New Marketing Surveys

[Flea]

I took a trip to Wonderland today despite my dad's 50th birthday party being held the previous night (It was hellish- 70 drunken adults with black drambuie is not a good mix. Just ask my mum about cleaning the carpet!). I arrived at 3, and went straight to guest relations to get my stamp for entry. The little room was packed with 10 people... 8 of them weren't happy at all. They claimed that it was a rip off to be paying $50 just to ride the only major ride operating at the time (Demon, The Bush Beast and Snowy River Rampage are apparently closed until the school holidays). They did not end up getting refunds. I entered the park at 3:15pm. What first caught my eyes were two fairly powerful water jets placed in the middle of the lake. They are placed on about a 45 degree angle, they look great. However, the dining area located next to the lake has received the mardi gras paint. As expected, it looks stupid. I wandered around for a bit, and then bumped into a staff member handing out marketing surveys. Being as bored as I was, I asked if I could do it. It was certainly worth the time. Most questions were about how often you visit Wonderland, and what radio station you like etc. But there was a question about what you'd like to see at Wonderland, the options were.. New water rides Late night dance parties Movies at the beach New shows Character appearences There were also a few other options, but I can't quite remember them. The fact that they mentioned "New water rides" was interesting (note the rumour of a new water slide coming soon). Could this mean that the new water slide will be coming after all, just at a later date? Thanks, ~Flea

[Psycho]

New water rides? Movies at the beach? Late night dance parties? Certainly sounds like Wonderland is aiming at big Saturday nights this Summer....Perhaps with The Beach being open after dark for once....

[Nightshifter]

it all sounds crap to me if i wanted to go on a water slide i would go to wet n wild. who cares, a new ride a new roller coaster is very different from a plain old slide, the beach sucks to me dance partys good, but there are very different roller coasters each with a different feeling, a water slide is all the same to me, its only that the slide goes right rather than left or a bigger drop, big deal. all they will do is probably rename the mountain cascades and make it like a normal water slide.

[joz]

it all sounds crap to me if i wanted to go on a water slide i would go to wet n wild.

Exactly, why would Wonderland want us to go Wonderland when we can go to Wet "n" Wild instead. I do agree though, there isn't much choice in that lot. I do tend to think that Water Ride may have more to do with the old rumour of a WWF style ride coming to Wonderland. Food for thought anyway.

[Richard]

It suggests specifically "water ride", yet there's no mention of just a ride in general or ride. It doesn't take much great insight to realise that they've got some form of water ride on the drawing board (be it a flume or slide or whatnot). In defence of water slides (and again, based on what we've been given here, it can't be said whether they're talking about a slide), in terms of re-ridability, I've not found anything that comes anywhere near Aqua Racer at Wet'n'Wild (with the exception of perhaps one of my much-loved Toboggans). Surely Nightshifter if you're sitting around on a particularly hot summer's day, and you decide that a waterpark is what you want, you don't just pack your bags and take the day drive up to the Gold Coast for a visit to Wet'n'Wild. Wonderland Sydney's focus is the regional market these days. It is meant to be a relatively inexpensive day's entertainment for anyone within a few hours, whereas the shift with certainly the Warner Village parks and to a lesser extent Dreamworld, is towards "destination" park. They really want holidaymakers who are on their yearly family holiday, not the locals interested in a way to kill a day, and this is totally reflective in their Three Park Super Savers. Is Wonderland advertising the ride closures? They don't have it anywhere on their website, which I certainly object to. If they are anything but clearly signposted for all incoming guests to see (I don't mean an A4 sized sign on the window of the Guest Services window, way off to the side of the ticket booths), then I really do think that Wonderland should seriously rethink their approach. I have a lot of respect for Wonderland Sydney's administration, but closing multiple major attractions (especially when you have so few to start off with), regardless of reasons, is just plain wrong.

[joz]

Couldn't agree more with you Richard. At SW, we haven't really got many major rides, so if one of them was closed, there'd be a pretty sizeable sign out the front of the park to go along with the regular information board, as well the info being posted on the website. Plus the LCD Screen above the entrance; in short, you'd know about it long before you entered. Not having the info on the website is pretty deceptfull; MW, WnW, and even DW manage to have that information there. Maybe Wonderland should have a section on their website where the information can be made public?

[Flea]

Is Wonderland advertising the ride closures?

Besides a little 'ride closure' sign infront of every ticket booth, then no, they aren't. The sign is very easy to miss, so most guests won't find out about the ride closures until they actually enter the park. Staff also tell people immediately after they buy tickets to enter Wonderland, thus, no refunds will be given. ~Liam

[FormerWonderEmp]

I was at WS on Sunday and at about 12pm Snowy River Rampage closed due to a pump failure, as i know a lot of the staff there i was able to find out that it was being fixed ASAP but would not re-open that day. Also the ticket staff were telling all customers that Demon, BB and Snowy (after it closed) were closed, so all guests were well aware what attractions are closed. Sometimes having multiple rides down is inevitable but not excusable. Demon had to close for its annual maintance. If WS had delayed the annual any longer it would of been illegal to run the ride. And YES BB is going to re-open but no one is sure of when. ~Former

[Richard]

Illegal to run the ride? That's believable! I presume it is a law only applied in New South Wales, as many rides in Queensland go for years without any significant "maintenance". What really is done over several weeks of closure that can't be done in the standard inspections each morning? If there's some significant work to be done, I fail to see how in several days it can't be done. Furthermore, if this nonsense about annual maintenance being legally mandatory is believed for just a few seconds, then there is even less of a reason for them to bring it down to coincide with Bush Beast's closure. I could understand the situation if say Demon suffered from a snapped chain, while (and only while) Bush Beast was already well and truly into its annual maintenance. Absolutely any other situation, such as the current one, and I cannot at all empathise with Wonderland.

[Nightshifter]

either way wonderland is stupid for closing 3 rides all at once for this so called maintanance that the lady said and secondly richard is right that if it was a hot summers day i wouldnt pack my bags and go to queensland to wet n wild but the facts are there, im just not fond on the idea of a water slide at wonderland, when i go to wonderland i dont just go to the beach i will devot half my time about 3 hrs at the beach and the left over time at the park there are a large pool to swim in, a freefall water slide, a wavy water slide and a tunnel water slide and lastly a kids pool and a mountain cascades ride which can all be fit in 3 hours, i can also go to st marys to ripples or the sydney aquatic centre, its fun there as well. my point is that if wonderland is aiming for a new attraction a roller coaster is the wway to go, i dont care about a themed land becasue they will eventually open a new themed world in the old little wodners land area and reuse the fred flinstone splash down and the beastie under different themes dont every bother ringing up wonderland for future details becasue my friend that works there is told that whatever happens at the meetings she has the discussion stays there they cant release or let ruomers or facts out on what the park is actually doing if any other theme park in australia hears what they are doing it will shatter wonderlands new attractions and everyone will be focused on something else. they want it kept sort of private so when they do open new rides or whatever it will give other theme parks a while to open there new attractions afterwards whcih keeps wodnerland focused bu australia for about 2 years at the max. thankyou

[FormerWonderEmp]

In reply to Richards message it is a WorkCover NSW law that says that the rides must go down for annual maintance. At the moment Demon's train is completly stripped down and is being re-built, so its a bit hard to do that during the daily inspections. Also BB is not closed for annual maintance. My source's at WS have told me that BB is closed because of and incident that happened there with a member of the maintance crew and that major changes have to be made to fix it before it will re-open, which it will do because they have completely refurbished the yellow train and are in the process of doing the red train. Unfortuanatly Nightshifter is wrong about LWL reopening as a new themed part of the theme park, it is going to reopen however as part of the Wildlife Park. When i worked at WS i was told that the park was getting several new attractions, it turns out that WS was planning to get the same coaster as the Reptar kids coaster at DW, when WS found out about DW getting the coaster the deal was canned. ~Former

[Nightshifter]

you misunderstood me i meant that it was IMO that, thats what wodenrland will do it sounds like wonderland, and what possibly can they use it for the wildlife park the beastie is reopening for crying out loud i dont know when but it will reopen they may relocate it however the skyrider is staying in its correst location.

[FormerWonderEmp]

Beastie will not be re-opening at WS. It may be sold and will open else where but it will never ne-open and WS ~Former