Dreamworlds Direction

[V8 Sportwagon]

No, I'd say its due to it being Easter.

Edited April 13, 2009 by V8 Sportwagon

[Spotty]

Yes, you can leave your bags under the guns in the briefing rooms. Now somebody mentioned that there are 22 people per group going through the attraction, but I remember the operator counting 28 people in our group and there ended up being 2 spare guns still. Anyway it's a very good, solid attraction on the inside, however I do hope the outside gets done up real soon.

[GoGoBoy]

however I do hope the outside gets done up real soon.

This is becoming a bit of a nasty habit with our theme parks recently - the lack of decent theming and signage for the entry areas or facades of new rides rides/attractions. I personally think a good facade and signage is really important as it helps build excitement and adds a lot to the presentation of the parks. I can think of numerous examples recently where the external presentation/theming and signage has been lacking - Batwing, Jet Rescue, Motocoaster, pretty much every new slide at Wet 'n' Wild (especially H20 Zone) and now AVPX. Not good enough! And as far as I'm concerned a big 2 dimensional painted sign does not cut it. PS Does anyone else think it's awesome that Lynton V. Harris posted on the forums!

[BNErider]

^ Don't forget Superman Escape. I also think the entrance to HWSD is lame -- a few new signs and a paint job is pretty much all they did.

[kieron5379]

Yes, you can leave your bags under the guns in the briefing rooms. Now somebody mentioned that there are 22 people per group going through the attraction, but I remember the operator counting 28 people in our group and there ended up being 2 spare guns still. Anyway it's a very good, solid attraction on the inside, however I do hope the outside gets done up real soon.

True spotty. It could have been just for the launch that they had the groups of 22. for 30 people your looking at about 300pph. I would say 30 is a better number And yeah GoGoBoy, i reckon its really cool that the creator himself has decided to post

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Sorry Ash, but what's wrong with the external theming to Superman Escape?

1. big THREE dimensional signage on the main walkway
2. scorch marks on the soundstage where the track goes through
3. the mist in the same area, which looks great, but also if you aren't looking, you certainly HEAR it
4. additional theming at front entrance\exit of the attraction
5. a queue line that they have actually made an effort on, including instructional video, themed posters and signage \ newspapers on the wall..
6. Not to mention a coaster train rushing by every 3 or so minutes with superman pushing the back of it

Now I will agree, a lot of the newer installations have been lacking, but I can't fault Superman. Sure it could be better, a lot of things could be, but superman had effort put into it, and it wasn't half-assed.

[BNErider]

Well, the outside building that's themed is only a very small portion. Most of it has been left a white warehouse. That's really the only bit that gets me caught up. In my opinion, I believe you can fault Superman Escape -- because in some areas, it has been let down. 10 years ago, parks went to all lengths to theme the areas leading up to their rides. (Lethal Weapon, Wild West, Dreamworld's western rides and, or course, BT) Now a-days, parks theme the inside of their rides, and even now that trend is starting to lack. I feel that Dreamworld's newest attraction though might be the beginning of a new direction for Dreamworld. Only time will tell of course.

[New display name]

From Dreamworlds web site The following rides and attractions will be closed for scheduled maintenance: ---- •Motocoaster, 29/04/09 to 2/05/09 inclusive. •Log Ride, 5/05/09 to 15/05/09 inclusive. •Thunder River Rapid, 18/05/09 to 29/05/09 inclusive. •Sponge Bob Flypants, 1/06/09 to 5/06/09 inclusive. •The Claw, 9/06/09 to 22/06/09 inclusive. •Blues Skidoo, 23/06/09 to 26/06/09 inclusive. •Vortex, closed until advised. •Tower of Terror, closed until advised. I always get worried when a ride closes like this at Dreamworld. From Dreamworlds’ past history the ride sometimes never reopens.

[Spotty]

Hmmm... very odd... maybe it is getting a retheme? I did also hear rumors of a possible retrofitting of the launch systems. However on a unrelated note... the sign saying how fast you went was actually WORKING on Sunday!

[kieron5379]

i do believe this is only due to an unknown technical issue which may have something to do with the heavy rain we've had lately. i may be wrong but i dont think its anything to be concerned about at this stage.

[T-bone]

Just got back from a 2 day Dreamworld trip, and thought I'd share my thoughts on some changes, AVPX and other things. Fristly can I say the park is looking excellent, slot of the smaller things have been looked at, such as the TOT's Q4U now has a shade sail protecting the area, the claws Q4U added entry point required some new poles to be added to the fence to allow the gate. They have now been painted the correct colour, so has the Wall which seperates the Q4U line on the wipeout. And just on ocean parade, reef diver has been completely repainted, and the walls have been given a new muriel (previously were a creme colour). The fish around the reef diver also look to have been repaired, and possibly more fish have been added. And last on improvments, the main at fountain is now fully functional and clean. I won't ruin AVPX for everyone, but it's excellent. Really well done. But as mentioned, the front needs some work. River Rapids opened back up on Monday afternoon after a short outage, kudos to the engineering department for getting it up so quick. The Wiggles Shimmy Shack (the old farmyard friends building) is all boarded up, looks as though it's not coming back. To also confirm, Motocoaster now runs in the rain (heavy rain). And finally, the TOT, well who knows, I thought it was closed on Monday because of the rain. It was working fine on Sunday.

[kieron5379]

TOT is running again. I'm pretty sure it was nothing major so its now running fine :-)

[T-bone]

Sorry, the rest of my post was cutoff. I can also confirm though that the TOT's Speedometer, the one that hasn't been working for atleast 3 years is now functional again. To me, the park looks like it has come a long way since my visit in January, and even that visit the park was much better than my previous visit. The park is looking good, the staff are still as awesome as before, and the park is appearing to start the climb out of the hole that was dug 3 or 4 years ago. Things are certainly looking up for the park people were once calling "Nightmare-world", let's hope things continue to improve.

[Original]

The fountain at the front gate is working again??? if it is that's great, I've missed it for so long, I'm glad then the boats are gone they looked really tacky. That fountain used to give a great atmosphere, like the MW fountain. Does anyone have the photos of it. Now all the need is to give motocoaster some work, replace the mine ride and get rid of the tacky colours, then it can only go up. Looks like Macquarie made a good choice with the new CEO

[Spotty]

You see, even if Noel Dempsey had no prior theme park experience before this job. He had other executives that could help him out, such as Bob Tan. Noel really seems to have his head screwed on with this place, and there have been so many changes in the last 6 months. I even noticed that there were more trees planted around the place, such as in front of the Reef Diver. Which I will point out is looking very darn good right now. Congrats to Noel, Dreamworld, Macquarie Leisure and everyone else down there. If you keep going the way you are, you will soon be the theme park that you used to be

[GoGoBoy]

I must say I was never impressed with the parks direction under Stephen Gregg. But I guess it's hard to say exactly how much control the Dreamworld CEO actually has. A lot of it might come from the Macquarie Leisure board of Directors. I'm glad to hear they are starting to fix up some of the issues around the park and it is being noticed by Dreamworld regulars. I was pleased when the Spongebob Flypants ride was opened as even though it is a kids ride, to me it signalled a return to true theme park rides and attractions. I was also pleased it was presented and themed well and actually matched the themed area it was placed in. We need to see more of this. Hopefully they can apply this same approach to the next big ride

[T-bone]

Original, with the fountain, the boats are still there, but I dont know, they seem less obtrusive than before, and less tacky. I'll see if I can post a photo if anyone really wants it. IMO, it's not a spectacular fountain, but it's a fountain that's now clean, and is now running as opposed to not running, which is awesome. Nothing like the sound of splashing water. However having said all that, there is still plenty of things which need fixing. The main at facades (the facades from the imax theatre, excluding the lolly shop and the Ice Cream shop and including the green facade facing the railway line, which is part of the Ice Cream shop are showing their age. Wiggles World in general (especially the Big Red Car) is starting to look a bit sad, as does the Captain Sturt River boat (even though the last major refurb on the boat was just after Wiggles World opened, it's looking terrible). The whole Rocky Hollow area/ Goldrush area is just screaming Refurb/ Intergration, as are some of the shops in Ocean Parade. The Angey Beavers mountain is in need of a patch up/ repaint. A lot of holes in the roof of the mountain. Would also be nice to see the waterfall on the mountain running again, it was pretty spectacular waterfall. And just on Angry Beavers mountain, I saw a couple of dinosaur like statues hanging from the roof inside the mountain, but covered up by the spray on roofing thing the inside of the ride was painted with. Does anyone remember these statues being on the ride in it's hayday, or am I just going crazy? I saw a couple of statues hanging from the roof, which included a futuristic looking dinosaur, and some big bird like characters. They are situated in the back of the ride, and can only really be seen when the lights are on.

[Dylaan]

^Wouldn't have any shots of this waterfall by chance? Definitely sounds spectacular. I certainly enjoy hearing about improvements and general upkeep, purely because you usually can't fault it.

[i_operate_rides_dw]

hi all ive only joined these forums very recently as in today lol but im a operator at dreamworld and i think its stupid the mgmt keeps making attractions you have to pay for!!! people are more interested in going to dreamworld for the free rides all day long, at least thats why i loved dreamworld and in fact got a job there! :-) but i dont think upcharging is gonna lead dreamworld in the right direction. i spose ill just wait in my little ride booth until the handheld says "ok can you please come and start working on the laser tag" haha i operate rides dw

[Hendo]

Yes I have 2 children and it costs me to get into the gates, and I am still required to pay for "extras". I'd rather go into a park where I can spend the whole day there and not have my wallet "double dipped". I can't see these types of things make too much extra for them as families like mine will skimp on other things (such as food and merchandise) to afford to pay for the extras.

[kainaussie]

the new ride at Dreamworld is Laser Skirmish at Dreamworld cost will be $10 to $20 a paly to paly Laser Skirmish at Dreamworld and the vortex is move to nick land at Dreamworld from tak300au

Hey Nope i went today for like 2 hours and its free but the person that tells you what to do is so rude and there is no 1 in there accept people that go on the attraction its blue vs yellow and if u shoot the person that runs the attraction he will fire at any 1 but some 1 has to shoot at him for him to start

[T-bone]

The reason they are so rude is because they are playing an in-role character. IMHO, the harder/ ruder the host is, the better experience the attraction is.

[BNErider]

Kain, you should go to Dracula's

[Spotty]

I guess with AVPX, it would depend on the staff member. I know I would be pretty damn pissed off if little bratty children kept firing guns into my eyes even when I told them to stop it. I would just de-activate there phasers mid way through the game Or... Turn EVERYONE against them

[kieron5379]

The way the vests work is that they can change at any time. You can be walking beside someone the same colour and all of a sudden one of you can change from blue (normal human) to yellow (infected human), giving an overall game of every person for themselves. The host is, as T-Bone said, an in role character. It wouldn't be as believable if a military/mercenary commander wasn't as firm as what they are supposed to be. As for his pack, he's on all the time so he can shoot back whenever he wants but i don't think he/she would really be bothered to after about the first hour.