Scooby Doo Spooky Coaster Overhaul

[Guest 239]

1 minute ago, Slick said:

Could you speak further on the considerable loss of capacity?

It's mostly in regards to losing Scooby and Wests boat and station upgrades decreasing throughput on top of Arkham still not receiving a replacement and other small operational changes that have impacted other rides such as DC Rivals seatbelt policy. There's plenty in the works that will make these negligible in another 12 months but it has had an impact on the park.

[New display name]

4 minutes ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

A more fully fleshed out park that doesn't have a gaping vacant hole in the middle... plus what slick said. 

SR isn't that ride.

[Naazon]

21 minutes ago, Slick said:

Would love to see some more transparency about this from the park in the form of a blog post or something - people are far more reasonable when you can communicate the reasoning instead of defaulting to smoke and mirrors.

Worked so well for Leviathan 

[Guest 239]

2 minutes ago, Naazon said:

Worked so well for Leviathan 

I think that's more because their blog post was essentially "This ride has over 2000 bolts and wood planks! Wow!" and then they'd randomly update the ride page to change the date with absolutely no mention of it. 

[New display name]

29 minutes ago, Slick said:

Would love to see some more transparency about this from the park in the form of a blog post or something - people are far more reasonable when you can communicate the reasoning instead of defaulting to smoke and mirrors.

How do you explain the ride was scheduled to close for refurbishment at a later date but when the ride went into its annual maintenance period, major issues were discovered?

[Slick]

10 minutes ago, Guest 239 said:

It's mostly in regards to losing Scooby and Wests boat and station upgrades decreasing throughput on top of Arkham still not receiving a replacement and other small operational changes that have impacted other rides such as DC Rivals seatbelt policy. There's plenty in the works that will make these negligible in another 12 months but it has had an impact on the park.

Yeah agreed. Then you throw some record-breaking attendance and it's a recipe for disappointment for sure.

 

14 minutes ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

I had thought about this when Dreamworld put out so much info about their current projects - right down to each ride's planned timeframes and scope of works. It isn't something we're used to, but the transparency at Dreamworld has been met with enthusiasm from folks who heard the news, while the closure of scooby has been met with much derision within the general public.

Full disclosure - I get marketing/comms is not everyone's cup of tea so feel free to skip reading the next bit. 

Yeah, that's an interesting case for sure. I think their last big announcement was a little bit too much information - there was a fair few different art styles shown and it all felt a bit too hodge podge for my liking. Cool for enthusiasts to nerd over, but not clear and succinct enough for the mass market to ultimately adopt the message Dreamworld is wanting folks to adopt.

I think I've been barking on about comms since at least 2015, maybe earlier, and how Disney and others have pivoted from a "smoke and mirrors" approach to a wholly transparent approach. @Naazon touched on this as I was writing this post - I look at all of this through a weird hybrid lens of hospitality and storytelling. Whatever's communicated should be engaging, clear and have a degree of certainty, all of which leaves readers/guests with a sense of excitement and anticipation for what they'll get to experience. Perhaps most importantly though is that when communicating anything, be it any kind of storytelling content, is that you treat the audience with respect. When you do that and something goes wrong, folks are generally far more accepting when you treat them as though they're the intelligent, reasonable people they are. If you look at everything the parks do through that lens, then date changes on a website with no more information (Leviathan) could be perceived as feeling a bit contemptuous. In regards to Scooby, the date change happened in the middle of the night so will be keen to see if anything more is said to soften the blow.

1 minute ago, New display name said:

How do you explain the ride was scheduled to close for refurbishment at a later date but when the ride went into its annual maintenance period, major issues were discovered?

"Ruh-roh! We've had to extend Scooby Doo's closure by a few more months. Here's why.

It goes without saying that safety is our highest priority. Our intention is to offer the kind of iconic, world-class experiences guests know, love and come to expect from our park, and Scooby Doo: Spooky Coaster is no exception. We understand that people love this ride, and we do too! We also don't close rides unless we absolutely have to, and in the case of Scooby Doo, we made the hard decision to close this beloved ride earlier than expected to allow us more time for us and our international partners to do the work it needs to live on for decades to come. And whilst we do everything we can to get attractions out from maintenance and down-time as quick as possible, the reality is that supply chain shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic still impact the speed in which our guests expect us to re-open rides. The up-shot of this is that we will have the time needed to properly refurbish Scooby Doo back to a standard better than when it first opened - with newer special effects and storytelling that will leave you wanting to re-ride over, and over, and over again.

It's all part of our masterplan to continue to make Warner Bros. Movie World the country's #1 theme park - in the coming months, we'll continue to show you some of the behind the scenes that will make Scooby Doo even more incredible, plus exciting information on new attractions that will give guests even more to do while we refurbish the rides you love."

Yeah, something like that.

[Naazon]

29 minutes ago, Slick said:

Yeah, that's an interesting case for sure. I think their last big announcement was a little bit too much information - there was a fair few different art styles shown and it all felt a bit too hodge podge for my liking. Cool for enthusiasts to nerd over, but not clear and succinct enough for the mass market to ultimately adopt the message Dreamworld is wanting folks to adopt.

No harm in taking a duel approach. Have a GP/media headline 3-5 sentence article/facebook post, then details outlined in a development blog post.

Good news with DWs being so detailed, they can keep their blog up to date with changes and why they made those from the concept art ect ect. 


MW has a real winner here with BTS posts about scooby because we literally can see 0 of the work being done.

[Guest 239]

50 minutes ago, Slick said:

Yeah, something like that.

Get a receptionist familiar with ChatGPT and they'll have blog posts for days.

[Slick]

25 minutes ago, Naazon said:

No harm in taking a duel approach. Have a GP/media headline 3-5 sentence article/facebook post, then details outlined in a development blog post.

I'll go a little bit off-topic here for just a smidge more. It's less about having a dual approach and more about having a clear strategy with a prominent hook for news and media to pick up and a well-executed customer journey/funnel that understands the audience and the platform they're communicating in. TLDR; you can walk and chew gum.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

1 hour ago, Slick said:

"Ruh-roh! We've had to extend Scooby Doo's closure by a few more months. Here's why.

It goes without saying that safety is our highest priority. Our intention is to offer the kind of iconic, world-class experiences guests know, love and come to expect from our park, and Scooby Doo: Spooky Coaster is no exception. We understand that people love this ride, and we do too! We also don't close rides unless we absolutely have to, and in the case of Scooby Doo, we made the hard decision to close this beloved ride earlier than expected to allow us more time for us and our international partners to do the work it needs to live on for decades to come. And whilst we do everything we can to get attractions out from maintenance and down-time as quick as possible, the reality is that supply chain shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic still impact the speed in which our guests expect us to re-open rides. The up-shot of this is that we will have the time needed to properly refurbish Scooby Doo back to a standard better than when it first opened - with newer special effects and storytelling that will leave you wanting to re-ride over, and over, and over again.

It's all part of our masterplan to continue to make Warner Bros. Movie World the country's #1 theme park - in the coming months, we'll continue to show you some of the behind the scenes that will make Scooby Doo even more incredible, plus exciting information on new attractions that will give guests even more to do while we refurbish the rides you love."

They're still contemptuous. They're still dancing around the fact that they closed it with not even a week's notice. They've got *checks* ride maintenance plans published until September - so don't piss on my head and tell me it's raining because "planned maintenance". It's clear something unexpected happened, and you can't blame that on "pandemic supply chain", so just be bloody transparent about it. This doesn't pass the sniff test, and the additional extension makes it smell even worse. 

How about they start with: "During routine maintenance we check all aspects of our ride and with Scooby Doo being nearly 20 years old, our most recent routine checks identified *widgets out of tolerance*. While we had planned to announce our exciting upgrades later this year, these widgets mean we will need more time to do so and we unfortunately need to close scooby sooner than planned to ensure the best experience for all our guests".

Granted, this doesn't acknowledge the overnight extension to 2025, but with the above posted 2 weeks ago, they're on the front foot about transparency right from the get go, so when the date blows out overnight, we're already on board with "she's getting older, and needs more work than originally thought". 

Also - while i realise supply chain issues are still a thing - COVID was a 2022 problem and most people are getting on with the job. There is going to come a time (and I feel its very soon if not already) where any organisation should be factoring any lags or delays into their initial plans (they've had 3 years notice so far) and so when your ride upgrades are announced a week ago, you don't go blaming a 3 year old pandemic for extending the opening date an entire year.

[aaronm]

I think the clock has run out on blaming Covid for delays, at least as a believable excuse. Two years of downtime is longer than most major coasters take to construct from scratch, so it’s entirely reasonable to ask what on earth is going on in this instance. 

[REGIE]

Maybe they are being careful. Saying scooby would open up again 2025 gives them more time and reduces the chances they will have to delay it like what happened to leviathan. People like it more when they get something quicker or better then they were originally told/thought. But I could 100% be totally wrong. The open blog idea is great though. Would be nice if they could somehow create extra hype and keep it like posting clues but I guess the average person couldn’t care less about that stuff.

 

btw I remember someone said the way scooby was built it’s more like a traveling coaster then a permanent one with how the structure is. Is that true or just some rumour

4 minutes ago, aaronm said:

longer than most major coasters take to construct from scratch

*Maybe they are completely replacing scooby with a new scooby*. (I am not suggesting that’s what’s happening btw) 

Edited February 9, 2023 by REGIE

[Naazon]

6 minutes ago, aaronm said:

I think the clock has run out on blaming Covid for delays, at least as a believable excuse. Two years of downtime is longer than most major coasters take to construct from scratch, so it’s entirely reasonable to ask what on earth is going on in this instance. 

I can confirm Covid delays are still being felt in the Automotive industry due to backlogs and slower than expected steel and aluminum production. It has and still is improving quite a lot though.

[Tricoart]

4 hours ago, Naazon said:

I can confirm Covid delays are still being felt in the Automotive industry due to backlogs and slower than expected steel and aluminum production. It has and still is improving quite a lot though.

Idk if others feel the same way, but I understand that COVID has (& will continue to have) lasting impacts on most industries, including the manufacturing of rides. Nonetheless, being almost 3 years into it & having so long to work around these impacts, using it in one such explanation would just seem like a lousy excuse for poor planning nowadays.

[Rivals]

correct me if i’m wrong, but prior to it being updated to 2025 did the list of ride improvements include “vertical lift components replaced with modern designs?” I wonder if upon closer inspection they realised the vertical lift also needs replacing, and due to the late notice they’ve had to push the date back due to Mack having to try and fit that in their schedule. It’s a pretty big structure so i really wouldn’t be shocked especially with all the projects Mack has on their hands. 

[Tricoart]

16 minutes ago, Rivals said:

correct me if i’m wrong, but prior to it being updated to 2025 did the list of ride improvements include “vertical lift components replaced with modern designs?” I wonder if upon closer inspection they realised the vertical lift also needs replacing, and due to the late notice they’ve had to push the date back due to Mack having to try and fit that in their schedule. It’s a pretty big structure so i really wouldn’t be shocked especially with all the projects Mack has on their hands. 

Nah, the only thing that changed with the update is the year, pushing it back to after WoO.
https://web.archive.org/web/20230127114231/https://themeparks.com.au/blog/whats-new-with-scooby-doo

Edited February 9, 2023 by Tricoart

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

10 hours ago, REGIE said:

People like it more when they get something quicker or better then they were originally told/thought.

The problem with that is they originally said 2024, so now saying 2025 means people don't like it because they're going to get something slower than they were originally told/thought.

They can deliver it in 2024 now, but the reaction will be "should've said that from the beginning"

10 hours ago, Naazon said:

I can confirm Covid delays are still being felt in the Automotive industry due to backlogs and slower than expected steel and aluminum production. It has and still is improving quite a lot though.

Correct, they are still being felt. My dealer has just advised i'm going to be waiting at least another 12 months on a vehicle I ordered in April last year. it happens. But they aren't blaming covid shipping delays, and they said i'd be facing more than a 12 month wait to start with because they had a backlog. 

I'm not saying covid isn't affecting things, i'm saying that we all know covid is affecting things, so you should be factoring those effects into your timeline from the get-go, and not blame covid when your timeline blows out by a year less than two weeks after you announced your original planned opening date.

5 hours ago, Tricoart said:

using it in one such explanation would just seem like a lousy excuse for poor planning nowadays.

exactly.

(Also, for anyone skimming, let's be clear that the park hasn't blamed covid for this year's blowout. the point is they haven't said anything, and the covid angle is just a hypothetical being speculated on....)

[Naazon]

16 minutes ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

My dealer has just advised i'm going to be waiting at least another 12 months on a vehicle I ordered in April last year. it happens. But they aren't blaming covid shipping delays, and they said i'd be facing more than a 12 month wait to start with because they had a backlog. 

Thats rough man. Either you got a really popular car and put at the end of the queue, in which case, I advise keep in contact with the Business Manager and there is a chance you get bumped up the line or take someones place when they cancel. If you didn't get a really popular car, you got a really unpopular car (or unprofitable) and its been thrown in at the end of production schedules. Either way, do the BM's job and keep in touch for updates ect and you will be front of mind if things change.

[REGIE]

I tried to buy an Akubra hat and the shop said they can only get in 10 a month Akubra is so far behind (might not be covid) but the reality is the supply chain is slow at the moment and with Mack not building mouses for ages they probably have to manufacture it up they don’t have any spare parts sitting around their shop

34 minutes ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

The problem with that is they originally said 2024, so now saying 2025 means people don't like it because they're going to get something slower than they were originally told/thought.

They can deliver it in 2024 now, but the reaction will be "should've said that from the beginning"

True nevermind then 

[Slick]

21 hours ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

They're still contemptuous. They're still dancing around the fact that they closed it with not even a week's notice. They've got *checks* ride maintenance plans published until September - so don't piss on my head and tell me it's raining because "planned maintenance". It's clear something unexpected happened, and you can't blame that on "pandemic supply chain", so just be bloody transparent about it. This doesn't pass the sniff test, and the additional extension makes it smell even worse. 

How about they start with: "During routine maintenance we check all aspects of our ride and with Scooby Doo being nearly 20 years old, our most recent routine checks identified *widgets out of tolerance*. While we had planned to announce our exciting upgrades later this year, these widgets mean we will need more time to do so and we unfortunately need to close scooby sooner than planned to ensure the best experience for all our guests".

Given the media's fascination with ride maintenance, when you go that route you end up with stuff like this:

Better to not give folks a chance to make a meal out of whatever widget it is, and infer to a degree. Intelligent folks will get it anyway.

 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

6 minutes ago, Slick said:

Given the media's fascination with ride maintenance, when you go that route you end up with stuff like this:

That's just it though. The media slaughtered MW with headlines of "Major Movie World Ride closes after almost 20 years of operation" instead of "it's getting refurbished".

If the park had been fully transparent, anyone that saw the headline would know it was bullshit - but the park leaves a vacuum, of course the media will fill it with drivel.

[New display name]

8 minutes ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

If the park had been fully transparent, anyone that saw the headline would know it was bullshit - but the park leaves a vacuum, of course the media will fill it with drivel.

If MW was being transparent @Slick post was close to the money.

[Gobbledok]

A lot of the sky is falling here. 
Isnt it possible it was going to open December 26 2024 and now could be opening January 1 2025? The delay could be as small as a few days and still cause the year change. 

[New display name]

No.

[rappa]

Surely this is a case of discovering something not worth fixing/couldn’t be fixed quickly during regular inspections and not some big cover up. 
Something of this nature may be completely reliability related like a pump or something and not in any way safety related such as a piece of track to break off. 
 

Covid delays on parts/components is still a real thing every day.