COVID-19 & Theme Park Closures

[rappa]

The article states they are suing them for misleading shareholders that the park had good safety practices prior to the accident and because they were lying and didn’t the share price plummeted after the accident. 
 

I’d say the park will have a hard time arguing against such a case. 
 

 

Im sure it’s all park of a highly developed plan which includes delaying reopening and welcoming negative press as a strategy though. 

[StingRay]

On 17/06/2020 at 11:32 PM, joz said:

I'm afraid you are now too far from reality.

Thank you for your personal opinions about me. Good to know its a forum.

[themagician]

Disney have officially cancelled the Not So Scary Halloween Party for this year at WDW

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

4 hours ago, rappa said:

I’d say the park will have a hard time arguing against such a case. 

Is the allegation about their statement correct? Yes. The coroner's findings are quite firm on this point.

Can the shareholders prove that the specific statements about safety were key and critical to their decision to invest, over perhaps say - earnings growth and potential, projected expansions and revenue, and other such details?

An astute investor is going to consider past performance, track record of those at the helm, what the financials are saying, what the direction of the company is, and what they're selling for the future.

How many people invest in BHP because they say that their iron ore machinery is maintained to the highest Australian standards?

And how many of those people could prove that they had considered, and relied upon as a key factor in their decision, the maintenance record of the iron ore machinery to invest? Due diligence would rarely extend to a forensic analysis of an organisations maintenance records.

 

I'm not sure what they intend to achieve. If they secure judgment, they could potentially render the company insolvent. The devaluation of the stock means the company isn't worth what they would get as judgment, and would be liquidated or sold off to the highest bidder for cents in the dollar. Employees and super entitlements are priority creditors in liquidation, and that all gets paid out prior to any dividend paid to other creditors. litigation payouts rank only just higher than shareholders, but I doubt they'd get much more than their current stock value.

In all honesty, they picked a bad investment and want someone to pay them back what they lost. That's not how shares and stock trading works.

[RossL]

On 18/06/2020 at 10:46 AM, rappa said:

My point was specifically about COVID-19 (this is the thread for that after all) and I stand by my position that the negativity originated from once place. 
I am only arguing in this thread the notion the criticism of their handling of corona, and then the statement in regards to safety

Eh, their messaging has been poor and their attempted strong arming a failure.  At least they're getting back open so and taking the reasonable expected steps which they could have announced in early May and should have done to build public confidence.

Dreamworld opening later is a worse overall performance from them.  If you can't get enough people through the gate to pay for the extra electricity and water used due to opening  (labour costs being primarily covered by JobKeeper and they still have to feed their animals anyway) then yeah that's a total disaster.  Could be at some risk of not even reopening the gates it seems.

[FoolishMortal999]

Disney have stated they are cancelling this years MNSSHP. 

Edited June 19, 2020 by FoolishMortal999

[StingRay]

Hopefully not all of those rides are closed. Wouldn't look the greatest for them.

[Tim Dasco]

5 minutes ago, StingRay said:

Hopefully not all of those rides are closed. Wouldn't look the greatest for them.

Why rush to open if the park won’t have half off it’s attractions opened? Similar story with sea world opening with Jet Rescue closed. 

[StingRay]

14 minutes ago, Tim Dasco said:

Why rush to open if the park won’t have half off it’s attractions opened? Similar story with sea world opening with Jet Rescue closed. 

I totally understand the whole aspect of ensuring the workers have a job and money in the bank. But it seems a little odd. I thought they where conducting maintenance during this down time?.

[Levithian]

You guys seem to be forgetting the sale of the company comes with a provision of a higher sale price if the parks are back open and people are back at work when the shareholders vote on the sale....

Edited June 19, 2020 by Levithian

[StingRay]

8 minutes ago, Levithian said:

You guys seem to be forgetting the sale of the company comes with a provision of a higher sale price if the parks are back open and people are back at work when the shareholders vote on the sale....

I don't forget. That's the exact reason VRTP want all properties open. Makes the sale even better.

 

[Levithian]

Then why is it odd?

[Jdude95]

11 minutes ago, Levithian said:

Then why is it odd?

Because everyone seems to conveniently forget about it in any conversation including Village and COVID. 

[StingRay]

22 minutes ago, Levithian said:

Then why is it odd?

Profits before guest experience.

Our parks are our banks

 

Edited June 19, 2020 by StingRay
editing error.

[rappa]

It’s almost like the theme park’s are owned by publicly traded companies that have responsibilities to shareholders...  

[StingRay]

You don't say!. I love how you really want to make me look stupid.

Of course they are a public traded company. Google search can prove that to anyone. I don't think they purely wanted to open to "boost the local industry". Some of us know they wanted to reopen because it makes the sales transaction much easier. Sure pay the staff and that. But a park running at 50% and especially VRTP how they love to cut staffs hours all the time still wont make money atm.

But a sale will make money. Got to look good, just like they did for Lionsgate and WnW China.
 

[Jpw25111]

6 hours ago, rappa said:

It’s almost like the theme park’s are owned by publicly traded companies that have responsibilities to shareholders...  

Wow you really hate VRTP criticisms. 

[Tim Dasco]

10 hours ago, rappa said:

It’s almost like the theme park’s are owned by publicly traded companies that have responsibilities to shareholders...  

Ok that’s fine, ardent did the same thing by cutting costs to save money for the share holders which killed 4 people. But nah they have responsibilities to the share holders. So it’s fine. 
 

Just because they have responsibilities to share holders doesn’t mean they should reopen the parks without half their rides operating. 

[RileyK]

On 19/06/2020 at 9:52 PM, StingRay said:

Hopefully not all of those rides are closed. Wouldn't look the greatest for them.

Well firstly it looks as though Batwing will be open by the 15th of July.

Secondly I feel like its also naive to expect that any of the parks are going to open completely shutdown free. Lets pretend COVID19 didn't happen and my memory serves me right. Arkham was listed as closed, Green Lantern had a closure from the mid July for roughly 3 weeks, West had its closure extended to September back in March before the parks closed and generally at least one Kids WB attractions is closed on rotation from April to September. 

Lets also take a moment not just for VRTP but for DW to consider that when this pandemic hit hard at the start of the year two of the key locations that these parks receive their parts from were heavily hit by the virus, Germany and Italy. I recall they went into lock down for sometime? So its also probably worth assuming that the parks haven't completely sat back over the past 3 months. 

[rappa]

I’m only against criticisms that are unjustified and emotionally driven. 

If people don’t want a half closed park then don’t visit until it’s fully open. For you that’s no different than if it remained closed until ready for everything to open. 
 

But for people who would like to visit with at least some things available they can now do so. 
 

Why is it bad for Village to half open, but it’s fine for Dreamworld to not open at all? I don’t get it. I’ll never get the idea of going somewhere you don’t like and then complaining about how much you don’t like it. 
 

 

As for maintenance. Ride maintenance requires people to work closely together in groups. For much of the closure this wouldn’t have been possible so people can forget the idea that all the maintenance has been done over this time and everything is ready to rock now. There would be a large backlog. 

[joz]

I think a lot of people are unable to see what is happening due to their bias for one company or another and that's really sad. DW not being able to organise a reopening date and VRTP having rides closed when they reopen isn't the same thing, and I think should be discussed separately. It's also really hard when someone has combined them not to respond as if it's a joint issue when it really isn't.

 

I think having a heap of rides closed is less than ideal and will negatively impact guest experience. I ALSO think Ardent haven't got their shit together with reopening DW (or much else really). There are realities that you can point to with closures at Village (not just cynical ones too). If DW reopens with multiple rides closed I will make the same observations that I made with Village that guests will be dissapointed. I might not blame them or be mad at them, but I'd make the observation that it's a bit shit.

 

Also this thing of removing a ride from the website quietly and then not having it on the maintenance page is shit too. I'm looking at you Log ride and Monorail and dodgems.

[Guest 239]

2 hours ago, rappa said:

Why is it bad for Village to half open, but it’s fine for Dreamworld to not open at all? I don’t get it. I’ll never get the idea of going somewhere you don’t like and then complaining about how much you don’t like it. 

Because not everybody is as informed as we are. When the average guest sees that Movie World or Sea World has reopened after a few months of closures then they're going to expect everything to opened and ready to go. VRTP has only mentioned that parks will be at 50% capacity but have mentioned zilch about what will actually be open within the parks other than 'social distancing will be required'. The problem that arises from this is that many of us have season passes and once Sea World reopens next week I can guarantee that the passes will start ticking over again. Though if you're not feeling safe or don't feel value in going; too bad so sad. You're still paying for it whether you like it or not because technically the parks are open and you can go. It's like being charged for a gym membership but not being allowed to use any equipment though you're more welcome to wander the building. Also they're not going be generous and provide discounted day passes so imagine the poor sod that buys a one day pass to Movie World when it reopens and gets to enjoy a handful of attractions for the same price as they could have pre-COVID. 

If Dreamworld isn't opened then they aren't charging anybody for an inferior product by having half the park closed and nobody is out of pocket because their season pass isn't being wasted.

Edited June 20, 2020 by CaptainLazerGuns

[Jdude95]

51 minutes ago, CaptainLazerGuns said:

 

Because the forums are borked at the moment and I can't react. Let this serve as a reaction to your post. Also since I don't want to quote the whole text block.
👍❤️

[rappa]

I think as Joz said there are a lot of opinions being formed out of assumptions. 
 

Its and assumption to think Dreamworld has a plan. 
Likewise it’s an assumption to decide they have no plan. 
 

Its also an assumption that Village will ‘charge’ from day one even though not everything is open. 
 

Being as all of these are just that, assumptions, I don’t think it’s sensible to form opinions, pro or con against the parks. Just want to make it clear that this is my issue in this thread. Not that I’m  loving Village or Hating Dreamworld. 

Edited June 20, 2020 by rappa

[Park Addict 93]

9 hours ago, CaptainLazerGuns said:

The problem that arises from this is that many of us have season passes and once Sea World reopens next week I can guarantee that the passes will start ticking over again.

VRTP have already shared the following... so essentially your pass starts “ticking” a week after MW reopens.

If you have the VRTP app this is already reflected on your passes page.

Quote

What does this mean for Active One Pass and 4 Park Annual Pass Holders?

All activated Village Roadshow One Passes and 4 Park Annual Passes will be extended for a period of 4 months from your current expiry date. For example If your original pass expiry date was 23rd May (2 months use remaining at closure), your new expiry date will be 23rd September (2 months after reopening ).

What does this mean for Village Roadshow Theme Parks Members? 

Membership payments have been temporarily paused during the closure period and will recommence on 23 July 2020.

Edited June 20, 2020 by Jordan M.