DaptoFunlandGuy

Ok, so at this point, with TOT, Wipeout and log ride gone, big red car and flowrider to be removed, Buzzsaw, Sidewinder and Giant Drop closed for maintenance, despite the additional months they had to get everything online for re-opening, and the covid-safe attraction closures of Mad Jungle Jam Play School Art Room iPads Corroboree Face Painting Experience Corroboree Virtual Reality Experience Animal Experiences LEGO Interactive Building Area LEGO Mini Figure Station ...we can NOW lambast them for having so many rides closed on reopening, just as MW did.

Yeah it was a mist, rather than smoke. It was a really cool effect though.

Agree here. In 94 when I made the first pilgrimage, the 3 Park Super Pass was the bargain that everyone went for because you got 4 park days for the one low price - and you even got to CHOOSE which one you went to on your fourth day. I never saw Dreamworld in the 90s... but at least I have the Golden Years to look back on...

I'm just gonna send the crown out to be polished in time for @themagician's coronation. At this rate he's gonna have it by Christmas! Fountains don't reduce it @Rydah Hi

I guess it depends on the generation, but kids in the 90's and early 00's growing up in the 'blockbuster' era would well know the well the West teaser that appeared on a majority of VHS movies somewhere between the copyright warning and the feature presentation. I visited MW in '94, and being from Sydney, my next was in '04 - and I didn't know about Lethal until I started planning my 04 trip. But you can bet I knew about WWF. Lethal opened in '95, and WWF opened in '98. So I guess if your criteria is for folks out of town, its hard to argue WWF isn't a major icon as far as MW goes, but for you as a local, probably less so. From what I recall, the tower effects were triggered by a separate button on the control console, so the lead operator would depress both dispatch and effect start simultaneously. (the load station had other effects including sound, smoke, lights, and also a retractable roof over the launch bay, many of which were quickly disabled) There was no link between the drop system and the TVs and the timing was all worked out by the team that installed the effects (I believe the triggers ran off a little x486 PC backstage) based on a new ride. I don't believe they were ever updated as the ride wore in, ropes stretched, winches replaced etc, as they weren't integral to the rides PLC, so they kept their day-1 timings for the life of the ride. Theoretically the operator could vary the timing of the drop by changing when they pressed the effects trigger. Later in the piece, module 2 suffered some electrical issues rendering it permanently impaired compared to unit 1 and 3. (I don't remember exactly what was wrong but it was electrical, and the module was essentially kept on life support most of its life). It operated at a slower speed, which is why you'd see gondolas rising at different rates. It caused all sorts of issues with the PLCs expecting the gondola to arrive within a certain time after dispatch before a PLC error shut it down. The maintenance techs fixed the issue by chucking some one-shot timers into the relay that essentially fooled the PLC into thinking they all arrived together. This threw out the timing of the effects which also meant drops sometimes occurred several seconds after the TVs reached zero and went blank - and in some cases the TVs finished their sequence before you even got to the top. TL:DR - the effects were always intended to drop on zero, and the psych-out drops on anything but zero were completely unintentional. Sorry to ruin your childhood...

Nope.

Honestly, and I mean this with respect - I feel like thats sorta the mark they need to aim for. Having a price point that most families just renew each year without considering budget is a sure-fire way for the park to be overcrowded, and for them to stay in that 'bargain basement' hole that Q150 landed them in. Lifting the price where some of them start to drop out, or only buy every couple of years is probably where they need to be - and those who don't renew are easily covered by the increased price of all the ones that are purchased. $200 sounds more than reasonable for what you get - and again as Joz said - perhaps Dreamworld slightly undercutting that mark would be fine, but Dreamworld at $200 (with everything open) is pretty reasonable too.

I frequently hear and read people referring to it as 'the joker ride' and honestly 'joker's revenge' probably would have been just fine. For me, Bermuda should rise to the top of these lists, and i'm surprised most of the early replies made no mention of it. The volcano in the middle of the park spewing fire, and the amazing theming on a shoestring budget that blew away the Disney folk who visited. Obviously i'm talking about it in it's prime. Space probe, while no Giant Drop, had an awesome marketing campaign and storyline, the tie-ins with Ann Sanders and channel 7, the effects and theming, and the overall integration into the park by using it for the night-time laser show on the lake, perched above the waterfall... but again i'm talking about it in its prime.

Hopefully they utilise the audio system better with the new theme.

It's been said before so I'll try to keep it brief - the beginning of the end was the Q150 pass in 2008. Prior to that, we had regular cycles of attractions, and for most people, visiting was a 'big event'. The sub-$100 all-inclusive pass has been a huge thing to step away from, and our parks have only recently begun to move away from that. Pre-2008, an annual pass for VRTP was about $399 for all 3 parks. Now we have "four" parks, plus multiple night events for less than half that - and while there are some economies by lowering the price to a level that more people will buy them - that impacts on the overall experience as the parks have more people in them - more than they can handle some days - and yet because of the lower gate revenue (and the decreased per-cap spend from frequent-return visitors) costs have to be cut - like running multiple trains, staffing rides with the most efficient numbers to pump crowds through - and it suffers all around. I'd happily pay $399 for a VRTP pass - but unfortunately that much jump to most current passholders is a huge barrier as they won't see what benefits they get for such a huge increase - and so we're stuck with incremental increases each year (plus giving away the increase with additional sweeteners, effectively killing any profit increase they could have made. Ok that was longer than I thought it'd be, but that's the big issue. To be honest, rather than dropping the prices to bring people back, I think Covid is a perfect excuse to justify increasing the prices across the board without giving any extra, as it will justify 'less people allowed means higher costs' and sets the new standard for higher prices into the future.

Those footerings look pretty screwed - apart from the track issues, it seems like the foundations have some issues?

This is the precise position I was speaking from - I guess to explain why they took a money making asset out, presumably because the location was needed from something else, and decided since they had it they could continue to make money from it with little effort by shoving it in a shitty location, simply because that location had what they needed to make it work. That doesn't mean I share that position - i'm simply putting myself in the shoes of the management who thought it was a good idea. I did suggest that with what I said earlier:

wasn't that removed for the Dreamworks entrance? Oh yeah because a half dozen remote control arcade devices are going to solve the financial woes of an entire mismanaged theme park. You still don't throw away assets with a very positive earning potential for no reason. The wonderland units are still in operation. I've no idea what Dreamworld did with theirs.

This doesn't address the revenue though. Those things make money. The ones at Wonderland would make an absolute mint for very little upkeep. So when the park has these assets sitting there, that could be making money, the bin is a ridiculous suggestion. As Gazza and Slick both point out - they SHOULD have put them elsewhere. My only question is where, and the bin is not a viable answer (even if it may be the correct one)

To be clear, I did say And that doesn't translate to I agree, another place in the park would have been dandy. To be honest, i'm trying to think of what other spots in the park they could have put it at such minimal cost? You can't put it in the river given underwater obstacles, and the need to erect booms to prevent the boats from going outside the effective range of the controllers - where else could it go?

That isn't what I said.

Used to be where the Nick\Dreamworks entrance is, didn't they? Agree - using the fountain for that sort of thing was a bit tasteless, but if you have an asset that can generate revenue unused after a refurb - why wouldn't you deploy it in another capable location? I'd have loved to have seen them run in the wipeout pool - that would've been fun.

...because that concept has worked so well for them in the past!

I think you need to go back to economics class kiddo. In theme parks, The local product isn't produced overseas for cheaper than we can produce ourselves. (there are other products overseas, that can be obtained for similar costs as I mentioned above, but its not the SAME product produced in both locations) The locally produced product relied on government industry subsidy in order to keep making the product with a more expensive labour base in order to prop employment. You can't offshore a local theme park, so it isn't going to happen the same way. I understand what you're trying to say, but your comparison to the automotive industry just doesn't work. The horse is dead.

the 500 is apparently 5% of capacity and is in line with what the NSW gov has permitted. The session system introduced is similar to what Luna Park Sydney is doing too. But yes as you say - with such limited people in park, it could make it worthwhile as you wouldn't have so much in the way of queues.

Will it still come with Pine'O'Cleen lemon edition?

Are they really garden beds if there are no living plants in them? or are they just tree graveyards? I'm surprised not much has been said about Raging Waters Sydney in here. So they reopen soon, they're limited to 500 guests in park, so they're doing 2 x 4 hour sessions, at a cost of $50 per person, no season passes, although they're saying on socials that the money spent on sessions can be put towards the cost of a season pass 'when they become available'. My initial reaction was that $50 for four hours sounded like a joke - they're also doing a longer 6 hour trade for their opening day (still limited to 500) for $75, including a meal combo. So basically $25 per 2 hours either way (with the meal combo for free). There's a lot of outrage on their socials about how expensive it is, especially with no season passes, but when I had a look at WNWGC, a 7 hour day ticket costs $79 - so really its not outside normal rates... They have one of the towers closed, and the lazy river too, as well as sky coaster - but this seems on par with WnW as well... any thoughts on this? or it's in sydney so who cares?

^true, but if we're talking specifically about the theme park industry - you don't really want to be going to bali.

Honestly unless you live close to the gold coast, the same applies. It's cheaper for people in VIC, SA and WA to go to Singapore or Hong Kong and experience a far superior 'asian import' experience