Sea World New Attraction 2019

[joz]

I think a Facebook post on each of the Village parks Facebook would've done the trick.  I think it was a bit of a missed opportunity that Village didn't honour Dreamworld tickets while they were closed without making guests surrender them so people who pre-booked tickets for holidays didn't have their plans ruined, and those who could hold their tickets to use at Dreamworld later still could.  Would've been a good chance to do something good for the Gold Coast tourism industry as a whole.  

[Prequel]

Surfrider should 100% stay at Wet n' Wild. When i went there on Monday, you could see it from everywhere in the park. It makes some perfect photos. With Surfrider and then you see the Tornado and Blackhole on either side. Its iconic at Wet n' Wild.

Edited December 10, 2016 by Prequel

[GCTV Parks]

Surfrider would be perfect in the spot where the corkscrew once stood 

[Santa07]

I don't mind where Surfrider goes

At SeaWorld - it fills the blackhole they currently have. But moving it there does cost money and take time.

At Wet n Wild - some say it's out of place, but I think it adds a nice bit of variation to the park. When you're sick of all the waterslides, you go ride Surfrider. Plus - it gets any credit whores through the gates to ride surfrider and just surfrider (chances are they'll probably already have a season pass of some sort though)

I don't really mind what they do, it could work at either park

[XxMrYoshixX]

Fantastic news that SW intends to replace Vikings with a new attraction in the near future, but announcing it yesterday was a case of poor timing and a bad decision on VRTP's part. 

[Gary86]

Surfrider is good at Wet n Wild. You can ride it to get dry.

[themagician]

I agree that it is good at WnW, but personally I think it would've been better at SW.

[jake_hunt]

Anyone else think SurfRider would look awesome standing where Pirate Ship used to be? Fill in some space behind it, another coaster to replace Sea Viper, and you've got yourself a nice-looking little thrill ride area. Talk about landmark photos, the lake in the foreground would be fantastic I reckon.

[Brad2912]

I just don't see VRTP investing in moving SurfRider. 

For every investment there must be type of ROI, what do you realistic gain by moving it to SW.

sure SW gains a much needed extra ride, but it's not new, it's not a ride that will bring extra people to the park in anyway, and it robs another park of an attraction that is generally well utilised. 

[Cactus_Matt]

I do wonder what kind of park Seaworld wants to be, with the removal of Coca Cola Rollercoaster I don't see how they think they can compete as destination venue aside from people who want to see the animals. I haven't been to the park in about 10 years but nothing short of B&M coaster would bring me back, but then again maybe they're not catering to my ilk anymore.

[bladex]

1 minute ago, Cactus_Matt said:

with the removal of Coca Cola Rollercoaster

you mean the corkscrew/sea viper? that was ages ago

Edited December 11, 2016 by bladex

[Reanimated35]

12 hours ago, joz said:

I don't think Sea World announcing the closure of Viking's Revenge on the same day as Dreamworld's reopening was Village trying to steal a headline, it's them trying to bury the story.  It's not like 'We've closed an iconic ride for a new attraction in 3 years' is a good message after all

Look, I agree that it was done to bury the article, and in a sense that worked as I know a few enthusiasts who missed it, however, there has been and will be plenty of other opportunities to release it and bury the news. Maybe back when the focus was still all on DW and the audit, or better yet, maybe when DW announced they'd be reopening, just not the opening day itself. It just seems tacky. 

[joz]

26 minutes ago, Cactus_Matt said:

with the removal of Coca Cola Rollercoaster

 

What a very New Zealander thing to say.

 

Sea World seem to have decided to go exclusively after the parents with very young kids demo at the expense of everything else.  The way they're doing that isn't to build more stuff that appeals to that group, it's to let everything that doesn't fade away to nothing.  I get the feeling Sea World management would be happier if it were a 70acre luxury resort with animals rather than a theme park. What's shocking to me is that the park is being so poorly run yet the management team get to persist.  I've seen people get fired from Village for far less serious things than taking one of the most profitable and iconic parks in the country and running it into the ground.

 

The only element of the park that isn't a disgrace is the animal care side of things.

[Cactus_Matt]

13 minutes ago, joz said:

 

What a very New Zealander thing to say.

 

Not a New Zealander though, just fond of that name, holds nostalgia for me despite its terrible product placement. Plus it was called that when I first rode it so it kinda sticks, just like how I still call Hot Wheels Sidewinder, Big Dipper after riding it 15 times during its final days at Luna Park.

[Whombex]

20 hours ago, Intimidator305. said:

Well, the article says that Vikings Revenge will be replaced with a new ride in 2019. It didn't say they weren't planning anything else. Maybe there will be a few new attractions?

This is something everyone should keep in mind. Maybe they were specifically referring to the area of VR only for that press release.

[Themeparkfan]

This explains why they removed the skyway cable car  earlier this year in preparation for the removal of Vikings revenge. Yet again so sad to see it go fond memories or riding it 8 times in a row non stop because the park was quiet and no one was queuing lol 

[Jamberoo Fan]

16 hours ago, Jordan M. said:

I think 7 forced their hand here, better to run with a statement early than "no comment" causing 7 to speculate.

I think this is the case - 7 News has been the only news outlet I've seen report it & the media have been keeping an eye on these forums lately. Unless someone can show that other media outlets received the same statement at the same time 7 News got it, that's what I think is the case.

3 hours ago, Themeparkfan said:

This explains why they removed the skyway cable car  earlier this year in preparation for the removal of Vikings revenge. 

No, it doesn't:

20 hours ago, Jamberoo Fan said:

Why would they have scheduled a 5 month maintenance period for it next year otherwise? The decision was probably made suddenly in the past few weeks.

Edited December 11, 2016 by Jamberoo Fan

[jake_hunt]

So SkyWay was removed a few years back. Now VR is closed, and SW are promising a 2019 attraction in what is a tiny, narrow and awkwardly shaped space...

Does this not bode well for the theatre? Maybe a refurb, or a complete removal?

[JeffreyMoore]

30 minutes ago, jake_hunt said:

So SkyWay was removed a few years back. Now VR is closed, and SW are promising a 2019 attraction in what is a tiny, narrow and awkwardly shaped space...

Does this not bode well for the theatre? Maybe a refurb, or a complete removal?

I'm thinking the castle and theatre will also be removed if the new attraction is going to take VR's current position

[Intimidator305.]

17 hours ago, Glubbo said:

This is something everyone should keep in mind. Maybe they were specifically referring to the area of VR only for that press release.

 

This makes a lot of sense. Considering it was the reopening of Dream World, they may not have actually planned for an announcement. But because the media was interested, they kind of had to say something or face the ridicule of many for not doing anything. Perhaps they actually planned to announce a big plan with multiple attractions later, but were forced to announce the replacement for Vikings Revenge early rather than announcing the big plan too early.

[aaronm]

On the positive side, removing VR will allow the park to fix the mess of pathways, bridges and ramps in that part of the park. There's a decent amount of free space to be reclaimed that's currently unusable.

[Richard]

 

On 12/11/2016 at 0:35 AM, Jordan M. said:

I would say 7 News were reading these forums *waves* or were somehow otherwise advised. Perhaps they have a software running to monitor web page changes at the parks.

Pretty simple to set up a Google Alert for Gold Coast related theme park news. The Viking's Revenge closure thread has been going for weeks but this didn't become a mainstream story until we published our article on the topic.

[Reanimated35]

I just hope that when it does go, it gets a proper Viking funeral and they set everything on fire and push it to the middle of the lake. 

[Park Addict 93]

2 hours ago, Richard said:

 

Pretty simple to set up a Google Alert for Gold Coast related theme park news. The Viking's Revenge closure thread has been going for weeks but this didn't become a mainstream story until we published our article on the topic.

I know I have one

I think you are giving yourself too much credit there, how many unique page views for that story and any coming for a media IP address?

If I were a 7 reporter assigned to Gold Coast Theme Parks I would have this or similar running on the main and matinance pages of each park.

Possibly it was from my newly launched website  suprising amount of traffic considering the facebook views/shares.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

*pours acid on eyes*

Jordan - in the interests of feedback to improve your 'newly launched website' - the single photo in that article looks like you smeared vaseline on the lens, and putting the 7 news quote in red is really putrid to read.

If I were a betting man, I'd give more credit to Parkz - a site that is frequently cited by media articles as sources, and Richard himself, who is frequently contacted for interviews and to make statements about our theme parks, than (as you yourself put it) a 'newly launched website'. Even though you said 'possibly' - I still think you gave yourself too much credit.

Indisputable is that the topic had been discussed on the Parkz forum for weeks prior to ANY article being published, so Parkz still lands the 'you heard it here first' banner.

Finally - that's probably got to be the most shameless plug ever.