DW PR: New V8 Supercars Attraction & Behind the Scenes BLOG

[Psycho]

The disappointing part of this for me isn't the attraction being added (or even that it's a sport-related attraction) - it's that it is another example of Dreamworld not keeping coherent themes throughout the different areas of the park. (Although, that being said, MW have become guilty of this more recently as well). MDMC in Rivertown? The Giant Drop in Rocky Hollow? The Tower of Terror in Village Green? All I would like to see in DW's choice of attractions is a little more thought as to their placement and a little more effort with theming (ala The Claw).

[Dylaan]

The news is kind of disappointing yet it's good to see Dreamworld trying different methods of promotion. I just don't get why they need to replace the existing simulators. Surely most people aren't going to know the difference? Guess no-one has news on Stage 3 of WhiteWater World? Oh, and is there deeper reasoning behind why a certain post has been removed?

Edited November 14, 2008 by WnW_Rocks

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

I guess it just goes to show just how lame this new attraction really is. When I first posted, I did check out the V8 Supercars home page, and the news wasn't there at that time. The blog, while it has a great splash banner at the top, the logos at the bottom weren't even integrated into the background, and they couldn't even be bothered putting it on their main site. This attraction is shameful. Two years ago the Sydney Motor Show had two of these - one at the mitsubishi area, for Rally-Driving Lancers, and one at the Holden area for V8 Supercars, and BOTH were FREE (Ok you paid to get in - but you pay to get in at Dreamworld too.) Ally, apologies for my initial post, we get a lot of "fakers" here and sometimes we do get a little over-skeptical. Its great to have some dreamworld guys on the boards (where's our mention on the links page???) But it just seems like everyone on these boards knows precisely what dreamworld needs to do to get back on top, and it never happens! Warner Village constantly install, constantly update, everything is fresh, and the upcharges (if any) are unique attractions you can't find anywhere else. Dreamworld seems obsessed with upcharge attractions to squeeze the last dollar out of the guest. Now, I know that is the point, but you wouldn't need to get so much $ per guest if you just gave the public what they want - put a blockbuster attraction in there - never before seen in australia - bring back your record breakers and watch the people flock to the park. Where's the theming? V8 Racecars on ocean parade? MotoGP in the middle of the bush? Oil Rigs. Its great that everything has a theme - its just that they're not cohesive. Ally are you in a position to talk about dreamworld's direction? Or WHAT THEY WERE THINKING when they went down this path? And whats the PR budget for this new attraction? As far as I can see - they've given you guys a webhost and an internet connection - spread the word by the forums - thats just cheap. Dreamworld loses again.

[DreamworldPR_Ally]

Hey Guys, First off, let me assure you I am real (at least last time I checked), and I'm not easily offended. It's great to hear what you think, it only helps us. Just wanted to quickly jump on here from home to tell you that a lot of your questions will be answered on the blog from Monday so don't be strangers to that site (I'll find our web guy and see what I can do about the blogroll, we're dinosaurs and still getting our head around wordpress - I feel old!). We have myself, our other PR lass Shelley, Rob from operations, and Marty from engineering commenting and posting on the blog. I won't go into details about why we're getting a V8 attraction at the moment - it's the weekend and I like my days off (plus, I have housework to do and it's the topic of my first blog) - but I will stay in touch during the week. Hope everyone has a great weekend. Allyxx

[sonic123488]

I won't go into details about why we're getting a V8 attraction at the moment

Would you be able to give us some inkling as to why? Personally when I go to Dreamworld, I never use the pay per use attractions, particularly the rock climbing wall. I mean would it be that hard to include that in admission? Dreamworld's already increased admission to $69, shouldn't that be able to cover some of these attractions?

[Lotl_90]

I won't go into details about why we're getting a V8 attraction at the moment - it's the weekend and I like my days off (plus, I have housework to do and it's the topic of my first blog) - but I will stay in touch during the week.

Thats why.

[stardust]

Thanks Ally for posting on here and stuff, I think that's really cool. As for the ride, it looks ugly, and sounds pretty boring. If you want a simulator, why not a roller coaster simulator? I went on one in Chicago, you design the coaster track, it is in space, and it was REALLY good. Flowrider is a lot better than this I reckon. Also, isn't there already a car simulator near the motocoaster? And I saw it being built yesterday next to the Cyclone and wondered what is was. There's a fence up around it. I just want the mine ride back

Edited November 15, 2008 by stardust

[Original]

I completely hate this direction that Dreamworld is taking, and I don't know wether DW have noticed either but all of friends who had passes to the park for years have stopped renewing theirs and I'm not renewing this year because their is just nothing new at the park. Everyone is sick of the same rides, instead their business is lost to WnW becasue everyone is getting passes to that park because there's so much to do and their always getting new rides. People are just sick of the same rides they have been riding for ever and how long it takes to get on rides. Seriously DW has some horrible ride lines. The two water rides are always packed and the lines move so slowly. TOT is always long and breaks down. GD is always long. Cyclone is horrible, all it needs is a second train like WVTP has on their coasters. People are just sick and tired of the same rides they have ridden since 2004, you can't count mick doohan. Everyone who has done it and think's its the worst ride, not just us. Expensive food, its just ridicilous and souveiners and upcharge attractions. The only one that people really pay for is Flowrider. I have family who took their kids with their and remember the good old days and hadn't been since GD opened and said they would never go agian, it was just a rip-off. They said it looked cheap and tacky with the fading bright colours and half of Nick was closed so their kids couldn't go on anything. DW really need to listen what everyone is saying its not just people on these forums before we see a Six Flags on our hands

[DonjaiInLA]

before we see a Six Flags on our hands

I dont know why your comparing Dreamworld to Six Flaggs... The difference is Six Flaggs has good quality coaster, and ample amounts of them. Magic mountain has the second?? highest amount of coasters in one park, then other parks are perfectly maintained grounds... (except the old ones in the south). If your refering to the young operators and accidents, they probably have alot less than we do per guest and we have minimum age laws for rides.

[little lefty legend]

i went Back up to the Gold Coast this year, after not having been for 4 years, and the park that dissapointed me the most was dreamworld. all the other parks amazed me with the progress they had made, and the new attractions or new things they had done. yet even though Dreamworld had a few new rides, which was excited to go on, i was still dissapointed with the park all over. whereas i used to get this great feeling every time i walked into any themepark, i didnt this time at dreamworld, nothing felt right at all. as i walked around i just felt dissapointed with so many things... the park looked rather sad, and had no life in it, the amount off attractions that costed extra money (florider is the one ride i dont mind paying extra for) and just the sort of jumbled nature of the park. every other park i loved going to and seeing, Dreamworld just plain dissapointed me, but i must say that i was impressed with WWW. the quality of the rides, the park looked great all over and all the rides were great to go on, and it was great to have a few rides that WnW dont have. if DW could follow the suit of WWW, of having rides that no one else in australia has, good maintainance, great theming and just better care of the park in general, it would be a great park to go to.

Edited November 15, 2008 by little lefty legend

[jjuttp]

AGREED!!!! like i used to hate going to mw but now i do want to go for some reason, like i remember '02 year of the outback when they had that great show and the exellent theming like that talking parrot and the old paint job of the captain sturt and the show they had and the constant ROAR of the mine ride and thunder bolt which i would just give any thing to ride just once and kennyland that was great and by the way mcmd isnt in rivertown its just outside the entrance but otherwise yaeh everything is in the wrong spot but how the loud stuf is at the front and the quiet (almost)and the animals at the back. rip.

[DonjaiInLA]

Outside the entrance? and I think you will find that it is in Rivertown.. Before it was ugglified for Wiggles World

[sonic123488]

I personally love TOT, Giant drop and the claw, but what else is there that's worth going on? Dreamworld needs a coaster, however all these cheap attractions could mean they're saving up for something big, who knows?

[jjuttp]

LIKE A CLEAN UP???????

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Could also be the Wonderland factor - introduce nothing solid, introduce cheap upcharges, wait until your land reaches a premium, and then sell sell sell.

[DonjaiInLA]

I think secretly Maquarie and management have a plan for Dreamworld, quite frankly they probably have their mind on making their "CityWalk", bowling and stage three WWW, even if "City Walk" was rejected. I think once stage three is done and WWW actually becomes a good competitior will they then move onto a new quality attraction for Dreamworld so that they might be able to compete for top Gold Coast set... Maybe then theyl get the defibrelators on the Mine Ride and perhaps by then Main Street will be repainted to a colour that doesnt hurt my eyes. I also hear that The Claw is getting a repaint just after New Year.. anyone confirm this remember my source isnt exactly in the know..

[T-bone]

I also hear that The Claw is getting a repaint just after New Year.. anyone confirm this remember my source isnt exactly in the know..

Can anyone see a red, green, blue and yellow repaint happening, so it matches the rest of Main Street's current theme?

[sonic123488]

I think it needs be painted blue and yellow, because it's meant to be in Ocean parade, the claw needs colours of the ocean.

[Gazza]

I vote it should just stay red and orange, because they have gone to the effort of assigning it a theme (some sort of beast) so any other colour scheme would look bizzare (red claw feet with blue and yellow legs ) and it wouldn't really point to anything. If it is blue and yellow, is it supposed to reflect the ride being made of sand and water? How did we get talking about the claw being painted, I thought this was about DWs latest addition...

Edited November 16, 2008 by Gazza

[little lefty legend]

I think secretly Maquarie and management have a plan for Dreamworld, quite frankly they probably have their mind on making their "CityWalk", bowling and stage three WWW, even if "City Walk" was rejected. I think once stage three is done and WWW actually becomes a good competitior will they then move onto a new quality attraction for Dreamworld so that they might be able to compete for top Gold Coast set... Maybe then theyl get the defibrelators on the Mine Ride and perhaps by then Main Street will be repainted to a colour that doesnt hurt my eyes.

it would be great to see this happen. ive heard alot about the bowling alley they are planning (being a national bowler theres been alot of stuff being heard through those channels) but can they really expect WWW to keep bringing the crowds in? it might come to the point where if they leave DW alone and dont take care of it, people will only pay for the one day pass to WWW and not even touch DW.

I vote it should just stay red and orange, because they have gone to the effort of assigning it a theme (some sort of beast) so any other colour scheme would look bizzare (red claw feet with blue and yellow legs ) and it wouldn't really point to anything. If it is blue and yellow, is it supposed to reflect the ride being made of sand and water? How did we get talking about the claw being painted, I thought this was about DWs latest addition...

the rumour of a repaint next year i believe if it aint broke dont fix it. the ride looks awesome in its current colours. anything else would ruin the theme of it Edited November 16, 2008 by little lefty legend

[DonjaiInLA]

Your concerned painting the claw a different colour would make it look odd? What the hell are we supposed to be riding that swings between four legs!? Also, by repaint I meant back to its former glory

[DreamworldPR_Ally]

Hey Guys, Hope you're weekend was good! Just letting you know the blog is up and running now. Dreamworld V8 Supercars Blog Cheers, Allyxx

[Gazza]

and the only difference between them was that some were blue and the others pink

I once rode a pair of roller coasters...both the same type, and one was red, and the other was blue, and they were the best coasters I had ever ridden. But I'm digressing a bit.....The full quote was:

Can you imagine how boring it would be if Dreamworld was filled merely with roller coasters and the only difference between them was that some were blue and the others pink? Yep, that’s what I thought…BORING! (But pretty)

I think that is a huge oversimplification. Don't DW management realise that they have barely scratched the surface in terms of what types of coasters there are out there? There is a bit more to it than the colour it is painted. I mean, do you guys have a.... Floorless Coaster? Flying Coaster? Launched Looper? Hyper Coaster? Vertical Drop Coaster? Beyond Vertical Coaster Stand Up Coaster? Bobsled Coaster? Zacspin? Modern Wooden Coaster? Spinning Coaster? Water Coaster? And thats still only naming some of the variants out there, and within these variants the style of the ride can vary widley....I mean would you believe that this and this both belong to the same category of coaster? This coaster and this one have virtually the same track layout, but the thematic treatment makes them light years apart. I mean, there are a number of theme parks out there, with more coasters than Dreamworld. Right at the top of the scale is Cedar Point with 17 coasters, and I don't think anybody would say this is to their detriment. Would Dreamworld become boring if it had a couple of coasters from the list above? Isn't it somewhat disappointing that overseas parks (And even parks 5km down the road) have seen great modern coasters built, but Dreamworld still has an arrow double inversion as it's flagship big looper.

The new V8 SuperCars attraction is no different – it will be the first of its kind in Australia!

But as has been mentioned, there is already those two racing cars over by MDMC, and these sorts of things make regular appearances at motor shows, and in Melbourne there is virtual racing attraction called drag tag.

The focus right now is to enhance Ocean Parade and create a zone of participative experiences, like FlowRider, where guests can challenge themselves on a number of attractions

And I think that right there is the sore point for a lot of people. It seems these smaller, extra cost, 'experience' based attractions are being built at the expense of the large scale rides people really like. There is a perception that these sorts of things are tacky (Eg V8 Supercars in a beach themed area), and don't provide the sort of theme park experience we are after. At the end of the day a proper ride is just so much better and so much more fun. The other dissapointment is that the majority of guests cant experience these things anyway. From what I have read the experience will last for 6 minutes, and there are 4 cars going. So at best 40 people per hour can drive (or 80 per hour if you count passengers) Over the course of the parks 7 hour operating day that is a total of 280 people driving. By comparison, a medium sized coaster could carry this volume of people in the space of about 20 minutes. Is it really going to work to fill the park with these smaller things, instead of bigger rides everyone can have a chance to do? If DW gets roughly 4000 people per day, that means only about 14% of visitors would even get a chance to have a go (Driving or Passenger) I mean, your last thrill ride was built 4 years ago and your last 'extreme' coaster was built 7 years ago...That is a long time between drinks. Dreamworld has done quite well with its Animal exhibits, and smaller family rides (Eg Nick Central, Wiggles World) but in recent times the park has fallen flat with large scale rides and roller coasters. I mean, when I go to a theme park, I don't go to practice how to surf or whatever, I go to ride on rides! That is the factor that sets theme parks apart from other places, and makes them what they are. The thing with rides is that you dont have to be 'good at it', you just sit down, lower the harness, and laugh and scream for the next few minutes. (Also, this is just a side question that many people have wondered about, and I guess you would be best positioned to answer this, but why was Flowrider built in Dreamworld, and not in Whitewater World? (where people have their swimmers on already)

When investigating new attractions, Dreamworld management considers the existing line-up. It’s important for us to increase the diversity of our attractions and increase experience based offerings

But couldn't you "increase the diversity" by just building more types of rides?

I suppose working in PR & marketing means I have to talk about positive brand associations at some point. Suffice to say, that point is now. V8 SuperCars is a powerful iconic brand that makes motor racing more accessible through public racing, events, and TV. Racing is enjoyed by Females, Males, Parents, Kids and GrandParents – just like the Dreamworld experience, enjoyment is not a factor of age.

But what subset of the greater population are interested in in the V8s? Ok so kids to adults, males and females can be interested in them, but are the majority of kids/adults/males/females interested in V8s? It seems MDMC and V8 supercars would both have a heavy bias towards male Revheads/Bogans...Are two motorsport related attractions built in succession really helping to "increase the diversity". Things like Nick Central work well because most kids watch cartoons, so that part of the park has wide appeal, plus kids seem more likely to get sucked into brands. But there is some stuff (like BB) where people could be quite turned off.

In a continuation of its strategy to align with powerful brands and Australian icons....

I think this is the other sore point. It seems that branding is being used as a substitute for substance. DWs current strategy from what I can gather is to get people through the gate with a brand tie in, when in reality it should be by building a damn good rides. Secondly, the integration seems tacky at times. with MDMC for example all they have done is slap Mick Doohans name on the ride. If you compare to something like Superman Escape, they have actually used the character of Superman to build a story up, and use it as a means of giving meaning to the ride (That superman is pushing you to safety at high speed) But yeah, thats enough out of me. Just remember, there is a bit more variance to coasters than them being pink and blue. Edited November 17, 2008 by Gazza

[cerberus584]

I'll post my response to the blog here because it's unlikely it will be on the blog page for very long: "Wow...Let me start by saying that as I work for WVTP, I'm biased. Also this post will seem entirely negative, because it is. 1. I don't think you can claim kids areas in theme parks as being Australian firsts. MW, WnW and SW all have kids areas. Seaworld also has superior animal attractions to Dreamworld. Tiger island may have come first but Polar Bear Shores and Shark Bay etc are much better. I'm also concerned about the truth of this, considering several people on the parkz.com forums have commented that they've been on this same attraction at other events around the country. 2. Lots of roller coasters in theme parks = boring...When did that happen? I agree with Paul, if the rides were sufficiently themed, something that WVTP excels at, that would help to differentiate between rides allowing for a variety of experiences. 3. It's never a good idea to insult the general public. We all know what 'demographics' means. 4. Can't the entire park operate outside normal hours? Screamworld and NYE etc. If not, come to WVTP! 5. The blog doesn't explain why you chose V8 Supercars, only that you wanted an iconic brand to exploit to promote your park. You could do that with a Dreamy Donuts outlet in the park and flyers at their kiosks around the country.

Edited November 17, 2008 by Gazza

[T-bone]

I'll just add that was in partial response to my post on the blog. For those who don't want to visit the blog to read it, I have quoted it below.

Just on the Number 3 point, doesn’t theming and other ride elements differenciate one ride to another ride, no matter how simular they are? Secondly, whats with all the upcharge attractions? First Flowrider (which I can stand because it is very unique, and sits well in the Ocean Parade theme) now V8 Supercars. Ok, not so unique, but whats with it sitting in a out of theme area such as Ocean Parade? Wouldn’t it be better suited in the old Rivertown section of the park, which is now unofficially dubbed “The Extreme Rev Head” section of the park? Negatives out of the way, it certainly does look interesting, but not something I am willing to pay extra for ontop of my admission (which is pretty high already)