Brad2912

A Marine Wildlife Hospital to be built at Sea World is expected to provide a significant boost not just to the environment, but the Gold Coast’s tourism industry. The LNP on Saturday announced it will commit $10 million towards building the facility, which would be equipped to treat marine life including birds, dolphins, sharks, seals and whales. Members of the public would have the opportunity to view work at the hospital, which would be the first of its kind in the southern hemisphere. The LNP announcement was welcomed by Village Roadshow Theme Parks CEO, Clark Kirby, and COO Bikash Randhawa, who said it would build on existing work to rescue marine life at Sea World. “For over 50 years Sea World has been at the forefront of marine rescue and rehabilitation efforts around Australia and this commitment from the opposition will allow our team to have an even greater impact on saving Australian marine life,” Mr Randhawa said. “The state-of-the-art marine hospital and conservation hub will allow our specialised veterinary and marine animal experts to help more animals as well as educate the millions of guests who visit Sea World on conservation efforts they can do to minimise their impacts on the environment.” Sea World Foundation Head Veterinarian Dr Claire Madden said the investment would have a “lasting impact” on the marine environment. “The Sea World Foundation Hospital and Conservation Hub will feature state-of-the-art veterinary equipment, world-class rehabilitation facilities, research laboratories and educational areas,” she said. “Last year alone, we rescued over 400 individual marine animals ranging from whales, dolphins, dugongs, turtles, seabirds and sea snakes, and with animal rescues on the rise, this facility will greatly expand our capabilities.” Director of the Griffith Institute for Tourism Professor Sarah Gardiner last week told the Bulletin how nature-based tourism was increasingly popular among international visitors, creating opportunities for the Gold Coast. Speaking in the city on Sunday LNP leader David Crisafulli – who was previously his party’s Shadow Tourism Minister – said what “most excited” him about the Sea World project was that it would also contribute to eco-tourism. “What I really like about this is it’s not just doing good by the environment it’s also another string to our eco tourism bow as well,” he said. “I have this view that if you do good by the environment you can (also) make a genuine tourism offering out of it where the economy benefits. “ … I believe that if you create world class eco tourism projects you will also create a generation of people who become defenders of environmental values.” Shadow Minister for Environment and the Great Barrier Reef Sam O’Connor said the project would cement the Gold Coast’s place as a “world leader” in marine science and conservation. “It’s not just the local school kids who’ll be able to come through here and see this facility in action, it’s for our future vets and our future wildlife carers who will be able to have a unique opportunity in an Australian and Southern Hemisphere first facility right here on the Gold Coast,” he said. https://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/news/gold-coast/lnp-promise-10-million-for-marine-wildlife-hospital-at-sea-world/news-story/73be27915a681c548c1a1323564cb6d1

Here’s an idea… how about you go down to a park, and write an update report. though there has been countless posts in recent days about JR and potential Intamin new rides

I mean, no one knows the answer to that - probably not even DW at this point. I certainly wouldn’t be counting on early Dec however.

If that was happening we’d already know about it….

You are reading WAY too much into things. Chill.

Not to be outdone by DW’s JR train reveal, MW have dropped a video showing an individual seat for FOTWW https://www.facebook.com/share/r/cS39xc7Ho4TxN4Di/?mibextid=WC7FNe

No, not at all

Production don’t want it easily accessible to visitors though.. dreamworld also now lacks the space for live evictions and the production facilities that once existed onsite The night markets are inside dreamworld around DW flyer, and down thru ocean parade

Whilst you could never say never, I would be extremely doubtful to this being a possibility. Dreamworld is actively trying to sell and/or develop the surplus land that BB used to sit on, and the land not far from it is currently undergoing development for a hospital and associated precinct that doesn’t lend itself well to in terms of noise for a filming environment whilst the return to its roots in terms of live audiences/voting will lift the production value of the show, given they will need to build from scratch I imagine we may see something similar to the last iteration in terms of using an existing building/shell rather than a ground up development. Time will tell.

@DaptoFunlandGuy if your initial response had simply been “I disagree, think the Aussie one is great (etc etc), why do you feel it’s run its course?” That would have been a completely understandable reply and led to an open discussion. But because you asked me for a metric and then just plonked a table with numbers in it with zero commentary, it reflected in a really intolerant way. Essentially “you’re wrong and here is my data that proves it”. Maybe I took that the wrong way, but that’s how it appeared. SV regularly had queues out the door at one point. My last, say 10 visits, it’s been max 2 cycle length queues. I feel it needs a freshen up to be exciting again and an attraction point. I have no doubt the Australia film was made to be really attractive to the international tourist market, and DW lucked out with a pandemic not long after launch, and the very slow return of that international market. Locals, I feel, are kind of over it. Interstate visitors may come once every 2-3 years have now probably seen it 2-3 times. whilst not the same as a show in the Roxy, it’s not THAT different of a concept. And again, that’s just to me, but I think it needs freshening from time to time. I can’t speak to the production costs, or the licensing costs with acquiring other films that you mentioned. I didn’t see the underwater one (which sounds like a good thing) but I have done the USA one, and I appreciated that it was different and changed things up. i wouldn’t be against them running the Aussie original, and a supplementary year round. So for 2025 it’s Australia and US, for 2026 it’s Australia and Canada, or so on. At least that gives some freshness and re-rideability. For my family, SV is our air conditioned / need a break ride on a hot day, rather than something we are super excited by. Should it be a massive priority to DW, nope, they have plenty of other things to focus on, but if licensing an existing film isn’t too financially difficult, I think for mid-2025 (once the initial local impact for JR has started to drop off) it’s an attraction piece that can marketed well and attract people through the gates. I also think it’s one ride that could potentially be a great upsell for the night markets as it’s central so wouldn’t require additional security or the opening of additional land/pathways

No, it doesn’t. You can keep throwing data and tables and bullshit facts all you like - what suits a park on the other side of the world doesn’t make it the standard for what has to occur on the Gold Coast. You have proven jack shit. Using semantics of English language also doesn’t make your argument any more pointed. Pretty sure 99% of comments on a forum of any topic are taken as being the opinion of the poster, they don’t have to be prefaced with “in my opinion”.

Well no, it can’t be proven or unproven. Because it’s an opinion. There is no metric that says when something should or shouldn’t be changed. We certainly are not in the habit of comparing DW operations or DL/DW, so let’s not begin here.

Some people are really unable to grasp that an opinion on something doesn’t need to come from extrapolated data and spreadsheets. You can tell me you think Superman is the best ride on the GC and I can throw data and reviews that prove it’s not, but that won’t change that to you, it’s the best. After 5 years Sky Voyager needs a new permanent offering in my opinion. A table comparing its length of use vs Soarin’ doesn’t change that.

Out of interest, how many of the dozen or so locations shown in the original Aussie film have you visited personally ?

Surely we can get a permanent new film soon? It’s well overdue

I’m not even convinced I’m on the money, just spitballing what may be a possible scenario - and a favoured one. It is listed specifically as a press conference regarding Intamin and Dreamworld. If it was a “whole of business” press conference and they were randomly going to choose one theme park in the world to name drop in their press conference listing - I’m doubting it would be Dreamworld, and I reckon that presentation would be far longer than 25mins give the projects Intamin has going globally

The King Claw project you would think would be announced for a 3rd quarter/late 2025 opening, so IF it was to be a double announcement, I wouldn’t be expecting the “major” ride to be for a timeline prior to late 2026 anyway

As many have said I really doubt Intamin is dedicating a slot at a major international industry event to say “hey we’re replacing a gyro swing with another gyro swing at a park in Australia”. could we possibly be getting a 2 for 1 announcement. King Claw as per the trademark is clearly happening in the short-medium term, but maybe that’s just the appetiser to the main course….

TOT is gone mate. Time to move on.

No one who cares about their dog is pulling it by the tail or hitting it on the face I don’t believe that is an appropriate manner, but I wasn’t there and didn’t see what preceded it.. You clearly have zero idea of the definition of the word “outraged”. Saying you are not comfortable or dislike something doesn’t amount outrage, in any shape or form Is your life entirely black and white? Because it seems it.

Not sure of its origins in terms of timing. Had not seen it prior to this evening where it’s popped up on numerous page and groups

The footage that’s begun circulating on social media today showing handlers pulling/dragging a tiger by its tail and hitting it in the face isn’t great. It’s actual really disappointing tbh… I know many of the keepers love those animals like family, but hitting a tiger across the face except in a circumstance of danger/threat just isn’t acceptable… and then raised unnecessary (or maybe necessary) questions as to how they are treated back of house, if that led to the recent incident etc

Really?? Suggest you go back and read my comments, which have all been prefaced with it being my own personal opinion. As you can see below. I've never stated i am wildlife expert But thats not what they did. If that was all they did then this transition would be minimal. They previously had numerous tigers on the island at once, with numerous handlers also on the island interacting and being present - for the entire duration of park opening. It was not just dragging one tiger out of a BOH enclosure to be on the island to do tricks and then putting it back away. End of the day, its changing and time will tell if it was good for the animals in the long run and for the parks overall conservation efforts.

When the park has given zero info out on how the tigers lives will be enriched post-contact, then the only thing to make is assumptions until such a time as we are made aware. I also have zero issue with people disagreeing if they want to put forward their own thoughts, but comparing tigers standing on hind legs, or climbing a tree, to dolphins jumping through flaming rings or tigers riding bikes is just taking the piss and being condescending for no reason. there was time on this forum where people actually had conversations without being petty and trying to one-up about who knows more than the other. I’ve never pretended that I’m an expert on theme park operations, or that I have contacts with senior management who fill me in on all the comings and goings. I haven’t worked in a theme park though enjoyed 35+ years of regular visitation. Plenty of you know plenty more than I do and I enjoy learning things from those that do, but I come here and give my opinion based on what I believe or the people I interact and speak with. This place would be whole lot more inviting if when someone disagrees with your point of view they don’t turn it into a condescending, passive aggressive, dick measuring contest.

I didn’t say that there would not be presentation, I said a contactless presentation is likely to generate not as much interest, and in turn may have consequential effects on how popular TI is (and therefore its ROI), the conservation message, and donations to the DWF. I’m not arguing that zoo’s have run contactless presentations with wildlife for the past century - but their mission, their reason for existence in the first place - was not based around human interaction, and TI’s was. I'm happy for you or anyone to disagree with my take on it, but in my opinion the removal of human interaction is bad for the park, and more importantly is bad for the tigers wellbeing and enrichment. I think if we skip forward to say 2030, TI no longer exists in any form.