Sky Voyager Discussion

[pushbutton]

I'm pleased to see they've completely stopped showing the terrible video in the first room as you enter. It just shows the Sky Voyager logo now, and plays a few bars from the video backing track on repeat. 

Not a good pre show by any means, but much better than how it was with that video! 

Edited September 22, 2019 by pushbutton

[Gold Coast Amusement Force]

The video is still being played half of the time, this is what the queue looks like.

[T-bone]

Can someone draw up a diagram of the flow of how the queue now works, such as are there 2 switch backs on either side of the screen, or is it now just one continuous queue which snakes around the room and you get assigned a level when you reach the end?
Also how is the very first room now setup, do the sliding doors still operate or are they locked open?

[Gold Coast Amusement Force]

They are locked open, than the first room I wouldn’t know how that would be set up if the queue reached their. Than entering the second queue it snakes around the screen as seen in the above picture. You than get assigned a level.

[Brad2912]

4 minutes ago, Gold Coast Amusement Force said:

They are locked open, than the first room I wouldn’t know how that would be set up if the queue reached their. Than entering the second queue it snakes around the screen as seen in the above picture. You than get assigned a level.

F**k me that was hard to read. Every English teacher you have ever had just dropped dead.

[Flynn_Smith]

24 minutes ago, Brad2912 said:

F**k me that was hard to read. Every English teacher you have ever had just dropped dead.

Here, i've made it a bit easier for you all:

They are locked open. Then, in the first room, I wouldn’t know how that would be set up if the queue reached there. Then, entering the second queue, it snakes around the screen as seen in the above picture. You then get assigned a level. 

[MickeyD]

Sounds like someone's been tucking into Push's Brandy Cabinet to me!

[Brad2912]

If he switched the brandy for stemetil there would be a hell of lot less spew around...

[ejpdtd]

Coming back to this thread after my Disney trip and getting on Soarin at Epcot and DCA. My god that ride puts Sky Voyager to shame! It is an older ride system but still manages to be so much better than the brand new sky Voyager. Makes me not want to go on sky voyager again. 

[pin142]

Soarin has better presentation (queue area, preshow) but personally feel as though the ride experience they are both great especially given both parks respective budgets. Between the two you're essentially comparing a Toyota Corolla to a Tesla Model S, they both do the same thing just one has a bit more polish and refinement due to additional cost. We should be considering ourselves lucky the park took a risk with an attraction like this and to have something remotely like Soarin locally.

[MickeyD]

Well put @pin142. SV is still a great ride for what it costed compared to Disney (more than 4 times the price).

Trouble with SV there really is only one best Gondola to ride in (#2 middle, ground floor). Overall the ride experience would have been way better with 4 Gondolas instead of 6 crammed in. If you have already ridden SV and not done #2 give it another go.

For me, one of the highlights of the Disney ones is how the ride system itself works by launching everyone from the floor upward and forward into the screen. It's a very cool start and typical Disney "Wow" moment.

[ejpdtd]

 

3 hours ago, MickeyD said:

Well put @pin142. SV is still a great ride for what it costed compared to Disney (more than 4 times the price).

 Trouble with SV there really is only one best Gondola to ride in (#2 middle, ground floor). Overall the ride experience would have been way better with 4 Gondolas instead of 6 crammed in. If you have already ridden SV and not done #2 give it another go.

 For me, one of the highlights of the Disney ones is how the ride system itself works by launching everyone from the floor upward and forward into the screen. It's a very cool start and typical Disney "Wow" moment.

"Soarin to tower - we are ready for takeoff" - Yeah the takeoff from the ground is one of the most exciting bits, and so much easier operationally having all the gondolas on the same level for loading.

Understandably Disney is much better in all aspects but it's just astonishing HOW much better it is. Like you said crowd management, ride experience, and the video in particular. I did SV a few different times (also in the best seat), a week before I left for Disney and did really enjoy it, and then I went to Disney and was just blown away at the difference on show from a ride system almost 20 years old (in DCA case). I will of course ride SV again, but it is just disappointing to see what it could have been, done right and not in the cheap DW way. 

A bit of me is also sour about SV opening half a year late.

Edited October 25, 2019 by ejpdtd

[T-bone]

Doesn’t matter how much of a DW or Disney fan, if you ride one then ride the other, there will be a feeling of disappointment in what we got. That said, don’t compare, instead appreciate what we have got, and you’ll be fine. Sky Voyager is a fantastic ride, and we are very lucky to have something like it in our backyard. 

[Ryanhop01]

So I just had my first few rides on skyvoyager, and let me just say... WOW!

Not comparing this to any other ride similar to it, I was blown away by the atmosphere and experience the ride gave. First ride was top middle, and my other 3 were bottom middle and they were fantastic.

Not sure what the consensus is of the soundtrack from most people, but it almost Brought me to tears my first few rides as we were flying through the landscape and sydney at the end. Soundtrack on par with Disney In my opinion.

anyways, yeah get on the ride if you haven’t! It is definitely what dreamworld needed 🙂

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Undeniably the system is great for our little Aussie park, but I disagree it was 'what dreamworld needed' - there's been countless discussions here about how SV wouldn't "save" dreamworld - and they'd have benefited far more if they'd build the upcoming coaster first, and followed it up with SV.

[Ryanhop01]

11 hours ago, AlexB said:

Undeniably the system is great for our little Aussie park, but I disagree it was 'what dreamworld needed' - there's been countless discussions here about how SV wouldn't "save" dreamworld - and they'd have benefited far more if they'd build the upcoming coaster first, and followed it up with SV.

Dreamworld needed a quality family attraction anyone can enjoy sooner than a new roller coaster.... only decent family ride I can think of other than SV is maybe shockwave or vintage cars from my memory...

[Gold Coast Amusement Force]

Sky Voyager was something that Dreamworld needed in their ride lineup, but it wasn’t an attraction that was going to bring the crowds back like a major thrill ride would have. 

[Ryanhop01]

3 minutes ago, Gold Coast Amusement Force said:

Sky Voyager was something that Dreamworld needed in their ride lineup, but it wasn’t an attraction that was going to bring the crowds back like a major thrill ride would have. 

True, the park was dead on Saturday and even Sunday was slightly busy but not bad at all. I’m just glad they have fixed that hole in their lineup now and the fact that they have now announced TOT’s closure, a new launch coaster is something exciting to look forward to.

 

idk how the public would react if they added the coaster first and then removed tower of terror, then announced a family ride, if you know what I’m saying...

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

12 hours ago, Ryanhop01 said:

Dreamworld needed a quality family attraction anyone can enjoy sooner than a new roller coaster

 

12 hours ago, Ryanhop01 said:

the park was dead on Saturday

...and this is why they needed a new coaster FIRST.

Coasters bring the crowds.

[ejpdtd]

I went back on yesterday while waiting for TOT to open (which it didn't). The first time I walked into the new queue area/preshow area there were only two people in there, so I'm like cool no line I might just have to wait a few minutes for the cycle to finish. I waited maybe 5-10 minutes and after that, I was thinking surely they'll start batching into the next room... but then the preshow video started (the long boring first one), and the lights went down. I walked out, no way was I waiting another 5 minutes just to watch that preshow. 

I did come back later and managed to time it perfectly so it was straight into the second preshow room (safety video). Once everyone was in,  the ride op then explained all the safety instructions to the guests which took a minute or so, and I'm thinking like cool so we're just gonna skip the safety video and go to the gondolas... but then the safety video started playing just reiterating everything the ride op said. 

Then.... once everyone was sat down and buckled in, the ride op comes around to check belts and this weird thing happens where she has to press a button, and then quickly check all the belts in 2 or 3 seconds before the lights go off, and if she didn't make it in time, she had to repeat checking all the belts. That process repeated 4 times because she wasn't quick enough! I don't remember that the last time I rode it, but it is absolutely stupid if the ride system only gives them a couple of seconds to check each gondola to dispatch.

I do enjoy the actual video and ride aspect of Sky Voyager, but the whole experience of it all is just woeful in my opinion, Dreamworld doesn't understand how to efficiently operate the attraction.

I think the general public does eat it up though as a new experience, I was sat next to a random bloke who was a bit nervous and was asking me about it because it was his first time. Then once he got off he was frothing, he absolutely loved it. 

Edited October 29, 2019 by ejpdtd

[Ryanhop01]

33 minutes ago, ejpdtd said:

I went back on yesterday while waiting for TOT to open (which it didn't). The first time I walked into the new queue area/preshow area there were only two people in there, so I'm like cool no line I might just have to wait a few minutes for the cycle to finish. I waited maybe 5-10 minutes and after that, I was thinking surely they'll start batching into the next room... but then the preshow video started (the long boring first one), and the lights went down. I walked out, no way was I waiting another 5 minutes just to watch that preshow. 

I did come back later and managed to time it perfectly so it was straight into the second preshow room (safety video). Once everyone was in,  the ride op then explained all the safety instructions to the guests which took a minute or so, and I'm thinking like cool so we're just gonna skip the safety video and go to the gondolas... but then the safety video started playing just reiterating everything the ride op said. 

Then.... once everyone was sat down and buckled in, the ride op comes around to check belts and this weird thing happens where she has to press a button, and then quickly check all the belts in 2 or 3 seconds before the lights go off, and if she didn't make it in time, she had to repeat checking all the belts. That process repeated 4 times because she wasn't quick enough! I don't remember that the last time I rode it, but it is absolutely stupid if the ride system only gives them a couple of seconds to check each gondola to dispatch.

I do enjoy the actual video and ride aspect of Sky Voyager, but the whole experience of it all is just woeful in my opinion, Dreamworld doesn't understand how to efficiently operate the attraction.

I think the general public does eat it up though as a new experience, I was sat next to a random bloke who was a bit nervous and was asking me about it because it was his first time. Then once he got off he was frothing, he absolutely loved it. 

Yeah totally agree! The ride system is very weird how they have to buckle the belts! Also not loading people into the preshow room while the attraction is going ruins capacity, as well as being way understaffed. They definitely need at least 2 people on each level to do restraints.

[Brad2912]

You wait about 10-12mins between cycles in your are in the main room with the video. 

If you had waited 10mins and then walked out once the video started as your didn’t want to wait another 5, that’s plain stupid as you were already the majority through your wait, and the video is just on timed loop now and not relevant to the cycle. The last 3 times I’ve been in we’ve moved into the second rooms mid video. 

You are loading in the second room for grouping when the ride has about 2 mins left in its cycle. When the attendant leaves the room while you watch the safety video, they are getting guests off the ride. 

 

[red dragin]

Slow load times on a quiet day is a good way to fill the ride up, and operate it less frequently = less wear. 

[westical]

On 29/10/2019 at 10:16 AM, ejpdtd said:

I think the general public does eat it up though as a new experience, I was sat next to a random bloke who was a bit nervous and was asking me about it because it was his first time. Then once he got off he was frothing, he absolutely loved it. 

Went on it Saturday, sat next to a family of four who hadn’t been on it before. They went from “I don’t see how watching a screen will be much fun” to genuinely enjoying it within seconds of it starting. Seems to get rave reviews on FB. Loading was very slow though. 

[Brad2912]

Jumped on for a ride this morning for the first time in about 6 weeks. 

So noticeable changes to queue videos. 

The first screen when you first walk in, in front of the standard/ride express playing a video of a cast member, I didn’t really catch it as the line didn’t extend that far.

In the main queue room, the old video is gone. 90% of the time the screen just shows a stock video of clouds with the SV logo and “your attendant will be with your shortly”. Every now and then this is interrupted by an Experience Oz advertisement showing a few scenes of activities, as well as an advertisement for the new annual passes. 

The safety video in the pre-load soon has also changed, first we get the original queue line video intro with the aboriginal story and welcome (approx 1min) followed by a direct to camera safety instruction by a cast member/pseudo pilot who explains the loading procedures, loose items policy and safety instructions. They is accompanied with vision of people doing up their belts etc. A new feature mentions if an unwell/uncomfortable guest makes a cross with their arms above their head the ride will stop. It’s a bit meh tbh with some lame jokes...

As for the ride itself, I noticed immediately that a new “scent” has been added, anytime you are over the ocean you get hit with a big whiff of what I would best describe as lemon dishwashing liquid. It’s subtle and ok at first, but becomes quite strong by about the third ocean scene. 

I don’t know if it’s replaced the old grapes/wine scent that came about in the winery scene, as this used to be the only noticeable scent on previous rides, and it wasn’t there today. Well that or it was completely masked by the bottle of Morning Fresh that it smelt like I’d bathed in. 

Still getting applause at the end of the ride says it’s connecting well with first time riders, which is great.