COVID-19 & Theme Park Closures

[rappa]

So the above post makes no sense.

First you said the issue was the bullying the government. Now either you've sat in a boardroom meeting with them and witnessed this, or you've read something in the media. 
But now you say it's actually just their whole public image? What image is that exactly? Again, the only public image can be one read in the media so...

When exactly WEREN'T they working with the government? I would stake a great deal on the fact they were working with the government from day one on a way out of the situation.

 

I'm saying people pick sides based on which park is making them feel more special about themselves, not by the actual goings on within the park themselves on whatever the topic may be.

 

And the last statement makes no sense. Movie World have at least 2 and arguably 3 world class coasters (if you count Scooby). Dreamworld has a bunch of steel for a 1/3 of a coaster sitting in a carpark with no certainty on being able to assemble it... so which side are people picking exactly? The fact that people pick sides at all is ridiculous in itself.

[StingRay]

 

 

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1 minute ago, djrappa said:

The fact that people pick sides at all is ridiculous in itself.

Yet at least 85% of this forum are all for VRTP while dishing it out to DW.

[rappa]

Well that's because 85% of the time VRTP are doing good things and Dreamworld are doing rubbish. Having an opinion on a particular action the park is taking is very different to picking sides in which theme park you support and which one you hate.

 

I'll tell you straight up that what happened with TRR was a joke and people should go to gaol. But I'll also say I think the Cosentino show was a great initiative and Tiger Island is the best animal attraction on the Gold Coast.

[StingRay]

Essentially so many people here love to bash DW because then it makes VRTP look so much better. It is called competition. But I gather many don't understand why competition is important.

Remember one thing. When you are at the top you can only go one way.

[Jdude95]

Meanwhile it now sounds like you're one of these people you talk of, who can only seem to lick the boots of one company

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

I look forward to NOT reading the rest of this thread when it mysteriously disappears overnight.

[StingRay]

[Jdude95]

I do enjoy that this all stemmed from a joke that someone took too seriously which caused me to double down because... why not tank another Covid thread 🤷‍♂️

[T-bone]

18 minutes ago, StingRay said:

Just use this mods and BAM, the stain is gone!

[Jdude95]

25 minutes ago, T-bone said:

Just use this mods and BAM, the stain is gone!

This Covid stain may need something stronger than what old mate Croaker can sell

[Levithian]

Theres been a study come out from bond university on the gold coast saying approx 15% of positive coronavirus tests were from people who were asymptomatic. Walking around for weeks infected without displaying any signs.

Nobody seems to be critising the study, so it only highlights that regardless of people numbers, social distancing is probably the most important thing to focus on and is probably going to be with us for quite awhile.

The longer this progresses, the more established the two camps seem to be too. People come first, no matter the cost; or only a few people have died, everyone back to work!

Edited June 4, 2020 by Levithian

[red dragin]

But at this point, no one has recently, to my knowledge, tested positive within Queensland with no known source of transmission (ie community transmission). 

They've said that we need to go through several incubation cycles (multiples of two weeks) before they can consider opening up, we must be at that point in Queensland by now. 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

15 hours ago, djrappa said:

I'm from Sydney and only visited the parks for a holiday. I have a nostalgic/childhood/real memory of the Parks, not of a video logo. In fact I'd say most people (and so many still think this) Village Roadshow is an American company because that logo was on the front of every American feature they remember watching.

 

So whilst a couple of argumentative experiences in this select forum might have more memory of a VHS tape than a theme park from being a child I WHOLE disagree that's the experience of most people from growing up.

It's amusing to me that while I shared an opinion different to Joz, I didn't minimise his perspective on things.

19 hours ago, AlexB said:

I'm not saying your perspective is wrong - just that it's different to mine

Its quite arguable that your statement is no more than a 'couple of argumentative experiences on a select forum' too.

I have friends who have no interest in theme parks. They holiday on the gold coast regularly, and come here for the beaches and a wealth of other things the gold coast has to offer. The parks are an integral part of the gold coast, but not for everybody - and admittedly, while I made a fairly general statement that the broader community outside SEQ would associate more than just the parks, so did you.

Great! You were lucky to holiday on the GC and go to parks. As I said I didn't visit until I finished primary school, and that was once until I was an adult. We had one other big holiday and that was mid-high school to Disneyland. The remainder of our holidays was elsewhere... but, the rainy day plan when we were holidaying at some small holiday town was always the local Village Cinemas.

But - I'm not talking about a VHS tape. Or a video logo. Or even a cinema chain.

I'm talking about the ident that fronted many of the big movies of the 80's and 90's. I actually raised the topic with a few of my friends the other day and many associated the rake with the movies, and with particular films they remember seeing growing up.

Ok, people don't necessarily identify VIllage as the operators of theme parks. But maybe thats what they're trying to change? That ad clearly shows the parks, and ends it with the rake. Considering the fence out front of rivals, and the staff polos and name badges have crossed over - maybe this is the next step in the branding to bring all the parks together under the one umbrella and identify the nostalgic trip to the drive-in or cinema with the parks of today to attract the non-park going audience?

As you and Joz say - you associate the park logos. Cool. They've got that market covered. Why not expand the market by triggering those childhood movie memories with a physical place they can visit? This ad is about trying to bring people back to the parks and show that its a family environment that is safe. And without the international market, drawing others in from a domestic market who otherwise wouldn't come to the parks, by using a brand they would associate with other things they remember isn't a dumb idea.

You aren't wrong about the image and brand of the parks. That is your perspective, and i'm sure many share it. I do also agree the park logo brands are recognisable, and important, so I certainly won't presume to sit here high and mighty and say you're in the minority - and you're wrong. Instead, I choose to respect your viewpoint, but express my disagreement with it because of my perspective.

What I do know is that when I saw that ad, i recognised many scenes (mainly because much of the footage was recycled), and I knew it was for the parks. But the slash-Rake ending for me immediately conjured the image of the village idents of years gone by - including this one (which actually uses a map of Australia in the background to dismiss those 'american company' theories)

https://youtu.be/LDjlBgCN_g0

And I don't think marketing all their properties under a unified banner is a bad thing.

While people might know the parks, they may not necessarily know which ones are accessible under the same ticket or pass. Marketing that those properties as part of the village group may help holidaymakers decide which parks to visit with limited time and money... i mean, it could be worse - they could rename every park to include the parent brand...

Or - you know, they can keep spewing a mess of logos over every advertisement, confusing the viewer and having them not know where to look for the 3 seconds at the end of the ad that is supposed to cement the brand image in them and make them want to look further into the product they just saw...

Respectfully, I think we're going to have to agree to disagree.

[Brad2912]

45 minutes ago, red dragin said:

But at this point, no one has recently, to my knowledge, tested positive within Queensland with no known source of transmission (ie community transmission). 

They've said that we need to go through several incubation cycles (multiples of two weeks) before they can consider opening up, we must be at that point in Queensland by now. 

Whilst that is correct, 2 of the last 3 people confirmed positive are thought to have been last in contact with someone infected 6-7 weeks prior. 

So either unconfirmed community transmission is occurring, or the incubation period can shift and is not the 2 week yardstick that was being used and can actually be closer to 2 months...

either way, that’s a Massive concern when it comes to large gatherings 

[Bikash Randhawa]

On 04/06/2020 at 6:57 AM, AlexB said:

Look, I think the rake promotion is a poor choice, and the parks are definitely a better brand to market. This came across to me as a shareholder presentation for the new buyers than something to encourage people to come back to the parks - BUT - Putting Clark at the front of the campaign is probably the best part of that ad. Sure, Average Joe doesn't know who he is, but if they persist with this marketing strategy (remember, he's fronted the media recently for soundbytes instead of Bikash) he starts to become the human face of the company, which is a far better image than a faceless rake. (I also don't think it's Clark who does the voiceover).

The Kirby name founded Movie World and the Village company, and while definitely not of the same calibre, has hints of the days where Roy Disney fronted the cameras on behalf of the Disney company. By all accounts Clark will continue to lead in some capacity with any new owner, and marketing him now (albeit probably a bit later than it should have been) is a great step at showing that it's "business as usual" when the new owners come on board. No doubt the company will take a direction that is different to what we have come to expect from Village (one can hope!) but having Clark at the helm, AND as the face is the kind of thing Eisner did when he rose to the top at Disney.

While my personal opinion of Clark isn't that high (an impression taken mostly from his posted antics on social media), it isn't horrible. I'm sure others would hold a negative opinion of him for different (and probably better positioned) reasons than mine - but as you say - quite a lot of people don't know who he is - but perhaps this is the start of Clark's "face of the company" debut, with more to come. If i'm wrong about that, then I wholeheartedly agree, its a poor choice for him to face the campaign, but if i'm right, its a great foundation for them to build him a public image that would well suit a family suite of theme parks.

Alex, this particular ad is getting phenomenal traction and yes people will always have their point of view and preference. We felt putting Clark in front of the camera was appropriate and in the current environment hits the right tone. There is a lot of speculation in your post, to be clear Marketing for VRTP and communication is my responsibility and I take tremendous pride in everything we put out, not always one gets it right but our intent is good, your comment about "Clark fronting the media and not Bikash"  is a decision that we make internally on which topic is more appropriate and for either myself or Clark to front the cameras as we see fit, it is not that it will only be me or it will only be Clark, all depends on who is available. The voice over is Clark, i can confirm this. I also take note of the comment "Faceless Rake". The only thing i can tell you is that we all are working as hard as possible to get the parks back online responsibly and with appropriate level of consultation and to get people back in the workforce. Some comments here talk about people not liking me personally and that's perfectly fine, when you are in the public eye this is bound to happen, I also give it back as i get it, no excuses for it, if someone makes a derogatory comment about myself or my business and specially if it is unfounded, I will come strong and hard because i can and it is the right thing to do. There was also come commentary here about some backlash we got for handling some situation, this is not true, there was no backlash. Yes i am vocal on social media when i see the need to be, no different to when i stood up to the animal activists and did not back down, I was also prepared for the backlash, threats to my family and anonymous deliveries to my family with more threats, that is the price one has to pay sometimes being in the public eye. I would love to get on here and very transparent but it has been hectic and difficult to do so and i will try to answer or clear up things as much as possible. You all are a bunch of passionate people and i like that a lot and you should say it how it is like i do but also be prepared to receive it as i do. All the best and have a great weekend.....

P.S. I am quite a nice person and not as bad as some people make me out to be but I accept whats out there totally. 

On 14/05/2020 at 8:09 PM, T-bone said:

Welcome @Bikash Randhawa, it’s nice to see a civil side to you. Putting differences aside, it’s good to see a park rep join a discussion here. Hopefully you stick around and show more of this side. I think a lot of people will appreciate seeing the more human side of the COO. 

Maybe one day we could sit down for beers or something? 🤝

Thanks for the welcome, and yeah happy to sit down for a drink...I am Human i promise you.

13 hours ago, Jdude95 said:

This Covid stain may need something stronger than what old mate Croaker can sell

That's funny, I will give you that

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

regardless of history or personal taste, your continued interactions can only be a positive thing for this forum.

Thanks Bikash for sharing.

[themagician]

The Giant Drop has been in testing this morning 

[rappa]

3 hours ago, AlexB said:

 

Quote

It's amusing to me that while I shared an opinion different to Joz, I didn't minimise his perspective on things.

Its quite arguable that your statement is no more than a 'couple of argumentative experiences on a select forum' too.

I have friends who have no interest in theme parks. They holiday on the gold coast regularly, and come here for the beaches and a wealth of other things the gold coast has to offer. The parks are an integral part of the gold coast, but not for everybody - and admittedly, while I made a fairly general statement that the broader community outside SEQ would associate more than just the parks, so did you.

I wasn't attempting to minimise your perspective, and apologies if it came across that way. I'm just saying I don't think your perspective speaks to the majority. 
You also seem to be speaking to current times with regard to your friends. As we are discussing nostalgia I'm talking about 8-10 year olds of the 90s and for those I'll definitely stand by my statement that I think a lot of interstate people really thought of the Gold Coast as theme parks. Because most Sydney people say, would go to the Sydney beaches as 'the beach'. Kids tend to look at points of differences to recognise destinations, hence Gold Coast being theme parks because the beaches at home didn't have that.

Quote

But - I'm not talking about a VHS tape. Or a video logo. Or even a cinema chain.

I'm talking about the ident that fronted many of the big movies of the 80's and 90's. I actually raised the topic with a few of my friends the other day and many associated the rake with the movies, and with particular films they remember seeing growing up.

That's kind of my point. Nostalgia for Village may exist, but not in the context of theme parks. So in order for a Village logo to generate a feeling of nostalgia for parents of today, they would have to associate that Village symbol with theme parks, which they won't.

Quote

Ok, people don't necessarily identify VIllage as the operators of theme parks. But maybe thats what they're trying to change? That ad clearly shows the parks, and ends it with the rake. Considering the fence out front of rivals, and the staff polos and name badges have crossed over - maybe this is the next step in the branding to bring all the parks together under the one umbrella and identify the nostalgic trip to the drive-in or cinema with the parks of today to attract the non-park going audience?

As I said, see how well that worked out for Disney. Corporate branding doesn't really create a sense of affection, warmth and indeed nostalgia which are all things you want for a theme park. When parks have their own identity, people are more likely to want to revisit more than one.

 

Quote

While people might know the parks, they may not necessarily know which ones are accessible under the same ticket or pass

Long before the internet and the facebooks came the "3 Park Super Pass". It had 3 logos on it, the name made it obvious what it was, and really it changed the parks forever in terms of how people chose to visit them. IMO that did more for brand awareness in terms of the parks being associated than any kind of Village Parks does today. But I'm not going to speak for everyone on this, because unlike some of my earlier comments I only have my personal experience to go on for this one.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

3 minutes ago, djrappa said:

I wasn't attempting to minimise your perspective, and apologies if it came across that way. I'm just saying I don't think your perspective speaks to the majority. 

Fair play mate, and I appreciate your words there. Likewise I don't think your perspective speaks to the majority either, but it all comes from our own personal experiences - so without creating a nationwide referendum on the topic its hard to judge.. and neither of us are wrong about our opinions.

I do apologise that my earlier statements weren't getting across what i was trying to say properly though and i think what i had meant was that tying the rake to the parks is probably trying to take advantage of the nostalgia of both markets to drive visitation. Notwithstanding the 'disney corporate' example you give, I do hope the strategy benefits them in whatever way it can, to support them through this.

6 minutes ago, djrappa said:

Long before the internet and the facebooks came the "3 Park Super Pass". It had 3 logos on it, the name made it obvious what it was, and really it changed the parks forever in terms of how people chose to visit them. IMO that did more for brand awareness in terms of the parks being associated than any kind of Village Parks does today.

I'll agree with you on this one. We still have the green 'stamp card' showing the dates we visited all three parks before choosing our 'bonus day' to go back to Sea World (my how times have changed) back in 1994.

 

Like I said back at the start, i'm no big fan of the Rake in terms of theme park branding, so i'm happy to sit back and see how it works out for them. I do hope that whatever they're looking for out of the cross promotion does work, and it drives more from the domestic market to visit.

[Naazon]

56 minutes ago, AlexB said:

Like I said back at the start, i'm no big fan of the Rake in terms of theme park branding, so i'm happy to sit back and see how it works out for them. I do hope that whatever they're looking for out of the cross promotion does work, and it drives more from the domestic market to visit.

In my complete lack of creative Vision, I would use the V's similar to how Marvel introduce their name with the comics flashing up as videos in the letters before becoming a solid red word. With the parks, using iconic video and imagery for 2-3 seconds, like dolphins jumping, the HWSD2 explosion, WWF, Mammoth Falls splash down ect

Further they have 6 V's and 6 Parks or attractions so it works.

Edited June 5, 2020 by Naazon

[Bikash Randhawa]

1 hour ago, AlexB said:

regardless of history or personal taste, your continued interactions can only be a positive thing for this forum.

Thanks Bikash for sharing.

You are always welcome and take care. My best to you my freind.

[webslave]

3 hours ago, Bikash Randhawa said:

P.S. I am quite a nice person and not as bad as some people make me out to be but I accept whats out there totally. 

Hi Bikash,

Nice to hear from you.  Just on this, could you comment on the allegation of @Jdude95 earlier where he said:

Quote

he (Bikash) threatened to sue friends of mine for calling him out

Is this something that took place?

On an unrelated question, was the copy of the promo that was posted to Instagram slowed down, or was that the intended pacing of the spot?

[Bikash Randhawa]

18 hours ago, webslave said:

Hi Bikash,

Nice to hear from you.  Just on this, could you comment on the allegation of @Jdude95 earlier where he said:

Is this something that took place?

On an unrelated question, was the copy of the promo that was posted to Instagram slowed down, or was that the intended pacing of the spot?

Hi There, if anything inappropriate is said that I firmly believe is in accurate then I will say and do whatever is required to correct this. I cannot remember every conversation I have with people and I don’t know who this Jdude95 is, if he says I threatened someone then that’s not correct I would have merely spelt out the actions I would take and give people the opportunity to correct themselves and again if they believe in what they are saying and 100% certain then they should not worry of anyone puts a legal option out there. 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

45 minutes ago, Bikash Randhawa said:

Hi There, if anything inappropriate is said that I firmly believe is in accurate then I will say and do whatever is required to correct this. I cannot remember every conversation I have with people and I don’t know who this Jdude95 is, if he says I threatened someone then that’s not correct I would have merely spelt out the actions I would take and give people the opportunity to correct themselves and again if they believe in what they are saying and 100% certain then they should not worry of anyone puts a legal option out there. 

So, that’s a yes.

[themagician]