Extended hours at Australian theme parks

[Dean Barnett]

Just open later then... 

[Brad2912]

1 hour ago, Dean Barnett said:

Just open later then... 

sounds like a well thought out plan. 

[Dean Barnett]

Thanks!

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

12 hours ago, Brad2912 said:

sounds like a well thought out plan. 

honestly its not a horrible plan around the holiday periods. All the Disney parks vary their hours by the day, and usually the sister parks alternate - Disneyland and California Adventure for example each take turns. 

We've long discussed how the coast parks lack a full day experience so why not open say - Sea World at 9 and run until 4, open Movie World at 12 and run until say 8? Run some shuttle buses between the parks, or do something similar with MW and WnW - open MW early, close early and party on at WnW during the hot summer period, with dive in movies and all slides operating into the night?

Does THAT sound like a well thought out plan?

[Brad2912]

1 hour ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

Does THAT sound like a well thought out plan?

Pretty clear I’m talking about the present moment where half the Gold Coast is being disrupted by staff shortages. It just isn’t possible.

 

in the pre-covid world I was a firm supporter of extended summer hours 

[Jobe]

14 hours ago, Brad2912 said:

sounds like a well thought out plan. 

 

24 minutes ago, Brad2912 said:

Pretty clear I’m talking about the present moment where half the Gold Coast is being disrupted by staff shortages. It just isn’t possible.

 

in the pre-covid world I was a firm supporter of extended summer hours 

Sorry but how is it pretty clear from your first response that you were talking about the Gold Coast being disrupted by staff shortages? You would need an Allan key Brad to unlock that sentiment from that post or you might as well be in another timezone trying to communicate. Sarcastic replies like your first one , whilst sometimes funny do not convey anything other than that- sarcasm. 

Longer term members like me and @DaptoFunlandGuy realise you support extended Summer hours and we wholeheartedly agree but most of the time the sarcasm is lost on newer members. Sometimes its just not needed as well. 

 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

2 hours ago, Brad2912 said:

Pretty clear I’m talking about the present moment where half the Gold Coast is being disrupted by staff shortages. It just isn’t possible.

 

The parks are trading their standard hours right now. Dreamworld is even opening later.

All I suggested was shifting the start and finish times of those days to permit later trade. If you look at the example hours I gave, Sea World 9-4 is equal to 10-5. Movieworld 12-8 is much the same as 9:30-5:30.

Results in net-zero change to working hours (although shifts beyond a certain time might attract penalty rates, i'm not considering this), it uses the same staff they're using now, but also allows them to balance their back of house staff as maintenance crews could be shared between the parks for morning startup checks, and lunch-break staff for Sea World could then be sent to MW to relieve lunch breaks at MW for a one-person full shift instead of two person half-shift.

Potential park-hopping for guests might capture the valuable dinner period too.

Yes, there'd be some training involved and a lot of other things to consider, but its not a bad suggestion.

[Gazza]

What's the benefit in park hopping versus going on separate days?

You get lunch and dinner instead of two lunches. 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

benefits? like i said - a lot of other things to consider

• nighttime at movie world can have parades, WNW has movies, Sea World has light shows in the lake - you could offer these on alternate days to encourage repeat visitation (I know we hopped between DLC and DCA on alternate days to catch the early opens \ late closes \ alternating nighttime entertainment)
• In our summer, many folks would prefer the cooler evening to visit rather than the heat of the day. it potentially captures people who wouldn't have otherwise visited.
  (I know we personally would visit the parks during summer if they had late opens - as a matter of fact the last time i visited between Xmas and Australia Day was for a WnW movie night)
• You can sell flashy crap because its dark. 
• If you lose the second day visitor to the night time visit, then thats capacity for the park on other days, but you haven't 'lost' anything if they've done two in one day and bought meals at both. 

This isn't adding labour, work hours or anything else other than minor considerations for nighttime operations, its just moving the workday to a different slot. Doesn't have to be permanent, and every park can share the load and take turns on it. Doesn't even have to be every day - can just be 'select days'..

Finally

• because why not?

[joz]

Well all of your guests are programmed that they don't have to check schedules or anything, just turn up and have fun. Do you really want to muck with it and add an extra step for people who are on the fence? I'd argue making it as easy as possible for people is a bigger draw than is appreciated.

[Gazza]

When DCA or DL do night openings, they don't open the park at midday though. They always open early or late to provide more hours to get stuff done.

Just shifting the hours is a poor mans version.

Edited January 6, 2022 by Gazza

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

15 hours ago, Gazza said:

Just shifting the hours is a poor mans version.

Just like the GC parks are a poor mans version?

Shifting the hours still lets you get more done in a day - you can visit both parks in one day and not feel rushed. Something someone with your travel mentality would probably find very useful.

Also - current Disney hours in Anaheim don't reflect it, but on my last visit, the park with EMH also closed early, and the park that didn't have EMH was the one that traded late. 

When you're trying to keep costs down whilst still offering a point of difference, why not take the poor man's version and see how it works out? nothing said it has to be permanent.

15 hours ago, joz said:

Well all of your guests are programmed that they don't have to check schedules or anything, just turn up and have fun. Do you really want to muck with it and add an extra step for people who are on the fence? I'd argue making it as easy as possible for people is a bigger draw than is appreciated.

see... this I can get behind. This is a fair point that actually makes sense. I still think there's merit in doing it for all the reasons mentioned, but the dumb-guest argument does carry a lot of weight.

That said, we saw waterparks move to seasonal operating schedules, weekend only and all that - so if we can work through those changes, surely putting opening hours into the app and conditioning people to check them wouldn't be too hard?