DaptoFunlandGuy

To be fair though, SeaScrewCorkViper had had a massive overhaul - rebranding, the works, and the word from VRTP management was that they were going to do 'anything' they could to keep it running as long as possible. We know the outcome there - and i fear that may be the case for wipeout if it keeps having the same issues.

Lol that it's being sold by a guy named 'Andrew'. My first thought was it had been pilfered, but by the sounds of things, an excess product souvenired from pre-construction... It looks pretty damn sizeable too. TBH i'd say its a bargain at the asking price!

That's actually a pretty good deal. Even with the recent 6x8 photo special for $10, getting ride photos are an expensive add-on to a trip. Having them included is a boon for guests. And although they'll only be electronic, for most people, thats the only place they put them these days - prints are less and less relevant with each passing year.

Movie World have definitely lost 'the show' aspect of their staff. Above all else - this is what they need to work on improving. We can worry about shitty burgers later.

I think in general usage - using it as a descriptive term to describe an action, it works (for example - in Richards quote above) - the context is clear. Using it as the sole word to describe the action however - the word doesn't have the usage. That's just so Rufus.

Thanks for the update Jack. Glad you're on top of the latest developments!

Look, although Parkz does have a better reputation, and generally don't stake their reputation on 'trust us' - at the end of the day without a source to point to, it's still just as much speculation as any silly little blog... It may well turn out to be correct, and i daresay, it probably will, but until the Park issues a statement to that effect, or some other concrete form of evidence, it is still just speculation.

Others did.

Is the retheme occurrence confirmed somewhere by the park or an insider or is this just an assumption based on the length of downtime? Just curious...

You're wrong @pushbutton - I think these quips and puns are mexcellent! ...but just in queso you didn't know, but every juan loves mexican food. I'm sure we'd have many kids lining up outside the park overnight to secure their first bite - but i'm sure they don't avocado.

A regular park goer may not... But with skin in the game, one would expect the indoor roller coaster to be stripped of themeing, as one would be following the updates given on that attraction... Likewise, the enthusiast would also probably have talked about the current themeing issues with the people they're visiting with, mentioning the current state to their fellow park goers in advance - rather than being embarrassed about it - one would appear knowledgeable to their associates and have prepared them for the inevitable disappointment that is a bare bones ride to set their expectations low...

Re: the villains unleashed area, TBH the day they decided to 'make them free' to use, they should have just replaced the wristband reader with a small button to trigger the feature. Clearly people defacing \ stealing the wristbands for souvenirs was going to happen - and now people can't use them. Surely rewiring the RFID reader to have a simple button wouldn't be that difficult. In saying that, clearly the prime issue here is the customer service aspect of the day - much of the park's condition can be overlooked if you've had a pleasant human interaction throughout. We went to Dreamworld for Mother's Day yesterday. Every single staff member we interacted with or wandered past would greet us, ask how our day was, and especially - wishing my wife a Happy Mother's Day. Whilst the condition of the park is left wanting in many places right now (and whilst this certainly doesn't excuse it) every interaction we had brightened our day. If the executives of village roadshow are reading - they need to put more effort into their customer service efforts. Even Bunnings staff are encouraged to greet every customer they pass - i've walked past two staff having a conversation in the middle of the warehouse and had them stop their conversation just to say hello and ask if we needed any help. It's not hard - although having a lower age group as your primary human resources is a challenge - its no excuse - and simply issuing a directive that all customers should be greeted is a simple thing to implement that would change every guest's day for the better.

Of course it will! After the polar ice caps melt, and the world is flooded, Dreamworld will continue to delight its guests inside a giant Habitat Waterford!

They did that opposite Intencity for a while. Wasn't always open, provided simple food that was tasty - although it was still pretty pricey. I am actually a fan of this style of outlet\cart - Wonderland had one right next to one of my positions for a while - the smell was torture but tasted so good when I'd get it for lunch... I guess the difficulty is they're typically small carts, single cast member, and there can be a lot of wastage due to the need to cook sausages in advance. I like the idea... obviously it suits the western area perfectly - although I think the 'stall' it was set up in was bulldozed for Villains Unleashed - I'd like to see it return, rather than the hotdog vendors in main street - and this comes full circle on the original point - a sausage in a bun, with onion and sauces, although simple, and cheap, in the right (western) setting is just that one step more authentic than a hotdog... bring it on!

Meh - on the coast. too far for me. Reading the menu, it seems they make it and serve it with the Jus on the side, instead of actually dunking the whole roll prior to serving. that's not a true french dip...

The first step on that road is for the executives within the park to actually eat the food on a regular basis - like @Mark Shaw did at AW. And not something that is pre-prepared with the knowledge that the boss is going to be eating it - get a mystery shopper type person to order it for them, and take it to them in the middle of a lunch rush, and again in the late afternoon before closing, so that they can actually sample what their guests receive. I've always found the chips to be lacking, and the bread to be day old. the fillings are generally not the problem, they're usually quite tasty - but the rest is what lets it down on a regular basis. As for the bakery \ deli - while people do seek the healthy option, I don't know many people that go to a theme park and go "i'll just have a sandwich" - sure - the Reuben and the like - something special or unique to the market, sure - but traditional run of the mill sandwiches are just plain boring. I'd like to see them introduce a french dip roll. THAT is a simple thing, that will mask bread quality issues, and - i don't know anywhere in SEQ that does one - so it would be DIFFERENT enough that people would want to try it. (I've seen many french dip roast rolls on Man Vs. Food and they all look amazing) - speaking of - take a look at Man Vs. Food episodes to get an idea of some amazing unique foods that they could bring to our shores and really make a splash...

Broader reach? Illawarra locals will visit regardless as it's their local, whereas the sydney market is split between them and WnWS so why not splash your message across your competitors catchment to try and sway them for next years holiday plans? Seems like a no brainer to me..

Yeah... and then there's this guy...

Indeed Mickey! When I read your post in preview (your first two lines) my first thoughts were how the house of mouse dealt with the dearth of options surrounding them in Anaheim (prior to them paving paradise and putting up parking lots) - it was indeed one of Walt's greatest disappointments about the Anaheim park was the cheap junk that sprang up all around the park, capitalising on the captive market. Disney simply did unique and better products, things you couldn't get down the road (cough burgers cough) - things that took you out of the everyday - and as has been mentioned - turkey legs, mickey waffles, mickey ice cream bars. Sure, much of it is just a different shape, but people still buy it - and today more than ever with everyone pausing to instagram their food before they eat it - a unique food item would sell like... waffles! Even just something as simple as a turkey leg - although i daresay the Australian market doesn't have quite the same taste for turkey that the Americans do... but there has to be something that they can do which is unique, capitalises off their licensing or brands, that would see people willing to fork out for it, even if it is exhorbitantly overpriced? It's not enough to serve standard fare (like popcorn, or hotdogs) in a container printed with a licensed character and assume that that is enough to justify an obnoxious price tag. I'll put my money where my mouth is on ideas*: A waffle in the shape of the WB shield An ice cream bar (think Magnum) in the shape of the Batman crest take the ice cream bar a step further, and make it a 'home made' affair. One of my best memories at Knotts was an eskimo pie, nothing particularly interesting about it - except it was hand dipped in molten chocolate and had choice of nuts \ sprinkles etc Do dagwood dogs, but have the Joker's graffiti smiley stamped on them Do a burger with a coloured bun - green for green lantern, black for batman, red for superman. each burger should be different, similar to the gotham range currently on offer Hand make fairy floss - but get a guy in who makes ART out of them (i'm sure we've all seen the YT videos of guys doing this) instead of the pre-packed months-old variety A signature iced confection (think Dole Whip) - perhaps theme it to Taz Devil (and have Taz's image be part of the blender that makes it - the motion and sound of a blender suits Taz perfectly) Thats another tangent - don't just make the food unique - make the method of service unique too! In addition to the Taz blender contraption, what about a Rube Goldberg style contraption (one could theme to Willy Wonka or similar) that prepares \ serves the food when the order is placed (and then somehow automatically resets) - it doesn't even have to 'actually' serve the food so long as it LOOKS like it does... I CBF googling it but i know i've seen a video of a restaurant (i think in a theme park) that actually delivers your food on a roller coaster like delivery contraption - and i'm sure someone will point it out to me in due course... We usually criticise gimmicks here, but in this case, i think the parks need a gimmick to make their food have a point of difference. Don't get me wrong, the quality we have lamented here for almost 3 pages does need to improve, but its not enough to make your burger as good as the one across the road, or even better justifying the more expensive price tag, if the experience is much the same (i'm talking bored or frazzled staff (depending on the time of day) who are either not interested in serving you or too busy to get your order right) - I think this is why Dreamworld's Parkway has largely fallen flat too - they tried to be an alternative to a road house, by delivering much the same as a road house, in a less convenient spot. Improve the food - do whatever you have to with the prices, but make it an experience worthy of staying in park and paying a premium. I'm not talking bloody projection mapping (that might swing in Disney's premiere dine-in restaurants but it won't wash in Movie World) - i'm just talking about making your food unique enough that people won't mind paying extra to buy it. *Some ideas are quite feasible and realistic, others are a stretch just to try and tie the brand. Others might not have the desired effect (i know that the black burger buns have had mixed reactions in outlets like Burger King), but the point is i'm just a guy who doesn't work in Village coming up with ideas and tie-ins. Imagine what they could come up with with the knowledge, licensing etc - i'm sure products of similar nature have been done in other parks, probably many using the Justice League characters to full advantage - these are just ideas, and i recognise not all of them would be commercially viable - so there isn't a need to hyper analyse every suggestion - it was just to get some creative juice flowing - by all means come up with some better ones of your own...

In English Haiku. it can be 17 syllable or 17 words, following a 5-7-5 pattern. My original draft followed the syllable rule but it was hard and i had already put too much time into it, so settled for the word count. I actually did quite a lot of googling to confirm the rules, and the word count is just as acceptable as the syllable count in the english language.

It was a Haiku... about Haikou?

I'm really hoping you didn't miss the intent of my post. That said, it will be more successful simply because of the market - they'll get far more visitation from the locals than Sydney does, and that ultimately is the yardstick by which it will be measured.

It used to have a monorail... sort of. I don't stop there because of whats there. I have family in coffs, so we're usually going through the town to see them anyway - the bypass would be convenient, but its a nice 'almost halfway' stop between brisbane and sydney, and we usually plan to stop in coffs for that reason. Eliminating the trucking traffic through the town is a positive, but the tourism aspect shouldn't suffer as much as places like the Macadamia Castle, because it is actually a waypoint on the journey.

Despite the brand recognition of AMF, i think it was a smart move to change it. The AMF brand is a throwback to retro times. I bowled at AMF as a kid, and despite the addition of blacklights, disco lights and projection screens, nothing has really changed - its still 'just a bowling alley'. They've tried revamping their food - housed Domino's for a while, and then went back to their own in house food - just done better than the traditional hot dog and chips fare (I don't mind their current menu to be honest, but at theme park prices its a bit stupid and i'd rather a pizza)... they've added laser skirmish and panic rooms and all sorts of things, i'd suggest to try and compete with the business model of places like Strike bowling... By changing the brand they've given a new look to things, and it suggests it isn't the same old lanes you bowled on in the 80s. (They probably are, but their offering is much more than it used to be). The sister brand of timezone will allow them to cross products in between timezone and the bowling alley meaning more chance of a variety of arcade machines which might make things fresher - instead of the same old tired arcades - plus the ticket redemption program will benefit also. All up i think the re-brand will do them good, and allow them to leave the tired reputation of an 80s icon where it belongs.