aaronm

Sea World was definitely quite busy this morning, perhaps people coming out in a show of support? Also noticed a bag check table out front, I’m not sure if this has always been there though.

There is a sign out front stating as much. They probably had to choose between opening the ride on time, or waiting until it’s perfect. Either way some people will come away disappointed I guess.

They’re in technical rehearsal, what’s there today clearly isn’t the final intended experience. I’d expect most of the effects to be sorted out over the coming weeks, as is fairly normal for new rides. It’s great to see the theming back in there, though I agree that the animations are reminisicent of a Playstation 2 game. The wild mouse room will look great once the mapping is working properly.

There's definitely a market for "things that grandparents can enjoy with the grandkids". Only have to look at Disney to see how successful an all-ages attraction can be, even if it's not the most thrilling or has the newest technology.

"Only Dreamworld"

Holding back judgment until it's finished, but that design still seems very out of place in Main Street...

Boxing Day is always so crowded, better to release day-and-date with the US and give people one less reason to pirate it.

Who doesn't enjoy a good Christmas Precinct?

I disagree, just because Movie World lacks the ride capacity of CP or SFMM doesn’t make Fast Track better value for park guests.

$149 is really quite steep given it's only Scooby, Superman and Rivals that regularly have enough of a wait to justify wanting an express pass. By comparison, that's about the same price as a Platinum Flash Pass at Magic Mountain, or peak season Fast Lane Plus at Cedar Point.

It's a lot of meh, though given they're coming off opening DC Rivals last year the smaller additions aren't surprising. WnW is definitely overdue for a new (non-upcharge) attraction, though now that WWW is finally getting some new slides I'm sure Village will follow.

I'm not suggesting Sky Voyager will have the same issues as Trolls Village, it's more a comment on Dreamworld's ability to get an attraction open on time. Given the current level of progress it seems quite unlikely they will open this in 2018 - there's more than just construction - commissioning the ride system, tweaking the ride program (something that needs to be 100% perfect on day one), evac + emergency plan testing, safety signoffs, and so on.

Disappointing if they don’t go with a permanent model, unless there are future plans for the site. Though when I think about it, the park is really in need of some non-kiddie ride capacity and most guests won’t care or notice if it’s a portable model. Hopefully they can at least theme it up in line with the rest of the park.

Construction complete perhaps, but there’s still the whole “test and adjust” phase before they open it to the public. I’d love to see it open earlier but it seems unlikely at this stage. Wasn’t Trolls Village six months late or something? And that one is just a walkthrough and some shops!

I have heard that Railblazer is (oddly enough) more efficient, as the continuous loading system has its own set of challenges. Still, either option is probably the right scale and capacity for Sea World.

Couple of observations: - $17m is steep considering they're (mostly) reusing an existing structure. I wonder if demolition/asbestos removal costs for the mine ride are part of this figure? - No way does this open in 2018, based on the current state of the building. I suspect April 2019 school holidays is more likely.

Something like Mystic Timbers perhaps? Delivers a great ride despite not being particularly tall, and wouldn't be too intimidating for your average guest. Alternatively, they could do worse than a Wooden Warrior clone, that one also packs a lot into a small package, and budget-wise is probably about right for Sea World.

It would be more to do with the capital raising diluting the value of each individual share. They're effectively adding ~20% more shares into the market so it makes sense that the existing stock would go down in price.

No issues these days but when I was bigger, I found the back rows on those Mack trains to be slightly more generous. So if you're borderline just aim for an even-numbered row on Rivals.

The US parks typically have more Arrows and B&Ms with the "big boy" seats which allow a wider range of people can fit. Old school woodies are pretty accommodating too. But otherwise the seats are the same size as anything else from the same manufacturers - RMC, Mack and Intamin rides are probably the most restrictive. As for Singapore, I've regularly seen people unable to ride Battlestar due to size, so it definitely happens there too.

I guess I've been on plenty of other (newer) coasters that I find comparably more unpleasant to ride, but with Arkham the roughness adds the fun! It always seems to have a decent line so would be surprised to see the park retire this one in the near future.

Not sure why everyone thinks Arkham is on the way out, it’s the only inverted looper this side of Singapore and the newer trains make for a reasonable ride. Only reason I see this one going in the next decade is if MW want the space for another ride.

Pretty much this. They've spent the last 3 years blaming the weather, then Dreamworld, then the weather and Dreamworld, now the Games for ongoing lacklustre results. Share price has taken a massive dive ($4 in January, now $2.40) because investors have lost confidence in the current management to deliver a decent profit (let alone start paying dividends again). IMO the 9 months of downtime for WWF and current state of SDSC speak volumes about VRTP's ability to properly manage their assets. Too early to tell what the demand for Topgolf is going to look like but if that flops the company will be in an extremely sorry state.

I still reckon there’s a market for a $99 pass that has blackout dates around peak periods, maybe charge $299 for a family version of the same pass. Same price point people like and encourage locals to visit when crowds are light.