Wonderland Closing Early On The 22nd!

[Andy_q69]

Me 'n Flea were going to a regular trip to Wonderland this evening. I had to leave early due to my parents were going to work and the RWC Final. Liam was there to arrive @ 4pm I think? Well, after the dropoff of my dad at the train station, my mum and I made our way to Wonderland. We drove up.. Saw the usual things happening, TBB operating, Zodiac without its gondolas and SP falling. I got out of the car ready for a wonderful night (but the first hour by myself), until my mums car did this giant U-turn and called me back over. She told me the security guard over there has told her: "Is that your son your dropping off to stay til' 10pm?". "Yes." she replied. "Well the park closes at 5pm today, not 10." At that moment I was stunned. Why is it closing so early tonight? That, I don't know, but i went home @ 3:50.. The security guard that said that stuff to my mum was talking to some bimbo's in a really nice blue sportscar. Maybe they told him to say that for a joke? I really don't know.. But does anyone know why it closed so early? (Even though, it might've not!)

[Daniel]

I find it very hard to believe. I can only recall maybe 2 or 3 days in the last 12 months when Wonderland has closed early. The only reason they close early is because of lack of numbers. How do they know they're not going to get people at 5:00? They couldn't do it at 5:00. They'd have to wait until atleast 6:00 and review park numbers. However, you wouldn't think that Wonderland staff would be so unprofessional as to say something like that unless it was true. If it turns out that the place is closing, I'll find out why for ya's and give you an answer tomorrow. Who was the security guard? If you're going to Wally World on World Cup Final night I think you're a nutter anyway. Someone could just ring them couldn't they? I would but I don't give a crap.

[Daniel]

What the friggin f*ck are they doing? I hear people were being kicked out at 5:00. How can they say no one's coming? Surely they'd give people the chance, if they got there for 5:00, to get in and spend some time in there. See if anyone's gonna show up and reassess numbers at 7:00. That's bloody criminal. You're a bunch of jokers! Get lost!

[Scared of Jack]

cry Yes the park attendances were really bad on the 22/11/03. You would of been lucky if there were 100 people. But that is the reason why the park closed early because of the crap weather and park attendance being so low, not because of the RWC. So much of the high attendance rate isnt it! D Crappy weather or not!

[Psycho]

Forgive me if I'm wrong Daniel, but wouldn't it be extremely stupid to allow people to arrive at 5pm, pay their entry fees, and close the park after an hour or two? Wouldn't that destroy the reputation of the park more than not being open for extended trading on one Saturday night? Fair enough that it isn't great that this was done without warning, but it isn't unheard of for a park to close in poor weather conditions....And let's face it, Saturday night didn't have the most magnificent weather in Sydney. If attendance was so poor during the day, then management probably figured that it would be similar after 5. I mean, come on, the World Cup was on, it was raining, and (if what has been said was true) the earlier part of the day had already proved itself a disappointment. Wouldn't the smart park operator cut their losses?

[Richard]

Yeah, I'd have to agree with Psycho here. What would be criminal here is to charge people their $16.50 and then a short while later close the park. From the sounds of it, no one paid for the extended hours, and no one go it. What's the problem there, especially if as you say the weather was terrible and of course World Cup was on. I wouldn't expect too many disappointed faces (obviously we happen to have a few here - but were there really any losses, aside from a few minutes of your life? ).

[ScReAMmachine!]

Honestly, would you expect Wonderland to charge people admission then scuffle them out of the park? Of course not!!! The idea to close the park early probably would have been made earlier in the day and therefore staff would be prepared to tell guests entering of their decision... Richard, the idea to suggest a 'criminal' action only adds to the growing amount of uneccessary negative comments about the park. Surely from your position that you would understand the logistics and responsibilites associated from the management of a large organisation. (Just a comment, not trying to take a swipe at you!)

[Flea]

The idea to close the park early probably would have been made earlier in the day and therefore staff would be prepared to tell guests entering of their decision...

The decision to close the park early was made at 12pm. All staff in the park were told immediately to pass onto guests. ~Liam

[ScReAMmachine!]

The decision to close the park early was made at 12pm. All staff in the park were told immediately to pass onto guests.

My point exactly. Why the big issue then?? All was done fair and just.

[Richard]

If you'll see the context of my "criminal" comment was not a negative one, but rather a rebuttal of something Daniel said prior to me. It was precisely my point that the way they handled the situation was the correct way to do so.

[rappa]

I know I say a lot of negative stuff about the park these days... I do really like the park which is why it makes me so sad to see what has become of it. This being said though I have always thought management handled early closes and incliment weather very well. In this situation I don't see any change from that, just because 1 person who visits the park every week was slightly inconvenienced I don't see such a fuss needs to be made. Even the fact that the security man went out of his way to check that you weren't going to be stuck there says a lot. And he was probably doing the same for the 'bimbos' as you said it (pretty harshly i think). If I had been heading out to the park in bad weather I would have taken the time to call and check they were open. In the past I have done so and they have been honest and said yes we are opening but closing at 2 or something like that given the weather. Very well handled Wonderland! I'm also delighted to see they are working on cleaning up the probe! Even if they didn't bother to paint where the beacon used to be :-)

[Flea]

I'm also delighted to see they are working on cleaning up the probe! Even if they didn't bother to paint where the beacon used to be :-)

You'll be happy to know that they are also replacing the monitors at the top of the tower very soon! Regarding what I said - I know it was harsh. I over-reacted simply because it did mess up some plans we had for the night (not just going to Wonderland for the night..). I apologise for what I said. ~Liam

[rappa]

No Flee it wasn't you I was refering to as being harsh. I was talking about the original post refering to the Security guard making stuff up to impress bimbos, which is what was implied.

[Bussy]

Scared of Jack said:  "Yes the park attendances were really bad on the 22/11/03. You would of been lucky if there were 100 people."

What a load of crap!! There is no way that park attendances on a Saturday would be this low not matter what the weather. Daniel as for making the decision after 5pm you should know better than that to think that management would make that decision so late, one they would have to pay all of the staff for when they weren't working, two guests would blow up and they would have to get return passes. It was a good decision by Wonderland to make the call so early in the day so that everyone would be able to make other plans for the night (guests and staff). Doing this may of put a few people out, but honestly who would go to a theme park at night in the rain and expect to have fun? No one in their right mind thats who! "The Bus is now leaving for Mimas"

[Flea]

What a load of crap!!  There is no way that park attendances on a Saturday would be this low not matter what the weather.

No, it wasn't a load of crap. There weren't more than 50 cars in the parking lot.. keep in mind most of them were staff's cars. A few buses here and there, but the majority of them were filled with tourists going to the wildlife park. ~Liam

[Daniel]

The word criminal shpuldn't have been taken the way it reads. Not literally criminal. I thought you'd be smart enough to pick that one up. In the interests of community spirit, I'll concede defeat on this subject. If numbers were as poor as being stated, sure, shut. What the hell give them return passes anyway...

[Richard]

Well, they've got their "No Worries Wet Weather Promise", from what people have said, it does work nicely (I'd imagine it's about you going out of the way to get them, not the other way around), so I'd imagine if people weren't able to get their full day of fun as depicted by the "Promise", they were entitled to a free return pass.

[Daniel]

Don't take this as gospel but the wet weather promise is more than 2mm of rain before 12:00 I think.... Maybe a CURRENT employee can verify for me . Sorry couldn't help myself. As far as I know that's the extent of the crap weather return pass. It does work well. It's only fair too. The rain guage used is a little ripper too