joz

RE: Re-use the Rapids Ride Cave for a relocated Vintage Cars No. Just no. That is a horrible idea. Re using any infrastructure from the Rapids ride is in poor taste, and would serve as a constant reminder about what happened. Also people are suggesting keeping the Gold Rush theme and moving the Vintage cars to the area; the last Goldrush was over way before Model T Fords came along. The only advantage of a rethemed area with Vintage cars is that it would be very cheap; it's just the cost of demolishing what's already there (which they have indicated they're planning to anyway) and pouring a new roadway. The cheapness is literally the only thing the idea has going for it.

Must have had a really efficient crew on that day. They really should buy another 32 trains for that ride

As a side point it's good to see them running 2 trains on Superman in that photo

Yeah there are two types of people who like animals. There are the people who are passionate about animal welfare and become vets, biologists, trainers, park rangers. There are people who spend a lifetime getting to know animals inside and out and do everything they can to protect them and raise awareness about actual environmental issues. Then, there are people like this, who make placards and protest what the other lot are doing. They only make one claim in their article, that because they do 'demeaning tricks' they are healthy enough to be released. Yeah, fit for release has to do with their survival prospects, not how fast they can swim. It has to do with life skills and natural instinct. Most of the animals at Sea World were captive born, they have no experience with the wild. Those that weren't born at Sea World are either rescues (and hot tip, if they think they'll survive in the wild they release them. That's a parks an wildlife decision too not a Sea World decision) and those that were wild born are now so old that they're past the life expectancy for wild Dolphins. It's worth noting that not all the dolphins at Sea World are used in shows, in fact the vast majority are not. Dolphins also when they get older, they do 'retire' from shows and get to live a leisurely life. Also worth noting is that they arent asked to work harder than wild dolphins who have to hunt their food. If Sea World had dolphins and didn't get them to exercise in feeding sessions THAT would be cruel. Finally, doing things for an audience isn't cruel because there is an audience. You ask your dog to sit at dinner time before you feed them? It wouldn't be cruel if people payed to watch your dog sit when you asked it now would it? There's nothing inherently wrong with getting an animal being asked to perform behaviours for a crowd. So yeah, straight up lies and ignorance what these people are spouting, and they should be ashamed of themselves for their conduct.

WTF I trusted you! @T-bone lol Big clue that it was fake, the writer appeared to have a grasp on Ardent's different products. Actually better real researched than most Bulletin articles.

Bahaha get stuck in! Industry people getting stuck into Wet 'n' Wild Sydney is one of my favourite things. Anyway...12 acre theme park? Yeah that's a bit like building a helipad and calling it an airport. Hope they have some success though, Ardent haven't shown much in terms of commitment to the Australian Amusement business, so good to see them investing, and Coffs could do with something else.

No! *spits in disgust* That ride was awesome though

@downunder How do you find the other parks in Oz?

It's not about the speed and if there are drops. It's about rolling under the power of gravity. Basically, Journey the cars on Journey have their own motor on board to get them around the course. Take out the hills and the speed and you're pretty much left with something not much different to Justice League. Put simply, it doesn't coast, it's not a Roller Coaster. There are a lot of rides which blur the lines, this isn't one of those rides. It's not up for debate, to the point that anyone arguing that it IS a coaster may well cop a 24 hour ban for trolling.

I must admit I hadn't seen the stuff about the expansion before hand, but it doesn't really change my take on it, it's good to see them commit to it and it makes sense keeping the struggles of that market in mind.

Except that's not the name of the show. The name of the show, as Sea World have named it, is 'Our World of Dolphin presentation' As for the pyramid, if you want to know, it starts at the Ski Dock on the East of the lake, went around the back of the Island anti-clockwise, and by the time they were in front of the audience the pyramid was formed. I'm not saying that's the way they've always done it, but they'd been doing it that way since at least 1989.

That area was where Dreamworld's Casey Jr. circus train knock off was. When Tower of Terror was built it took up some of that ride's land so they pulled it out and put in Creature Cruise with the land that was left, the entrance to which was in the area across from the Dodgems are (it wasn't directly across the path, but wasn't far away either, know what I mean?)

SkyPoint is an attraction on top of a building, not the building itself, so SkyPoint would be the Gold Coast's highest attraction, with the possible exception of the Elsewhere nightclub.

A lot of the advertising for some reason used the back straight to do the pyramid, but as far back as Pirates of Paradise, it's been done at the back of the Island

Rodney totally wasn't from Tasmania by the end though right? I swear he was Tasmanian because homosexuality was still banned in Tasmania until 1997. At one point during the show after Rodney was just coping all the shit from the Sarg, Rodney kissed him, prompting the response 'I thought that was illegal in Tasmania?'

Pretty sure the formation for the pyramid was always done around the back of the Island. There used to be all sorts of extra things, remote control boats, novelty shaped boats, jumping a boat over a wall of fire, pyro, all sorts of creative things. He'll even Waterski Wipeout had the bath on skis. I think a waterski presentation would suck donkey dick, but as a show with well written comedy and enough unexpected gags they could really do a good show there. I think something fun and light hearted would be the way to go too just for what it's worth rather than a big serious Water World type show.

I agree with this. I don't think it'll fill the hole in any meaningful way either. I agree that people with passes will watch it once and that's it. But what we're talking about here is a show that's on once a day in a venue that can only hold maybe 500 people. It will help give the perception of there being more to do for one off visitors so that is a good thing. It's also at a time of day when lines in the park are traditionally long. Realistically though, it's not a motivator it's a pacifier, and parks need things like this to fill the day out. I also just think it's an important show that the park should do. It really isn't going to help the bigger problems the park has (only big new major attractions will do that), but I don't see that being this show's role, and hopefully no one in management sees it like that either. I'm also with you about the need for an actual show on the main lake. The problem Sea World have had putting on a show there is that the venue is so big that all the shows they've put on seem really small and under whelming. If Pirates Unleashed was in a smaller venue it probably would have got a decent reception. Spongebob parade got a bit closer to hitting the mark, but for a bunch of reasons never quite got there. Jet Stunt Exteme also goes close, but there isn't much variety to it and it goes for fully 10mins these days. What they need is a relatively cheap show that uses the whole lake. Just going to throw it out there as an idea, but actually why not a ski show?

I think it's a combination of all the bad press, no marketing right in the crucial period when people were making plans, and all the rides being closed were factors. I agree that rides being closed was a factor, it did seem to get busier as the summer went along, which is the opposite to normal. Everything coming out of the park sounds fairly positive (they're saying the right things not that there is heaps of good news). I wonder if as a company they've already made peace with a year or two of heavily reduced profits and decided to stick it out anyway. That's me being optimistic but they're still talking about investing which is what's leading me to think that. Investing in the Wildlife section seems an odd choice but I wonder if they're doing it to try and win over the international tour groups and get them back. Parks tend to have contracts with tour companies to bring guests in, while the park was closed they would've had to find other options, now the park has reopened the tour operators don't just go 'OK we'll come back now. They'll have made alternative arrangements with other operators and a lot will probably just stay with that new arrangement. Investing in the wildlife section at Dreamworld may be part of an attempt to win them back.

'Theme Parks a Go-Go of the Dolphin presentation' would've been better

Who or what is Sandy Shores Lagoon? I assume this is an educational presentation at the front of the park where the grass hill is. If that's what it is I actually think it's a really good idea. I hope it's a success and they follow it up with an educational show in the Sea Lion Stadium between the 'comedy' shows. (hell you could even merge it with this one and do a combined Dolphin/Sea Lion educational show. Sea World used to do these types of shows years ago and I don't think it's a bad idea to bring them back, particularly in a climate where Sea World (and Zoos more broadly) are trying to find their role in modern society. I passionately believe that role is to get people interested in animals, and then to educate people about animals to hopefully grow a passion for animals and conservation. The way I see it, Affinity gets them interested, this show educates. As a side note, I hope in this show they are able to get their message out about how they treat the animals, and how they are cared for, because they have a good story to tell and it's such a shame to me that Affinity doesn't really do anything to talk about it. Actually Affinity doesn't do much to talk about the connection between the trainers and the dolphins at all really. It's kind of just a 'Let's try and use this word randomly' kind of show. But yeah good move, I hope it works. EDIT: One more thing; what's with the name? The show is called 'Our World of the Dolphin presentation'. When I read the blurb first time I kind of read it thinking the show was called 'World of the Dolphin' and the rest was just them saying 'come see our 'World of the Dolphin' presentation. But no, the whole title is 'Our World of the Dolphin presentation'. Just such a needlessly awkward title to me.

Nice find! It's also a great look ahead to what the park will look like in 2019

What do they get out of blowing their marketing load early? 30 people on the internet are happy? Reality is that if they announce when they're not selling next years passes they'll lose any momentum such a big announcement would bring. Also passes tend to go on sale early enough that it'll still be enough time for people to make holiday plans for later in the year. The rush to announce from everyone here makes no sense to me.

I think they're busy selling this years passes rather than next years. I'd expect an announcement to roughly coincide with when renewals for VIP passes come out.

Honestly I should close this topic. But it's such a train wreck that I can't bring myself to do it. And yes, obviously Theme Parks a Go-Go will be your go to source for theme park news, unless it's sold to one of the other pages first.

There's a way of looking at it; technically not a hyper due to inversions and drop height, and is therefor unique and innovative?