Australian Outback Spectacular - High Country Legends ending soon

[Jamberoo Fan]

Seems like the current AOS show is ending very shortly with AOS social media staff saying "Please stay tuned to this page for all announcements. We have something exciting coming to Australian Outback Spectacular very soon".

Whilst it currently is unlikely, with all the development only metres away with the hotel, lakeside/entertainment precinct & MW's new rollercoaster, does anyone think it is linked somehow or is it just a coincidence?

There obviously will be a new show but what are the chances of redevelopment of the AOS show building so it is linked to the hotel & lakeside/entertainment precinct?

It would also allow it to have a refurbishment before the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

All speculation at this stage but with a possible major MW announcement in the next month, the timing is a bit coincidental.

Edited October 7, 2016 by Jamberoo Fan
Added hyperlink.

[themagician]

I think it really is just a new show, rather than a redevelopment and linkage to the hotel/precinct. From my knowledge I don't think the area of the that development is known yet, a part from being near MW.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

I think new show, and new technology.

I'm absolutely confident there is no link. I won't presume to state why - there are others here much more closely associated with AOS that could possibly offer a better explanation. I think it's just indicative that VR are trying to polish everything up ahead of the games so that they have the shiniest offering available.

[T-bone]

2 hours ago, AlexB said:

I think new show, and new technology.

I think it's just indicative that VR are trying to polish everything up ahead of the games so that they have the shiniest offering available.

I think you are on the right train of thought there Alexb. Unlike the competition up the road who just seem to be throwing mud and seeing what sticks..

Will be interesting to see if they continue with the high country theme or go back to the outback theme, whatever they do, I'm sure it will be a must see.

 

 

 

[Jamberoo Fan]

4 hours ago, themagician said:

From my knowledge I don't think the area of the that development is known yet, a part from being near MW.

Well I did read reports that the hotel would be built on 'a MW car park' and I believe we all presume the 'lakeside' precinct refers to the swamp next door.

Whilst I don't think the hotel would be built on MW's main car park or the grass overflow car park, I thought the dirt car park across the road from AOS would be a likely location for the hotel. This is how I currently imagined this huge development (colour code below)

• Brown - Footpaths (with bush trees planted on approach to AOS)
• Light Red - New entrance of AOS and small AOS box office/retail outlet on road's opposite side - this allows a 'link' to the lakeside/entertainment precinct & hotel, which I coloured as below...
• Dark Purple - Multi-storey hotel with basement parking & ground floor indoor entertainment/retail mall (black lines indicate main mall)
• Grey - Roads (with white zebra crossings)/TopGolf staff car park/hotel reception driveway (with green garden in front)/hotel basement carpark entrance (with white directional arrow)
• Light Purple - Retail shopfronts on hotel's ground floor exterior
• Dark Blue - Lake
• Light Yellow - Outdoor seating near lake
• Dark Green - TopGolf building
• Light Green - Top Golf driving ranges with surrounding netting (in grey)
• Bright Yellow - Rollercoaster track (pure guess except the part going over the TopGolf building)
• Black - Rollercoaster station building
• Dark Red - MW extension to new rollercoaster, Possible MW extension to new gate connected to lakeside precinct & to rollercoaster observation deck on lake's edge
• Bright Orange - If new gate, possible new MW retail outlets/guest services
• Light Orange - Possible extension of lakeside footpaths to connect to MW
• Dark Grey Blue - Possible extension of retail outlets in lakeside precinct
• Light Blue - Possible extra retail outlets if extension built
• Pink - Stage/amphitheatre (also adjoining light blue section). If extension to MW built, footpath instead

1 hour ago, T-bone said:

Will be interesting to see if they continue with the high country theme or go back to the outback theme, whatever they do, I'm sure it will be a must see.

I think the show will be designed with a pure and dedicated focus on the interests of foreign tourists this time (instead of also catering to city tourists/locals). I'll guess the show will be designed to last 3 years at a minimum - late 2016 to 2019.

Edited October 7, 2016 by Jamberoo Fan

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

23 minutes ago, Jamberoo Fan said:

• Dark Purple - Multi-storey hotel with basement parking & ground floor indoor entertainment/retail mall (black lines indicate main mall)

@Jamberoo Fan - i think its great that you're showing an interest in more than just Jamberoo these days, but do try and keep up. The purple section in your map, which I believe is the 'dirt' carpark opposite AOS, is pretty much locked in that THAT is where topgolf is going.

I do like that you're thinking things out and trying to see how they fit though.

Side note - if Hotel was to go there, it would cause issues for filming in the outdoor tank. Firstly, in such a small footprint, it would need to be a small high-rise to be worthwhile. Since your plan has it sitting to the north and east, it is going to affect natural lighting for outdoor filming if it goes over about 3 storeys (which is why TopGolf will work in that location)

Whilst we have a lot of info on a number of developments of the Oxenford property, there has been very little info for the hotel. If I were to build a hotel, I would put it up on the hill behind WnW (near where the outdoor 'river' set for Thor currently is) - they have all the land they need to play with a large, resort style complex in that location. If we take the 'hotel is on a carpark' argument, that doesn't work obviously, but if that be the case, i'd be pegging the hotel out the front of Movie World. Where precisely - can't tell you, but somewhere there.

[Tim Dasco]

I just want to add my 2 cents. Top Golf looks tiny on that map. Does someone know how much space Top Golf does require? That area looks to small to even hold a mini golf course. I was imagining it would require as much land as the roller coaster has.

Regarding the hotel I am surprised construction has not started considering it was announced last year and why construction on Top Golf has not happened yet after being announced a long time ago. Yet their is no mention yet of a massive roller coaster which they have started building but have said nothing about. Seems strange.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

They may not have 'mentioned' the coaster, but the news media already broke the story based on the development application... so its not like they've been silent on it... we all know its there - why announce before they're ready?

[Tim Dasco]

I just mean why did they announced the hotel and top golf so long before construction will start but why the roller coaster has already started construction without an announcement or any word from MW.

I am more getting at why the Hotel and Top Gold were announced so far in advanced rather then holding of on an announcement until constructions starts or later like they are doing with the Roller Coaster.

Edited October 7, 2016 by Tim Dasco

[Jamberoo Fan]

2 hours ago, AlexB said:

@Jamberoo Fan - i think its great that you're showing an interest in more than just Jamberoo these days, but do try and keep up. The purple section in your map, which I believe is the 'dirt' carpark opposite AOS, is pretty much locked in that THAT is where topgolf is going.

I have always had an interest in the Gold Coast's theme parks but as I'm rarely there, I find little point in discussing redevelopments on Parkz unless something extremely major (like MW's new rollercoaster) is being built/announced.  And don't worry, I'm trying to keep up - I check as many sources that I can find/remember prior to making a post. Once everything is announced, I'm definitely back on track. If there is a source you can link me to regarding TopGolf's location, that would be great.

2 hours ago, AlexB said:

Side note - if Hotel was to go there, it would cause issues for filming in the outdoor tank. Firstly, in such a small footprint, it would need to be a small high-rise to be worthwhile. Since your plan has it sitting to the north and east, it is going to affect natural lighting for outdoor filming if it goes over about 3 storeys (which is why TopGolf will work in that location)

I had considered all that but natural lighting didn't occur to me - good point. 

2 hours ago, AlexB said:

If I were to build a hotel, I would put it up on the hill behind WnW (near where the outdoor 'river' set for Thor currently is) - they have all the land they need to play with a large, resort style complex in that location. If we take the 'hotel is on a carpark' argument, that doesn't work obviously, but if that be the case, i'd be pegging the hotel out the front of Movie World. Where precisely - can't tell you, but somewhere there.

If it ends up being MW's actual car park (which seems to me now the most likeliest place), I'd have to say it would be at the back half of the overflow grass car park. It would make that car park dual-use (overflow/hotel) as well as permanent rather than grass. The hotel car park without a doubt would also include a basement carpark.

One reason why I thought it would be near the outdoor tank was because why have a hotel in front of 1 of the theme parks when there is another (& other attractions) next door? Easy access to 1 but difficult access to the others (unless they built or operated some sort of transportation link between them all). If no transportation link, wouldn't a centralised approach seem more appropriate?

Random thought - It would be cool if MW themed the hotel to like Scooby Island from Scooby-Doo or something else movie-themed.

2 hours ago, Tim Dasco said:

Top Golf looks tiny on that map. Does someone know how much space Top Golf does require? That area looks to small to even hold a mini golf course. I was imagining it would require as much land as the roller coaster has.

I looked at some photos on TopGolf's website before publishing my post with my guess & I think they vary in size from large to small. I've also found that satellite images distort the sizes of lots - a ground point of view shows the true size so it may look small on a satellite image but go there in person & it looks large.

2 hours ago, Tim Dasco said:

Regarding the hotel I am surprised construction has not started considering it was announced last year and why construction on Top Golf has not happened yet after being announced a long time ago. Yet their is no mention yet of a massive roller coaster which they have started building but have said nothing about. Seems strange.

The hotel hasn't been formally announced yet (I speculated either a January/March 2017 announcement). TopGolf was announced only in June & construction was due to start on that around September (coincidentally the rollercoaster's footing placement begun the same time too). We all expected a rollercoaster announcement around mid-August but it didn't eventuate (clearly due to a delay of some kind) so mid-November now looks like the time period with the most chance of having an announcement for the rollercoaster.

So in all cases, announcements were planned prior to construction beginning (but the rollercoaster one had a delay).

Also

When I said "(pure guess except the part going over the TopGolf building)", I meant "(purely random except the part going over the TopGolf building, which is a definite guess)". I forgot to change that when making that post.

Edited October 7, 2016 by Jamberoo Fan

[Richard]

1 hour ago, Tim Dasco said:

I just mean why did they announced the hotel and top golf so long before construction will start but why the roller coaster has already started construction without an announcement or any word from MW.

Announcement of their intent to invest in separate businesses like a hotel or golf attraction won't affect revenue now -- yet will potentially give an immediate bump in share prices -- while announcing a major ride 1-2 years in advance is very likely to impact sales and overshadow other theme park developments.

When there's multi-million dollar investments like Doomsday Destroyer and Fright Nights that exist to sell tickets or memberships, you don't really want to muddy the waters with "But there's something even better coming next year!"

[Tim Dasco]

^ That does make sense from a marketing stand point.

[Brad2912]

25 minutes ago, Tim Dasco said:

^ That does make sense from a marketing stand point.

And marketing makes the world go round...

[themagician]

The last night for the show is: 12th November 2016

Edited October 7, 2016 by themagician

[Brad2912]

@Jamberoo Fan there is no 'link' to the location of the Top Golf site, but a generally accepted area that the project will be constructed on. 

Re: hotel theme, I think relevance & longevity dictate that theming a hotel to an individual franchise offers far more risks than potential benefits (unless you are Disney..) 

[Jamberoo Fan]

True regarding the hotel theming (given DC Comics seems pretty permanent at MW, maybe DC Comics has the highest chance then of any possible hotel theming?)

Regarding TopGolf, ok. There was one thing that I didn't check regarding TopGolf and that was comparing it's stated size to the actual site on Google Maps:

Quote

The first planned Australian venue will be situated on approximately 15 acres of land adjacent to Warner Bros. Movie World on the Gold Coast, Queensland...

...The three-level, 65,000-square-foot venue will closely resemble the Topgolf model in the United States.

I measured 15 acres and it is huge - it is pretty much the whole site I drew on for my guess except for the lake, MW, the western side of the lake & the link to AOS. The dirt car park across the road from AOS is too small for the entire TopGolf site & the field next to that dirt car park (where I put it in my guess) is too small for it either. TopGolf's main building (65,000 square foot = less than 2 acres) would have to take up both the 2 previously mentioned sites at least (if it is to be located at the southern end). And without a doubt, it would need to have one end of the entire TopGolf venue in the rollercoaster construction site. 

The size of the 1st TopGolf in the USA (Alexandria) is 8 acres for comparison (this includes additional parts of the site but excludes their car park, mini golf area & an adjunct but separately owned restaurant). I've overlayed the 8 acre Alexandria TopGolf site (according to scale) onto the Entertainment Road site for comparison:

[strop]

Just a thought. Does anybody think that we might see a show at AOS that does not feature animals, in order to free up space (holding pens / paddocks) for these new developments??

[themagician]

I feel like the animals are a fundamental part to the show, and really hope in telling the story that the shows try to convey. I think they'll be staying 

[Brad2912]

Yeah agree Magician.

Horses & Sheep play a fairly integral part in the overall theme of any 'Outback Spectacular' show, which is heavily targeted go the overseas tourist market who just lap up Aussie/Farm animal in action. 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

On 8/10/2016 at 4:09 PM, Jamberoo Fan said:

TopGolf's main building (65,000 square foot = less than 2 acres) would have to take up both the 2 previously mentioned sites at least (if it is to be located at the southern end).

When quoting building size, remember that the measurement encompasses multiple floors laid over each other.

a 3 storey building of 65000sqft = 21,666sqft per floor.

that gives you something like this:

[Jamberoo Fan]

I did remember that but decided to go with the overall building size in case we misinterpreted this sentence:

Quote

The three-level, 65,000-square-foot venue will closely resemble the Topgolf model in the United States.

Either way, when you look at the image I posted, most of TopGolf Alexandria's building takes up that site anyway so we are both roughly correct anyway:

Edited October 10, 2016 by Jamberoo Fan

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

14 hours ago, Jamberoo Fan said:

Either way, when you look at the image I posted, most of TopGolf Alexandria's building takes up that site anyway so we are both roughly correct anyway

Correct. Except for where you said

On 8/10/2016 at 4:09 PM, Jamberoo Fan said:

TopGolf's main building would have to take up both the 2 previously mentioned sites at least

 

[pushbutton]

I just want to say that the current show "High Country Legends" is absolutely perfect in my opinion. 

 

I've never seen any of the previous shows so can't compare them to the current one. I simply hope the next show is as good as the current one. Who knows, maybe it will be even better (although I honestly can't imagine how)!

 

I've seen it something like 10 times and will be seeing it again a few more times before it finishes.

 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

We've been well impressed with every iteration of AOS so far, although as you've only seen one version, i've no doubt you will continue to regard it as the 'best' regardless of what replaces it, so I look forward to hearing all the things you see wrong with it when the new show opens.

I have absolute faith in the team at AOS and i'm sure it (the new show) will be just as spectacularly enjoyable as all the ones before it.

[Jamberoo Fan]

Pretty much true @AlexB but TopGolf Alexandria's building does go halfway into that field next to the dirt car park.