jayw

Interestingly I went to the park two weeks ago, the queue pathed as normal through the "gem room" with the netting, however I went back a week later and the queue was being stopped where the ride express line heads up the stairs again, and there was an attendant positioned there filtering the queue up the ride express stairs as the main ride forwards and backwards lines had space. The netted room was closed off again. Unfortunately on this day at least it looked like that person was taken off the load platform as the ride op was coming out to do restraint checks on that side of the train which I don't recall happening before. Also of slightly interesting note was that the first time I went there were LED light fixtures placed on the floor of the queue but these seemed to be gone on the second trip. I think a little more light in the queue wouldn't hurt, particularly coming in from the bright sunlight outside, but I don't like the look of light fixtures on the floor so not sad to see them gone. Overall the ride is in an alright state, at least the audio track is running in the switch room again but the two glowing counterweight crystal aren't moving up and down the switch anymore and it seems like there is chain hanging from them and they may be strapped up. Not surprisingly with the current theming issues, the water features inside and out of the temple aren't running. As one of the best themed rides at the parks on the coast, I hope that they resolve the temple issues and then get all the ride elements back to an operational state. It would be a shame if the current state is where we landed, but it feels 50/50 at the moment.

Took a trip to White Water World and Dreamworld with the kids last week (after renewing the annual passes), and broadly speaking, have mostly positive things to say about the trip. Spent the morning at WWW - Despite the lack of new attractions or expansion, the park doesn't feel that tired, and the effort to apply some level of theming across the park during initial construction has largely held up imo. Expansion that included a lazy river (like once planned) and one more large attraction would take it from being a smaller add-on benefit of my annual pass that I visit a couple times a year to a drawcard in itself (and would help justify an increase in annual pass cost that is surely coming down the line), particularly if it came with increased operation hours. Ride operations do make me reflect on a time when slide towers were unmanned, the honour-based traffic light system was in play, and there wasn't a set of scales to be seen...but it was another time, and I'm old now...but waiting for splashdown pools to completely clear means some of the main attraction cues move at a glacial pace, and the "slide express" lines makes it feel even slower. But the staff are friendly, seem like they want to be there and carry so much of the end user experience. We jumped over to Dreamworld at 2 pm for my first visit since King Claw opened. The extra hour of opening time was great. Queue times dropped throughout the afternoon, and in 4 hours we rode Steel Tiapan, Gold Coaster, Jungle Rush Twice and King Claw Twice with a couple of rides on some smaller kids attractions thrown in. Jungle Rush remains a hit and feels the most like an overseas level attraction, but it's due for some maintenance...family I was visiting with didn't notice what wasn't working till I pointed it out...which shows how much it still holds up...but water features, audio and the crystal weight movement missing from the switch track room really take the ride from fun rollercoaster to themed attraction. Hopefully it's returned to its full function after school hols. The ride really hits the mark as a family attraction accommodating a wide range of thrill levels. Moving to my impressions of King Claw...the ride experience is great, an upgrade from the claw, comfortable to ride and not too much of a "spin and spew" - ticks the required boxes there, but on the execution - Dreamworld have hit this out of the park. It feels like it belongs in Ocean Parade and really carries the theme of this space now. The audio track that runs in sync with the ride is barely noticeable while on the ride, but it sets the atmosphere in the queue and pre-ride superbly. The whole thing gives me DisneySEA mysterious island vibes, signage, queue theming, the shack across the path for Sturt Brothers sea monster tours, which has a QR code leading to a page of tour reviews, the classic Dreamworld nostalgia nods that are everywhere (the turbine sign) all show the attention to detail put towards the delivery of this ride and sets a standard for how a flat ride can and should be done. Loved it - and will ride again for the immersion of the space first and foremost, and the actual ride itself second. After holding annual passes for Village parks for 10 odd years, I haven't had a pass there or visited for several years now, and the last few times I visited while I did have a pass, operations were so bad we left without riding anything and went to Dreamworld. I'm keen to get back to Movieworld in particular and ride their more recent attractions, but Dreamworld is doing a great job of making that hard to justify. The things Dreamworld are doing continue to remind me of world-class parks (I could go spend a week hanging out at Tokyo DisneySEA without batting an eyelid). On the whole, the staff do a fantastic job, are friendly and fun. Pricing in the park isn't crazy, and annual passes are probably too cheap. The Park seems to be carrying the increased attendance well, also. As a side note, all hints around the park point to the Captain Sturt Paddle Steamer making a return. Someone on Parkz recently pointed out how much focus it has in the new mural in the retail space, and the Rivertown area along the water appears to have been designed to accommodate something. I think we'll see something here in the future, and I'm looking forward to it.

I agree...this is pretty much a waste of time - was in Tokyo in early march and did a day each at Disneyland and DisneySEA - but it was my third visit over the last 15 years...and even then I wish I had time for at least 1 more day at Disneysea. Reports on crowds from Aprils this year are that the first week after Japanese school holidays in April is one to the quietest times of year to go - if you there - April/May check the Calendar to avoid school holidays and golden week and you should be ok. June/July is the wet season - April/May weather is much more favourable. Haven't done universal since 2015 - so SML is new...But all those rides on your list have their pros if you haven't been before - but getting in the park at opening to do some big ridea before lines build, then working through your express pass rides could be a viable way to hit most/all of your list. Universal is Great - But DisneySEA is a must do IMO. We also did Teamlab Borderless which was great, Harry Potter Studio Tour was well worthwhile also.

All the passes seem to be associated with the account - and sometimes before the logout/login process they go missing but after that login they all drop back in.

I had this problem with my passes...one of the guest services people advised signing out and signing in to your account again...has worked for me every time...generally have to do it once every time I'm at the parks. Hit the little person icon top right and right at the bottom of that page hit sign out..then sign in again.

I wonder what it would cost to get a digitisation place to do this. Keen to see this footage... Could get a quote and crowd fund it? I'd chip in and would a guess a few others here would if there isn't anyone that could do it. This place is in Melbourne - https://www.melbournevideoconversions.com.au/video-tape-conversions/

Not sure if it's just because of the time I spent there back in 2005 - but this might have been peak Wet'n'Wild for me. Terror Canyon 2, double screamer, both versions of mammoth falls...Tornado is probably the only current slide I think i'd really miss and I think the expansions and new slides/areas that went in after this took away from some of the atmosphere of the place.

Though it could be taken otherwise - I didn't read comment as a dig at you - but more so giving Seaworld the credit for getting the ride open even though it was just for an hour and they could have just kept it closed and wrote the day off - which seems fair in this case. Certainly a better experience for guests that are there for the day - especially if they aren't regulars such as yourself.

I rode the new trains recently with my daughter for the first time and had the same concern. Found them to be comfortable and generous enough. As I guide I can generally ride all the rides on the coast but find Scooby and the Claw seats to be tight and probably pretty close to not being able to ride.

Interesting that the terms on the website are different...This is taken directly from my recently purchased tickets from the destination GC promo. The expiry for me is 10/10/2021

That's a bit odd. I purchased 2 DW passes as part of the experience oz promo and don't have any intention of redeeming until next year sometime with the hope of overlapping the period of access into the new coaster opening. The terms on that ticket are pretty explicit and state that I need to redeem my barcoded ticket before the expiry on it (oct 2021 for me) and that my 12 month pass will be valid form the date it is redeemed. Perhaps the different condition you encountered is valid for tickets purchased directly from the park or some other promo? Seems pretty unusual I would think not to have the period start from the first visit unless it was a pass set around a certain date ie. a 2020 season pass as opposed to a 12 month pass...

I was able to purchase the DW pass using this today also.

Well I made it down on Sunday and managed to get through the queue and onto the ride in the hour that I had! As mentioned already - shout out to the staff - operation was smooth and the kept the line moving and made the ride an experience!. I've never been that attached to the tower of terror as far as rides go mainly due to the low capacity and short ride duration but I have to admit it stands out in regards to the force experienced and certainly was "park defining" for dreamworld. I suspect it closure and the rides that open might be an opportunity to do the same. I'm glad I managed to get on it before it closed for good! That said, my 4 year old will be happy to see the end of the roaring noise rattling through the park every 5 minutes! Jay

Anyone at dreamworld today? I didn't have any luck yesterday...was in the queue when it closed in the middle of the day and had to leave before they seemingly got it up at the end of the day. Got a 2 hour window this afternoon!

Keep the updates coming. If they get it off the ground, I’m planning on trying to get down there today.

We made it there last night as well. Attempted to buy fast tracks online on Thursday night but both options were sold out already and hoped we would be able to buy in the park but got in just after 5pm last night and all the outlets we saw had SOLD OUT signs up on both rides and mazes. Did you see anywhere actually selling them last night? That said, we did ok without them - managed to get to IT at rope drop and only waited 20 min or so to get in. Went to check out Doll House next but the line looked long so jumped into Zombieland next and waited about 40min. We checked doll haus again and it was now overflowing onto the footpath so headed to DCR. Main queue was 75 minutes at this point (just before 8 I think) so our group of 3 decided to try out the single rider line. The first of our group was on the ride in less than 75 seconds so this was a massive win. We all rode this twice in about 20 minutes. We went back to the western grill for food and gorged on the bacon and corn. This has to be some of the best food in the park for the price. We went back to the mazes and dollhaus was just as long so jumped into the Leatherface queue at around 9pm and only waited 11 minutes. We ducked back to the spaceshot single rider queue and got on that in about 25 minutes and figured we try to get into the dollhaus queue before closing but they had closed the queue already so finished up doing house of kain and making our way out via main street. Getting 4 mazes, 3 rides and dinner at a fairly relaxed place was a pretty good outcome I think. Disappointed to not check out dollhaus but figure we will see it next year. IT theming was amazing but didn't get as many scares Zombie was real generic and straight forward but we had it stacked with actors and got some solid scares Leatherface and HoK both middle of the range I think with our runs of Leatherface having more actors and scares. General presence of actors roaming and precincts I thought were good and we all enjoyed ourselves. The fright night virgin in our group had a great time. Hoping to do our first terror tour next year.

That sums up things from the year fantastically! Nice Work!

The thing is though that Big Brother was axed, dreamworld didn't do anything with the land. I doubt that if it was axed again that it would be much different. If anything it being axed would probably cause them a loss in revenue not give them more money to spent on said coaster Jay

Hey Guys, I'm in Shanghai with a few days free and i'm looking at what theme parks I can visit! I am planning a trip to Happy Valley and also possibly Jinjiang Amusement Park. I'd be interested to hear if anyone has been to either or others and will post back some images and info after my visits! Jay

I attended last night (Wednesday Night) and really enjoyed the evening. Overall, the park to me didn't feel as full as the previous years sell out white christmas events and while it was busy, largely it didn't detract from the event or experience. The theming, roaming entertainers and parade were all great and for me continue to cement this as a great family event. I've expanded on the trip below. Arrived at 4:40PM and they were just setting up the segregation zone. This for me is probably the worst part of the night only in so much as communication as to what is going on is limited and there seem to be a number of people confused as to why they were in a tightly packed, non-moving crowd. I don't realistically think they can avoid the situation, and what appeared to be a separate exit on the other side of the green lantern seemed to help things but communicating that the "holding pen" is only for 30 minutes or so while they clear the park would help, even adding to the voice over they were running announcing the park is closed with more clear info regarding the situation and white christmas starting at 5:30 could help. I quite liked the small opening item they did with the fairy and host / elf thing, it kicked off the night nicely, though a raised position for him would have helped. The first thing I noticed and loved seeing was all the street performers this year! The different elves getting around with various props such as giant paint buckets and brushes and an oversized "santley" spanner were great, as were characters such as scrooge etc. We didn't hang around for the first couple of show items and decided to grab a couple rides as we didn't have any children with us in the target age bracket. Superman was first up and essentially a walk on! Can't remember seeing a queue so short with the park so busy and it was great to see it running two trains. We then headed to the green lantern which had maybe a 15 minute wait. On a side note, I have never had a ride with audio on board including this occasion and noticed the train in front had it turned off. We were then going to try justice league but the cue was considerably longer, at least 30 minutes and we decided to pass as it was approaching 7PM. I think the JL queue length demonstrates nicely the target market for JL and it's popularity with that target market which they seem to have hit well. It is unfortunate, but not a deal breaker, that it doesn't quite translate so well across all ages quite like the buzz lightyear or toy story attractions. We then hit main street to see the lights turn on with the snow, I think it's a great moment for Kids and Adults alike. They didn't seem to run the snow has heavily throughout the whole night. i've seen in previous years enough "snow" to essentially wet the street so I think the lighter approach works well. We then wandered down to the WB kids area for a quick run on the road runner coaster. I seem to recall that area not operating on white christmas nights a year or two (or three??) ago, but I could be mistaken however it's great to see it operational and is obviously popular with all the families in attendance. We managed to squeeze a run on Arkham Asylum with only a 20 minute queue (I really quite like the lift hill audio and am continually amazed at how fun this ride is now with the new train and the new lease on life it has been given in its refurb) and got out just in time to catch the return run of the parade which was great like previous years (love the inflatable frosty) and jumped into the last ice age show to wrap up the night. I didn't think the ice age film was as good or widely appealing as the polar express last year. Here is a couple of images (just from my phone) caught from the night. Jay

Not sure what you did wrong but we also renewed our Gold Passes this year for the same price as a standard renewal and on top of that got the buy 3 get one free..or in our case it was renew 3 get one free whilst that offer was available...and considering you had 3 renewals in total, you should have been able to receive 4 for the price of 3 if done during that time. It worked out for us at around $70 per Gold pass....which is insanely cheap. Really this year I think they have ditched the idea of Gold being a premium offering and used it simply as a way for VIP holder to get into FN & WC cheaper...especially since it wasn't even available for new purchases at the start of the "season pass year" and only made available as an upgrade once they started advertising FN. Jay

Anyone happen to know if the ride is operating at all today (monday)? Planning on heading down this afternoon to check it out! Jay

That's disappointing to hear...They always seemed popular, I wonder why they have been canned. I really enjoyed hitting WnW for the day, doing a BBQ for lunch and dinner and hitting the slides in the evening.

It's great to see an old defunct ride space (and one that has been that way for some time!) used for a new attraction! With the aqua loops as well it should balance things out nicely and add a bit of life to that side of the park! Jay

I could be wrong but I don't recall the policy ever changing for Superman Escape. You can't have items in your pockets and you can't carry loose items on the ride (bags, sunglasses etc) They put someone at the entry telling people that, it gets mentioned every 3 or 4 minutes in the queue video and every 5 or 6 in the voiceover and still people are surprised or upset when they get to the front of the queue and a staff member looks out for items in pockets and pulls people up if they have something in their pocket?! Guests aren't smart....even with rules explained over and over again they have trouble...so while a fully zippered pocket with paper in it may be safe, it's not something that a ride restriction can be based on considering the trouble that the general public has with the simple rules in place now? Additionally it's not something that easily enforced or checked. Who make the call on if a pocket it secured and what is safe to be in it?? Which is why the restrictions in place as they are...not just to piss people off. Charging $2 for a locker however..... Jay