Mark Shaw

Hi Guys it was before my time but I'm 99% certain it was scrapped. We generally scrap rides rather than sell on. Happy new year everyone! Mark

Great review IWERKS, Thanks. how did you like the Pulled pork burger?

Gazza I know where your coming from with this I think. it was a while ago now but I think from memory the decision was made based on the challenges of getting the safety harnesses/systems certified to cat 5 Australian standards. not that we would not have managed to get the lap bars certified but we didn't want to take the risk of making it any harder. we also felt that it might just have been too scary for a lot of people only being restrained at the waist. It was certainly well considered at the time. Mark

Iwerks, thanks for the feedback and looks like you mostly had a good day. Just coming back to you on the fog effects, we do have the fog billowing out of the Volcano on Kahuna Falls every 5 minutes or so. Unfortunately we had to stop the fog in the Abyss tunnel early on as the building is reasonably open up to the dispatch platform and we therefore had too much fog rising to the platform affecting some team members. As for the speciality burgers we had stopped serving yesterday due to a supplier shortage of a key ingredient which has today been resolved (I just had the best pulled pork burger for lunch!) Having spoken to Laura our food and beverages manager we aren't sure which speciality drinks were not available? perhaps you could let us know so we can investigate. I've yet to notice the moat funk but will check. I rode Abyss this morning and it was spot on, still fast but not head banging! Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and thanks for your patronage and enthusiasm, it is appreciated. Mark

Update, I have just come from riding front row and the Abyss is very fast at the moment. I have spoken to the Maintenance team who will switch out one of the wheels for a softer compound wheel which will take a little bit of speed out of the car and reduce the head movement. Thanks for highlighting it here. Mark

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I guess some roughness on a coaster pulling the highest range of G-forces in Australia travelling at up to 85kmph is going to move you about a bit. I normally ride once a week minimum and usually go front row. I am mindful to keep my head back hard against the head rest so my neck isn't moving so much and I find it mostly fine. I will ride it again today and see how she is. Thanks for the Tornado suggestion. I agree they can be fun and a crowd pleaser. As can many slides and rides Merry Xmas everyone and thanks again for the feedback and for visiting the Park. Mark

All our new brand TV commercial is live on our Facebook page showcasing our new brand look. Hope you all like. Mark

Thanks Cooper, the team did a good job on a relatively modest budget I think. Certainly the younger kids in the park today seem to be enthralled by the Dinosaurs.

Thanks, good to be back. Highlights, surviving driving down the wrong way of a three lane road ranks fairly highly. The Wizarding world of Harry Potter sets a new benchmark in theming quality and guest interaction with wands for sale that when aimed at shop windows actually triggers movements to happen. The theming and layout was in my opinion nothing short of spectacular, even down to musty smells upon entering the old book shop! class. We rode some rides and some slides and (its a tough job) that's all I'm going to say about that! I was generally disappointed with service levels in all but the Disney Parks (pockets of Universal where good but in the main quite average interactions with team members). I've got a long list of other ideas and notes, who knows what we will come of it....... a few quick win ideas and some bigger thoughts as always. Our learning and development manager attended the Disney institute week long course while we were there and has a head full of ideas to assist the business in its next phase of growth. Food and beverage was average in most parks. . MI2...... sorry, its not a Gerstlauer product. Mark

World, Universe, Galaxy.

Hi, en route home from Florida, currently at JFK airport with a signed contract in my bag for MI2. Picked up a few other fun ideas on the trip so watch this space. Mark

good point.

Thanks Iwerks. we wanted to change things up and communicate to the wider public that AW has changed. We felt the old logo hinted too much at water and we really wanted the new logo to feel more "theme park/water park" which is quite hard. the sparkles suggest fantasy, the chrome suggests quality and solidity and the orange as someone suggested here the glorious sunny weather we enjoy in Perth. I was also keen to establish the brand on a national scale so having ":Perth Australia" on the logo gives it national perspective and the est. 1982 hints at heritage, history and brand establishment. The coaster tracks obviously scream (pun intended) theme park to those who just arrived from Mars on vacation and also act as an energy "atom" idea around the globe. The water elements are reflected on the W. As always it takes time to get used to radical changes but we think its great and are happy now we have had some time to get used to it. should go live at the end of the month along with weather delayed new brand TV commercial. incidentally, this logo change was budgeted for prior to decisions about the castle so not driven by the castle in the old logo. Dinosaurs are going in DK in densely landscaped area between top and bottom pool. ......... Thanks. we let our actions do the talking. incidentally we won a training initiative award two nights ago beating the likes of Crown and Holiday Inn. Details on Facebook tomorrow I believe. do we think rampage merch would sell? we need a bigger shop! (in the 3 year plan!). you might notice our ride ops guys wearing blackwidow/rampage themed grey/black tops this year look pretty good.

MI2 will be ready for 2015/16 season yes.

Iwerks We love the Gerstlauer products and their people are great. I'm having dinner with their agent in Florida a week Tuesday so no doubt he will be trying to sell us something! Outback splash- we see any leisure activity as competition. Our greater competitive threat though as I see it would be the free parks and amazing beaches in Perth. Kings Park gets over 7milion visitors a year, Hillarys Boat Harbour gets 3 million visitors a year, Rottnest etc. I had lunch with the owners from Outback Splash last week and am meeting with them in Florida for dinner. We think its great to see their development and "all ships benefit from a rising tide" so they say.Tourism in WA can only benefit from improvements all round in man made attractions to compliment all the marvellous nature based attractions we have and our great climate. Are we going to try and match what they get? no, we generally prefer to provide a point of differentiation. I think we can say we are some way ahead of them in terms of quality, theming, operations and range of product and I don't see that changing anytime soon. Tim, Fright Nights product will grow every year as the crowds grow so its possible we will introduce walk through scare attractions in the future. Castle: we have some thoughts yes but it will depend on trading and priorities. something will happen at some point as its central to the park. If you look in the West Australian today Summer guide you will see the new AW brand mark. It isn't supposed to be launched till later this month but an error occurred in the print media planning. Let me know what you think? change takes a while sometimes for people to get used to but we all really like it.

We would love to do a second roller coaster but the answer in terms of timing would definitely not be in the next 2-3 years but sometime after and really depends on how we trade. The faster we grow the quicker we can re-invest so it really depends on people choosing to spend their leisure $$ coming to AW rather than say going to the Royal Show or Crown etc. We do have to be very creative with our budgets compared to the large companies to deliver real value. Its fun to be challenged like that though. We do have a 5 year plan but it is fluid depending on how we trade as well as external market forces. Fright Nights is a 10 year project to get to a place we are maximising its value and putting on a great show. we are at year 4 now and growing it at a rate in line with that plan. In a few years time, once we've established that event we will probably introduce a NYE event but no guarantees. How we wish we could do everything NOW!

Hi all and thanks for the welcome. Tim, all rides and attractions are open today including chair lift and Freefall. As for a B&M coaster.... ... I'm a huge fan since my days with Merlin however these coasters come with a big price tag that requires a sizable population to support it. Perth is not big enough to provide the return on investment required for a $20m+ coaster at the moment sadly. One day! I'm off to the annual IAAPA convention next week to look at new products and general benchmarking/networking which should be interesting and fun. MI2 contract is 99% complete as of this morning and should be signed off before I leave. I cannot tell you what it is but I might drop some hints shortly. I can tell you we have already landed on a name and a theme and will commence work on the ground around March/April all going to plan. New TVC shoot this Sunday/Monday. Have an Awesome day! Mark

Hi guys its been interesting reading your posts over the past year or so, especially during the teaser campaign for Abyss. it was really useful to get feedback from all of you especially given that you are theme park enthusiasts and therefore the most engaged and vociferous of theme park visitors. I'm a theme park junkie too believe it or not so I thought I'd register and from time to time I will respond to questions or comments. Just to pick up on a couple of recent themes, our Fright nights event was a huge success this year with attendances exceeding 30% growth YOY despite last years event coinciding with the launch of Abyss. Secondly attendances and Season pass sales are significantly up again this year (so far) following on from a big growth in attendances last year. We have some more changes coming in the next few weeks which I might reveal to you just prior to the events going live to the public including the progress on MI2. I would like to thank you all on behalf of the team at AW for your interest and feedback. AW is a work in progress project as far as I am concerned and will continue to improve and grow in the future. Have an AWesome day!! Mark