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Hello there, As a long time theme park enthusiast; I have been following the developments in the Australian theme park scene with great interest. With recent changes and challenges facing our beloved parks; I wanted to open up a discussion on the future of theme parks in Australia. From my observations; many parks are investing in new attractions and experiences to draw visitors. For instance; the recent expansion at Dreamworld and the introduction of new rides at Sea World have been quite exciting. Although; I cannot help but wonder if these changes are enough to keep pace with evolving visitor expectations and competition from international destinations. Additionally; the impact of the pandemic has been significant. While we have seen parks adapt with safety measures and online ticketing; I am curious about how they plan to recover and innovate moving forward. Do you think we will see more collaboration between parks or perhaps new partnerships with entertainment brands to enhance the visitor experience?🤔 Are there any upcoming attractions or events you are particularly excited about? What do you think parks can do to improve their offerings?🤔 Also, I have gone through this post; https://www.ibisworld.com/au/industry/amusement-parks-and-centres-minitab-operation/665 which definitely helped me out a lot. It would be great to get insights from fellow park enthusiasts and see if we share similar thoughts or have different perspectives on this topic. Thank you in advance for your help and assistance.😇

With Matilda passing away last weekend Goliath is now all alone in the enclosure💔. I’d love to see some pictures of them together posted on this page so we can remember her. Rest in peace Matilda, gone but not forgotten.

After taking a trip to Dreamworld This arvo, I’ve noticed that the general store has been gated off, and I was wondering if anyone knew what’s happening over there. The interior has been gutted from what I can see (pictures below), and I reckon there’s a possibility of a retheme or redecorating. Let me know your thoughts please.

For what ever reason 3 major coaster YouTubers decided to come visit Australia in the same year! Very out of the blue Canobie Coaster has come and gone from Australia. He’s definitely one of my favourite theme park YouTubers and I find it interesting how secret he kept it. Here’s the first video if anyone is interested https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjWyLSi9qP-AhV4mVYBHQV2DGEQwqsBegQICxAE&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dy-Zkg75zFtI&usg=AOvVaw3jQBEY_eLTN3ioNrM25Fzk

Imagine you can add 1 different ride to fit in at all the Aussie parks of your choice. You can go through all the parks or just a few. The only rule is the ride (which can be anything from a dark ride to a log flume or roller coaster) should some what fit in with the other rides at the park. The ride can be unique for every park. It can be brand new or relocated from somewhere else.

Green Valley Farm - 4/2/2023 https://www.parkz.com.au/attraction/green-valley-farm Green Valley Farm is a place that I’ve wanted to visit for a while now. It’s located between Inverell, Glen Innes and Armidale on the New England tablelands. https://goo.gl/maps/fDb4G82QANByWfXy7 I’ve been up and down the New England highway multiple times, but It’s always been late afternoon etc, or in the cold months when the slide is closed (And who wants to miss out on an old school treasure like that) so the timing never really has lined up. The place fascinated me because it has a lot of play equipment identical to the things seen at the (in)famous Monash playground in SA (Google, or search forums and there are some threads about it) Originally I thought that when Monash closed down they had been relocated to Green Valley, but it turns out the plans were actually shared by the original designer, Grant Telfer, and the owners of Green Valley built replicas. It’s all great fun, but you can hurt yourself if you are being careless (i managed to bang/cut both shins within 15 mins of arrival) , which led to Monash closing in the 80s, with a more ‘sanitised’ playground opening in the 90s. But Green Valley lives on! More recently, when the ECC were on their Australian tour several people broke away from the main group and went on a rather wild day trip aiming to get a ride on the park's single rail, human powered shuttle coaster. (Hilariously, that coaster is on rcdb now https://rcdb.com/20449.htm ) Anyhow, fast forward to a few weeks ago and @Noxegon mentioned was coming to Australia and wanted to go. That was the kick in the backside i needed to finally make more of an effort to go there, and we figured out a plan where I could drive down to Glen Innes on a Friday night, pick him up from Armidale airport, head to the park and then press on to the GC for DW and SW the next day. Easy drive, a few signs by the road let you know when you are near. And finally you arrive at the car park. Actually a reasonable number of cars for a park in the middle of nowhere. Judging by online reviews, the place has a bit of a cult following and well regarded by generations. You enter through a museum in a mud brick building. I’ll spare you the photos of the siamese calf taxidermy though! Reminded me of the ‘historical society’ museums you see in many country towns, with lots of old farm equipment, old signs, guns, gemstones etc. Towards the end you sign a waiver (I guess its fair, if you want to do all this old school fun stuff without padding, there is an element of risk) and pay your admission. At $15 its a bargain. Yes the park is pretty old, but to be honest the water slide itself would cost you $15 elsewhere. And you find yourself in the park, a large grassy field with various elements scattered around. Instantly you are transported back to those old school adventure parks like Greenhills, Puzzle Park, Kinkuna Country, Arakoon, Wyangala etc. Didn’t do the mini golf. Most of the play equipment can only be used by those over 10 given the responsibility involved, and plenty of adults were having a go. I did my best to document all of them. A few of the good ones included: The 3 way seesaw. The 1 person spring loaded seesaw. The giant rocking giraffe, which I managed to draw blood on by going a bit too fast. What I called the “Catapult Swing”, where the entire structure tilts back and forth, as well as the swing itself. The “satellite” dish. The rotary cone. Tire pile that you can literally fall down the middle of, but great for a vantage point. Monash had way more slides, but one of the designs made it here. You ride on a hessian mat, but still almost stall out on the flat bits. But of course the main drawcard is the roller coaster. It’s entirely fenced, so you just jump the fence wherever and have a go when it's your turn. Pushing it up the slope is a bit like pushing the sled across the floor at gym on leg day. Eventually you reach a small platform where the track levels off and you can jump in, and then it's time to push off. The transitions between slope and level are at sharp angles, so there’s a bit of a jolt at each one. And it’s loud! Sounded like TOT. There’s one particularly hard bump as you come up the first slope from the low point. Oddly, they did make the spike at one end a nice curve. You then roll backwards, and partway up the first slope, and oscillate a couple of times. No brakes so it's up to you to stick an arm or leg out to bring yourself to a proper stop.The great thing is you can brave it backwards too for free, but those jarring transitions cannot be anticipated if you are going in reverse. Overall, not the fastest thing, but good fun just because of janky and out of control it feels. The park also has a rather nice garden centred around the house and the kiosk. Various animals and birds on display. They used to have monkeys but a sign mentioned that they got rid of them due to the “huge regulations” now governing their care. Macaws now live in their old run. The merry go round constitutes the sole mechanical ‘ride’. The kiosk, again you are transported back to a 90s milk bar, with the smell of dripping permeating the air and an array of lolly jars with the whole “3 for 10c” type deal going. Food is well priced and handmade. There’s a nice display with some photos of the park being built. The last thing I did was the water slide. Is it just me, or are long body slides like this not a thing anymore. It seemed every decent country town would have a mammoth like this. Nowadays new slides all feel like they are over in 10 seconds. You’re given a spiel by the lady at the slide kiosk with the rules and then essentially left to your own devices. The stairs are literally just treads made of steel pipe, similar to the giant slide. Mats are on offer if you want to get a bit of extra speed. First ride without one was a bit of a crawl. With the mat they suggest trying it wrapped around you like a burrito. Well, that turns the thing into hyperdrive, with so much speed that the water piles up in front of you, forming wave. Wowee! The bit for the toddlers seemed fairly new, and more to the standard as you’d see in a caravan park these days. Same goes for the kids playground and jumping pillow. Obviously the stuff for younger kids is a bit ‘safer’ I think we stuck around for 2 or 3 hours, did 3 goes on the coaster and had a go at most of the equipment. Overall, it's worth a stop if you are in the area and feel like stepping back in time, and hey, its only $15 (And the patch was $1)

The coney drop is a really fun ride at luna park Melbourne.It is 4 storeys high and it goes SUPER FAST. Melbourne Is my hometown and I have been on this ride 8 times in my whole life. if you one day visit luna park, I would strongly suggest this ride

Hey! (I'm only imagining how many eye rolls that this title would have received... 😂) So I know this is a 'cliche' topic and has been discussed several times, but I just want to know peoples thoughts to the following; Many say that Australia can't accomodate a Universal Studios park due to the small population that Australia has, yet Singapore has only got a population of 5 million? As well as that, Universal Studios Singapore only has about 20 attractions - in comparison to Movie World that has 24 - and it's size isn't ALL that big (It literally surrounds a lagoon). I can understand why a Disney park wouldn't work in Australia, but I feel like a Universal Studios park has potential? Anyway, I'm a curious person and just want to see/hear what other people think about this.

Not sure if this has been discussed, But does anyone else think that Village Roadshow should sell Sea World to 'Sea World Theme Parks & Resorts'? And if so, does anyone actually know the chances of it actually happening? The park seems to have gotten worse over the years and it's honestly just sad, so I'm hoping that a decent company could make it 'good' again. Plus if they did sell it, then it could help Village pay off debt. After all, they sold Wet'n'Wild Sydney, so what harm could selling Sea World do? (By the way - if this has been discussed before then can someone please just link me to the thread?)

Luna park has had yet, another down since 1995! This one is not that bad but is going to be written down in the history books! The Milson's point ferry warf has been under repairs for over 3 months and at about 1:00 PM today (29/8/17), the 200 tone crane has snapped and sent a metal rope flying, damaging the blue part on top of the hair/spikes (whatever they are) In the above photo, you can see how the metal rope dangling from the top above the forehead Luckily, the park was closed today and nobody was harmed. Witnesses say they thought a bomb went off. "I heard the bang but didn't know what it was, so I jumped in the tender and raced out to see if one of our tenant's boats had exploded," Daniel Da Silva said The metal rope has been removed from the face and now people are trying to find out how serious the damage is.

Paradise Country Review Park visited: 2 April 2017 Nestled in the bushland out the back of Warner Bros. Movie World, Paradise Country is a park seldom visited by theme park enthusiasts. We ventured out there today to see what keeps this park in business. It is of course the international tourists. And there were so many tourists. So, so many tourists. Ok, maybe I’m exaggerating a bit there, but there was a decent amount. This isn’t the park you would visit to get your fix of thrill rides or superheroes. You won’t find Green Lantern battling Parallax, Batman versing The Joker, or Catwoman taking out Arkham security. What you will find is plenty of Koalas (maybe a few too many Koalas for my liking) and cute little farm animals freely roaming around their enclosures, waiting for the next handful of food from passing visitors. I'll admit. I've been a theme park fan for years and have always avoided Paradise Country because I figured it was geared too much towards foreign tourists. I'm happy to admit that I was pleasantly surprised to find that families and local tourists can also have a great day out there. It's a laid back atmosphere and with all the trees and quietness that usually only comes from being in an isolated location, it’s incredibly easy to forget that you're only metres from the rear of Movie World's Wild West Falls, and not too far from the houses on the other side of kopps road. When you stop and think about it, Village sure does own a huge amount of land. Just look at all the possible coasters you could fit in here. So yes, the walk from the car park to the main entry may be a little long for some people's liking, and I would tend to agree if it was either hot or wet weather, but it's a nice stroll on a cloudy and cooler day. Just on the car park though, after making the speed-bump laden journey from the highway, via the rear of Australian Outback Spectacular, you’re greeted with one of the most poorly laid out car parks I’ve come across. You’d be forgiven for thinking it was designed by the team behind Westfield shopping centre car parks. I’d suggest if you do make the trip to Paradise Country, skip the first car park and head straight for the additional parking area. Whilst not bitumen, it’s a gravel car park with a much better layout. The park itself is in pretty good nick. They’re lucky in a sense that any dirt, spiderwebs, or hornets nest etc just help add to the “outback” theme. Upon entering the homestead, you’re presented with a very easily avoidable ticket purchasing counter. Note: I do not condone bypassing this and getting in without paying, or scanning your VRTP membership card, I’m just quite surprised at how easy it would be to just walk on by without purchasing a ticket. All that's stopping you is your ethics. You could pay for a ticket, or you could just wander on in like you already had one and would probably be easily missed. Especially in the current climate, I'd hate to think there's guests who would do that instead of supporting our parks, but I'm just really shocked that the park hasn't done anything to prevent this. Maybe it's not as much of an issue as it seems? The animal walkthough could really just be called a Kangaroo and Koala, and Koala, and Koala walkthough (maybe I wasn’t exaggerating about the number of Koalas earlier). With all the Koalas to look at, this sure keeps a certain group of international tourists occupied for a while. The nursery however is where the fun really begins. Now obviously everyone is going to have a different opinion on what fun is, however, while I’ve grown up in the city all my life, I love farm animals and animals in general, so it’s a nice change of pace from the thrills on offer next door. Free feed bins are located within the nursery and the animals know exactly who’s holding a tasty handful. There’s plenty of entertainment value in just watching the Goats almost knocking over visitors to get the food. Side note for parents of younger children - the Goats can and will make attempts to jump up and knock you over to get at the feed you’re holding. Now go back and read that last paragraph again. Especially the first couple of words. Or even just the first word.... That's not a typo. Paradise Country provides free food for guests to hand out to the animals. FREE. Not $5-10 per cup. No additional purchase required. This isn't some animal upcharge like you might find at a certain Gold Coast marine park, and you don’t need to buy a fancy wristband to open the food box. This is free food that adults and kids can enjoy handing out to the animals who are always more than willing to accept it. Who doesn't love free stuff? Not only can you walk through the enclosure with the Goats and Sheep, but inside the nursery you’ll find Chickens, Cows, Piglets, Guinea Pigs and Alpacas all within arms reach. It’s certainly entertaining for all ages. While geared more towards kids, there’s also the options of opal mining and gemstone panning to take part in. The lunch options aren’t too bad, and they’re priced exactly as expected for theme park food. The buffet will set you back just under twenty bucks. The eating area provided a nice spot to sit and relax after walking around the park. On a Sunday you'll find local musicians playing in the dining area which adds a nice atmosphere and isn't overly loud like you might find at a pub. Well priced food, a comfortable dining area and free music. What's not to love? Along with the endless Koalas, the tourists and locals alike are also treated to the traditional outback experience of a sheep shearing demonstration and brief intro to a few different breeds of sheep. And what would a show be without some audience participation? I must give Village credit for this. Both this show and the Hollywood Stunt Driver show at Movie World have managed to include some form of audience participation without making it horribly cringe worthy. The show is certainly worth a look, even if it is just to fill in time in your day. There is a stock horse show, and a sheepdog demonstration along with a Lorikeet feeding. All of these make for great photos. Or at least I can confirm the Lorikeet feeding does as I missed the other shows. They are certainly something I will make the trip back for at a later date. You could spend a full day at Paradise Country if you enjoy all the shows and walk around at a leisurely pace. Taking into account the target market (international tourists) and the fact they’ve managed to provide a full day visit with a fairly small number of attractions, I’d have to give Paradise Country a solid 6.5 out of 10. Pros: Good shows Great for families and tourists Decently priced food Animals of course Cons: It could use a little more variety in the animals they have on display The carpark is a bit of a walk from the entry The carpark itself could have been better designed The translation service played over the PA during the Sheep Shearing show was painful. Some guests were wearing headsets with what I assume would be other languages being played to them, so why not do the same for more languages on a different radio channel instead of breaking the flow of the show by pausing every couple of sentences.

Does anyone know what time it takes for the carriage/gondola on the Giant Drop to deccelerate?

http://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/news/two-young-boys-injured-in-yet-another-incident-on-troubled-peninsula-aquatic-recreation-centre-slides/news-story/f42c97a60a4a139ed2352f5b452547e1 The patron said she believed the boy had been thrown out of the tube and knocked around inside the slide. “He blacked out for nearly 15 minutes after,” the patron said. PARC CEO Tim Gledhill confirmed the slide had again been closed following the latest incident. “We are working closely with the manufacturer of the slide, Whitewater West, to investigate the cause of the incident and the slide will remain closed to the public during this time,” he said. AquaSphere: http://www.whitewaterwest.com/aquasphere.html Constrictor: http://www.whitewaterwest.com/constrictor.html

Hey guys, in this thread I will post previews of my RCT3 creations which hopefully will one day be completed. I begin with my recreation of Buzzsaw at Dreamworld. Hope you like it! Comments are welcome, good and bad.

We have been planning, and are about to build a multi Billion Dollar Global Complex, incorporating the world's most advanced Theme Park in Australia…'ElysianWorld incorporating FantasmicWorld', focused on 'Edutainment' (Education through brilliant Entertainment). Linked to the site in Australia, which we call the 'Mothership' site, being the largest of the sites and principle World Headquarters, will be additional smaller sites we call 'Satellites', in other selected location around the world. Some of these satellite locations include, New Zealand, Hawaii, Canada, the Bahamas and Western Europe/UK. There will be approximately 100 major rides and attractions in FantasmicWorld, many which have never been seen before, and it will be a 365 days of the year weather proofed environment, so no getting soaked in the rain, or burnt under the hot sun, or rides closed down do to weather! Yet it will still give the feeling of open space and outdoor environments. The overall ElysianWorld project will be built over 7 stages. FantasmicWorld will be the largest Theme Park in Australia, and when all seven stages of the project are complete, it will be the largest of it's kind in the world. We are looking at several possible locations in Australia, so, where would you like to see this project built, and where do you think the best place in Australia is to build it?Keep in mind we will be looking to attract visitors from all around the world, including our closest neighbours in Asia and New Zealand. The locations we are looking at, to build the 'Mothership', are; Melbourne Victoria, Central to Northern NSW Coast, Sydney NSW, Gold Coast Queensland, Sunshine Coast Queensland, Central Queensland Coast & Great Barrier Reef region, or Northern Queensland up around Cairns and Port Douglas and Great Barrier reef region. I realise most people would want it built in their own state or region, but we would like to get your idea of where you think it would be best for all Australians, and overseas visitors, as well as your own personal preference. What State do you live in, and would you be willing to travel interstate to visit FantasmicWorld, if it was not built in your state? Leave your comments and let us know what you think. Visit the Websites to find out about FantasmicWorld and the overall ElysianWorld vision:The Theme Park website: FantasmicWorld The Overall Project website: ElysianWorld