Queensland Government Launches "Theme Park Capital" Campaign

[gdalby96]

You have got to look at it from a marketing perspective by the government. They are not going to make an advert saying the theme parks are good, but not great. For Australian theme parks the Gold Coasts has some of the best. The Gold Coast is the theme park capital of Australia. If the advert did not say they were world class then not as many people would want to visit them. I haven't been to many theme parks in the world, besides the ones on the Gold Coast and for Australia they are pretty good. You've got to remember about the exchange rate and the countries growth. America and Europe can afford to pay for world class theme parks, we can't. I think it is good they are finally creating an advert displaying what the Gold Coast has to offer.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Well that would depend on how broad you want to make the definition of 'amongst the very best'...

Nobody said they Rival the big boys like Universal and Disney - not even close, but as Gazza said if you take the big boys out: don't include parks by the following:

• Disney
• Universal
• Six Flags
• Cedar Fair Entertainment

...then suddenly what are you left with? A park that ranks it's best coaster as 21st in the world... If you subtract from the first 20 the coasters that are at the parks listed above, how high does Superman rank then? (Answer below)

To be fair though, these 4 park groups only account for 6 of the top 20 steel coasters - again calling into question "what does make a park amongst the best in the world"... when Disney doesn't even appear until 74 (and then, it's with California Screamin')... Tobu Zoo gets into the top five, but that doesn't make it one of the best in the world (as a matter of fact by all accounts the park leaves a lot to be desired).

So I guess at the end of the day, the statement is very subjective, which means you may not see our parks as 'amongst the best in the world' but depending on which way you slice it, there is a very good argument to be made to say that it is...

The only thing I would say is that there are a lot of parks that would state they are 'theme parks'. Some people would even argue that parks such as Luna Park Melbourne (a typical AMUSEMENT park) is also a theme park. Depending on the standards you hold the parks up to, i'd say it isn't hard to say our parks, particularly Movie World are competitive on the international stage, given their domestic attendance.

(The answer is 14th:)

Expedition GeForce Holiday Park DE Bizarro SF New England MA New Texas Giant Six Flags Over Tex TX Intimidator 305 Kings Dominion VA Kawasemi Tobu Zoo JP Shambhala Port Aventura ES Skyrush Hersheypark PA iSpeed Mirabilandia IT Katun Mirabilandia IT Mega-Lite Happy Valley Song CN Maverick Cedar Point OH Nemesis Alton Towers UK Piraten Djurs Sommerland DK Millennium Force Cedar Point OH Blue Fire Megacoaster Europa Park DE Goliath Walibi Holland NL Montu Busch Gardens Tamp FL Leviathan Canadas Wonderland ON Nitro Six Flags Great Ad NJ Goliath Six Flags Over Geo GA Superman Escape Warner Bros. Movie AU

[alex_1]

You have got to look at it from a marketing perspective by the government. They are not going to make an advert saying the theme parks are good, but not great. For Australian theme parks the Gold Coasts has some of the best. The Gold Coast is the theme park capital of Australia. If the advert did not say they were world class then not as many people would want to visit them. I haven't been to many theme parks in the world, besides the ones on the Gold Coast and for Australia they are pretty good. You've got to remember about the exchange rate and the countries growth. America and Europe can afford to pay for world class theme parks, we can't. I think it is good they are finally creating an advert displaying what the Gold Coast has to offer.

I understand why it was said in the campaign, and I understand why our parks aren't as big as some of the ones I mentioned. I was simply explaining why I reacted to the statement by laughing.

No hard feelings to anyone.

Edited October 21, 2013 by alex_1

[gdalby96]

Sorry, I wasn't actually responding to you. I just wrote that as a general statement about it and what I though.

Has it been said when the advert will be released?

Edited October 21, 2013 by gdalby96

[aaronm]

If the advert did not say they were world class then not as many people would want to visit them.

A true "world class" park would be open longer than 10-5 during peak season. I think Movie World is one big coaster and another show away from being a full-day park. If Dreamworld expanded their wildlife offering and replaced Cyclone with a decent coaster they would have something similar to Discovery Kingdom, which is a great day out. A flying scooter ride wouldn't be amiss either.

Sea World is the only park I'd classify as being close to world class, once Storm Coaster opens they will be almost on a par with their namesakes in the USA.

[gdalby96]

I think Movie World is one big coaster and another show away from being a full-day park. If Dreamworld expanded their wildlife offering and replaced Cyclone with a decent coaster they would have something similar to Discovery Kingdom, which is a great day out. A flying scooter ride wouldn't be amiss either.

Sea World is the only park I'd classify as being close to world class, once Storm Coaster opens they will be almost on a par with their namesakes in the USA.

I would have to agree on all of your comments made here. I do think Movie World is a well detailed theme park with high quality rides. They just need one more big show (Maybe where the old Looney Tunes Show was). I have being saying for a few years now that Dreamworld needs to improve the wildlife area. Maybe the funding from the government and the aboriginal theme will allow this to happen. I do think that some of the older rides at Dreamworld need to be replaced (Such as Reef Diver, cyclone, mine ride and the old chair life). Sea World would be one of the closet parks to being world class on the coast. I think the storm coaster will make the park even better. They have got all of the essential sea creatures (Besides whales, but I think thats cruel anyway. I suppose they do offer the whale watching, which is better anyway). Probably the only ride with the lowest quality is the log ride, but they can't really change that due to the storm coaster.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

A true "world class" park would be open longer than 10-5 during peak season. I think Movie World is one big coaster and another show away from being a full-day park. If Dreamworld expanded their wildlife offering and replaced Cyclone with a decent coaster they would have something similar to Discovery Kingdom, which is a great day out. A flying scooter ride wouldn't be amiss either.

Sea World is the only park I'd classify as being close to world class, once Storm Coaster opens they will be almost on a par with their namesakes in the USA.

By that definition, you could also argue that a true 'world class' theme park would be open 364 days in the year, which instantly rules out every park owned by Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, except Knott's. The rest run a summer-only season from May-October (or thereabouts)...

...and if Dreamworld expanded their wildlife offering - they'd increase their costs dramatically without any measurable increase in revenue.

...and if Dreamworld replaced Cyclone with a decent coaster, they'd lose a fortune on what is a very well designed and ultimately functional ride with many years of service left in her.

...and if Dreamworld replaced Motocoaster every member of these boards would tell you why you're wrong (which you would be)

Dreamworld has needed, for a very long time - a good size, good quality, full scale blockbuster coaster. Alas they've bastardised themselves so much that I don't see even that rectifying the revenue losses they're suffering without a major direction shift, and a huge capital injection.

As for Sea World being almost on par with the American Sea World parks - not even close, purely by the array of marine life and the diversity of attractions. SW-GC simply doesn't have the LAND to ever be considered remotely close to the USA parks... but personally, they do something far better - they are actively involved in rescue and rehab, and are the first agency called when Australia has injured marine life.

Not so much in the USA.

[gdalby96]

Dreamworld won't ever replace the cyclone, but they need to do what sea world did to the corkscrew. A new car and a retheme.

[joz]

The only thing I agree with you with AlexB is that DW shouldn't replace Cyclone. Let's break it down: * Investment in animals at Dreamworld will result in massive increases to costs with no extra revenue. Bollocks. Adding Tigers to Dreamworld has been a massive win for the park. Tigers were introduced to Dreamworld the same year that an $18million flume ride opened at Movie World, and that massive blockbuster ride was smashed by tigers. If you're talking Aussie natives only, well they may not have that same impact, but an increased offering does make the park easier to sell to tour groups, and any animal that Asian guests can be pose for a photo with is a license to print money. Aussie animals are also low maintenance, and require only simple enclosures. * If Dreamworld removed Motocoaster and reimagined that section of the park, it would be a positive. It really is an abject failure of a ride. It's low capacity, is complex, requires custom expensive parts to maintain, offers a poor ride experience, has too many rider restrictions, is a OH&S hazard for ops staff, and takes up a large piece of prime land. Any return that they were going to get from the ride will be well and truly got by now. I don't say get rid of it for the sake of getting rid of it, but I think it's perfectly acceptable for Dreamworld to be looking at that land for a potential future investment. * Sea World doesn't have enough diversity of attractions to compare with the US parks? What the? What part of 2 (soon 3) coasters, a flume ride, 5 totally different live shows, 5 kids rides, 8 animal exhibats, Monorail chair lift, splash battle and massive kids playground isn't a diverse range of attractions? Oh and a 3D theater, Dino walk through, and a slew of extra charge opportunities to interact with animals and an onsite hotel? Honestly what are you on about with this one? The only reason I can think that you'd say this only because they don't have Orcas, but Orcas aside there is little tangible differnce between that parks. So yeah, I'm pretty much with aaronm, except for the comments about replacing Cyclone. A new decent full scale coaster to replace Cyclone as Dreamworlds signature coaster for sure, but Cyclone isn't (and shouldn't be) going anywhere anytime soon.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

The only thing I agree with you with AlexB is that DW shouldn't replace Cyclone. Let's break it down: * Investment in animals at Dreamworld will result in massive increases to costs with no extra revenue. Bollocks. Adding Tigers to Dreamworld has been a massive win for the park. Tigers were introduced to Dreamworld the same year that an $18million flume ride opened at Movie World, and that massive blockbuster ride was smashed by tigers. If you're talking Aussie natives only, well they may not have that same impact, but an increased offering does make the park easier to sell to tour groups, and any animal that Asian guests can be pose for a photo with is a license to print money. Aussie animals are also low maintenance, and require only simple enclosures. * If Dreamworld removed Motocoaster and reimagined that section of the park, it would be a positive. It really is an abject failure of a ride. It's low capacity, is complex, requires custom expensive parts to maintain, offers a poor ride experience, has too many rider restrictions, is a OH&S hazard for ops staff, and takes up a large piece of prime land. Any return that they were going to get from the ride will be well and truly got by now. I don't say get rid of it for the sake of getting rid of it, but I think it's perfectly acceptable for Dreamworld to be looking at that land for a potential future investment. * Sea World doesn't have enough diversity of attractions to compare with the US parks? What the? What part of 2 (soon 3) coasters, a flume ride, 5 totally different live shows, 5 kids rides, 8 animal exhibats, Monorail chair lift, splash battle and massive kids playground isn't a diverse range of attractions? Oh and a 3D theater, Dino walk through, and a slew of extra charge opportunities to interact with animals and an onsite hotel? Honestly what are you on about with this one? The only reason I can think that you'd say this only because they don't have Orcas, but Orcas aside there is little tangible differnce between that parks. So yeah, I'm pretty much with aaronm, except for the comments about replacing Cyclone. A new decent full scale coaster to replace Cyclone as Dreamworlds signature coaster for sure, but Cyclone isn't (and shouldn't be) going anywhere anytime soon.

Take on board what you're saying Joz, but a few points of disagreement - the suggestion wasn't 'animals' the suggestion was 'expand the wildlife offering'. Given that one particular area is known as the 'Australian Wildlife Experience' it is natural to presume the suggestion revolves around native, not exotic animals. Yes - if you want to introduce another "blockbuster wow" animal like a tiger, or a gorilla, you're on a winner - they're large, amazing animals, but the introduction of different native species to the existing offering is going to up costs (for care and feeding) without a noticeable positive change to revenue. This was my point on this issue.

As for an increase to native animals being a license to print money - Koala sure - they'll happily sit in a tree for several hours - making a ton of money, but you can't hold a kangaroo in front of a tripod for 5 minutes, and without the captive animal, you don't have a captive market on photos - they'll take their own, which reduces your license to a learners permit - you'll attract asian tourists, and get admission dollars from them, but you'll usually offer a large discount to the tour company, otherwise they'll just go elsewhere... like paradise country.

Re: motocoaster, i'm sure we all agree we'd like to see it go, but we've debated the points on the issue well and truly - and it isn't going anytime soon. We don't have the second hand market for coasters that other continents have, simply because we don't have enough parks to make it viable. I've a feeling that Motocoaster is here until it reaches the end of it's usable life. Dreamworld is not the type of park that will remove an expensive attraction with many years left in it to install something new... Hell - Movie World ran it's attractions almost to ground before it closed them out (BATR and LTRR), so it's hardly something likely for Dreamworld.

I'll admit, I see your point with Sea World when you put it like that, and given your background (and obvious love of the park) I don't blame you.

In my own opinion, I view Sea World as being split - those with young kids (and teenage girls) versus the rest. I guess that I tend to exclude half the park when I view what it offers, which is probably why I hold the view that I do...

I'll put the animal attractions aside for a moment, but for the record: Penguins, More Penguins. Seals and Sea Lions. Tropical Reef fish and Sharks. Polar Bears. Sting-rays (Ray Reef AND Shark Bay), Dolphins.

I guess my view here is that we don't have the diversity of different animals in our park, yet we're duplicating them by having two penguin enclosures (albeit different species) and two stingray places (albeit different experiences). You've just finished advocating an expansion to a wildlife offering, and as you claim, it would boost revenue - so instead of a second round of penguins, why not otters? Or Alligators Crocs? Turtles? San Diego also has the pets stadium animal stunt show, and the animal connections which are land based animals as well.

Moving onto attractions and shows, the parade lake show revolves around spongebob, a quintessential childrens character. Your 5 kids rides. The Kids showstage. The Spongebob 4D film. The Kids playground. See what I'm getting at here? I realise every park needs a childrens offering, and Sea World of the three is probably the best set up for younger kids, but it forms a duality within the park, where the only common ground is the two major shows - Dolphins and Sea-Lions.

For those that aren't getting into the kids attractions, the splash battle and the flume can be shared between the two demographics, and then you have three coasters, and two transport rides. The chairlift has an interminable wait due to the inefficient design (not the parks fault - it just cannot expand to handle the growing demand), and the monorail requires, at the very least... AIR CONDITIONING to make it anything but a mobile sauna.

To a very high degree, most of the issues I have with Sea World (and most of the reasons why I say it doesn't compare) are outside of management's control. They are land-bound on the spit with little room to move. Sea World Drive bounds them to the east. the Resort at the north (i'd love to see a massive coaster fly over the resort even though this would further imbalance the number of coasters in the park though). They have in the past reclaimed a little land to the west encroaching on the broadwater, but there is only so much they can do there, and due to the nature of the structures at the southern end, it is extremely unlikely they could move much south, with the exception of a carpark coaster or similar.

This particular vein came out of a discussion calling our parks 'world class'. In this day and age, the un-air-conditioned monorail, the lack of expansion space and convoluted navigation including paths to nowhere says to me sea world is lacking.

I'm not suggesting for one minute that what it has isn't absolutely kick-ass, but it lacks the room and some diversity to compare it to the USA sea worlds - and thats just my opinion.

And no - it's not because of the Orcas (they do take up a lot of room).

[aaronm]

By that definition, you could also argue that a true 'world class' theme park would be open 364 days in the year, which instantly rules out every park owned by Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, except Knott's. The rest run a summer-only season from May-October (or thereabouts)...

My point is more that when every major park in the world adjusts its daily opening hours according to demand, the Gold Coast parks are stuck in this time warp where nobody would possibly want to ride a rollercoaster after 5pm. Personally I'd much prefer to hit up the beach during the day, head down to a park in the late afternoon, and stick around until 8pm or later.

As for Sea World being almost on par with the American Sea World parks - not even close, purely by the array of marine life and the diversity of attractions.

I think you're selling them short. Their dolphin show is better than San Diego's, they might not have anything on the scale of Manta or Kraken but Jet Rescue is one of the best family coasters anywhere in the world. Certainly some improvements could be made but on the whole it's a pretty good park. Looking at it from a 'guest experience' perspective rather than a straight-up comparison of attractions, I'd expect to have a fairly similar day at Sea World whether down here or in San Diego.

* If Dreamworld removed Motocoaster and reimagined that section of the park, it would be a positive. It really is an abject failure of a ride. It's low capacity, is complex, requires custom expensive parts to maintain, offers a poor ride experience, has too many rider restrictions, is a OH&S hazard for ops staff, and takes up a large piece of prime land. Any return that they were going to get from the ride will be well and truly got by now. I don't say get rid of it for the sake of getting rid of it, but I think it's perfectly acceptable for Dreamworld to be looking at that land for a potential future investment..

Remove or look for ways to make it better. Essentially the park got Intamin's prototype motocoaster, which has been improved upon with Jet Rescue and then again with Juvelen. It's still better than any of the Zamperla motocoasters, and with some track additions/modifications could be significantly improved. The capacity issue could be addressed by having a second train in operation, and training the ride ops to help dispatch trains faster (but it's Dreamworld so probably not going to happen...).

Edited October 22, 2013 by aaronm

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

My point is more that when every major park in the world adjusts its daily opening hours according to demand, the Gold Coast parks are stuck in this time warp where nobody would possibly want to ride a rollercoaster after 5pm. Personally I'd much prefer to hit up the beach during the day, head down to a park in the late afternoon, and stick around until 8pm or later.

Remember a few things - standard trading hours in Queensland for certain industries (such as Retail) are actually legislated. I'm not saying the parks aren't legally allowed to trade later, but it's possible this might be a contributor. Queensland as a whole is still struggling to overcome the 'yesteryear' syndrome. Infrastructure in Brisbane is only just catching up with population and demand. On average, the state is about 10 years behind NSW in development and infrastructure. I've actually had a very lively debate with a friend of mine in the last couple of days about daylight saving for SE QLD. I honestly believe if SE QLD went to DST, there is a high likelihood we could see our parks open later in the summer, just as the big USA parks do.

I think you're selling them short. Their dolphin show is better than San Diego's, they might not have anything on the scale of Manta or Kraken but Jet Rescue is one of the best family coasters anywhere in the world. Certainly some improvements could be made but on the whole it's a pretty good park. Looking at it from a 'guest experience' perspective rather than a straight-up comparison of attractions, I'd expect to have a fairly similar day at Sea World whether down here or in San Diego.

Look, i'm hearing the arguments for, and I have to concede you (and Joz) have good points. I've seen San Diego's Dolphin show, and agree, the Gold Coast's show shits on it, in my opinion because GC focuses on the dolphins, conservation and education. San Diego confuses the issue with birds, and bungee performers, and high divers... it's not a dolphin show - its a show with dolphins.

However, I could easily spend 6-7 hours or more at San Diego, once you take into account the pet show, sea Lion show (while the dolphin show is shit, their sea lion show was far better than ours), Shamu show, and then add in attractions like Manta, Atlantis, and even just a chair lift which takes you up high and for a decent journey, plus the simulator (i forget what it was called but it was a good quality sim), and the ob tower. It's been said numerous times (including in the 'half-day sea world' thread) that you could do most of what you'd want in SW GC in 4 hours or less, which in my opinion is because that type of discussion is between non-family types that aren't interested in spongebob, nickelodeon or the jungle gym thing.

I'm not just talking a straight comparison of ride to ride, and attraction to attraction. When it comes down to it if you do that, there isn't much between them.

But if you take out the Shamu show, and San Diego, in my view, still has 2 hours+ on the GC, which makes the difference between a 'full day' park, and a 'half day' park. I concede that what we have is (mostly) top quality stuff, but the park still isn't a full-day park, and in my opinion, you can't say it's "world class" when you're done in half a day. Storm will make that gap smaller, but it won't close it - and in my view, the GC doesn't have the land necessary to make the park a full day... unless you're pushing a stroller.

[Richard]

I should preface this post by saying that I don't think our parks as a whole are among the best in the world. As an assertion in a domestic marketing campaign it is the logical proposition to make, but that doesn't mean it's grounded in reality. Our parks are about on par with average regional theme parks around the world. Ignore the parks getting 5 or 10+ million visitors a year and look at the smaller independent or Six Flags type parks catering to 500k to 1.5 million a year.

Our parks do sometimes pull off particularly good theming considering the budgets they work with, but there's really not any examples of Universal or Disney quality attractions in Australia. A very small handful of our roller coasters and thrill rides are "up there" by world standards, but in terms of overall variety, quality and quantity of attractions on offer, our parks unquestionably fall short of comparable "average" parks, let alone the big guys.

I'd agree that Sea World holds up remarkably well against SeaWorlds, Busch Gardens and similar wildlife/theme park hybrids around the world. It'll never have the offerings of its USA equivalents that attract 3-4 times the visitors, but I do think there is a level of authenticity that is unmatched; everything feels genuine and heartfelt, in particular their approach to balancing education and awareness with experiences. That intangible quality does I think make up for some of the "on paper" shortcomings of the park.

Our year-round season, low population and high costs (wages, construction, energy, shipping etc.) don't give our parks much of a chance and they do pretty well all things considered, but I'd stop well short of throwing words like "world class" around.

[aaronm]

I've actually had a very lively debate with a friend of mine in the last couple of days about daylight saving for SE QLD. I honestly believe if SE QLD went to DST, there is a high likelihood we could see our parks open later in the summer, just as the big USA parks do.

Given how much growth the GC has seen over the last decade, I think there is definitely potential to market the parks to the after-work crowd on Thursday/Friday nights during the warmer parts of the year. I'm kind of surprised that Movie World doesn't have a Citywalk-style dining/entertainment complex attached to keep people spending money after the park closes.

But if you take out the Shamu show, and San Diego, in my view, still has 2 hours+ on the GC, which makes the difference between a 'full day' park, and a 'half day' park. I concede that what we have is (mostly) top quality stuff, but the park still isn't a full-day park, and in my opinion, you can't say it's "world class" when you're done in half a day. Storm will make that gap smaller, but it won't close it - and in my view, the GC doesn't have the land necessary to make the park a full day... unless you're pushing a stroller.

So this is what I was getting at when I said that Sea World was "close" to being a world class park. I don't think it's quite there yet either. Once Storm Coaster and the gorillas are in it'll be getting there. Unless you're hell-bent on seeing all of the shows and parades it's difficult to stretch out a visit beyond the six hour mark. They should definitely offer something better than a 5 minute Spongebob cartoon in the cinema, and a pet show would be a solid addition that could build on their animal welfare/conservation theme.

Filling in the back of the lagoon isn't a bad way to increase their usable land. Getting rid of the bridge might help open up that part of the park, especially given that it doesn't traverse a body of water any more. The whole park layout is a bit off though, not sure what they can do about that - most of the food venues are at the exit? And for a park which doesn't have much room to begin with I'm not sure a splash battle was the best use of space.

[lolman123]

i actually like the cyclone at dreamworld. theming crap but ride experience isn't that bad.

[gdalby96]

i actually like the cyclone at dreamworld. theming crap but ride experience isn't that bad.

I don't think that the track is bad, but the theming is. The only issue with ride is how uncomfortable it is. At some parts it throws you about a lot and there isn't much leg room for people over 6 foot. I think they just need to give it a new car, name, theme and repaint. That would make it much better. It has been open for over 10 years and I don't think they have done anything to it (maybe painted it once).

[Gazza]

. I think they just need to give it a new car

Wouldn't you need a train of 6 cars to match the current capacity?

[gdalby96]

Wouldn't you need a train of 6 cars to match the current capacity?

Yes thats what i meant

[Zanstabar]

If Dreamworld does decide to invest in one of their older rides, the Cyclone not only needs a smoother train but also needs to be faster at loading and unloading. I mean, waiting 10 minutes for one train to load and unload is ridiculous!

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

I mean, waiting 10 minutes for one train to load and unload is ridiculous!

A new train isn't likely to change that.

No offence intended towards those who favour the Viper... but with the upgrade to Kumbak trains, Vipers load time is as slow as it always was... so I don't think Cyclone has any hope of improving by installing a new train.

[aaronm]

^It seems to be an Aussie park thing - I've been on plenty of older Arrows overseas where the crews manage to get trains out pretty quickly, even with only one ride op checking restraints. Viper might be slow-loading but Cyclone just borders on the ridiculous.

[Jobe]

However a 2nd train would greatly improve capacity provided load/unload procedures are run efficiently. This would greatly improve the overall experience to be more positive and would improve the rides standing in the eyes of the public and enthusiasts alike. Nothing frustrates me more than seeing the poor practices in place everytime I ride Cyclone. It was run far more efficiently when it was Big Dipper at LPS .

[pin142]

The main difference between Viper and Cyclone is Viper can manage to find its parking spot first go something that Cyclone likes to take its time doing. You can almost re-load viper and dispatch in the time it takes to park Cyclone. In order for a second train to be viable on Cyclone they need queues for it. Went Sunday of the recent long weekend and it was almost walk on.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Based on those comments, rather than buy a new train, they just need to reprogram the PLCs, or allow a manual override.

I know we're talking different horses and different courses here, but i've parked Bush Beast a few times in it's day. Once the train stops on the brake run, the op manually depresses the brake release to bring the train into the station.

Since Cyclone doesn't do it that slowly for comfort (it still whiplashes each time the brakes are applied), why can't an op just bring the train in a little faster under manual (or semi manual) control?

The emergency braking system could still be tied in on the re-program to detect if the train was exceeding a particular speed in the station and automatically lock out for 5 seconds or something like that - teaching the operator what is too fast, while still allowing manual parking...

The worst case scenario is an overshoot, but training should overcome that, and most people wouldn't complain about an automatic re-ride (and most queueing wouldn't know the difference anyway)

[Flea]

^ Don't want to steer too far off topic but Alex, with the Bush Beast, would you still be able to release the brake if the station was occupied by the 2nd train? Similarly if it were on the lift hill would you be able to dispatch (assuming the lift hill is a block)? Interested to know if blocking would override in manual mode on an older coaster.