2004 Thrill Ride Construction

[GoGoBoy]

Because if we don't aim for a high standard we will never achieve it. The parks are great but there is so much potential. If it were up to people like willsy and shifty, we'd end up with a bunch of crappy parks with 20 year old attractions and low capacities, regardless of demand. I know both of you guys are happy to line up for hours on an end for an old ride which you have been on thousands of times, but not me. It's that kind of "it's better than nothing" complacency among Sydneysiders that probably allowed Wonderland to stay open for the last 10 years without doing jack-all to the park. I'd personally like to strive for something a little better than that

[Nightshifter]

i dont think a person such as myself or people for that matter or the whole of sydney will help wonderland into getting more rides, everytime in went to wonderland i used to talk to people i used to do the surveys around the park and gave them ideas for new rides and roller coasters, but money is such a problem these days, you really think Wonderland could have pulled money out from their behinds to fork out more money, they couldn't it cost millions for a roller coaster and even millions for a large thrill ride such as the space probe.

[Richard]

I'm a paying customer to theme parks. It is my right as a paying customer to expect nothing but the best, otherwise I take my business elsewhere. I shouldn't be grateful to parks - they should consider themselves grateful to be getting my, and other guests' patronage. I personally think it'd be a bit boring if, just because I consider myself an enthusiast or fan of theme parks, I went along with a big smile and thumbs-upped everything they did, regardless of how good or bad it is. Regarding your bizarre point about Wonderland and new rides. No, they wouldn't pull the money out of their behind, they'd pull it out of a bank account. Where do you think other parks get their money, and what makes you think Wonderland didn't have access to money? You know, there's a reason that before you get into a park you have to hand them a sum of money.

[Nightshifter]

true you do give money to the park but that money is going to the cost of food suplies, toys, stuffed animals and refurbishments the operation of the rides (electricity) and maintenance of the rides and any other details i have left out, i wouldn't be surprised if wonderland was making a loss or a really slow profit. They do have money but not much of it, causing the closure of the park.

[Richard]

Umm, the money to cover the cost (and then some) of food supplies, toys and stuffed animals comes from the absurd prices you pay for these items. I assure you that Wonderland would have closed several years sooner than it did, had they not been turning suitable profits. Contrary to final releases, I think there's very little doubt that Wonderland was operating at decent profits, both annually, and throughout the seven years or so Wonderland was owned by Sunway. Let's move this discussion to the Wonderland forum if you wish to continue it. This isn't the place for it.

[willsy]

I'm a paying customer to theme parks. It is my right as a paying customer to expect nothing but the best, otherwise I take my business elsewhere. I shouldn't be grateful to parks - they should consider themselves grateful to be getting my, and other guests' patronage

Thats ok if want want the hight standard but people just complaining on forums about it wont help. People that live close to dreamworld and go more then once a year would expect more but for me and other people far away i dont think its like that, I go once a year to dreamworld and i dont care if i have to wait 1hr or more for a ride, I'm just lucky to be there. If you lived far away you most prob would be the same. Anyway just my say

[Nightshifter]

thats true. i was always sick of wonderland becasue i used to go mkore tha 10 times a year, but with dreamworld its been 2 years since ive been and im dying to go on all the rides, even though ive been on them a lot i seem to miss going on the toewr of terror, dreamworlds rides to me are rides that i never get tired of, some of wodnerlands were the same, i still always loved to go on them despite how long i have to queue for them, if they build more rides at dreamworld there will be more people and you would have to end up queing more and more for longer.

[rappa]

I think I can at least speak for Richard and myself here in saying that we weren't complaining at all about WHAT is being added, rather expressing out dissapointment over the way it is being marketed. I'm sorry but I live a hell of a long way from Dreamworld and I don't share your thoughts on not minding if they never change the park of if I have to wait an hour or two to ride. I don't find wait times like that acceptable, I am not any more happy to line up for an hour at DW than I am at SFMM...

[joz]

What do you mean be thankful I can pay $58 to go to a place and queue for hours on end? Why should I be thankful for that? I pay to go on the rides, when I spend money and spend half the day in a queue, then that's not good customer service I'm thankful for the atmosphere and the fact that its not too busy in winter, but I don't anyone can be expected to give praise for a service which is delivered at a semi-par standard. With the way Dreamworld delivers their product (IE by making people needlessly stand in line for a long time) I don't think I should be praising them for this. I praise them for having good rides, but the fact they are run so poorly wipes off the majority of that praise. Also, if Dreamworld were smart and built high capacity attractions (a big show, another walkthrough exhibit like Tiger Island or a ride that could handle something around 1,500 PPH) then the higher number of guests in the parks would be offset by the increased ability to cater for said crowds.

[Nightshifter]

in a way everyone does get frustrated when waiting in queue lines and when a theme park expands the crowds also expand, Im going to dreamworld in september, the time when a birth of a new ride comes. I expect queue lines to be busy, but what i don't understand is how the staff go about when the park is busy. There needs to be more staff at each busy ride and they need to load and unload everyone very quickly. I can't stand waiting in queue lines when the staff arent working hard enough, thats one thing i noticed at luna park is that they are fast workers, its always the same at the easter show. But is there are large crowds and large queues ever hire more staff , pay the current staff more money to work faster or look at the ride and see what can be done like the cyclone, it has very large crowds and only 1 train operating on the ride, that ride seriously needs another train. With wipe out there can be large queues but the ride takes the whole queue just about.

[Slick]

Well that was kind off right... Dreamworld does increase staff during the busy periods (do I need to state them or do we all know by now?) but casually during the weekends if there is an empty queue line (like the GD last weekend) they move the staff to where it is needed until there is an increase in the people who onto ride the ride, walk the walk, whatever.

[Richard]

Our parks have more or less peaked in attendance. Attendance will continue to increase, but you'll see the figures closely follow Australian population growth rate figures. Let's say Dreamworld installs a ride with an operating capacity of 1000pph. This single ride over the course of a year would in theory be able to cater for over 2.5 million guests. A new medium to high capacity ride installed at Dreamworld will only take away from queues on other rides, making average queue times on all rides less, not more. Of course there will be more people in the park for the period where the ride is considered "new", and will result in bigger queues for the peak periods for that year, but after the ride's novelty has worn off, queues will be shorter on all rides, not longer.

[joz]

Richard is correct and studies released have proven this. This was done some time ago, but the just of it was that if the parks added a new attraction it would have minimal effect on the number of people on the Gold Coast. It would require something like a new theme park would be required to greatly effect visitor numbers.

[willsy]

Whens the next construction and photos update for the new ride ? :confused: Cya

[Richard]

I can't see myself realistically getting out there again for a few more weeks. I'll try and get down there again soon, but I can't make any promises.

[Ian]

Went there today Rich. Control room was have all the wires installed and there were trenches with the wires too, no sign of ride yet. Also Thunder River Rapids was getting repiped. Took some photos too can be seen at link below. http://ozcoaster.net/ ian