DaptoFunlandGuy

The Smiler incident was caused by a maintenance worker. The operator did not have the authority to override the PLC. Because that's how it should be.

The ground operator should be required to open and close the escape hatch to reset the PLC. Manually resetting the sensor so that the ride computer can reset itself is the way it should be done. This is like taking your car to a mechanic for a fault code, and he plugs in his scan tool, resets the codes and hands you back the keys. He hasn't investigated the problem, he hasn't fixed anything - he's just made the error go away - and it will come back the next time that sensor is triggered - which in Aqualoop's case - is when you hurt someone.

The only thing I have to say is to this Haven't we learned from TRRR that placing sole reliance on operator compliance with procedures is a recipe for disaster? Staff should not have been able to override the sensors without a manual \ visual inspection first, or attendance by a supervisor \ maintenance with an override key. This is an absolute cop-out from Village as far as i'm concerned.

I think the average punter isn't going to have the breakthrough suggestions the park sorely needs. There will be short term focus priorities mum & dad call for that won't help the park overall. The current park set up as I see it needs a few things to change and these are the immediate moves i'd make: Connect WOZ to West via the maze buildings. theme that area permanently and include it as part of the park envelope. In the short term you can just landscape it nicely and call it a picnic ground, drop in some food or merch carts along the way so it isn't entirely abandoned. Label an area a chillout zone for sensory escape. whatever you need to do here to make the area work. Drop a small flat into Western area. It doesn't have to be blockbuster, it just has to enliven the area into more than just a ghost town. As Rappa said - Showstage needs a purpose other than storage Use Doomsday area to install a few small kids attractions under a new theme. I have no suggestions for the IP but have seen several parks O/S pull this off well This will primarily take the load off WB Kids to enable a full transformation of the WB Kids area (or at minimum, a chance to bury the temporary overhead power cables, rip out the rotting wooden fences, re-level the uneven pavements etc. Give up on the main arena show. While i've got fond memories of PASS, bringing something like that back to the park just wouldn't draw a crowd. The current show isn't really any better than HWSD, though the stuntman element is certainly an improvement. There's just so much burning rubber and fireballs you can take. We've seen parks overseas walk away from their large stunt and special effects shows - Universal Hollywood used to have Western stunt show, Special Effects (both lower lot and upper lot stages) and Animal Actors - now all three are gone. Use the arena space for a high capacity dark ride. My mind is thinking an intamin dark ride like spaghetti chase in USS, but not necessarily children's IP - just ride system and overall experience.

Hopefully they're pro-active about this, and offer passholders a one-off transitional product to plus the passholder experience, rather than poison another loyal fanbase... Eg: when they pulled fright nights from their pass offering, they still offered a passholder only alternative in the transition year to make up for it.

The shift at Dreamworld has been written on the wall for quite some time.

I don't say it often, but I agree with Skeet. They're tearing through their public offering and doing whatever they can to save a buck. Right now, this is worse than previously where we thought they just didn't care about the guest experience.

Here is what you see when you purchase a One Pass today: And here is what was listed back in February: The parks have been made standard, so the only difference is Carnivale - same price, less product. It makes me wonder though given that the annual pass is 12 months 'from activation date' whether they could technically run foul of ACCC by not offering it next year for those who purchased in that changeover period - an advertised inclusion that can't be utilised... The enshittification continues.

That feels kinda pointless in the scheme of things - moving the food further away from the high traffic area it sits in - Last time I visited the park I didn't go past Scooby. There's a reason that outlet is rarely open outside of peak periods. If you get a ride in the doomsday area, it's unlikely to lend itself well to incorporating the west burgers outlet. they're too disconnected. The whole area would need to be levelled, and built from the ground up if you want one seamlessly themed area. They're not doing that.

See I think that's a flawed outlook. "The park doesn't have two hour queues, so we don't need as much time to do everything - so instead of letting you experience your favourite things more than once in the off peak period, let's close early \ open late." You're still getting less. You're getting less time. As for staff, yeah sure, it sucks. but the staff who have lost hours are casuals, and that is the nature of casual employment. Only Village can determine whether the cost is worth the saving.

Yes. And No. This organisation was previously an old boys club of family and "family" who were entrusted to operate the business. Executives had 'been with the company for years' and by the looks of things, were trusted to execute things on faith. No oversight. No audit trail. No external parties checking or verifying transactions and deals. The perpetrators of the fraud are guilty, but it is the organisation's failure to ensure robust assurance processes were in place that allowed it to happen. And although i've pointed the finger at the old boys club, BGH isn't innocent in this either. Prior to acquisition (or first thing once they took over) they should have brought in auditors to assess the current state.

I don't think a theme park should be having multiple screening spaces for film festivals, but I like the way of thinking. I would like to see them utilise their venues more 'after hours' but honestly i'd just prefer they traded longer during busier periods. Well - they can up the prices or lower the offering. Clearly the price-cuts we saw earlier in the year showed that they started to see lower sales at the higher price points, so now instead of dropping the price too much, they're playing with the offering - can they boost the value by adding more inclusions? can they cut costs by opening less hours? Honestly - if WNW is showing virtually no wait for any attraction at 1pm, maybe they should just close it entirely in the winter.

What? spend all that money re-theming a food outlet that they barely open?

Guarantee those 5 minute waits are an overstatement. Because it's a village theme park that has off peak trading hours you unpeeled turnip. It just aligns all three parks to the same shorter hours, staff cutback mentality.

Jesus christ.

I'm just glad someone got it.

Village hate retheming entire facade areas. Have a look at how many times they've re-used the HSD set now. No, if they're going to reopen that area, it's going to be with minimal cosmetic changes to the current facades.

Don't forget WnW. It's almost as if the shorter operating hours in off peak is a smart business decision when there are less people coming.

Yeah, that's not very typical, i'd like to make that point. There's a lot of these around the world and very seldom does anything like this happen.

It's winter. It's not ideal, but its also the quietest holiday season. I think 'big hole' is a bit of a stretch considering the status quo two years ago though.

Same day as you, Wednesday. I've already said about as much as I want to say - its a single visit and I want to wait a while before I share further thoughts on it.

NGL after seeing WOZ in person this week, that structure would have been mint!

Front gates near scooby exit were locked when I visited. Didn't bother to go back further.

I've never seen bad work by Sanderson. Hopefully they're given the creative licence to realise the vision. Nothing worse as a creative than working for a company that scales back the budget and compromises the final product.

Today was the first time i'd visited the park in years and honestly I was optimistic and had a few pleasant experiences but ultimately the bad outweighed the good and there's a long road ahead.