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But shade sail poles obstructing a pathway is a VRTP tradition.

Or they just wanted to move as much expenditure as possible into the 22/23 financial year to reduce their tax bill, with the up-side of early construction being that they can install the new components as soon as they arrive - possibly leading to an earlier opening date - while avoiding construction conflicts with Oz. IMHO, there is a lot of pointless speculation about why it is taking a long time, and it doesn't matter. It's not like you'll cancel your annual passes because the ride isn't ready before Christmas. They've announced it and given it an opening date which is more than they usually do. I'm just going to appreciate that they're putting an old ride to good use in an appropriate park, filling an ugly, unused area with something good, and spending the money to effectively build a brand new ride (apart from the track itself) which should help prevent some of the reliability issues MW is facing before they can begin.

The area highlighted is used as crew parking for various productions at the studios. When the studios have multiple productions happening at once, there are hundreds of cars that need to go somewhere. In 2022, Ticket to Paradise, Irreverent, Young Rock 2 and Nautilus were using every single building on the VRS lot. The buildings just under the highlighted area are Special Effects workshops, set construction buildings and other offices for production-essential companies. This would effectively proposing to split the studios in half. While I agree that BOH areas should stay BOH and shouldn't interrupt attractions or guest flow through the park, the theme park support facilities also shouldn't occupy Studio space at the expense of the Productions.

You're the perfect Village Key customer and exactly the person that they were hoping would buy.

No spine because it's the brake run. Same old track, new brake fins and a shiny white paint job.

Here is the news story referencing the $20M, and the 'ride within a ride': I'm guessing the $20m includes the initial purchase price/commissioning of the ride at WnW, plus the move to/refurb/re-theme/recommission at MW. Probably also includes marketing costs for both. Weird way to make an announcement - especially with a 2024 opening.

VRTP, Luna Park Melbourne would like to have a word with you.

ABC engineering is owned by Intamin, so it doesn't matter which company they used to design it, it is 100% an Intamin ride. Zamperla are one of the world's largest and most respected ride manufacturers. They have build thousands of reliable rides that handle greater forces that TTD. Designing and building new coasters from the ground up is a more difficult task than adding a spike, a switch track and an LSM system from Indrivetec (the same supplier Intamin uses). They're perfectly capable of modifying Dragster. Their lightning trains are also aluminium, not steel, so they can build longer trains with 25% more capacity - which is going to matter when you're adding a spike and extending the duration of the ride. That alone might be the only reason the spike is possible at all. Intamin might have proposed what everyone initially expected - a simple update from Hydraulic to LSM launch and a retro-fit of the same trains. Zamperla's lighter trains might have been the thing that made the spike possible from an operations/capacity point of view.

Because Intamin only produce 100% reliable rides with no downtime like Doomsday Destroyer.

If you've only got one spare day, do Lotte World. You can get to JAMSIL station on the Green (Line 2) or the Red (Line 😎 Subway. You'll want to head in early, it's a bit of a walk through the shopping mall to the entrance of Lotte World. Also, have breakfast before you go. There's not a lot open at that time of the morning between the station and the entrance. Get there before opening and go straight for ATLANTIS on rope drop. This ride attracts the biggest queue and will be over an hour wait by the time you get off the ride if it is the first thing you do. The park stays open until quite late and the rides are open until closing. You can pretty much spend 11-12 hours there and ride everything a couple times. The lunch time parade is usually fairly average, but the night time parade is absolutely amazing and should not be missed. It's genuinely better than the Disney parades I've seen. You'll want to get a good spot somewhere in front of the castle which sits above the Ice Rink (up the Pirate Ship End). Get there a little early, because people often get 4pm-close tickets just to see the parade. Don't be deceived by the short line for Comet Express - the line outside is just the overflow for the very long line underground, so hit that one up right after Atlantis. There are a lot of smaller hidden attractions (simulators, shooting theatres, shooting simulators) scattered around the place, and the kids area is also incredibly themed, again, Disney quality. If you want to go ice skating (I recommend doing this on a different day possibly in the evening if you have one spare), they typically do 30% off for Foreigners if you have your passport with you. This is roughly the equivalent of free skate hire. You need to wear gloves while skating, but they sell knitted ones for really cheap at vending machines. If you have friends in Seoul, have them try to find discounts. Samsung often offer 40% off entry with their credit cards. I once got $15 all-day entry with a free Pizza slice. Good Times. Also, TAKE CASH. Lotte know that foreigners travel to their shopping centres and theme parks, and they will try to get you to say 'yes' to a 5% currency conversion fee on every transaction - even if you have a fee free travel credit card like the 28Degrees Mastercard. The message will often be in Korean, so if you can't read it, you won't know what you're agreeing to. Sometimes the staff will just hit 'yes' for you. But it will show up on the digital signature pad. Everland: It's a pain in the ass to get to, and there is a lot of walking, but T-Express is amazing. If you've only got one day, I'd recommend skipping this one and heading back to Korea for a holiday. Seoul Land: This really is a beautiful park. You don't go here for the thrills, it's more for a chilled day with some old-school rides. You can often find discounts for entry after 12pm if you look online. The coasters are pretty old and difficult to fit into if you're taller than 6ft. But there are some great attractions and really good, cheap food. There is a really great western themed shooting dark ride that is possibly one of the best I've ever experienced. No screens, just physical targets. It's a lot of fun. But if you're into the rides and only have a day, Lotte World is your best bet.

The on-board audio for GL and the on-board video/lighting for DCR are both powered by L-ion batteries. If you've been on those rides, you've been locked into a coaster near Lithium batteries. Most people are pretty happy to get into a sealed, pressurised tube that travels in the air at 800km/hr with hundreds of Lithium Ion batteries, that also has explosive kerosene in the wings. They'll even wear the batteries in their pockets, on their wrists and in their ears because the risk of an adverse event is extremely low. GL almost killed people and it wasn't because of the batteries. Mechanical and structural failures can happen for a vast number of reasons - even with good maintenance. L-ion batteries are not inherently more 'unsafe' than any other mechanical component at risk of fatigue, fracture, wear or failure. They're designed into the ride with appropriate electronic and mechanical shielding. In the Objectif Mars incident, the fire was extinguished by staff, and two women were treated by paramedics. Their injuries could have been from inhaling smoke or from them panicking when exiting the ride, not from the fire itself. Nothing about their injuries was reported so we can't know for sure. We do know that they were treated by paramedics and not sent to hospital.

A few things that people should probably keep in mind: The area isn't finished. Let them put in all the theming and rides they have planned before making judgements. The theming inside the area is far more important than a sign you'll just walk past. A reasonably generic sign allows for unlimited theme and ride changes within an area of the park. With a Dreamworld owned IP, they can theme rides to whatever they want inside the land, add and remove rides as they need to, and build their own IP. Kids in that age group do not care about ABC Kids as a brand. They care about specific characters and shows. A fairly generic sign also allows for seasonal and event theming at the entrance to the area which could be far more visually appealing. 'ABC Kids World' is additional licensing that Dreamworld would need to pay for. Personally I'd rather they sink that money into new rides rather than new signs which can be changed in a few years anyway. Linear television is dead. ABC Kids & ABC Me branding will eventually all just merge into ABC iView branding which is where most people are watching ABC Kids shows anyway (on SmartTV or mobile devices). Investing in promoting 'ABC Kids' as a brand or a themed land doesn't really serve Dreamworld or ABC in the long-term, particularly since kids are already experiencing the ABC brand as iView. This isn't my opinion, this is what Libbie Doherty - the head of ABC children's has repeatedly said at industry events. After 20 years of bad decisions and outright neglect, Ardent are finally investing some money and attention into the park. They've hired the right people to do it, but they don't have an unlimited budget. Sure, we'd all love to see incredibly themed areas, particularly with what was lost in Madagascar Madness, and Gold Rush, and the absolute abominations of MDMC, SkyVoyager and the mess of land-locked waterslides crammed into the front of the park. Realistically, our parks do not, and will never get the daily attendance required to build and maintain sprawling themed lands with licensed IPs. MW couldn't maintain the DC villains area and have struggled to maintain WB Kids. Every element of detail and theming on every ride, every themed building, character statue, sign, speaker, screen, fountain, shade sail, queue rail, garden bed and path is something that is going to be exposed to the harsh QLD sun and storms and abused by millions of visitors a year. It all costs money to paint, clean, maintain and replace. Every dollar that is spent on repairs and maintenance is a dollar that isn't spent on new rides and attractions. Baking those hard costs into your designs up-front is not a wise business decision, and is not sustainable unless you're Disney or Universal. A fibreglass 3D sculpted sign for a kids area is not going to increase visitor numbers or increase in-park spending. Improved theming/painting/lights on the GD will. New rides and attractions will. Personally, I think the sign is fine. I think using Dreamworld IP in K&B is smart. I think DW is making a lot of good decisions, the best being to bring back Rivertown and move all the kids rides into one themed area.

This ride would go perfectly in that spot. They could theme it to the ocean and put a big wave behind it which the queue can go through.

The 1939 film's copyright expires in 2035. WB are going to milk it for everything they can while they still own it. It's a classic film that parents will know and VRTP are probably getting the licensing for a very cheap price. It's also smart because it's an entire precinct based on a very well-known IP that won't cost them a cent after 2035. All of L. Frank Baum's books are already Public Domain, which means Village Roadshow could do their own Oz films or TV shows in the future.

They're most likely talking about Falcon's Flight and not TTD. https://qiddiya.com/en/venue/six-flags-qiddiya/

I know it's not a priority for DW right now, but god damn that Sky Voyager building is an abomination. It was a mistake endlessly complained about on parkz at the time, and the concept art absolutely did not translate into reality. That building wouldn't be out of place at the industrial park across the highway. Here's hoping that the Main St facades (particularly Sky Voyager) get re-done with a consistent, classic and timeless theme after the new attractions are built.

This entire thread is kind of moot. WB will not be cutting ties with VRTP, unless VRTP chooses to drop them. If that ever happened WB would start slashing licensing fees to keep VRTP attached. Why? WB is broke. They just got bought by Discovery and still have $40 Billion in debt. They've had a number of flops and are doing a hard re-boot of the DCEU, returning to more Harry Potter and LOTR movies over the long term. HBO Max is bleeding money so they're merging it with Discovery+ to help cauterize the wound. For at least a decade, WB has had grossly incompetent management who made some of the following decisions: Removing Henry Cavill as Superman Casting Amber Heard as a lead in Aquaman 2 (they're trying to recut the film to limit her involvement). Attempting to build an entire DCU around The Flash with Ezra Miller as the lead (they're not even sure how they will release that movie now). Making a Batgirl movie as an HBO Max exclusive. Making a purely lesbian-focused batwoman tv show for CW which had no broad appeal to comic fans or CW viewers (typically teenage girls) Rushing a Justice League movie without giving the heroes their own introduction films first. Hiring Joss Whedon to take over Justice League from Zack Snyder Cancelling Harry Potter films because the execs didn't like JK Rowling's trans-exclusive feminism Attempting a Matrix sequel decades after the original film - and releasing it in theatres (expensive) with a simultaneous streaming release on HBO max. Asking the company that cut the trailer to re-edit David Ayer's Suicide Squad. This is just a snapshot of the bad decisions that have been made. WB is an absolute dumpster fire of a company and Discovery have got an uphill battle trying to pay down the debt and get them back to profitability. Right now, WB cannot afford to lose a single dollar of revenue, so there is zero chance of VRTP losing the WB branding, if anything they're likely to want VRTP to use non-DC IP and might be willing to discount the prices (like Wizard of Oz) to make that happen.

This would not happen. Sony don't own the theme-park rights to Spiderman, just the film rights. Marvel still owns the theme-park rights. Marvel is owned by Disney and Disney is already using Spiderman in their own parks. Also, Universal already have the Marvel theme-park rights for the comic book versions of the characters - including Spiderman. You're more likely to see them partner with Paramount and access all of the Paramount IP - including Star Trek, Top Gun, Mission Impossible, Transformers and Paranormal Activity. This would be a stronger suite of possible IP to license than Sony which really only has The Karate Kid, Ghostbusters, Jumanji, Men in Black and Underworld - all of which are effectively dead with no theatrical releases or only box-office failures for many years. They'd be more likely to leverage some of the IP from their own VREG (co)productions - like The Matrix, Happy Feet, Sherlock Holmes, Mad Max and Gatsby, than to work with Sony.

Ride-only photo passes are no longer available for any time period. All photo passes now include ride and candid (character) photos, with the price of the 12 month option doubling from $40 for ride photos only to $80 for rides + candid. Generally I'm supportive of offering bundles, but I do think that the ride-only pass should be offered to One Pass holders - a $40 add-on is a pretty easy sell and doesn't induce demand for character photos among visitors that otherwise wouldn't bother.

Grammar Nazi here. This reads like it was written by either AI or someone who uses English as a second language. I can understand churning out garbage fluff articles for free websites to drive traffic and ad revenue, but this is behind a paywall and the standard should be higher. I guess we at least can make some bad poetry out of the mistakes. Best-remember thrill ride. Was famous for giant double loop. Paves... will herald some exciting developments - Gold Coast Bulletin, 2022

I'm no engineer, but can't they just get Superman to push it around the rest of the track? He does it all the time with the other coaster.

VRTP are finally giving Sea World some love after many years of neglect. They're finally building some rides instead of more animal shows and they've committed to a major coaster build from a leading manufacturer even during two years of almost zero interstate and international travel. Cutting back on some theming isn't the end of the world given the circumstances, but let's also remember that the Hall of Justice, and Spooky Castle at MW are both Colorbond sheds with fibreglass theming applied to the outside. Theming can change, and they may even do it further down the track when the financial position is stronger. What is being built now may not be the final product, and even if it is, who cares? We're getting a brand new, custom, world-class wooden coaster and two additional flat rides at a time when it would have been easy to justify pulling the pin on the entire investment. Be Patient. Stop complaining. Enjoy the rides when they finally open regardless of how the theming turns out.

" - Morgan from Village Roadshow Theme Parks." Morgan Hypercoaster Confirmed!!!😉

The Showtime shows are terrible and VRTP have gone for the cheapest executions possible... BUT... It's worth remembering that VRTP have to make shows that can be understood by both adults and children, as well as international tourists that can barely speak English (if at all). That is a very difficult thing to do well on a reasonable budget. I think the biggest missed opportunity currently, is Village not using IP that they actually own - specifically MadMax. The Fury Road film was released in 2015, had very little dialogue and was a massive success in Asia. Some heavily themed cars and costumes could reduce the need for as many stunts and some basic car 'stunts' combined with some circus acrobatics could result in a visually spectacular show with a very simplistic 'stop the bad guy' story set in the MadMax universe. I doubt it will happen though. The cost of transforming the arena and building the new cars is money that they will likely spend on a new ride to replace Arkham.

Just to clarify what this award actually is... It is NOT an architectural award. It is NOT a design award. It is a 'construction award'. It was NOT won by Dreamworld. It was won by Alder Constructions. It is NOT national. It is given by Master Builders Queensland. It is NOT state-wide. It was only for the Gold Coast. The very specific category that it won was 'Tourism and Leisure facilities (on the GC) up to $10M.' In 2019 this category had no winner because it had no entries for the GC region. In 2018 it was won for the Woodroffe Hotel (Southport) In 2017 it was won for the Doomsday Ride at MovieWorld (who even knew?) The category did not exist prior to 2017. It is highly probable that this was the only entry for this category in the awards for the GC region, or that it beat out a surf club redevelopment (like the Sunshine coast region winner) or a Hotel Lobby redevelopment (like the Brisbane winner - Ovolo). This is not a prestigious award. This is a small, local award for construction companies to help promote themselves locally. I am sure the construction was challenging and they were likely given the award just for solving all of the technical difficulties with the retro-fit. But, as was discussed at the time and as @Slick said, the final result of the lumpy bulbous mess of a building is not at all like the promised renders, and the design of the building destroyed what was left of the park's entry statement aesthetic.