actually return everyone's money for a bit... Are you sure I can't interest you in a slightly used koala instead?

See, I find that frustrating. They offer a cheaper price for passholders to do something. Then they water down the product, and offer a 'discount' which doesn't actually amount to a discount if you're already a passholder because they don't offer the package 'without admission' like they used to. Most "vip" theme park experiences i've done or researched around the world have specifically noted 'does not include park entry' or 'a valid park entry ticket is required to participate in this experience' etc. etc. One of the biggest selling points for the star tour was the behind the scenes unique experiences you couldn't do any other way - scooby walk and coaster climb. I mean, heck - since Arkham is just sitting there anyway, if there is anyway that they could make it safe for guests, why not do the climb? why not allow guests into the envelope for a unique photo opportunity amongst the track? Or up close with the dark knight statue? My god these people are idiots.

..and a smaller shoe

It must have changed, but I could have sworn when Star Tour was initially released, it didn't include park entry?

Heck, that's cheaper than a koala. Doesn't look like its on a trailer though. You better tack on $20,000 for transport and refurbishment costs.

Depends on the phase you're in. Second dose is supposed to be 12 weeks after the first dose. Phase 1b (current phase) is open to frontline healthcare and emergency response workers, those with disabilities, and really fat people. That'd put their second dose in July. Masks were mandated in the 8 January lockdown for Greater Brisbane. I haven't kept track of the whole state, but we've definitely had localised mask wearing rules in the south east on more than one occasion. To be fair, you said 'in qld' not 'qld wide'. Fact is with the amount of folk who commute between 'greater brisbane' and the GC (and vice versa) the GC should have been included in the brisbane lockdowns we've had and mask wearing should have been required - especially at the parks. My guess is in a competition between tourism and health priority, tourism won out. I prefer the more cautious approach, but so far it hasn't hurt the gold coast and I pray it doesn't as the GC tourism industry really can't afford another big hit. That'll be interesting considering the many passholders that have fright nights included in their passes.

Too many slats.

The movie industry has been a lot quieter with covid over the past year - the only thing that comes to mind is maybe wonder woman?

Yeah it's been a while since i've been to the RES, but I still prefer it to Ekka. I had the opportunity to visit Ekka before they developed the old showbag hall into event space and erected the permanent temporary monstrosity - so i've seen both of its two most recent incarnations. As for my opinion on how the grounds stand today, they are a shell of what they once were. The entire precinct is choked by the railway bifurcation, funnelling everyone through two relatively narrow thoroughfares. Between this and the land sell-offs, areas are fragmented - splitting similar areas of interest off from each other and moving them to other places to accommodate them. It becomes even harder to navigate closer to the evening when EkkaNites starts as the vomatorium for the arena feeds into one of two major routes to get around the grounds, choking that passage, with little alternative. The grounds on a whole are hilly, and to get around to see everything you're essentially hill climbing all day long. The 'public transport' accessibility to the Ekka relies primarily on the Exhibition loop line, meaning that although it is capable of moving large amounts of people out of the precinct, it dumps them at a metropolitan station that is busy enough without exhibition traffic, requiring an interchange - so that just makes it worse. Unfortunately the earliest images for the RNA grounds on Nearmap are October 2009, and although some development had already occurred, you can see the land selloff continued throughout the past decade: October 2009 (oldest image) August 2012 (during Ekka) August 2018 (during Ekka) March 2021 (most recent)

Ditto - i think this might be due to the claw-style shortened seatbelts on the trains.

Which is stupid.

The amount of spin on this statement is making me dizzy. Genting was a bidder in a tender process run by the Singaporean government to award the contract to develop Sentosa island into a tourism destination. Genting - which is first and foremost a Casino operator - was bidding to obtain the lucrative casino licence. A theme park was part of the tender specifications - it was a requirement for those bidding for the contract. Genting took the easiest solution and simply partnered with another park chain to operate the park. It is extraordinarily telling that, even though the park was not ready to open, and numerous rides would not open for months after, Universal soft opened for previews (with zero rides running) on the 14th of February 2010 - the same date the RWS Casino opened for full-time operations. The park was a condition of Casino licence, not the other way around.

Dad... did you get me a Hippo from ALDI?

...and i said if you can't see it there is no point trying to convince you further.

If you can't see it, there is no point trying to convince you further. This kind of apathy is why our parks only aim for "its ok" instead of "HOLY SHITBALLS THATS AMAZING". I visited both parks in their early days. I have a different opinion. Just gonna have to agree to disagree.

Tagging @Slick

So, no source. gotcha. Certainly several things about Hong Kong were scaled back as the company was tightening its belt at the time. And it was a mistake. However, the design of the park was always the flawed way it opened. They did market research, expecting the bulk of their traffic to come from mainland chinese tourists, who did not like high thrill attractions, and preferred photo opportunities, meet and greets, and shows. HKers expected and wanted more, and so did the many international tourists that travelled through hong kong and stopped off to visit the park. It's telling that the two things in-park that cater to the chinese demographic in chinese language were the Jungle Cruise and the Golden Mickeys, and that such a large portion of Fantasyland was dedicated to the Fantasy Gardens character meet and greets. Many others attractions - Philharmagic, Space Mountain, Sleeping Beauty Castle were all copies \ clones which saved on design and development costs - but Hong Kong isn't the only park to take advantage of cloned attractions to spread the R&D costs - but they still cost a bit to build. Regarding the murals - the problem is such a nice to look at object inside the objectively narrow pathway through the castle would inevitably lead to the castle pathways choking with hoards of photographers eager to capture every angle. It was a prudent move to keep the interior of the castle bare to keep the crowds moving towards the far more spacious and appealing sights of fantasyland. As for space filler, sure - things like UFO Zone could be considered space fillers (it was actually another shrewd "appeal to the local kids" design)- but you point to that as a way to cheap out when in reality - instead of custom designing buzz lightyear water features, they could have just left it grass, or construction wall and called it a day. The fact is that they did frequently hit park capacity, especially around chinese holidays such as New Years, so much so that the park had to revise its ticketing policy and park capacity to manage demands. Hong Kong's budget was definitely restricted compared to what it SHOULD have been on day one. And they certainly scaled things back as a result, but I don't agree that they 'cut corners' - the "flaws" you point to about the park were allegedly deliberate design choices to cater to the local market. Right down to the alignment of the park, and bends in pathways, placement of fountains and stone sculptures to satisfy the requirements of Feng Shui.

Cheaper to re-theme Giant Drop as 'tower of terror' since the name fits. Wouldn't be the first time a ride name has been recycled almost immediately after the old one closed....

Just remember - the first announcement of WestCOT was in 1991, stalled in 95 where they changed track to DCA, a further 3 years of design, and then another 3 years of construction before they opened California Adventure - and that was still botched so hard they had to close it 6 years later for a complete overhaul. ...I mean, unless you're saying we're living in a Covid world for another 15 years or so?