Disney fans petition for Disneyland in Australia

[Troy81]

On 05/09/2020 at 11:23 PM, webslave said:

It does beg the question though, although Disneyland is just not viable on Australian shores - is there actually a fit for a Disney outpost in Australia that does fit the market?

I would love to see Disney bring a cruise to Australia.  Although in this current climate, cruises will need to build consumer confidence.   It would be a good way to test the brand before maybe investing in an island resort.

[AheadMatthewawsome]

4 hours ago, Troy81 said:

I would love to see Disney bring a cruise to Australia.  Although in this current climate, cruises will need to build consumer confidence.   It would be a good way to test the brand before maybe investing in an island resort.

It would of been an amazing idea before Covid to start cruise to Oceania! But I’m not quite sure about an private island before this started. Unless if I was saying that the Wild Cat would return to Luna Park, and that Luna Park would take over Lavender Bay and there would be areas for adults, kids, and elderly only. All in 10 years! Yeah, I did that. That’s why I’m on Parkz! Anyways, before I went to Age Land. Now that COVID has struck, the Cruise Industry is almost dead, and when it gets resurrected, it won’t become the Prophet. It’ll most likely be holding it’s last breath and be like what it used to be in the 60’s 70’s and 80’s. It may come back, but it’ll be an long time until we hear the words “EXTRA, EXTRA! DISNEY CRUISE LINES GONE DOWN UNDER!”. They will say it either that it’s coming to Oceania, or broke.

[Inverted]

Not sure of this is old stuff so I'll post it here. 

If anyone has Disney plus I recommend watching the series "The Imagineering story" 

Great behind the scenes stuff and really shows not only how far disney has come with ride tech but also how they are pioneers in "theme" parks.

[RobMac]

How about Oz's own once promising theme park sector, commit to over the next decade plus, lifting the quality of our own parks!

[red dragin]

9 hours ago, Inverted said:

If anyone has Disney plus I recommend watching the series "The Imagineering story" 

I'll second that - an amazing series.

[StingRay]

We get Pixar putt. That's Disney.

[Whombex]

On 10/09/2020 at 12:14 AM, Inverted said:

Not sure of this is old stuff so I'll post it here. 

If anyone has Disney plus I recommend watching the series "The Imagineering story" 

Great behind the scenes stuff and really shows not only how far disney has come with ride tech but also how they are pioneers in "theme" parks.

Yep last time it was raised it here we all raved about it. 
Worth a re-watch soon I reckon.

[Levithian]

The standard we come to expect from disney, due to the quality of the theming and immersion, I honestly don't think that sort of investment can ever make sense in Australia given the population/return on investment. I guess it comes down to if disney is prepared to lower their standards and make some sacrifices. You're talking maybe 10th the budgets they would normally spend. I don't ever see this happening, and I just don't see a billion dollar startup investment ever being considered good business while the visitor numbers have a long way to go to even approach 10 million combined. 

I think the biggest factor would be just how much the overseas market contributes to yearly totals at our parks. Population is not going to suddenly expand ten fold overnight in Australia to drive up the numbers, and if the overseas market is only contributing, say 20% of the visits to our parks, especially if the majority of those visitors are coming from Asia, how do you double or triple tourist visitations? Especially if you have other disney offerings in more centralised/connected locations. Australia is a MASSIVE investment for tourists, both in cost and time to even make it to our shores. It's considered an expensive country to visit and lots of people aren't prepared to spend 20+hrs to travel to a country on the edge of the pacific ocean when they have similar offerings closer to home. Those that really want to visit Australia for our unique experiences rarely make it a routine visit, returning each year, which is not what companies want to hear. 

I second what was said above, it would be nice if our local sector would consider more investment into their own product. There's a lot of focus on the rides and everything else has slipped. The service, the look/feel, the entertainment. A lot of us have greatest memories of the shows, the in park entertainment and just what it felt and looked like to visit our parks when younger. The rides are still there, but we've lost a lot of the supporting cast and nothing seems to change while the accountants are running the show. There's honestly just not as much excitement around visiting our parks as there used to be. I don't know if its just attitudes or standards that have changed, or if the bureaucrat's have stripped us of all that made us "australian", but things certainly feel a lot less "perky" than they used to be. 

Edited September 13, 2020 by Levithian

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

18 hours ago, Levithian said:

The rides are still there, but we've lost a lot of the supporting cast and nothing seems to change while the accountants are running the show. There's honestly just not as much excitement around visiting our parks as there used to be. I don't know if its just attitudes or standards that have changed, or if the bureaucrat's have stripped us of all that made us "australian", but things certainly feel a lot less "perky" than they used to be. 

It's been said before so I'll try to keep it brief - the beginning of the end was the Q150 pass in 2008. Prior to that, we had regular cycles of attractions, and for most people, visiting was a 'big event'.

The sub-$100 all-inclusive pass has been a huge thing to step away from, and our parks have only recently begun to move away from that. Pre-2008, an annual pass for VRTP was about $399 for all 3 parks. Now we have "four" parks, plus multiple night events for less than half that - and while there are some economies by lowering the price to a level that more people will buy them - that impacts on the overall experience as the parks have more people in them - more than they can handle some days - and yet because of the lower gate revenue (and the decreased per-cap spend from frequent-return visitors) costs have to be cut - like running multiple trains, staffing rides with the most efficient numbers to pump crowds through - and it suffers all around.

I'd happily pay $399 for a VRTP pass - but unfortunately that much jump to most current passholders is a huge barrier as they won't see what benefits they get for such a huge increase - and so we're stuck with incremental increases each year (plus giving away the increase with additional sweeteners, effectively killing any profit increase they could have made.

Ok that was longer than I thought it'd be, but that's the big issue.

To be honest, rather than dropping the prices to bring people back, I think Covid is a perfect excuse to justify increasing the prices across the board without giving any extra, as it will justify 'less people allowed means higher costs' and sets the new standard for higher prices into the future.

[Naazon]

As a family, if the passes went north of $150, we would start to have to seriously think where the parks fit in our budget. Anything above $200 and it will more than likely be a "every 2 or 3 years thing".

I'm sure VRTP has done a lot of market research to understand where the cap sits, I just hope financially our caps are within each others budgets.

[Brad2912]

When I moved to the GC in 2006 I remember paying around $350 each for mine & my partners VTP passes, they had a monthly payment option. 

Wasn’t a DW pass holder back then so not sure what they were charging. 

[joz]

Interestingly Tim Fisher is now at Cedar Fair and the they've introduced cheap passes which caused havoc at Cedar Point at the end of last season with over crowding. They're at the Q150 pass stage of the Tim Fisher cycle.

 

You know what I think the biggest cost of the passes has been; it's made the parks not special. They used to be places you went once a year and it would be a huge event. Now it's a pop in for a couple hours on the way back from Brisbane. Thanks to the cheap prices, people treat the parks like their local trampoline center. I hope they stand by their word and keep the prices as high as possible for a bit. I wouldn't begrudge DW taking the discounted space in the market. One they need the advantage, and you could probably sustain 1 park on $99 passes, as opposed to sustaining 4 on $75 passes which Village were doing with the buy 3 get 1 free shit. Once they get their new coaster open, and if they get something else open the year after which should be on their list of things to do if they can afford it, up the price. It's all fairly simple really.

[Whombex]

3 hours ago, Naazon said:

As a family, if the passes went north of $150, we would start to have to seriously think where the parks fit in our budget. Anything above $200 and it will more than likely be a "every 2 or 3 years thing".

I'm sure VRTP has done a lot of market research to understand where the cap sits, I just hope financially our caps are within each others budgets.

Considering the lack of new attractions at the moment across the board (SW aside), maybe only getting memberships every 2nd or 3rd year isn't a bad idea. Even then I'd only get the VRTP one after Leviathan (maybe wait until after Trident) has opened. Haven't been to DW since before the accident, and the only new thing is SV, with no less than 4 major rides closed.
Yes, there's a thing to be said about supporting your park through the tough times. But it's not enough for the general public, only the enthusiasts.

 

Apologies, we are quite OT here.

Again the topic of DL in Australia has been put to rest upthread.

Edited September 14, 2020 by Whombex

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

6 hours ago, Naazon said:

As a family, if the passes went north of $150, we would start to have to seriously think where the parks fit in our budget. Anything above $200 and it will more than likely be a "every 2 or 3 years thing".

Honestly, and I mean this with respect - I feel like thats sorta the mark they need to aim for. Having a price point that most families just renew each year without considering budget is a sure-fire way for the park to be overcrowded, and for them to stay in that 'bargain basement' hole that Q150 landed them in.

Lifting the price where some of them start to drop out, or only buy every couple of years is probably where they need to be - and those who don't renew are easily covered by the increased price of all the ones that are purchased.

$200 sounds more than reasonable for what you get - and again as Joz said - perhaps Dreamworld slightly undercutting that mark would be fine, but Dreamworld at $200 (with everything open) is pretty reasonable too.

[Jdude95]

I still remember going to DW as kid and always wishing I was able to get one of the annual passes but they were like $200. Or you could flash your cash and get a platinum pass that lasted for 2 years. Though DW always felt like the more expensive, more exciting option when I was a kid. 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

13 hours ago, Jdude95 said:

Though DW always felt like the more expensive, more exciting option when I was a kid. 

Agree here. In 94 when I made the first pilgrimage, the 3 Park Super Pass was the bargain that everyone went for because you got 4 park days for the one low price - and you even got to CHOOSE which one you went to on your fourth day.

I never saw Dreamworld in the 90s... but at least I have the Golden Years to look back on...

[Levithian]

I used to like the return visit scheme dreamworld did when I was a teenager. You paid full price for the ticket entry, and on exit you could buy a return ticket for $5 or $10 (think it was both of these prices at one stage). Really felt like offsetting the cost of a single day purchase because yearly passes were so expensive. So we came back for a second visit and spent more money in the park for a second days fun. 

I just can't remember how long you had to use them? I keep thinking 3 months, but I don't think that's memory talking, just guessing. Remember visiting wet n wild when even younger and they used to do a similar scheme too. 

[Park Addict 93]

1 hour ago, Levithian said:

I used to like the return visit scheme dreamworld did when I was a teenager. You paid full price for the ticket entry, and on exit you could buy a return ticket for $5 or $10 (think it was both of these prices at one stage). Really felt like offsetting the cost of a single day purchase because yearly passes were so expensive. So we came back for a second visit and spent more money in the park for a second days fun. 

I just can't remember how long you had to use them? I keep thinking 3 months, but I don't think that's memory talking, just guessing. Remember visiting wet n wild when even younger and they used to do a similar scheme too. 

When I started visiting regularly (2006) they were $10 valid for 14 days.