Guest 239

I feel most of our local procedures are security theatre to placate guests who have little idea of how theme park rides work. Modern theme park attractions are incredibly safe but after an event such as TRR people need that extra performance to feel peace of mind.

Haha, that's fair! I can't remember early visits as a kid (except oddly for one memory on the monorail. RIP) but I do remember it being okay to navigate in 2014 when I first visited as an adult. At least back then you didn't need to walk five minutes to get from the central food court to Storm. I don't think that's weird. There's something fun about getting lost in an unknown place. I love going to a theme park for the first time where I actually need to use a map to get around and everything is new.

I also miss when Sea World didn't require doctorate level qualifications in Cartography to navigate.

The timing may not be ideal for those travelling soon and planning to ride it, but it makes sense given the Oz construction. They can smash out both projects at once with plenty of access behind the Scooby building. I'd say something happened recently that meant they needed to make a quick decision like supplies coming in, etc.

Smart move. The execution of Next Gen detracted from the overall experience if it even worked. I'm glad they tried something new, but the original physical theming was far better.

It's really exciting to see Scooby get some proper love outside of thematic enhancements which easily keep it going for another decade or two. I'll be interested to see how much of the existing 'Next Generation' technology gets replaced because Village have definitely proven that they can pull off properly world class AV integrations with the Leviathan load. Operations wise I feel the park is really going to feel Scooby's absence next school holidays. Movie World has lost a lot of capacity over the last few years and losing another major attraction for a year will hurt.

There were some concepts done up for a Starflyer to go in that space themed to Doomsday a good few years back.

Seems TPWW are really enjoying their time in Australia. I agree that it's refreshing to see such a well travelled individual having a blast in our parks. In fairness I've always seen their vlogs as more of an overview than proper reviews. I go to their content to see what a park has and get a general idea of what to do, what to avoid, etc. It makes sense for VRTP to give them VIP to best showcase the park. It'd be a pretty bad overview if they could only do like half the park in a day.

How exciting! Around Christmas is generally a pretty whacky time for crowds so to get a good idea of what to expect I highly recommend checking out IsItPacked. I've got some general tips for Disneyland that have saved me a lot of time and made the trip a lot easier. Get there early. Stay late. A lot of families can't afford to do open until close because their children will turn into demon spawns. Use this to your advantage and you'll be able to do a ton of attractions as it gets later in the day. If you need a rest and you're nearby I recommend a midday nap as that's when it's generally the busiest. The shows, fireworks, and parades are worth it. Some people will recommend skipping them and using the time to get on more rides but it hardly matters when you're there for 4 days. I highly recommend the Fantasmic On-The-Go DIning Package as well because it gives you a guaranteed sitting spot in a premium position which means you don't have to battle the crowds. Watch the nighttime parade near Small World and follow it to Main Street afterwards. I have no idea whether they're doing a nighttime parade at the moment, but if they are it's generally a good idea to watch it near Small World and then follow it down Main Street to plant yourself for the fireworks. We timed our Fantasmic package with the Electrical Parade and Fireworks and were able to do all three in one night by follow the above plan. Rise of the Resistance closes early. This throws off a few people but you can use it to your advantage. Generally it closes 2 hours before the rest of the park, but you can get in line literally one minute before it closes. If you do this you can generally get a really short wait. Wear high-quality, reliable shoes. This is a general tip for all theme parks but please wear good shoes. Disneyland and DCA are surprisingly large and with Genie+ you will be doing A LOT of walking. Last time I was there we averaged 30KM a day. Myself and my friend go harder than most, but you will generally find yourself hoping around the park taking advantage of Genie+. I'll add some more as I remember them but these hopefully help out a bit. Have an amazing time!

It's laughably bad and is the very definition of 'E for Effort', but I just don't think it's worth grabbing our pitchforks over.

Excellent article. I agree with pretty much all of the praise and criticisms. It was also nice to get some of that classic Parkz sass that reminded me of the old Dreamworld trip report days. Great work @Richard.

Their social media comments say its closed for the week, the news is reporting its closed today, the rides have been taken off the maintenance schedule with tags saying they're open, but Trident still says 'closed due to high winds' on its landing page whilst the websites homepage says 'Ride It Now' for Leviathan.

Technical rehearsals and soft openings usually help to taper similar problems with ride expectations. I see no negative in educating your guests and tapering their expectations.

Great suggestions above, but you probably don't even need to go that hard. Just explaining to guests that there is a possibility it might not be open for whatever reason on the day that they visit helps to taper expectations. Currently most marketing material says "Ride Now" or "Now Open!" which some guests will take for gospel. Many don't understand the opening process and aren't privy to the process like us, so outlining that despite the public can get on the attractions that some things may be down to receive 'additional enhancements for improved guest experience'. This could easily go under the announcements tab on their website or within their app on the Sea World homepage.

I was going to post this in the complaints thread but it was closed before I could. Theme parks are a luxury that nobody needs meaning that Sea World is in the business of making people happy. I understand that shit happens, and people are going to complain regardless, but their marketing and communications are currently doing them no favours in regards to their outages. They have effectively gone radio silent about this after advertising for the last month through multiple channels that their rides would be open on 2nd. Its understandable that people are upset about this because their expectations have not been met. People will often develop an enlarged sense of personal entitlement when in a setting where they see themselves as as there to be served such as a theme park regardless of whether a problem is real or perceived, but that's just the business they're in. Luxuries require a sense of value and satisfaction. Considering how expensive everything is becoming, the park needs to prove that they're a reliable source of satisfaction otherwise guests are going to second guess their next ticket/pass purchase for something more reliable. Radio silence just isn't a good option when all eyes are on the park. Some might argue that it's the guests responsibility to do their own research in these situations, but if I was Sea World I would scrambling to control the narrative as soon as possible considering that this project has seen almost eight public delays which wont leave people with much confidence. All it takes is one Daily Mail article with some bullshit headline like "Long delayed Wooden Coaster rickety after multiple breakdowns" to put the park in a really, really bad position.

A lot of people online have said that Leviathan and Trident are still down today.

I drove up from Sydney on Friday morning to experience Leviathan. Here are my thoughts: Queue: I really enjoyed the queue experience for this attraction. The entrance façade is excellent and does a great job in funneling your attention towards the ride. Once inside you're pushed through a series of rockwork hallways until you get into the central atrium which is where you will spend a majority of your time. The rockwork and design here is great, and being within the ride envelope helps to build your excitement before you get into the indoor section. If you have sensory processing issues the outdoor portion of the queue may be a bit difficult as the coaster is very loud. Also the theming relies a lot on plastic greenery which is within easy reach of the guests. It was not uncommon to see these scattered around the ground and there were a few areas that have already started falling off. I don't believe these will age well, especially in the harsh Gold Coast sun. Once you've made it through the central atrium you'll be grouped to enter the interior queue. This is the final stretch and you will fly through this section to loading. The interior theming is very well done with faux cave rockwork, vibrant lighting, and an atmospheric soundscape. Before you know it you're in the loading area where you will be allocated a seat to board. The loading area is a simulated cave with a vast amount of screens around you where the Leviathan swims around and taunts you. This is very well done and is unlike anything else in Australia, but it's hard to process as whilst you're being taunted you're also managing your group, getting your belongings together, getting instructions from the operators, and taking in the scenery. Ride Experience: Once ready, you board a surprisingly comfy seat, however, it was not uncommon for guests to have issues with these due to their size. This is unfortunate because there is little to suggest this will be a problem. If you are of a larger size I would recommend using the test seat out the front to avoid disappointment. You dispatch in sync with the audio and visuals. The Leviathan will continue to taunt you up the lift hill which adds to the intensity which I enjoyed. You get some excellent views from the spit as you climb the lift hill until you turn the corner into the first drop which is absolutely excellent. This coaster flies! It's incredibly fun and soars through it's many twists and turns. I didn't notice much airtime but others in our group did so that's probably just a me thing. The second half of the coaster starts to get a little underwhelming but this a problem that many wooden roller coasters have. Once you hit the final brake run, you're done! Again, a very solid experience and incredibly fun wooden coaster but nothing mind blowing. Also expect to sit on the brake run for quite a bit which in the morning means a lot of harsh sun blasting on your head. This wasn't an issue in the afternoon. Exit: The interior exit is excellently themed and matches the rest of the interior queue, but once you're outside it just becomes mostly basic sheer blue walls. You get some great glimpses of the coaster, but it does admittedly feel like you're walking through backstage. There is a small section to view your photos within the exit, but in the three times we experienced the attraction, not once did this sync properly with our train and it always showed other riders which was unfortunate. Overall Leviathan is a great addition to Sea World with some interesting quirks. There were some decisions on guest management in the queue that I don't agree with but otherwise it's one of Australia's best presented attractions and really puts Sea World in a great place with other strong coasters like Storm. Sea World is a dark ride away from being Australia's best 'themed' park in my opinion. Opening Day, New Atlantis I'll be honest - I expected a little bit more for the opening. It felt like just another regular day at Sea World. It's a missed opportunity for Village to reward their most loyal and dedicated customers. The actual New Atlantis area is nice, but nothing groundbreaking. It desperately needs more greenery that isn't plastic and trees or structures to provide shade. Though this could be deliberate with Dockside so close because then the kids can go ride the coaster whilst the parents hang out and have a beer in the shade. Trident wasn't ready and apparently wont be for a little while so I can't comment on it. Sea World & Dockside Precinct Despite the addition of New Atlantis - Sea World as a whole is in a bad way at the moment. It is awful to navigate, many of the attractions frequently go offline for extended periods of time, the SBNO attractions are becoming a major eyesore, and a vast majority of the park requires a desperate coat of paint and sun bleached signage to be replaced. I was also unfortunate enough to be at the opening of the downstairs Dockside Precinct around lunch time. Their systems were simply not ready with EFTPOS not processing on some terminals and their purchasing software having problems that prevented certain orders from going through. I've worked in IT, these things happen and I'm patient, but despite this I have never had a worse customer service experience within a theme park in my entire life. This was not the front line workers fault, but what appeared to be a stressed manager who thought it was best to treat both his staff and the customers like absolute burdens. I don't appreciate being sighed at, being given the side eye, or you getting frustrated and angry with your new staff because your system is having problems. I expect this kind of treatment from a fast food take away like Maccas, but not a theme park where your guests are paying to be there and you're offering your food at a huge premium. This park is going to be the focus for many new and returning guests over the upcoming holidays and despite Leviathan being excellent, I will be surprised if many are impressed with Sea World as a whole. This is extremely unfortunate considering how much of a connection I have to this park.

I'm interstate and I was hoping earlier this year to come down, do Fright Nights, experience New Atlantis and just make a weekend of it. But considering the overall price, additional upcharges, and New Atlantis delays, I've decided to skip this year. I know a lot of my interstate friends are in the same boat.

A lot of cruises function in USD. Everything on Royal Caribbean is priced in USD and then they just convert it to the local currency when you pay for something. I imagine it just makes it easier from a finance perspective.

I haven't been on a DCL ship yet, but from my experience on other cruise ships and what I've researched, Disney is in a league of its own with their family-orientated cruise ships. Their dedication to family entertainment and experiences once onboard is just something you don't get with other cruise lines so I can definitely see this being popular. There is going to be a lot grandparents spoiling their grandkids this Christmas haha. Cost is pretty extreme compared to other lines, but considering that if you want a Disney experience you need to go overseas, for some people this will be their best opportunity to get a proper Disney holiday. Remember - that price includes entertainment from morning to night, food, and a whole assortment of other additions. You pay a fortune on those things on a regular holiday on top of accommodation and travel so I see this as being fairly reasonable compared to the usual 'Australia Tax' we pay for less. Whilst touted as temporary, I highly doubt this will be last time we see DCL in Australia. Disney has been trying to tap the Australian market for decades but hasn't been able to stick the landing. This is a perfect way to get the thousands of dollars that they want from wealthy Australians without the investment of permanent infrastructure.

That's because people misconstrued what I said to be some detrimental doomsday scenario instead of an operational hurdle. I never said that the ride wouldn't test or continue along once the problem was solved, but I did mention to expect delays, and what was slyly updated a couple of days later on the website? Not everything is about you.

This is kind of where I'm at. I feel most Australian's spending habits are driven by a sense of value in favour to them, and plopping down a giant roller coaster made people feel like they're getting a good deal. This is the hurdle that Dreamworld needs to jump, and I feel they're doing a decent job for those that come through the gate, but they need to improve their external presence to actually get people through the gate in first place.

That's the season finale to Leviathan. VRTP turn the entire land precinct into a sink hole and it returns to the earth bringing the story of Atlantis full circle. This is on the money. Getting insider insight is not a blessing, its a curse. There is no way to prove that the information you have is the right information, and divulging anything leads to a Sisyphus complex where you will never come out on top. It's easier to just sit on it, tell only people you trust, and have a little giggle to yourself when you see people talking about contrarian information. Learn from me, you ain't convincing anybody. Just keep it to yourself.

You guys remember that time I was heavily criticised for saying that insiders told me that there were problems with the Leviathan structure which would lead to a delay but I was basically told I'm an idiot that I couldn't be trusted and I shouldn't be listening to the dippin' dots guy? Haha, that was great. It's sometimes fun to reminisce.

I don't believe the price is meant to make sense. I feel it's designed to capture super fans who will happily pay for it with little thought. The business analysts will be watching that pass so freaking closely.