The first attraction maintenance schedules have been published on the Dreamworld website. So far, nothing out of the ordinary.

 

42 minutes ago, themagician said:

 

Is it just me or is 43 days a long time for the Claw to be down for maintenance?

If the Claw was at MW it would be down for 80 days.

Its 10 year major might be due.

Edited January 3, 20241 yr by New display name

8 minutes ago, DJKostya said:

Is it just me or is 43 days a long time for the Claw to be down for maintenance?

That’s about average, this is what it was last year

On 20/12/2022 at 7:53 AM, themagician said:

 

On 04/01/2024 at 7:50 AM, DJKostya said:

Is it just me or is 43 days a long time for the Claw to be down for maintenance?

pretty sure the claw is coming up on it's 20th birthday (just checked, and it is scheduled to reopen a week before it turns 20) so there is merit to the timing if it is an unusual length...

Vintages Cars reopening has been pushed back a month 

forgot to post photos from when i went last friday. most were of rivertown construction & didn’t really show much/are now outdated, but here’s what i got of the vintage cars site.

Edited January 8, 20241 yr by Tricoart

10 hours ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

pretty sure the claw is coming up on it's 20th birthday (just checked, and it is scheduled to reopen a week before it turns 20) so there is merit to the timing if it is an unusual length...

Time for a strip down and repaint? I mean it’s hit that 10 year mark I’m pretty sure, could explain the length

Dreamworld Flyer is closed for a couple weeks 

Standard procedure these days.   

15 hours ago, themagician said:

Dreamworld Flyer is closed for a couple weeks 

That’s annoying. Visiting next weekend, didn’t expect it to be down for maintenance so soon, these sort of rides are usually pretty reliable.

@aaronm it did unexpectedly close at the start of last week, and then it’s reopening got pushed back to Friday and now a couple more weeks so my guess is they’re waiting on a part. 

They are usually reliable, but unexpected downtime is always expected for new attractions within its first few months

22 hours ago, aaronm said:

That’s annoying. Visiting next weekend, didn’t expect it to be down for maintenance so soon, these sort of rides are usually pretty reliable.

Yeah the closure date is the first day of QLD School term. Whether it was planned or unexpected, the new rides always tough it out over the summer holidays and go down the second the coast gets a chance to breathe. I didn't know it was down (and we'd planned to visit yesterday and only found out on Saturday it was down, but thanks to the ex-TC rainfall, we postponed it a couple weeks, when it is planned to be back up!) but visiting the coast in the few weeks post holidays is always a risky manoeuvre.

The park has taken a lot offline immediately following the holidays. Thankfully they're all flats (and vintage cars has a pretty good reason) though on the bright side its nice to see Triple Vortex is coming back this week.

Think yourself lucky you're visiting this weekend - If you'd waited one more week it would have been worse down the road:

 

Edited January 28, 20241 yr by DaptoFunlandGuy

2 hours ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

Think yourself lucky you're visiting this weekend - If you'd waited one more week it would have been worse down the road:

We used to head up mid-term to avoid crowds but in recent years I've found the week immediately after school holidays to be the last reasonable time to visit, given maintenance/shutdown windows are much lengthier than pre-covid.

It's MW's save a buck policy.  You are saving a lot of money if you shut each ride down for 4 extra weeks a year.

 

Edited January 29, 20241 yr by New display name

2 hours ago, New display name said:

It's MW's save a buck policy.  You are saving a lot of money if you shut each ride down for 4 extra weeks a year.

 

Gosh it would be a real unpopular opinion to actually believe that they have genuine planned annual R&M to complete on these complex pieces of machinery that are outlined by the OEM, whilst at the same time continuing to maintain the operation of the other attractions, completing daily, weekly and monthly periodic inspections so the business can continue to operate for 7 days a week. 

Exhibit A -

 

Exhibit B -

Things get old therefore they need more time to be worked on.

who knew?

Exhibit C -  (6 weeks)

 

Exhibit D - (4 weeks)

Well the above is the worst comparison ever. Two completely different devices, not even comparable... One that's relatively new and knowing SBF rides, the attraction will likely have a milestone service requirement being new that may require greater stripe-back and NDT assessment to ensure there are no early signs of structural fatigue. 

Superman Escape also has varied shutdown periods, not like for like depending on the whats required. For example generally every 2 years it requires a rope replacement. Based on age its also likely soon due for a control system upgrade. Also probably likely that some time might also be needed inside the rides footprint to complete works on The Flash Force Speed.  

Simply, your sweeping statement is an incorrect assumption and I know that as fact. 

we've seen maintenance periods and downtimes far more in recent years than we ever have before. Regardless of the reason why, it leaves a hole in the park's lineup. 

When you take down attractions for massive overhauls, it highlights the park's capacity constraints and everyone can feel it. 

Dreamworld could feel the loss of Giant Drop while it was closed for refurb (especially having lost so many others permanently in recent years too) - but with Batwing, Superman, Doomsday and Scooby all down simultaneously, we're left with Green Lemon, Wild West Flaws and Dc Rivals to prop up the park for almost two entire months. 

Now, I understand there are new requirements on machinery maintenance that must be adhered to, but come on - stop taking the piss - there had to be another solution than to take down those three major attractions at the exact same time, and FOR the exact same time.

Superman was shut down for the same time last year.

Even Aussie World do the standard 4 week maintenance period.  (The same standard MW once did before 22,23 & 24.   Maintenance has been extended on most rides, if not all)

 

Make whatever excuses you want, but the facts are, maintenance periods have doubled on all major rides and smaller rides have also increased.

Edited January 29, 20241 yr by New display name

This may be a dumb question - but if it’s for parts availability.. why don’t they just order the stuff earlier?

40 minutes ago, Dean Barnett said:

This may be a dumb question - but if it’s for parts availability.. why don’t they just order the stuff earlier?

Might be some parts are only replaced if they are necessary, and they don't fully know what needs replacing until they do the pull-down. I would expect though that by now someone would have a fairly good idea what needs to be replaced on Superman every year, being its been operating for almost 20 years.

If they're really penny pinching at the park, maybe they just don't hold these kinds of items in stock any more?

RE: the longer downtimes, maybe they've been burnt too many times in the past by unknowns and then had to deal with disappointed guests by blowing past their return-to-service dates? Underpromise/Overdeliver etc.

I’d be a little more forgiving of the extended maintenance windows if the parks acknowledged the impact it has on the guest experience. Their current attitude is basically “too bad, suck it up, something something safety” which is pretty poor when half a dozen attractions are down simultaneously (MW for most of March this year) plus whatever unexpected downtime happens. Anyone on a single or multi day ticket is going to feel royally ripped off when they see that maintenance A-frame on arrival.