Happy Halloween 2020

[themagician]

The event is back again, but this year it’s only on for two nights (so far). But so far it seems Lomé the event will be very much the same as last year 

 

https://www.dreamworld.com.au/what-s-on/happy-halloween/

[Brad2912]

Unfortunately the train ride doesn’t appear to be returning, it’s a shame as it showed the most promise of anything at the event, and I’d happed it could be expanded upon in future iterations. 

[themagician]

@Brad2912 it definitely is a shame, but it’s not a surprise because the train is running until further notice 

[westical]

2 minutes ago, themagician said:

@Brad2912 it definitely is a shame, but it’s not a surprise because the train is running until further notice 

Great news!

[Guest 239]

The list of 'what's on' doesn't really have all that much but 'free' rides at night is always welcome. It's interesting that for an event which is redeemable for free with season passes they don't seem to have a huge focus on uncharges like Spooky Nights. I wonder if they'll have more uncharges visible when you get there?

[themagician]

They’ve added another night for the event, October 17

[gavinfulikes]

They have added another night for the event. The new night is on Friday 23 October

[gavinfulikes]

Although the refurbished SideWinder won’t open until December, the old Grid’s Burgers will be opened for Happy Halloween as “Barrels Burger Bar”. The Padlock’d escape rooms will be held at the exhibition centre and the Spooky Spider Sundaes will be located at Kickback Cove.

[Troy81]

What is social distancing?  Staff are trying hard though.

[Brad2912]

6 minutes ago, Troy81 said:

What is social distancing?  Staff are trying hard though.

There is 3 cases in SE QLD. 

If no one has it, you can’t catch it. 
can’t keep living in fear. 
 

[red dragin]

25 minutes ago, Brad2912 said:

There is 3 cases in SE QLD. 

If no one has it, you can’t catch it. 
can’t keep living in fear. 
 

There are these detections of the virus in waste water around Queensland, that are concerning though. 

[themagician]

I drove past at 6:30 and the carpark looked very full

[Brad2912]

4 hours ago, red dragin said:

There are these detections of the virus in waste water around Queensland, that are concerning though. 

Not overly. 
the virus sheds over weeks beyond the infection period. There is also no data that reveals how long the virus remains measurable or discoverable within sewerage. 

[joz]

They only care about the sale going through!!

 

Am I doing it right?

[rappa]

World class response

[Slick]

Hope they all had a great weekend. 

[T-bone]

Looks like a fun event, great to see someone took my idea I posted a while back about using the Sky Voyager building as a projection screen...

[Brad2912]

Sideshow Alley? 
 

nope.... Dreamworld.

 

on the positive, as least some showmen who may have no other income are getting some cash from the hire....

 

 

[Slick]

Do these sideshow alley thingos run during the day too?

[themagician]

@Slick they sure do. I was there at 10:15 yesterday and they are all open throughout the park. They aren’t all in one spot, so it doesn’t make it feel so much like a carnival 

[T-bone]

To be fair, many theme parks have carnival games, heck even Dreamworld has in the past, and so does Village. I don’t see a problem, and I’d be ok if more permanent setups came from this. 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Wonderland saw a lot of revenue from their skill games that were peppered throughout the park. By my recollection they had:

• 8 in Old Botany Bay
• 0 in Transylvania (they had an arcade and remote trucks)
• 2 in HBL
• 11 in Goldrush (plus arcade, shooting gallery and remote boats)

If it's done tastefully, fits the local theme, i'm all for it. Dreamworld had skill games throughout Ocean Parade in the mid-2000's I think, and they looked temporary and tacky. The Movie World skill games fit the area decently - and if you don't want to play they don't impact your day.

The one thing Wonderland did that MW doesn't is spruik\spiel regularly - cast members were trained how to use a microphone to encourage people to play - and in peak seasons, several games could draw quite the crowd with experienced operators running it.

...and inb4 everyone starts saying they're rigged - they aren't. There is a method to do some of them, and the others are just luck... but there are easier ones to win than others. (And some just take a lot of practice).

I'm fine with Dreamworld bringing in skill games - especially to boost their per-cap revenues - but I do hope they do them properly.

[Naazon]

Just gonna leave this one here...

 

 

 

Edited October 25, 2020 by Naazon
Fixed link

[Gazza]

Yeah I have no problem with skill games if they are tastefully done....

They are a classic part of the theme park experience.

 

[Slick]

There's a brilliant This American Life podcast about the folks behind some of the carnival games over in the US (the link is https://www.thisamericanlife.org/443/amusement-park) - there's one guy in particular who's just crazy good at what he does and it's well worth a listen.

The brutal reality is that unless you're Universal or Disney, theme parks just don't make a ton of money. There are companies in Fortitude Valley that make the same kind of profit Dreamworld did in 2015 with a team of 30 people. With that in mind, i'm all for parks maximising revenue to do bigger and better things, carnival games included. Granted, carnival games are realistically only account for a few percent of revenue, but it's a few percent none the less.

As @AlexB mentioned - they had a few in Ocean Parade and they were integrated well. What parks shouldn't do is throw carnival games into their parks willy nilly in a cynical bid to grab some extra cash which is what this looks like. I don't know what's worse right now, big walls blocking off areas of the park, closed rides SBNO or turning sections of the park into the Ekka. In any case, it hurts the brand and as a result a dollar earned in the short term is many dollars lost in the long term.