MaxxTheMonster

Heading back tomorrow since Mr had such a great day on the weekend and need a break from MW and SW. Might play a game of "How many turbines can I find?" Any other pics anyone wants?

Given the fact the base and the paddlewheel are all still intact I would like to think that at least part of this post is correct... And no not the part about Terry the Turbine.

God I hate curlews... Worked in the Whitsundays for 7 months and they are everywhere and they don't shut up...

General Park: Don't really think I need to add to what has already been said... Wiggles World: All traces of the old Wiggles combination is now gone with Emma, Lachlan, Simon and Anthony now in all images including the videos in the Big Red Car Ride. However the music for the ride as it moves from one to the other still refers to Murray during the song. Corroboree: Looks wonderful. A lot of repainting in the area with an overhaul of the Grey Kangaroo area. There are a few small areas set up where throughout the day a staff member shows the instruments used, weapons, gathering food and de husking coconuts as well as painting. The new auditorium looks fantastic. A lot of information inside about the different tribes... and their breakdown on a large map of Australia... as well as some interactive touch screens. A large wall to wall screen as well which I dare say is used during shows but did not catch any today. The chairlift is still at this end, thought they might have used the chance to remove it. Apparently not. The freshwater crocodile area and outback areas have not been touched apart from some stencils... and further information about the animals and indigenous tribes. Some signage still refers to it as the Australian Wildlife experience.

Excellent... I will get this images up now then lol

I know it is here somewhere... Where can I find the info on posting images into a reply? Been a few years...

None of them were on today. Maybe someone just didn't turn it on...

Waiting for some battery life so I can transfer pictures to the computer for the other thread. In the meantime... Wiggles Area: All traces of the old Wiggles combination is now gone with Emma, Lachlan, Simon and Anthony now in all images including the videos in the Big Red Car Ride. However the music for the ride as it moves from one to the other still refers to Murray during the song. Kung Fu Panda: At the academy the drums have been removed and replaced with gongs of about the same size. There is nothing to hit them with though. Pandemonium was packed for hard style but my wife wanted to only do soft style anyways. After waiting 3 cycles she enquired if she would be on soon to be told that they have to wait until enough people queue for soft style before they will do it. So we left. Corroboree: Looks wonderful. A lot of repainting in the area with an overhaul of the Grey Kangaroo area. There are a few small areas set up where throughout the day a staff member shows the instruments used, weapons, gathering food and de husking coconuts as well as painting. The new auditorium looks fantastic. A lot of information inside about the different tribes and their breakdown on a large map of Australia as well as some interactive touch screens. A large wall to wall screen as well which I dare say is used during shows but did not catch any today. The chairlift is still at this end, thought they might have used the chance to remove it. Apparently not. The freshwater crocodile area and outback areas have not been touched apart from some stencils. Some signage still refers to it as the Australian Wildlife experience. Giant Drop operating both sides today, train sounds terrible, half the park didn't open until 11am and almost everything was closed at 4pm despite signage stating 4:30pm or 5pm closing for the sections. Walked around to the Vintage cars for my son to go on again only to be told at 4:10pm that they closed at 4pm outside of school holidays, again signage and the website state "Seven days: 10am - 5pm". Area is also roped off until 11am. 3D movie screens at 10:45am, 4pm and 4:30pm. Showtime for Madagascar live was on show times as 1:45pm. Along with a lot of others that got there at that time, found it was marked for 12:45pm in that area. Log Ride signage still makes reference to lockers in the Nickelodeon area, River Rapids makes no reference to age, only height restrictions on their website, queued up and was told my son could not go on because he was not 2 years old which I afterwards noted it states on the signage. Was informed when we entered (as we got a World Pass that we could go there between 10am and 4pm to get it done. Headed over a little after 3pm to find it closed and signage stating open 12pm to 3pm. Had to walk to the entrance where others were complaining of the same thing. Most signage for Big Brother has been taken down, no big loss there, and the temporary tattoo signage has been removed from the old location. It would be nice if the website and the park information matched. It would be nice if the information given by staff matched. It would be nice if the printed information and signage in the park was consistent. Overall a good day given it was more for my son and wife and both had fun and slept the way home. A lot of small things noticed that with very little attention could be fixed. As a side note: Parkz members have commented on the cost cutting measures (which are obviously related to a lot of the mentioned above). But I had to laugh when I saw that the lights as you walk from main street into gold rush are energy saving bulbs...

I will be at Dreamworld tomorrow so will try and get the pics people have asked for.

Removed

Could have been... I just thought it was larger... However it has been about 20 years...

Went and swy it as well today. Had a chance to chat to Warren Luff and a few of the creative minds behind the show at the end of the 1:50pm show. The shows today ran for 12 minutes in total. However, this is not the final version... one example: parts of the screen action (checking cameras) show the truck and incomplete ramps. The briefing when they were designing this one was that they wanted to bring the best of both worlds together from Police Academy and HSD (as they referred to it). Hence the return of the Rodney type character (which was very obvious from the moment he stood up, let alone took a tumble down the stairs), the high fall, and the body burn. I did love that they have made this as a filming of the teaser trailer for their next big budget movie. Ally, Dave and Morgan Ross all make a return as well. The green screen component currently places the female in front of a shot of the painted alleyway at the back of the set, but that is also going to be changed down the track. The re theme of the arena still is a puzzle to me... It doesn't fit in either way and to be honest, leaving it as an Italian town would have been fine and saved some bucks, unless part of what we haven't seen yet makes reference or use of this. Vehicles involved: 2 HSV Holden utes, 2 black evos with similar decals, 3 dirt bikes and a Segway. Only downside I felt from today (despite it did feel a bit unnatural, and needs wearing in but hey... day 1 so letting that slide obviously) is that it did feel a lot like FMX Overdrive. Except... The utes were out the whole time and not just at beginning and end. This show has great potential and I feel this will be a bigger hit for the park than HSD was.

I remember the Dreamworld 4, bushrangers holding up the train, the policeman asking for license on the Model-T Fords, next to where the Wipeout is used to have something similar to the Stingray but larger and themed as a card deck/roulette wheel. So many fond memories of the place and I think that is why so many of us are so hard on it in its current state. It was an "Australian Disneyland". It had the themed sections of the park where you walked from one area into another and you could have flown around the world or through time it felt so real and well presented. Now everything overflows into every other area and sections don't seem as well defined anymore.

I once got information from a few cast of police academy stunt show that there were plans, before wild west falls was put in, that a second stunt show was to be put in that area. This one was to be themed on and around water mainly using boats and jet skis. This was then scrapped and portions of it moved to SW in the earlier form of the jet ski show which everyone here will remember for the jet ski launching riderless into the crowd resulting in the fantastic concrete barriers

Show times for this will be 11am and 1:50pm daily.

The exposed air mattress I can understand if it is used to show how it is done since that is how they show it in Lights Motor Action and other stunt shows as well. The scaffolding for the high fall I would only understand if it is a "construction worker" high falling, otherwise no excuse. The ramps, even canvas wrapping with brickwork or a shop front would be more favourable to HWSD2 covering and would be more readily available as well. From what we have seen I personally am lead to believe that this is not going to be a long term show otherwise something more permanent would have been put into place (scaffolding for high fall as example). I am wondering if the diner/petrol station/gym are even theming for this show and not for something we may see in the future as neither the Italian theme nor the 50's theme seem to fit with the vehicles shown in the promotional shots. I also agree that while VR have wowed with theming (Battleboats, Storm, JL3D, Arkham) this has fallen dramatically, that is if this was done by VR. Slight deviation... Any idea on times this will be running or are we at this point assuming the same as HWSD was?

Still hoping they are going to dress the ramps... The one in the promotional picture isn't though... Will find out on the 20th when I head down...

Lol reanimated... I read it back before hitting the post button and saw it too... Accidental but when I saw it thought it had to be posted.

Swerve of topic, still maintenance though. Interesting to see that anytime MW post on fb that they take a backlash from people. Latest question was "What's your favourite part of the Scooby Doo Spooky Coaster Castle?" Quite a few comments on how poor it has become and the lack of lasers/smoke/music/etc. How much more of that are they going to take until they think, yeah, maybe we should start dealing with some of this stuff...

Wild advertising, none exists. Both boards with the Storm/Wild promotion have been made into one large Storm promotion now. So has wild been put on the backburner? Or given they delayed it and the animals they were getting might have needed somewhere to go, have they been sent elsewhere so this may not go ahead now?

Was at SeaWorld today. Storm was walk on and they were even letting people through the gate from the unload to load platform to ride again. My wife went on it first and got hit with the water dump, I went on afterwards and no dump occurred, so I am guessing this is still hit and miss.

They used to have a stage show for Looney Tunes where the Road Runner Rollercoaster now stands. It was then moved to where the main outdoor section of Superman now is. Then it was moved to the Show Stage area. They now only perform excerpts of it at the top of main street following the morning paid photo session with the Looney Tunes. The Show Stage was originally a Western Stunt show which was open air. It was then enclosed and became the Maverick Grand Illusion Show. It also had a short run as an animal tricks and western show. It was then used for the tv show Cash Bonanza which was hosted by Larry Emdur. Following this it was then fitted with the current stage setup and had a Hollywood Legends Show featuring impersonators of Marilyn Monroe, Tom Jones, Elton John, Freddy Mercury, Tina Turner and Madonna performing some of their hits. It was then used to house the Looney Tunes Stage Show until they moved that to the top of main street in its current form. Last I saw it used was White Christmas for the carols.

I'm guessing not cars as they would most likely bottom out at the base of it. So that leaves motorcycles... But then that begs the question, why 3 ramps? Showtime FMX have proven that 3 guys can use 1 ramp at the same time and be in the air all at once... Unless... they will swap bikes in mid air...

Sorry but want to voice my thoughts given themagician's comment above. There is a fair bit of stuff over the years that has gone. Sure keep up to date ie. Willy Wonka -> Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Gremlins -> Scooby Doo, Old Batman Ride -> JL3D, The Music Man Ice Cream Shop -> Ben & Jerry's, Daily Planet Building -> Storage and waiting area for performances at top of main street, etc but a little bit of nostalgia would be nice. They had Dorothy walking around yesterday so we watched Wizard of Oz when we got home, my 19 month old loved it and was dancing to the music. It gives adults something to share with their kids from when they were little and makes them feel like kids again themselves. Sure the park continues to wow with great additions, fantastic theming and clever special events and I am not complaining about that, but over the last 14 years I have held an annual pass or VIP pass a lot of the "movie magic" has disappeared. Maybe there isn't as much money in it, maybe outsourcing is the way to go to keep costs down and the park open and profitable, I don't know. What I do know is that while we are commenting on how terrible DW seems to be becoming and how the founders would be turning their heads at it, MW in a lot of ways has become a former shell of its old self. (Again not complaining about the current state) My thoughts on things that could be done with minimal change to existing attractions... They have the stage show building sitting not being used other than costume storage, last I saw the Maverick Set was still hidden back there behind the stage show facade... Dust it off and give it a bit of a run again, hell change the storyline and make it generic cowboys and Indians, or even a Wizard magic show with minimal change in theme and set dressing. (Speaking of "witch", the store in main street is no longer named after HP...) or the Hobbit... I don't know, just do something with it. Each year on the anniversary of the park or PASS closing down run a similarly themed stunt show using the evo's as a nod to what was one of the longest running stunt shows in the world and a park staple for 18 years. Hell why not go the whole hog and have the anniversary month of the park do a throw back to when the park first opened. Have a marching band lead the "big parade" playing 76 trombones, have Bonnie and Clyde hold up the bank again, bring out Gizmo, Foghorn Leghorn, Pepe Le Pew, the old Redbird motorcycle and Batmobile, have Elvis, Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison and Marilyn Monroe perform at the top of Main Street, show an old 3D movie in the Roxy Theatre, bring Neo, Trinity and the Agent Smiths back to fight in main street. One of the few things they haven't changed is the Batman: Shadows of Gotham show. Batman Begins was almost 10 years ago, since then they had The Joker and Bane with their own personas and storylines. Using Bane, very little change would have to be made... Change from the microwave emitter to atomic weapon and voila! a new show with no change to the fight sequence (apart from maybe adding an actual fight between Batman and Bane instead of being sprayed with air freshener). Most of the Justice League was brought back when the ride came back except their leader Superman. Even with 2 movies in the last decade he still has not been brought back. I remember reading on these forums a while back it had to do with some kid shooting a performer dressed as Superman thinking he would not be hurt... Let us take that as fact (not 100% sure it is but for the sake of argument), explain why Supergirl isn't affected by the same ruling... or Wonder Woman? Her bracers are shown in the cartoon series and the original tv series deflecting bullets. Green Lantern can use his ring to contain explosions and stop debris, the Flash has superhuman speed, why are they not affected by the same ruling since they could (theoretically) avoid a bullet in their own way? Batman has been shot more than his fair share in movies as well... While on the topic of Batman, can someone PLEASE fix the brakes on the Tumbler... You can hear it from the other end of Main Street as it squeaks its way along. Two hour job for one mechanic at the most and will mean that it doesn't appear Bruce Wayne is going broke and can't afford to keep the crime fighting equipment in top condition. Wrap Up. Yes, the park is amazing in its current form. Yes, I think it was better in the past before it became (as I have stated in the past I have heard tourists at a hotel I used to work at) Coaster World. No, I don't think they should have left everything as it was and not updated things to keep relevant (a business needs to do one thing above all else, make money). No, their theming has not become worse, if anything they have shown it is getting better. Yes, I do think that if DW was not doing such a Start of sarcasm wonderful End of sarcasm job down the road, the things at MW would not be slipping by. No, this post is not going to please very many in these forums, but most of you know very few of my posts ever have (see watermark). Yes, I welcome any constructive thoughts or ideas on the topic. I am [honesty] interested [/honesty] to see what you think.

A big barrel that flexed as is it was about to explode, assorted explosives storage, sparks that supposedly were coming from electrical having being shot by the "ghost" halfway up the lift hill. Also a puff of smoke and a gust of wind would go off just before you headed down the drop.