joz

It's a real tough one. Generally speaking if VRTP don't tell people, then we don't tell people. But there is a point where things aren't a secret anymore if you work in certain industries. I saw Buzzsaws themeing before it was built because someone who I know who worked in a paint shop sent me the plans. Someone near where I live told me how much Movie World's coaster is costing because they know one of the builders. There are often 100s of people involved, from the owners of MACK to the bloke who works as a cleaner at the local wire shop who overheard someone say that they need some wire to fix a machine ASAP because Movie World need it to start building a new coaster. So how long do you keep a secret when you have a website that people come to to find out what's going on before it happens and the secret isn't even that secret anyway? It's a very fine line, and one I think we do OK at walking. The other complicating factor is that plans change all the time. if they didn't there'd be a Halfpipe coaster at Sea World, it's amazing how late in the piece plans can change. The MACK logos are an interesting one. I think it's probably likely that VRTP didn't want us to see that for reasons that one can only guess at. I don't know if it's for commercial reasons but I hate to break it to you, but Dreamworld already know. They've known for a long time. For marketing reasons? Perhaps. It could be that they want us talking about Doomsday instead of building hype for a ride more than a year away. Again though, it was a well known thing, and one that only we care about anyway. For the most part, the public don't know who makes coasters so we're not ruining any major secrets. As for the content of the tour, I think they've made peace with that information being public knowledge. It'll get out eventually. I have no doubt that people who have been on the tour have told friends or colleagues without posting it here. It's a pretty open secret, but Movie World are selling it as part of the tour and we are respecting their wishes by letting them keep selling it. It's the right thing to do in this instance. The only downside is it has created a culture of 'Oooh I know something you don't' which does get annoying real fast. There's an old saying which goes 'Those who know the least know it the loudest'.

They're better at covering statues than they are at covering MACK logos

It's a complex picture, but from memory, Sea World don't own any of the land, it's all Crown land, and Sea World lease it. The land that Sea World control extends about as far as the Monorail track. The rest of the car park isn't strictly speaking Sea World's I'd suspect that the carpark plays a big part in all this though. It's all speculation though, I mean for all we know, maybe the current carpark will be taken over, it'll be taken over, land dredged into the Broadwater to expand the park, and the current vacant land in the park turned into a multistory carpark, and Packer will pay for it because it's a fairly inconsequential amount of money to spend on such a massive project. It's all speculation at this point.

To me it sounds like if the new casino goes ahead, Sea World gets extra room to expand as a kind of by product. All it says in the article is "Sea World would also double in size, add a water park and become the biggest theme park in the country". Where is the money coming from? What direction are they expanding? How much extra land is on the table? Who knows! Like I say this one is totally out of left field for me.

Hey I didn't say I think they should just do that, just that there's a chance that's what they mean. If it were up to me I'd like to see them go full Cedar Point and take over the entire Spit

It's honestly hard to know what to make of this from what's publicly available. They do specifically mention expanding the footprint, so what options are there? They can go East towards the beach or they can go into the Beoadwater, or south (Slightly) into the pre exisiting carpark. Why would they go in any direction? Well East or West would make sense if the new development of the spit wanted to be wider than what Sea World currently is, and if they got it through then Sea World would be bound by the same rules and could make a claim to the neighbouring land. So that's why you'd be able to expand east or west. What about South? Parking is a big issue on the Spit. What if the plan is for a new carpark for both the new development and the casino. What if said carpark was built to the South of the new development to guarantee foot traffic through the new area? That would allow Sea World to expand quite a distance to the South. Not enough to double the size of the park perhaps, but easily enough to double the amount of used land in the park, which also looks good on a press release. Honestly, I know nothing about this one, I haven't heard a peep out of Sea World for a long time, and this is the first I've heard of a water park. Given what some of the other proposals for the park have been, my cynical side says that out of the new development, Sea World will get better parking, allowing them to build a second gate inside the park boundary, and a water park is the current thinking. When they say 'increased footprint' they're mearly referring to the amount of used land. Be interesting to see how it plays out.

As much as I normally agree, the entrance to this ride is clearly going to be where the big cluster of DC rides is. It'd make no sense if (for example) you had a Matrix themed ride in that part of the park. After this ride they should give DC a rest, maybe see what Animal Logic are working on.

Massive news! And who else would you expect to break the story!

Ill just leave this here

Is it just me or is everything they make pretty much the worst?

There's a big block of toilets near Intencity, and just across the path in Western Town. If there's another new block of toilets going in the same part of the park then someone has lost the plot slightly. Although admittedly I can't for the life of me remember how either toilet block fares as far as disabled toilets and parents rooms.

Just throwing it out there, but if don't like something, don't post about it and say how bad it is, because you can rest assured that people will listen to it. That goes for theme park podcasts, and news about the Kardashians or that church that hates gays in a America (not calling by their name and don't search for them either), if you don't like it, don't spread it around.

Great write up! I did Utimate Terror Tour last year, and will probably give it a go again this year. This sounds like UTT except taken to the next level, sounds cool. On a side note, it's nice to see members put money where their mouths are, and support these events. Hopefully the good reviews that you give (which they earned btw) will show parks that the members here are a group of people worth reaching out and appealing to.

See I'm the opposite; Scooby ruined the Mummy for me

Oh they'd be nuts not to install a boomerang called Demon if they were opening a park in Sydney called Wonderland, which hopes to envoke a nostalgic response. This whole thing seems like a non starter to me. Maybe there is much more going on behind the scenes, but purely based of what they've put out publicly, if someone told me that I could have a 50% share of the company for $10 I'd say no.

I don't think it is better, it's just a different type of awful

WTF is that? Has someone on the production team been playing Parkitect?

Why? People are getting out of the house, there are swarms of people in public people in public parks till late in the night. I would never consider going to Broadwater Parklands after 8 till Pokemon, now it's crowded till midnight and it's full of families and groups of friends having fun together. Despite people mostly looking at their phones, they're talking to total strangers. Granted it's a over the top at the moment, but clearly it's a good thing Also for those that do play, watch this on the off chance you haven't seen it yet

I think it's a decent enough idea, though I think it's a bit rough to charge $25 to walk around a closed park without dinner being included. I wonder if they'll change the lights on the top of ToT to match which team has the gym in the park?

Can't see a Fright Nights Paradise Country farm stay cross over happening. Two very different target markets.

I think it depends a lot on how the park deals with it. I think back to my trip to Aussie World when 3 rides were closed, they did everything they could to apologise for the inconvenience. What is being done differently at Movie World with 2 big rides down? Are the 8 or 10 staff a day being redeployed to other attractions to keep queues down, or is there extra entertainment on? it's a big problem, it's made harder because the park now has to avoid 4 school holiday periods, as well as three night time events. It'll be interesting to see if Doomsday and the new coaster will change the complexion of the park when there's a ride (or two) closed, or even make the park feel confident that they can close a ride during Fright Nights without backlash.

I'm saying they could probably maybe perhaps put a couple of mazes up there this year and only use two of the locations in the park they historically use, assuming that's what they want to do of course.

If I were a betting man I'd have a very large chunk of cash invested in the sheds being used for Fright Nights.

*sigh* I even put in a winky so people got it was a joke

^ Pretty sure ToT is a coaster