Is Dreamworld going downhill?

[MickeyD]

^ I guess that's the major issue with DW today - Themeing (or lack thereof). I'm an old school DW Buff. Back in it's hey day, it was easily the best Park, hands down. It's a shame to see these days too much focus is put on the brand new attractions whilst they let the old one's slip by the weigh side (or vanish all together). Having worked almost 10 years in Theme Park's myself, it makes me angry to see DW in the state it's in today. Are the Manager's blind? Why do they not seem to see what is so obvious to so many of us who spend far less time wondering the grounds?? Without much effort at all, I see rust, closed attractions, boarded up areas, faded paint work, old footpaths, very few atmosphere performers, broken lights, dust, cobwebs & visible wood rot. Not to mention the horrendous colour scheme that has engulfed the area in more recent times (ie Main st Facades & Captain Sturt) These efforts have only made the problems stand out more... IN FLURO! As the old jingle goes "Do Dreamworld just for Fun"....Yeap that's about it -just 'fun' with no 'frills'? I hope one day we see a return to a Dreamworld that has 'themed' areas and more continuity. The addition of some 'adventure' based attractions that rely equally on visual wow's as they do thrills and maybe tell a bit of a story. Sadly, it's been a very long time since we have seen any of that here..

[Dreamworld]

Guys i was at Dreamworld today and the Wipeout has had a face lift! new paint and the water area below it has changed. Maby this is a park wide clean up?

[Spotty]

The wipeout has been like that for a few months now I think. Just to inform you guys of the EXTENT of this upgrade to the wipeout, these are the changes that have happened... New Harnesses Beach Retheme, including the removal of the fountains and replacing it with a dock, moving the ocean parade footpath back, making more room on the beach, which may mean that the dock could be used for performances? The Wave has been re-painted Water Drained and painted water effect under the ride. Gondola Repaint New bag holders So it seems as though they are wanting to do some major work to the ride. And on another note, in the Tower Of Terror Queue line, the very noisy metal stairs have been removed, and replaced with more sturdy wooden stairs. and who knows, the reason that the ToT may be closed on the 19th is to do a clean up or put new Air Con in the queue line? I will say i'm starting to have some faith in Dreamworld again if they keep these upgrades going, and do it on a PARK WIDE basis.

[Chaos-Maniac]

I think Dreamworld just needs to get back into the normal retein maintence checks and upgrades. This way they wouldn't be faced with massive amount of maintence works at in a couple of months and then maybe even having to fully remove the ride. It would just make common sense... something that Dreamworld has seemed to loose lately?

Guys i was at Dreamworld today and the Wipeout has had a face lift! new paint and the water area below it has changed. Maby this is a park wide clean up?

The wipeout has been like that for a few months now I think. Just to inform you guys of the EXTENT of this upgrade to the wipeout, these are the changes that have happened... New Harnesses Beach Retheme, including the removal of the fountains and replacing it with a dock, moving the ocean parade footpath back, making more room on the beach, which may mean that the dock could be used for performances? The Wave has been re-painted Water Drained and painted water effect under the ride. Gondola Repaint New bag holders So it seems as though they are wanting to do some major work to the ride. And on another note, in the Tower Of Terror Queue line, the very noisy metal stairs have been removed, and replaced with more sturdy wooden stairs. and who knows, the reason that the ToT may be closed on the 19th is to do a clean up or put new Air Con in the queue line? I will say i'm starting to have some faith in Dreamworld again if they keep these upgrades going, and do it on a PARK WIDE basis.

Good news! Hopefully they'll keep this up. However while ToT and Wipeout did need maintence works, I'd really like to see them getting around to fixing up the area of Gold Rush. Maybe even completely closing off the area and re-doing it. Time will only tell.

[Spotty]

I don't think the Gold Rush upgrade will happen this year, with peak season coming up but it would be VERY good to happen soon. I reckon the theming is ok there, it just needs something to do other than the rapids! If they got rid of the damn chairlift station, they could fit a nice flat ride in there! Maybe something like a HUSS Rodeo or one of the following 2 rides from SBF Visa Themed to something like a Mine shaft? SBF VISA TEKNO FLY SBF VISA MAGIC BOWL

[T-bone]

With Goldrush, if they were to fix it up, I would love to see the following happen. Fix Eureka or replace it with something new (obvious one). Extend the Goldrush theme into Rocky Hollow, and can the "Rocky Hollow" theme, making it all one Goldrush theme. Do something creative where the Chairlift station is. Widen the Bridge which connects Goldrush and Rocky Hollow, as well as the Giant Drop. Give the Giant Drop a Goldrush theme. Re-theme the Log Ride, include some effects and bang, we have made a good ride into an excellent ride. Is anyone able to provide a new photograph of Wipeout's current state? And on the TOT, fudge the Wooden stairs, give the ride a re-theme, and use the elevators again, thus reducing the need of the stairs.

Edited December 2, 2007 by T-bone

[Spotty]

Paul, with the wooden stairs, i mean the ones inside the skull, not where the elevators are... Next time I am down at dreamworld, i will take some pics of the Wipeout overhaul

[dreamworld_rulz]

I'll be there Friday week so if there's no pic then I'll put one up. It's great news that DW is "finally" making improvements. If only they could get a 2nd train for the Cyclone.

[Spotty]

Sadly for that to happen, they will need to do ALOT of work to make it happen, I.E Transfer Track, New Brakes, not to mention re-programming the computer. But as i'm sure i've said before... alot of the issues with the Cyclone cycle being so long is the station brakes, how they stop and start several times, taking up to a minute to park. If they fixed that problem, it would make the load / unload times alot quicker, and once they sort out the queue system, MAYBE they would reach that magic 500 peeps per hour it supposedly gets through...

[dreamworld_rulz]

Yes the stop start needs to go. Why do they have that?

[Gazza]

The Hysteris (degree of tolerance with the brakes) is set too low so they stop and start as the computer tries to keep the train very close to the set speed.

Sadly for that to happen, they will need to do ALOT of work to make it happen, I.E Transfer Track, New Brakes, not to mention re-programming the computer.

Yeah, but the ride is designed with a re fit in mind, so its not impossible, from an engineering point of view it would be quite simple. The point is whether DW would spend the money.

Maybe something like a HUSS Rodeo or one of the following 2 rides from SBF Visa Themed to something like a Mine shaft?

How would you theme a circular ride to a mine shaft? Its a bit of a stretch since mine shafts are vertical structures. Anyway, I think DW has enough crappy carnie spin and spews in Ocean Parade, I'd rather not see more to be honest. Edited December 3, 2007 by Gazza

[saberon]

The most effective sollution in my opinion would be to install a set of friction wheels to the station segment, so the train wouldnt be reliant on gravity and braking to move the train to station and away from station.

[Richard]

The real solution is to get someone with the appropriate qualifications/experience out to look at the system and settings and make appropriate adjustments so that it operates like the 100-odd other Arrow coasters that brake just fine throughout the world. This should have been done back in 2001 before it even opened; I don't know who thought it was acceptable to run it how it is with such a pointless capacity bottleneck that could be fixed with minimal outlay. Friction wheels and other modifications to the ride would require a redesign/retrofit of the trains, which doesn't strike me as a cost-effective solution. Other Arrow rides haven't needed to be modified to brake correctly, so no point in re-engineering things.

[bjkaus]

i recently went to the melbourne zoo and it's sad when the theming of a zoo (i'm thinking of the newish elephant area they have) is better than a theme park!

[T-bone]

Just on the topic of themeing, does anyone think that now would be an appropriate time to re-name Main Street at Dreamworld Toyland (In reference to Noddy Childrens TV Show)? The train station's colours sure remind me of Noddy. Just food for thought I suppose