I'm sure some people will like it, but for me, spending $20m on a mediocre ride when a ride 100 times better already exists in the same area is a waste of money.

I think that's a short-sighted and narrow-minded view.

The ride has always been lambasted as unsuitable. Ride experience, ridiculous dispatch times and uncomfortable and restrictive harnesses, themeing and location, none of it worked and it was a poor decision from management whom we now know should never have operated a theme park.

Current leadership have shown that they are willing to go the extra mile to deliver an immersive and cohesive experience, albeit within budgetary constraints. MDMC stuck out like a sore thumb against the backdrop of their flagship Rivertown, and management made it very clear that while they couldn't fix it during the construction of Rivertown, they would move to change that as soon as they were able.

The retheme will fix the issues of theme and location, the new trains will fix the harnessing issues, while simultaneously improving the ride experience - which - based on what the park has said - will also be enhanced by additional themeing elements too. While we don't yet have information on whether this will speed up operations, I feel confident that anything has to be better than those trains, so thats a plus also.

Everything they've announced goes directly to fixing the inherent issues with the ride since day 1 while focussing on improving the park as a whole, bit by bit. There's very little in terms of direction and capex at Dreamworld in recent times that I could complain about. I was never really a fan of MDMC - but i'm keen to see what they can do with it - rather than shit on it before it's even started.

The ride is just not very good though. Comfort is just the worst of the issues. Replace the shit motorbike trains with quad bikes and its a boring coaster that loses all its speed after the first turn and just meanders around. Really there isn't much to work with.

I don't have any idea what the layout changes are going to be and I'm sure whatever theming they do will be at a very good standard like the rest of rivertown. But I feel it'll have to take a lot to make the ride decent let alone better than its cousin at sea world (something that was designed well from the outset)

Totally agree, motocoaster stuck out like a sore thumb in rivertown and that needed to be addressed (I think we can all agree on that), but i reckon something ground-up would have barely cost more than a reskin of a ride that doesn't have a lot going for it

Edited Friday at 12:36 AM4 days by Baconjack

Calling this ride not very good is an understatement. It’s awful. You get a launch, a brief moment of excitement, and then it dies.

I’ve got no doubt DW will theme the absolute shit out of it and do a fantastic job. But you can put all the theming, theming effects and fancy scenery in the world around it, and it won’t change the fact that the ride layout sucks.

$20m to put lipstick on a pig. It might end up being a very pretty pig, but it’s still a pig. 🐷

While I agree that the ride is a terrible layout. I think it's original marketing as a 'thrill' ride was also a mistake.

With the re-theme, this is better thought of as an elevated kiddie coaster/family ride. Something that sits between Kenny's Forest Flyer and Jungle Rush, not as something that sits between Jungle Rush and Steel Taipan.

When you think of it that way, a mild ride with low forces but good theming is a good step up from KFF.

I think DW just needs to make sure that they market it as such - with an emphasis on the story, rather than the thrills.

Having a lot of near-misses and things to look at will also help give a sense of speed. One of the problems is that the layout was clearly intended to be low to the ground and DW's old management put it on a hill, so it became flying motorbikes. Having some kinetic elements - water splashes or moving set pieces like you'd get on a dark ride- will also help to improve the ride experience.

Rebranding it as a kids ride might help, but is it really worth spending $20 million on a secondhand kids ride? The real question is whether DW is creating a genuinely compelling attraction or spending a fortune dressing up a layout that wasn't very good to begin with.

DW have gone full 360 on us with this one. What they’re doing here is the complete opposite of what they did with King Claw.

To be fair, we really have no Idea what the actual finished product will be. Perhaps Dreamworld will improve the launch so the ride doesn’t loose momentum so quickly, perhaps it will be story-driven with lots of big props and additional theming elements built around the track (like rock work and major set pieces) to add excitement and make it feel faster? I highly doubt the park’s current management would ever settle for a mediocre ride experience and I have faith they can make this work.

It’s also worth remembering that Motocoaster was always very popular with the GP. So while enthusiasts may not like it, there’s definitely still an audience for it and completely scrapping it wouldn’t help the “Dreamworld have closed all their classic rides” narrative that the park is trying to get away from.

Regardless of the layout, it closely resembles Rita at Alton Towers; although Rite is widely called a more “intense coaster,” people still complain Rita’s layout. Because MC and Rita share such similar layouts, I am unsure whether a theming upgrade will achieve much.

SDSC would have delivered a strong return on investment given its popularity and cult following, so unless Dreamworld quickly turns MC into a cult classic like by add a dark ride section, enclosing the ride, adding onboard audio or by making actual track changes to create a more contemporary layout

I doubt it will match the return that of SDSC or KC achieved, especially as $20m I would assume is nearly the same price they paid for all of RT ($30m)

The ride isnt awful just the bikes were awful and its not a high thrill ride

Invest half of what a new ride would cost make it fit a theme and target it as a kid friendly family ride a step down from jungle rush and its a solid addition to the lineup.

Just because its not jet rescue doesnt make it bad I know young kids who had it as their favourite ride

The Big Red Boat Coaster is genuinely more exciting to ride. MC’s layout is pretty much everything a coaster shouldn’t be, 605 metres of track where nothing happens.

53 minutes ago, New display name said:

The Big Red Boat Coaster is genuinely more exciting to ride. MC’s layout is pretty much everything a coaster shouldn’t be, 605 metres of track where nothing happens.

Is that because BRB Coaster has theming elements that the train interacts with? :sigh:

Going to nitpick like crazy here but you can't market Lost Mine Mayhem as a ride between KFF and jungle rush when every ride with the intamin quad bike trains has a 120cm minimum height restriction (and 130 without an adult) which will mean there's kids that can go on jungle rush but not Lost Mine Mayhem

That said, yes, it does increase access to the ride. However i do think it will still sit in that gap between jungle rush and the bigger coasters (again, something clean slate would have been better). As i said before I am remaining open-minded on what theming they add to the layout, as others have said, adding indoor sections, near misses and rockwork would improve the sense of speed greatly

Edited 6 hours ago6 hr by Baconjack

13 minutes ago, Baconjack said:

Going to nitpick like crazy here

Alright, but you started it.

• Road Runner Rollercoaster is listed on the park's website as a 'kids ride' and is located in the children's section of the park, is marketed as 'perfect for young kids' with 'thrill level - mild' and has a minimum 110cm height requirement.

• Kansas Twister is listed on the park's website as a 'thrill ride', is located in WOZ land, is marketed as 'thrilling' with 'thrill level - moderate' with a minimum 95cm rider height.

• Flight of the Wicked Witch is listed on the park's website as a 'family ride', is located in WOZ land, is marketed as 'wickedly fast' with 'thrill level - moderate' and has a minimum 105cm height requirement.

Height requirement has nothing to do with marketability. The lowest height requirement on the three rides above is actually categorised and listed as the most thrilling, and the ride with the highest requirement is marketed as the 'lowest thrill' tier for kids.

5 hours ago, Baconjack said:

the intamin quad bike trains has a 120cm minimum height restriction (and 130 without an adult)

If that’s the case, that’ll be a downgrade from Motocoaster as I believe it was 110cm for the side cars.

@Baconjack I didn’t think Intamin were supplying the trains, so I wouldn’t take their specs as gospel.

Edited 13 minutes ago13 min by New display name