Steel Taipan operating 4 hours on weekdays

[Brad2912]

Maybe I missed the memo, but is this new?

 

[Dean Barnett]

Spend millions of dollars on a new rollercoaster. Only open it for 4 hours on weekdays. 

Brilliant. 

 

They should follow Energylandias way of queue management. Completely automated. No grouper required. Just have an operator and two platform attendants that secure the train from the front towards the back as people sit down. Works brilliantly. The spinny car can just scan a card at the turnstile to be let through

Edited June 1, 2022 by Dean Barnett

[Brad2912]

In other news I just popped down and got my first ever ride on ST. Loved it. Was in a bit of a rush so couldn’t be patient with waiting for specific rows but got a ride in row 4 and row 3. 
 

loved the backwards launch, much more punchier then I expected. Loved the sharpness of some of the corners and that final roll really whips you. 
 

It’s by far the best thing DW has ever offered, and certainly sits comfortably in the top 3 rides on the GC. 

[Rivals]

1 hour ago, Brad2912 said:

Maybe I missed the memo, but is this new?

 

the parks extremely quiet on the weekdays and im assuming this only relates for the school weekdays and not the school holiday weekdays. if it’s only weeks day within the school term i don’t think it’s that big of a deal

[Brad2912]

10 minutes ago, Rivals said:

the parks extremely quiet on the weekdays and im assuming this only relates for the school weekdays and not the school holiday weekdays. if it’s only weeks day within the school term i don’t think it’s that big of a deal

So you think it’s ok that the park has ZERO operating rollercoasters between open and midday, and again from 4pm, on top of a variety of other kids rides down? 
 

Yeah that doesn’t fly with me. Not for a new signature attraction, it should be open every moment possible. It creates atmosphere, is viewable from the front of park, and it is bringing people in specifically to ride it. 

[Tim Dasco]

Just now, Brad2912 said:

So you think it’s ok that the park has ZERO operating rollercoasters between open and midday, and again from 4pm, on top of a variety of other kids rides down? 
 

Yeah that doesn’t fly with me. Not for a new signature attraction, it should be open every moment possible. It creates atmosphere, is viewable from the front of park, and it is bringing people in specifically to ride it. 

Did you consider it might be related to Giant Drop closures? Large scale equipment being near ride envelope to do work on the ride? Such as Removing TOT track etc.

[themagician]

They have reduced the hours for ST because of works on Giant Drop and it’s close proximity to the coaster. The park opens at 10:30 and closes at 4 on weekdays anyways, so you only miss out on 1.5 hours of the parks operational hours. And it’s much better than closing the ride all day every weekday too.

[Brad2912]

1 minute ago, themagician said:

They have reduced the hours for ST because of works on Giant Drop and it’s close proximity to the coaster. The park opens at 10:30 and closes at 4 on weekdays anyways, so you only miss out on 1.5 hours of the parks operational hours. And it’s much better than closing the ride all day every weekday too.

If that’s the case then reference it. Don’t make it look like you’ve just reduced hours as a cost cutting measure. Say “due to works on the DW Tower, ST will temporarily be open from 12-4 weekdays”.

it’s still ridiculous planning however to have every coaster closed during certain hours of the day - especially when it’s planned and not unexpected maintenance 

[Rivals]

18 minutes ago, Brad2912 said:

t’s still ridiculous planning however to have every coaster closed during certain hours of the day - especially when it’s planned and not unexpected maintenance 

Motor-coaster was meant to reopen at the end of may (20th i think), and the Merry Go Round wasn’t meant to be closed but is closed due to the MovieWorld Incident, so there is more rides down then expected. Not too long ago Rivals, Superman, Green-lantern and WWF were all closed down the road (SE and GL was only listed for one day at the same time both unexpected) so none of the parks can really control it, and it doesent effect them as much as it’s not peak period at the moment

Edited June 1, 2022 by Rivals

[Slick]

4 hours ago, Rivals said:

Motor-coaster was meant to reopen at the end of may (20th i think), and the Merry Go Round wasn’t meant to be closed but is closed due to the MovieWorld Incident, so there is more rides down then expected. Not too long ago Rivals, Superman, Green-lantern and WWF were all closed down the road (SE and GL was only listed for one day at the same time both unexpected) so none of the parks can really control it, and it doesent effect them as much as it’s not peak period at the moment

And people were rightfully critical of Movie World for it, as folks should be equally critical/curious about why this is the case.

[aussienetman]

My understanding is the park is only open from 1030 on weekdays at the moment? If the closure is because of Giant Drop maintenance then that is kinda forgiveable n my eyes and they should have flat out said that. 

But if it's being closed for 90 minutes in the morning to save a buck.. blergh dreamworld blergh. Regardless of how tragic their guest numbers are atm, closing their newest drawcard with no real explanation? Blergh. 

Edited June 1, 2022 by aussienetman

[Rivals]

2 hours ago, aussienetman said:

My understanding is the park is only open from 1030 on weekdays at the moment? If the closure is because of Giant Drop maintenance then that is kinda forgiveable n my eyes and they should have flat out said that. 

But if it's being closed for 90 minutes in the morning to save a buck.. blergh dreamworld blergh. Regardless of how tragic their guest numbers are atm, closing their newest drawcard with no real explanation? Blergh. 

it’s definitely to do with the Giant Drop refurb, it’s only started open later as work is starting on the refurb and if they were trying to save money it wouldn’t only be for 90mins, they probably just wouldn’t bother opening it

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

15 hours ago, Brad2912 said:

If that’s the case then reference it. Don’t make it look like you’ve just reduced hours as a cost cutting measure. Say “due to works on the DW Tower, ST will temporarily be open from 12-4 weekdays”.

it’s still ridiculous planning however to have every coaster closed during certain hours of the day - especially when it’s planned and not unexpected maintenance 

Unplanned maintenance and delays to planned maintenance taking out multiple major attractions for the entire day are one thing, but closing a ride out of peak season for a part of the day isn't the end of the world. 

Luna Park currently doesn't staff every ride. They have a sign up at some attractions directing would-be riders to another ride to request the attendant come and operate the one you want to ride. Wonderland used to tag-team attractions one hour on \ one hour off in off peak periods. 

Heck - they used to open the entire land of Goldrush an hour later than the rest of the park - Bush Beast, Snowy, Vintage Cars, Tassie Devil, Endeavour, Skyhawk and Skyrider - and sure - it saved a buck - but sensibly so - the park was so large and the other lands kept everyone occupied for the first hour (and Goldrush was practically a ghost town the first hour after it opened too) - it just made sense to delay the opening until later - more guests ended up in Goldrush for the middle of the day before gravitating back towards the centre of the park at the end of the day (leaving the ghost town once again from 4-5pm).

At a time when we're all well aware of how much in dire straits they are - requiring minimum ridership on goldcoaster to reduce the number of almost-empty cycles it did (and wipeout too), I'm going to view this loss of 90 minutes operating time as a prudent and necessary action to reduce cost blowout. It's an intelligent decision, no matter how many enthusiasts whine about it. 

Should this sort of thing fly at 'Australia's best theme park chain' ? Part of me says no - they're not in difficulties - but I suppose to prevent difficulties, maybe they should too? Operating a ride for part of the day in off-peak time is still better than having them all down for maintenance though.

[Vidgamer]

Wet n Wild actually cycles the kids slides into 30 minute blocks during Winter and has done so for several years. It's certainly not the impact of Steel Taipan not opening until midday but it's definitely something that the parks have done before, sometimes i'm convinced VRTP just shuts rides for the day to save staffing it. I think shutting it down until 12 is quite reasonable for a week day, clearly they don't have the traffic to justify it being open and it extends the life of the ride, so it's actually quite strategic. 

By the time you get into the park during the week it's probably already 10:45am and grab a coffee, go on Shockwave/TheC Claw/ Dodgems and it's ready to open. Ardent have the upcoming sale of Main Event to prepare for as well, so I feel they are really 'gearing up' for that sale to occur and for the next investment in the park to be announced.

Edited June 1, 2022 by Vidgamer

[Park Addict 93]

52 minutes ago, Vidgamer said:

Wet n Wild actually cycles the kids slides into 30 minute blocks during Winter and has done so for several years. It's certainly not the impact of Steel Taipan not opening until midday but it's definitely something that the parks have done before, sometimes i'm convinced VRTP just shuts rides for the day to save staffing it. 
 

VRTP (MW) have recently had rides shut for the day due to being unable to staff them.

As others have mentioned this is due to work on GD. I encountered this at DW last week, my issue was the ride didn’t appear to test til after 12:00pm and didn’t accept first riders til after 12:30. If that’s the “norm” it should be advertised as 12:30.

Edited June 1, 2022 by Park Addict 93

[New display name]

@VidgamerFor many years when the rapid ride at DW first opened, it didn't open to 12pm.

Edited June 1, 2022 by New display name

[aaronm]

Good that they are upfront about ride opening hours, at least guests can know what to expect ahead of time rather than turn up and wonder when something will open.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

15 minutes ago, Park Addict 93 said:

VRTP (MW) have recently had rides shut for the day due to being unable to staff them.

As others have mentioned this is due to work on GD. I encountered this at DW last week, my issue was the ride didn’t appear to test til after 12:00pm and didn’t accept first riders til after 12:30. If that’s the “norm” it should be advertised as 12:30.

"12pm-4pm" sounds like a "minimum casual staff call time" (it is for Casual staff in my current field) so if that is the case, the staff probably aren't "on the clock" until then and still have to do their normal checks, so the half hour delay makes sense but you're absolutely right, it should be advertised as 12:30. 

Wonderland used to do the same thing too - "you need to be at your rostered position by 10am" but also "you're only rostered from 10am so you don't get paid for all the things you MUST do prior to your shift start (like collecting keys or cash control or getting a radio, or god forbid walking halfway across the park to be in postiion, or performing startup checks and running test cycles). Closing was similar. You didn't get paid past 5pm, but you couldn't clear the park until security had swept your area \ emptied the queue (though even 20 years ago that wasn't something I stood for and regularly argued with supervisors that my finish time should be the time I completed my duties).

Even in my current organisation they allow an extra 15 minutes for staff who are 'rostered' to get set up for the day and get up to date with changes and news, and even then, it isn't always enough.

[New display name]

Do you work for the public sector @DaptoFunlandGuy😂

DW currently has a lot of rides down and that shows poor planning or a decline in what DW management believes is acceptable.

Edited June 2, 2022 by New display name

[Rabbit2014]

2 hours ago, New display name said:

Do you work for the public sector @DaptoFunlandGuy😂

DW currently has a lot of rides down and that shows poor planning or a decline in what DW management believes is acceptable.

Movieworld isn’t much better with there maintenance, both theme parks have 2-3 major rides down and 3 kids rides down. 

[Rivals]

3 hours ago, New display name said:

Do you work for the public sector @DaptoFunlandGuy😂

DW currently has a lot of rides down and that shows poor planning or a decline in what DW management believes is acceptable.

movie world must be in a horrible space then as not too long ago 1 coaster out of 5 coasters were open (scooby) and doomsday was on and off all day

[New display name]

This discussion isn't about how bad MW is traveling @Rabbit2014  @Rivals

[Rivals]

16 minutes ago, New display name said:

This discussion isn't about how bad MW is traveling @Rabbit2014  @Rivals

you’re saying one park is bad for having rides closed when they all have a large amount of rides closed? so it’s going to be brought up whether it’s the topic or not

Edited June 2, 2022 by Rivals

[Brad2912]

6 hours ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

Heck - they used to open the entire land of Goldrush an hour later than the rest of the park

I knew this would be raised. I remember it fondly waiting for the 11am rope drop in that wooden “tunnel”. The difference there was you had other high profile rides open - you could ride Demon, Space Probe, Bounty etc. 

If some or even one of the other coasters in the park was open, then maybe I wouldn’t view it as such an issue, but coasters are a parks bread and butter, to have none operation - and it be planned to be that way - I don’t think is good enough. If you plan for one or two to be open and by chance have breakdowns etc, that’s another thing. 

[joz]

1 hour ago, New display name said:

This discussion isn't about how bad MW is traveling @Rabbit2014  @Rivals

I think this is the most telling thing. Personally I don't really care that the ride doesn't open till midday. I mean shit, I'm sure both guests at the park are very dissapointed but a massive 'meh' from me. But the same people slamming MW a few months ago jump to DW's defence by slamming MW some more. It's really quite pathetic. I'm not entirely sure what the point of those people is to the health of the community.