Dates/Tickets are out.

Overall very similar to last year, with the "Worlds" returning. Aqua Lightshow is "Bigger, brighter and taller than ever before".

 

I’m glad to see the ‘worlds’ return. I remember from last year the Africa area felt a bit forgotten by guests because it’s so far back in the park and there isn’t much else happening back there. 
 

Great to see they seem to be continuously improving on the Aqualight show.

Even though they won’t be open for this event, I can’t wait for the new Atlantis to be complete and to ride them all at night. It’s going to add another element of energy to the park with the trident spinning and leviathan roaring 

Interesting development, the 18th and 25th have been removed from sale/the website.

 

Doesn’t seem to be as popular this year, tomorrow night only just sold out yesterday 

I can't see Carnivale lasting much longer if this decline in popularity continues. the best case scenario is that VRTP changes up the event to make it fit in more with SeaWorld but I don't see VRTP making the effort to change the event besides new food stalls and maybe a new parade float or two. My idea is that they should just give sea world a more teen to adult oriented event like some of the ones at the US SeaWorld parks.

2 hours ago, Smol bean said:

I can't see Carnivale lasting much longer if this decline in popularity continues. the best case scenario is that VRTP changes up the event to make it fit in more with SeaWorld but I don't see VRTP making the effort to change the event besides new food stalls and maybe a new parade float or two. My idea is that they should just give sea world a more teen to adult oriented event like some of the ones at the US SeaWorld parks.

When was the last Carnivale night you attended at SW?

I admittedly haven’t been to any so ya my opinion is kinda invalidated but I got my ideas from the videos I’ve seen of the last few years if you want say that i don’t understand it  because I haven’t been to one in person go ahead 

Not a huge shock given the state of the world right now.

29 minutes ago, joz said:

Not a huge shock given the state of the world right now.

we need to stop using this as an excuse, both Spooky Nights and White Christmas sold out fast and i can’t remember about Spooky Nights but White Christmas sold out every ticketed night

Lol I’ve seen a few of these “we need to stop using Covid as a reason” comments on various things lately. 
 

Just because you’re over something doesn’t make it no longer a thing. Covid is very much still here and messing with our stuff. Events, even more so than other things. 

2 hours ago, Smol bean said:

I admittedly haven’t been to any so ya my opinion is kinda invalidated but I got my ideas from the videos I’ve seen of the last few years if you want say that i don’t understand it  because I haven’t been to one in person go ahead 

Im not saying you don’t understand it - but you mentioned they are not making an effort other than new food options and parade floats and pointed to ever decreasing popularity. Last year nights still sold out, as have previous years. Nights have likely been cut this year due to staffing issues around covid which is plaguing hospitality and customer facing industries. 

7 hours ago, Brad2912 said:

Im not saying you don’t understand it - but you mentioned they are not making an effort other than new food options and parade floats and pointed to ever decreasing popularity. Last year nights still sold out, as have previous years. Nights have likely been cut this year due to staffing issues around covid which is plaguing hospitality and customer facing industries. 

I completely understand what you’re saying but I think I’m my point still stands that sea world needs to have a new event for the older crowd to entice them to visit and spread word of mouth to their friends or family. Something like a food and wine festival like at Epcot

10 hours ago, rappa said:

Lol I’ve seen a few of these “we need to stop using Covid as a reason” comments on various things lately. 
 

Just because you’re over something doesn’t make it no longer a thing. Covid is very much still here and messing with our stuff. Events, even more so than other things. 

If White Christmas and Spooky Nights were selling out every night at a rapid pace, and carnival isn’t, that’s not something to blame on covid, it’s obviously lack of interest within the public. This is obvious when looking at how well White Christmas (which was only a month ago) went and how fast the tickets sold, the last nights of the event also had the exact same covid restrictions we have now, so that definitely would’ve effected the final nights of the events which it didn’t

28 minutes ago, Rivals said:

If White Christmas and Spooky Nights were selling out every night at a rapid pace, and carnival isn’t, that’s not something to blame on covid, it’s obviously lack of interest within the public. This is obvious when looking at how well White Christmas (which was only a month ago) went and how fast the tickets sold, the last nights of the event also had the exact same covid restrictions we have now, so that definitely would’ve effected the final nights of the events which it didn’t

White Christmas wasn't plagued with Omicron. We didn't learn much about it until just before Christmas. Cases weren't in the 50,000+ and we weren't losing any lives. Totally different ballgame now.

Not to mention the vaccination mandate wasn't introduced until halfway through the event.

Total cases in Australia from the start of the pandemic to December 30 2021: 362 677. Total deaths 2226

Total case numbers now (Jan 29): 2.46 million. Total deaths: 3477

 @Rivals yea bro totally agree covid is not the blame 😂🤣😂. 

Edited January 29, 20224 yr by TomiJ

11 hours ago, Smol bean said:

I completely understand what you’re saying but I think I’m my point still stands that sea world needs to have a new event for the older crowd to entice them to visit and spread word of mouth to their friends or family. Something like a food and wine festival like at Epcot

No need for an adult event at a park that attracts mostly kids and families. There is only a couple rides for adults. 

On 29/01/2022 at 6:02 PM, Gold Coast Amusement Force said:

No need for an adult event at a park that attracts mostly kids and families. There is only a couple rides for adults. 

Actually the reason we held off this year. I genuinely love Carnival at SW. I find SW to just be very chill and relaxed but this year with COVID + some personal reasons and the lack of changes in the ride lineup, we decided to hold off.

I do feel like sea world need to add some more thrilling flats like vortex and and trident and a roller coaster on the sea viper land before they can do a more teen - adult oriented event but that's not for another 10 - 15 years at least 

Edited January 30, 20224 yr by Smol bean

Different parks suit different events. There's no version of Sea World that suits a teen orientated event. Something more adult like a big B&S Ball or big date night might work, but something like a Fright Night would be a non starter. DW could do it, we know MW can do it, and WnW could do it, but it wouldn't suit SW

11 hours ago, joz said:

Different parks suit different events. There's no version of Sea World that suits a teen orientated event. Something more adult like a big B&S Ball or big date night might work, but something like a Fright Night would be a non starter. DW could do it, we know MW can do it, and WnW could do it, but it wouldn't suit SW

I should of made it more clear but yes a date night kind of event Is what I was referring to and I should of made that more clear. obviously sea world does not fit a fright nights like event but as you said a date night or a big B&S ball might work in the park but it would be hard to attract that type of audience to SeaWorld because as it stands right now its a kids and family theme park. which is why I said they need to add more intense flats and a roller coaster before they can think of doing an event like that.

3 minutes ago, Smol bean said:

I should of made it more clear but yes a date night kind of event Is what I was referring to and I should of made that more clear. obviously sea world does not fit a fright nights like event but as you said a date night or a big B&S ball might work in the park but it would be hard to attract that type of audience to SeaWorld because as it stands right now its a kids and family theme park. which is why I said they need to add more intense flats and a roller coaster before they can think of doing an event like that.

I don’t think the ability to host singles parties to encourage hookups in all the dark corners of the park will fit into their future ride planning. 
 

seaworld, imo, will always lean itself to the family market, and when borders reopen internationally, the tourism market. I don’t think we’ll be seeing anything beyond the existing thrill levels provided by Jet Rescue & Vortex. 
 

You need to remember they are not a standalone park and part of a group. As it stands they happy to offer family (Sw) and thrills (MW) as this encourages 4 park passes and multiple day visits which increases incidental spends on food etc. if the lines start to get blurred between which of their parks offers the best thrill experience, they start cannibalising themselves 

I mean, you could do some "cirque du mer" type thing that kids find boring if you were determined to do something just for adults.

Personally, I think you can have a Carinvale type event with fountains and food etc, but Carnivale seems like the wrong underlying theme for SW.

59 minutes ago, Gazza said:

Carnivale seems like the wrong underlying theme for SW.

But they already had the letters made up and everything!

I think it does fit SW, because you think of a lot of those places that celebrate and it tends to be places with warm evening air in a salty seaside setting. Like yeah French Quarters downtown blah blah, but for my taste the theme does suit. The only issue with it at SW is the crowds arent packed as tight so you can't get the party atmosphere throughout the whole park but I think the party hubs is fine. I think the thing about Carnivale at SW is that in the early years they didn't really attempt to make it fit SW, it was more a case of doing what was done at MW but less so.

 

When Carnivale was first announced, I replied in a fairly sarcastic way mentioning all the things they could have done to make it not shit. A decent number of those are now part of the event. I think we're at the point where it's let down by the F&B not being what it once was, but also by the park itself. TBH I don't hugely care about going this year, but next year with the improved ride offering, I'm actually keen to give it a 'proper' go. As in going to actually enjoy it rather than just going to see what it is.

It appears that this year they finally fixed the spacing issue