S.W24

Do you have examples of this in Australia at present, complete shutdown of a larger scale employer and relief is being provided? Always so cynical... can't just accept that proactive measures have been put in place and those who have visited the parks have stated this to be correct?

I say bravo, what an improvement to the streetscape. There is certainly attention being put back into the aesthetics of Main Street. The flags have returned, Daily Planet has returned (Seems as though its getting a new colour scheme also) plus i noticed on my last visit some of the windows have received new curtains and dressings.

We are all very quick to bash one part of the argument however not once has anyone considered the position that closing puts on a workforce of over 3000 employees across all the parks on the Gold Coast? Not to mention the businesses the parks engage to provide contracted or supplemental services. Might be a good reason why these businesses are considering the information, applying logistical and operational measures before simply just closing their doors. I'm sure its easy for some of us to jump on here and provide our thoughts but it might not necessarily impact all of us financially.

It really is a nice touch verses ATF fencing in my opinion. However rather than being cynical all the time I'm going to be hopeful that there is a scope of works and this wall is indeed a nice touch in the interim.

We should all be hopeful that the small amount of large scale themed entertainment operators out there might consider taking the entire Village business private...

During my visit last week it certainly felt like more strategic thought and planning has gone into their daily operation over this peak season despite some of the technical challenges they have faced. I also noticed that all the American flags are back in Main St, such a nice touch!

I still disagree, the two attractions are not at all comparative. Both have differing levels of complexity with build and install, environmental considerations and the plant/machinery are both completely different.

I don't really think they're comparative....

I'm sure all will be revealed in due time. In all honesty I think we should be pleased that VRTP are actually taking the time to roll out a product in due course rather than rushing it the week before peak period and telling the world! They've already had two failed attempts at an app, this looks and sounds like it will suit the parks quite well! Pretty sure iv seen a similar app at Knott's Berry Farm....

I wouldn't say its been botched... Its pretty common for an overseas park to quietly release a product or offering without it operating at full capacity or without any formal announcement. In my personal opinion its a clever strategy, allow the app to do its thing then continue to monitor the behavior and usage behind the scenes.

Given Superman is the only attraction with this sort of pre queue restriction I would imagine the park has considered how they will manage this? Parks I have visited overseas have accepted the scannable entry then issued the guest with a card to present back to the queue with once all loose articles have been placed in a locker. Similar to the use of cards on the Millennium Falcon for boarding groups. No need to over complicate it.

Dont forget there is always 24hrs in a day!

I think you will find that the V8 attraction will be a retheme and revamp of Cyclone towards to end of the year. Much like the revamp that Cockscrew encountered with the change to Sea Viper.

I got a chance to meet up with the Assistant Director of Operations for Universal Studios Singapore and Adventure Cove Water Park in October. When there he was able to show a college and i the ins and outs of how these properties operate and its a very tight and well managed operation. Having come from a Hard Rides and Water Park background i can clarify your statement in regards to staffing for a Lazy river of there size and design is extremely high. It runs on close to 30 lifeguards to ensure all areas of the attraction are validated. The complex layout of the attraction means that there are more positions required to ensure all areas are validated and the guards can reach a rescue within a certain period of time (That time frame can vary depending on the certification and standards set by the local society/authority for water safety within there area)

Thats a really good point Brad2912, You also need to keep in mind that these days our parks have changed a lot of there bargaining agreements and award summaries that now make it a standard rate for entry level no matter your age. Once you reach 12months of employment and you tick all the boxes they will then make you competent which will up your hourly rate slightly. From there you can end up on a senior rate at the discretion of your department manager. In this case your work ethic is a big contributor to how this matrix works. I interview a lot of people in my job and you can come across all different types of things, people that have little experience in the role but interview really well, then you have the complete opposite also. To think it comes down to cost cutting is a very narrow minded opinion, Cost cutting would be closing your retail outlet if it was quite and your sales per labour was down or under budget. The best advice i could ever give you is ask for feedback if your unsuccessful!

http://www.8newsnow.com/story/22424065/overcrowding-frustrates-wet-n-wild-customers ( See Video on link) LAS VEGAS -- A new water park is making waves after turning people away only two hours after opening. Gold Pass ticket holders were supposed to be allowed in to Wet ‘n' Wild Saturday, but somehow the park reached capacity. Spokespeople say it's a sign of how excited people are for Las Vegas's first water park in years, but some Gold Pass ticket holders are angry. Some say they spent extra money on the passes to get a sneak peak of the park before anyone else, and they didn't even get in. Jesus Rodriguez couldn't be over 10 years old but he says it doesn't feel good to be left on the outside looking in. "We saw a lot of people there and the police man was saying we couldn't go there, and we just bought the tickets for nothing," said Jesus. The park opened two hours early in response to long lines. Two hours later they stopped letting people in after reaching capacity. That's what their website said until at least 5 o'clock and their Facebook page got hammered with people asking for refunds. Many of the people on Facebook asked how the park could have sold so many Gold Pass tickets? Spokespeople for Wet ‘n' Wild would not comment on that. "I don't have that number handy but there's an overwhelming response to season passes as well," said Director of Marketing Trevor Wilson. "We're excited about that, we have a whole season of fun, we're open to the end of September, so there's plenty of time to come. Especially during these first two weeks it's going to be a little bit busy." Wilson says the county code for the park limits it to 6,000 people at a time, but they cut off admission well before that in the interest of safety. Spokespeople say the reason the park reached capacity is due to a perfect storm of conditions. The big first day coupled with Memorial Day Weekend, and the fact Las Vegas hasn't had a water park for years. They say when excitement dies down over the next few days they won't have to turn so many away.

The Discovery Passport features all those other extra perks, plus its a 12month pass from the date of purchase; [*]1 x free upgrade to Australian Outback Spectacular Top Rail when purchasing a standard ticket. [*]50% off Sky Coaster, Flow Rider and Zip Line at Wet'n'Wild Water World. [*]1 x entry to Movie World Fright Nights and Movie World's White Christmas. [*]1 x 'USB and One ride photograph' package. Additional ride photographs for $10 each. [*]50% off Opal Mining and Gold Fossicking at Paradise Country. [*]Access to Sea World Resort Water Park. [*]Buy 1 Get 1 Free Tropical Reef Snorkel Animal Adventure.

Its definitely not a vertical lift on this model of attraction.

From my understanding after enquiring about the system, there is only a limited number of pass sold during the day and the sale process is conducted during different increments of the day to eliminate congested use of passes. I spoke with one of the FT staff members about what they are recording and he said each FT ride staff member counts through the single entries from FT each hour that way an hourly figure can be generated to see how many of the 5 single entries have been used. For instance if you are to sell 100 bands that creates 500 single fast track entries. If at 12pm that number of entries so far only sits at 120 they may hold off a little longer on a re sale of passes until the usage rate gets higher. From the many days i was in park over this summer i was quite pleased with the system and felt it didn't hinder the traditional queue line at all. I know from last summer you could see a queue wait of 1hr and 20mins from slides like black hole and tornado purely because of the high in park attendance. This summer you seen a very similar queue wait maybe if not a little shorter with Constrictor easing the queue waits at some of the older multi person tube attractions. I really think that the time has been put in to make the system work, there is really great permanent signage at all the Fast Track attractions unlike the use of A frames at Movie World, and dedicated queue lines were created and implement. So its good to see that the money has been spent to ensure that such a product is going to work very much like the ones seen in overseas parks. If i was to give one piece of feedback it would be keep the number of Fast Track entries at 5 because if you think about it at $20 for the pass its only $4 per ride! but increase the number of attractions that Fast Track can be used at. This would also help relieve the pressure of Fast Track usage. All in all i think the system is great and works really well in the park.

GONE

This is the most pointless discussion and debate iv ever read! It's being taken down peice by peice because of the following reasons: 1) it's within metres of a show building which is remaining for the up and coming attraction. 2) that specific volcanoe is within half a metre of a piece of track that belongs to a multi million dollar attraction that I'm sure most of you would like to see in operation in the near future. 3) that specific volcanoe is situated directly on top of a current attraction which will reopen once this stage of demo is complete, FLUME!!! Don't want to go knocking the s!?$ out of the rides trough in a violent attempt to knock down a volcanoe do we? You can continue to banter about the above points and my statements, but I can tell you right now to save and future disappointment, those iconic brown volcanoes.......... There going and there not coming back, the coming month should also assit my point! Rant complete

Love this commercial, reminds me of the type of marketing Disney Parks do! Very impressed.

I can assure you we defiantly won't be seeing it till late next year, September if your lucky! You've got to think if demolition isn't to be completed until Dec 14th, Construction most likely wont pick up again until after the christmas break January. Footers will be the first visible sign and with a bit of a construction background myself, they (footers) will need to rest for a certain period of time, especially out on the spit with its water table and the fact that dig 4 metres deep and you hit sand!!! Construction then would have to continue with most of the structure going in place. Plus will part of it be indoors? the demolition report does say that the demolition at this point in time only consists of demolition of the ride and the building interior, food for thought? Plus the park will need to then do what it has to do operation wise to get such an attraction ready, commissioning ect. I reckon it will be a great addition for the park and is most certainly needed. I did hear a rumour running around through a few friends of mine that there could be some more additions and enhancements happing at the park before we see this major attraction open!

Im going to add to the lost of people who mention Disneyland Resort, Six Flags Magic Mountain, Universal Studios Hollywood. Im yet to go East Coast and experience all that Orlando has to offer: 1. Because i fell in love with the Original Magic Kingdom, Disneyland Resort. I Really enjoy the fact that its all so tight nit together. Disney always provides a very solid product in all that they do and there is so much diversity when it comes to the atmosphere, attractions, shows and entertainment. 2. My LA trips consist of the bulk being spent at Disney (Mainly because i have a lot of friends there that i spend most of my time with now having been on 4 trips, 5th in sept CANT WAIT), Usually a day at Universal, would love to look at doing 2 next trip i really like the Movie Magic feel created at the park. Six Flags Magic Mountain is a must, gets the nerves going and the heart pumping with its large collection of coasters. Knotts i visit every second year, its a great way to break up all the Disney! Never thought i would say that. But i really only end up spending half a day and im done. You can usually pick up really cheap tickets also, that and its only 15mins down the road from Disney. Sea World San Diego iv done once, not much at all in the way of rides though i wouldn't mind trying out Mantra. 3. As i mentioned i haven't done Orlando yet so i cant compare but i feel that LA park hopping is very easy to do as a tourist and is very hassle free when being based from Anaheim. LA and Anaheim are your 2 major "home" destinations everything and anything is based from these locations. Tours are very easy to access when it comes to door to door pick up and drop off. Plus you will find a variety of different attractions and sights within these locations.

I have to agree with Reginaphalange, how did you come up with that assumption!?!?! In what way does Sea Viper have anything to do with the demolition with Bermuda Triangle. I can think of 3 other attractions that are closer or even more in the way for any demolition that could occur, Jet and Flume as mentioned above and the monorail track that passes right by! mba1012 think again!!!!!!