One Pass Price Rise

[Vidgamer]

It seems Village has put up the price of a One Pass to $189 (they seemed to be $169 before today). I think they last put the price up in July, so it's a rise of $30 in 6 months.

[rappa]

Good

[Im Hungry]

2 minutes ago, Vidgamer said:

It seems Village has put up the price of a One Pass to $189 (they seemed to be $169 before today). I think they last put the price up in July, so it's a rise of $30 in 6 months.

The price was put up sometime last week I think... I guess it's coz the peak season is looming by with the opening of borders too

Edited November 1, 2021 by Im Hungry

[Park Addict 93]

Wasn’t just the Locals One Pass, 3/7 day tickets also went up $10. 

[Slick]

1 hour ago, rappa said:

Good

Seconded. It’s finally more than Adventure World’s off-peak season pass. If we want better parks, this is the road we need to be on. 

[Park Addict 93]

100% agree that pass prices have been too cheap. 

My issue is only if they continue to cut costs/impact guest experience while increasing prices. If we see general park hours still reduced post January peak I will be disappointed.

[Brad2912]

Makes the old Memberships more valuable, despite seemingly missing out on some promos and in park discounts compared to One Pass…

$144 a year including fright nights tickets (when it’s on) is a steal 

[Guest 239]

Whilst I agree that increased ticket prices are the way to go to secure a more quality experience, this is some strange strategic timing especially considering the New Atlantis delay and the Steel Taipan opening right around the corner.

For a family of four locals to visit the Village parks with annual passes it'll cost them $756 for entry with no discounts, and for non locals its $996.

For a family of four to visit the Dreamworld + White Water World with annual passes it'll cost them $476 for entry with no discounts.

I guess it really depends on what you're after, but at Dreamworld you can get animals, a water park, decent rides and Steel Taipan with an additional $250-500 to play with. A family could easily eat like a king, grab souvenirs or add some extra nights to their accommodation with that money.

I know that some will argue that the value proposition is still in Village's hand, but it's going to be really hard to drag people away from the theme park with a brand new launched roller coaster which is cheaper, has animals, and a water park connected to it. I'm interested to see how this holiday season pans out!

Edited November 1, 2021 by Dom

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

18 minutes ago, Dom said:

decent rides

I'm only going off the maintenance page here but I guess it depends on what you call decent. 

Dreamworld | Ride Information

Tailspin is closed.

The Claw is closed.

Shockwave is closed.

 

In their 'thrill rides' list, Gold Coaster, Giant Drop, Pandamonium and MDMC. I'll agree half of them are decent.

You're right though - the shiny new hotness and cheaper pricetag with onsite waterpark is definitely going to win the coin toss for families visiting this summer.

 

[Vidgamer]

I think we'll find with Dreamworld every ride should be open by Summer time. I always like to think of what marketing might sit behind the parks at Christmas.

Dreamworld
Steel Taipan, New Train, 'Rides & Slides', New January 'event' 

VRTP
New Water slides at WNW, Probably a cute animal at Paradise Country, Movieworld should have extended hours (DC Rivals Vs Heroes event), perhaps even a new WB Showcase

[Guest 239]

1 minute ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

I'm only going off the maintenance page here but I guess it depends on what you call decent. 

Dreamworld | Ride Information

Tailspin is closed.

The Claw is closed.

Shockwave is closed.

Sorry, I wasn't factoring in ride closures at this stage because I was more making the argument for people travelling interstate/intrastate to visit the parks over December/January.

Plus how dare you call Shockwave decent. Shockwave is awful.

For a fair comparison right now at Movie World Road Runner, Justice League, Scooby-Doo and Wild West falls are closed. Down at Sea World Jet Rescue is closed with Vortex tailing behind its reopening for closure. Also at Wet'n'Wild Surfrider is closed. 

However it's normal for a lot of parks to have rides down before the peak season because checking the schedule nearly everything is opened come mid-December. 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

32 minutes ago, Dom said:

Plus how dare you call Shockwave decent. Shockwave is awful.

I never said shockwave was decent. I said it was closed.

I know the parks all try to have everything open in Summer, but we've also seen in the past couple years an unprecedented number of extended closures in both chains. While i'm sure they'll bust their asses to get things open, international delays for parts and such can blow out closures by months (which we've all seen happen recently). Don't count your chickens.

[Naazon]

42 minutes ago, Dom said:

Also at Wet'n'Wild Surfrider is closed. 

Lets just assume its closed and announce when its open.

[Guest 239]

9 minutes ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

I never said shockwave was decent. I said it was closed.

Just as god intended.

9 minutes ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

we've also seen in the past couple years an unprecedented number of extended closures in both chains.

Isn't this because of the new certification rules? From what I know the certification is only valid for 12 months and then the ride needs to be re-certified after that. I could be wrong though. 

[New display name]

1 hour ago, Dom said:

Whilst I agree that increased ticket prices are the way to go to secure a more quality experience, this is some strange strategic timing especially considering the New Atlantis delay and the Steel Taipan opening right around the corner.

I don’t think it’s as simple as ST will draw the biggest audience. 

Village Theme parks might not be opening one new coaster in line with the opening of QLD but what Village has opened attractions in the last couple of years that many southerners haven’t had the opportunity to experience yet.

2019 Thunder Lake Stunt Show.

2020 Vortex

Village should also have WB Showcase running.  I also think Rivals has the ability to still draw new riders since half of its life has been durring Covid and many people still haven’t had the opportunity to expense it.

I did the GCCC (Gold Coast Coaster Challenge) on Sunday and while Sea World & Movie World was quiet, Dreamworld world was a ghost town, and you can pick up a season pass for $50.00.

[rappa]

12 hours ago, Park Addict 93 said:

100% agree that pass prices have been too cheap. 

My issue is only if they continue to cut costs/impact guest experience while increasing prices. If we see general park hours still reduced post January peak I will be disappointed.

Its a bit chicken and the egg. Price need to go up to increase the guest experience. Naturally there is a small lag between one and the other. 
But really you have to look at it like this “we pay $500 and we can go to one park, or we pay double and we can go to four”. People don’t really think about Dreamworld having several things because it’s marketed as one park. And as soon as the kids want to go see the Dolphins it’s a moot point anyway. 
And that’s before we factor in that people have actively demonstrated they just have cash to burn right now. 
 

My current take is that DW need to drop their price to bring people back. 
But Village need to up theirs to bring it back in line with the value of the product and start to increase their ability to improve that product. 
I think both are making the right decision. 

[Gazza]

38 minutes ago, New display name said:

 

I did the GCCC (Gold Coast Coaster Challenge) on Sunday and while Sea World & Movie World was quiet, Dreamworld world was a ghost town, and you can pick up a season pass for $50.00.

What's that, riding every coaster in a day?

[New display name]

20 minutes ago, Gazza said:

What's that, riding every coaster in a day?

Yeh, it’s a thing I do sometimes if I want to do a full day.  Otherwise, the most I last in a park is 2 or 3 hours.

[Guest 239]

46 minutes ago, rappa said:

But Village need to up theirs to bring it back in line with the value of the product and start to increase their ability to improve that product. 

I'd be happy for them to dramatically increase their annual pass prices if they stopped treating their theme parks like a single entity. The 'one at a time' mentality behind how they improve their theme parks really leaves more to be desired especially now that the Gold Coast basically has a net-loss of theme park attractions because we can't build rides quick enough to counter the early days where most parks were adding new big additions annually. 

Now that they've got the private investment firm behind them they really need to make sure that all of their parks are constantly being improved otherwise it's going to 6-8 years before Sea World gets touched after New Atlantis. 

[New display name]

A start would be to remove the Village uniform.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

8 minutes ago, Dom said:

I'd be happy for them to dramatically increase their annual pass prices if they stopped treating their theme parks like a single entity. The 'one at a time' mentality behind how they improve their theme parks really leaves more to be desired especially now that the Gold Coast basically has a net-loss of theme park attractions because we can't build rides quick enough to counter the early days where most parks were adding new big additions annually. 

Now that they've got the private investment firm behind them they really need to make sure that all of their parks are constantly being improved otherwise it's going to 6-8 years before Sea World gets touched after New Atlantis. 

I'm not looking at this in any great detail so i'm happy for it to be shown otherwise, but it seems like the 'one at a time' mentality occurs (albeit in a scaled up way) at the Six Flags chain - don't they only have some parks getting a new hotness each year, while other parks get something the year after, and so on?

Don't they also remove rides from some parks after a few seasons and move them around, effectively calling it a 'new' ride at the second-class park? (which they obviously can't do when there's only 2 parks with 'rides'...)

2 minutes ago, New display name said:

A start would be to remove the Village uniform.

100-million-fucking percent.

The village roadshow branding is soulless. 

The 'certificate of authenticity' on the sea world 50 coins is also similarly ridiculous.

[MWgirl247365]

3 hours ago, Dom said:

Sorry, I wasn't factoring in ride closures at this stage because I was more making the argument for people travelling interstate/intrastate to visit the parks over December/January.

Plus how dare you call Shockwave decent. Shockwave is awful.

For a fair comparison right now at Movie World Road Runner, Justice League, Scooby-Doo and Wild West falls are closed. Down at Sea World Jet Rescue is closed with Vortex tailing behind its reopening for closure. Also at Wet'n'Wild Surfrider is closed. 

However it's normal for a lot of parks to have rides down before the peak season because checking the schedule nearly everything is opened come mid-December. 

Vortex and justice league are still open 

[joz]

@DaptoFunlandGuyI don't think the old ride relocation program is as much of a thing as it used to be when we were getting into parks.

 

Otherwise +1 to the 'Village Roadshow Branding in the parks needs to go. Been saying it for years, and I'll keep saying it. The current uniform to me looks like the sort of thing I would expect someone who works in the F&B warehouse to wear, not all front line staff. The parks also have different vibes, and I think paying to the strength of each is a better move than a bland Corperate thing across parks.

 

 

 

Standard rant aside, yay for price rises! I feel like some of the sanity is being restored to the pricing. Even with a new coaster, I really don't think they'll struggle to outdraw DW. I think if you're a DW you'd be stoaked because of VRTP went back to $99 year passes right now, DW would be royally fucked. This at least gives them a place to exist in the market: DW is a small, value park with a few good thrill rides and a decent collection of kids stuff. Hopefully they've shrunk as much as they need to and can start to grow in a sustainable way. I visualise DW & SW as a spring being compressed, creating a load of potential energy. Both companies are talking like they want to make their parks good, I do see the past few years for both SW and DW as a transition phase between the old and new. Neither has done it well, but hopefully both have visions for bigger, better parks. Neither ST or Leviathan will be enough to be the last piece, signs are that Village get that, I'm sure DW do too.

 

Finally, I think saying they shouldn't stagger major new attractions across parks is kind of silly. Like yeah it would be really cool to debut Leviathan at the same time as as Arkham's replacement, but it makes no business sense. It's not like it's because of the 'single entity' thing either. Otherwise they would have spent the extra cash needed to get Leviathan open at the same time as ST. They don't want to canabilise another company ideally, why should they canabilise themselves? Also the idea that they aren't adding/ maintaining it laughable. I suspect it's a temptation to ignore stuff if it isn't directly exciting to them. WWF boats and new Road Runner trains aren't cheap and do require effort and money. Changing out WB Showcase isn't the most exciting thing they could do, but it isn't nothing. New slides at WnW are long overdue, but two mirror master  masters would have done that. They are adding the other smaller slides and the splash pad. That and new Atlantis was in the pipeline together. There's always some small stuff like that going on even when there's major additions at one park.

 

PS: Excuse the grammar, trying to type while out walking has never been a strength of mine.

Edited November 2, 2021 by joz

[Slick]

You forgot meerkats. 

[themagician]

2 hours ago, New display name said:

Yeh, it’s a thing I do sometimes if I want to do a full day.  Otherwise, the most I last in a park is 2 or 3 hours.

Is it everyone single coaster on the Gold Coast, or just the adult ones? Because if you want to do the challenge properly you’ve got to go on

Gold Coaster

Escape from Madagascar 

Shockwave?

MDMC

Superman Escape

Green Lantern

DC Rivals

Scooby

Road Runner

Jet Rescue

Storm

SpongeBob Boating School