Locke

You doubted the viability of it going ahead and were concerned about flooding, on which points, despite the fact you don't like the project, you're likely wrong, it will probably go ahead and flooding can be handled on this site. So not sure what you exactly 'told us so' about. There is no 'alternative proposal' here where this is all residential, they're being quite upfront about what they want to do.

Bwhahaha. I would actually go to that!;)

Out of interest, it's actually not that tall relative to what RDG (previous owners of the site) wanted to do: Property insiders confirmed DBI Architecture had created the design for the integrated resort but rejected speculation that the city’s tallest tower, at 100 storeys, would be part of it — as originally planned. http://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/news/gold-coast/jewel-developer-proposes-massive-riverfront-casino-just-east-of-nerang-railway-station/news-story/6e0b6a4e12830f973469622cdcb3f1bd 100 storey tower in Nerang, lol, having said that, I think there is too much residential relative to theme park here. I'm not a fan of the residential element either, I can see why they want to do it, what with it being waterfront land, but best if they left it off.

Yeah that concept pic is clearly out of date, there's no indoor sky facility in it for starters. TBH I'd prefer if they just made the whole thing a giant indoor ski centre, ala Ski Dubai.

For those who are interested and want to have a read about this park, there are now a lot more documents up on PDonline about this one: 201700907

Shame they can't stay longer, it would make a decent further expansion of Tiger Island to have lions (might need a name change then;))

I agree that a lot of visions/proposals/rumoured projects come and go but how many major new theme parks have reached development application stage on the Gold Coast in the last 10 years? I'm not aware of any. We're not talking Disneyland/Jurassic World style rumours here. If you're thinking of some of the other projects in places like Sydney like Chappypie China Time they totally dubious projects where the companies proposing the development did not even own the land and had non-existent funding. The key is funding, you need the means to deliver. Now, whether you're talking Spirit or the ASF Integrated Resort or Jewel or maybe RDG's other non-residential projects or whoever, it doesn't really matter if they're residential, the point is, and this the critical factor - they have the money and you can make a lot happen and if the governments, be they local, state or federal like you then that also helps immeasurably because they make the laws at the end of the day. It's actually even better in the sense that no one is going to bother with a theme park development application for ulterior motives like to flip a site for instance. This has also been reviewed by the Foreign Investment Review Board. This is world's apart from your local Surfies wanting to create a wave park or some skiing fans want to build a snow park that likely never progress beyond some whimsical visions. They just don't have the $$$ and I think it's right to be doubtful about such projects (even if I wish them all the best of luck). There may be some residential concerns that are legitimate, it happens like you say occasionally, if so they'll be addressed. If they can't be worked around the project will fall through. Is that a possibility? Sure, is it a probability - Unlikely. There's external factors that could affect such a project (China's economy, labour negotiations), but flooding the neighbours etc not so much, this is why we have consultants. I'm not saying it's definitely going to happen, but it's a far more concrete proposal than I suspect many people realise.

No, I'm not a Songcheng fan at all really, like I said I'd much rather a Universal or a Paramount Studios or something, but then on the flip side I don't get the huge doubt either. Many of the biggest projects on the coast atm are being built by the Chinese, from Spirit Tower to Jewel and most of the names behind them aren't very well known to locals but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. I think you vastly overestimate the impact of resident objections, almost every project on the coast gets objections but council is smart enough to pay them little attention as most are by loony NIMBYs.

Yeah but the Spit's always been a bit of a hot topic (I expect the current cruise terminal and integrated resort though will proceed). I don't think anyone cares much about what gets built in Nerang and you don't meet too many people who hate the theme parks. We'll see I guess. I'm not some massive fan of Chinese park operators, I think they have a long way to go to meet Western standards (though they are trying which is good), but I mean they paid $66 million for the land, they are buying a $1 billion dollar parcel of land up the road, they've met with the PM and TT on multiple occasions, and they are spending hundreds of thousands lodging a DA, they're not exactly some guys trying to get a snow park started on kickstarter! Now it might lead to nothing, but then it might not;) There was a site that had some early concept stuff for Songcheng's Norwell, they called it 'New Norwell', really interesting stuff but then they pulled it, probably not intended for public release yet, but we're talking a *massive* development, like crazy amounts of stuff. I had kinda hoped Wanda will get that though as they were toying with a big park in that location.

This project has a lot of backing from the Mayor right through to the Prime Minister and the development issues you note are not major hurdles, rezoning happens all the time as do residents voicing their opinions, they seldom stop a project and this is not a controversial one in any case. Flooding issues can be planned around, they have the same issues with the New Norwell city that they are planning and it's not a deal-breaker. I agree that they are not well known outside of China and this will be their first foray into an English market. Still, they have a $6 billion dollar market cap, that's like over 6x that of Ardent, they're not exactly minnows. They beat up a lot of other big players from China and the Middle East to get that $1 billion dollar Norwell slice of land as well (I would have preferred if Wanda had got that, but oh well!).

I think that's more due to how AECOM define theme parks now, this is of relevance from their 2016 report: A change of category affects Chinese operator Songcheng Worldwide in relation to the 2016 Theme Index. Songcheng is a successful attraction operator with a growing number of properties and attendance. However as this operator’s focus is on large performance shows with small supporting areas, we are no longer considering Songcheng in the same category as full-day, large-scale theme parks. Therefore Songcheng Worldwide is not included in the 2016 report. There's still a big player though, they are in the process of buying out the Norwell cane fields as well and have some big plans there as well. I'd rate this park probable to be built, Tom Tate is meeting the execs again next month. Of course, I'd rather a full blown theme park with Universal or Paramount branding, but I'll take this over a grass field;)

Hi All, new here, But for those who are interested the DA was submitted for 'Australian Legendary Kingdom' today: MCU201700907 Early days yet in terms of documents that are available to view, but one to watch! On track to open within 3 years! Indoor skiing sounds interesting! Gold Coast theme parks: Chinese giant Songcheng to open new $600 million theme park featuring indoor ski field ... http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/glitter-strip-bare-gold-coast-news-and-gossip/news-story/e2ea545d0bb6e6b85ac596da93889afb 'Australian Legendary Kingdom' and 'Australian Legends Kingdom' have also been trademarked.