Dreamworld borrows money for new Thrill ride??????????????

[New display name]

If somebody can open this and paste it I will give you 1 like with a wink.

 

 

ASX RELEASE5 April 2019ARDENT LEISURE FINALISES US$225 MILLION DEBT FACILITY Ardent Leisure Group Limited (ASX:ALG) (Ardent) today announced the completion of a US$200 million term loan facility, comprising a US$125 million drawn term loan and a US$75 million delayed draw term loan, as well as a US$25 million Revolving Credit Facility (collectively, the Facility) by its wholly-owned US subsidiary, Main Event Entertainment, Inc. (Main Event). The Facility will be secured and guaranteed by Main Event and is non-recourse to the other assets of Ardent.The proceeds of the drawn term loan were used to repay Ardent’s existing Australian bank debtfacility, and the balance of the proceeds will be available to support investment in Theme Parks and Main Event as well as general corporate purposes. Following completion of the refinancing and after repaying the existing bank debt facility, the Group will have in excess of AU$80 millioncash. In addition to these funds, Main Event will also have access to US$100 million in undrawn facilities. The Board of Ardent assessed a range of alternatives to fund the growth plans of its two businesses, with a view to achieving the optimal balance of quantum, strategic and operating flexibility, tenor and overall cost to shareholders. The Facility provides Ardent with committed, longer term funding that enables it to make the necessary investments to return the Theme Parks operations to profitability and to support the development of new Main Event centres.Over the past 12 months, the management team of Main Event has made significant progress, with recent new centre openings generating strong results and return on investment, and developed a healthy pipeline for future centres. The funds available to Main Event under the Facility will be utilised to accelerate the development of new Main Event centres, with a target of approximately 5 to 8 new centres per year.

 

Let's hope DW also spend the money to get SV open quickly.

Edited April 5, 2019 by Skeeta

[Thrill Seeker]

Dreamworld parent company Ardent Leisure borrows $225m ahead of investment in parks

 

THE new boss of Dreamworld has hinted at major announcements “in the very near future” after its parent company landed a $225 million financing deal.

In an announcement to the ASX this afternoon, Ardent Leisure Group said it would borrow $225 million through its US-based Main Event business, using part of the refinanced funds to pay off the company’s bank loans, which its half-yearly accounts said were $97.6 million.

Ardent said $80 million cash would support investment in theme parks.

Dreamworld CEO John Osborne said the announcement was great news for Dreamworld.

“Essentially it allows us to proceed with our master planning process with a little more confidence and that will mean identifying what happens in the next five to 10 years for Dreamworld,” he said.

“I’m really pumped about making sure we get back to a profitable situation and the refinance gives us the opportunity to start making some announcements in the very near future.

“We’ve got some very popular attractions here already and we’re back in business already, but clearly we want to increase and replace some of the attractions we’ve got.

“I’d certainly be looking at a new major thrill ride for the park — probably two of those I would have thought.”

Ardent shares closed 0.45 per cent higher at $1.115 after a daily high of $1.145.

Mr Osborne said the park’s 1000 staff were focused on running its current offerings well, with more rides in operation today than had operated at any one time for the past two years.

He said a suite of entertainment planned for the school holidays and beyond would bring more visitors back to the Coast icon.

“We want to keep growing the business and reinvigorating its reputation and getting it back to being the icon that it always has been.”

Ardent Leisure logged a $21.8 million loss for the first six months of the financial year as costs from the 2016 Thunder River Rapids tragedy continued to drag on the company’s bottom line.

However, the company said it expected to return to positive cash flow in the next 12 months. The State Government announced last month it would spend $2.7 million in partnership with Dreamworld to expand the park’s Corroboree and wildlife area.

It will include the Dreamworld Future Lab, a “world-class’ facility which will be the state’s first native animal genome research facility.

The 25-year-old Wipeout was decommissioned in March and the site of the former Thunder River Rapids Ride has been completely cleared while the park prepares to launch its Sky Voyager virtual reality ride.

 

[MickeyD]

This might just be the "outside of the box" thinking DW needs right now but money aside, DW needs a solid plan (short/mid/long term). They haven't been able to commit to anything in Christ knows how long and having a solid direction and delivering on the  timeline is vital in getting them out of their current shitstorm.

- Get SV open and KEEP IT OPEN.

- Get a temporary Ride like a KMG in the old Wipeout spot STAT and keep it there until something more permanent can be sourced.

- get the Koala wildlife thing open as quickly as possible. Animals at DW are one of the Park's best assets and the only part that is actually ran properly.

- Red flag any rides that continue threatening reliable Operation and spend/invest where worthwhile (ToT) and ditch where not (Buzzsaw, log ride)

- keep everything else running and invest the right amount of money in what is worth keeping.

- Build that kick arse new Coaster.

[Gold Coast Amusement Force]

So let’s hope that doesn’t mean the lazy river is back on the cards ...

[Luke Costello]

Where do you think the next attraction will be built ?

[Jdude95]

The old Sky Voyager building

[Cactus_Matt]

225 million buys a LOT of shaded seating areas.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

45 minutes ago, Cactus_Matt said:

225 million buys a LOT of shaded seating areas.

I think that joke is getting on in years.

[Cactus_Matt]

1 hour ago, AlexB said:

I think that joke is getting on in years.

To be fair I've only recently returned to the forums after a long break so it's still pretty new to me.

But I wasn't even meaning it as a joke really. Dreamworld has got a lot of work to do if they're going to convince me they can spend money wisely and build the park up to the point it was pre-TRR incident. 225 million buys a lot, but unless they spend it on the following 3 things then they don't have a clue what they are doing.

1. A world class flat ride, I'm not too versed in what innovations have been made with flat rides but they need something intimidating and wild looking to fill Wipeout's gap (not literally, it can be anywhere in the park).

2. A heavily themed and expansive water-ride, be it a flume like Wild West Falls or something else water based. Regardless it needs to be wet, it needs to be long and it needs to be fun.

3. A record-breaking B&M roller coaster. It has to be B&M because nothing looks like a B&M and that alone would impress Joe public (as well as please enthusiasts obviously), the best kind of record breaker is to build a world's tallest/fastest its the easiest to market rather than having all sorts of caveats like "in the southern hemisphere" etc. So a Giga like Fury 325 (only taller) would be ideal. Heck, use the top of the Dreamworld Tower as the crux of the lift hill and you've got yourself a ride that no one around the world could ignore.

[coasterdude44]

52 minutes ago, Cactus_Matt said:

To be fair I've only recently returned to the forums after a long break so it's still pretty new to me.

But I wasn't even meaning it as a joke really. Dreamworld has got a lot of work to do if they're going to convince me they can spend money wisely and build the park up to the point it was pre-TRR incident. 225 million buys a lot, but unless they spend it on the following 3 things then they don't have a clue what they are doing.

1. A world class flat ride, I'm not too versed in what innovations have been made with flat rides but they need something intimidating and wild looking to fill Wipeout's gap (not literally, it can be anywhere in the park).

2. A heavily themed and expansive water-ride, be it a flume like Wild West Falls or something else water based. Regardless it needs to be wet, it needs to be long and it needs to be fun.

3. A record-breaking B&M roller coaster. It has to be B&M because nothing looks like a B&M and that alone would impress Joe public (as well as please enthusiasts obviously), the best kind of record breaker is to build a world's tallest/fastest its the easiest to market rather than having all sorts of caveats like "in the southern hemisphere" etc. So a Giga like Fury 325 (only taller) would be ideal. Heck, use the top of the Dreamworld Tower as the crux of the lift hill and you've got yourself a ride that no one around the world could ignore.

I strongly agree with your first point

I also like the second but I don’t know how they would be able to do it or where to put it (maybe the old blue lagoon site)

Yout third point is insane.

[red dragin]

2 hours ago, AlexB said:

I think that joke is getting on in years.

Is that what the Dippin Dots guy told you? 

[Cactus_Matt]

23 minutes ago, coasterdude44 said:

Yout third point is insane.

I don't think its insane, I just think its extremely unlikely given the state of Dreamworld's current management. Nobody would have believed a park like Dreamworld installing the world's tallest, fastest roller coaster in the world but they already did once before, so why not again?

[Gazza]

2 hours ago, Cactus_Matt said:

I don't think its insane, I just think its extremely unlikely given the state of Dreamworld's current management. Nobody would have believed a park like Dreamworld installing the world's tallest, fastest roller coaster in the world but they already did once before, so why not again?

Hey didn't the owners who installed it go bust hence DW being sold?

[Slick]

1 hour ago, Gazza said:

Hey didn't the owners who installed it go bust hence DW being sold?

Nope. https://www.afr.com/property/macquarie-may-buy-dreamworld-19980213-k7ys4

[Gazza]

14 hours ago, Slick said:

Nope. https://www.afr.com/property/macquarie-may-buy-dreamworld-19980213-k7ys4

Cool, im pasting this in so we can search it in the future....It's an interesting one.

TOT was successful in terms of boosting the value of the park prior to sale, but I'm not sure how it would have gone in terms of ROI from visitation.

My view is that in the 90s it was a bit cheaper to build a record breaker, and a few regional parks held the crown, and around the year 2000 with millennium force that window closed.

Quote

 

1974 - Mr John Longhurst begins to develop the Dreamworld theme park on the Gold Coast.

1981 - Dreamworld opens.

1989 - Longhurst sells it to Mr Bruce Jenkins for about $170 million.

July 1990 - Dreamco, the company of Bruce Jenkins, defaults on a debt of $152 million. Mortgagee IOOF Australia appoints Ernst and Young as receivers of Dreamworld's assets which include island leases in North Queensland.

1990 - Daikyo buys Dreamco's north Queensland assets, but Dreamworld remains unsold.

1991 - Dreamworld is put to market with a price tag of around $100 million.

1994 - Mortgagee IOOF Australia plans a $60 million to $70 million public float of Dreamworld. The float falls through a month later amid questions about the sale and Australian Securities Commission scrutiny.

1995 - Singaporean tycoon Kua Phek Long makes an $84.1 million unconditional offer for Dreamworld.

1995 - Brisbane businessman Ross Palmer attempts to block the sale to Kua Phek Long, claiming he had a contract in place to buy Dreamworld.

1996 - Foreign Investment Review Board approves Kua Phek Long's purchase.

 

 

[Slick]

2 hours ago, Gazza said:

TOT was successful in terms of boosting the value of the park prior to sale, but I'm not sure how it would have gone in terms of ROI from visitation.

Over-simplifying hugely here - for roughly every dollar Dreamworld spent on Tower of Terror Kua made two dollars in the final sale. 2:1 ROI ain't bad.

I also don't think it was necessarily cheaper per-say - two parks jumped on un-proven technology which never worked 100% of the time to buy a one-trick pony that was extremely, extremely marketable in a pre-Google & less globalised world. Back then, punters took world-record claims at face value. Folks today are more knowledgeable, more travelled and more weary to gimmicks and all of those buzz-words (world class, precinct, activation, southern hemisphere's XYZ) which don't have the same shine they once did.

In my mind, in 2020, if you had 16 million in today's money (28-29 million) would you spend that on something roughly like Rivals which is from a proven manufacturer and will deliver results long term, or risk it all on something like Ring Racer at the Nurburgring?

Edited November 18, 2020 by Slick

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

3 hours ago, Slick said:

Nurburgring

Did someone say New Burger Rings? 😮

3 hours ago, Slick said:

if you had 16 million in today's money (28-29 million) would you spend that on something roughly like Rivals which is from a proven manufacturer and will deliver results long term, or risk it all on something like Ring Racer

I totally get your logic, and it is sad, but unfortunately I think in today's world our local parks are more likely to go the 'rivals' route. Its a shame though really as having that true 'world first' unique item can really pay off IF it works - the problem is that that 'IF' is too big for our domestic parks to stomach.

[Gazza]

1 hour ago, AlexB said:

totally get your logic, and it is sad, but unfortunately I think in today's world our local parks are more likely to go the 'rivals' route.

Lolwut, it's not sad at all. The current crop "DC Rivals" style coasters seen at more and more parks are way better than the one time record breakers.

Superman Escape from Krypton is not better than Tatsu or Twisted Collossus.

Steel Curtain is better than Phantoms Revenge

Steel Vengeance is better than Top Thrill Dragter or Milllennium Force.

Takabisha is better than Fujiyama.

Dreamworlds new coaster will be better than TOT (Having ridden Blue Fire)

 

The problem I find is so much cost goes into creating the record breaking aspect that the rest of the ride suffers.

Edited November 18, 2020 by Gazza

[Slick]

12 minutes ago, Gazza said:

Lolwut, it's not sad at all. The current crop "DC Rivals" style coasters seen at more and more parks are way better than the one time record breakers.

Superman Escape from Krypton is not better than Tatsu or Twisted Collossus.

Steel Curtain is better than Phantoms Revenge

Steel Vengeance is better than Top Thrill Dragter or Milllennium Force.

Takabisha is better than Fujiyama.

Dreamworlds new coaster will be better than TOT (Having ridden Blue Fire)

 

The problem I find is so much cost goes into creating the record breaking aspect that the rest of the ride suffers.

Sorry @AlexB, what @Gazza said is what i'm implying and I think he pretty much nails in one - all of those coasters are better despite not being world record holders and I reckon that's the way to go in 2020. A marketable advantage is great but shouldn't be the sole focus of the ride.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

On 18/11/2020 at 4:42 PM, Gazza said:

Lolwut, it's not sad at all. The current crop "DC Rivals" style coasters seen at more and more parks are way better than the one time record breakers.

On balance, yes - all of your examples are correct assessments. I'm not disagreeing with you. I even said I think our parks will take the DCR route, and so they should.

What I meant was, it's sad we won't see our parks take that big leap again. Sure, DCR is an incredible coaster, but what i'm trying to say though is that TOT, despite its many flaws and limitations, is what really put Dreamworld on the map. Despite the carnage it wreaked on the park landscape, it was the dawn of a new era for Dreamworld, and something that symbolised the park for over a decade.

Granted, they lacked anything else really to take over the title - Cyclone was a worthy addition to the park lineup but not anything special, and the blue fire clone will be a worthy successor to the flagship title at the park.

My sadness comes from the knowledge that anything our parks get will, pound for pound, be a copy of something else already rideable overseas. that's all.