40 minutes ago, Santa07 said:

Wipeout needs a bit of TLC and/or a partial rebuild, but I don’t think getting rid of it is a good idea

Vekoma have washed their hands of ongoing support and the steel structure is very nearly end of life. The fact that it's a unique, iconic or a great ride doesn't change the fact that its days are numbered.

Similar story for most things on that list really.

Edited January 24, 20196 yr by auspicious

2 hours ago, Naazon said:

Just curious, what would peoples opinion be on a boomerang coaster?

The problem with a Boomerang is that Rivals, Superman and Green Lantern exist. I think a Boomerang at a park like Aussie World or Fun Feilds would be huge, but not at Dreamworld. People know that Arkham isn't as good as the other 3 big coasters at MW, an they'll know a Boomerang isn't as good. Yes it's marketable, yes it's got the gimmicks, it's even got the nostalgia, but it's not something that will capture the public's imagination and the ride experience is sub par.

 

Ultimately, ToT is probably on the way out. You're obviously not going to get anything taller or faster, but you do need something as awesome to replace it. A boomerang won't cut it. Maybe as something to chuck in as a HWSW replacement it could work, but I wouldn't see it as a ride that will massively turn the tide.

I really hope that if tower of terror is going to be removed that it’s replaced. Probably the biggest draw card for me a long with gd and buzzsaw.

8 minutes ago, auspicious said:

Vekoma have washed their hands of ongoing support and the steel structure is very nearly end of life. The fact that it's a unique, iconic or a great ride doesn't change the fact that its days are numbered.

Similar story for most things on that list really.

I wonder what the story is for its clone in Mexico?

7 minutes ago, joz said:

The problem with a Boomerang is that Rivals, Superman and Green Lantern exist. I think a Boomerang at a park like Aussie World or Fun Feilds would be huge, but not at Dreamworld. People know that Arkham isn't as good as the other 3 big coasters at MW, an they'll know a Boomerang isn't as good. Yes it's marketable, yes it's got the gimmicks, it's even got the nostalgia, but it's not something that will capture the public's imagination and the ride experience is sub par.

 

Ultimately, ToT is probably on the way out. You're obviously not going to get anything taller or faster, but you do need something as awesome to replace it. A boomerang won't cut it. Maybe as something to chuck in as a HWSW replacement it could work, but I wouldn't see it as a ride that will massively turn the tide.

The problem DW face, apart from funding, is if they put in an amazing ride, they don't have enough open thrill rides to soak up crowds so not only do they need a great ride, it needs to have a really high capacity since it will take the major load of guests.

 

If they build up over time, with Decent but not game changing rides they can re-establish themselves with a real "Big 9" not made of up moderate thrills but true high thrills and then get a new huge ticket ride like Rivals.

 

my opinion anyway.

Edited January 24, 20196 yr by Naazon

Capacity is really not much of an issue...

Wipeout- 40

Tot2- 14

Gd- 8

Claw- 32

Tailspin- 12

Pandamonium- 24

Mdmc- 16

Hwsw- 24

Buzzsaw- 12

 

I'd say a bigger problem is a lack of crowds. If new thrill ride suddenly brought crowds in, even if that caused crowding elsewhere in the park, it would be a good thing.

 

Also in response to the post above mine: all those numbers are utterly meaningless. Scooby has a capacity of 4 and Arkham has a capacity of 20.

Edited January 24, 20196 yr by joz

And as heavily discussed on this forum, the reliability of those rides is questionable at the moment.

 

Edit: Also thanks @joz appreciate the discussion.

Edited January 24, 20196 yr by Naazon

14 minutes ago, Gold Coast Amusement Force said:

Capacity is really not much of an issue...

Wipeout- 40

Tot2- 14

Gd- 8

Claw- 32

Tailspin- 12

Pandamonium- 24

Mdmc- 16

Hwsw- 24

Buzzsaw- 12

 

Sorry but you are actually wrong there. All of these rides are 'cycle rides' - pretty much been DW's problem for decades. A cycle being that the ride has to come to a complete stop, unload the Passengers, open up all restraints, re-admit the next load, seat, check, re-spin/repeat. This makes for painfully slow moving lines and a 2 minute ride take 10-15 minutes even when the Q is small.

MW by contrast has quite a few multi-unit and continuous loading rides that keep Visitors moving steadily through lines. Note how dull even a 15 min wait can be for Superman with 1 train running, with not even a phone to look down at and God forbid you are forced to chat with the People your riding with!

Scooby, WWF, GL and Justice League are People Eaters designed to handle a US Park sized crowd.

Despite a larger capacity, Sky Voyager is going to be yet another cycle attraction that no doubt DW will have running with just 1 Gondola in no time to save $$$. At least they are not going to have to worry about long lines when it opens at the quietest time of the year!

2 hours ago, Slick said:

I wonder what the story is for its clone in Mexico?

It's probably been maintained better? Seriously, some of the noises that thing was making on Tuesday... scary haha

Wipeout is the one ride I always fear for my saftey when I am riding.

Are we talking Boomerang or Family Boomerang? The family Boomerangs look quite good. We need more family rides which are re-rideable, like SV. A lot of people look at GD or a large inverting coaster and just go ‘no way.’ 

Edited January 24, 20196 yr by iwerks

9 minutes ago, iwerks said:

A lot of people look at GD or a large inverting coaster and just go ‘no way.’ 

See I actually agree with that. But I think a couple rides like that are healthy for parks to have. The 'no way' leads to good fun banter between friends and stories about the crazy ride you were talked into going on and how amazing it was and how scary it was. GD does it perfectly. Thats what I'm talking about when I talk about rides that capture the public's imagination. GD does it, ToT does it, Rivals does it Superman does it. Even Claw and Wipeout do it a bit. (Pandamonium doesn't do it because people look at it and go 'that doesnt look fun or scary, that just looks like it'll make me sick')

 

Problem is for DW that their big 'OMG' rides aren't long for this world and replacements are needed. It won't be long before SW adds a proper new ride and if that captures the public's imagination right as DW' best thrill rides close the it's all over. Yes all parks need more genuine family rides, SV is a good family ride, but that is not what's going to pull them out of a hole.

Thrill rides at a park represent their signature attractions. If Dreamworld built a big 'shit your pants' tier ride, they have a world (no pun intended) of marketing at their fingertips. Big rides brings in big crowds, exactly what happened when ToT first opened in 1997, and DC Rivals to a lesser extent. 2019 looks to be a reasonably quiet year for our parks and Dreamworld should have been aware of this after Village's recent two years of capex additions and seized the opportunity to plan and construct a giant thrill ride that opens in the September school Holidays/Boxing Day window without new competition from Village next door. SV and the upcoming lazy river are good additions and definitely fit well in the park but they aren't the ones that will turn Dreamworld around. If they spent $18 million on something like a Gerstlauer Infinity Coaster it would have been a better investment for the situation at hand but here we are, we have a cool little simulator that might not give the attendance boost the park is looking for.

Edited January 24, 20196 yr by Baconjack

The lazy river is also a lot more than that. I can’t say anything but I’d say they are on the right track in regards to www.

1 hour ago, Gold Coast Amusement Force said:

The lazy river is also a lot more than that. I can’t say anything but I’d say they are on the right track in regards to www.

I agree, but it’s as they should be really. It’s a lot easier to get a waterpark right than a theme park.

2 hours ago, Santa07 said:

It’s a lot easier to get a waterpark right than a theme park.

Tell that to Village!

11 hours ago, pin142 said:

Tell that to Village!

Wet N Wild is a great waterpark. They just don’t add anything to it. Other than that, wet n Wild draws massive crowds.

I do hope WNW do install a new attraction this year. The Buggy’s was the last attraction, but that didn’t last. So really the last proper attraction the park got was in 2014 and was WNW Junior (and that was more of a refurb with a couple new small slides). So really (again) the last major attraction was in 2012, The Constrictor. For a major water park, 7 years without anything major is a pretty long time. I really hope they bring something all new that hadn’t been seen on the GC before. Like a Gravity wave slide 

2 hours ago, Gold Coast Amusement Force said:

Wet N Wild is a great waterpark. They just don’t add anything to it. Other than that, wet n Wild draws massive crowds.

Think you’ll find Pin was referring to WnW Sydney that they totally screwed up before selling for a $90m loss 

58 minutes ago, themagician said:

I do hope WNW do install a new attraction this year. The Buggy’s was the last attraction, but that didn’t last. So really the last proper attraction the park got was in 2014 and was WNW Junior (and that was more of a refurb with a couple new small slides). So really (again) the last major attraction was in 2012, The Constrictor. For a major water park, 7 years without anything major is a pretty long time. I really hope they bring something all new that hadn’t been seen on the GC before. Like a Gravity wave slide 

They also need to sort out the paths in the hot sun, and the black painted deck near River Rapid slides.

A friend who is in the demolition business was quoting to remove whatever slide this is today. 

 

 

RIP Mach 5

@red dragin that is indeed Mach 5

For anyone interested in the relocated bush rangers show.

 

Edited January 25, 20196 yr by Gold Coast Amusement Force