GoGoBoy

I'm just so disappointed with this. I was hoping DW had learnt their lesson in regards to ride selection. Ardent Leisure claimed that they were embarking on a '3 year Board approved capital expenditure plan'. This suggests to me spending that is above and beyond the normal. But so far this has not been the case. When I think about the opportunity the bosses had when they sat down with those ride catalogues, it kills me that a Disk 'o' is what they chose. They could have come up with something far superior and far more interesting than this, surely. I guess it must be REALLY cheap and that may have made the decision for them. I guess that's why Rainbows End in New Zealand and Aussie World has one too, because it's affordable. Such a pity. Let's hope it is at least well themed and presented

I forgot about Aussie World's Disk 'o'. Geez Dreamworld, with that in mind, this is an even worse decision! Send it back! Get something else/better. And can I just say that this does NOT class as a coaster

Well that kinda sucks. For some reason I had a strong feeling they'd go with a Disk 'o'. Kind of a cheap and crappy ride if you ask me. Plus they are quite commonplace now - especially on the travelling circuit. Dreamworld could have done better. Well at least the Disk 'o' is not going to be the major thrill ride - something I was fearing might happen

Speaking of the Goldrush coaster at Rainbows End... I just had a look at a POV video of it on Youtube. This ride actually looks decent! Both the coaster track and log flume seem to be really well planned and cleverly integrated into the park. The track goes over water, through tunnels, over trees. They've done a really nice job! And actual theming (the smoke still seems to be working!... you can't even say that for Movie World). And also a decent pace. I hate to compare it to Dreamworld's Motocoaster again but seriously if Rainbows End can build a coaster that's 1 million times better than Motocoaster, then DW really needs to sort themselves out. Their chance has come with these new rides - let's hope they don't disappoint. POV of Goldrush -

I would have to disagree with you Wazza. I think the sole reason Village is building this park in Sydney is because they believe it will be very profitable/successful and because there is a very large demand for it. You have to remember too that the population of Sydney has increased significantly in recent years and continues to grow. There is a huge un-tapped demand for family entertainment and attractions in the city. Village is not in the habit of building theme parks for the purpose of helping to push and promote their other businesses, as you have suggested. They build theme parks for the benefits of the parks themselves. They see theme parks as a big growth area and this is why they have been selling off so many of their other businesses - so they can concentrate on parks more

Thank you for uploading the articles themeparkgc, much appreciated

You have to remember too that this is a waterpark we are talking about, not a theme park. By their very nature waterparks require significantly less initial AND ongoing capital expenditure. The general running and ongoing costs are far less too. They tend to be a much higher return business than a theme park. And Sydneysiders love anything to do with water - the weather definitely helps

I see you've been sucked in by the lies that were spun by the previous owners of Wonderland, as were many other people. Wonderland did not close down because it was not viable. This is what the last owners (Malaysian based Sunway Group) told the general public to make the closure more palatable and to stop people from being too angry about it. The reality was that they could make more money more quickly by selling the land for industrial purposes. The recent road changes out that way meant that the land became very lucrative for business park uses. Wonderland was still attracting almost 1 million visitors per year right up until the end. This almost matches the Queensland parks. They could have easily pushed this number up a bit with a little bit of re-investment into the park. But they hadn't built any new rides for years. They refused to invest more into the park as they probably knew they were just going to sell it. For a theme park to do well there must be a careful and constant re-investment program, as demonstrated by the successful QLD parks. Sunway were more interested in their properties and development in Malaysia and didn't want to put the time, energy and money into their Sydney park. There are massive amounts of young families in Western Sydney who are crying out for some entertainment, particularly now that Wonderland has gone. This park will be a huge drawcard for them and people all around Sydney and surrounding areas. The unofficial Wet 'n' Wild Sydney facebook page already has over 7000 fans. And that is without any marketing. Mark my words, this park will be very profitable and successful

They are planning to open theme park/s in China, through a joint venture partner. It looks like theme parks are going to be their focus now - which is good! So the money from the sale of their other assets will be going towards the China expansions, paying down debt, returning capital to shareholders and possibly some towards Wet n Wild Sydney... but not towards their existing GC parks. They already have allocated capital to build new attractions for their GC parks as they have been doing on a regular basis

What would you guys think about a Euro Fighter, if that's indeed what this ends up being? I'm not a huge fan myself, especially considering there is already a portable version of the ride travelling around the shows at the moment. Sort of cheapens it. But in saying that, I have seen some pretty cool layouts

Oh dear god. We don't have a hope do we

Yes but I think clearly they originally intended the park to be somewhat stand-alone but the problem is it just isn't big enough for this to be a reality. If the park provided an actual full day offering then I'm sure you'd find some people would visit just for WWW

Won't happen

Interesting that WWW will once again be missing out on any expansion - even though it is desperately needed. Seems they aren't too worried about the size of the park and the fact that in its current state it is absolutely no match for WnW. I guess Dreamworld is the priority - which I suppose is fair enough considering how far behind it is beginning to fall

Let's hope the family ride is a new take on a mine coaster - something to replace Eureka Mountain. Doubt there is time for that though!

This information today from a presentation given by Ardent's CEO - * Family thrill ride launch for June school holidays * Major thrill ride launch for September school holidays They better hurry up and get building! Time is surely running out to meet those deadlines!

^ Haha those pics definitely don't do the place justice. What a dodgy postcard. It was way better than that! A true indoor amusement park

I agree it was the best ghost train ever. Would love to see some pics of it or get info on who the manufacturer was and whether there were any other similar models made around the world. I absolutely loved it as a kid and was the main reason I looked forward to visiting Surfers

Wow that's great thanks for that. Would be very much appreciated if you could post the 'Grundy's part 2' article when that comes out. Thanks!

Yeah it definitely does. Quite a few changes there. And they do mention in the report that this is not the absolute final version - there may still be some attraction changes etc. I'm pleased to see some of the best slides are still in this latest version such as the family boomerango and duelling master blasters. A few other interesting slides which we haven't seen before in Australia either. I was a bit disappointed that they have now put in a zip line and fly coaster. To me that's just tacky and reminds me of that temporary amusement park on the Gold Coast. I'd rather they stick to true water park rides, similar to Wet 'n' Wild Phoenix. I don't want to see them try to copy WnW Gold Coast with its weird mish mash of attractions

Wow what a find! Thank you Keadz

I think you've hit the nail on the head with the comment above. Understandably they can't build a ride of that scale every few years - but it has been almost 15 years now! Keeping this in mind I think we were all expecting a major signature attraction for their 30th anniversary. The ToT is probably responsible for much of the parks success over the last 15 years. They can't keep relying on it forever

D'oh! I waited patiently for something like 2 years for the share price to head back up. Then a few weeks after I finally sold it rocketed up. Typical! I just don't get it because their last few reports they struggled in a big way with profits down. Then we have almost non-stop rain and severe floods and the profits jump. Go figure! Lost a lot of money on it

^ I agree with this 100%. It just has to be good! The $6-7 million budget IS a big concern considering this hasn't changed with inflation AND the fact that it has been so long since DW has built a decent ride. You'd think they would have learned by now

I just listened to the audio podcast of the results and a question was asked about the amount of capital expenditure being planned for the new rides. The CEO replied that one of the rides will be a major new ride and that they were looking at around $6-7 million which he said was "part of our normal capex cycle". This sounds a bit disappointing to me as with that amount of money we may only end up with something like a Motocoaster 2. This surprises me as they previously announced a round of board approved capital expenditure which made it sound like it would be out of the ordinary in terms of amount. Perhaps they meant they will be increasing the capex with new rides yearly for a few years as opposed to every 3 years. Either way it doesn't sound like this will be enough to build the huge drawcard attraction we all feel the park needs