themagician

Apparently…

After several decades in the industry, Michael Croaker, VRTP’s Head of Entertainment has retired from the company Mike has left quite the legacy from the village parks and if you aren’t familiar, he is behind Quest for the Golden Seal, Fish Detectives, Police Academy, Hollywood Stunt Driver, Spy Chase, Fright Nights, Carnivale, Spooky Nights, White Christmas and many other street performances and side shows. He has been an essential part of Villages history and is a big loss for the company.

You’ll find it in this topic:

Today I was in the area, so I took the opportunity to stop into the Big Banana Fun Park to check out the Plantation Coaster. Being school holidays (and great weather), I knew it was likely going to be busy and that was certainly the case (but great to see for a regional park). The coaster itself and how they’ve tied it into the existing toboggan was nicely executed and well presented. The coaster itself looks impressive on the hillside and the views when on ride were pretty impressive. The vehicles were smooth and comfortable, and while it overall seems to have been a good investment by the park (people pleaser), it was an underwhelming experience. As others have previously commented, as soon as you start to get any speed, you are automatically slowed down and hit the next lift hill. Unfortunately the park just didn’t have enough available land to make this the kind of coaster people might have wanted, and while I didn’t ride it to know for sure, but the toboggan seems like a more thrilling experience (if you aren’t slowed down by the person in front of you). This is definitely aimed for the family market, and is a great experience to let a parent and child ride together. But if you’re planning on travelling to Coffs just to ride this, it probably isn’t worth it. And what @DaptoFunlandGuy mentioned earlier in the year is still the case. If you purchase your ticket online, you still need to visit the info/ticket booth and claim your admit one ticket for the ride. Considering how spread out and elevated this park is, it definitely feels like a flaw in the system that also isn’t signed.

We should frame this! Village began ruining their image around 2023 when they could get on top of maintenance, would have almost half the rides closed some days and people were getting very frustrated with it. Even guests with annual passes were annoyed because every time they went several things would be closed, unless they went in the school holidays (which some pass holders avoid). Then they started charging more for less, the quality of product was poor and even if everything was open, guests were still getting frustrated because queues were slow, staff service was poor and the lack of seating and shade was minimal (looking at you Oz). They had such a strong reputation, they were riding on those morals, but they started digging themselves a large hole and once DW started getting their act together, everyone realised that was the place to be because everyone was having a better day out (and it was cheaper).

Both coasters within Wizard of Oz will be closed at the same time after the school holidays. Presuming they have to complete works that impact both coasters and hence the double closure, otherwise it’s very unfortunate timing

The Carnivale websites home page was saying returning in 2027, but this has been removed. Carnivale has also been removed from Villages listing of parks/events, which makes me think this event won’t be returning.

but where will @New display name go to meet their winter water park needs!

Them staying open during the winter definitely seems to be a crowd pleaser

which essentially means just removing all DC related aspects, which they’ve already done 80% of this!

Or let’s keep DC out of this corner of the park

Yes, but based off what we’ve seen it appears there is something seriously wrong with these theming panels that needs to be rectified before the ride can reopen.

These were shared during the Today Shows report this morning about the change of ownership

They’ve now formally announced it on their socials and also add this post

(Uploading an image of the website for when it eventually gets updated)