DaptoFunlandGuy

Perfectly said! This is exactly what our parks need to focus on - Determine a FAIR average dispatch time and then compare. Unfortunately modern management prefer metrics over common sense, and will only see 'x' drop in time, rather than the reason for 'x' was because idiot guest did 'y' stupid thing and caused a stop. The person timing \ measuring has to allow for things beyond the operators control, but instead they'll just install a computer that counts the time between dispatch and they'll all be judged based on the clock (which is why Maccas parks you at Drivethru and then walks it out to you seconds later - they live and die by the clock) Most people enter LPS and walk straight to the ticket booth. They've no idea how fast the rides are dispatching, and are only aware of closures if posted at the ticket booth. They don't do individual ride tickets, so the argument that LPS has faster ops because of their ticketing structure is fatally flawed.

If you watch the movies, Donkey hooks up with the Dragon from the first film, and their kids are donkeys that can fly - Dragon + Donkey = Dronkey. Yeah to me its a way of keeping the ride operating until it goes down for its retheme - they can't continue using Dreamworks, but other than the IP imagery, everything else (including the gumdrop buttons on gingy!) is still there - so candy flyer matches the current theme without referencing IP. Once they close it for the rebrand, it'll come up with the new name.... simples! I came here to say that but you beat me to it.

Yeah if Serpent slayer is a permanent name and theme rather than just a temp one so they can keep operating it without the KFP ip, then its downright lazy. If they plan to redo it at say next maintenance or something like that i'd be ok with it during transition. Long term it's pathetic. As for Dodgems, I wouldn't be surprised if they had the previous shells from the cars stacked up in dexion racking somewhere BOH - wouldn't take much to dust them off and give them a sea-themed paint job, but the bodies would likely just be fibreglass and you could have them remade pretty easily once you've got the mould.

exactly. and the cycle continues.

It's not the first time they've registered a trademark without necessarily having it used down the track, we saw that with Sky Voyager and Taipan. A quick google tells me you can register a trademark for under $500 and as far as i'm concerned, that's cheaper than it costs to do market research, for you lot to tell them whether its a good idea or not.

Your 'bad decision' day does let you get on five rides, and this is achieveable as a solo adult, or a group who entirely follow the group plan unwaveringly. This is not the only demographic in the park. A family with smaller, and older kids, for example, is going to have different priorities. You didn't see any shows, or main street entertainment. You only grabbed a quick service bite to eat, rather than finding somewhere to sit and ordering food for everyone, and then having kids that take a while to eat their lunch (And certainly not wanting to waste it because it cost you the GDP of a small african nation). You didn't get photos with any of the kid's favourite characters, you didn't browse the giftshop so your kid could spend the $10 Grammy gave him on the small piece of plastic crap that is all he can afford... And TOILETS. You haven't allowed a single moment for the umpteenth trip to the toilet because Sally's bladder isn't bottomless and the bottomless sipper is. I can't really be bothered going through a hypothetical analysis on the queue wait times and what not, but if you throw in 'wanting to go to the toilet' and 'wanting a snack' and 'need another drink' and 'can we get a photo', as well as trying to herd the 16 cats that make up your family, I can assure you, 3 rides in a day with a family of mixed age kids isn't outside the realm of possibility. Especially if the kids age groups mean that a trip to WB Kids is necessary so the little guy can ride something too (sure families can split up to do things like that simultaneous but not all families want to do that). Can others do more? Yes. Does that mean the 3-rides in a day reviews are bullshit? No. We've long talked about guests in general leaving their brains at the door. they're on holidays. they don't walk into the park with a game plan... and they shouldn't have to. I think I covered this, but just to be clear, you seem to be discussing a single person's experience in the park (And I agree, probably only one person who wants to do both) but in the scheme, Dad, maybe Mum, definitely Teen are heading for Rivals, but early primary schooler wants to do JDS, so as a unit, that family wants to do both, and therefore has to line up for both. Yeah, the teen is probably going to go off on their own (these days they've got phones) but Dad and maybe Mum probably want to ride Rivals too - and someone has to look after Jimmy who isn't tall enough to ride yet.

When they did Arkham's train, the running gear stayed, and the new chassis went in underneath. Perhaps Scooby is the same? *shrug* The cars likely weren't borked - they were likely either dispatching empty to prevent a cascade stop, or if the staff member was riding solo afterwards, perhaps they were doing something (filming perhaps?) and they didn't want any guests in front of them getting in the shot?

Yes, there is definitely a culture of poor motivation in some parks (and the 5 o'clock knock off was the best motivation there is) but that doubles back to the double edged sword - what manager is going to insist they work faster, when any safety accidents that occur fall back on them? I'm not saying it's right, i'm just saying what it is, in the culture. We need park management that is brave enough to come in and say 'this isn't good enough, we need to be better, and i'll assume responsibility for it'. Nobody is doing that, and that's why there's no motivation prior to 5pm.

Wonder why Vortex is having so many issues?

You referred to corkscrew being manual locking, and betting the 80's ops crew could load really fast. I was explaining the process to explain the flaws - this is why these systems were replaced with more failsafe systems that aren't reliant on an operator's intervention to ensure safety. Yes, that "MUST SEND" light on the console is a really good motivator - but does that not then hamper operations because they'll end up sending empties to keep ahead of the cascade? It seems to me also that this is a big reason why they don't run all cars very often. Even in the January peak season, the 'reduced capacity' sign was out - and I think they were only running half the cars they normally have. Yeah this is probably my biggest bugbear, and is clearly a simple fix that doesn't impact safety. It's not an exaggeration. It just takes perspective. Few people are visiting solo, unless passholders where the price factor is less relevant. Most people buying day tickets are coming in a group - a couple at least, if not a family. Single day tickets at the gate are currently $129 per person. The standard "Family" of 2a2c is going to set you back more than $400 for the day. Can assure you, with friends who visited from Sydney over the holiday period, they only got 3 rides due to rides going down, early closures of queuelines when they were large lines, etc. They didn't stop for lunch either.

Not mirror balls... IIRC the old mirrors are still there, aren't they?

Look - i'm the first person to complain about slow ops, but I also know what happens when you encourage people to do their jobs faster than they should. It's a double edged sword here with no correct answer. Are we being too cautious? Are we being too risky? where is the line, and who falls on that sword when something happens and the investigation discovers the line wasn't far enough (or too far) ? Back in those days, Corkscrew had a line for each train row too. I don't know at what point we decided that the entire train's worth of people had to be counted in by the operator, but the safety system was also a bit more rudimentary. (I'm assuming here based on my knowledge of the Demon at Wonderland, but I imagine the systems were similar) - The harness locking mechanism on each train car was a foot pedal, pushed down to unlock, and pulled up (usually by a golf putter style device or by foot) and this engaged \ disengaged the ratchet locking mechanism. These pedals had small reflectors (like a bike reflector) mounted on the outside edge. As the train dispatched from the station, an IR beam would 'count' the number of train carriages that passed it to ensure the lock pedal was in the correct position for dispatch, and the ride would fault (lift would shut down) if any of those pedals were missed in the count. Such a simplistic system, but also one that can fail in an unsafe state, as the ride is already moving. Also, even if the pedal was in the locked position, the harness still needed to be pulled\pushed down onto the rider, and i've seen Demon dispatch with harnesses in the 'fully up' position. Back in the 80's, we also saw rides from overseas, and copied them over here, without regard for the lessons the overseas professionals had learned in development. This is what gave us TRRR. This is why our jurisdiction has higher requirements for health and safety than overseas jurisdictions - because we don't accept even one person getting hurt as acceptable. Anyone in management who advocates for 'faster' operations will be crucified as soon as anyone is injured as a result.

There was a time when the gates across the railway tracks providing a bypass to the plaza were open.

Our health and safety culture tends to prevent that sort of speed and intensity. While I bemoan how slow our operations are just as much as the rest of us, I really would prefer we didn't put ops under pressure that may lead to critical safety errors. Wait - isn't Abyss a multi-car coaster like Green Lantern and Scooby?

It seems logical to me that if you're going to be shipping in new track pieces that having unimpeded access to the show building for machinery and cranes and what not would be preferable than having to shut down the new rides while you lift track pieces out. When used for events, the queue space is sometimes cleared to provide additional space for the event. The water fountain is also a good centrepiece theming element for the space, so erecting a permanent wall isn't an option. Best they could do would be perhaps to put up a curtain or scrim that they can bring down when needed. Yes, what a great idea. Let's also find funding for a permanent full time nurse at the ride exit. (i'm being sarcastic, in case you missed that). The disco room is about the best it has ever been, excepting the original green laser fit out. This constantly changing cycle giving you something new to look at every so often is better than anything else they've tried there (though I REALLY wish they could bring back the old school lasers and mirrors as that shit just looked awesome.

They were changing TO a licenced theme and would have had all manner of things to get signed off before the 'big reveal and grand opening' This less uniform theme that is more generic can be done this way because most ride themes are standalone and aren't relying on the rest of the land to be finished to be cohesive.

Ooooh i'd love to see what their thoughts are - is it a video or a forum? got a link?

This sums it up perfectly. These days as enthusiasts we know every nut and bolt of an attraction. We fly through a layout going 'here comes the immelmann!' instead of just hanging on and being amazed at every turn. They weren't "Great rides" but they were exciting and unknown. To a degree, I think so. Before I lived in Queensland, TOT and Wipeout were iconic destination attractions. Rivals and Taipan are just 'there' now. But I think its a bit of the nostalgia at play (per Joz's quote in this reply above) that those we grew up with hold more "pull" than the current installs.

I think 'Dreamland' is going to give them lots of flexibility to reimagine existing thematic elements into new generics - KFPLand is the only thing that will need massive overhaul given the integration with Ocean Parade.

We don't look after people with mental illnesses well... just better than the USA (which isn't really saying much).

What chapter are you up to on the receipt?

Like I said, I wouldn't like the idea of visiting without the cable car.

These new gondolas look identical to the Disney World \ Singapore cable car gondolas, which ticks all the accessibility and capacity boxes mentioned, and if so, will definitely be a nice upgrade. Having done the zoo many times, I know I wouldn't like the idea of visiting without the cable car to get to the top - I imagine the park might see a significant drop in attendance until the new one is opened.

I hadn't realised until I watched their Sea World video - but Dreamworld and Sea World currently have the same number of coasters.

Sorry @Levithian I was making a bit of an #ETR ElToroRyan reference - he explains block zones in many of his videos: Your very detailed explanation deserves to be put into a pinned post or article somewhere though - it was very well written! I think the difference is that if the park has put out a lot of media that dispels any suggestion of dangerous operation, that is easily pointed at as a counter-point to the click-bait and pile-on, such that few people will engage negatively as they're very easily demonstrated to be an idiot. ^This is so true.