Gazza

Today in my afternoon tute we got taken on a tour of the Kurilpa Bridge... Am I a nerd for spotting that the bridge bearings were made by Maurer Sohne?

IMO, SW should do their best to monitor the Penguin Exhibit (See http://www.melbourneaquarium.com.au/getdoc...4/whatsNew.aspx ) that opened at the Melbourne Aquarium, since it is also pretty much just penguins in a cold indoor environment...If it turns out to be a sucess, then by all means build one, if not, then ignore it. IMO doing it as a snowmobile ride is silly, what Joz said rings true. I'd rather just stand up against a railing and watch them, then have to lean across the person next to me, trying to get a glimpse from a moving vehicle. Plus animal exhibits are inherently a high capacity attraction, and doing this turns it into a low capacity attraction. I say give the animal exhibits a rest for a little while, get some new rides in, and when it comes time to do another exhibit, perhaps combine the penguins with seals, and do a shark bay type thing, though focusing more on 'cold climate sea life'....Obvious economies there since they can all share the same cooling systems etc.

That one is manually set off by the guys in the booth, so it comes down to how well they do it on the day.

But you were the one who did it !!! You'll probably have more luck posting your suggestion in that topic on the official Dreamworld Facebook page.

Haha, just on that, one of the picnic tables from the extreme H20 zone has popped up on the grass to the left of the ticket booths at MW.

I think me and Joz were chatting, and we sort of agreed that the park already has plenty for animal lovers, and that animals lovers will keep coming regardless. At the present time more exhibits probably won't do much for attendance.

What, that bloke saying Jet Rescue was going to be a dive machine?

I can post my experiences with this one now. Alton was far and away the best, not much to be said other than it is awesome, so get to that one if you can. Blackpool was really good too, but in its own quirky way...The big one is not the reason you'd go, but its the unique stuff like Grand National, Steeplechase, Avalanche and the Wild Mouse that make it great. Thorpe is a good option, the rides are 'good', but I sort of felt everything they did, Alton did better...I guess it lacked true stand outs, but it is really easy to get to. Chessington...Nah. Some fun stuff, but it is a bit tenous going there for only a handful of intermediate rides...It is basically geared towards younger families with a smattering of bigger stuff for more daring kids. Legoland I didn't think was particularly good. Great for little kids of course, but even the 9 year olds in your group would probably feel a bit old for a lot of the stuff, which tends to be passive.

I don't really see why it achieves anything to send people to the car park, what difference does it make ..The net result is the same right? The food gets eaten, but 100m away from where it could have been eaten.

RE the passouts, It's fine for your main meal I guess, but its stuff like snacks and drinks which people might want to have with them and graze on. I'm not sure about the scale of the backlash, but you tend to find any story like this on the News Limited websites gets a ton of outraged feedback, most of which probably comes from people that like whinging. The biggest concern for me is people at the park being told to get rid of their food the moment they arrive....It is perhaps the worst way you could start the day customer service and guest satisfaction wise. Once you set that negative tone it will linger with that guest for the rest of the day.

The thing that makes me laugh is when companies think that an excuse like "It's international practice" is actually capable of convincing the Australian public. Its not an actual cause and effect reason! The exact same line was pulled when Telstra Dome (Now known as Etihad Stadium) tried to prevent people getting pass outs to get to the nearby food outlets outside the gate that charged normal prices. Public backlash soon reversed that decision. At the end of the day we aren't America, and whilst consumers there are probably more accustomed to being ripped off and charged for stupid things (How much is it to park at SF these days?) in Australia these practices just don't work...Especially when the act of taking an esky on a day out is sort of a cultural symbol. It's not even a real standard anyway since parks go either way...All the good parks (Like Disney, Merlin etc) let you bring it in, but it is the bad parks (Like Six Flags) are the ones that disallow it.

How many hours did you end up getting? I sort of know the feeling of being in a really good park, but having to rush and not get to re ride. The other thing I find fascinating are those flying scooters...how are they?

What about the SF approach? Mist, flamethrowers, music, and a tunnel made of fluro lights in the shape of a superman shield?

When i first read the caption about Voyages theming i thought you were being a bit harsh on the Aussie parks (WWF sprung to mind) I then thought about everything else for a few seconds longer and started laughing. Impressed I take it? I too am eager to hear what a #1 coaster is actually like.

It's great that you have uploaded it again, but what you need to remember is that Youtube will most likley remove the video again because you have the MIB/Wild Wild West music (Which is licenced) You don't want to have to upload it for a fourth time do you? Try http://www.youtube.com/audioswap_main where you can swap the audio for non licensed music, and then they won't remove your video Hollywood stunt driver is looking better, though on the buildings the roofs are sideways (The gable should face the front from memory)

So, when theming a ride to a 'mad goldminer', what theming do you put in the queue and station? Straightjackets? Padded Cells? An animatronic miner rocking back and forth?

I'm guessing the myfun brand has been particularly sucessful. On to the point of my post, another one of those cool unique water slides.

Hong Kong Disney have announced their plans for the future, and they actually look pretty cool, and will round the park off nicely....Enough to even put the park on my radar now. You can read about it here and see pics: http://disneyandmore.blogspot.com/2009/06/...nsion-plan.html What is interesting is that they are all unique to the park, rather than direct clones of existing Disney rides. The plans currently have in store: Grizzly Gulch....effectively their version of Frontierland, but it will have a flooded western mining town, and the Big Grizzly Mountain Coaster, which sort of seems like a fusion of Big Thunder Mountain and Expedition Everest....with a backwards section, a launch, animatronic bears (This is the ride I'm looking forward to most) Toy Story Land...pretty predictable, sort of like 'a bugs land' but guests are toy sized. It will have a green army men parachute drop ride, and bizarrely, a halfpipe coaster! themed to those yellow plastic hotwheels tracks. Mystic Point....To be honest, the theme of this area looks a bit plain, but it will have the parks haunted mansion (Mystic Manor) with a trackless ride system. Its certainly interesting, though it remains to be seen whether they end up cheaping out a bit, given the park hasn't been doing that well anyway.

I don't necessarily thing it is a bad thing to overhaul Corkscrew (Admittedly I'm a stickler for the theme of rides fitting the park) but it is seriously one of the last rides at WVTP that needs money spent on it given how well it is running....LW needs the new style SLC trains, Bermuda needs smoke and fire, Terror Canyon needs to be made operational etc etc.

On the other water ride at the front of that area, you should replace some of the plants with different ones, so it looks a bit more natural (Like the second one you did)

Your video got pulled from youtube unfortunatley....They don't seem to like licensed music these days. Cheers Gazza

Just a little update, but Corkscrew is being rethemed as "Sea Viper". There is a coloured sign at the ride entrance, with a picture of one and a suitably styled logo, advertising it as "A whole new experience, coming in 'Summer 2009'. I didn't have my camera on me, so I couldn't get a pic, but there you go. I remains to be seen what extent this retheme/upgrade will go to...Seems very much like what Six Flags have been doing though. In other news, there is now a new bridge and set of stairs from the corkscrew ramps, over the turn out of the station, and down into the Jet Rescue area.

So people can explore your park themselves, ride the rides etc As for your questions. Yes, the stunt show set could be improved a little bit. Check out these photos here so you can get a good look at how the set should look. http://www.parkz.com.au/photos/AU/Gold_Coa...iver/page7.html One thing i noticed is that the building the car crashes through doesn't have any windows. The undercover area was done well on your park, but one thing I noticed that looked weird is that at 6:07 the roofs of the buildings are a whole bunch of pyramid shapes...they should just be flat. The main street buildings could be more realistic, some of them have the wrong colours/wrong shaped windows...Check out these pics for something to go by: http://www.parkz.com.au/photo/AU/Gold_Coas...in_St_Roof.html http://www.parkz.com.au/photo/AU/Gold_Coas...in_St_Roof.html http://www.parkz.com.au/photo/AU/Gold_Coas...in_St_Roof.html http://www.parkz.com.au/photo/AU/Gold_Coas...reet_Roof_.html Other suggestions: -On the front gate, there should only be one movie world sign, not 3. -On Wild West Falls, the western town scene should have more buildings, eg at 2:37 you can see there are only two buildings, and the rest is just a wooden fence. -Is it possible for Supermans hills to be done a bit differently? I find that using the giga coaster is more flexible than using the storm runner one....the giga coaster has more turn radiuses available , lets you build steep hills on the diagonal etc so you have a bit more freedom. Just name a guest David Braben (A cheat that allows unlimited lift hill speeds) then for the launch of the coaster just use a flat lift chain . I did however like how Lethal Weapon and Scooby Doo were done (Especially how you did that green laser cone where the 'backwards' drop is) Overall though, its awesome that you have gone through with it and done a complete recreation...Have you finished the WB kids area yet? Also, one little thing, but when posting on Parkz, make sure you use proper English http://www.parkz.com.au/about/FAQ/Community-Guidelines.html (Rules 5 & 6)

I hope they do go to proper cards...WVTP tickets have a nasty habit of fading (I remember getting a super pass once, and it didn't last the length of my holiday) Agreed, I think it is a mistake to go offering it to all the parks though, but it's fairly common place overseas, and I guess we are just accustomed to paying quite high prices to visit our parks.... I think instead of being messy and doing all these random offers and giving tickets away to all parks, they need to just follow what they do in the US, and have different passes available, eg. Cheapest: For locals only, with blackout dates and no discounts. Intermediate: Same as what is on offer now, with improved discounts...Perhaps a little bit cheaper than a current annual pass. Best: Slightly more expensive than a current annual pass, but with admission to all special events, further in park discounts, and perhaps even morning ERT on a selected attraction (Which rotates throughout the year)

Quick question, but in these topics do you ever have serious suggestions, or are they always tounge in cheek, eg. Etc