DaptoFunlandGuy

Yes, I forgot about paradise country, but so does the rest of the world. My point is - Dreamworld has a gate that is 'true blue okker' themed Aussie, and they're closing it on Australia Day which seems ridiculous. There's a lot to unpack there Joz - wanna be more specific?

Ahhh yes, Paradise Country - the "Aussie Farm" with native Australian Wildlife such as Meerkats and previously host to Tiger Cubs, that is so forgettable even Village forgets to include them in their park passes (they still offer a 3 park pass to the 'big 3' village parks that doesn't include them. Sure, all their bundle passes include it, but its kinda like Skypoint on the Dreamworld pass - how many people ACTUALLY use it for that...?

out of all the gates on the coast, WWW is the 'most' Australian themed. It seems like the perfect excuse to throw a party and have special activities on at the park that day. I don't know though - originally it would have been after school went back, but now with the extension its part of the holidays again, but at this point they'd be rostered for it so unlikely to change things now. Is Australia Day busy or quiet for the parks?

if i'm honest, I always felt the climb up to the wild mouse station was a poor effort, but I just gave it a pass because the ride was why I was there, not the queue. Of course, we know the reason why everything is scaled back is due to funding - but there's nothing out there that says they'll ever change it - and Wild Mouse is a good illustration of that. As mentioned - the photos do show a lot of 'bad show' - but i'm left wondering if they even care? There is of course a big difference between capital works on major buildings and such - how much do they care if a bridge looks utilitarian?

the ride opened less than a month ago I don't think anyone is suggesting that any budgetary constraints will have been resolved this quickly - you'd just open a month later if you thought you could afford to put improved theme elements in that soon - no if we do see improvements I think it will be when the ride has an annual maintenance scheduled.

Wasn't there a fairly lengthy discussion during construction when people were picking on the presentation, and the response that came fairly loudly was 'but they're building 9 rides at once and don't have a lot of money' - has that changed?

on the contrary - the old trains fitted my legs, the new ones (if that's what they are) do not. As I mentioned in my TR the operators were spieling constantly about how the harnesses were quite restrictive - something i've not seen them do before.

I like the idea of an 'Aussie' jungle cruise. They've shown a willingness to have a few 'aussie jokes' thrown in with the SV and ST videos - if you could get people who were willing to play the part of Skipper well - I think a uniquely Australian take on Jungle Cruise would be an absolute winner - Given the infrastructure in place, and the fact that they can't do anything with the murrisippi to remove it, running a few little clippers on the river, chucking a few effects and writing a kick-ass script... it wouldn't take long to screen the river from the pathways surrounding it to make it a real private feel... I wish that this was realistic! I meant to mention this in my trip the other week. It was just as overgrown and covered in algae or whatever as i've ever seen it, so while I don't doubt your pictures, it doesn't take very long at all for it to grow back. Something kinetic on the river to keep it stirred up and stop it collecting and multiplying is needed - running boats - or at the very least a couple of water spouts, fountains, wheels, anything to churn it up and oxygenate the water would be better than letting it sit motionless.

I have no words for this. He was an amazing man.

I have a friend who has recently come back from a trip stateside. They were cautious but still enjoyed the trip. It's not really for anyone to judge as far as whether its a 'smart move' - you just need to be sure you set your expectations accordingly. If your bookings are insured or otherwise assured in case of shutdown or other pandemic related interruption, or you are willing to accept the possibility of those losses should they occur, then go for it - however I think we've seen the last of the broad lockdown unless shit gets real crazy. As for Disney by yourself - I haven't done it, but i'm sure its still enjoyable if you've done solo travel before - its a lot easier to do marathon days and push the limits of endurance when you only have to worry about yourself. Being a single rider makes things a bit easier too. I personally feel more enjoyment watching my friends and family experience something for the first time than doing things by myself, but if it works for you - why not?

Different terminology I suspect - i'd call a supervisor a person who isn't tied to one ride and moves freely through the park monitoring and assisting operations wherever needed. In my book a lead is the 'master console' operator or most senior person operating the ride, and this stemmed from original Disney operations being part of the 'show' where the headliner was the 'lead'. Interesting to hear about the addition of further positions in Scoob - and yes, i completely forgot about the greeter. thanks for jogging the old memory bank.

@Spotty has always had good info on both of these attractions. From what I remember Scooby has Lead, Load, Group, Unload and High Zone - so 5. West usually has two in the control room - although I don't know why. Then you have group\load, and unload. I think each turntable also had one, but by the sounds of things the latest refurb has done away with that and replaced it with cameras? So best guess for West I think is about 4 now. I think the thing to remember is that only so many leads exist for each ride. A grouper can't necessarily operate the master console. So it depends on who is lost. Groupers or unloaders can potentially be replaced with minimal difficulty, but if you lose a lead, you're in trouble. The other thing is, not all ops crew are trained in everything. They normally have a few they rotate around but don't run everything - so you can't necessarily choose which rides run based on popularity - if the leads for the popular rides go down, you can't just move someone over from carousel unless they're also trained in it... so while to some extent they'd be prioritising, skilling requirements above all would be forcing some decisions to be made that won't be popular.

and he is the only person with any say in Dreamworld's attraction lineup and design work?

Citation needed.

Actually anyone can make a prediction. Doesn't have to be realistic or based on fact. Weather reporters do it daily and are seldom right. So are psychics and palm readers mate. It's easy to be outlandish, throw a few realistic no-brainers that are open to interpretation or guaranteed to happen and you've got yourself a winner that is 'partially correct'.

The Claw bus stop is still the best GC Park 'new ride' advertisement i've seen in Aus.

Look i'm sure most of us will agree with you about the facade not fitting the location or any of the surrounding theming - however, although a recent addition, I think its fair to say that the folks who made that decision are no longer in charge of making those decisions.

Yeah, last January was pre-delta outbreak and most folks were able to move about a bit more as things started to open up. (QLD did have a minor outbreak in mid January but it didn't last long) Fast forward to now with everything open to vaxxed folk, but Omicron proving far more transmissible, it seems a lot of people aren't willing to risk it. The fact they've postponed school returning until the younger kids can be jabbed up says a lot.

yeah, being indoors is the only thing Tut's has over Mermaid Beach, and even then it's still not enough to make me want to go to Tut's. Being right near the centre of the action is about the only reason it's as known as it is - and clearly that wasn't enough to save it either. Agree there are plenty of tenancy spaces a mini golf centre could occupy in any number of centres around the coast if it were viable, but i'm not sad to see it go.

Didn't really pay much attention. Noticed little puff next to SV, saw the Baldwin on our way to MDMC. I was too preoccupied with how nice the level crossing looked without the stupid pool fencing and TOT tunnel over top to be honest. I think it's nice they've tried to bring back some of the memories of olde to tug on those ageing heartstrings of folks who remember the park like it once was - but it screams 'done as cheaply as possible' right down to the corflute sign for Kenny's Chick'n Wings (which was, I might point out, absent any 'wings' on the menu - you could order schnitzels, salad, chips and slaw, kids meal and fried chicken pieces, and while you could get a (single) wing in those meals, you couldn't just order a 'serve' of wings.

Bang on got it in one mate. I know It wasn't directed at me, but I identify most with 2004'ish post-Claw dreamworld. Yes, it had lost some of it's early day 'sparkle' but for me that was peak DW (and i still remember the bus-stop 'adverts'...)

I mean, if you've got a venue like that, i can't fault you for using it - but it screams irresponsible at a time when 'indoor' exposure is such a much higher risk than outdoor. You need the controlled environment for magic - open air stages would be far better for wiggles, IMO. Talking to a few folks since seeing the show and i think a lot of it comes down to his stage presence. I think a magic\illusion show would be a great fit for Dreamworld but it needs a more permanent home with someone a bit better at improv. Temporary stages and non-bespoke venues and facilities make it hard to do great things. It can be done but you're limited in what you can achieve outside of a residency. I saw someone on Dreamworld's socials tag Tony Laffan and he seemed keen \ open to the idea, So clearly he's still in the game and that would be another 'full circle' tribute to Dreamworld's history too - but I think some sort of immersive stage show would be good and a magic show has repeatability and is easily updated by switching out single illusions whilst keeping the overall show tight. Hopefully the park sees the positivity and goodwill of Cosentino's show as a good direction to head on a permanent basis.

But that's not the demo i'm referring to. That demo is currently catered for by Storm, Jet Rescue and Vortex, sure - and about to be Leviathan and Trident. I'm talking about the gap that is 'above' Nickelodeon, but below that. Best I can tell, from 5 minutes of googling, average teenager hits 140cm around age 11. High school age, at which point if you're 140cm, you can ride EVERYTHING already... IMO, they didn't skew "too family" - they had a great family mix including the likes of Bermuda, and they skewed 'too kids' without keeping the higher end up for the older groups - but Atlantis is covering that. Now we need some middle ground... like - dare I say - a pirate ship.

The ride itself, and the ride maintenance building are all complete, but the ride is half complete. My house is built, but the grass and plants and footpath hasn't been put in yet, so the house is half complete. Clearly they had an either expected, or planned delay to their opening day, but even if you go by build time and expected opening date we're a lot further beyond 'halfway' no matter which way you slice it. (Except for queue lines and gardens, which are apparently 50% of the ride build).