aaronm

The more I ride the harder it is to pin down a favourite, but Balder, Helix, Intimidator 305 and Maverick are all up there.

I rode Space World's Titan back in June, another old Arrow which had just had new trains added. Those trains had S&S-style seats and onboard audio, makes me wonder if Dreamworld will be getting something similar. They were also lapbar-only which I suspect would significantly improve the ride on Cyclone.

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Good to see another tired corner of the park getting an update. Despite not having added that many rides the park is looking a lot better than it did a couple of years back.

^I don't know about that. Can see an Aussie park putting in something like Tivoli Gardens' Daemonen. Still for what it would cost there are better options out there.

Big B&M might be too pricey, but surely a Megalite wouldn't be out of the question? Those things are fantastic.

I imagine the footprint couldn't be huge, so a Premier Sky Rocket (like Tempesto or Discovery Kingdom's Superman) might be a good fit. As for a B&M - something like Daemonen at Tivoli Gardens would probably fit in that space (it's a great ride too!). It'd be good if they could squeeze in a coaster and a family flat ride (*cough* pirate ship) into that area, to help the guest traffic spread out around the park a little more.

Knoebels is fantastic. One of the best "traditional" amusement parks in the world. Also strongly recommend Hersheypark and Busch Gardens Williamsburg. While you're in the area Kings Dominion is very worthwhile too.

I think I'll pass on this upgrade offer. Happy to wait for a deal that I am sure includes the nighttime events, even if it ends up costing $50 more. I feel like a good price point for an annual pass is usually around 2-2.5x the daily ticket price, so $160-200 for the Village parks. It's somewhat bizarre that the $75 renewal offer is cheaper than a single day's admission, I honestly have no idea how they expect to make a profit from that.

Kind of excited about this one, looks pretty good. I rode one of the Sky Rollers in Denmark earlier this year, they are fantastic rides, and this seems like a similar enough concept.

Batman was a good ride but it certainly didn't age well. I feel like the comparison between JL3D and Transformers is overly simplistic. Transformers had a $100m budget and that was after Universal built three of them to spread the R&D costs. JL3D's budget was probably more along the lines of Ghost Hunt at Lake Compounce or Hersheypark's Reese's Challenge ride, and it's far better than either of those. It even holds up pretty well against Buzz Lightyear and Toy Story Mania, and those are probably the benchmark in the "shooting dark ride" category. Sure, some of the animatronics have limited motion, but that's basically every dark ride ever - even on the Disney rides they typically only ever have a handful of characters with more than 2-3 axes of motion. And the seamless combination of physical and virtual targets is pretty impressive. My main criticism would be the upkeep - last time I went there were broken effects, misaligned screens, and a few targets that didn't work. This is the sort of thing that the park needs to get on top of - it doesn't cost much to sort out an off-centre projector but if left unfixed gives a poor impression. Add this to the broken audio on both Green Lantern and Arkham Asylum and it definitely seems like the park doesn't care about attention to detail, no matter how much money was spent on an attraction.

Haha. A Windseeker would actually be a great addition, they are a fun ride with good capacity (when they are working...).

Pizza/pasta is a bit meh really. While I wouldn't say Movie World has bad food, it's pretty standard theme park fare. I wonder when the parks will realise that food can be a drawcard in itself? I'm not just talking about Epcot either, most of the Busch/SeaWorld parks have great food offerings, and Knoebels has better food than a lot of restaurants.

The first time I rode Apollo's Chariot there was a light shower starting which developed into a full-blown downpour as the train crested the lift hill. And I was in the front row. Very, very fun ride, but also quite painful! Of all the Gold Coast parks Movie World is probably the best one to get stuck in the rain at, as the main street is undercover and Scooby Doo/Justice League would be unlikely to close. Although, Wet 'n Wild probably wouldn't be too bad either.

I think this is the first year MDMC, Jet Rescue and Juvelen have been listed independently. In past years they've been grouped under "Favourite Motocoaster" (or something similar). Really do not get the hate for MDMC to be honest. It's a bit short but by no means a terrible ride, and definitely more thrilling than anything Zamperla have done in the same vein (i.e. Pony Express at Knotts, or Steeplechase at Coney Island). If Dreamworld had a greeter out the front to encourage use of the test seat, and used a second train, the operations could be much improved. Not that I wouldn't love to see it replaced with Juvelen, but there are lots of far worse coasters out there.

^I agree. It's a very non-threatening ride that still gets up to a decent height.

From Ardent's half-yearly report, the theme park business is pretty healthy (~$20m earnings on $55m revenue). Granted there are more businesses in that portfolio than Dreamworld, but it makes me wonder why they seem to keep pursuing these cost-cutting strategies, almost as bad as Six Flags when they were filing for bankruptcy! Universal is demonstrating pretty strongly that capital investment is a major driver of attendance - surely Dreamworld is about due for a new coaster or big thrill ride? If a big B&M invert is out of the question, a decent-sized family coaster (think Dollywood's Firechaser Express) would be a great addition.

This wouldn't be specific to Australia - I imagine Cedar Point would have the same problem (with an even shorter season), or any US park that isn't in California or Florida.

^I would have no problem with Movie World adding a flat ride, if it was along the lines of Kang and Kodos at Universal Orlando. Dreamworld even managed to add some decent theming to an Air Race (before ruining it with a huge fence)!

I don't think WWF needs to go anywhere - although it would certainly benefit from a long-term refurb to refresh the theming. Movie World could certainly expand into that land next to WWF and behind Arkham and Scooby. There are a few buildings there, but I think they are mostly maintenance and support buildings at the moment. The park definitely needs another family ride, something along the lines of, I don't know, a boat ride themed to Looney Tunes perhaps?

If the kids are into thrills, you can get a lot done in the Pennsylvania/Virginia/New Jersey area - plenty of good quality parks within driving distance of each other (Knoebels, Hersheypark, Great Adventure, Kings Dominion, Busch Gardens). Plenty to see outside of theme parks in that area too.

^From memory that survey had a non-disclosure agreement attached to it. Would hate for VRTP to stop sharing these concepts with us because they end up just posted on forums.

Basically I'm hanging out for an updated version of the Police Academy stunt show. I know, dreaming. But if they're going to go ahead with another quasi-ripoff of Lights, Motors, Action hopefully it'll have a bit more content and less filler.

Motorsport area? As if Dreamworld didn't attract enough bogans already...

A spinning mouse might work, could even go with a custom layout and keep the gold mine theme. Or a "high thrill" spinner like Bakken's Tornado, which I hear is quite intense.