GoGoBoy

Congratulations to Kenny for getting this one right and letting us know early! This site should be made up of rumours (hopefully fairly accurate ones), not just official news all the time. It gets boring otherwise. It concerns me to read that the new CEO has had no background in theme parks. It is definitely a very specialised industry and it takes time to get a true understanding of it. I have seen cases where an executive manager has been hired with zero theme park experience and the results have been terrible. They think they know how it works but they just don't have that eye for detail. Here's hoping this is not the case with Stephen and that he will be a good thing for Dreamworld. Does anyone know more about the specifics of his background? I suppose if he has been heavily involved in tourism and leisure like the article says then he would definitely have some skills in the area

One thing I won't accept is if they close down the park (or at least close the rides down) and blame it on the whole "Sydney just doesn't seem to like theme parks" thing. The reason why no theme/amusement parks do well in Sydney is because none of them are up to standard. Nowhere near standard in fact... Sega World had good intentions but the attractions just weren't good enough or grand enough. Fox Studios Backlot was simply pathetic by anyones standards. Wonderland hasn't updated their ride mix in 10 years. And now Luna Park has opened with a bunch of rides which were not even remotely new when the park re-opened 10 years ago in 1995. So what does that make them now? What will work well for the park is the stuff that we have already discussed here and the atmosphere and history of the place. But there's no way that the current rides can be much of a drawcard after a while. So, the only excuse that should be used if things go wrong at Luna Park is "well actually we didn't spend enough money on getting really good rides and the stuff we had just wasn't up to scratch for Sydneysiders"

Yeah I noticed that too. It definitely is pushing it a bit. They had the website branded with Scooby Doo (as it is now) when they first opened the ride. Then Matrix opened so the whole thing was re-branded with Matrix. Now that Scooby Doo 2 is showing in cinemas, they have reverted back to the Scooby Doo branding. Talk about an opportunity to cash in on something that doesn't really have that much to do with them. Aussie parks just love these promotional tie-ins don't they!

I went for a walk around Luna Park this morning. I have to say walking through that fantastic face once again was very exciting. Some parts of the new park impressed me whereas others did not. The following are some of my thoughts... The biggest problem is that it is not finished yet. Not at all. There is no way that the park should have opened when it did. That truly is bad management. A large number of rides are still closed and many of the buildings and facades are not even near completion. So with this in mind, it is hard and probably not fair to make a final judgement of the park. I certainly do hope that the parks facades and decorations are not completed yet. A lot of the rides are missing any decent signage. For example, the Tumble Bug just has a little dodgy neon sign out the front. I don't know what has happened to the massive psychadelic bug that used to stand out the front of it. I hope they are planning to put it back up soon. Also, the giant spider that used to tower over the spider ride is nowhere to be seen. The current lack of facades leaves the park looking a little dull in some areas. There is just a bit too much exposed concrete around at the moment. Even the midway is looking way too sparse. It needs things like chairs and shelter, decorations, interactive fountains, flags and other features to liven it up. Hopefully this is all coming. In saying this, a lot of the new buildings do look good and very modern. The car park has also been designed well with a nice lanscaped park right next to it. You wouldn't even know the car park is there so that is quite clever. There is a large area out the back of the park which is now being utilised almost as an over-flow area for some of the rides. It is where the Big Dipper's turn out used to stand, behind Coney Island. Unfortunately, in its current state, the area looks terrible. It is just a massive open asphalt area with no permanent structures and portable rides scattered everywhere. There are a number of typical portable kids rides and a few inflatable jumping castles (come on Luna Park, surely you can do better than this?!). To my surprise, this area is now home to the Ranger and Spider which used to be located inside the main park. The rides look very temporary and quite dodgy in this area. I think more planning should have been done to enable these rides to fit inside the main area of the park to liven it up a bit more in certain areas. If this new area at the back of the park was planned more carefully it could work quite well as there is heaps of space out there and I would say it increases the capacity of the park at least by half. If they are planning to constantly change and update the rides in this area then I can understand why not much has been done, otherwise there is no excuse really. At this point it doesn't look like they are taking it seriously and most people probably wouldn't even realise the area exists as there is no obvious link. Time will tell. On a positive note I think the Big Top venue looks great and has a modern foyer with a nice bar. I do think the park has managed to combine the new facilities with the old quite well. Once everything is up and running the park will have a good atmosphere. I'm really looking forward to seeing a show in the Big Top one night followed by some rides. That place is magical at night. I drove past the other night and the lights are incredible. I have more to say but am getting sick of typing so will add to this topic later. Overall I think the new park will be a great Sydney asset. Once all the rides are operating and everything is planned out a little better it will definitely be better (and certainly look better) than Luna Park Melbourne. You just can't beat the location and I think the developers have created quite a good product. There is definitely more work to be done so we will have to keep a close eye on the park over the next few weeks. At this point we need to support the park and ensure that the amusement/rides aspect of the business stays intact and continues to improve over time. That should always be the essence of Luna Park

It's funny how Wonderland got all these 'hand me down' rides and to make matters worse some of them are still in operation today. Wonderland a world class theme park? Sorry Mr.Galbraith... I don't think so. Check out this map from PKI... now this is a real theme park - http://www.pki.com/i/map_10-1-03.pdf

It seems like Ocean Parade is going to become the land of the flat rides. Do you really think they need another one in that area? And what's going to happen when they build more rides where Thunder Bolt was? Is it going to turn Ocean Parade into one massive themed land with multiple flat rides or do you think they will turn that area into a separate theme?

Wow - this has seriously got to be the most boring addition Dreamworld has received for some time! Even the ad for it on the DW website looks boring. All I can say is we better get that (or any) rumoured ride this year or else I am going to cry. A farmyard nursery? There's nothing original about that. It doesn't even fit in with the 'Australian Wildlife Experience' theme. I guess that's why they have referred to it as 'Gum Tree Gully's Farmyard Nursery', to show that it is not really associated with the AWE. In saying all this I definitely think the Australian Wildlife Experience was a great improvement to DW and any future expansions in this area would be a good thing. Afterall, it does seem to bring in that lucrative asian market by the bus load. But apart from the AWE I really don't think DW needs any more animal attractions

The place is packed all the time at the moment and has been since the closure announcement. Even the threat of rain does not stop people now. The park is bursting at the seams most days, it's incredible. I certainly wouldn't want to visit on a weekend, or anytime now for that matter. I believe some of the staff are finding it a bit difficult and management are also finding it difficult to roster the adequate number of staff each day. I have noticed that they are still constantly advertising for new staff... even just a few days ago. It will be interesting to see whether the easter show and luna park take away some of the crowds. I doubt it though

Please do keep giving us info Kenny, it is much appreciated. What you need to understand though is that these are discussion forums and people are always going to debate rumours. So don't take it personally... this is what it's all about

As I've said before, the reason the Ranger has a rainbow painted on its backdrop is because the Rainbow ride was originally meant to go there. Yeah I don't really like the look of the Ranger. In fact basically all of the rides at LPS are just old travelling amusement flats. They are not very special at all but the management is trying to promote them as 'historical' and 'all time favourites'. The only truly unique rides there are the giant ferris wheel and wild mouse

Just to add a bit more fuel to the fire... I was just looking over the Sunway website. It seems that the company is investing millions of dollars into a NEW water theme park (in addition to their existing parks) for Malaysia with a new 5 star resort and shopping complex to go with it. The complex should be open by mid 2004. I would like to remind everyone of one of the main points Wonderland's CEO made in his address to staff regarding the parks closure - *Sunway simply wasn't able to invest the required capital into Wonderland as the parent company had been badly affected by the asian economic crisis*. So... they have plenty of money to invest in their own country's leisure and tourism projects but for some reason not enough for ours. Here is a quote from Sunway's chairman regarding the new water theme park and resort - "The development of this theme park reflects our commitment to the community and nation and I would like to assure the State authorities that we at Sunway are determined to deliver and be part of creating another signature resort township which we all can be proud of". Enough said

I like your new avatar graphic Johno - very appropriate! That's a keeper I reckon

Screammachine - what a smug little comment that was you made about my post. Did I contradict myself? No. Here's why - The Human Resources Department manager is part of the executive team. As mentioned above, all of the exec team would be on good salaries and have overall very decent packages. I was referring to the operational managers which, in terms of pay, are a huge step down from the execs. I believe a lot of these ops managers are/were not good at managing staff and keeping them happy which has led to a few internal issues. This is simply because Wonderland was not always able to hire the most experienced people for these particular roles as they could not cough up enough cash for them. I am certainly not saying that this is the case with ALL of the ops and dept managers. Obviously there would be a number of them with good management skills. But in general terms you are not going to get great managers to stick around if you pay them lousy wages. Simple as that. Regarding what I was saying about the Human resources department being good at hiring the right people for the right jobs... I was talking about the level 1 general park positions ie. attractions, food & bev, guest services etc. The majority of them are friendly, enthusiastic people as i'm sure everyone will agree

willsy you are basically in the same boat as ASHLEE. It's not even neccesarily about spelling... it's about making some sort of sense. Are we experiencing a bizarre phenomenon here? Either a large number of users joining this site are under 5 years old or else there are some mental health issues going on... the latter ofcourse being a slightly more sensitive issue. It must have something to do with the fact that we are discussing theme parks - they seem to appeal to a 'broad' range of people. Luckily there are a number of users on this site who actually are on the same planet as the rest of us and are able to offer somewhat intelligent and insightful posts... or at least make some kind of sense

Yeah this is a total waste of time and I don't think any words of encouragement are going to improve ASHLEE's posts. What is it about this site that seems to attract these sorts of people? Even Shifty with his minimal grasp of the english language puts together posts FAR more worthy than this one

Weren't there some rumours around that the Olympic Park site was going to be turned into a theme park? I remember reading somewhere on these forums that the government was trying to encourage a theme park to take up residence there. It would be the perfect spot. It's kind of a middle ground... not to close to the city and not too far. Lots of the infrastructure is already there as well as plenty of transport options. I think judging by the attendance Wonderland was getting over the last year, even though nothing had been added to the park for 10 years, is proof that there is demand in Sydney for a large outdoor theme park. Not to mention the numbers which are streaming into Wonderland now to have one last visit... this has made the potential even more obvious

Yeah I agree that $85 is way too much otherwise I would definitely go. Am interested to check out the new 'Big Top' venue. Don't forget Luna Park needs everyones support this time round. They have had a lot of trouble already with the local residents and had to make a lot of concessions which could lead to financial troubles for them in the future. We all need to get to Luna Park at some point and support them as much as possible. At least it is owned by an Australian company with the best interests of the site at heart. Don't forget entry is free

I agree with some of Richard's points on this one. Virtually ALL workplaces have employees who feel the business is badly run. It's a fact of life. Every now and then an exception comes along and some are worse than others but overall no job (or management team) is perfect. The WS managers certainly did have some major constraints placed on them (ie. virtually NO money going back into the park) which would have made it very difficult. The other factor is that most of the operational staff at Wonderland are on very low wages, once again due to the restrictions placed on the business by Sunway. If you are not willing to pay good money you often won't get great staff. This applies to the divisional and operational managers at Wonderland which is why a lot of them probably aren't the best suited to their roles. Wonderland simply wasn't willing to pay for top people. What makes Wonderland work well from an operational perspective only (ie. what the guests see) is that the majority of the staff are, quite simply, nice people. This certainly isn't due to Wonderland's staff training programs or anything like that (I believe most of the training is very basic and not really on-going as it should be). I feel that WS is just good at hiring friendly and enthusiastic people. They have a good human resources department which does most of the hiring. The department is run by a small group of compassionate people who are obviously good at choosing the right person for the required job

That's sad to hear but I suspected as much. Both Wet 'n' Wild and Movie World have had some great new additions over the last few years and maybe this has been enough to sustain them for a while. Do you think attendances will drop if another year goes past without any major new attractions? I know I certainly wouldn't make the trip up again without a good reason... but I guess a lot of Australians aren't as fussy as I am

Ok, so we know Dreamworld is opening Farmyard Friends (boring) hopefully followed by a gyro swing or some other ride later in the year. Sea World is set to open Shark Bay (which should be quite good, for an animal attraction)... but what about Movie World and Wet 'n' Wild? I am yet to hear any rumours regarding the attractions these 2 parks might be getting this year. We have patiently waited for the last couple of years and nothing much has happened. Has anyone heard ANYTHING yet? Please no more animal attractions or walk-through exhibits. Do you guys think this year will bring something major or do you think the money will be tied up in Paradise Country and the new outback show?

I agree. If the park manages to stay open for many more years to come (here's hoping) one day the loops will have a much more historical significance and the park will be grateful they kept them. However, if they are planning to keep the loops standing where they are and they end up getting in the way of a new ride or attraction then that won't be such a good thing. That land is now very valuable so if neccesary I think it would be okay to move the loops... but only if there is no other way around it

Well it now looks like there is a good chance Wonderland will be staying open until the 26th of April. I was just looking over the seek.com.au website and saw a job ad requesting new casual staff to work at Wonderland up until the 26th April. The ad was posted on the 2nd March. At the original park closure meeting the CEO implied that the park may not stay open due to staff numbers. It looks like he has changed his tune now. I'm guessing he has seen the phenomenal respose from the public and (surprise, surprise) is wanting to stay open right to the end to cash in on it. The closure is still over 6 weeks away but the guests are treating each day as if it is the last. There's no way Sunway would want to miss out on this sort of attendance. By the way, don't be fooled into thinking this is a kind-hearted decision on Sunway's part... oh no... it'll be all about the cold hard cash

Yeah i think u guys are being a bit hard on kennykoala. He is doing his best to bring us as much news as possible. I know he was boasting a bit about his discoveries which probably isn't neccesary. However it's better than those of you who claim to know something and then don't tell us anything about it. Let's not get too caught up about the specifics of the details when really nothing is confirmed. We should be grateful for any info we can get. Kenny - you are probably right about the September opening. The parks often do that. Gives them a chance to pick up extra crowds in the Sept holidays as well as the Dec ones

I agree about the wildlife park... I think it is a great area and don't think it needs any thrill rides too close to it. I even feel that future expansion of the wildlife park is probably a sensible idea, especially as world tourism begins to pick up. I wasn't actually aware of how far back Dreamworld's land goes. I was thinking more of adding a big coaster starting around Gum Tree Gully somewhere and expanding back out further, away from the wildlife area. I think that the whole Gum Tree Gully/Tiger Island area would have been perfect for new rides to round the theme park off. I think it was a bit silly to put tiger island where it is. Does anyone know much about the excess theme park land Dreamworld recently re-zoned? They won approval at the beginning of last year to re-zone the land from tourism uses to 'town centre' uses. This increased the value of the land significantly. Does anyone know exactly where this land sits in relation to the theme park? Dreamworld are obviously not worried about running out of space for the theme park or else they wouldn't have 'sold' this off. I sure hope we don't have another Wonderland situation on our hands (I doubt it)

I first of all want to say that I am quite impressed with some of the initiatives Dreamworld has taken recently, especially in terms of continually upgrading the parks theming. After reading the Wonderland article from the Financial Review which interviewed Neil Balnaves, I am very confident Dreamworld has a great leader who understands the industry and the need for constant capital expenditure. One thing I am not a big fan of is Dreamworld's layout. When I look at the park map it actually kind of annoys me. The majority of the rides and attractions are spread out lengthways in a strip at the front of the park. I really think the park needs to start moving back to give it a bigger, more symetrical feel. I personally think a massive coaster and perhaps some smaller attractions towards the back of the park (near Gum Tree Gully or somewhere like that) would really help to round the park off. I also never liked Cyclone's location. Was it really neccesary to plonk it outside the perimeter of the gates in the carpark? If you look at it on the DW map it is so far out that half of it is cut off. I guess they didn't have much choice at the time with the Thunderbolt still there. A similar thing happened when Wet 'n' Wild added Mammoth Falls... on the park map it appears to stretch out beyond the park perimeter gates. Interested to hear anyone elses thoughts on this subject