joz

I'm not a big fan of Big Brother (or reality TV in genral) but you can't deny that it is good for Dreamworld. I mean, here's a high rating show and Dreamworld gets its name plastered all over it. Where ever the show goes, so does Dreamworld. The other thing as well, is people go to Dreamworld FOR Big Brother, its a motivator. Wether its good TV or not, its good for Dreamworld.

Just on that, what is the story of pirates? BTW, Giant Drops Pre-show was something along the lines of this, (and was givin to guests while in the room with the computer stuff on their left): "This is an emergency situation, the oil rig is about to explode! Please evacuate through the doors on my right NOW! Evacuate! Evacuate, EV - AC - YOU - EIGHT!" IMHO, it doesn't get much more classy then that

3 points to anyone who can remember Giant Drop's shot lived pre-show

Wow, your not kidding dude: Eight times? What the hell happened in 1996/7?

Between Blackhole (Alton Towers), Eureka, Scooby and Looney Tunes (Only counting it because Neb did, and there's not much difference between it and SWO's Atlantis) its gotta be Scooby. Its been 14 years since I went on Space Mountian, so my memory of it is not good enough to rate it.

I'm getting quite excited about this because I am going back to DL at the end of this year, and last time I was there the ride was recently closed. With travel plans originally I was going through in November, and was bummed about possibly missing it, but if its open sooner, I'll be a very happy man. I mean, even though its been there for years, to me it feels like they're building something completly new.

Alex man, he asked a question, and Richard answered it. Nothing more, nothing less. If your going to go around the boards claiming that he had a go at you, make sure he's actually done it first. In the mean time, can we drop this stupid screen stuff already? Don't bother bringing it up again because its tiresome, and has nothing to do with the topic at hand. If you have an opinion that is based around one element, from one ride, from one park, then don't bother posting in this thread ok? If you have an opinion on the quantitative themeing efforts of Disney Vs Movieworld, then please get stuck in, but don't get all hung up on what are (at best) pointless details.

Hey good to see ya on board man. I personally think I'd like to see more seating for the plaza more then I'd like to see a toon stage. Can't stand those costume character shows. I would really like to see a Road Runner style ride squeezed in there, and just think Worker, by the time that gets built, you'll hardly ever be working on Cartoon Beach anyway!

I wouldn't say that about a simulator Alex. Many places have Simulators that are neither themed, nor do they have a story, and are still surprisingly popular (think any fair you've ever been to or many of the smaller parks around the country). True for a theme park its kind of a given that a simulator would be themed, its certainty not necessary. It wouldn't be totally unheard of to have no pre-show, and just queue directly for the simulators, even with the same movie. You are correct that without a screen its nothing, but I don't really see what that has to do with anything. I've been on many simulators which had no themeing or story but still have a movie. The story and themeing obviously aren't as essential as a screen and movie, but adds to the experience. I think the story on the new version is just as strong as the old one, but IMO the new simulator movie itself is the second versions weakness. But thats for a seperate conversation Also, the idea of looking for Scooby is neither stupid or ridiculous. What you have to understand is that the story is there, but you will probably not notice it unless you really want to. Its the same sort of thing on Splash Mountain (Aniehiem's version anyway), where you can get the story, but chances are you'll probably miss it unless your really trying to work it out. If you don't work it out, you'll still enjoy the ride enough anyway. I see no need to inflict the story on everyone with a pre-show or anything like that, since you don't really need the story to enjoy the ride. Like I say, the story is there, its just very, very subtle. Also, the rides stories aren't what seperates the parks. There's no hugely apparent story on Wild West or Big Thunder Mountain. The story on Scooby and Splash is very subtle, and most of the other rides at both parks have stories. The flat rides in Looney Tunes Village don't have much of a story, but neither do the flats in Fantisyland. The dark rides are, but not the flats. The closest Movieworld has to a Fantisyland dark ride is Looney Tunes which has a pretty strong story element. No, I think what seperates the rides is the themeing budget. If your going to spend US 100million on a ride you'd expect it to be better themed then a AU$12million ride. There's no sense to spend obscene amounts of money since the quality of themeing at Movieworld is easily the best in Australia, with daylight in at second.

Alex, the story on Scooby Doo is most definitely that your looking for Scooby Doo. Its only a loose story (just as Splash Mountain's story is only loosely enforced) which kinda shows that you don't have to have an elaborate story to make a ride well themed. You also forget that not only does Batman have a heavy story (The only Simulator in Australia to have a story?), Looney Tunes River Ride has a story, and the new Superman (from what I hear) will have a story as well. No, I don't think story is the difference here. I think the difference in themeing standard is Disney's themeing seems a little more permanent, and a little more Genuine. Disney doesn't try and make Fiberglass look like wood, nor do they try and make fiberglass look like rock. Scooby Doo does on the otherhand, and feels more like a movie set then a haunted castle, which is consistant with the overall theme of the park, but is debatably not as effective as the mood created on Disney rides. Just my opinion.

I've not heard, though one can assume that it will take place after WnW's dive-in movie season has finished (April 25) and before the September holidays.

Thats true Buss, but you shouldn't be able to see it. Thats one thing Disney do well, you can't see the back of house from their rides.

Too many drunk people. When there's that many people drunk people, lots of stuff gets stolen, broken, plus there's all those people spewing everywhere and having sex on one of the rides (no I'm not telling which). Like I say, its a wild night, it'd probably be a whole heap of fun too, hate to be working though.

Not going, though I hear its always a pretty wild night. We had one at Seaworld a few years ago, and lets just say we aren't hosting one ever again

Australian Water and Leisure sell products that seem identical to slides which are popular overseas, and made by other people. One might guess they're the water park equivelent of Meisho. I'll be interested to see if they do have a part to play in the expansion.

I think the reason it works out better at a park like PKI is the fact there are 14 coasters there. 4 invert/suspended coasters, 4 wood coasters and 6 others is a pretty good mix really. At Dreamworld that'd make it 2 inverts and 3 others, possibly to high a proportion to have. Having said that, if they did get an invert, it would probably still lead to an attendance increase, but its not as marketable as something completely different. I don't think a 4D is a good idea for anyone until it works properly. Still 4D with a hydraulic launch? Sure, why not combine the two most unreliable new technologies together and have something completely unworkable

I don't think there'd be much interest in the slides at Wonderland, and if there was, they would have got Seaworld's old slides (which as I understand it, is not the case ).

I think the key here is "usable land". The park is boxed in by the studios, and there is not a great deal of space left to play with.

I'm not normally a big fan of Kevin Yee's from Mice Age, but I do feel he gets a whole heap of stuff right in his latest article, and its quite relevant to what your talking about.

Glad no one else has noticed that.. I think the way it works is something is new until another headline attraction is built. It should probably just say "Newest!" or something like that. Still, Scooby Doo isn't the big sign out the front of the park anymore. Movieworld is doing the advertising the whole park not just one attraction thing at the moment, so they do know that its not new, and not as marketable (Still fun though). Maybe they'll pull that off the website in September or something.

Space Mountain is an obvious attraction that wasn't there when the park opened, same with Indiana. I know its a while ago, but you get the idea.

I don't really understand the question; Epcot added Mission: Space Animal Kingdom is adding Everest Disneyland is adding Buzz Lightyear DCA is getting a Monster's Inc ride and got Tower of Terror last year Thats a nice healthy slew of projects going on at once, so I don't understand the "Never add new rides" thing. Perhaps you could explain?

The Special Effects show isn't as popular as it used to be. The show is now 14 years old, looks dated and is a rather expensive attraction to operate. Most people seem to think its past its prime and requires either a major update, or replacing. Well, updating an attraction like this might increase its in park popularity, but it certaintly would struggle to attract new guests. Really, replacing it makes total sense on many levels. Not only will the replacement attraction be a huge draw card for the park, but building it in this spot also lowers the costs involved. Think about it, there is already the infustrcture (Power and whatnot) in place, and thats a nice saving off the total cost of the ride. Also, don't be surprised if the buildings get re-used, again a nice way to save building costs. It also means that the most popular element from the show (Superman) gets a proper home in the park instead of just some small component of a show. There is no way that this is a bad thing.

Since the Superman thread is getting quite bogged down, I thought I'd start one here. Someone asked me when we can expect construction to start. Well....

Here we go for a few fun facts: The Gold Coast Tourism bureau through its own surveys, threw up the following: 70% of visitors visited a theme or wildlife park during their visit. That would suggest that indeed, most people do go to the theme parks. Breaking that down further, 62% of those guests went to Movieworld and Seaworld, and 42% visited Dreamworld. So statistically, if someone is on holiday on the Gold Coast, you would bet that they are A. going to a theme park, and B. the park is probably Movieworld. Now, I suspect this an old survey (1998/9 from what I can tell) and the sample size isn't given, but the point remains the same, most people do visit the parks when they are on holidays.