The Good, The bad and the Dreamworld

[joz]

Took a trip down to Dreamworld today. Just thought I'd leave a few points behind if its of any interest: * Main Street is looking much better with the new splash of paint. A bit on the bright side, but still definitely good too see. * Two person op on Cyclone all day, and both sides of Giant Drop working all day. Capacity up a touch, but still sucks. * Lots of ex- WVTP staff. What's the go with all the WVTP staff at Dreamworld and all the ex Dreamworld staff at the WVTPs? * Saw the Tiger Island presentation for the first time today. Well done Dreamworld. The park is also adding a huge shade cover over the viewing area, which is IMHO a very welcome move. Two thumbs up from me. * The fire house game is still undergoing renovations. * Wipeout is still closed (shock horror I know since the parks website lists it as being closed). The ride seems to have mostly been put back together, with work going on in the (empty) pool. Any idea why its opening has been delayed? * Staff were mostly friendly, talkative and happy to help. Special mention to Alan (I think?) in the Kakadu Cafe and the guys doing the dart game in Gold Rush Country. Hope this has been enlightening

[steve$]

Good to see Dreamworld getting better with its capacity

[kennykoala]

hey guys went to dreamworld today, wipeout is up and running, nice and quiet (apart from its usual high pitch from the motors, but no clunking or banging) Also they have added 4 48cm LCD screens in the cyclone queue area, and also there is one that i saw in the entrance to TOT, im guessing there is more but didnt go in the queue of TOT. The claw was a one ride wait ever go, if not straight on. Staff wise, the rides were manned pretty good, due to training of the xmas casuals.

[Richard]

What's playing on these LCD screens for each ride?

[steve$]

Maybe dreamworld have been listening to some of our suggestions on the forums

[Gazza]

I agree, slick has commented on the forums about the LCD TV size and they have taken note. But 48 cm LCDs are pretty expensive, they could have got 4 CRT tellys for the price of one LCD, and you would get better picture quality and a faster refresh rate. Sounds cool anyway, what do they show?

[kennykoala]

nothing was on them, just black screen, there is a brackct for a 5th on cyclone as well

[T-bone]

Well maybe they are going to offer In line entertainment. I mean, why would Dreamworld buy LCD Tv's, and have them off? Nah. It's for something that we are going to like.

[steve$]

LCD tvs look better and more futuristic than old fashioned crts

[joz]

I mean, why would Dreamworld buy LCD Tv's, and have them off?

Thats the way it normally works. Its a hit and miss thing if the current stuff in the queue is turned on. To me its been a bit of a mystery as to why Dreawmorld has thousands of dollers of audio visual equiptment in the queues (Cyclone particually) when it rarely gets used. Though on my last visit I couldn't help but notice the radio Dreamworld thing with music playing in Cyclones queue as well as Claws. Maybe they're going to play the music film clips like at Wet 'n' Wild? Keep us posted anyway, sounds very interesting in a low key sort of way.

[steve$]

The music clips at wet n wild are heaps good to listen to in the long queues

[Richard]

It's all part of Dreamworld's latest efforts to make the queues more bearable. It's part of the first phase of a park-wide makeover that's responsible for the new shade at Tiger Island and refitted food & beverage places. Evidently, rather than fixing a problem, it's easier to just gloss over it. Make the queues a cheap attraction of their own and no one can complain, right?

[HussRainbow]

I can't really say there is anything wrong with the park, since I havn't been since 2001. Although id like to know the reason why they took the shark out of the pool for Wipeout

[steve$]

I think that the water restrictions kicked in so they had to make the pool shallowwer than before. And the shark wasnt real was it

[HussRainbow]

LOL of course the shark wasnt real, it just went around in circles

[Slick]

The only reason that the shark or "fluffy" as he as known is out of the pool is they're still working on Wipeout. Why would they keep in Fluffy while they do construction? Move the booms around in water? That would spell corrosion given the overkill amount of chlorine in the Wipeout pool. Okay, how about some photos from last wednesday? Yes, yes, I've been holding out, but hey, I've had other things to do damnit, so here they are. A couple of new and one particularly bad thing has happened also. Good - the long awaited work in market place has started and is certainly, errrr.... demolished Bad - they are at the tot again. It's good they replaced all those UV fluro's in the top floor of the tot but they replaced them with normal fluros!!!!! Trust Dreamworld to get rid of the only good thing about the queue themeing. Oh, and the new lcd screens inside the tot queue line, from memory are sharp 17 inch lcds, and there is three of them, one inside the skull, one at the corner where the skull used to be, and one where the gate is. Enjoy the photos!

[HussRainbow]

great pictures thanks!

[steve$]

I wonder what they are actually going to have on the screens. Perhaps dreamworld are going to make a small video on the tot showing it and all the other rides. Which they can show on the other lcds as well

[Gazza]

Why dont they do a deal with a radio station to have it played throughout the park?

[Richard]

They currently do have a deal with Sea FM I believe and do just that. It's not a broadcast though, it's just songs with Sea FM ads in between. I must add that Sea FM don't play half-bad music... for a commercial station.

[HussRainbow]

Thats cool, like Luna Park here, except its their own collection, and its really annoying cos' you can't even hear it properly

[T-bone]

Well with those LCD screens, they could always show the Ride Profile, and videos of the ride in action. They could also show in-park news, ride closures, and Park Ads (like Max Action Pass, and the 2nd Day Option aswell as normal park ads).

[kennykoala]

its funny that they have installed the screens at all, the claws screens havent been on the last 3 times ive been there, and its only 3 mths old.

[joz]

First time I went on Claw, the screens were showing an overview of the ride. The thing is that when the ride was operating, the screens just went blue. Seems they didn't work when the most interesting stuff was going on. Maybe that's why they've just turned them off?

[Slick]

From what I know in the electrical area, the type of cable that transmits from camera to the splitters and then into the lcd tv's require a certain type of power "re-applier" that keeps the signal from being lost every "x" amount of metres. It's possibly that the electrical fields, or the weight or pressure from the claw or other sorrounding fields could be disrupting the signal. This is what has been happening recently. Basically it'll flicker on and off, or off entirely. I don't know how everybody seems to be so happy about these new lcd screens. They have several million to spend on new updates, then yet, they chose to put lcd screens in, whereas they could re-do the themeing to make it twice as good as some crappy show on tv where the themeing would a whole lot better. There are holes in the foam in the tot, but hey, people won't notice if there's some dodgy crap on a bunch of televisions huh? Here are some photos of the themeing in pieces everywhere.