DaptoFunlandGuy

In recent memory though, Hooray would be the exception, rather than the rule. It was 'the most' extravagant park-wide package they've put on in decades. I do sometimes wonder how much of what our parks do is reactionary to things said on social media (or here) and I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they'd completely forgotten about it until they threw a huge party for MW and then someone went 'hey, you know Sea World is 50 this year too, right?'. yeah ok, i'm a bit too cynical, but stranger things have happened.

I think the difference is, Hooray was planned when borders were open, and although things timed poorly with it's premiere, it had mild successes. Sea World on the other hand turns 50 while borders are still shut - and there's probably a lot of apathy at VRTP about planning more events (outside the usual) until things return to BAU. They should be running fright nights now and they aren't - so Spooky Nights is already a risky endeavour - Plus they'll now be outside school holidays - so everything points to 'unlikely' but it is a shame they didn't put on something special.

Movie World just had it's 30th... (3/6/91) Wet n Wild GC was 30/9/84 - so it just turned 37 Jamberoo will turn 41 in 3 weeks Merimbula's Magic Mountain 38 Luna Park Sydney was 86 yesterday Aussie World is 32 next month White Water World will be 15 at the end of the year. Luna Park Melbourne will hit 109 in December. Adventure World Perth and Rainbow's End NZ will both be 39 next month. That's all I can be bothered with, although i'm sure there are others out there - doesn't look like anyone has a BIG milestone planned for a while.

The other bonus was you could pay on your phone, meaning the 'end of time' split bill scenario was much easier as everyone paying separately only had to pay their 'share' of the bay cost, rather than working out who ate what and how many beers each person had etc.

Given DW and MW both removed theirs, my guess is the ride system probably had some sort of flaw or regulatory downfall in our region that deemed them unsuitable to operate.

Yeah that's a miss IMO - Designing an online system for ordering is a good idea - but you need your regulars to be able to use it - one-off visitors might not use it if it requires sign-in or set up because they'll only be there once - whereas regulars will have it set up and use it every visit. I did like the way Top Golf QR code ordering was set up on a visit a few months back - it made it really easy to order another drink to the bay instead of hunting around for elusive service staff. Is the DW system anything like that?

INB4 @Gazza is put on ignore and told he's wrong.

Thanks for another local's perspective. And welcome back! I feel like its been ages since I saw that eye on the boards! haha. At the risk of opening a can of worms - some people cannot help their weight. I've never been able to get below 80kg since high school and sit comfortably a bit bigger than that today. With concerted effort I could get under 90kg but i'd never make 75kgs. The point is broadcasting to the greater park population with a blinking red light visible from the other side of the pool is definitely under the potential banner of 'fat shaming' (and for the record, I used the title as these were the words being used by the media articles I was quoting.) However - one thing I am capable of doing is getting a vaccination, as i'm not immunocompromised or otherwise in a position that would prevent me from being eligible, and so I have done so. This pandemic has decimated tourism the world over, and if a privately operated facility wants to place a vaccination requirement to enter their facility, I support it fully - anything that will allow these places to reopen, with suitable arrangements for evidence or documentation of legitimate medical reasons (not moral objections) to be supplied where appropriate. I don't consider this to be 'shaming' of unvaxxed. But if the moral objectors or Facebook and Google doctors feel shamed that they can't go out in public places because they chose not to join society in protecting everyone - if that shame nudges them towards a jab, perhaps we should be shaming them.

indeed. They only need a brake to create another block zone there if there is more than 2 trains. For those of you who are unfamiliar, a block zone is a section of the ride that only one train may occupy. At the end of a block zone is a method to stop a train in case the block zone ahead is still occupied. This is the safety system that prevents roller coaster trains from colliding with one another.

Fairly certain the figure was 600kg - by 8 is 75kgs average... Just to make sure we're getting all the figures right. (Again, just reiterating that it's 600kg, not 650kg). If anything is as you say, my money is on guest complaints \ wear and tear factor. I reject the lloyds \ insurance related reasons only because Lloyds would underwrite many more parks than AW, and we'd be seeing similar stipulations at other Eurofighters. Interesting if it is to do with ride comfort \ wear and tear - given we were only recently talking about Abyss's comfort issues (ride it first thing in the morning, or at night). If Gerstlauer's solution is to reduce the capacity of the attraction (by weight if not by numbers) it makes me really happy none of our parks ended up buying one. It sounds like a bullet dodged, if the ride can't even handle 8 average adults. Sourced from Wikipedia - here is the list of countries (from 51 with data available) that exceed the 75kg average 26 out of 51 is more than half - although for the slides - the 90kg weight limit drops to just three countries above that average - Czech Republic, Tonga and United States. Not even a test scale outside to check if you're 'average' ? Well, at least they've recognised their cock-up and tried to resolve most complaints (including the very obvious spelling errors). Unfortunately judging by the comments on socials, they've already hurt the brand and this is why you bring PR in before you have a problem. @Slick is good with words. He writes well. His suggested wording is probably all they needed to do, if they'd done it in advance. But they didn't. And (pardon me Slick) - he's not a public relations expert. This isn't to take a stab at Slick but to point out that anyone with a basic shred of customer service ability could see the potential for that to cause an issue, and the simple canned response written by Slick doesn't need an external PR and Marketing company on retainer. It just takes a senior member of the park's management - preferably in guest services or operations, who has the authority to speak on the park's behalf, and actually KNOWS how to deliver an acceptable level of customer service to put a little something together along with an announcement of the changes. Although the Dreamworld screencap above was done well, it isn't always (and is hit and miss based on who is in at the time) and our other parks don't do a great job either. I applaud the fact the park has tried to fix the problems with their equipment and in-park signage, but right now, people are calling for the park to address it and it seems like they've got their heads in the sand. Communication is the more important thing to fix right now. Typos could wait. Yeah look - I started this thread, but i'm not in Perth, so to be clear all my info is coming off comments and posts on social media. The locals on the ground are going to have more reliable info - but the Gerstlauer numbers have still got me scratching my head.

Reading the comments, it sounds like several passholders were unaware of this change when they renewed, and after their first visit they attended to request (and they received) a refund on their passes. First of all, this wasn't how the park marketed the weights the first time around. They changed to average \ 600 total figures after initial backlash. It may have MEANT the same thing but it wasn't COMMUNICATED that way to begin with. Regardless of how well they might be doing, the handling of this isn't going to help them going forward. Of course it was busy on day one of opening. I won't take the piss out of Perth's other offerings, but its day one. And of course passes have sold out - This pandemic has seen people with a lot of expendable income not be able to spend it elsewhere. Bali is possibly a big reason the passes sold out. *Possibly* But we'll never know. Passes sold out BEFORE people knew about the weights and scales. I read a lot of comments of people talking about how dad \ teenage son \ other family member was over the slide limit and\or wouldn't stand on scales and they wouldn't buy passes \ would seek refunds. The amount of people supporting the park vs. complaining about it across the park's own page, media page and even just some rando who posted about it were very heavily against the park. For all we know that Covid world is going to last a lot longer for them too. Not sure a food voucher is the right thing to be offering someone who has been deemed too heavy to ride. Just seems wrong.

Reading some comments on Facebook this evening and they’re really backed into a corner with this. either they keep this system and these limits and they’re losing customers, or they revise the system and the limits and they admit it wasn’t manufacturer recommendation. id love to know the rationale, especially hearing no other park does it?

I'm surprised this hasn't made it to Parkz yet, but I noticed this pop up yesterday. Apparently Adventure World is now weighing riders (on dry rides) to determine whether riders can ride based on their weight, rather than height or ability for harnesses to close. They've installed 'test scales' with 'big red and green lights' for guests to step onto to determine if they're under the weight limit before queuing 'to avoid disappointment'. (sorry, I can't bring myself to spell it so poorly) Only trouble is apparently the lights can be seen from across the park, and has been deemed to be somewhat insulting to guests. Seven News Story on Facebook here: https://fb.watch/8hcGR-2LvI/ Abyss has been said to be a 75kg limit, but they've clarified this is determined by the ride's "total capacity" of 600kg, divided by 8 seats. I've not heard of any other Eurofighter having the same stipulations, but even if they will allow heavier riders to ride - sending trains with empty seats in peak periods will hurt. I've seen waterslides having scales more often these days - but it is somewhat understandable given the forces at play and the uncontrolled ride experience (Verruckt is a classic example of this), but i'm wondering - if an 8 seater roller coaster can't have more than 600kgs - just how close to the envelope are they running? And how out of business is Gerstlauer if this is true and imposed worldwide? Open to thoughts on either this installation at Adventure World, or to the broader issue of rider weights being introduced on rides in general. Also saw this discussion on facebook also https://www.facebook.com/Buggybuddys/posts/4765859780115082

Just don't ask to see @Jesus Christ's second coming.

Just checking.... ....Nope, nothing has changed.

You need to get more sleep dude.

Here you leave today, and enter the world of yesterday, tomorrow and fantasy...

Please prove it. Its ok, he thought I was too, for the same reason. Thought you didn't have time? I'd say you have the maturity at least of an almost 50 year old or better! This is the biggest thing overlooked here. You're only going to notice if it is missing attractions if you're not busy. If you're looking at your family over lunch and saying 'is there anything left?' then its failed. However - the clever thing in this proposal is that HVG is already an attraction. People are already visiting and spending a couple hours there. Adding even 1 coaster and a couple flats, and padding out a few experiences, shows, or time-soaking attractions is instantly going to fill up the vast majority of your day.

The smokers keep putting it back up to let their families know where they'll be.

Honestly, if you keep ignoring every person who calls you out for your attitude and responses to good natured debate, it won't matter if you can see who reacted because you will have them ignored anyway. I despise the ignore feature as it makes conversation and discussion on the boards really disjointed.

Judging by the fact that the back wall is still covered in protective film not intended as final product, i'd say they're still in the middle of converting it. You know what they say - never show a fool theme park enthusiast an incomplete job. "but they had all winter closure to fix it" Yes. But they may also have had numerous delays in shipping or contractor availability due to covid and border closures - so it all evens out I suppose. Ahhhh. That takes me back to the classic Dreamworld days of old.

Village don't need to make an announcement! They haven't even built it yet! Page 47 of the Village Roadshow Theme Park Manual states: ^If you laughed, you're welcome. If you didn't laugh - scroll on. Nobody has to take life that seriously. In all seriousness though, you're probably right - Atlantis wasn't planned to go this far on, but they still appear to be aiming for a summer opening, so if there was to be an announcement, pushing it back 6 months so you don't overshadow your massive (long overdue) investment makes a lot of sense. I just can't believe how many people are shooting down Movie World, when it is in fact the park with the most recently opened new coaster on the GC, just because they aren't building one at the same time as the other parks that haven't added a new coaster in twice as long.

'You built a ride with a spike.... i'll build one with twelve...."

Nah - they'll put something up there. Judging by the changes we've seen to the Vortex design, and the Leviathan theming, my guess is when the tower goes up, instead of a three pronged trident, we'll get the 12 pronged rake!

I toyed with the car joke but opted for more local humour. Well played sir. I'd offer my usual response to tell you to sod off, but it seems appropriate here... oh fuck off.