aaronm

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.

With Ardent flogging off the bowling centres, perhaps some of that $160m will makes its way to Dreamworld? Or am I just too optimistic?

Families spend money, and often bring grandparents who spend even more. I've often thought Dreamworld could use a heavily discounted seniors admission (i.e. $20 or even free with a kids ticket), given they're mostly going to watch the grandkids go on rides, and then buy stuff for them that the parents won't.

Yes but Funfields doesn't have the SBF Spinner!

The Kung Fu Panda ride at Motiongate (not quite Soarin' but similar motion-base simulator attraction) has two theatres in a pretty tight space, something like that might fit.

Great spot for a Gerstlauer Bobsled, be a solid family ride as well.

Surprising they aren't doing some kind of variable pricing with fast track - i.e. first 50 are $79, next 100 are $99... and so on. Otherwise at $149 I doubt they'll be selling more than a handful most days outside of school holidays (although you'll always get the odd group that have more money than sense).

Oh I get why they do it, but I think Village have missed an opportunity here to have a cheaper pass with blackout dates around school/public holidays. They could have kept the $99 price point and wouldn't even need to restrict it to just locals either.

Remind me why locals get a discount? Surely they're likely to visit more often and get additional value out of the pass... if anything it should cost more!

I kind of agree that the quality this year wasn't quite there. It was most noticeable in the lack of scare actors in some mazes (think I counted eight total in Conjuring on Saturday night), basically the maze just becomes a stroll through some foggy corridors. Ultimate Terror Tour was solid as always, but is it just my imagination or has the event become a lot shorter - I thought it used to wrap up around 11pm, not 9:30?

Visited on Sunday and managed about 90 minutes there before we left, which included a fairly leisurely stroll through the animal enclosures. 5 of the "big 9" rides out of action, which is pretty appalling. I've got friends coming from the US in a couple of weeks, they are into theme parks but it's almost at the point where I'd tell them not to waste their money on Dreamworld admission. Sent some written feedback to the park as well, received a stock "sorry not sorry" response. Honestly seems like Dreamworld either don't understand why mass ride closures would annoy guests, or they simply don't care.

Ardent were looking at selling some vacant land outright to fund investment, without any leaseback. So any developer could buy it and build whatever they want on the site. Village are selling their land with the intention of leasing 100% of it back for the next 90 years, so they'll keep using the site for theme parks and a movie studio. Lots of companies do this kind of thing - you'd be surprised how many big corporations don't actually own their head office buildings, they just lease them from a third party.

A better solution might be to have the unlimited fast track include a single ride on DC Rivals, similar to how Six Flags manages the Flash Pass queue for its newer rides. I don't mind them having a fast track option if it means they can afford to staff the ride properly.