Dreamworld Trip Report 14th Feb

[bigglesworth003]

Ok spent the week up in QLD and of course went to Dreamworld and Movieworld, first up with Dreamworld- Got there bit befroe opening and looked around before rides opened, than first went on Giant drop, scared the crap outta me, but really nothing special. We than went on the River Rapids, which i didnt get wet but was still fun this was the first ride id ever been on when i was 11. (went on later in the day and seemed rougher which was great!) Than went to the claw this was great!! smooth trippy and good time up there went on this 3 times that day always on the next cycle little or no wait. Than went on the wipeout, last time i was here i chickened out on it but my mate dragged me on, WOW! it was fun but scary esp. when flipping and ya butt falls out of the seat scared the crap outta me but this is proberly the best ride dreaworld has good ride time, high capacity and the most thrilling! went on this about 5 times that day. Ok than we went onto Cyclone and wow what a piece of crap! its rough (classic arrow!) fast and just not really fun except the first inversion if you can get past the concussion you get from your head being smacked around the restraint :( terrible ride fast thats it and the queue sucks!! Ok onto the Tower of terror, now this was fun!!! except it went down everytime we queued for it! the acceleration on this is soooo much fun i just loved it! and the second time we were about to go on it went down for the samw reason again it had gone too far back so they had to reset the ride so we waited aobut 10 minutes then got on and went twice in a row they just checked our restraints again and off we went it was great. on let down the run down confussing queue what crap and the vandilism just terrible, esp the damn video screens had to watch that drag racing crap sooo many time but this ride was fantastic!!!!!!!!! Also went on The Rocky hollow flume fun nothing special (WWF just craps all over this one!) and did eureka, fun but rough glad the carrige was cushioned! when you bout to go up the chain lift OUCH!!!! just aobut puts ya back out! and too long of a wait for such a short queue! also did the carrnie ride in the mountain in nick central fun. SO had a fun day, but a few observations: PAINT!- wow the upkeep in some areas is terrible!! esp nick central this was very dissapointing everywere was faded the place was looking very six flags if you know what i mean! and the TOT queue terr it down just switchbacks would be better undercover with mister fans around it this queue annoyed the crap outta me!!! What Dreamworld really needs next is a people eating high capasity ride that lasts more than 90 seconds!!! there are too many short rides here esp considering three of there major rides the longest one is like a minute!! and they need to add block brakes to cyclone and run two trains shhesh!!! another wipout capasity ride with good length is needed!. but all in all had a fun day just needs some spurcing up and such defenatly a fun AMUSEMENT park. (definatley not a theme park)

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

A very good report bigglesworth. I agree with pretty much every point. Putting two trains on cyclone has been discussed on these forums before, with the general concensus being that it would not be feasible. there is really nowhere they can "shunt off" the second train in the event they want single train operation for maintenance or whatever. theres no room for an "out of station" brakehouse either... so yeah... Everything else is pretty much what I have come to expect from dreamworld... in summary - ToT was great but broke down too much Cyclone queue sucks and the ride is average Mine Train queue is just wayyy too long Rapids are good Log Ride is just a flume and upkeep and vandalism and general "appearance" maintenance just isnt being done by dreamworld. i guess they think we just don't care if it looks fresh or not so long as we puke at the end... (oh, and i'll say it before Rich does, try to watch your spelling on your posts, and refer to the community guidelines)

[Richard]

Actually, Cyclone was designed to be able to operate two trains. The block brakes would be added to the final straight before the existing brake run. Look at the final image in the Cyclone gallery, and you can see that this section of track has mounts for where the brakes would go. As for a transfer track - in the scheme of things, this is easily added to the ride. The previous CEO suggested that a second train would be in the works down the track, but that idea seemed to leave with him. There's far more you could do to improve the capacity of the ride before getting a second train. Redesigning the station and queue system would be one and improving efficiency of overall operations is another. I can't see any of these happening any time soon. It's interesting that you thought that about the general upkeep of the park. In particular with Nick Central, I've noticed much the same. It's alarming that Dreamworld continues to go with brighter and brighter paintjobs for rides and buildings, because these age far more rapidly than more traditional ("dull") colours, and though it makes the place look great for a while, if they're not prepared to keep them fresh, then it's really not work doing in the long run, and Nick Central shows this. I would like to add that it appears to me that the quality of gardens at Dreamworld is slowly slipping. Those of you that have known me for a little longer will know I always loved the quality of the gardens and landscaping around the park - it was easily the best in Australia. I held very high hopes for the gardens of Nick Central, but it didn't seem to eventuate, and other gardens around the park seem to have slipped equally, or been completely removed (in the case of those which were once where The Claw now is, since replaced by concrete and the odd pandanus and some succulents). Whether this is a result of water restrictions or not, I don't know, but it's certainly a bare shadow of what it once was.

[bigglesworth003]

I was also looking at the claw which they did quite well and just kept thinking next time im here it will most likely be faded and looking very worn unfortunatly

[scott]

A bit sad to hear this if you ask me. I have no idea how you can like TRR.Despite having potential for high capacity we waited an hour for a ride that was boring,poorly themed,and didn't leave us with a single drop of water.2 freinds,my father and I are going to DW in a week and we're not even bothering with it.

[willsy]

A bit sad to hear this if you ask me. I have no idea how you can like TRR.Despite having potential for high capacity we waited an hour for a ride that was boring,poorly themed,and didn't leave us with a single drop of water.2 freinds,my father and I are going to DW in a week and we're not even bothering with it.

Sad?? Well people do like things that are different from your choice scott.

[scott]

I mean it's a shame to see the park deteriorate so badly,that's all.

[bigglesworth003]

Yeah it is just some fun, was not as good as i remember (i was 12 last time ) plus ive beenon heaps better (grizzly at DCA) but always liked those rides in any form, except for the random dinosaurs in the cave and same goes for rocky hollow

[Gazza]

Yeah, TRR could be improved a bit. Some ideas that spring to mind are, -New Fountains -More Themeing beside the ride -Spruce up existing Theming -Turn up the overhead waterfall at the tunnel (Prehaps by installing a new pump) -Get rid of the Dinosaur, its goldrush remember. -Install coin op spray guns. -Do something to make the ride up the conveyor more interesting.

[Whombex]

I'm going on Tuesday, and I'd been building the Park visit up in my head, but I will be keeping these issue in mind when I visit. Maybe I'll think "it's not that bad", or maybe I'll think: "Perhaps it's Movie World from now on". Either way I'll be wasting a Gig of photos with my new Digital SLR camera (in preparation for my first Formula One attendance). I'll be looking forward to the Claw, Giant Drop, ToT (Dang it I hope these "too far back" bugs are fixed by then!!), and Cyclone. Even with the previously mentioned problems, maybe I need to ride it again to reinforce how good Superman will be (whenever it is I get to ride it - 2006?). The Log ride, Bigglesworth, is indeed nothing in comparison to MW's WWF. But note that there is seventeen years between the construction of Rocky Hollow (1981!!) and WWF (1998). I guess I'll spare some time to pay respects to the Thunderbolt Graveyard. Bigglesworth, do you know what IMAX movie is screening atm?

[Slick]

Depends what mood Dreamworld's in really. Either Kingdom of the tigers or super speedway. BTW, Super speedway is utterly awesome, I'd recommend it. Hey glubbo, give me a PM, i'd like to talk some random sometime soon.

[ScReAMmachine!]

I was at Dreamworld last week, and I must admit the Park is looking in a great state. I was very impressed by the theming around the new Claw attraction. The theming was as good as the ride itself. The only (recurring) issue with Dreamworld is queue effeciency. The queue for the Giant Drop was unbearable and the Cyclone was ridiculous. Sure im complaining because I have a history of 'no queue waiting' at WLS and LPS. Revising operational manuals and procedures is what I believe DW needs to better handle larger crowds. If this involves additional or the repositioning of rides staff, so be it. Other than capacity issues it was a good day.

[kennykoala]

was at dreamworld yesterday, super speedway was on imax glubbo.

[joz]

Call me crazy, but on my last visit (early last week) I thought Dreamworld was looking pretty good overall. There were a couple of rough spots around the park (River Town, Giant Drop and Thunder River were the main ones, but ToT wasn't open ), but nothing that couldn't be fixed easily enough. Hell, they even had the fountains on Wipeout working, first time I've seen them work since the ride first opened. Now all they need to do is make it a "Wet ride" (and let everyone know so people don't complain). The Imax theater was playing Super Speedway, so I guess they've stopped playing Kingdom of the Tiger which IMHO wasn't a very good film anyway. It fit in nicely with Dreamworld and the Tiger's, but the film was still a bit boring.

[Daniel]

Scream old son! Ring me when you're not working re: later in the year.

[MARK28]

The Tower of Terror has that paint job for effect; it wasn't just left because they couldn't be bothered. It has a nice rustic delapidated feel..... I thought the dragsters were a strange touch, a bit out of place, but they were better than nothing. Also, the wipeout was fun, but I didn't find it scary at all. Maybe that's because I've been on the Zipper, cause I reckon they didn't flip you over constantly enough! The only intense part was at the very end where you are flipped upside down twice in a row, and I wanted more!!!

[Daniel]

and I wanted more!!!

Don't we all old son... By the way, Wipeout is a super ride.

[Gazza]

Dragsters? Have I missed something here.

[Whombex]

Well, one more sleep to go. [chair dance] I'll be snapping like crazy with my camera, so I'll get a pic or 2 of the dragsters (near/part of ToT???). To be honest I'm surprised there's so many people here who really like Wipeout. Sure, it's a great ride, but I'd have thought all of it's breakdowns would have made people here more critical. Today I had a brainwave for a new ride for the park (don't we all get those!!), and I'll spare a few pics (300 at 3000x2000 on my 1Gb card) of the area I'd like to see it built. I'll explain a bit more after I've been to the park, after checking to see if there's enough room... (It involves the possible removal of Model T Lane and possibly replacing Captain Sturt with something a lot smaller). The area near Model T Lane and the Dreamworld Tower has a lot of TALL trees, right? I'll spare some time for that Imax movie. I miss the Brisbane Southbank Imax, but like seeing normal movies there these days!

[scott]

Wipeout is a much better ride than most of DW'S others,of course we like it.Also,I'm surprised to hear the fountains were on,I hope they're going when I'm there on saturday

[Gazza]

Hmm, I wonder what makes top spin style rides and fountains go hand in hand? Maybe this could be a ride slogan "Wipeout: spin cycle with rinse and hold" So anyway, what are people talking about with the dragsters on TOT? are they showing TTD footage?