NICK LAND construction

[Psycho]

So am I right to assume it will have the giant Reptar sculputre in the middle of the helixes like the Paramount ones do when it's finished?????

[thunder001]

We could only guess as to what type of themeing will go into the ride, but this is an Aussie park that we are talking about. I am hopeing that Richard will be at the park again this weekend and will give us another great pic update.

[Richard]

Missed the 9:00 train, so I'll catch the 9:30 one. Theming should be at the same level as other Nick Centrals - Nickelodeon aren't letting their name be put on any old scrapheap. Don't know about the giant Reptar 'sculpture' - the American ones (well, only one operating) are themed to a drive-in theatre, however, you should expect ours to be more 'Australian' in theme.

[Richard]

Well, Rugrats is complete as of today, 10/11 - I'm guessing this was actually finished off early last week. Work has started to move forward on the rest of the site. Slime Bowl (show), is to be situated right next to Reptar, on the North end of the park, it is set into the ground with several steps for seating. Thornberries (play area) will be right behind the remote-control boats. Dream Copters, Sea Planes, Swinger Zinger and Nick-o-Round will be arranged in the centre of the area. SpongeBob (water play area) will be in the area where the skull or Tower of Terror once stood, and Spooty-Spin is the old Avalanche (a somewhat strange theme for a ride inside a mountain), Bumper Beach is obviously Bumper Bowl, which is now closed for refitting and whatnot. For a better picture, take a look at the map of the area, presumably that one that'll eventually be put on their park maps. As you can see, they will have the Reptar sculpture, overlooking the entrance. Finished Reptar:

[thunder001]

Looks good as far as the track goes. Any sign of the trains yet? Can't wait for next sunday to chack it all out. Nice pics richo.

[Richard]

No train on the track yet (another single-train coaster for Dreamworld, but this one shouldn't be too bad with queues). There were two shipping crates just to the right of the coaster, I guessed that they possibly contain the train.

[Richard]

With Reptar's trackwork finished, they've been concentrating on other areas of the site. Electrical work has been done on Reptar - the lift motors are all plugged up now. They've finished the concreting for the Slime Bowl, and put a steel roof on it. Thornberry's playground is also up now.

[Shaun]

I never realised how big the new area was going to be! So what seperates it from the ocean parade? Does anyone know how much money dreamworld is spending on it all? This will make a big improvement to the park and will atract a lot of people to the park. Thanks for the constant update Shaun

[Richard]

I haven't found out the figure that Dreamworld is spending in total on Nick Central. My guess, would be somewhere around $15m. Reptar would have probably cost around half of that. The seperation of Nick Central and Ocean Parade will consist of the small hill that always acted as a way of seperating Village Oval/Kennyland from Ocean Parade, that is covered in some nice vegetation. There's also the waterfall at the plaza end of here. It'll be much more open than most of Dreamworlds existing land - parks here don't seem to have the open areas that American parks do, the only one that comes close is Wonderland Sydney, which is becauseof its planned design and American feel. This'll be a big step forward for Dreamworld in particular, and should be good for thinning out crowds. Don't think there'll be an update this week, but I'll be out there plenty before it opens.

[Psycho]

In one of the first articles I read on ninemsn when it was announced stated that the new area would cost approx $7 million. This was of course just an estimate at the time, and this would mean that the RR coaster is pretty darn cheap!

[Richard]

Actually, in retrospect, I'd say that my initial estimate of $15m was way off. Even if Reptar were half of that, then I doubt the rest would cost more than a few million all up. All the rides are old ones bar Reptar, and the three other attractions can't cost too much - a playground, a fountain and a small stage set into the ground. I'll probably go with that $7m figure, between $7m and $10m at the end of it all.

[Richard]

The $7m figure was indeed correct, hope they don't go over budget like they did with Cyclone (by $500,000 - a lot when the whole project was only meant to cost $5m). Haven't been there in a number of weeks, but I'm guessing we're getting very close to completion. I'll try really hard to squeeze a visit in this week.

[Richard]

As luck would have it, today's visit resulted in no photos -- the camera decided that the batteries were dead when I got there, and I didn't really feel like paying $10 for four new AA batteries. I'll describe it as best I can for you then... The old Avalanche mountain has been painted in a lovely bright shade of purple. The front side of Tower of Terror's building is now Aqua, where I believe they will paint a mural. Most of the rides are in place, with finishing touches being put everywhere. The CatDog food place has been finished on the outside and looks just as it does on the map I posted earlier. Bumper Bowl has reopened for some reason, I'm guessing they'll close it to retheme it. It is fantastic seeing everything coming together so quickly. They were working today, Sunday, so they must be in some hurry to get everything together before they open. Sorry for no pictures - hopefully next time. 8)