Tricoart

Far as I can tell, KUKA & Dynamic Attractions used to partner with the 'RoboCoaster' company to make the first amusement-focused robotic arm rides of that type, but the partnership seemingly ended once 'RoboCoaster' was bought out by Simworx in 2015 & made their own non-KUKA arm reliant, still 'RoboCoaster' branded ride model. Then, in 2016, KUKA made their own ride model that still utilised a KUKA arm, called the 'KUKA Coaster'. Neither the non-KUKA 'RoboCoaster' or the non-RoboCoaster 'KUKA Coaster' seem to have any verified installations, but Knight Flight's opening date & usage of a KUKA arm might technically make it a 'KUKA Coaster', which is a distinct ride model from the 'RoboCoaster G2' that Universal utilised for the Forbidden Journey rides pre-Simworx. At the least, the situation's confusing & kinda reads like a tongue twister.

I think zoo maps, possibly due to the nature of zoos in comparison to parks, and in conjunction a higher need for good maps to properly navigate them, will always be a great comparison for parks. With that, I think Currumbin's could still have some improvements (it's a tad too cluttered, the key's rather bland & small, the art style is too detailed for modern times, and the instance you sent is super oversaturated). If you're looking for concise, pleasing zoo maps, look no further than: They both do sections clearly, keep to an art style that's the right amount of detailed for modern times, have good keys (especially Taronga's, cause they don't need to list every animal on it), utilize space very well, and have proper iconography/labelling for animals, lands, and amenities without making the maps seem cluttered.

I think the issue with Movie World's map isn't that it's design-first, but that they're just using an oversaturated, tilted version of their 3d one. Sea World doing their 3d map is fine, but that's because: The park's a rectangle so they can easily just do a birds-eye perspective (thus making the 3d-ness much less pronounced, and giving more space for iconography), it's colours are mostly blues & non-obtrusive beachy colours/pastels, and the park kinda fits a low budget mobile game art style by being relatively small & catered mostly towards families. Whereas Movie World's layout of both the map & the park itself means they needed to offset the angle from birds-eye to tilted, which makes the 3d effect much more pronounced, and thus the map seem much more cluttered. Also, it's colours are more saturated & obtrusive than SW's, as well as overlaying massive, obtrusive, harshly coloured icons on top of almost everything, enhancing the cluttered effect even more. Both SW and MW would benefit from better map keys, though, as the ones they've got just look like Excel tables. Dreamworld's issues are kind of the opposite to MW's, in some ways. They've got the non-obtrusive colours of Sea World's map, no in-your-face iconography or incomprehensibly cluttered sections like Movie World's map has, and a nicely designed map key to boot. It's issues are on the other side of the spectrum, where it's too simple & open in some parts, and there's only a few things that are easily noticeable, with the rest of the map just kinda blending together into the sea of unobtrusive colours. I think the current (actual) Main Street, Dreamland, Tiger Island, Native Wildlife, and Ocean Parade areas of the map are perfectly serviceable, managing the balance of recognizability & obtrusiveness, or clutter & emptiness, well. What suffers the most is the outskirts of what's labelled under 'Main Street', where Steel Taipan, Motocoaster, & Giant Drop reside, with that whole section feeling more like wasted space than a fleshed-out area of the park. As to if that's the case in real life or not is up to opinion, but at the very least it shouldn't come across as such on the map. And the art style being akin to Sea World's family-oriented, simplistic one may too be seen as a detriment rather than a positive, as it seems more low budget & generic than what you'd expect from "Australia's Biggest Theme Park", or from it's detailed maps in the past. Also, the iconography is so unobtrusive that it's mostly unrecognizable, or even just nonexistent in some places. Major rides have a barely viewable icon, as all they've done is try to inconspicuously blend their ride logos into the pathways leading up to the ride, and those that don't have logos, or paths to attach them to, just don't get an icon. More notably, though, the map has literally zero mention of any food, drink, or retail stores in the park, including on it's key. As for the key, while being more pleasingly designed than SW or MW's, it takes up way too much space than it really should, which heavily encroaches on the size of the map itself. This makes the iconography issues worse, as all the icons you can see are dwarfed by it's overlayed squares, QR code, and the said inefficiently spaced key.

If they don't find it beneficial enough for them to tease the upcoming area with the construction walls, but still need to use a cover for them, hopefully they realise that they can just extend the leaf covering they're already using right beside it. Seems like a rushed, "Superman's opening & we need work walls, Marvin's walls just came down, chuck 'em there for a sec" thing, so hopefully they at least swap 'em to that for the 'long' run. At the end of the day though, work walls are about as obviously temporary as anything in an amusement park can be, so (I hope they do change them, but) I'd hazard a guess it's not too high on the priority list for a park that's got broken speakers, a rotting building in plain sight, a complete new family area to build in a year, a ride to relocate, and their main family attraction down for heavy renovations for 2 years. Not to mention the hotel, or other current maintenance nightmares.

From what I can tell, Universal & KUKA had a 10-year exclusivity deal on their RoboCoaster G2 ride system (the one used on all 'Forbidden Journey' rides). That supposedly started in 2007, and Knight Flight opened in 2018, which'd dodge the exclusivity. I don't know if it shares the exact same ride system as Forbidden Journey, though, as details are a bit muddy. Nor do I know if that exact ride system is still being manufactured anymore, as both companies involved (KUKA & RoboCoaster/now Simworx) have released updated models/concepts. Nonetheless, it would be possible for them to get a similar ride system if they wished to do so.

I'm a simple man. I see 'evermore', I click.

Though it's nice to think that, if Paramount were to have bought Wonderland, it could've possibly stayed around til today under Cedar Fair branding, realistically I think it would've just shifted the reasoning & date of closure by a bit. Cedar Fair has shown no real interest in establishing themselves internationally (or, intercontinentally?), and even if they wanted to, it's a stretch to think that Australia'd be an ideal pick for doing so. I reckon it would've either ended up sold to a separate entity as it already was with the Taft/Paramount sale, or just shut down like Geauga Lake/CGA. Best case scenario'd be that it was sold to someone with more know-how, but that could've happened either way.

That wasn't the news, it was assumed that the news would be an official announcement/information regarding those rides, as they were already known to be in the plans for Aussie World. The news itself was their rewards program.

And what is one of the main features they're changing about Montezooma with this investment they're doing?

How would observing the group before them board help, though? The operators'd still need to inform all groups of the same things, all it'd do is mean everyone hears the briefing 4 times instead of 2, and maybe help a guest on the off-chance that they're confused about where to go after hearing said briefing 4 times, but were intently watching the group before them whilst they boarded.

You said it's opening dates are as unreliable as Leviathan's were (which was referred to as 'a constructive opinion'). Of which, Levi's opening dates were, at least in my opinion, as unreliable as they were due to it's opening being a mismanaged one, hence the use of the word 'mismanaged' instead of 'unreliable' when referring to the point of your original message. If you don't agree, or think the word 'mismanaged' is too harsh, then I apologise for rewording it. You didn't trigger any sore point, I don't believe that Sea World as a whole is badly run, nor do I believe that one company/park is inherently ran worse than the other, because I (like everyone on here) know barely anything extensive about how either of them are ran, and that would be an extremely broad statement to make. My responses to your messages led to others chiming in and stating that maintenance pages are equal to official park announcements/advertisements, and that both given situations are the same thing 'at a macro level', which I responded to in disagreement with, and that then became this.

I understand the ABC IPs are mixed in, as they were with ABC Kids World. Separating those IP from each other would be impossible. My opinion was/is that it'd be better if they clearly separated K&B's section from the ABC IP section as a whole, whilst having them both remain under the umbrella of 'Dreamland' (again, like Madagascar/Shrek within Dreamworks Experience), as to allow for them both to have their own entrances/names/distinct feel, as was previously the case when it was Dreamworks. To try visualize what I mean, instead of having a generic 'Kenny & Belinda's Dreamland ft. ABC IPs' sign where 'Madagascar Madness' is, and nothing where the Dreamworks Experience sign is, have a generic 'Dreamland ft. ABC IPs' sign where the Dreamworks Experience sign is, and a thematic K&B section sign (could've even called it 'Koala Country' or 'Kennyland' for nostalgia) where 'Madagascar Madness' is. Then have a separate 'ABC Kids World' sign where this is. And a double-sided sign connected to the shop, with this side being 'ABC Kids World', and the other side being for K&B's section. That way, they're both still connected under the 'Dreamland' name/area, and could thus have their characters share the non-K&B specific theatre, but without having the entrance seem like an immediate downgrade from it's previous form. It'd also make the area seem much more thought out & meant to be, with clear references to past areas ('ABC Kids World', or either of the names for the K&B section).

I understand that, what I’m saying is that I can’t help but think it’d be better if that weren’t the case, and an ‘ABC World’ + the Kenny & Belinda section were distinct mini-areas within an encompassing ‘Dreamland’, instead of being completely meshed into one.

Still crazy to me that they’re adding 3 new coasters in a relatively large family-oriented themed land that seems to have more than enough space for their additions, but the thought seemingly never crossed their mind that they could squeeze a swingchair or a NebulaZ in there too.

That’s how they seem to have planned it, yes. But is it not the case that the layout is at least very comparable to: Kenny & Belinda’s = Madagascar, ABC IP attractions = Shrek, and Ocean Parade expansion = Kung Fu Panda? If that is the case, they could’ve hypothetically tied them both into the all-encompassing ‘Dreamland’, but still have an ABC IP area (like the aforementioned ABC Kids World) that’s distinct enough from Kenny & Belinda’s area, as they did with Madagascar/Shrek within ‘Dreamworks Experience’, giving them both seperate mini-areas with their own dedicated signage/names. It’d also have the added benefit of, in the case that the ABC IP runs out (or they get a different IP), they’d just have to update that area of ‘Dreamland’.

The entrance sign could definitely be better thought out. I know it's likely the way that it is 'cause it's meant to be all-encompassing for both the ABC IP sections & Dreamworld's IP section, but I can't help but think it'd be better if it was split like it used to be, with individual themed signs for each section & a separate 'Dreamland' sign out the front like the former Dreamworks Experience sign. At least the Theatre sign, Tree House sign, and Forest Flyer sign seem to be promising so far. Sign sign sign.

Actual Wizard of Oz sneak peek be like:

I wasn't talking about you, quoted was the opinion that started the conversation you're jumping into.

*thrill flat rides, but I get your point. Dunno where a new one'd go nowadays, but it seems flat ride selection is the main aspect they'll always be lacking in, at least for the forseeable future.

That would be inferred, not announced. I really don’t get how it’s hard to see the difference. Sea World can’t, Dreamworld can’t, no one can. GD might’ve had an opening date at one point, but it wasn’t announced. The only people that thought it had an opening date were the people stalking the maintenance page, and inferred an opening date from the end of maintenance. All the general visitors have seen is that it’s opening soon, unlike with New Atlantis, who were announcing opening dates left & right, misleading/confusing the general visitor til they finally reverted to ‘opening soon’ for the last few months prior to it’s opening. I agree, no business is inherently worse than the other, but the way they go about things can be. Saying ‘The Giant Drop is as mismanaged as Leviathan’ is a far stretch for ‘expressing a constructive opinion’. I’m only stressing that I disagree with the opinion because I’d like to see VRTP taking notes from how DW are handling it, and doing better in the future (e.g. with WoO).

How is a park openly announcing & advertising an opening date for a ride, then delaying it and openly advertising a later date about 5 more times til they eventually figured out they could hold off on advertising an opening date til they know it’ll actually be ready & it (barely) opening over 2 years behind schedule ‘the same thing’ as a park silently prolonging a ride’s maintenance period by 6 months after never announcing/advertising an opening date? The issue wasn’t that New Atlantis suffered issues, that was totally understandable being a whole new coaster to Village, not to mention the obvious Covid delays, the issue was that Sea World kept advertising opening dates they couldn’t meet.

Do tell, what part am I not getting?

You said the opening dates are as un/reliable as Levi's, which isn't true. As far as I can tell, Dreamworld never announced an opening date for the updated Giant Drop, only extended the maintenance period as delays were dealt with. Delays are understandable, what made New Atlantis so mismanaged was their poor reasoning (or lack of it entirely) for said delays, and their multiple announcements for 'set in stone' opening dates that never got met. Also, y'know, being delayed for over 2 years, and being barely functional on opening.

It's not nearly as mismanaged as the New Atlantis precinct was/is. A ride isn't as unreliable as Levi just because it encounters a delay.

A rather extensive passholder email was sent out. Because it’s so extensive, I’ll summarise it here: - Giant Drop has been delayed, due to weather & finding “some opportunities to further extend the life of one of Dreamworld's most iconic rides”. They also talk about repainting being completed, and that they’re currently planning to install the lights. Images are attached: Giant Drop gondolas Giant Drop nameplate Dreamworld lights - Mentions the work done with Dreamland, and how they’re planning on commencing work on Escape Coaster, Dreamworld Dodgems (both referred to by those names in the email, not the new names as of yet), plus the Big Red Boat & Planes rides. Serpent Slayer’s gondolas are currently being painted. Dreamworld Theatre & the Tree House are planned to reopen for the Easter School Holidays. Bananas Carousel is open, but not in its final stage, with further work happening in the coming months. They caution that weather & other factors can impede construction, as they did with GD, and to check the maintenance schedule before planning visits. Images, again, are attached: Bananas Carousel Dreamworld Theatre sign Serpent Slayer gondolas Kenny statue Belinda statue (assumedly for the Tree House sign, as it resembles concept art. If so, it’s a detailed 3 dimensional sign! On the Gold Coast!) Entrance sign - Finally, they mention park atmosphere additions, namely roaming entertainers, roaming animal keepers w/ native wildlife, and Foam Parties near Gold Coaster (saw them when I went, it’s a staff member shooting foam from a cannon into a sectioned-off area of path adjacent to the toilets near Gold Coaster). Says there’s more to come.