Dreamworld attendance up for September quarter

[Richard]

Article: http://www.roller-coaster.com.au/article.php?aid=29

[Slick]

I really don't seem to care. This happend during the last summer holidays, and we didn't see any real return from that, no particular themeing renovations apart from the Gold Rush County entrance. Woohoo. Now look at GD, Cyclone, Wipeout and TOT and maybe Dreamworld should spend this revenue on re-theming. Proper re-themeing too, no fake cover-ups, we, the people who know, deserve something to keep us from going insane while waiting to get on your poor capacity rides. Sorry, but when a park takes into consideration that the customer isn't THAT important, and that this type of crapy themeing will do, AND THEY GET PROFIT FROM IT, really makes me sick.

[Bussy]

Sorry, but when a park takes into consideration that the customer isn't THAT important, and that this type of crapy themeing will do, AND THEY GET PROFIT FROM IT, really makes me sick.

Well they have sucked you into going there haven't they? One thing really bugs me about the discussions on this forum is the misconception by many here that Australian parks are of a standard which they aren't. I have said it many times before, Australian parks will never have the standards of North American parks due to many reasons which I couldn't be bothered going through again. If you want great theming, go and live in the States. "The Bus is now leaving for American Beach, South Australia"

[Slick]

Have you seen the Tower Of Terror lately? I would rather have several steel walls than what they deal to us. I had friends go today and were disguested by the themeing or the lack thereof.

[willsy]

A rides still the same ride with or without themeing.

[coaster_crazee]

Yea, the ride is still the same, but waiting in some crappy boring queue is alot more entertaining with some good themeing, and it also sets up atmosphere, not to mention that it looks good.

[GoGoBoy]

I'm really pleased to hear that attendance has shot up this quarter thanks to The Claw. That's the way it should work. If the attendance didn't go up they may think twice about adding new rides regularly. The general public's doing the right thing for once

[NatDog]

What would you rather have, Dreamworld spending large amounts of money of re-theming alot of their rides or putting those funds towards a new big ride?. The latter for me.

[scott]

That's a question I'm not sure I know how to answer.How about they wait a while and do both.

[Slick]

They have the money to do both anyway, so there's no use arguing over whether or not they should get a bigger coaster or more themeing. And even if they didn't, I would much rather Dreamworld spend more capital on themeing. Why? Take a look at Disnyeland in Anaheim. The rides are not great, but are made to the highest quality using the best in themeing. Take a look at the Star Tours for example, your average simulator, except for the fact that you have a real full scale X-wing in the queue that has r2-d2 and c3po talking to each other. Not to mention the spark, smnoke and lighting effects. Then in the pod they have a animatronic robot to the side of the screen. The whole thing is very well detailed indeed. Now let's have a look at Dreamworld's Tower Of Terror. You walk up a very blank grey pathway to the skull which has cobwebs and spiders all stuck on, not to mention the plants that are growing out of the back of the skull and how it had collapsed in earlier this year. Then we walk down the blank and very grey pathway, up the industrial type stairs which make a hell-of-lotta' noise and into the area that has been around before Nick and when the skull was on the PROPER side. Here we have chewing gum on the pathway, loose hand rails, themeing which has been broken and trodden on, and vandalism literally everywhere. You are now at the very front of the queue and you notice the fact that there's a television screen that's operated about as many times as the second thunderbolt train did, and there's dust and graffiti everywhere. Next into the elevator shaft area, which is odd, because in order to cut back on staff, they stopped using the elevators, and instead used some crappy stairs, follows by this black crappy chipboard pathway. And when you thought it couldn't get much worse, you enter into the final zones where a)the door ever barely works, b)only half of the uv neons work, c)there are shoe marks over all over the walls, d)you can see all the roofing and everything is half built. Finally you hop on and notice that all the restraints are loose (particularly the front left restraint), they have that crappy red vynal over the original restraints because dreamworld didn't want to spend too much money of maintenance, and even when you get back from the ride, you notice that you went only 2/3 of the way up the tower. You hop out, collect your gear, and notice that the sign that says your speed has been turned off because Dreamworld are ashamed in showing the real speed or it just isn't working. But off course when you get down to the souvenir shop that is in immaculate condition. Great.

[joz]

Maybe the retail managers at DW are better at their jobs then the Operations managers? Seriosuly, if Dreamworld add a new ride, then attendance should go up, and good on them for doing well. I'm with Slick on some of his points. Though I've not been in Tower of Terror's queue for 12+ months I agree that themeing in the queue should be kept up best it can. Don't think for a second that they can't afford it. They could probably even afford to make a Star Tours (Best queue Ever!) style queue, and even afford to maintain it!

[scott]

Yeah,some of Slicks points are true,but the reason the pod only goes halfway up the tower is because of safety.However you've already told us they might change that. Can anybody describe GD's que line?I know there a some oil rigs and nearby,but what's the actual que like?

[coaster_crazee]

If your at the very end of the queue your in an undercover 'tin shed' style area with silver railings to separate the lines and a concrete floor. once you get inside there is a controller room thing happening, with buttons and lights and levers all over the walls, and theres signs everwhere saying 'caution, high voltage' and stuff like that. i think GD and ToT have the worst queues because they're so boring and they're usually the longest... Oh and cyclone, that queue is an abomination (my smart word for the day)...

[Slick]

Safety? SAFETY? Then what do you have to explain when it was going up the full length the pod is supposed to go? Safety? Pfft, I laugh at your safety. I bet Dreamworld get their excuses from you too huh?

[coaster_crazee]

safety huh... well last time i was on ToT, there were several, eerrmm... "large" people also on the ride, and we were lucky if we made it half way... they seemed to have a good time though...

[Gazza]

Saftey has nothing to do with it, it used to go higher, so why not do it agin, plus there is a brake right at the top to stop in an emergency. And what about Impulse coasters, they get right to the end of the track, its not like the TOT is in RCT and will shoot off the end and fall backt to the ground and explode like its made of ethane. I dont see how running it a bit slower would make much of a difference to power consumption in the scheme of things. it might be the equivalent of having the park open for an extra minute a day. Well, why dont people stat doing something proactive about what they think of TOT and GDs queue, write a letter instead of complaining the same things we have heard before and have agreed with.

[Slick]

It's not actually the fact that the power has been decreased.... The Tower Of Terror consists of 1995 technology which has slowed down quite alot seeming the computer systems haven't been updated. And what happens when your mum's cumputer gets old? It slows down. Hard drives begin to slow, you get cpu ware and tare, all these things contribute to the speed of the tower. It is still pumping out the same amount of megawatts though, which seems to be a bit of a waste really.

[scott]

You told us that the sensors on TOT were going to be updated on TOT,which would mean it was safer and could go higher,so I asumed it was a safety reason that TOT didn't go the whole way.

[Gazza]

How much could a new computer cost anyway? $20000, $30000, they would make that much in a day.

[Richard]

An ageing computer system is not to blame for reductions in speed and height on Tower of Terror. If the ride were consuming the same power it did when it was running at full speed then it would go to the same height. That energy becomes two and only two things - motion and heat and any heat loss that has increased on the ride over the years would be a result of the effects of time and weather, not to power slowing computers. The actual ride and its controls are on completely different circuits for starters. It has been going to the same height pretty much since the ride opened. It's just unfortunate more than anything else that the 4-5km/hr they have knocked off the speed equates to a 15m reduction in the maximum height and gives the illusion that it's running at seriously reduced speeds.

[Gazza]

Could they pump extra power in to make up for any losses caused by the rides ageing?

[Richard]

The losses would be negligible in the scheme of things. Parts would be replaced on the ride before they become noticeably inefficient. The ride has been running at slightly reduced speeds since very early on, presumably for economic reasons alone. Could anyone honestly tell me that those few km/hr less really alter the ride experience at all?

[Gazza]

Well, losing 15m seems like a fair bit.

[Slick]

I'm honestly going to stand by my side of the story here Richo, but please, prove me wrong in the meantime. Is it just co-incedence then that Superman the escape has had reductions also? A twin model ride like that just happens to have the exact same amount of cut-back as the Tower Of Terror does? Unlikely. STE has run liek crud from day one really, not to mention the work that has gone on recently, and then yet it still only runs at a percentage of what it is still supposed to do. And if you don't believe me about the ageing, here are some photos that do state otherwise. Good day. EDIT: can't find my bakcup archive for my dreamworld folder, but will take fresh photos tomorrow.

[Richard]

Superman: the Escape's sporadic operating is a result of two things. First and foremost is SFMM's lack of appropriate maintenance budgets, and then the "California power crisis". Tower of Terror has been operating at roughly the same speed it is today since the first year it opened. Don't make it sound like it's something new or something gradual, because it's not. It's worthwhile to note that Tower of Terror still runs at around 97% of the speed it is officially listed as.