DaptoFunlandGuy

I understand the possible (and likely) situations for JR. But the park has said nothing, and the dates continue to extend and then disappear. The mortar\bolt explanation wasn't an official park explanation, and while I don't doubt its veracity (i'm sure its true), the park has still remained silent... So speculation can (and does) run rampant in a vacuum. On the other hand it's easy to assume that a ride receiving a retheme and refurbishment, that has identified some additional work and attention required and is being rectified without running off wildly into what ifs - because we already know the ride is being refurbed and rethemed. We know the endgame plans for the ride. There's no vacuum, so people are less likely to run off and make assumptions. What i'm saying is, even if the retheme isn't the explanation for the currently unpainted sections of track, we have a story from the park that suggests a ride future, so its harder to write off, whereas JR has no story, no endgame, no official word from the park - just a litany of date extensions. The two are different.

oh cool, so barring component failure, assuming average LED span of 10,000 hours, 7 operating hours a day, assume half that time for the lights on given regularly the changing scenes, 364 operating days - thats about 8 year lifespan, not accounting for maintenance downtime or out of hours events... pretty solid investment! 👍

Jet rescue hasn't been completely repainted, with new signage being installed for a new theme that was trademarked many months ago. I think its clear to everyone what Dreamworld's plans are with the coaster, because between Parkz digging up trademarks, the obvious, ongoing work on site with workmen regularly seen, and progress obvious from the carpark, and sneaky signage and theming photos from guests in-park - we've got a fair idea on the end game. Jet Rescue on the other hand has gone down for maintenance, repeatedly had its maintenance dates extended and eventually deleted entirely, photos of guests in park show what has to be fairly significant track\foundation work, and nobody from VRTP has said boo about the current situation. It's hardly 'the same' situation. And like with many things - an open, simple explanation of the current situation from the park satisfies, and an obscure, silent park lets the rumor mill run rampant.

There's actually a lot of things they can do in a short time. Routine inspection may have detected the need to replace a minor part that's a quick swap-out. It could be closed so that they can remove a train to the workshop, replace some minor drive or brake components, replace batteries on the trains - there's a million small things they could do where only one or two days are needed...

I'm wondering about the longevity of the disco room. Are the fixtures LED? Or are there traditional lamps that will inevitably burn out and not be replaced?

Erm.... it says so right there in your post: I'll guarantee you every theme park on the gold coast has an archive of old negatives, slides, photo albums, plans, drawings, concepts, artwork, etc etc. When wonderland closed, nobody had any use for them anymore, except Wonderbuzz and the Wonderland History site. Wonderbuzz spent literal months digitising every negative, every slide, scanning documents and plans to create much of what the Wonderland History page is today.

Oh sod off.

Did the $3Million include the disco room lighting upgrade? I thought that came later?

Surely that's a version we've seen already though, right? right???

Maybe when they finally decide on a layout? how many different versions of Leviathan have we seen now... 3?

my point being the 'old things people love' got knocked down for that 'white' behemoth. The ride is great. The loss of such a disneyesque facade is not.

All very good points @Slick - i for one am just happy Village is actually doing construction updates rather than pretending "nothing is behind the curtain" as they did with rivals. TO add to that, this also builds on the 'our theme parks are your theme parks' hook by reusing Kirby as the face of the 'family' company as we've discussed recently. This time of course he introduces himself and his position instead of a hurriedly added subtitle like the last video too. Unkle Clark will be a fairweather indication for village as they transition to the new owners, and the consistency is reassuring. (I just wish Clark didn't look like he'd snorted a bag of cocaine before the shoot - how much powder is on his face? Did he just come from shooting a fright nights video with ghost makeup or what?)

Village isn't known for penny pinching so that has to be the only conclusion. I'm not doubting what you're saying - your finger is usually on the pulse a lot better than my layperson's opinion, but its hard to not be cynical about Village cheaping out.

Now if they just painted non gaudy colours for the main street and cinema... #ohwait If they just got their two steam trains runn.... #ohwait If they could just put back all the slats on the thunder riv... #ohwait Sorry. i think i need a coffee.

ok, i'm a little confused, so here's a timeline. Q150 pass introduced - 6 months validity, expiring 30 June 2009 First VIP pass introduced 1 July 2009 which included the December-January blackout period. Email screenshot posted above dated 24/12/2009 ie- the first year of the pass Richard commenting on the prior year's abandonment of the blackout dates in June 2010 What am I missing here?

Shots fired!

Q150 was in 2008. The first VIP was 2009-2010.

You're assuming it does. There is no formal statement that stipulates 'the previously contractually agreed blackout dates on your passes no longer apply', but this is semantics. The last info I had was from October (after they stopped selling the passes) and the dates still applied at that time. You are correct it appears it was removed prior to the first blockout - i'll stand corrected on that point. However, regardless of the timing (by your suggestion, it was repealed 2 days before they came into effect), the point still stands that they HAD them, people AGREED to them, and then they REMOVED them. And there are only two reasons they'd do that; they faced a public backlash, or - Christmas holidays weren't as busy as they thought and they decided to bring in passholders to increase capacity. Now, since it appears they did that on the 24th of december, prior to the busy period (we all know its quieter in the couple weeks leading up to christmas), which one seems more likely? I do remember reading the backlash on social media. Unfortunately, the MyFun page no longer exists, so finding that now is impossible, and the Parkz search engine isn't cooperating with me today. If I can find it, i'll be sure to share. Just to add - the complaining started in August on Parkz. Don't tell me the wider public weren't also upset about terms and conditions that they clearly ignored:

The above thread ends in October 2009, so as to precisely when they canned the blackouts, I don't know, and your email doesn't necessarily confirm that. Either way - they had them, received backlash, and then reversed the decision, so my point still stands regardless of the timing.

I feel like the original 'world class' overhaul it was to get was to be far more than what we ended up with. No doubt the company went away with their scans, and came back with a costing, and then the bean counters chipped away until it was a price they were comfortable with, and we got what we have.

They tried a tiered pass a while ago - VIP Gold. gold passholders got extra benefits, including early access. Then, slowly, they whittled away the benefits the gold passholders got, or gave those benefits back to the regular passholders, negating the whole purpose of the gold pass in the first place. They've tried several things already, each time they face a social media backlash, and each time they relent. Remember when VIP had blockout dates? And then blocked passholders turned up on blocked dates and rained fury on them because they knowingly signed up for blockouts and then complained? I think we are still where we are at today because they've tried, got scared, and backpedalled. They need someone to have the courage to take a big step. Covid is a perfect excuse to raise the bar and shrug 'but covid! *shrug*' People will complain. But if they really want to be annual passholders they'll figure out a way. And if they don't, it might alleviate the pressure on the park capacity to a point where day pass holders can actually do the park in a day again (outside of off-peak times).

I know it doesn't seem like it, but the skill game prizes vs. merch cost is very different. If you watched Rober's video above, you'll know the prizes themselves cost very little - they aren't the greatest quality to begin with. Putting licensed, or merch product there instantly tips the scales on costs - which generally means the odds need to be stacked higher to make it profitable.

That's my point. Its done so brilliantly on a more challenging space. Didn't the company that did the 'mapping' for scooby have lasers scanning the disco room and everything? and we end up with the crappy blank walls in the ghost train section? Sorry, I know the scooby projection mapping digs have been done to death, but I was just so blown away by Luminescent, I just find it unfathomable that a non profit (with a little help from gov. grants) could put on such a spectacular show, on multiple angles and surfaces, and meanwhile Village struggles with a flat wall?

you've got to allow reaction time for that too. Bang> thud> what the...? > oh shit > slam Estop. Judging by what I saw there wasn't much of a delay for the operator.