aaronm

Slightly concerning, given Helensvale may not be the ideal test location for the concept. Hopefully it continues to perform well as I think a well-situated Topgolf in Melbourne and Sydney would have excellent potential.

4 weeks for Spongebob also seems high, maintenance or short-term closure to keep costs down?

I'm not having a go at whoever was running it, my point is more that if Dreamworld had been realistic about when the ride would open their marketing dollars might have been better spent. Better to push the announced opening date out and get it right rather than promise something that was never going to happen. The current execution is just amateur hour.

Any decent project manager would almost certainly have known in October (probably earlier) that it wouldn’t be ready on time, and by November would have been admitting that to their colleagues. Strange that they didn’t pivot the marketing spend to April school holidays, where Dreamworld would have had some clear air (given Village are promoting everything for summer).

3 out of 5 coasters open, about par for the park these last few years...

I think it’s smart to avoid just using all of the obvious choices in favour of some lesser known sights. The new Soarin’ film suffers from being far too “postcards of the world”-ish.

Has the same belt been added to any other Maurer Skyloop? If not perhaps they are all deathtraps, alongside every log flume that lacks a perspex roof.

No argument here. The last few years of visiting Dreamworld have been a “which ride is open today?” lottery, alongside questionable additions like Trolls and the Brock museum. Adding non-standard, largely pointless additional restraints to Rocky Hollow, Shockwave and Buzzsaw suggest management don’t really know what they’re doing. Credit where it’s due - Tailspin and Tiger Island are very good - but the majority of the park’s changes in the last decade point to lack of a long-term plan.

They’ve just restructured the company to make it more attractive to investors, and the chairman is talking openly about relocating the headquarters to the US. Short of actually announcing a buyer all of the signs point to a sale.

Ardent are investing to pretty up Dreamworld for a sale, that’s all. Their long term plan is for someone else to own the park so they can open more FECs in the US. Village, at least, see the parks as part of their core business, and despite the occasional misstep have done a far better job of knowing when to refurbish and when to retire older attractions.

@AlexB I think you're on the right track, though six options could be overly complex. Your $99 pass is a good alternative to the current locals option, and then also the $169 and $239 levels to round out the selection. Could also add in $10-20 entry on blackout dates, and some kind of family pass (maybe buy 3 get 1 free)...

Great summary, Dreamworld have spent money on the unnecessary to save on the important. A visit to the park now becomes a quest to find which rides are open. Ardent management had no idea how to run the place prior to the rapids accident, and it's clear that they still don't. SkyVoyager is nice but it's also the only major addition since 2014, far too long between drinks for even a medium-sized park. The sooner this place is bought out the better, hopefully by a group with some money and common sense.

I do think the marketing team got carried away on this one - it would have been better positioned as a mild retheme (Scooby-Doo Spooky Coaster: Scrappy's Revenge... or whatever). The new additions are good, but "next gen" is probably better used to describe Star Wars land, rather than adding a few projectors and flatscreens to an indoor mouse. They also would have done well to hold off on the social media announcements until it was out of tech rehearsal, kind of a rookie mistake there...

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.