Slick

Controversial opinion - I find it super, super cringe any time a park puts on a hype-style dance number as entertainment. I reckon folks get way more value and entertainment from character interactions or shows with a sense of purpose and theme, of which this 30th celebration does both. On the whole i'm not an avid follower of shows and entertainment in parks but this seems to hit all the right notes in adding some quality back into day trade.

Here's my two cents: Kaboom! / Master Blaster Raft Slides - F*ck yeah. Exactly what they needed to get and sweet name. High capacity, different from the rest of the line-up and something that one-ups HydroCoaster at WWW which has been their signature slide since the park opened. No conveyor belt to carry rafts up to the top of the country's tallest waterslide (23m) is taking the piss a bit. The next tallest would be Mammoth Falls (17m) and Green Rome at WWW (20m) and both have conveyor belts for rafts. Smart to have mirrored slides ala Mammoth Falls for peak season trade. Super Ripper - Uhhhh, did they forget there's three slides with the word "Rip" in them over at WWW? Interesting naming aside, this looks like good filler. More body slides are always a win. Double Barrel - This looks like bad filler. It's not better than what was there before (these are tiny) and by making people use rafts leads me to believe they were freaked out by the mess over at WWW with the Fully6 "freefall" style slides and nerfed these slides completely. These look so pointless that more body slides would've been better. H2Oasis / Everything Else - Wet 'n' Wild is a big park, so having more areas where families can set up shop for the day and keep the young ones entertained without having to trek halfway across the park is such a good call.

Quoted for truth. I still hear people call it "Sea World Nara Resort" - I can't imagine how much of a dumb branding move it'll be if they try and force people to say something like "V Hotels - Sea World" and "V Hotels - Movie World" ...because you just know people will keep calling it Sea World Resort anyway.

Thank god JFK didn’t think going to the to moon was too “complicated.”

His flight paths tell the whole story, IMO.

Two paragraphs earlier you had stated locals spend next to nothing with no facts to back you up either. Those in glass houses and all that jazz, you know? 😉 Pass-holders naturally spend less than interstate guests, but it's not "next to nothing" and the gap between interstate and pass-holders isn't as big as you imply. The figures i've used are based off generally established, broad-spectrum insight from years of working in the industry that account for that average. And you're right, folks will try and get as much done as possible out of each visit. And when they get more done, guest satisfaction goes up, and they spend more as a result. And just to cement the point further, guess which type of guest leaves early when queues become full? Yup, pass-holders. Clearly other parks around the world get the economics - the aforementioned Blue Fire has 4 trains and 1 spare. This isn't conjecture for the sake of conjecture. Side-note, no need to be disrespectful for the sake of being disrespectful. I used just as many words and just as much analysis. 😄

Let's say by having three trains you can guarantee you can always have two trains running during the busiest 100 days of the year. If that second train conservatively improves hourly throughput by 200 (on Rivals it'd be much more), that's 1400 people back in the park potentially spending money on stuff on a typical 7 hour day. Let's say ultra-conservatively then that 50% of them spend an extra $20 on literally anything instead of waiting in a queue (my own knowledge suggests it's more like $50-70, but we'll go with worst case scenarios), that's an $14k extra a day. Over roughly 100 peak days of the year where the train will be running, that's 1.4m in additional revenue, which means a third train pays for itself in under a year. Even at a third of my already conservative numbers, you have an investment that pays for itself in under three years and generates six digit revenue every year for the life of the coaster. There's also additional on-flow effects from smaller queue times during peak periods which is best summarised as when you have high satisfaction rates with guest experience, folks spend more. Rivals has been doing 2+ hour wait times over the easter break. Arkham Asylum was consistently one of the worst waits in the park during peak periods. The years after Jet Rescue opened are widely panned as some of Sea World's worst. Exactly my point. Personally I reckon Dreamworld are fine for the next year or two with two trains - but as the crowds continue to come back in huge waves like they've done at Movie World the maths does check out.

You're not wrong. These rides are all clearly designed for seasonal operation, meaning you have a nice 3-4 month stretch to do maintenance in, which is totally different compared to our all year round model with peak seasons every 2-3 months. I'd be amazed if Village weren't looking into a third train for Rivals to keep as a spare so that they can guarantee two trains during peak periods. There's simply a point at which long waits are detrimental to guest spending throughout the day - it's why Disney design their parks (and operations) to ensure you can do at least 10 "things" a day - anything less and folks aren't out spending.

That makes sense. I did a quick Google and found that Europa Park's Blue Fire has 5 trains and can operate with 4 at any one time, leaving 1 spare. Mental.

I wonder why that is?

This. Both Batman and Gremlins were so insanely memorable and so well executed for their time. How can you not love a big dark ride hiding behind a modest facade? Same with Looney Tunes and Bermuda - both pre-rides setup simple plots that were well executed throughout the rest of the ride. Bermuda would have to be the country’s best dark ride overall. Pre-ride videos don’t make up for poorly executed pre-rides, at best they’ll make the queue move quicker which means you’ll have to spend less time in a poor pre-ride. In which case, it’s a unanimous vote from me that both Arkham and Sky Voyager have the best pre-ride videos. 🍻

Space Probe 7’s video was rubbish. Sky Voyager’s Soarin’ music is epic and the pre-ride always gets a chuckle from me. “Push it, push it real good.” What a classic line. Anyway, time to keep it in topic. 😂🍻

I think it’s amazing. Easily the best pre-ride video in Australia, closely followed by the pre-ride video Arkham Asylum had.

And? Worth nothing this will be the first CEO that comes with theme park experience since John Longhurst sold the park in 1989.

As far as I can tell (and I really had to dig) this is a Waikiki Wave and not the super flip version like Wipeout was. Really good find though - I thought Mexico’s was the last one, I wonder how often this one operates these days?

It's a little mini-train that would ride around every so often. It's still there, it 100% works, it just needs to be plugged back in and turned on. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Had Dan Males send these to me. Enjoy.

Some sage advice - opinions are like arseholes, everyone has one. To add - just because I’m able to articulate mine well doesn’t give you recourse to be petty and spiteful just because you’re butt hurt. No one’s shouting, no one’s got attitude, no one’s using their forum title as a means to win a debate - you’re clearly just taking a debate about letters on a cylinder far too seriously and far too personally. Chill out, it’s all good. None of this matters.

I’m entitled to share my opinion here just like everyone else is provided it follows the community guidelines, which it does. The way I’ve shared my opinion and engaged in debate hasn’t changed in nearly a decade now, and I’ve been posting here for close to fifteen years. Suffice to say - it’s called a debate. Don’t take it so personally. 🤷🏼‍♂️

Quid pro quo - I had a guest out the front of the skull a week after closure ask me why tower was closed. With Mine Ride, it was almost entirely obscured to the point where it looked like theming, that's why no-one was the wiser. It also wasn't the park's signature ride for over two decades. I’d actually argue that you’re clutching at straws and missing my main point entirely, which is having tower of terror written 100m in the air despite the ride being closed for some time is not a good impression for the park’s turnaround.

Splitting straws on semantics is how all classic bad faith arguments start, FYI. By that logic they wouldn't be removing Tower of Terror track either because of the "financial situation" they're in and how pointless it is. Struggling business or not, Dreamworld is a theme park and spending money on making the place look like another place/world/thing is actually one of the most important things they should be doing every single day in making it great again instead of watering the joint down with sub-par facade replacements and giant fences aimed at covering up SBNO rides. These days shopping centres are better designed and better themed. Ergo, i'd say that if they can't meet the consumer expectations set by a local shopping joint (let alone be completely unable to step out of the shadow of its former self) then they have no business operating a park to begin with. This is a beautiful oxymoron and i'm here for it. 😄 It just so perfectly summarises why the park is the way it is right now. For a park that's trying to shift their image away from a brand that half-arses stuff to the point of fatalities, i'd say leaving a 100m tall sign of a closed ride up for all to see is about as half-arsed as it gets and does a lot of damage in terms of affirming guest perceptions of what they hear on the telly about the joint. That perception is further concreted in place when, throughout their day they come across all of the SBNO/closed rides littered across the park. I often wonder how many guests, sweaty and exhausted from walking half a mile to a closed ride (because there's no printed or useful maps in-park anymore), look up into the sky utterly exhausted and see that glorious grey phallus with "Tower of Terror" painted down the side, almost taunting them of the money they spent, and think to themselves "never again."

I didn’t say top priority. I’ve personally had the experience of telling folks in park the ride’s closed despite it looking like it still exists from the highway, and that experience absolutely does ruin a persons day.

If they just painted the tower I doubt only the keenest of eyes would notice. FYI, when the Tower of Terror was built, it had a smaller cap on the tower before The Giant Drop was added. It was when the winch floors were added (the barrel at the top) that the tower was officially named “Dreamworld Tower” to reflect its multi-use.

You can thank @Slick for being your source because he literally said it on the last page. A lot. Like the rest of the park, having rides look like they still exist from the highway or SBNO leaves a sour taste in guest's mouths. Our parks rely on repeat visitation, and especially when Dreamworld are trying desperately to fight its way back into profitability, giving people a reason to pick "the other parks" when they're planning their yearly interstate visit isn't a wise move.