DaptoFunlandGuy

given we haven't heard even a whisper as yet - either VRTP are doing very well at keeping it quiet - or they aren't building anything - they're just doing earthworks or maintenance for some generic operational structure... like a storage shed or something. Very happy for them to prove me wrong with a new blockbuster for next summer though....

No - you learn from your mistakes. We're talking about 7 trading days lost here for them (from my recollection they were open Fri-Sun until the last weekend in may - so thats the weekend just gone that they were closed for, and this next weekend coming... 2 June is WA day, so they'd probably be open for that too). Sure if the weather is bad, thats a bit of a financial loss, but the commitment to their guests should count for a little more than that. The lesson to be learned is to be careful with what promises they make to their visitors - "we're open until June" two months ago translates to "the few of you who had planned to make a visit can get stuffed because we think we'll lose money today" So what i'm saying is - stay open (this time) for the period you've already advertised eat the loss as a lesson to the decision makers think more carefully next year about whether you'll open until June again Perhaps only announce the continued trading 1-2 weeks out 5 trading days isn't a disaster to the bottom line... but the loss to reputation can hurt... For example - next year if they say 'open until May 10', my thoughts will be "last year they closed earlier than they said they would... i'm not going to make any plans to visit the park after April 20" - so their last 4 weeks turn quieter... repeat that each year and eventually they only open for the summer holidays. (this is an exaggerated example, but the possibilities still ring true)

Yes I think it did - i posted a link to the wonderland history site which had two videos of snowy - one that was posted above by iWerks and another which actually did show Snowy in startup... I'm quite confused why it would have been deleted, but I certainly didn't do it and nobody has PM'd me about it either.

However given Abyss was one of their biggest ever investments, they might need more than a single season to recover...

BAM! Hehehe - Considering they built WnWS in 12-13 months - knocking together a slide tower and associated infrastructure in the next 4 months is quite feasible, especially if the necessary approvals and certifications have already been done. I'm getting a general sense that DW's certifier is a slow lazy lot (whereas VRTP are a lot quicker in filing with council). A pool can be built from bare earth, and ready to swim in less than a month. Pre-fabricated tower sections (if ready to go) only take a few weeks. I drive past several construction sites on my way to work and i've seen blocks of 50-100 townhouses go up in 4 months. Considering any new slide is pretty much 'support towers+slippery surface+water pipes+poolsplashdown+filtration' I don't see any reason why they can't get something decent up in the timeframe given. The lazy river is the only thing I can't see happening as in my opinion the ground work would be more difficult... but anything else is pretty much on the table!

And see thats annoying. park says 'we're open until june' spate of bad weather leads the park to close the gates on days they were previously planning to open. people who made travel decisions to visit the area based on the park being open are then disappointed. I realise the park can do whatever they want, but if they've made a commitment to open the park for the next two weekends, they should follow through. Sure it might cost them a couple bucks if they don't get the crowds, but if you say you're going to open - you need to bloody open!

Precisely.... lol.

The phrase 'lights on' and 'pov' entered into YouTube will generally yield many results.

Of course i'm going from my own knowledge with Bush Beast and Beastie. It may have just been the age of them, but the maintenance guys would walk the entire length of the track every day, generally armed with a hammer and nails. Where the timber was starting to lift, twist, kink, or otherwise degrade, they'd hammer it back down into place, and in some cases knock a few more nails into it. This i've seen with my own eyes, and of course this is the reason why a steel coaster wouldn't need the same sort of attention across every part of track) If it were something bigger, my guess is that they'd mark it for a look on the next maintenance period, or even bigger again, they may not sign off on the ride until it had received attention. I would presume other coasters would have similar inspections on a regular basis, as much of the timber would be nailed (obviously not the structural supports which would be bolted), but as woodies are meant to move and shake, two boards nailed together would, over the course of many many cycles, shake and wiggle their nails loose, and preventative maintenance, by walking the track every day, would identify the problems early before they became a serious issue.

I hope they do well with it, but I'd like to see them continue to offer their themed nights included with the gold pass (all three, not just 'pick one')... increase the price in line with your margin (if they don't go to all three then it's more profit), and then NOT giveaway the gold pass for free. They've given it to enough people, and shown them the value in it - now they need to make it worthy of it's content and charge the right price. I would say if VIP stays around the $100-110 mark (with no free tix) then the Gold should go to about $170-190, and include all 4 themed nights. That was theres a BENEFIT to spending the extra money, it's cheaper than buying VIP and then booking the night events separately - you could even offer fastpasses for FN at a cut price rate as well...

I totally missed this thread until now, but stumbled across the webcams from some other sites. I tuned into Rivers of America at 3:20 (without knowing the showtime) and instantly recognised that Fantasmic was about to start. I had the soundtrack on my phone, so got it cued up pretty close and watched the show with sound. I'm not sure whether they deliberately switched the camera to black and white night vision for the show for copyright reasons, or whether the low-light aspect of the show meant night-vision was sort of necessary... but it did come back into colour right around the time the Mark Twain did the finale... so not sure either way. It was good to watch the show again, and a nice little touch to Disney parks that I wish they would do more often (I think every day would be a bit much, although I do remember at one point Wonderland had several webcams supposedly 'live' in different points of the park. (The bloody wombat didn't move for about a year though I think)

I think he's talking about American parks Brad - that would make more sense...

They would be able to recycle old stuff as brand new stuff again - tagline wise... however I believe they'd have to go with a 'both sides' refit. If they refit only one side - you run the risk of not being able to ride your preferred side on any given day that they're trying to cutback on staff wages and maintenance by only operating the one side of the tower... conversely, if they did refit only one side - maybe that would force them to run both of them each day.... (nah - who am I kidding - this is Dreamworld!)

No way in hell Dreamworld would divert funds from the foundation. Granted, if the foundation is in need of funds, the lack of the donation would need them to divert operational funding to support it... but I doubt the Foundation is that desperate for funds.

I can legitimately see the Claw rethemed as a mushroom ride... and work.

Surely not every day though? Like - Bush Beast had a carpenter walk the entire track EVERY MORNING. Steel would be far harder - especially when it isn't box section track - like Arkham... so it wouldn't be as regular surely...

Lol.... I was thinking or

While i'm not suggesting this is how it's done, it wouldn't be hard for a person trained in vertical mobility with a harness and two safety lines to simply climb the top hat, clipping and unclipping as he went up. I didn't think they did 'track walks' on steel coasters... I thought only woodies got that sort of regular attention...

^and it wasn't cancelled at the last minute...

^the fly coaster looks like its just very very dead grass...

wasn't there a trike overhead or something as you went down the chute that was next to the pathway leading to AWE (on the logride?) And Wyn... not doubting either side of this discussion - but you yourself said you only got to see the signage on a recent ride - so until you saw that - you couldn't make that connection either, so it's not exactly obvious to most people, regardless of age, now is it?

^ precisely. Disneyland (prior to becoming Disneyland Resort) had a fairly expansive carpark, and there was a lookout tower, with guards and cameras that were able to see the entire carpark. You may park there at your own risk, but if the risk is real, rather than fanciful, who will choose to park there? MW will lose customers as word gets around, and then they'll have to spend far more money trying to bring those people back, instead of buying one of their guards a pair of binoculars. Seriously though - if the cost of running a 'patrol vehicle' was too much (fuel, maintenance etc) then put up a tower in the middle of the carpark, with either a guard, or cameras. At the very least the cameras will get some vision of the crims, and given the carpark is pretty much one way in, one way out, very likely to be able to get number plates. $5k would probably be more than enough to give guests peace of mind... and scare off the guys knocking them off to a place with easier pickings... (Perfect example - a car was stolen from a petrol station in logan last week - WHILE THE OWNER WAS FILLING IT - because the keys were left in the ignition. The servo had surveillance, and the vision was published online. QPS media announced earlier today that they had arrested and charged a guy for that crime... so it does help.

It does fit with the current theme of low capacity attractions...

I'd suggest reef diver probably will lay undisturbed until maintenance finishes with Wipeout, alternatively, until the buyer (if any) turns up with a spanner. Given Wipeout won't be done for a little while yet - it doesn't look like new construction will take very long at all...

doesn't look as 'green' as I would have expected it to...