Ardent Leisure FY 20 results

[Jdude95]

Let's hope future attractions have a bit more care and thought put into them so we don't have another Busszaw situation 

[Baconjack]

I'd love to see Aussie World, LPM or Adventure World gobble up Buzzsaw if they were prepared to buy it. A pretty cheap way to add a big ride that doesn't take up a lot of land. 

DW buying buzzsaw was a head scratching decision for me. They bought a ride from a low tier manufacturer that had a poor track record even at the time whose most successful models are small spinning coasters and wild mice.

Remember that when Buzzsaw was built Ardent at the time was penny pinching... I wouldn't be surprised to hear that when they realised they had to get a big thrill ride they went with the cheapest possible option, which was more than likely the skyloop. Nowadays DW have to live with the consequences of their owners being cheapskates with yet another problem child ride in their lineup.

Almost 10 years after the fact DW have a double whammy, a ride that is most of the time shut, and when it's not shut, its a ride that nobody wants to queue up for because it is a one trick pony that also doubles as a bone shaker.

Edited August 27, 2020 by Baconjack

[Retardent]

What part of the land got sold?

At 250% above book value, the rest of the land at Dreamworld is worth more as a redevelopment than as a theme park.

Makes you wonder what they're up to.

[Jobe]

2 hours ago, joz said:

Its easy to assume that, but with Buzzsaw it really is poor support from the manufacturer.

Interesting- I have never heard this. What was the nature of the poor support from Maurer?

1 hour ago, rappa said:

Whilst we can argue they should have invested in a proper coaster and not some cheap one trick plonk it down and go model, they seem to have gotten fairly screwed by a terrible design and manufacturer.

 

Quote

DW buying buzzsaw was a head scratching decision for me. They bought a ride from a low tier manufacturer that had a poor track record even at the time whose most successful models are small spinning coasters and wild mice.

 

Whilst I do not disagree that  Buzzsaw was an odd decision for Dreamworld to install ( it was totally opposite to their need at the time) for  mine, I think its fairly inaccurate to label Maurer as a "second tier manufacturer" or "terrible manufacturer" on the basis of  just ONE coaster.

To date Maurer have installed  63 coasters in various locations in virtually every market in the world. Their spinning coasters are well regarded, and with 21 installations across the world, are their most succesful design to date. They have been installed in major theme park players such as Alton Towers, Phantasialand, Disneyland Studios Paris, Six Flags and Hersheypark, to name a few.

They also have installations of other custom coasters at Universal Orlando in the form of Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket ( which I have ridden and really enjoyed ) and Fiorano GT Challenge at Ferrari World Abu Dhabi.

Even the Skyloop model (XT 150) of which Buzzsaw belongs to, has met with success around the world with 9 installations. I certainly agree that they are limited in their scope, however, and there were certainly other options that would have been far superior that Dreamworld could have explored ( Premier Rides Skyrocket II comes to mind). In fact Dreamworld would have been far better off going with the Skyloop XT 450 extended model- of which there is currently only one installation at Parque de Atracciones de Madrid, called Abismo. By all accounts , this gives a much more satisfactory ride experience and is far from the one trick pony that the normal Skyloop model is.

They still remain as players in the world market and with several installations across the market as late as last year and they are concentrating on their latest product the Spike Coaster, of which 2 units have alerady been installed and several are being planned for Cruise Ship installation in the future.

Combined with their Wild Mouse models ( over 15 installations) they have certainly made an impact on the world wide market. I get that they are not on the same level as Intamin or B & M but to completely debase their whole attractions listing as inferior is a bit of a stretch.  I have not heard anything majorly wrong with the company in regards to their operations or after sales service so to label them thusly as a terrible manufacturer is also a  tad erroneous for mine. Just my 2 cents worth

 

 

[StingRay]

4 hours ago, AlexB said:

Am I missing something here?

Stingray is not a recent removal. The Parkz database suggests this was removed in 2012, which sounds about right. I think the confusion is coming from the fact that a recent Parkz article incorrectly tagged Stingray instead of the Log Ride, which Richard subsequently fixed up.

I'm STILL HERE!

[Gold Coast Amusement Force]

Ive always put a positive spin on Dreamworld's announcements or at least tried, but the removal of BRC and Buzzsaw sooner than later is extremely disappointing. I feel Dreamworld is again relying on a singular attraction to turn a positive cash flow as they did with SV. 

[Tim Dasco]

7 minutes ago, Gold Coast Amusement Force said:

Ive always put a positive spin on Dreamworld's announcements or at least tried, but the removal of BRC and Buzzsaw sooner than later is extremely disappointing. I feel Dreamworld is again relying on a singular attraction to turn a positive cash flow as they did with SV. 

They didn't say Buzzsaw will be closed, They said its time is limited and is an extremely unpopular attraction. They also said a pipeline of new rides and attractions are being developed. 

[Jdude95]

1 hour ago, Jobe said:

Interesting- I have never heard this. What was the nature of the poor support from Maurer?

 

 

Whilst I do not disagree that  Buzzsaw was an odd decision for Dreamworld to install ( it was totally opposite to their need at the time) for  mine, I think its fairly inaccurate to label Maurer as a "second tier manufacturer" or "terrible manufacturer" on the basis of  just ONE coaster.

To date Maurer have installed  63 coasters in various locations in virtually every market in the world. Their spinning coasters are well regarded, and with 21 installations across the world, are their most succesful design to date. They have been installed in major theme park players such as Alton Towers, Phantasialand, Disneyland Studios Paris, Six Flags and Hersheypark, to name a few.

They also have installations of other custom coasters at Universal Orlando in the form of Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket ( which I have ridden and really enjoyed ) and Fiorano GT Challenge at Ferrari World Abu Dhabi.

Even the Skyloop model (XT 150) of which Buzzsaw belongs to, has met with success around the world with 9 installations. I certainly agree that they are limited in their scope, however, and there were certainly other options that would have been far superior that Dreamworld could have explored ( Premier Rides Skyrocket II comes to mind). In fact Dreamworld would have been far better off going with the Skyloop XT 450 extended model- of which there is currently only one installation at Parque de Atracciones de Madrid, called Abismo. By all accounts , this gives a much more satisfactory ride experience and is far from the one trick pony that the normal Skyloop model is.

They still remain as players in the world market and with several installations across the market as late as last year and they are concentrating on their latest product the Spike Coaster, of which 2 units have alerady been installed and several are being planned for Cruise Ship installation in the future.

Combined with their Wild Mouse models ( over 15 installations) they have certainly made an impact on the world wide market. I get that they are not on the same level as Intamin or B & M but to completely debase their whole attractions listing as inferior is a bit of a stretch.  I have not heard anything majorly wrong with the company in regards to their operations or after sales service so to label them thusly as a terrible manufacturer is also a  tad erroneous for mine. Just my 2 cents worth

 

 

I think it's more because it was still one of the earlier models and Maurer quickly moved onto the larger more interesting models. That, plus I'm sure DW in the last 10 years have thrown as little money at it as possible. 

[westical]

1 hour ago, Retardent said:

Makes you wonder what they're up to.

Generating cash during a pandemic?

[A.H]

I heard rides like the Skyloop and Sky Rocket II look very intimidating to the GP especially with lap bars.

Unless DW is aiming for quality over quantity, become more of a family park they need another big thrill coaster 

Edited August 27, 2020 by A.H

[Tim Dasco]

To compete with VRTP in the short to mid term IE 3-5 years they need to build the following to remain competitive in my opinion on top of the current roller coaster;

Another major coaster after this one (thrilling)

One major flat ride (Thrilling and high quality) 

A major family ride (ideally water based)

A high quality family/ kids based dark ride

Edited August 27, 2020 by Tim Dasco

[red dragin]

41 minutes ago, A.H said:

I heard rides like the Skyloop and Sky Rocket II look very intimidating to the GP especially with lap bars.

Unless DW is aiming for quality over quantity, become more of a family park they need another big thrill coaster 

There's not been a coaster yet I wouldn't ride, even the one in Kuala Lumpur inside the mall that they where hitting the brakes with a mallet to unjam them 20 minutes before it opened. 

I went to ride Buzzsaw (prior to 2016) and just couldn't, hit an invisible wall walking up to it. The vertical lift and slow roll over was just not my cup of tea. Didn't even consider the lap bar an issue. I can understand the GP's hesitation too. 

[Levithian]

Didn't a lot of the trouble with buzzsaw start because someone in maintenance ran the car through the station with the station gates closed and caused a bunch of damage?

[Jdude95]

11 minutes ago, Levithian said:

Didn't a lot of the trouble with buzzsaw start because someone in maintenance ran the car through the station with the station gates closed and caused a bunch of damage?

To be fair, if this did happen, they would just replace the parts and move on. Unless nothing was fixed or changed then it shouldn't have caused lingering issues after it's rectified. 

[Levithian]

I thought thats the reason why it sat closed for a long period of time.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

50 minutes ago, Levithian said:

I thought thats the reason why it sat closed for a long period of time.

I think you might be mistaken. I have no reference to back that up (although searching Parkz i'd probably find it eventually) but as I recall there were issues with the restraint systems - safety requirements stipulated independent redundancies were needed. The manufacturer \ park believed the existing redundancies were adequate, but if i remember correctly, because the redundancies were integrated, they weren't regarded as independent, hence why we eventually got seat belt fasteners on the harness as an additional redundancy.

 

Ok, google made it easy on me - searching 'buzzsaw restraint' and this was the top result -

https://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/news/gold-coast/dreamworlds-big-thrill-ride-the-buzzsaw-has-been-closed-due-to-safety-concerns/news-story/ab76b2cc06c4732b82a709ed3f87aaff

Something something ogres something onion something layers.

[Jdude95]

3 hours ago, AlexB said:

Something something ogres something onion something layers.

Or alternately

 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

What's wrong with Resident Layer?

[Gazza]

On 27/08/2020 at 7:36 PM, Tim Dasco said:

To compete with VRTP in the short to mid term IE 3-5 years they need to build the following to remain competitive in my opinion on top of the current roller coaster;

Another major coaster after this one (thrilling)

One major flat ride (Thrilling and high quality) 

A major family ride (ideally water based)

A high quality family/ kids based dark ride

DW doesn't need another flat ride lol, but you are correct on the rest.

[Tim Dasco]

12 minutes ago, Gazza said:

DW doesn't need another flat ride lol, but you are correct on the rest.

I think they could use another one. Replacing 1 side of Giant Drop with a Falcons Furry gondola would go down pretty well. 

[Jdude95]

2 hours ago, Tim Dasco said:

I think they could use another one. Replacing 1 side of Giant Drop with a Falcons Furry gondola would go down pretty well. 

I don't think that's the kind of crowd they want to attract... 

[Rachelkinks]

Hi All, does anyone here reckon Dreamworld will ever recover from the accident that happened in 2016? Recently on 60 minutes there was a guy suggesting that Dreamworld will probably recover if they changed the name? 

What are your thoughts?

[Flynn_Smith]

Just now, Rachelkinks said:

Hi All, does anyone here reckon Dreamworld will ever recover from the accident that happened in 2016? Recently on 60 minutes there was a guy suggesting that Dreamworld will probably recover if they changed the name? 

What are your thoughts?

They already are in the process of recovering. The name of Dreamworld has nothing to do with their chances of recovering, however. It's about good investments in safety and new attractions which will bring guests back through their doors. This is already seen - attendance and revenue has been (for the most part) steadily increasing since around 2017-2018.

[Guest 239]

Changing the name would probably have the opposite effect because people would see it as them trying to divert attention. Flynn is pretty spot on with a lot of what he's said. It'd be kinda like if airlines changed their name every time a plane crashed instead of identifying the root cause of the problem and fixing it.

[Slick]

2 hours ago, Rachelkinks said:

Hi All, does anyone here reckon Dreamworld will ever recover from the accident that happened in 2016? Recently on 60 minutes there was a guy suggesting that Dreamworld will probably recover if they changed the name? 

What are your thoughts?

Richard's article from 2018 sums up pretty well why a name change wouldn't work.