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It's owned by private equity. It's always on the market.

If JR is a dark ride, WWF is a dark ride. Having a themed section indoors doesn't make it a dark ride. It's a roller coaster with themed indoor section. Scooby's first section and ending are dark ride, the wild-mouse section is just an indoor coaster, but it would count because of the ghost-train start of the ride. It's a hybrid. SE is a roller coaster with a dark-ride section at the beginning. Like Scooby, it's effectively a hybrid coaster/dark ride. Space mountain is an indoor roller coaster not a dark ride. The ride's primary experience is the coaster, not the scenery/theming/story. It doesn't rely on the theming for the experience - the ride would still be thrilling with the lights on, or no theming. It's a well done experience, but the theming is there to enhance the coaster experience. Based on what you pasted above, a dark ride is when the scenery, theming and story are the primary experience, and are indoors in a controlled atmosphere and lighting environment. The ride itself is secondary to all the stuff you look at and it typically enhances the story/viewing experience rather than the other way around.

Those are bigger effects, not more numerous. So it is close. The point still remains that the quality of the show is not because of the ticket price. The park got rid of pre-shows and police academy long before the price dropped. They lowered the quality of experience at MW and SW and then had to lower the ticket price to match. This includes operations, food quality, shows, pre-shows, theming (look at GL and Batwing, it barely exists). You've consistently made the point that parks are 'giving away the gate', except that is what people are willing to pay for the experience on offer and even at these prices, they're still having to offer discounts and incentives because the parks don't offer enough value for that price. Currently I'm willing to pay exactly $0 for a VRTP experience. I let my pass expire and didn't bother to renew it because I got tired of rude staff, tired looking parks, constant ride closures, overpriced and poor quality food, and extremely long lines because of slow operations (FOTWW had 7-11 minute turnarounds from a train arriving at the station to departing the station). At MW, a full day experience required 4-5 visits to the park just to do everything, not because there is so much to do but because you had to play the lottery as to whether or not things were actually going to be open and not close part way through the day. When people complained, the park blamed them for 'not checking the website'. The de-valuing of the experience at VRTP parks started long before BGH and long before the price drops. MW could easily bring back a show at the level of Police Academy. The current show has similar elements already, it's just a weaker script that relies a lot more on vehicles than stunts. I think the main reason the quality started to drop was because Warner Bros exited the parks business and shifted to just licensing IP to operators instead. They were likely the ones pushing for story-based experiences linked closely to specific movies, and once it became a licensing business they just didn't care what parks did as long as they paid. That's when VRTP started building rides (without shows) based on comic book versions of characters, rather than movies. That's when it stopped being 'Movie World', and that is when the concept of the park shifted to a Six Flags model rather than a movie-themed, story-driven park.

Spy Chase has a bigger cast, more vehicles and special effects than Police Academy. If it's not as good as Police Academy, that's a creative problem not a budgetary one.

What is your proposed alternative? How do they redevelop that area with new rides unless they close it?

Possible reasons: it may have reached max cycle counts before major maintenance/upgrades. Better to just get rid of it now than spend the money limping along when you're going to ditch it anyway it may have been sold based on its current condition/cycles. It will take time to arrange removal/shipping to a new park. there may be a replacement ride in the works that is delayed, but closing it now is still the best option financially. there may be other upgrades/surveys the park wants to make to drainage/electrical in that area for future rides/development and the current ride needs to be closed so that can happen, quietly closing it for this kind of 'maintenance' and then just removing it would have prevented DW from giving it the send-off they did (in a peak holiday period). The important thing is that they've announce it's retirement and given it a farewell. People accept that the park is in a transition and that old rides will go. But now they've got people speculating about its replacement, which is word-of-mouth marketing that they don't need to pay for.

I just click the thread title and it takes me to the first unread post. But the website has become sloooooooowwwww. Sometimes taking 3-4 minutes to load a page. I think it's significantly slower than the old version. It's like being on dial up internet in 1996.

What is this nonsense? Steam trains in theme parks account for more passenger trips per year than all other steam trains combined. Dreamworld had a steam train for 35 years. At one point they were running two of them. The Dreamworld Express and the Model-T cars are the only surviving opening day attractions left at Dreamworld. If Dreamworld can take a crap ride like the Vintage cars and turn it into something as great as Murrissippi Motors - which requires a lot more maintenance and grounds keeping than the previous version of the ride, they could absolutely do the same with the train. I'll accept arguments about cost vs. Dreamworld's current financial capacity (I agree, which is why I said I'm not holding out hope), but the idea that steam trains are for museums and not theme parks is demonstrably false.

Some sad news out of NSW - Timbertown is closing down. But that presents a great opportunity for Dreamworld - all of their assets are being auctioned off in May - including their Fowler Steam Train. https://timbertown.com.au/portfolio-view/timbertown-steam-train-experience/ It would need the gauge changed back from 595mm to 610mm like it was before Timbertown bought it, but DW could pick up an actual historic stream train again if they wanted to. I'm not going to hold out too much hope, but I really hope DW use this opportunity. They're a rare breed, especially in Aus.

This could also mean it has been sold and will move to a different park. We really don't know.

This will be when they're ready to redevelop the entire end of Ocean Parade. Coincidentally, if they're developing commercial spaces at the northern end of the car park (like a hotel), they should definitely move their offices into that building. That space behind the Wipeout plot could absolutely be used for expansion. You could fit an enormous dark-ride show building in that and the GC space - perhaps even two.

Green Lantern would like a word with you.

There's too many people that think they like Gold Coaster, when they actually just have brain damage from the ride smashing their brains against the inside of their skulls. Please stop riding before it's too late. You have so much to live for.

It's a false equivalence because it's an entirely different park. The park in 2016 was a bigger park with more attractions. It also didn't have to overcome years of mismanagement an an accident that shattered the public's trust. It is unreasonable to expect DW to be charging the same prices when it doesn't provide the same experience. Clearly $99 passes on sale is the sweet-spot where people find DW to be excellent value. Over time, they will increase their prices when the number of attractions goes up, but first they need to prove their value and sustain the trust and good will that they've built up. Nothing in their document says 'ok, we've finished fixing the park, it's completely back to where it was now'. They're just making comparisons to their previous record revenue year to show how much better they're doing than the previous 10 years since the accident. Extending trading hours doesn't always mean more revenue, it usually just means increased expenses from staff and ride cycles/maintenance - expenses that eat into profits and reduce the money that can be invested in new rides and attractions. Plus, shorter trading hours encourage pass holders to return, generating more days of in-park spend. In addition, the business model has moved from day passes to annual passes. Retaining customers, building loyalty and generating year-round revenue is the new business model. If DW only offered day passes, I would visit once every 1-2 years and they'd get about $150 out of me. With an annual pass I can pay $99 for a full year of access, but I'll visit once a month. I'll spend money at Jane's, on drinks, coffee, snacks, maybe a Tail Whip ride a few times a year. On average I might spend $50 a month at DW, which means across a year DW are getting $700 out of me. Plus it's very easy to convince my friends that it's great value to buy a pass and do the same. I would otherwise spend that money on a day out at the beach or at Southbank, but DW offering low-cost passes redirects that money toward them instead. I have a great day with my friends, DW has a vibrant active park that makes money, and I'm happy to spend money knowing it's going to be reinvested on future attractions and park improvements. Everybody wins.

I won't repeat what Dapto said but passes are much better at driving ongoing, long-term revenue than single day passes. Inflation doesn't matter. It is a different park to 2016. It is a smaller park with fewer rides, shorter operating hours and different food and beverage offerings. Higher attendance and higher revenue, increased in-park spend means that DW have won back the trust of the public. They're willing to visit and spend, which means that DW just needs to continue on it's current trajectory of maintaining the basics and building new, high-quality attractions each year to keep people renewing those passes. Modest price increases to passes will maintain the perceived value and encourage more visits and more in-park spend. Nothing in this report is negative. DW have overcome the worst possible thing that could happen to a theme park, and are currently set-up for success.

DW are doing everything right. Raising prices right now would be a mistake. Locals see DW as a high quality, good value entertainment option. A lot of people, myself included, have not bothered renewing Village passes and are now more likely to spend those visits (and money) at DW. Continued re-investment into the park will only help to sustain the visitor numbers and revenue, and modest price increases will help to maintain the perceived value. I know I've convinced 5 people to buy passes, and they'll occasionally drop into DW just to eat at Jane's. Great attractions, high quality theming, pleasant staff and reasonable prices. They've got the basics right and they're seeing the benefits.

I agree. But I think the plan is to finish Rivertown first - get one section of the park done and then move on. Both rides need replacing so the order doesn't matter. Extending Rivertown is likely the cheaper option. Also, if they've found a buyer for the ride, better to take the money now - even if you haven't finalised plans for its replacement. Otherwise that sales opportunity might go away and you end up having to scrap it.

Staggered announcements are the better marketing strategy. People will talk about it closing, getting in a final ride and start speculating about what is next. The word-of-mouth marketing in a peak holiday period is much more likely to bring visitors into the park prior to closure than the announcement of a replacement. If they're smart they won't announce any replacement until the ride is closed. They also might have the ride(s) ordered, but still haven't finalised their plans for theming/names, etc. They haven't got any new trademarks pending, so they're clearly not ready to make a full announcement. But that doesn't mean they don't have the actual rides lined up.

The whole concept of 'Rivertown' kind of demands a boat ride on the river. It's just a massive dead-zone in the park and a barrier to get around right now. Might as well use the space. Personally I'd love to see the return of Paddle Steamer (with a show element) or even something like a Jungle Cruise. Water rides need a lot of space to execute well, so I don't think this is the place for that. I'd rather see that in RHLR area or in the Thunderbolt plot to bridge the Wet/Dry parks (or both). I wouldn't be upset to see a single-rail coaster (Raptor) to fill the thrill/fear gap between JR and ST. Or maybe a Wild Mouse. I know a wild mouse isn't that exciting as a concept, but Scooby is extremely popular and either type of coaster would be a good replacement on a smaller footprint. I'd also like to see another family friendly flat - something like a Zamperla Demolition Derby. I know they're kind of lame, but they're visually impressive to look at if themed well, and they're a great ride for little kids to ride with grandparents. Then the park has Dreamland for little kids, Rivertown for Families/Everyone, Ocean Parade/ST/GD for high thrills.

There is an island in the middle of Murissippi which could be used for a walk-through/adventure attraction, as well as the Murrissippi itself which could have a boat ride. There is also the sheep shearing space and, at some point in the distant future, all of the land being used by Tiger Island. DW actually has a lot of room for expansion within the current footprint of the park. But if they wanted to backtrack on the change-of-use applications to use the land for park expansion, they would receive zero push-back from council. There's just no chance that DW would need to expand that quickly.

Hopefully they announce a new expansion soon. There is definitely demand for it.

The real problem isn't the price though, it's the speed of operations. If operations were faster and rides could reach their max capacity there would likely be no decrease in the number of fast track sales, but they'd be able to sell more of them and the regular queue would also move faster. I'm not sure how many fast track passes are made available, but if they're comfortable with the current impact on queue lines and the current queue line duration, a 10% increase in operation speed (and a 10% increase in capacity across all rides) would mean they could sell 2x the number of fast track passes before it impacted the current regular queue times. That's a 100% increase in fast track sales from a 10% increase in operational speed, and they could likely still increase the price of fast track and sell out.

If they're still showing the The MRT video explicitly tells you to pull down your harness, and shows people doing it. If MW don't want that to happen, they should stop showing the video. Possibly make a new video that explains the new procedures and ensure that the speakers are fixed so people can hear it.

It will never be cost prohibitive for wealthy foreigners. They've got currency conversions working in their favour. If they're holidaying in Australia and going to theme parks, they're likely quite wealthy. If they only have one day in the park, they'll pay whatever it costs just to experience everything. Even if their one day at Movieworld costs a lot of money, they'll likely have several days hanging out at Surfers, or going to Mt Tambourine, or doing other touristy things that cost nothing. That said, I've seen some absolute bogans with fasttrack passes that definitely don't have a lot of money. These people are clearly not making sensible and responsible financial decisions, so there's probably no price limit that would stop them from buying.

Maybe Dreamworld needs to start selling motion sickness meds (or ginger, which also works).