Dreamworld 5 year plan - a challenge

[westical]

Maybe they could demolish the place and build a Magic Kingdom!!!!

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Personally, i'd prefer a Steel coaster... but if they're getting it that cheap (ie: for a steal) I wouldn't say no to an SLC.

[Slick]

Let's go hardcore and make a list. Immediate low-budget maintenance around the park list

• [*]Install IMAX Digital into the cinema - I HOPE Dreamworld didn't buy their digital projector and can hand it back. Given Dreamworld's screen was the smallest GT screen in the world, it would be perfect for IMAX's current Digital Cinema system. Barco laser system means digital movies en masse at a very cheap cost. [*]Rebeautify Main Entrance - Looks tacky. Make it look more like the 80's version. No textured blank walls. No tacky digital signs. Sand back the six million layers of paint and redo the original layer. [*]Main Street - Sand back all crappy paint layers and bring it back to original Victorian style paint palette. Hide all lights. Hide and enhance speaker system in buildings. Play area-appropriate music. Ensembular pieces not bogan Sea-FM on loop. Remove the boats. Install a multi-turret fountain display that runs all day to bring atmosphere. Add detail to buildings again (flags, Victorian lattices, tiny details like surfboards on balconies etc.) Kill the idea of the Fairytale shop. It's beyond tacky. Dare I say a disgrace to the original building design. [*]Remove RollerCoaster Tycoon food & bev stalls. ALL OF THEM. Sell them to Six Flags. [*]Rebeautify Main Street Train Station. Get the miniature train running again. De-weed the god damn building. [*]Double the amount of park landscapers and double the budget for landscaping and maintenance. Keep lawns mowed, free of fallen branches, keep flowers flowering, and plant way more trees and keep them maintained (unlike Main Street's palm trees, which are out of control.) [*]Revert the Cyclone queue. Fix up TVs. Fix up station's braking and PLC to maximise capacity. Consider a better train assembly/new train. [*]Put the damn pool under Wipeout and put Fluffy back in. Re-plumb the geisers. We're not in a drought anymore. DERP. [*]Fix the mess that is the Giant Drop walkway area. Bring it all to ground level. Sanderson's Group clearly didn't give two shits when building that colossal mess. Clean, obvious pathway intersection. A Major direction hub shouldn't be that bad. [*]Rip down 2/3 of the Tower of Terror tunnel. It's the most god ugly thing they've done yet. And MDMC's pretty bad. Rip it down all the way to before the train station. It breaks the park in half, it's white, ugly, and needs to go to salvage any sense of escapism. [*]Open up the Tiger Island/Tower of Terror area. Too many tiny little paths. Considering Tiger Island/Tower of Terror are some of the park's biggest drawcards (which is funnily depressing considering how old they are and how obvious the park has lagged since the current owners) they should be easily accessible, which they are not. [*]CAPTAIN STURT. My god. Dreamworld, you idiots. Put a new motor in that thing already. Put a classy restaurant upstairs, put the bushranger show back on and reap in the money. How shortsighted. [*]Do something about the crazy list of SBNO rides. Either remove them or be honest about the go-forward plan and committ to a timeframe when it'll happen. You don't need to say "the mine ride is being placed by a Gerstlauer Eurofighter" just say it's definitely not happening, you'll do something by 2015, and it'll be another coaster. Respect your fans. [*]Don't play Village's game. Quit the discount pass game. Make a song and dance about it. The only reason you can't beat Village at their game of discounted paths is because in order to quit the game of discounting you'll need to actually have a better product then the competition, which you don't. [*]While I remember, Street performers. The quartet. The Whiz. The Bushrangers in particular should make appearances throughout the day inbetween shows. Yes you have weird ghost ladies walking around Gold Rush occassionaly. YAWN. Give the people what they want.
  • [*]Clean up Tower of Terror's queue. Make it nice. It's a shitfight in there, and a smelly one at that. People don't break the themeing because people are arseholes, people break your queue line because they're bored of your average operations and you don't build your queue lines to last. Then you put the crappy bits of themeing within an arms reach of your guests. BAD IDEA. [*]Do the same for Giant Drop. Integrate into Gold Rush. [*]Bridge Gold Rush and Rocky Hollow and Giant Drop. Make it a much more integrated area and just call it Gold Rush. You're not fooling anyone with having so many "worlds." Its at best deceptive. [*]Retheme MDMC. The grand prix theme is super tacky. Yes, we get it's not going anywhere, so rather then pretend it doesn't exist, lets do something about it. Let's retheme the bikes to dirt bikes, and you're going through the jungle. BAM. Plant some treets, open the area up, and piss off all those dirty bogan pit areas and stuff. And fix up the whole queue line building. It's straight out awful. It makes me think that you brought someone in who's good at building shopping malls to theme that place. Everything is one-sided and tacky.

Edited January 27, 2023 by Slick

[Brad2912]

Wow Tell us what u really feel/think! U have some good suggestions though, I for one prefer TOT2 to TOT1 & think the tunnel is great. Sure it's an eye saw, but I go to parks for attractions/rides not the landscaping. Getting rid of the paddle steamer will not/did not cost them visitation numbers, so why spend money to replace it? Fairy castle has been there for what, a decade? Longer? If its still there it must be a viable revenue stream. With all these suggestions to remove things, people need to think why would they remove them if making money from them? How is that a viable commercial decision? Refurb yes, refresh yes, but remove? If its not making money or increasing visitation, DW no doubt would replace it, but if its been operating for years - it's clearly working. On passes, most of us agree an increase in price point is required, but it would almost been to be an agreed commercial/industry decision between Ardent & WVTP to change the current offerings 'significantly'. Neither park is going to want to risk a loss of market share in the current economic climate.

Edited February 27, 2013 by Brad2912

[Slick]

To clarify Brad, i'm not saying bulldoze a building. I'm saying get rid of the tacky crap and do something better. You'll find the most successful entertainment venues/brands (Disney,Universal,Crown,Busch,Village Roadshow) all get that its not about finding a way to make the cheapest, easiest buck possible. Eisner tried with DCA and ultimately failed. That shareholder-priority-driven mentality doesn't fly in this industry. Parks & management that make good money are the parks that invest in the experience and the quality of that experience, not on whiz-bang novelty. Six Flags is a good point on how investing in novelty ideas and attractions over a larger park experience overall is a case that leads you directly to Chapter 11. With that in mind, we have parks like Movie World who, rather than invest in buzz-words (or buzz-saws, if you catch my drift) invest in fantastic in-park experiences which get better year after year (white christmas, fright night) and are seeing a huge profit that's directly relatable to investing in park experience then just a wad of crappy filler and flat rides. Perhaps to be clear Brad, it's fine if you want Dreamworld to be an amusement park. I'd rather see it return as an awesome theme park. And it's not far fetched or unreasonable in my opinion, as the park was once truly great (until it was owned by a bank.)

[westical]

People don't break the themeing because people are arseholes, people break your queue line because they're bored of your average operations and you don't build your queue lines to last. Then you put the crappy bits of themeing within an arms reach of your guests. BAD IDEA.

Speak for yourself, I don't go around vandalizing things just because I'm bored. People ARE arseholes. Usually teenagers at that.

[jjuttp]

Speak for yourself, I don't go around vandalizing things just because I'm bored. People ARE arseholes. Usually teenagers at that.

I second that. My former music teacher has been slightly scared of her current grades, due to most of them being said assholes.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Yes, there are many assholes at our parks. Moreover the point is that the park put in place very average, unamusing (ok - boring) queuelines, then they have poor operations that slow things down and keep you waiting longer. If you don't entertain them while they are waiting, they're going to be destructive... so either: a) entertain them with a pre-show or some sort of experience to interest them (not to mention it means it's usually run by a cast member who could supervise and prevent anyone from damaging the theming, or restrain the theming, make it tamper proof, or put it out of harms way so it can't be damaged. Those assholes won't destroy things if they are otherwise occupied, so slick is making a very valid point.

[jjuttp]

Yes, there are many assholes at our parks. Moreover the point is that the park put in place very average, unamusing (ok - boring) queuelines, then they have poor operations that slow things down and keep you waiting longer. If you don't entertain them while they are waiting, they're going to be destructive... so either: a) entertain them with a pre-show or some sort of experience to interest them (not to mention it means it's usually run by a cast member who could supervise and prevent anyone from damaging the theming, or restrain the theming, make it tamper proof, or put it out of harms way so it can't be damaged. Those assholes won't destroy things if they are otherwise occupied, so slick is making a very valid point.

Sometimes its not even that.... When i was last at DW there was the standard group of guy and girls in the que for Wipeout. Even though we only had to wait for 1 run, when we got into the tunnel, the guys were running round being douches kicking the walls and what not. So its not even that.

[alex_1]

I haven't read this whole thread so forgive me if this post is a bit off topic to what everyone is talking about right now. I believe if Dreamworld were to get a woodie it would have to be gimmicky so they could market it as being unique. I think an inverting RMC woodie would fit this perfectly. Outlaw Run only cost $10 million to build, which is somewhat within Dreamworld's spending range (Buzzsaw was $8 million, if I remember correctly). This isn't me speculating as I know it probably would never happen, but it would be nice if it became a possibility in the next few years.

[Gazza]

Outlaw Run only cost $10 million to build,

At US prices.

[cadboy]

Considering the current exchange rate, is it the shipping costs and manufacturer personal required to finsalise instaltion and testing that increases the price for Australian themeparks?

[Gazza]

No, it's Australian labour and material prices mostly.

[rappa]

Labour labour an labour

[AllegroCrab]

Look I don't think Cyclone is that bad of a coaster, maybe before when it was just a car park coaster; however, now the park has WWW and the coaster twists around the park, it works and creates a good atmosphere. I think it also for younger kids and people building up to the bigger coasters like SE, every coaster can't be crazy with a high thrill, I think it works fine for the park. It doesn't however as the parks full circuit thrill ride coaster and shouldn't be marketed as such, thats where the park needs to make a rather large purchase in this department. Cyclone just needs a major overhaul and refresh, with a faster loading operation and a second train.

I agree entirely, Cyclone is fine, it just shouldn't be DW's claim for a proper circuit coaster. This is what the park lacks in terms of rides, they have enough flat rides and shittle coasters for the whole country. They really need to build a decent steel coaster, I don't think a woodie would quite cut it for the general public. I wouldn't mind seeing one, but it seems that the average parkgoer wouldn't even know that woodies were still being built. A Mega-Lite built in a nice simple forest setting wouldn't be stretching it too far would it? Dreamworld just seems to build fancy off the shelf shuttle/flat rides, then they will advertise the hell out of it, make their money back to pay for the owner's swimming pool. Sure they don't make as much money as other parks in the world, but their attitude to the whole gig isn't one that demands the best out of the park.

[alex_1]

I think a Megalite would be harder to market than a woodie. Megalites are fairly small, short and not incredibly fast. They have no inversions. The only thing that have going for them is that they are completely, utterly awesome, but the general public wouldn't know that. Meanwhile, a large wooden coaster could be marketed as the tallest woodie in the Southern Hemisphere (granted, it would have to be higher than Montezum's 42m) and if it were an RMC inverter, even better. Anyway, all of this is a pipe dream. Dreamworld's next coaster will more than likely be something compact, cheap but somewhat impressive looking, like Buzzsaw. Also, I probably should've realised that Outlaw Run's $10 million would be inflated by the extra costs required to build something like that here.

[JacobSibbald]

Well I heard that Dreamworld are planning 2 new rides totalling $25 million, one thrill and one family. Don't ask me how I know.

[Bmull19]

^That wouldn't be happening/opening this year because nothing has been mentioned in the ASX report. And naturally we're all going to ask about your source...

[jjuttp]

Do you work for Dippin' Dots now?

[Reanimated35]

Well I heard that Dreamworld are planning 2 new rides totalling $25 million, one thrill and one family. Don't ask me how I know.

Is these the ones being made by Mack?

[Jobe]

Is these the ones being made by Mack?

No they are being RESTORED by Mack.......

[JacobSibbald]

I knew you'd ask, I can't tell. I shouldn't have even said it because I knew It'd be faced with these types of comments. That is all I know, I didn't get it from a Dippin Dots guy, I have no idea if MACK is involved (yes I know you're taking off RWC), but I can tell you it's true. I was told this year, but maybe it's over the next couple of years.

[Brad2912]

Certainly not this financial year, as the ASX report had no mention in the forecasts. Possibly something opening early/mid 2014

[Reanimated35]

I knew you'd ask, I can't tell. I shouldn't have even said it because I knew It'd be faced with these types of comments. That is all I know, I didn't get it from a Dippin Dots guy, I have no idea if MACK is involved (yes I know you're taking off RWC), but I can tell you it's true. I was told this year, but maybe it's over the next couple of years.

Isn't this the same kind of shit that started arguments before? "Oh I know this is true, but I can't tell you why or how I know, but you should just believe me when I have no credible evidence to back anything up" Guys I was just told that Disney bought Six Flags who bought Movieworld and they're planning to make a coaster pulling 824.6 G's which will open October 12 this year! I can't tell you who told me though, you'll just have to trust me.

[pushbutton]

As a relatively new member of this forum, I am frequently put off posting by the often bitter and sarcastic tone of some posts. Also on occasions I have seen personal attacks on other members. What a shame, since we presumably all share a common interest in theme parks and fun. Perhaps I would suggest moderators might want to keep an eye on this, as I am probably not the only person who finds this off-putting. Sometimes, people may have heard something from a trusted staff member who is regarded as as a reliable source of accurate information. However the staff member may get in trouble is management becomes aware that they've released information that is supposed to be confidential. Therefore the information is shared anonymously to protect their jobs. If we are given information, perhaps we should just be grateful for it and accept it for what it is, rather than having a go at the member of the forum who was generous enough to share it. Come on guys. If theme parks can't bring people together as friends in a spirit of innocent fun, I don't know what can!

Edited March 2, 2013 by pushbutton