TOT2 track removal

[TimmyG]

9 hours ago, Slick said:

A lot. Like the rest of the park, having rides look like they still exist from the highway or SBNO leaves a sour taste in guest's mouths. Our parks rely on repeat visitation, and especially when Dreamworld are trying desperately to fight its way back into profitability, giving people a reason to pick "the other parks" when they're planning their yearly interstate visit isn't a wise move.

It’s painted letters on a tower that is very much under a transformation right now. In a world where every dollar is counter, I think you are clutching a straws if you think this is a top priority when it’s something that will not affect a guests day.

 

[Slick]

33 minutes ago, TimmyG said:

It’s painted letters on a tower that is very much under a transformation right now. In a world where every dollar is counter, I think you are clutching a straws if you think this is a top priority when it’s something that will not affect a guests day.

 

I didn’t say top priority.
 

I’ve personally had the experience of telling folks in park the ride’s closed despite it looking like it still exists from the highway, and that experience absolutely does ruin a persons day. 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

1 hour ago, Slick said:

I didn’t say top priority.

No, but you did say that it mattered 'a lot'.

Yeah sure, people are gonna experience disappointment when they realise the ride they could see from the highway is closed - but its no more or less disappointment than what guests experience when  ride is unexpectedly closed for unscheduled maintenance on their once in a lifetime trip.

According to RCDB there is 191 coasters across the world classed as SBNO. I'm sure there's plenty of flat rides out there too, and i'm sure some of those are visible outside the gates and lead to disappointment. Let's not pretend though that that was the only ride that person was visiting for (if it was, they'd likely know when it closed) so their intention was to visit the entire park - and they still did and probably still enjoyed their day overall.

Whether it's the top priority, or just matters a lot, i think expending a fair chunk of coin to simply remove or cover over defunct ride signage when the park is in a financial situation we're all lead to believe (even according to this website) is in a bad place where it was said at one point they may not be able to afford even to build their new ride - i think they'd have no business paying to have that removed when there are so many other actual problems at the park.

If they could send someone up in the maintenance basket with a can of dulux and a roller then sure - but half assing things is what got DW into trouble in the first place, and doing it right would just be too expensive for it to matter very much at all.

[Gold Coast Amusement Force]

If you are looking at the tower and what it says from the high way, you'll probably end up rear ending someone...

[Slick]

4 hours ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

No, but you did say that it mattered 'a lot'.

Splitting straws on semantics is how all classic bad faith arguments start, FYI.

4 hours ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

i think expending a fair chunk of coin to simply remove or cover over defunct ride signage when the park is in a financial situation we're all lead to believe

By that logic they wouldn't be removing Tower of Terror track either because of the "financial situation" they're in and how pointless it is.

Struggling business or not, Dreamworld is a theme park and spending money on making the place look like another place/world/thing is actually one of the most important things they should be doing every single day in making it great again instead of watering the joint down with sub-par facade replacements and giant fences aimed at covering up SBNO rides. These days shopping centres are better designed and better themed. Ergo, i'd say that if they can't meet the consumer expectations  set by a local shopping joint (let alone be completely unable to step out of the shadow of its former self) then they have no business operating a park to begin with.

4 hours ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

half assing things is what got DW into trouble in the first place, and doing it right would just be too expensive for it to matter very much at all.

This is a beautiful oxymoron and i'm here for it. 😄 It just so perfectly summarises why the park is the way it is right now.

For a park that's trying to shift their image away from a brand that half-arses stuff to the point of fatalities, i'd say leaving a 100m tall sign of a closed ride up for all to see is about as half-arsed as it gets and does a lot of damage in terms of affirming guest perceptions of what they hear on the telly about the joint. That perception is further concreted in place when, throughout their day they come across all of the SBNO/closed rides littered across the park.

I often wonder how many guests, sweaty and exhausted from walking half a mile to a closed ride (because there's no printed or useful maps in-park anymore), look up into the sky utterly exhausted and see that glorious grey phallus with "Tower of Terror" painted down the side, almost taunting them of the money they spent, and think to themselves "never again."

Edited April 13, 2021 by Slick

[Jdude95]

Back to the mods are always right I see 

[Gold Coast Amusement Force]

1 hour ago, Slick said:

I often wonder how many guests, sweaty and exhausted from walking half a mile to a closed ride (because there's no printed or useful maps in-park anymore), look up into the sky utterly exhausted and see that glorious grey phallus with "Tower of Terror" painted down the side, almost taunting them of the money they spent, and think to themselves "never again."

Probably none

[Gazza]

49 minutes ago, Jdude95 said:

Back to the mods are always right I see 

Slick is a mod, but I didn't see him using his mod status to claim authority in the debate.🤨

[TimmyG]

8 hours ago, Slick said:

I’ve personally had the experience of telling folks in park the ride’s closed despite it looking like it still exists from the highway, and that experience absolutely does ruin a persons day. 

You are clutching at straws. 
 

This isn’t the case of for example Mine Ride which sat there for years, virtually intact and the none the wiser wondered why they couldn’t ride.

The Tower of Terrors track is clearly being removed, and it had a widely advertised and reported send off. Any guest who thinks they can still ride Tower of Terror with half the track being gone, clearly has bigger issues. 

[Slick]

36 minutes ago, TimmyG said:

You are clutching at straws. 
 

This isn’t the case of for example Mine Ride which sat there for years, virtually intact and the none the wiser wondered why they couldn’t ride.

The Tower of Terrors track is clearly being removed, and it had a widely advertised and reported send off. Any guest who thinks they can still ride Tower of Terror with half the track being gone, clearly has bigger issues. 

Quid pro quo - I had a guest out the front of the skull a week after closure ask me why tower was closed. With Mine Ride, it was almost entirely obscured to the point where it looked like theming, that's why no-one was the wiser. It also wasn't the park's signature ride for over two decades.

I’d actually argue that you’re clutching at straws and missing my main point entirely, which is having tower of terror written 100m in the air despite the ride being closed for some time is not a good impression for the park’s turnaround. 

Edited April 13, 2021 by Slick

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

1 hour ago, Gazza said:

Slick is a mod, but I didn't see him using his mod status to claim authority in the debate.🤨

He absolutely didn't.

3 hours ago, Slick said:

Splitting straws on semantics is how all classic bad faith arguments start, FYI.

Dismissing my thoughts as a 'bad faith argument' and 'semantics' is in itself a bad faith argument.

If you really want to delve into it, You said something matters "a lot", someone else referred to that same thing being given "top priority" and you then argued "i didn't say that" because they paraphrased different words that meant very similar things (and to be clear "this matters alot" and "this gets top priority" aren't that far from each other)

And if you're going to argue that they aren't similar enough that everybody else reading this didn't understand the two terms to be interchangeable in context of the conversation that's been had above - then it isn't me that is being semantic.

 

3 hours ago, Slick said:

By that logic they wouldn't be removing Tower of Terror track either because of the "financial situation" they're in and how pointless it is.

Now you're being disengenuous and you know it. The track for the ride is only being removed as needed, from what I can tell, and the plan to remove the track from the tower was included as part of the taipan build (and announced months ago) because the crane, operator, dogman and some riggers are likely to have some downtime in their build schedule.

Spoiler

For those who don't know, in some construction circles they charge by the day - especially for cranes. Whether the guy is physically working for the full day or not. Dreamworld is going to have one or several cranes operating on site for an extended period of time, but they won't be going non stop due to other things that happen as part of the build, so making use of the downtime of machine and worker is actually cost effective - in this case to remove large scrap metal - any additional costs for safety staff, etc are potentially offset by selling the scrap also. It could very well work out cost-neutral, or even profitable to do so.

On the other hand, removing ride tracks that are still in use in order to remove plates mounted to the tower under them, and then replacing the track  and recommissioning the drop tower is a huge risk - does the track need to be re-certified by the manufacturer? Does it require engineering signoff to ensure the ride is safe to operate again?  Do they need to shim the track mounts to allow for the reduced tower thickness due to the plate removal? There are a lot more costs associated with that that aren't absorbed as part of Taipan's construction.

4 hours ago, Slick said:

Struggling business or not, Dreamworld is a theme park and spending money on making the place look like another place/world/thing is actually one of the most important things they should be doing every single day in making it great again instead of watering the joint down with sub-par facade replacements and giant fences aimed at covering up SBNO rides. These days shopping centres are better designed and better themed. Ergo, i'd say that if they can't meet the consumer expectations  set by a local shopping joint (let alone be completely unable to step out of the shadow of its former self) then they have no business operating a park to begin with.

I don't disagree with you on this. I really don't. I'd love for them to actually try to keep cohesion in theming and puffery. But they've shown they're not up to the job, and right now, nobody else is buying. Much as I know you dislike what has become of this park, I know the child in you holds this place dear - and if they have to bankrupt themselves to meet your theming expectations, the park will close and it will all go under the bulldozer - giving nobody else a chance to turn it around.

For now, i'm just happy if they can keep the lights on long enough to find someone willing to buy it who will actually care about the details.

4 hours ago, Slick said:

I often wonder how many guests, sweaty and exhausted from walking half a mile to a closed ride (because there's no printed or useful maps in-park anymore), look up into the sky utterly exhausted and see that glorious grey phallus with "Tower of Terror" painted down the side, almost taunting them of the money they spent, and think to themselves "never again."

As I said in my earlier post, most people don't visit to ride 'specific ride'. they visit to visit a park and do all the things the park offers. And while disappointment does occur when one finds an old favourite is no longer around - right now there's a shiny bright orange distraction nearby that will turn those 'never agains' into 'i'll come back when thats open' and soon that disappointment fades.

If its that big of a deal, buy a Falcon gondola, or better yet, now that TOT is gone, rejig the drop to accommodate 4 drop tower tracks and then relaunch \ rebrand \ retheme the ride - and recycle the TOT name for the 'new' drop ride if that's what makes everyone's OCD happy. Call it "Tower of Terror Three: Choose your own way to face gravity" /s

TL:DR - I think Dreamworld has more important things to spend their money on than taking down some letters. In the short term, if its such a big problem, paint over it in a bodgy way using the maintenance gondola, preferably during other scheduled downtime so it isn't down longer than it needs to be.

[TimmyG]

I didn’t come on here to start an argument, rather add an opposing side to the argument. If this is the way mods treat members of this site, it’s no wonder Parkz and some of it’s members have the name it has within the local industry. 
 

@Slick, I fully agree that it’s not a good look. I’m not saying that they should leave it up there for old times sake. However what I am saying is that it’s clear the tower is getting work done to it, the track is slowly being removed, and that whole area of the park is being transformed. Give them time, rome wasn’t built in a day, and realistically it doesn’t matter to anyone whether it comes off or is painted over today, tomorrow or in September. 
 

This is exactly the same as crucifying the park because Vortex doesn’t look well themed... whilst it is still quite clearly under construction... oh wait..

[Slick]

3 hours ago, TimmyG said:

I didn’t come on here to start an argument, rather add an opposing side to the argument. If this is the way mods treat members of this site, it’s no wonder Parkz and some of it’s members have the name it has within the local industry. 

I’m entitled to share my opinion here just like everyone else is provided it follows the community guidelines, which it does. The way I’ve shared my opinion and engaged in debate hasn’t changed in nearly a decade now, and I’ve been posting here for close to fifteen years. Suffice to say - it’s called a debate. Don’t take it so personally. 🤷🏼‍♂️   

[TimmyG]

Calm your farm. Personally I have not taken it, rather the attitude and ego is showing if this is the attitude the mods here have. At the end of the day, debate or no debate, having moderators shout down the throat of a new member isn’t exactly the best look now is it? 

For what it’s worth, it doesn’t really matter. It will get removed/ changed in time. Just like the peoplemover at Disneyland will come down eventually too. All in good time my friend. 

[Slick]

29 minutes ago, TimmyG said:

Calm your farm. Personally I have not taken it, rather the attitude and ego is showing if this is the attitude the mods here have. At the end of the day, debate or no debate, having moderators shout down the throat of a new member isn’t exactly the best look now is it? 

For what it’s worth, it doesn’t really matter. It will get removed/ changed in time. Just like the peoplemover at Disneyland will come down eventually too. All in good time my friend. 

Some sage advice - opinions are like arseholes, everyone has one. To add - just because I’m able to articulate mine well doesn’t give you recourse to be petty and spiteful just because you’re butt hurt.

No one’s shouting, no one’s got attitude, no one’s using their forum title as a means to win a debate - you’re clearly just taking a debate about letters on a cylinder far too seriously and far too personally.

Chill out, it’s all good. None of this matters. 

Edited April 13, 2021 by Slick

[gumb00t]

Quick pop in today and noticed this excavator inside the tower fence. Gonna be doing some demo I reckon. 

[Jdude95]

Well, one thing is for sure. It's definitely going to do some excavating 

[Brad2912]

Was sitting in that exact location 2 weeks ago. the 

[themagician]

@gumb00t it has been there for a few weeks now, but I’d say it’s either being stored there for now or will excavate the area to allow for the new train route 

[gumb00t]

Wow I really do need glasses. I was there last week and didn’t even notice it 🤣

[Naazon]

5 hours ago, themagician said:

@gumb00t it has been there for a few weeks now, but I’d say it’s either being stored there for now or will excavate the area to allow for the new train route 

Don't tell @auspicious

[Whombex]

In B4 people hoping it's there to knock down MDMC.

[themagician]

Another piece of track was removed this week 

[rappa]

Very happy to see that. 

[themagician]

In case anyone was wondering if they’ve removed any of the TOT track from the tunnel yet… they haven’t