DaptoFunlandGuy

Much as I'd hate to see Monorail go, if a skyway was brought in as the substitute, can they please do a continuous load rather than pulsed? (a la disney world \ sentosa island cablecars) Capacity on the old one was dreadful, and the stoppages of the rope for loading and unloading (especially at (Australian \ Village operations speed) just kills any chance of the attractions success. Side note on the affordability here - $3M USD is around $4.5M today. As we've learned previously from @Mark Shaw, the ride purchase cost tends to be about half the total cost of the project - so this is likely around $9M AUD - potentially with the extension to SWR adding a good chunk of that on top... so call it $15M? sounds like a good park addition to me. One thing i've experienced on cable car \ big wheel attractions around the world are onboard dining experiences. While the ropeway is relatively short, one could offer multiple circuits in a premium car for VIPs, with dining or beverages offered would be a good revenue generating add-on too - something i'd happily pay to experience at least once - and being connected to SWR makes catering that easy with access to Shoreline and Hatsuhana kitchens to provide a unique tailored menu! Below is one of the Mount Faber cable car ropeways to Sentosa Island in Singapore - just one example of what such an experience could look like!

If thats the biggest positive you can think of, then yeah - its a pretty crappy idea. Great self-reflection there though bud!

I wouldn't be so sure. First - if they needed to mark out services, it would be for digging. They'd certainly do that before they poured the ride slab. Second - the slab inside the ride envelope does show a pathway leading to the 'smokers area'. What's more likely - they wouldn't put a queue through the smokers area? or they move the smokers area? Looks like I got the exact orientation right too!

If we're gonna dredge up history - then they could just close the ride for 'annual maintenance' and let it sit there for several years before finally demolishing it unceremoniously. But I know you're not suggesting Dreamworld's current operations aren't up to the legislatively required standards, so I won't infer that's why the Monorail is closed. So let's not dredge up history. Rides can operate cyclically - this saves on running costs and staffing costs Shut down shows on quiet days to reduce costs for staffing and consumables Reduce the number of S&E cast for special events like Hooray and Heroes Reduce the number of scare actors in mazes and precincts - half the frights are anticipating the scare, so who cares if they come less often? Don't pump litres of fog juice across the M1 during fright nights Cut the snow machines from main street What's that? these would all be a poor impact on the overall guest experience? Yes. I agree.

To be clear, I understand why the bean counters have made the decision. Disney is making a number of austerity measures also. Everyone is feeling it. It's still short sighted. To quote Tom Cruise - it doesn't matter what you know, it matters what you can prove. And you're not saying anything which means it's not information available to the public, and therefore, speculation will be king. The writing is on the wall for anyone who can read it, yes. My implication was that because they are actually doing it now, it's clear its a major impact to their valuation - ie - they have to fix it before they sell it or it won't be worth what it should be worth. By that method of deduction, the problems with the attraction seem very serious indeed. But "we" (collectively and generally) still don't know what the actual issues are, which is why I said that.

But one is far more economical than the other. Firstly - don't overanalyse the drawing. It's not scaled, and i've not drawn space for the switch tracks very well, but you get the idea. Green - existing track Red - Station 'zone' Black - Launch area Blue - Final brake run Yellow - additional track for spike and switch track If you put the station close to the top hat, You're going to need to duplicate the track so you can return the previous train to the station (you need a lot more yellow track, which costs more). The final turn before the station will also need to be reprofiled to a high speed banked turn rather than a slow upright turn post-brakes, unless they leave the brake run where it is, and then install a bunch of tyre drives after the turnaround to get you back to the station... I'm not a coaster designer, but this option doesn't make sense to me - it makes more sense the station will remain near where it originally was, which is why I asked the question. If anyone is actually more familiar with these concepts - maybe like - does it for a living? - they could explain to me how this could work? or maybe it doesn't?

Yeah the heritage listing requires them to maintain it to a certain standard. They can't just bin the ride and built a replica. They'd have to assess each piece for whether it can continue to be used, requires refurbishment, or requires replacement, and if replacement is the solution (again, on a piece by piece basis), then they must replace it with as close to original as possible.

All excellent points. But improvements to attractions that will show a better valuation on auction day is easily understood. Improvements to (or maintaining) theme, which aren't essential to the tangible bottom line valuation aren't a fair comparison. They see it as 'trimming the fat' by reducing uniform expenses. We see it as a loss of theme, of magic and immersion. These aren't really things that they can write down as numbers on a balance sheet. It's shortsighted, but we never really expected them to be in it for the long game, did we? If WOO land opens with generic cast uniforms, then themeing the land will have been relatively pointless. If it opens with themed uniforms, then why did they remove the others? Not at all. It's good they're taking steps to fix it. But we've no idea what the actual issues are, so its hard to speculate what they're doing and whether thats an enhancement for 'magic's sake' or whether its another valuation decision, if the ride was actually broken in some way that would impact their ability to sell. (I do realise this is a completely separate question responding to Dean's suggestion to leave it as is, but it's still a question on investment). Nevertheless - delaying the refurb for scoob was absolutely out of the question. Well shit, if only they had a turnstile, everything would be fine!

The spike wouldn't need to be higher than the top hat either - though I don't think they've demolished that far towards the top hat to do that have they? Plus, if the station is so far down the launch track, how are they handling multiple trains?

The experience is the same downgrade for everyone. But in case you missed it - I don't think the current focus really cares about being a theme park:

it'll absolutely need the third boost. While the spike is apparently higher, there is losses to speed and momentum across the entire launch track, which is straight, or slightly inclined (and of course friction losses too) which is why drops usually lead into hills, not long straight sections. how much power will be needed - maybe not much. but the launch isn't just going to switch off after going backwards.

Nope, they're gone too, and from what i've heard, they're not being retained - they all went straight into the dumpster.

No? The costumes weren't multiple layers, designed to be worn separately, with over-tops interchangeable. You really should read things every once in a while.

It doesn't matter. No HSR is going to sign off on a layered uniform requirement for ops. Superman's unload is fully exposed, Leviathan opens at both ends and the smoke effect shows the heat flow into the station (plus those screens will also generate heat), Rivals having cover doesn't keep out the temperature. If its a 35+ day, its still 35 in the station. its just a windy 35. NO. No. no. nO. NO.

That's not a thing. Nobody ever said 'Warner Brothers Sea World' or 'Warner Brothers Wet and Wild'. Previously the park branding remained separate, or was grouped under 'MyFun', the 'themeparks.com.au', branding and things like the '3 Park Superpass'. (My word they've had a lot of online portals and presences, haven't they?) Village Roadshow has been a partner in the group since Movie World was first conceived back in around 1989. They bought Time Warner out in 2006 so have been the parent company for around 17 years now. Unless they rebrand Movie World, nobody is going with 'Village Roadshow Warner Brothers Movie World'. The rake is ever present, but that doesn't mean they're going to start renaming parks.

Consider that they have to leave their current position, make their way back to wherever their locker is (or wardrobe if they don't already have the costume) - get it, then go and get changed, put their current set away (or return to wardrobe) and then head to the new position. I think it would be reasonable to allow up to 10 minutes for this to avoid rushing or unexpected delays (like being waylaid by a guest on main street). But here's the kicker - they have to do that while they are on their own break time - so they lose break time having to get changed for the next ride. Doing that type of physical labour in summer, wearing multiple layers is not conducive to heat stress management. And a ride specific polo =\= a ride specific costume. This I agree with. While they do occasionally share staff across parks (mainly for events) I can't imagine it would be a huge impost on them to have different shirts for different parks. Buying in those numbers the bulk pricing shouldn't vary too much between 1 park or 3. It's sad, but in the scheme of things, many big parks are changing to this format, and while I don't like it, its a necessary cost saving measure on a scale the little parks don't have to worry about. Cedar fair have colour coded their staff depending on their role, and looking at this, i'm ok with that as the shirt stands out, and the colours enable you to clearly identify the role those staff are fulfilling. I'm sad we've lost most of the ride specific costumes, but it's costumes, not just 'ride specific polo shirts'. My only complaint about this direction for Village is that the shirt is uninspired, boring, and blends in too much with the average guest to make them stand out as a point to go to for help. On my recent trip to the US, I made a point of showing my son what the staff were wearing each morning, so that if we ever got separated, he knew who he should approach for assistance. Fortunately that never occurred, but to tell him - "find someone with one of these namebadges" would have been a lot harder for him to spot in the spring break crowds we had each day. I wonder how well crowd control during summer is going to go for them...

From what I understand, they're gone. Roxy is apparently the only attraction costume that remains from what i've heard.

If that is the case then the ride-specific costumes could make a comeback once flipped in a few years. I remember when Wonderland cleared out, they still had several ride-specific costumes in Wardrobe that had long since gone out of use - Presumably VR's wardrobe department won't just destroy the old ones so hold tight to the dream and maybe one day they'll come back?

The loss of the ride specific costumes is a sad day, but it does make operations easier as staff don't have to change if they get reallocated, and you don't end up with a Justice League Host assisting on the parade (or even JDS!). But I agree about the choice here - there's nothing wrong with the tan coloured pants, but the bland, uninspired polo makes them almost invisible to guests. Dreamworld has (as far as I can remember) also moved their staff to a standard polo, but theirs being bright blue with yellow accents does stand out as "I work here - you can ask me for help". It feels like a missed opportunity to get a really nicely designed dye-sub dri-fit polo with some level of village-level branding (if they have to have the rake, at least do something nice with it) that would stand out as "I don't wear this in public, i'm an employee".

Yeah - not everyone is as well versed and expert in theme parks and rollercoasters - it'd be awesome if you could caption or provide a little explanation to go along with these updates so those who aren't following every minute detail can keep up.

I hope they plan to cover over the Duloc castle facade at some point during this facelift - doesn't really suit the Wiggles vibe... ALso - they stripped out everything else, but left up the 'flyers' sign? what?

This is good to see - we've long bashed them for lax safety, so it's good to see them taking positive steps towards making paths and walkways safer to navigate in all weather conditions! I saw earlier today that they're repainting the kerbs around Main Street to black and yellow rather than the old red pathways - this is really a win for those with low vision as the contrasting colours stand out much better than red - AND it will make the height change far more visible at night, now they're open at night more often. (Funfact - this is why ACT firetrucks are yellow instead of red!)

Look I don't dole out a lot of reacts (mainly lazy) but this post ^ should be getting more reacts. It's very obvious you're happy to be proven wrong - you do it so regularly. The reason you might feel you aren't getting logical discussion is because everyone here has given up trying to be logical with you. There are people on these forums who literally do these things for a living, and you've stood here and told them they're wrong when they get PAID to do this. Plenty of people know why Rivals has seatbelts. I've even TOLD you. You're just not listening. Truthfully, most GP are very happy with a 'once and done' approach on a park they haven't been to before - they ride, they get off and move to the next thing. Gold Rusher at MM was a walk-on for us, but we did it once and moved on because there was other things to do. Yes it does. Yes it does. No you're not. Yes we do - and this just proves you aren't reading what people say to you. Just a reminder where I said: You're so focussed on your own desired outcome, you aren't even reading what everyone else is saying - you're latching on to what you want to reply to and ignoring everything else. From my own observations, I would consider the entire spiral section being full to equal about a 40 minute wait, so reading the report yesterday that the spiral was full and the wait time was only about 20 minutes immediately tells me that operations were running much faster than the last time I was there, or the GC has had another COVID outbreak and we're back to 1.5m distancing in the queue. I think the answer is back on the previous page -

Mate, respectfully - fuck off. You've quoted my reply "the only thing that matters to a guest is how long they have to wait. If a ride only cycles once an hour, I couldn't give a shit if its a walk on" - How the fuck can you disagree with that? If a guest walks onto a ride and is immediately dispatched, do you think they're going to care if the operators take 10 minutes between dispatches? Nothing in your long, analytical rambling addresses my commentary. While the ultimate aim of your long-winded ramble is to show that improved and more efficient operations will reduce wait times (spoiler - we all fucking know this), the average guest isn't going to pay attention to (nor care about) the speed of operations if the wait time was short, or substantially less than advertised. And if you really want to be pedantic, it's 146 seats you can sell in a day, because there's two seats dispatched at minute zero. I call bullshit. From Dispatch to station park, DC Rivals cycle time is 2:30. Can they do better than 5 minute dispatch intervals - you bet. Can they easily halve it to 2:30? No. That is 100% peak efficiency, with absolutely zero fuckups. Nobody with loose items, loose shoes, difficult harness lock, not even rotating crews between station positions (something necessary for safety to prevent fatigue) - absolutely nothing can go wrong. I've seen an awesome crew work DCR, and dual train ops they could probably get it down, but your version of armchair theme park operations says everything is easy. You're wrong. I'd suggest that is a theory. You've nothing to support that except your own interpretation of operations that you've very clearly denigrated on many previous occasions. LOL.

The only thing that matters to a guest is how long they have to wait. If a ride only cycles once an hour, I couldn't give a shit if its a walk on. So from a metrics perspective - working out how many people will get through per hour and how efficiently they're running, sure - dispatch intervals are important. But to 99% of the park-going public, the wait time is all that matters.