DaptoFunlandGuy

I wonder how many GP's will say "KRAY-KEN" instead of "CRA-CKEN"

Adventure World's Ultimate Terror Tour?

looking at that steel bar, i'm not sure it would be a problem for male riders... the arm is mounted at the top, so unlikely to sit between the legs, and the frame has 'cutouts' for each leg. I'm sure the jewels would have plenty of space around them... i'd give it a go.

Slick is bang on the money - and the park is well overdue for an iconic, full circuit thriller. I'd like to see BL's space used for a nice big woodie - and with the slab, they could also do something relatively unique and build a dark-ride pre-show element similar to Superman prior to the lift hill. I don't agree that 'everyone has ridden the bush beast' (especially amongst our younger crowd!) but it is something sorely lacking in Australia.

Nice to see Dreamworld entering the market - albeit softly. They don't really have the buildings to knock out multiple mazes without affecting daytime operations - but something could be done down at blue lagoon, Big Brother Studios, and there are multiple pathways to certain places they could easily use to build an outdoor maze area - i'd like to see them compete at a similar level to MW - two great haunts just down the road from each other would foster some friendly competition...

Maybe the fencing was required, or maybe they just wanted to exclude guests from the area so that they could undertake the work in peace...

^Disagree. i'm betting fluke, or full moon.

Methinks Push was attempting humor by lambasting the media for reporting a non-story, like we've had many examples of in recent times... except this wasn't a news story, and it wasn't non-news. #pushbuttonfail

I'm pretty certain they have stated what happened - the engineer and operator manually over-rode the safety locks preventing the train from entering an occupied block, which resulted in two trains in the same block and the collision that occurred...? As for people barely remembering fatality incidents - crass as it is to say it - is because the media can't put a corpse on TV weeks and months after the event reliving the terror... apart from this story posted yesterday, and the one before it posted 2 weeks ago, we had nothing on this story since early July. There will be one final 'trot out' of the victims for the cameras to tell of their grief in seeing the ride reopen again, and then the ride will run a few cycles, everyone will realise it's not a death trap, and people will move on.

I know something is better than nothing, but 'competing for over $6000 in cash and prizes' sounds kinda lame.

If that's photoshopped i'll eat my hat. I'm extremely confident that is a very real photo... and yes - it is quite scary. On the few cycles i've done on that ride, it has always locked in upright well before landing. I have no idea how that could have happened. It's also an inside seat - so it would have taken quite an effort for him to get it spinning at any great rate of speed in order for the lock to have 'missed' it's home position in time. ouch.

Usually being a passholder, and subscribing to their mailing list is a good start.

mnews.com has mentioned this article from the mirror this morning: Full article here at The Mirror UK

A DVC property would work well... DVC already has a 'guaranteed market' as its very similar to the timeshare mob that everyone on here seems to detest. Plenty of people looking for a place to spend their points on a holiday... perhaps an Aulani style resort would be a foot on the ground that would help them drive tourism to the area and ultimately establish even a small park...

Considering the efforts they've gone to to theme it out properly, rather than just make a separate stand alone building, i'd say they're trying to make this fit the bar because it will be part of it. I like the idea of them having a 'quick service' point, and that looks like what this will be. If it's a drink station - i'm happy with that - they do need some more soda points so you're not just buying bottles... expanding the 'free refill' option would be a great idea for the park.

Yes, Dreamworld is very Australian. It was only last week I booked domestic flights to Madagascar, Faire Faire Away, KungFu Panda Land..... Dreamworld may ONCE have been very Australian themed, but the themes across the park are now muddled. Sure that makes the 'so many worlds' line work - but i wouldn't suggest in their current state that they meet the criteria that would see the foreign market drawn to the park as a 'must do'.

I hear you DD - but HKDL was never designed to be like the others - look like them yes, but the designers did their research, and determined that the locals didn't want big thrills - they wanted photo opportunities - hence why such a large chunk of fantasyland is dedicated to the character photos. When i first went to HKDL, Space Mountain was the only 'real' thrill in the park - and it was a ghost town. They have cast members out the front just to make sure you know it's a roller coaster before you go inside as most locals avoid them. Trouble was - after all their design work - the locals don't visit as much as internationals do, and the lack of big E tickets was noticed very quickly. The expansion to include Grizzly, Mystic and Toy Story was meant to address that, at least in part - more kids rides in Toy Story to make up for the lacking in fantasyland, Mystic to bring out the adventure sector, and Grizzly for the big thrills. There is a development and expansion plan for HKDL, but chalk it up to 'the designers got it wrong in the beginning' as the reason for it lacking. Lastly - considering MW can be done in half a day, Sea World the same if you skip the animal shows, Dreamworld, WetNWild and WWW all in a day - i think a park 8 hours away that can keep me captive for 2 days is just fine. (Well - for me it would keep me for at least 3)

That's just it though - 'generic theme park number 1' having a food outlet that sells 'Aussie BBQ' isn't going to make the foreign tourist go "let's go there instead of unique australian experience 1". The WHOLE PARK needs to offer that point of difference. THis is why Australia Zoo, and to a lesser extent, Aussie World work well for foreign tourists. they offer an entire experience that is unique. AOS is the same - nowhere else will you get such a show. These things don't bring people to our shores, but it's what shows up when you ask Dr Google 'things to do on the gold coast'. Sure the parks always rate a mention, but so does King Tut's Putt Putt and the Beach... so when you're looking at interesting, unique experiences - something you can't do "back home" visitors from countries with large park operators don't generally see our parks as something enticing, unless they're enthusiasts. Much of Asia, America and Europe have fantastic parks that outshine ours any day... and this is the majority source of our foreign visitors. Dreamworld gets the Asian busloads through the door - but they don't stay after they've posed for a photo with a Koala. Why? well - for one, itinerary, and two - they have no interest in what the rest of the park offers. I saw this in Wonderland many years ago - Koala Photos, Outback Woolshed and the various other wildlife park exhibits would be 'all hands on deck' because of the number of booked tour buses. The retail plaza would likewise be well staffed - but you are unlikely to see any of them near bush beast or snowy - they just weren't interested. Most of this demographic visits the parks in business dress pants, dress shoes and button down shirts. not exactly thrill ride attire. As for their itinerary - the guides fit as much as they possibly can into their tours, and a stop to pat a koala doesn't warrant a full day out of their trip - it needs an hour or so (depending on how many tourists and the efficiency of the venue), and the rest of the day can be spent elsewhere - Paradise Country, beach, AOS etc - they can hit 5 or 6 attractions in a single day in a whirlwind tour, and take a nice little commission out of each place. I think the best odds of increasing foreign visitor numbers is simply to increase the foreign visitors overall. more people into the country will consequently increase the likelihood of more people through the park gates. I think we'll naturally see a spike in visitor numbers (both foreign and domestic) as we approach 2018 - and the parks need to be prepared for that with either something VERY unique, or something VERY big. My prediction - all of the parks are preparing something very big to open before the COMM games.

Thanks DD. *facepalm*

I think the point is - theme parks in Australia don't offer a point of difference to parks elsewhere in the world. Sure our tourism may be up (this depends on the dollar and nothing else to be honest), people come here for the AUSTRALIAN things they can do. Just look at Richard and Megan's trip at the start of the year - sure it was filled with parks, but they killed themselves to get those 'classic aussie' moments in. When our parks don't rank better, the international crowd may just decide their limited time in our country is better spent on things that are uniquely australian.

I'm with you on all coaster aspects - total agreeance - except for Mine Train. It has quite a few nice pops, and the location is what really makes that ride. HKDL is what you wanna look forward to - I enjoyed everything thoroughly, however i feel fantasyland needs more to keep one busy. Iron Man will be a good addition, but in order - Space Mountain, Mystic Manor, and then Grizzly would have to be my personal favourites.

Yay bullnose roof!

^that may be true, but given the heritage listings for the site, nothing would happen to the site if it were to shut down. i'm not sure if the developer that operates the park has actually 'paid' for the land or whether it's some sort of trust... but LPS shouldn't be the yardstick for other parks. I don't believe Wonderland 'never' made a profit - but i agree margins would have been slim. the lack of investment by sunway was ultimately what led to it's demise. As for the cynicism - Ammar's dream is big, and he's driving everything to try and make it happen. he needs more experts in the field, as the current imagery is lacking - but with enough money and the right people he can make it happen. It was originally viewed as a publicity stunt by a guy running for parliament - however the dream and the concept of the park has been around a lot longer than that, and it didn't die quietly when the elections were over... so that is something...

The thing to remember is that these rooms are for a small group, and each one takes time to go through - the rides do hundreds of people per hour... so do the mazes. the panic rooms wouldn't achieve anywhere close to triple digits - but it still requires staff to man - so they are going to be an expensive addition. They're a great idea, but the cost of putting them on has to be passed on to the punters experiencing it... unless everyone going to FN wants to subsidise it with an increased ticket price... whether they use it or not... User pays is totally suitable, and i'm fairly confident that the price will drop if it doesn't prove popular... but i'm fairly confident that it will.

Allow me to translate: If that's all you want to say, that's fine. I'm just very curious about how our local parks and events are viewed, in comparison to other parks and events globally (ie: around the world). As you can probably guess, your statement really struck a chord with me.