joz

Oh for sure it changes depending on the market. If you run a seasonal park in the states, September makes a lot of sense as people renew at the end of the season, getting an announcement out there in the clear air before Halloween stuff seems like a good time to announce. When VIP passes were a thing, make the announcement the same day VIP renewals go on sale. The message being renew for next year, here's why. In Australia though, with the current improved ticketing situation, no one needs 18months notice of a new ride.

You want to put up a sign in park that says 'new ride coming soon' when you're clearing land then that's fine. But keep your powder dry till it starts going up.

That would be fair enough if it wasn't announced in the middle of 2019 for an end of 2020 opening. It'll actually be closer to 30months by the time it opens. Again don't get me wrong, looking forward to riding both, but the excitement has worn off for me. I know for the average person on the street who doesn't follow this stuff so closely, it's probably not such a big issue, but I don't see the point of announcing stuff that far out. I don't think it builds hype in the way they think it does, when something is announced there's an initial excitement that dies down. If your year passes that your selling at the time of the announcement don't get you on the ride, I think it's a waste of the initial hype. I do get that Leviathan was announced early as part of bigger development, and Steel Taipan was released early for the ASX, but again, both were too early. Again having ST on the ad for the last year's summer season feels dishonest.

I'm actually kind of excited to see the tot track go. Glad they've got rid of it, and I'm actually excited to see if they can bring some charm back to that part of park with it gone. It'll be hard with MDMC being sat there all gross, but just maybe a few nice gardens and big trees and a good clean up, along with toning down ABC Kids World, it could be really nice again.

I think there's a sweet spot for announcing a new ride, for me it's when vertical construction starts. I don't like this trend of announcing rides 18 months out. ST was also in the ad for DW LAST Christmas Holidays. I'm pretty much bored of ST and (and to a lesser extent) Leviathan before they've even opened. As for the video, look it's fine. I assume it's aimed at the broader population because let's face it, most people on here kinda know how this ride was selected, and can get behind that reason, and the reason is interesting, but the reason isn't actually mentioned. Why isn't it mentioned? Because it's actually reveals something about how the amusement industry works. Can't have that, so instead you have a bland Corperate nothing which is pretty much all that both companies produce these days. Really that whole section on procurement was 'We think about what the park needs, research rides like that, and then select one'. Great insight there. What other behind the scenes insights are there? 'It's going to have a spinning car!' Oh so more previously announced marketing points. And a triple launch? That's great I guess, already spoken about that. Again, don't talk about the relationship between mack rides and Europa park, how spinning cars was trailed and never opened to the public and this is the first time in the world it'll be offered. Don't talk about how the original ride doesn't feature the triple launch and that this is actually a plussed version. Nah, whatever you do you mustn't actually reveal anything behind the scenes. It's the same stuff we've seen but repackaged like it's behind the scenes, and the words are coming from the CEO with a few construction shots. Full disclosure; didn't think there'd be a rant there. The video is fine honestly. I'll probably watch the next few when they come out.

You'd suspect that it didn't flip in the calm area though. If past accidents are any guide, normally this happens from an underinflated tube that snags an underwater obstacle. There's only one that's flipped from a conveyor that I'm aware of, as literally all other rapids rides don't have the gaps in them.

It's very staff of Aesculapius

What page are the last photos from? The watermark is hard to make out

All of Eureka? I never though ToT's tunnel was a head chopper for some reason. Maybe because you'd just come out of the tunnel a few seconds ago, or maybe because the turn was so gradual but never really was a thing for me. The only head chopper of any real note I can think of on the Gold Coast was Corkscrew's dive under the monorail.

In a world where DW isn't on life support, it'd be nice to see a boat ride go back on there. Doesn't have to be a big paddlewheeler, I think that ship has kind of sailed but something more on a Jungle Cruise or Snake River Expedition scale would be a really nice way to get a 100% family friendly ride in the park and get some kenetic energy on the river. Doesn't have to be themed crazy either, just have it be a nice leisurely boat ride.

Reality is my watching or not watching makes no difference to the ratinga, but I've been around too long to watch that sort of thing and I feel like the problem if I do. As a general rule, I try not to watch stuff which has an obvious bias to it, even if I agree with the bias.

@TimmyG There's a really strange undercurrent here of 'They are beating up the whole industry' and 'They should have gone harder on Village' which doesn't make sense given Village were specifically mentioned and praised for their safety standards in the TRRR report. You're kidding yourself if you think the coroner didn't know about what went on with GL, yet still praised them. Demanding blood in the media just comes across as very strange, particualy when it's pretty well reported here and elsewhere that the GL train in question had just been refurbished by S&S and was properly maintained to S&S standards. It's a design fault from the manufacturer, not anything the park did. If the report was about shoddy airline maintenance, you wouldn't be saying the media should focus on Lion Air because their 737 Max 8 crashed, and the reason you wouldn't is because it's totally unrelated to airline maintenance and has everything to do with a design flaw. Personally I didn't watch the report, fucked if I'm contributing to the ratings of that shite.

There are other themed roller coasters out there though

Yeah, and that's the thing, it's different, and it's purely down to personal taste if it's 'good different', 'neutral different', or 'bad different'. I would argue it's good different, and I feel I could justify why, but if you can justify why you think otherwise, that's totally fine. I think a modern ride in that old school adventure ride style would work well. I think Justice Leauge already is that kind of ride, they just didn't add the preshow. I mean picture it, queue outside like when it was batride for a tour of the Hall of Justice, go into the first room, some explanations about the justice leauge, then news breaks of an alien invasion, and 'We need you to help us!' Throw in an explanation of the ride vechial and that you're meant to be teleporting when you go through the doors, give the 3D glasses a story that they'll protect you from the spores, and then boom! You're into the switch back room with fewer switch backs and less people in it. That is EXACTLY what old MW was like and I think it would work quite well with that ride. I think guests would revolt if you added a preshow to JL since it's been established for so long without one, but that element seems to be the classic thing that people are missing. Family friendly rides where the preshow is part of the attraction and makes the whole thing a more lengthy experience. I wouldn't be mad if they added 1 of those style rides, fixed HSD, replaced Arkham and did some version of a studio tour. Even without those though, I still rate the park now above what it was. Also one thing I would say, MW in 2019 with Arkham is better than MW 2021 without it. So long as Arkham's replacement is better, the comment that the park is at it's peak for me will still stand.

I'll do my response to all those points as quick as I can: I much prefer 'Ride the movies' over 'DVD extras land'. Superman is also genuinely rated as one of the world's best rides. You can argue 'I like special FX shows better' if you like and that's fine, but I would say if you closed Superman to put a special FX show in, park attendance would decline, and most people would lament the old coaster that was there was better. Road Runner also replaced nothing as the show was moved elsewhere in the park, simple as that. The location of the show was better in toons village. Maybe, but also who cares? Road Runner is a far better use of that land. Road Runner also gets through more people than the show did and has broader appeal. Like I said originally, the only thing I miss are the 2 stunt shows and studio tour. If HSD was good I wouldn't care that there's only 1 stunt show instead of 2. Western Town was *fine* and I get that it was just a nothing area for crowd control, but that's it really. The loss of an area for crowd control for a new ride, disappointing or not with interactive elements (that still largely work btw? Haven't been since for a while but they all worked last time I was there) is no loss. GL's layout is a clone, but Rivals is totally unique. I think there has to be an element of digging heels in to argue that it's not because individual elements aren't. Yes there are other hypers, and there are also other launch coasters with preshow dark ride sections. Doesn't make Rivals or Superman any less unique. The other thing I'd say is who is going to travel thousands of Kms to go on those other coasters? For all intents and purposes, those rides are totally unique, there is nothing like them anywhere where 99% of MW guests will ever go. Having visited the park in those days, I can 100% confirm the park was not a full day park then. It also lacked the kenetic energy and excitement that the rides provide. As a kid, MW was poor third to DW and SW which just dominated it in every way. Nostalgia aside, if given the choice for a day out at current MW or 1993 MW, it's current day all the way. Given how much MW struggled with attendance in its early years, and that pre Covid it became the first GC park to pull in over 2 million in a year, I don't think I'm alone in thinking that.

Most of those things you've mentioned came at the expense of nothing, and Doomsday and the Villans miniland, flawed as it is, is better than that part of Western Town was. I don't think River Ride or PA made for a better park than what you lose by taking out Rivals, GL and Doomsday. For me, the park doesn't feel any more or less magic than it did then. That's not to say there haven't been missteps along the way, but if I could visit present day MW or 2006 MW I'd visit today's park. Also you're allowed to disagree without being flamed. This a purely subjective argument. You gave a time and suggested reasons why you think one thing and I suggested why I disagreed. For some, the combo of PA, LTRR, BMA:TR2 are better than Rivals, GL, JL:AA, HSD & DD combined. Personally I disagree, but I don't think your opinion is unreasonable. It's not like you said anything mental like you think the park peaked after Gremlins closed and before Scooby opened.

When DW install new lights I'll praise them, private events happen and they've also tried to make night trade more of a thing, so bring on permanent install lights and do it properly. Actually I drove past at night the other night and had the thought that they should put some lights on Steel Taipan Construction since you really can't see it at night.

Again, what are people getting at here? You know that all the parks invest in having lighting right? MW also is open quite a lot at night compared to what they were historically, and far more than all the other parks. Why shouldn't they add lights? Thing is it isn't like all the replacements have been worse though. Sure JDS isn't as good as River Ride, and HSD isn't as good as PA, but Scooby is better than Gremlins. JDS is about on par with the second bat ride, (though not as good as OG Batride), Superman is better than special FX show. Not to mention Green Lantern, Batwing, Doomsday, West and Road Runner are better than nothing. Lethal Weapon was also better than nothing so that's fine. If that's the pedigree, it's OK to say 'Remember this that used to be awesome?' because the park backs it up. You couldn't do that at DW for example, because not only is the magic gone, but there is a really piss poor collection of rides to back it up. MAYBE when Steel Taipan opens and you get a log ride replacement, you can start being nostalgic, but for now it just reminds people of a better time. SW is a similar story, though I don't think quite as dire. At MW it's more about 'Hasn't the place changed?' than 'Look how shit the place is now compared to what it used to be!' I would also argue that MW now is better than at basically any other point in it's history. It's a long way off perfect, and it could do with 1 of those old style rides just to balance things out, but the stuff that's there now, on balance is far better than what used to be there. That's not true of the other Gold Coast theme parks. SW & DW are hopefully on the upward from being at their lowest, & WnW just 'is', but MW is a far better park than it was at any other year you could name for my taste. Standing by for 'Parkz mods are biased' comments for expressing my opinion

I'm so lost as to the reasoning behind why you think this is bad. We've seen increasingly that they're opening up the park later, and night time events are clearly part of the long term future plans for the park. Why would adding something permanently that lights up and also looks good during the day be a waste? Best attraction is obviously open to huge amounts of debate, but Superman, Rivals, West and Scooby to me are about the best rides the park has ever had. I think there is room for a slow dark ride to be added; of the 4 the park has had (Toons, Gremlins, Batman Justice Leauge), JL is unfortunately the weakest. Add another ride like that which takes a solid 20mins to go through and has a proper preshow/story and I think the balance of the park is close to being spot on. The only things I miss from the old days are the 2 opening day Stunt Shows (which I would instantly forget if HSD was good) and the studio tour. Everything else that's gone was very 'meh' to me.

I assume with this ride there are no tracks in the maintenance bay, and that's the last bit of track to get the coaster back onto the track smoothly. Looks pretty neat

That's the second worst thing to happen to a DW water ride conveyor

How fast was the ride going?

I mean not the worst idea at all really. Maybe I'm old school but I think IP is a bit over rated. DreamWorks is a really good one and well is worth it, but not all IP is. If you're DW and going IP less, totally redoing one of the few areas of the park that works really well from scratch would be a huge diversion from where the money needs to be spent. World's Fair would be a very cheap, almost cynical way of getting rid of DreamWorks, but they almost need a bit of that with the cash situation as it is.

I mean Teen Titans is more DC stuff and what I don't think is needed is more stuff with a super narrow appeal. Just whatever you're making, make it good and it will appeal to tweenagers.