joz

To be fair, they've only ever bought one second hand coaster. Its kiddie rides where they go second hand I think this is really sad that the parks closing, makes you glad that the Six Flags buying Gold Coast parks rumour was a load of bull.

Call me crazy, but what new features?

I wanna see a layout before I pass judgment on what DW's doing, and I wanna see how its going to fit in first. I think Goboi said it well with the gap in DW's lineup being a GOOD coaster, so hopefully that'll be rectified. If I were MW I'd be thinking of ways to combat it now. Also, why are they announcing it so far in advance? Ok, Movieworld did leave it ages before announcing Sherek and Superman, but I can’t think of any park that announces its new attractions nearly a year in advance.

I've seen the show a few times now, and I still can't commit myself to a verdict. I'd like to think its still sort of a 'work in progress', because its got a whole heap of good points going for it, like its comedy, and a brave attempt at a story. The characters are all pretty good in their own right (though why don't members of rival gang, "The mullets" actually have mullets?), Pete Millions the developer seems almost a nod to Keith Williams, and the all Aussie life saver ironman "Jock" works well, as does the DJ "Sonny Daye" (Sunny Day, get it?). Even the meter maids are a nice touch though really do seem to well and truly out stay their welcome. The Skiing itself is a real step up from Ski Challenge, with more varieties on display. Modern stuff like wake boards are used, although wakeboards are introduced by the rather bizarre line "Lets rewind things to the future and check out the wake board" rather then pretending that its only just been invented by one of the guys. A throwaway line like "Wakeboards? It'll never take off, you better throw it away like that Computer and Colour TV you invented" would fit in here too. It's got the makings of a really good show, but something about it just falls oh so short. Perhaps it’s the dancing (brave move putting that in), perhaps its the story (No real reason as to why the two rival gangs suddenly become friends is given, apart from a line like "Wouldn't you rather be dancing than fighting"), perhaps its the Meter Maids who spend all show standing on the stage doing nothing. Among the stronger points of the show are its soundtrack, with some good versions of some old classic songs (Including the particularly classy "Help me Honda" - Honda is the main sponsor), and a theme song that is just waaaay to catchy. The new boat with the frame of a car is also very clever, and the fact they’ve managed to justify getting someone to jump from the “Tower of Doom” and have it make perfect sense is amazing to me. Hopefully work will continue on the new show so it can reach its full potential, because there is allot of it in what I’ve seen. In the meantime, it’s still what I’d call a ‘Fun’ show, and defiantly worth a look next time your in the park.

I've taken the liberty of adding captions to the SW pic

What a neato idea, I'd sure do that though the fact that Melbourne is a bit out of my way sorta prevents me. Good luck to any of you on the site who do enter, and I can think of a few who should be entering too.

You have to wonder about some of the guests to this park. Now one of them (with the must be a joke name of Hung Wah Fung) is suing the park for being busy on a charity day. I hope one of the kids peed on him.

Well of course not, I made sure I got one of my mates nuts when he left, its in a jar now to remind me of him and that funny walk he had.

Hereis a good spot for Dreamworld maps, for anyone who hasn't seen them. I've also uploaded an old SW map from either late 1995 or early 1996.

That there, is the bit that excites me the most. Shooting dark rides have always seemed a bit silly to me, since the all the shooting does is get you a score, without a huge impact on what’s going on around you. With this, you can go on a mission, and have an opportunity to have some control on how that goes. Its the sort of ride system that I can imagine Movieworld would be able to do something really good with, and it wouldn't be too hard to come up with a concept based on the movies (Like you are the newest member of the Justice League and have to help them defeat the bad guys). I hope they do well, and hopefully the smaller scale installation at DW will help showcase their product.

If its in Sydney, they'll find a way

I'd be very cautious against buying tickets off Ebay, as there is no guarantee that tickets will be honored, and a couple of those do look a very questionable. Your best bet is to buy tickets direct from the park, or from an approved agent (hotel, motoring association or something like that).

With the holidays starting, there won't be many discounts (if any) doing the rounds. Probably the best value tickets the Gold Coast parks offer is a 3 park super pass, which allows 14 days unlimited entry into the parks for the price of entry into the 3 parks. You do have to visit all 3 parks (Seaworld, Movieworld and Wet 'n' Wild) before you can go back to a park you've already visited. Not aware of any deals on Dreamworld, sorry.

There is a wire in the ground, and the car follows that, but it is otherwise trackless. The ride has a (colourful) concrete floor and no tracks at all. Basically, you board your Big Red Car, and are taken into a room, which is meant to be the Wiggles Kitchen. Once there, the car turns and stops when you face the TV. The Wiggles then come on and sing for a bit (hot potato), and then you move on to the next room. Its built entirely inside the old Jamboree building (and to me looks like it even has the same ceiling), so it isn't a long ride length wise, but with all the stoppages in it goes for a good few mins. The Cars recharge as they are in the station. Not really much of a ride, but very interesting technology, and one could expect it to take off, as Big Red Car ride appears to be a very conservative installation, and doesn't really take full advantage of what you could do with it.

Alright MickeyD, I give up, who are you? So far I've got Mobiles at Movieworld, went to ops, got to a mid management level there and have left recently. I can't for the life of me pick it...

Perhaps Goboi, though never really noticed it to be honest. But you do have a fair point, as Tiger Island is a now (and has been for a while) a thorough fair, and the entrance of one of the parks main thrill rides is right in the middle of two kids areas. Thing is you can look at that as a positive since when half the family goes on Tower of Terror (or pretty much any thrill ride with how spread out the place is) the other half of the family will be pretty close when they finish their ride. Wiggles World might be oddly placed, but where else would you put it? Its going to be out of place anywhere in the park, so the spot its on probably suits it. Though the Farmyard Friends thing is a bit of a stretch, and AWE can be tricky to navigate, I don’t think its as bad as it comes across on paper, and there isn’t much of an attempt to bring it together on the map (it lists Tiger Island, Tower of Terror and Rivertown as a heading. Repeat, as a HEADING!) Actually, I’m not a big fan of that map. It makes the place look so sparse you’d wonder how you were going to fill a whole day. Paths don’t match up with paths in the land next door, some rides are labeled others aren’t (and there doesn’t appear to be any formula for that either, Rocky Hollow has “Log ride” printed on it, while Thunder River has been left both blank and completely outdoors), designated smoking areas are not indicated, and from that page it would appear that the eateries aren’t listed either. Hopefully the next version will be better J

Celebrate? If (and thats one hell of an if. Quite possibly the mother of all ifs, I don't know if there's ever been a bigger if) the ideas for those two rides came from your mate, well shouldn't he be happy? You send your wishlist to the park and the ride gets built, isn't that good? Besides, Richard could claim that Superman was his idea since he said that Movieworld should build a themed launch coaster based off a Warner Brothers movie coming out in 2006, all those people who had a Tornado on the wishlist for Wet 'n' Wild could take credit for that, or everyone who thought Dreamworld should tear down Thunderbolt can take some credit. Seriously, if something on his wishlist came up then I'd be happy rather then thinking your intitled to a cut.

Say what?? Was that all day or just early morning?

Not saying I agree or disagree, but I too would like to thank Nev for one of the best laughs in a few days

I've been keeping track of those updates for a while now, and congratulations on both a great holiday and such a damm fine update. Nice looking at parks that I know full well I'll never go to

I reckon you’ll be in one of two spots, and those being main street (outdoor setting) or Rick's / ITG (they are right next door to each other and when both opened up make a big space, easily fitting 500). Think pre-dinner drinks around the fountain with characters. After a few drinks (and much Superman gawking) you are lead through the park to your venue. Being black tie I’d probably be leaning towards ITG/Rick’s as most likely spot. This venue is a hard right as soon as you get into the “hub” and despite appearances, goes back a long way. If not Rick's, it'll be a Street party, out on main street with characters galore, tables set up all through the hub of the park, and of course very nicely lit up. As for Roxy, well it used to be possible to remove all the chairs from Roxy and have pretty big functions in there, however with the new show/chairs that obviously can’t be done, which is quite a shame. I have very fond memories of being in the Roxy Theater at 3am putting those chairs back in. I doubt your award ceremony will be in there since there is only 300 seats. Scooby’s queue is a pretty nice spot all done up, though might be a bit squashy for 500+. Another really cool venue, though again only for small groups, is the Wayne Manor library (the first pre-show room for Batman). You see heaps of Batman characters during pre-dinner drinks, then get to go on the ride, and by the time you finish and get back inside the library (about 15-20mins), the whole room has been set up (quite a feet in itself considering all the tables, chairs, lights and whatnot that you have for a function) for a very formal sit down dinner (7 courses).

Paul, please try to punctuate properly. Capital letters in the appropriate places isn't that much to ask.

You know there are more to Dreamworld's plans then what some 14 year olds think. Amazingly, Dreamworld are in a business, and part of their crazy plan is to place a marketable brand in the park, which attracts families. I know, I'm just as outraged as you!!!1! Really, I'm amazed that Dreamworld can open a new area which includes a new ride (DW's first dark ride?) and because its not a thrill its only worth complaining about? Also, Lunaparkfanatic, you've so far complained about Superman, Sherek and now this. Why are you so against everything the parks are doing?

I don't see what difference RiverFire would've made, since Dreamworld was saying that tickets were sold out anyway.

I won't start a new thread, but rather will bring this one back from the grave and leave my observations of the last Screamworld event (3rd September) in here! First thing I noticed was there were people entering the park by at least 6.20, and many rides were operating with people on them by that time. Kudos to Dreamworld for getting things underway so quickly! The other thing (which really surprised me) was how quickly we got onto rides. Giant Drop in 25mins (It did get much longer after we left but it was cycling quickly), ToT was the same, 10mins for Eureka, 30 mins for Claw, Reptar a walk on, two - three cycle waits on Wipeout for most of the night. The only thing we couldn't ride was Cyclone, which was no big loss. The smaller Ocean Parade rides were Walk on, as was most everything in Nick Central. There were also DJ’s set up in the big queues playing 2002 R&B music. Not exceptionally entertaining for me, though I could see other people in queue dancing, so I say go with it. There were also signs up everywhere telling people what time the queues were to be shut off for each ride. That in my mind is a great way of dealing with the "How do we get everyone off the rides by 10PM?” problem, and seemed to work well where I was. I would really recommend Screamworld to those who haven't been to one before. I can only comment on what I saw, and from what I saw I thought it was well organized, and well executed. The crowds were well managed/behaved; the park looked nice, and Giant Drop at night… Making it 18+ is a silly idea in my mind. If its 18+ then everyone's just going to get drunk and act like idiots. Only one place last night was selling alcohol, and it worked perfectly. Now if only we could get SW and MW to stay open late for night trade...