themagician

I definitely can see the ride being open on Boxing Day

I can’t believe they ripped out all the theming in the queue hall, surely they could’ve got that all sorted and replaced in time. From everyone’s comments it seems like there is currently only one moment of projection mapping. Is there definitely more and how well are they done? Its a shame the shadow projected onto the wall of the mystery inc in the TVC isn’t a part of the ride, because that would be awesome (hopefully it is added)

I was definitely expecting a lot more. They could’ve planted a heaps of trees and really immersed it. Volcano looks a bit tacky too, and just concrete walls on the side isn’t appealing

Now it’s all come together, I actually don’t mind it. Maybe on the big white wall on Main Street they could had add the rides name in paint, or add a name of this ‘airport’, just to add something to the white. I do think it’s very clean and crisp though, shame it doesn’t blend to great into the stores to the right. Surprised how narrow the walkway to BuzzSaw has become, but I doubt it will be an issue. Hopefully this means once the ride opens, BuzzSaw will reopen. And I’m very glad to see they are painting the backside of the wall. Would be nice if they planted some large trees just to discguisr it a little

@Levithian the park confirmed at some point that the refurb cost $1 million

I’ve very doubtful of that, I went last year on a sold out night, and you couldn’t properly enjoy it because it was so crowded. They are just being greedy

More tickets have been added for each night

They’ve now also hit DW, protesting out the front of the park and climbing onto the entry roof

Just watched the video, and wow those animations are terrible. And honestly I would preferred they kept the original sets instead. The lasers looked pretty cool in the disco room. But couldn’t really tell when the projection mapping is or how it was used.

^It was down for 6 months

That commercial is awesome, so it’s a shame to hear the ride isn’t of that standard and doesn’t feature all of the elements shown in the ad. @MickeyD that monster was a part of the ride originally, so maybe they’ve removed it entirely or poor lighting made it difficult to see

For people who have ridden it now... Has this refurb made the ride better (before theming was removed) or worse? Im glad they’ve mostly replaced what was there and tried to improve on it with screens. But the fact there is no more Scooby at all, and the videos are poor quality, make this ride come across something that was budget, when in reality this ride was world class. Hopefully they’ve had some issues (much like they did with WWF effects when it reopened, but really they should not be having these issues. If the ride isn’t ready, don’t open it until it is), and the these lighting and screen visual issues are resolved soon

I think 18 months is too long. They should try get another new one for in time for Christmas next year as well.

From all that I’ve seen of it so far through photos, it does look really good. Just an idea, If it proves popular and they continue to have a new exhibit every 6-12 months, it would be good to relocate to the current dodgems area, and get rid of all those arcade games (Just like they did with HP and Matrix). They could then even have two running at once. And that frees up the sound stage, if they ever decide to bring back a show

Yes, but the way MW do their dates on maintenance. The date shown is the day it reopens. DW do it the opposite, and the date shown is the last day of maintenance

The ride reopens on Saturday

Heres the official TVC for the ride. I think it’s great and marketing idea is pretty cool. Not so sure the music choice was right though.

Good to see it was placed really well and fits into its surrounds 🤨

The VRTP One Pass had its price increase this morning so they are now $215 for non locals and $149 for locals

Image from early November

Update from early November. Pretty much the entire land is flat now, with only a small part of the reservoir and channel to go. There is about 6,600m squared of land here that's been cleared. The dirt stockpile is in the Blue Lagoon.

Image from early November. This expansion is using a lot more land than I originally expected, which is great to see. I really do hope that they either install a new tower for slides, or leave some land free for a future attraction. If they just do a lazy river (adventure), what ever it is, and have cabanas, etc then that leaves them no more land for future attractions. Unless they remove the Shell (which I really hope they do, wasted space)

Entry signage up (TPSN) And the Polar Express float is on Main Street outside Ricks. So either they have some new floats and want to make photo opportunities with the existing ones OR budget cuts

Just got an email and attraction is opening December 12

Got an email and attraction is opening December 13