Bussy

When I was there, there was a line up to get tickets, which give you a "departure time". Then there was a line up to get on the Eye. Every gondola was at capacity and it wasn't even peak season. So what they say on the website would be pretty close to true. As for the weather thing, being a Sydneysider I feel it is my duty to bag out Victorians at every opportunity, even if it is not the truth. Also as an Aussie it is also my duty to bag out the English. However when I was there, there were quite a few days when the sun was out and although it was cold it was nice. The day I went on the Eye was one such day. I don't think an attraction like this will do all that badly in any city but it would be much better to have it somewhere in Sydney with a nice view of the Harbour or city. At least with it in Sydney there would be a nice view. What does Melbourne have as a view? Crown Casino that’s right. "The Bus is now leaving for Two Wheel Creek, South Australia"

I just had a look at the London Eye website and got this quote: So I guess it blows the Gold Coast theme parks out of the water. As for the comment about Melbourne's weather, I take it you have never been to London and experienced weather that is far worse than Melbourne's. I will put it this way at least Melbourne gets some sun during the year. "The Bus is now leaving for Pink Eye Corner Tank, Western Australia"

Found this: 1985 Mt. Druitt Waterworks opens. 1986 Australia's Wonderland (now Wonderland Sydney) opens. From here. And this quote: From here. "The Bus is now leaving for The Waterworks, Tasmania"

An attraction of some sort at the airport is a good idea. People who are on an overnight stop over or a short stay would be able to just drop in. However due to height restrictions it shouldn’t be a theme park, due to noise it shouldn't be a wildlife park. So what alternative is there? If The Croc Hunter wants to build a theme park why doesn't he adjoin it to his Zoo? If not directly then just down the road maybe. I haven't been there so I’m not sure what is around the area, in terms of land. Does anyone else find it strange that Steve has got three tiger cubs? I thought the whole idea of Australia Zoo was to promote the conservation of Australian animals. Maybe he plans to do a Tiger Island style attraction when he opens the new park. "The Bus is now leaving for Steves Well, Western Australia"

Crikey, all aboard for the airport zoo Peter Morley The Courier-Mail April 20, 2004 BRISBANE Airport Corporation has held preliminary discussions with Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin about establishing a theme park on its spare land. The talks were revealed yesterday by corporation chief executive officer Koen Rooijmans who said Irwin was considering the deal. Irwin, who runs the Australia Zoo tourist attraction at Beerwah, has also met the Brisbane City Council about setting up a theme park at Boondall adjoining the Entertainment Centre. Those talks were with the administration led by former mayor Tim Quinn who suggested it might go on council-owned greenspace. Mr Quinn's successor, Liberal Campbell Newman has ruled out using greenspace for commercial ventures. "I am dead against the council's Labor administration trying to give away a large chunk of the Boondall wetlands to Steve Irwin so he can relocate Australia Zoo," Mr Newman said last month. Mr Rooijmans said the airport had ample space along the western side of Airport Drive and near the museum housing aviator Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith's Southern Cross. "It is an interesting site and quite ideal for what Mr Irwin has been talking about – a theme park that is Australia's equivalent of Disneyland," Mr Rooijmans said. "We set out our conditions and he is considering them." Mr Rooijmans said it would be "really good for Brisbane and the airport" if the theme park were set up on corporation land. The corporation was waiting for Irwin to "come back" . "He may have been distracted – he had a lot of attention at the end of last year," he said. "I must say I feel sorry for him over that. "I assumed that slowed things down a bit." Irwin was not available yesterday but a spokesman said he was consolidating at Beerwah. "There are no plans to do anything at this stage – we are not planning any move," the spokesman said. "The Bus is now leaving for Australia Zoo, Beerwah, Queensland"

Why would they bother? Why do they need to be convinced of anything? They bought the land as an investment and expect a good return from it as you have said in my next quote from you. You have hit the nail on the head there. ING (or any investor) expects a return from their outlay. ING stand to make a bucket load of money from re-zoning the land and sub-dividing it and then either selling the lots or leasing them. Why would they give Wonderland another go? It would cost them a load of money and if they do decide to close it in a few years time that is a lot of money wasted for no return. Wonderland was never for sale in its current form. All of the rides are assets of Sunway and will be kept or sold accordingly. Yes they do want to start afresh, by building an industrial estate on their land. What with the industrial relations awards comment? "The Bus is now leaving for Money Money Waterhole, Queensland"

Its called business, like it or not that is how the world works at the moment. People work and get paid, they have to put their money somewhere and where better then a bank. Just because it's a bank doesn't mean they don't have to make a profit, they have shareholders to think of too. There is no way I have never seen a bank get up and 'rape and pillage' people, Soldiers on the other hand.... The ADI site is slightly different to Wonderland, for one it is a large expanse of bushland, something that Sydney has all too little of. Personally I would not live on the ADI site if you paid me too, from what I have heard from people who used to work there when it was a ammunitions base, there are lots of un-exploded shells around and there are a few areas that were used as a toxic dump. I don't know about you but the only time I saw Stephen on TV was when he made the closure announcement, hardly the time for him to be smiling and saying how much he loves his job. "The Bus is now leaving for Copper Gone, South Australia"

Fun park invasion The recenlty closed Australia's Wonderland theme park will become a military training ground this weekend. It will form the backdrop to Exercise Ferris Wheel for soldiers of the Fifth Brigade Reserve Response Force. Major Mike Billingham of the RRFsaid 156 soldiers would take part. "Regular realistic training is necessary," he said. "A venue like Australia's Wonderland presents a unique opportunity to test the RRF in a realistic environment and will allow the members to utilise their wide range of skills." From The Daily Telegraph, Saturday, May 1, 2004 Good to see that the name "Wonderland Sydney" has really stuck in people's memory. "The Bus is now leaving for Singleton Military Area, NSW"

I know that Kevin did 84, or there about, in a row on Demon. Space Probe was about 40 for him. As for Bush Beast, I’m pretty sure that is one record that he does not hold. A few years back ('97 or '98 I think) Triple M in Sydney had a "Whirl to you Hurl" competition where there were about 10 contestants who continually rode the ride for a few days. The only time they were aloud off was to go to the toilet, they even had their meals on the ride, but not while it was moving. I’m sure a few people will remember the details a bit better. The operator has to enable each cabin individually. This was done next to each cabin, so there was no sitting there and doing nothing. The Space Probe restraints unlock automatically when the cabin comes down and stay unlocked for about 20 seconds, and then they re-lock. The design of the restraints originally was that as soon as the cabin came down the restraints would unlock and open through the use of a pressurised cylinder. As the norm at Wonderland this was an optional extra that I only saw in use once. Has anyone else seen this in use elsewhere? "The Bus is now leaving for Record Brook, Western Australia"

Slick please tell me that you are not serious. If you noticed there was a wink smiley that looked a lot like this after the comment. "The Bus is now leaving for Winks Creek, Victoria"

Circumcise? "The Bus is now leaving for Cold Nob NSW"

It was a very boring segment, the best bit was when Natalie went on UFO and when she got off she looked like she was about to spew, and she kept telling the cameraman to turn off the camera as she 'needed a moment'. "The Bus is now leaving for Guts Ache Creek, Tasmania"

Ok I will explain it simply so that you can understand. When someone goes to make a complaint, ask them for their ticket and exchange it for a return pass. Why would they complain like you say? Surely they can estimate the queue length. Yes it has sunk in that it is a different scenario and I fully understand the difference. I haven't been to Dreamworld for a number of years now, but from what I remember there wasn't that much development, residential not industrial, around the site. Has that changed? Where did I ever point the finger at the ride operators? What I said about the level of service was directed at the management not the front line staff. As an ex-ride operator at Wonderland I know exactly how these things happen. The front line staff are the last to hear about a decision about closing, but they cop the most abuse. And before you say "Well that’s Wonderland and Dreamworld is completely different" think again and have a look at where the majority of the operational managers at Wonderland came from. "The Bus is now leaving for Finger And Thumb Islands, Queensland"

You still don't get it do you Obstructure? It was completely and unequivocally Dreamworld's fault for what is a guest relations disaster. It doesn't matter if they paid $60 or $10 they are still paying customers and as such would expect a level of service way beyond what was given. Your point about the Christmas holiday crowds is a load of rubbish. Were people who were in a queue turned away at closing time? If they were the amount of complaints Dreamworld would have had would be unbelievable. What about giving free passes to everyone who has a ticket and when they get the ticket they hand in the old one. Simple huh? "The Bus is now leaving for Getenmellup, Western Australia"

Richard has basically said what I was going to say. But I will add something to that, as an ex-ride operator at Wonderland it was company policy that everyone lining up before to closing time, be it 5pm or 10pm it didn't matter, got a ride no matter how long it took. Case in point, last Saturday when Space Probe didn't do it's last cycle until 11pm and Demon at 10:45pm despite the park 'closing' at 10pm. No matter what argument you put up it was bad customer relations for Dreamworld and if had happened to me I would tell all my friends not to bother going there for a while. "The Bus is now leaving for Bad Dog Gully, NSW"

What am I going to do? Im going to open Disco-Rama, an indoor skating rink and bowling center. Can you do the lighting for me Rapster? "The Bus is now leaving for Pudding Bowl Gorge, Tasmania"

Also there would of been no one to clean up all the spew, the cleaners drink the most out of everyone. Oh wait, there was no reason to clean the rides as there were no guests in the park today. Hehehehe, yeah I saw that. For some reason it kept stopping between floors. "The Bus is now leaving for Clean Skin Pocket Creek, Western Australia"

How am I supposed to know joz didn't come down to Sydney for the last day? A lot of people came from interstate for the last day so why not you? ScReAM everyone is going to go back to disco roller skating on Saturday nights now. "The Bus is now leaving for Windy Drop Down Creek, NSW"

Ummmm no! All the ride operators were drinking and there seems to be a law against operating machinery while under the influence of alcohol. Richard where did you get that figure from? "The Bus is now leaving for Figure 8 Pool, NSW"

Zord, mate it's over. No matter how many letters they get it won't change the decision. The reason is simple. It makes financial sense to have a business park. The Beach being unmovable? Slides can be easily dismantled and moved, the only thing would be the two pools. Do you think that the council would keep two, let’s face it, crappy pools in the middle of an industrial estate and at the intersection of two of Sydney’s major roads? Here we go again, Shifty. What you saw was in all probability the ride operator, the unloader, a supervisor and two maintenance staff. After a few cycles all but the first two people on that list would have left the ride. Finally Shifty got something right! Yes staff were paid double time and a half but for only one reason, it was a public holiday. As for it being $22 an hour, unless they are about 15 the pay is way more that $8.80 an hour. I just re-read Shifty's post, do you mean that the staff were going to be getting paid for the party? Again Shifty, there was no where near 20,000 people in the park on Monday, the whole weekend attendance was about that but defiantly not one day. The largest attendance at Wonderland Sydney was on December 1st 2003, the CFMEU picnic day which say 16,600 people in the park on that day. Jaggie I can elaborate on Kevin. He didn't go to the park every day, he always had Thursday off to go shopping and usually another day, Monday or Tuesday. When Sega World was open he would go there a few days a week and go the Wonderland the rest of the week. As some of you know and some of you may have guessed (It will take me a while to adjust to using the past tense about Wonderland) I was an employee of Wonderland. I worked in the Attractions (rides) department for several years. Yesterday was a very sad day for me and all (most anyway) staff. The party after was great. "The Bus is now leaving for Farewell Beacon Victoria"

joz are you, sorry, were you a attractions staff member? If you weren't then please take that comment back because I can assure you that you were not on the last cycle. The very last cycle on Demon on Monday was for staff only. "The Bus is now leaving for Staff Camp Creek, Victoria"

I don't know if the laws are different here in NSW or if Wonderland just didn't care, but just about every Saturday night the major rides didn't close until well after 10pm. For example last Saturday Space Probe didn't do its last ride until 11pm, at 10pm there were still 3 tunnels full. Wonderlands policy was that the ride lines stayed opened until closing time and then they were cut, anyone waiting before that time was assured of a ride before it closed, anyone arriving after that time was turned away. I think it’s absolutely disgraceful that Dreamworld would treat it's customers like that. Obstructure, how can giving out return passes not be advantageous for Dreamworld? It means that they will have however many people coming back into the park and buying food, drink and merchandise throughout the visit. If that’s not good for the profit margin I don't know what is. You have also completely lost your marbles if you think that guests at a theme park are expected to be able to judge how long a wait is for a ride, for most of us here it's not too difficult as we visit them regularly but for people who don't go that often what chance do they have? Richard had it right about the negative comments being more influential than the positive ones. And why would Dreamworld want to deal with 500, 1000 or 1500 complaints? I think not. "The Bus is now leaving for Elmhurst Service Basin, Victoria"

"Barrel 'o' Monkeys" "The Bus is now leaving for Red Monkey Well, Western Australia"

Zord, are you saying that Rooty Hill RSL is crap? If you are wash your mouth out! It's a fantastic place with all the great things like... Umm I forgot what wonderful things they have at the RSL. Can anyone enlighten us on this? Daniel perhaps? "The Bus is now leaving for Scrubby Mouth Creek, Queensland"

Hope dim for sick bear 'Kanook the polar bear is suffering kidney failure and may have to be put down, Gold Coast theme park Sea World said yesterday. Kanook, a 19-year-old female, arrived at Sea World from a polar bear exhibit in Arizona on November 20, 2000. It has been given steriod medication since it was diagnosed with kidney failure during a routine health check. "This condition will progress and euthanasia may become an option if Kanook's health continues to deteriorate," a Sea World spokesman said yesterday. The park did not specify when the polar bear may have to be put down.' From The Daily Telegraph, Tuesday 20th April 2004. This is very sad news as the bears are a fantastic part of Sea World. "The Bus is now leaving for Polar Star Mine, Victoria"