Sea World Update - July 26

[themagician]

There is a lot currently happening at the park, so here is one big update for everyone.

ENTRANCE CHANGES

Firsly, the biggest change. And if you thought the entry process at SW couldn’t get any worse, think again. They have changed it (probably make it more efficient, but I can’t see it being in the busy periods). The big walls, lightijt framework and path you have to take isn’t good. Once you’ve had your photo taken, you go left for tickets and right if you have a pass. I was there not long after opening and they weren’t using the left entry point as they have done for many years. And the exit process also forces you have o see your photos.

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SEA JELLIES

Check out my full update here: 

In summary, I think it’s looking great 

 

RAY REEF

The attraction has partly removed, with the northern entrance open. The southern area of the exhibit is currently having the flooring currently repainted 

 

 

VIKINGS REVENGE

No changes with the ride itself, but the rock fountain has been turned back on and makes the area look better

CREATURES OF THE DEEP

Tne whole area has now reopened, but I definitely think some of the creature need a repaint or fixing. Hardly any of them were moving or making noise, and some were very faded.

LAND RECLAMATION 

Still plenty of machinery on site doing their thing 

OTHER WORKS

This area next to Seal Harbour has been fenced off with construction on the pump house underway

Jet Rescue is closed for maintenance

It seems that Storm has some new theming

And these toilets are under refurbishment 

PARK MAP

I haven’t looked at the new park map since the changes, and I’m glad to see they haven’t done the angle style and instead went from straight above. Did notice they have included a path, zoning the land, so this may indicate towards three new attractions or more at some point.

[rappa]

I’m sorry but that junk market setup for the entrance is just a complete embarrassment for what is meant to be a world class park. 

[Slick]

1 hour ago, themagician said:

PARK MAP

I haven’t looked at the new park map since the changes, and I’m glad to see they haven’t done the angle style and instead went from straight above. Did notice they have included a path, zoning the land, so this may indicate towards three new attractions or more at some point.

Classic Roachie rant, here goes:

This map is better than the Movie World one, but still un-useable as a guide. This is definitely sunk cost fallacy at its finest. With a hand drawn map, firstly there's a quaint aesthetic that makes it interesting to absorb what's traditionally a dreary piece of design. It also means you can augment pathway lengths and scale buildings & attractions to show more or less detail, so in the case of the main plaza or the entrance building, you can actually show the F&B and Merch shops without simply going "stuff it, it's too hard" and covering it all in white or shades of brown roofing.

I guarantee you this doubling-down on a badly thought out idea would attribute to lowered guest spend because it's simply too hard to easily digest what's what and where. From a UI/UX standpoint in the digital space, people jump off websites and abandon e-commerce carts because of far less (things as trivial having to load a secondary checkout page are known to increase bounce rates) so to think showing back of house areas & abandoned buildings (Viking's Revenge Station) is "cool & realistic" at the expense of showing what's inside their plazas and buildings means who-ever design this completely missed the point of the fundamental "why" this exists in the first place.

 

Edited July 26, 2018 by Roachie

[themagician]

Agreed @djrappa and I think what makes it even worse is it makes the entrance look really enclosed and uninviting. It isn’t until you get the front of the queue area that you can see into the park. They really should just get rid of this idea and change the entrance to how it used to be, and if they really want this type of crap, put it inside the park and let people do it if they want to.

[rappa]

It reeks of a cheap US tourist attraction where you have to get your green screen photo of the view you will actually see when you get inside before you’re let in 

[pushbutton]

Looks like they've done a pretty good job of downgrading the entrance area.

The only thing left to complete it is to remove the word "Sea" from the signs and replace it with "Piss weak".

Those words could just be added with a can of spray paint. 

The "World" part should remain as is. No need to waste money on a new sign with the same word.

 

Edited July 26, 2018 by pushbutton

[MacPark]

god what has happened to our parks

[MickeyD]

Thanks for the update @themagician! We can always count on you for bringing us the latest 😃

What a confused mess the entry area is becoming. Surely no Senior Executive could see this with their own eyes and think this looks good?

Even from a revenue raising perspective it stinks. Visitors being corralled and guilted by the Park vicariously through the eyes of their Kids into buying Photos  - even after leaving! Hmmm..

The whole execution is cheap and nasty.  Inconvenient to Passholders and a pathetic cash grab to practially anyone else.

Regardless, this is not the way a visit to a (once?) iconic Gold Coast Destination should be remembered? 😥

 

[Levithian]

This is what happens when bean counters have more than their usual say (or people listen). They care nothing for what damage they are doing (both physically to the buildings and to the reputation), only how good the numbers look for this year. Look what they did to dreamworld, looks like its time for village theme parks to get the same treatment.

It takes years to turn things around when they start ripping into a company.