The Giant Drop Refurbishment 2022

[Dean Barnett]

OK I came up (stole) with a better idea 

Yesterday I did AtmosFear VR -  Liseberg's replacement while their woodie is down. It was brilliant. Something the completely transformed the ride and takes only about 2 mins extra per cycle to add (it's free). I actually thought it was more thrilling than non VR

You can choose VR or non VR after the ride is secure. WB could make a *insert super hero movie reference here* version.. and it could even change every few months.  The headsets aren't tethered to the ride - however there's nothing below the drop tower apart from a roof. WB could tether them like they do for Can Can Coaster VR with no risk.

Oh and how's this - their massive drop tower (381ft) is in the middle of the city on a hill.. and doesn't have any branding on it... and heaps of people still came! Amazing./s 

[Tricoart]

9 hours ago, Dean Barnett said:

OK I came up (stole) with a better idea 

Yesterday I did AtmosFear VR -  Liseberg's replacement while their woodie is down. It was brilliant. Something the completely transformed the ride and takes only about 2 mins extra per cycle to add (it's free). I actually thought it was more thrilling than non VR

You can choose VR or non VR after the ride is secure. WB could make a *insert super hero movie reference here* version.. and it could even change every few months.  The headsets aren't tethered to the ride - however there's nothing below the drop tower apart from a roof. WB could tether them like they do for Can Can Coaster VR with no risk.

Oh and how's this - their massive drop tower (381ft) is in the middle of the city on a hill.. and doesn't have any branding on it... and heaps of people still came! Amazing./s 

Was this meant to be posted in a different forum, or do you think that Dreamworld is Movie World?

[Dean Barnett]

Sorry my bad. It was late. Dream world can ...*

[themagician]

21 hours ago, Brad2912 said:

Driving past the park at 5:15am this morning, there was work occurring on the tower. It was still dark apart from sparks. If I had I to have a guess I’d assume something to do with the removal of the ToT lettering given they were on the west bound side facing the M1 and about at the height of the bottom letter 

Can confirm they are removing the letters. On my visit today, the R was gone 

[joz]

1 hour ago, themagician said:

the R was gone 

Towe of Terror.

Tower of Ter or.

Tower of Te ror.

Tower of Terro .

[themagician]

2 hours ago, joz said:

Tower of Terro .

 

[themagician]

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

On 25/06/2022 at 3:42 AM, Dean Barnett said:

Something the completely transformed the ride and takes only about 2 mins extra per cycle to add

Hey... aren't you the guy that wants to install turnstiles to speed up loading operations? /s

[Dean Barnett]

19 hours ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

Hey... aren't you the guy that wants to install turnstiles to speed up loading operations? /s

Yes and it would. 
 

This ride actually uses turnstiles too - as soon as the doors to the ride close, the next ride is automatically grouped… by the turnstile (it’s free to run) then it just repeats. 
 

The grouper turns into a VR dispenser. 

[New display name]

Does anybody have access to The Australian to read this?      

 

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/dataroom/private-equity-takes-a-look-at-ardent-leisure/news-story/73e822a81ecace69c918ec9a740e3afd

[Naazon]

7 minutes ago, New display name said:

Does anybody have access to The Australian to read this?      

 

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/dataroom/private-equity-takes-a-look-at-ardent-leisure/news-story/73e822a81ecace69c918ec9a740e3afd

12ft.io isn't working for me but I did see there is a Chrome extension to bypass the paywall. I can't do that until later tonight though as my work laptop is pretty locked down for installing stuff. 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

18 minutes ago, New display name said:

Does anybody have access to The Australian to read this?      

 

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/dataroom/private-equity-takes-a-look-at-ardent-leisure/news-story/73e822a81ecace69c918ec9a740e3afd

I did see the story last night but can't paste it now - short story - newspaper makes up headline to sell subscriptions.

Ardent leisure were quoted saying they were not in any discussion with private equity firms. 

1 hour ago, Dean Barnett said:

Yes and it would. 

So you want to speed up the grouping process by using a turnstile nobody would understand how to use as they aren't prevalent here, and then use the time you've saved not to speed up your operations, but instead to slow it back down by giving everyone VR goggles in a post-covid environment.

Yeah... You're not going to last long around here.

[PoolGuy]

Private equity takes a look at Ardent Leisure

Theme parks like Dreamworld are set to do a roaring trade during the school holidays, with the soaring cost of international travel prompting Australians to travel domestically.

 

A global private equity fund is understood to be running the ruler over Dreamworld owner Ardent Leisure.

It comes just weeks ahead of the finalisation of Ardent’s sale of its Texas-based restaurant and entertainment business Main Event to Dave & Busters for $1.1bn.

The sale of that business is due at the end of July, paving the way for a suitor to approach Ardent for the remaining Australian arm, with one drawcard being its attractive Gold Coast land bank.

An Ardent Leisure source said the company had not received any approaches from private equity firms.

Ardent Leisure’s market value is currently $626m with shares recovering from $1 almost a year ago when the country was in lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19.

Now shares are at $1.32 with the Gold Coast-based Dreamworld reopen for business.

Main Event operates 5150 centres in 17 states across the US, including bowling alleys, arcade games, laser tag and virtual reality arenas.

After that business is sold, Ardent Leisure, which has about $150m of cash on its balance sheet, is likely to have a market value of $192m, suggesting that its theme parks are worth only $40m, say analysts.

Ardent Leisure describes itself as one of Australia’s most successful leisure and entertainment groups, operating Dreamworld, WhiteWater World and SkyPoint theme parks.

Blackstone and EQT would be logical buyers given the synergies they could extract from a deal at a time such funds are looking at companies in the $1bn to $3bn price range.

Blackstone currently owns part of the global theme park giant Merlin Entertainments, which has Legoland parks, while EQT Partners and Elliott Management own Madrid-based theme park owner Parques Reunidos.

Apollo Global Management has previously bid for theme park owners, while US-based KSL Capital Partners looked at Ardent before.

Melbourne-based BGH Capital also cannot be discounted as a bidder, given that it purchased rival Village Roadshow, which owns the Gold Coast theme park Sea World.

Gaining Australian Competition & Consumer Commission clearance would be a challenge, but a deal would not be impossible.

Ardent Leisure sank $86.9m into the red for the six months to December as border restrictions and snap lockdowns hit theme parks.

In May, it announced that it was developing the Dreamworld Resort in agreement with accommodation developer Evolution, planning a four-star, 250-room hotel and a five-star tourist park with 100 powered sites.

Ardent had earlier said that the proceeds from sale of Main Event – considered the jewel in the crown of the Ardent Leisure business – would be used to settle its outstanding debt and support ongoing growth and development of its domestic theme park business. The company also intended to distribute about $430m to its shareholders.

Any bidder will need to get past savvy investors on the register, including Queensland billionaire Kevin Seymour, who owns a 5.5 per cent interest, and chairman Gary Weiss.

The pair are directors at Ariadne, which raided Ardent’s register in 2017 with a view that the business was undervalued.

Theme parks like Dreamworld are set to do a roaring trade during the school holidays, with the soaring cost of international travel prompting Australians to travel domestically.

At an industry conference in Sydney this month, a panel of private equity operatives said they were focused on targets where higher costs could be passed through to the customer.

 

[Dean Barnett]

It’s two separate statements. 
 

DW shouldn’t be spending money on vanity projects. Honestly how is a lit sign gonna bring in / back more customers ?

The irony of the sign being lit and the park being closed 99% of the time of darkness is not lost on me. 
 

Secondly - the turnstiles work. The parks I’ve seen them in have guests who don’t understand the main language of the park, understand it. 
 

I mean what about this won’t people understand? It’s pretty obvious. 

 

I think your statement about guests not understanding them really discredits the guests ability. 
 

 

VR and covid have no link - still not a single proven case of a covid case that was transmitted by touch - so no worries there. 
 

It’s a new guest experience - that could change - and it will be the worlds tallest (just)

 

Heck I rather them just add a soundtrack and speakers to the lift gondola. 

[Rivals]

13 minutes ago, Dean Barnett said:

Secondly - the turnstiles work. The parks I’ve seen them in have guests who don’t understand the main language of the park, understand it. 

think your statement about guests not understanding them really discredits the guests ability. 

we get it you like the idea of turnstiles you don’t need to keep restating it over and over again across many different topics. 

the attendants on rides like The Claw and Shockwave have to move guests sometimes multiple times per cycle as the guests are unable to seat themselves in a way which will fill the entire gondola and not leave gaps everywhere, i don’t think it’s that far fetched to say they wouldn’t understand how the turnstiles work.

 

13 minutes ago, Dean Barnett said:

VR and covid have no link - still not a single proven case of a covid case that was transmitted by touch - so no worries there. 
 

It’s a new guest experience - that could change - and it will be the worlds tallest (just)

VR on a drop tower really doesn't sound like a good idea at all, we already complain about how slow the operations are at our parks, adding VR which will potentially double the load times isn’t a smart idea.  

Edited June 28, 2022 by Rivals

[themagician]

26 minutes ago, Dean Barnett said:

I mean what about this won’t people understand? It’s pretty obvious. 

 

It’s also pretty ugly. And you have too much faith in humanity if you think people can all work together to group themselves into queues. I worked in retail for way to long and even the simplest tasks became science experiments for some.

[Dean Barnett]

7 hours ago, Rivals said:

 

the attendants on rides like The Claw and Shockwave have to move guests sometimes multiple times per cycle as the guests are unable to seat themselves in a way which will fill the entire gondola and not leave gaps everywhere, i don’t think it’s that far fetched to say they wouldn’t understand how the turnstiles work.

 

VR on a drop tower really doesn't sound like a good idea at all, we already complain about how slow the operations are at our parks, adding VR which will potentially double the load times isn’t a smart idea.  

 

That's completely different - the ops would need to balance the ride anyway - nothing changes here. 

 

VR only adds time after the ride is secured. Considering the actual ride time is tiny.. it won't really ruins peoples days - unlike running rivals in the school holidays with one train.

7 hours ago, themagician said:

It’s also pretty ugly. And you have too much faith in humanity if you think people can all work together to group themselves into queues. I worked in retail for way to long and even the simplest tasks became science experiments for some.

It isn't worse than any of the station decor that they pump out now. 

I've seen it work - in Germany, Denmark and Sweden. It works. If a group gets to the front with not enough places left to accommodate the group - they just wait or actually call for smaller groups to come forward. It's brilliant to see in action.  

 

Wait until you guys find out how The Oath of KÄRNAN does it's row allocation!

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

16 hours ago, Dean Barnett said:

DW shouldn’t be spending money on vanity projects. Honestly how is a lit sign gonna bring in / back more customers ?

The irony of the sign being lit and the park being closed 99% of the time of darkness is not lost on me.  

The matter of visibility and the direction this faces is not yet confirmed. They've had a light package on this tower for years - this is just an upgrade. 

The effectiveness of the Joker, The Green Lantern Symbol and the Topgolf logo has probably not been lost on Ardent either.

The whole ride is getting upgraded, old TOT track removed, so the actual cost of installing something like this when they already have equipment up there is minor, and it's an opportunity to refresh a 20 year old attraction for the future. 

16 hours ago, Dean Barnett said:

Secondly - the turnstiles work. The parks I’ve seen them in have guests who don’t understand the main language of the park, understand it. 
I mean what about this won’t people understand? It’s pretty obvious. 

I think your statement about guests not understanding them really discredits the guests ability.  

I'm sure they work. But they were also designed for the attraction, and not retrofitted almost 20 years later. 

What won't people understand about an LED signboard with some numbers on it? I don't know - Maybe its the number of days since the last fatal accident? maybe it's how many minutes until the next village dispatch? Maybe my order of 300 grams of sliced honey ham and half a kilo of bacon is ready at the deli? There is no context surrounding this sign to give any indication of what it might be for.

As for discrediting a guests ability, you seem very passionate about park improvements which suggests to me you've never worked in one. We used to have a saying at my park (and i'm sure many other parks have similar) -

Guests check their brains at the gate.

16 hours ago, Dean Barnett said:

VR and covid have no link - still not a single proven case of a covid case that was transmitted by touch - so no worries there. 

Thanks Dr Barnett. The CDC have their own research paper on surface transmission and while they say it is a low risk for surface transmission, low risk is not no risk. If surface transmission was impossible, we wouldn't have spent the past 30 months dowsing our hands in alcohol sanitisers and singing happy birthday to ourselves in front of the mirror. In fact - we were hand washing and sanitising well before masks were considered necessary because surface transmission was thought to be higher than airborne transmission, which is probably the very reason why we have such few cases of surface transmission.

Quote

However, it is not clear what proportion of SARS-CoV-2 infections are acquired through surface transmission. There have been few reports of COVID-19 cases potentially attributed to fomite transmission. Infections can often be attributed to multiple transmission pathways. Fomite transmission is difficult to prove definitively, in part because respiratory transmission from asymptomatic people cannot be ruled out. Case reports indicate that SARS-CoV-2 is transmitted between people by touching surfaces an ill person has recently coughed or sneezed on, and then directly touching the mouth, nose, or eyes. Hand hygiene is a barrier to fomite transmission and has been associated with lower risk of infection

But this isn't a covid thread, so i'll move on -

8 hours ago, Dean Barnett said:

VR only adds time after the ride is secured. Considering the actual ride time is tiny.. it won't really ruins peoples days

You're insane. You're jumping up and down about parks not using efficiency methods you've observed overseas because you're frustrated that our local methods are so slow, and in the same breath you want to do everything you can to make a ride cycle take longer. 

8 hours ago, Dean Barnett said:

It isn't worse than any of the station decor that they pump out now. 

Yes, it is.

8 hours ago, Dean Barnett said:

I've seen it work - in Germany, Denmark and Sweden. It works.

[Brad2912]

As of yesterday, it is now the Tower Of Terr

[Spotty]

So... the Giant Drop / Dreamworlds new theme for the next 10 years has been announced. The 2000's were the decade of Turbines. 2020's are now the decade of Turnstyles! You heard it here first!

[Ogre]

Map's been updated with the new design

 

[Spotty]

Just wish they would have a ramp down to the ground level path instead of the mess of paths it currently is. Especially now the train line is gone... have it snake around the queue building similar to Hot wheels and down to the ground level. Much neater IMO

[themagician]

Only the ‘T O W’ to go. 

Once they’re removed, we should see the tower repaint begin.

[Brad2912]

They’ve slowed down a little, it’s been TOW for nearly 2 weeks now…

here is what the letters look Like up close if anyone is interested 

[Andrew Edwards]

On 27/05/2022 at 11:07 PM, Ogre said:

Some snaps of GD today!

It has not started any refurb by the looks it. And it's most likely to delay and will probably be set for 2023