21 minutes ago, New display name said:

Are you sure you didn't unblock DW?🤣

haha... this one didnt come addressed to my nephew, came addressed to my missus.... maybe they only want her to come to the Fair....

Seems to be a bit of confusion tonight on the news if it was County Fair or Country Fair - hell, when I went to go update the title, I edited it to say "Country Fair" because Ocean Parade was originally called "Country Fair."

I've been thinking about how I feel about this event today and this is where I'm at about it...

I think it's a great idea on paper. If I were an exec I don't think i'd realistically do too much different, the continuing of the premium selection of unique foods is great, live bands is great, showbags, sure, gotta make money, the farmyard, well, marketing something they took away as brand new sure is a vibe, right? I think really what has the potential to let it down is the execution.
 

These days local shopping centres throw as much energy and money (if not more) into seasonal events like these. If Westfield said they were doing live bands, farmyard animals and some pop-up stands it's pretty par for the course. Then you throw in the fact that a lot of these premium foods will be in the Troll's area, a walled in patch of astroturf that's devoid of personality or, heaven forbid, theming, and the concern then will be that it'll miss the mark.

If they're opening up the Farmyard again, why not re-open the rivertown restaurant as a nice place to drink a beer and eat some of the premium foods on the way to the farmyard? I'd love to have a beer on the balcony upstairs. You get people out of that concentrated hub that's now Ocean Parade and it's a great use of existing amenities that are lot better than being walled in by spring time facades that scream nothing Dreamworld and everything phoned in. I'd do the same again for the farmyard itself, there's a brilliant space between the farmyard and the river you could pop a few tables in and then make that another place for food and beverages to thrive.

Get. People. Moving. Around. The. Park.

@Richard may inevitably hide this section (which I can respect, it's his site after all) but I feel it's worth sharing that when it comes to larger parks, we almost always share press releases on the site. But Parkz (or OurWorlds for that matter) didn't receive a press release today. When it comes to the forums, we share our opinions not because we hate one park over another but because, like so many, we're passionate about the industry and want to see those in it succeed. 

@SlickI think you might be missing the current situation.  No park wants to spend big money on an event only for the government to shut it down.  Hence the reason no Fright Nights. 

9 hours ago, Slick said:

 

@Richard may inevitably hide this section (which I can respect, it's his site after all) but I feel it's worth sharing that when it comes to larger parks, we almost always share press releases on the site. But Parkz (or OurWorlds for that matter) didn't receive a press release today. When it comes to the forums, we share our opinions not because we hate one park over another but because, like so many, we're passionate about the industry and want to see those in it succeed. 

Golden Years on the other hand posted about the announcement, and even received an invitation to attend the event. I think Dreamworld may be sending a message.

17 hours ago, Brad2912 said:

haha... this one didnt come addressed to my nephew, came addressed to my missus.... maybe they only want her to come to the Fair....

insert joke about petting zoo.

1 hour ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

insert joke about petting zoo.

What do you get when you chloroform a petting zoo?

The Silence of the Lambs.

 

 

1 hour ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

I think Dreamworld may be sending a message.

DW reward you if you suck up to them is my guess. 

11 hours ago, New display name said:

No park wants to spend big money on an event only for the government to shut it down. 

But then again if you're going to do the event every year do you invest in the stuff you need now to make it a success long term? Maybe the answer is somewhere in the middle.

3 hours ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

I think Dreamworld may be sending a message.

Well, allow me to send one of my own to Dreamworld.  My family and I are attending the area reasonably soon.  We have young children and have been trying to determine whether we give DW a run or go with VRTP.  My message to Dreamworld; petty crap like this loses you revenue, and you can chalk mine up as a directly attributable loss.  We're going to go with VRTP.

Edited August 25, 20214 yr by webslave

34 minutes ago, Slick said:

But then again if you're going to do the event every year do you invest in the stuff you need now to make it a success long term? Maybe the answer is somewhere in the middle.

I to like to judge a product before I see it.

You literally just said you 'wouldn't do much different'. Perhaps - and especially in this current environment - it's wise to start small, test the waters, and see whether it's worth putting more money into it?

2 minutes ago, webslave said:

Well, allow me to send one of my own to Dreamworld.  My family and I are attending the area reasonably soon.  We have young children and have been trying to determine whether we give DW a run or go with VRTP.  My message to Dreamworld; petty crap like this loses you revenue, and you can chalk mine up as a directly attributable loss.  We're going to go with VRTP.

Can't fault that reasoning, honestly. My pass has expired, practically unused since the first major lockdown, even with the extended expiry date. I was thinking that i'd wait until Taipan opened up before renewing, but at this stage, with so much else gone, at this point we've decided it (Taipan) isn't enough to get us to renew. Our son is just at the stage he can start riding Scooby and road runner - but with the reduced length seatbelts on madagascar, the only thing at Dreamworld he can ride (that he hasn't previously) is Motocoaster. *yawn*

12 minutes ago, webslave said:

Well, allow me to send one of my own to Dreamworld.  My family and I are attending the area reasonably soon.  We have young children and have been trying to determine whether we give DW a run or go with VRTP.  My message to Dreamworld; petty crap like this loses you revenue, and you can chalk mine up as a directly attributable loss.  We're going to go with VRTP.

Yeah, I think they're going to have half the crowd they could have had because they didn't issue a press release to Parkz. Wouldn't surprise me if protests start.

1 hour ago, Gold Coast Amusement Force said:

Yeah, I think they're going to have half the crowd they could have had because they didn't issue a press release to Parkz. Wouldn't surprise me if protests start.

Doubt it, but when you're struggling for attendance as much as the parks are in general, and DW specifically you'd be a foolish businessperson to willingly forego any gate revenue.  Often when making decisions like this as a business it's hard to quantify in dollars what your marketing decisions make or cost you at the gate.  On my part it may only be ~$600 (which, technically is worse given that $600 not only doesn't go to you, but goes into your competition), but even if only one other family made the same decision as me you're already into a four-figure revenue loss for no benefit.

@webslaveYou made your decision based on whether they gave a press release to Parkz. Im sure you'll find you are the only one in that boat.

19 minutes ago, Gold Coast Amusement Force said:

@webslaveYou made your decision based on whether they gave a press release to Parkz. Im sure you'll find you are the only one in that boat.

The only one in a coin flip between the two portfolios?  No, there's lots of people in that boat.

For me, the tie-breaker was I had another reason to roll my eyes at Dreamworld this week which tipped it.  Look around - lots of people visiting the GC ask which park they should visit.  Who is the type of person in their social circle they usually ask?  I'd suggest the type of person who frequents Parkz is often near the top of that list.  How many people do you think will ask me which one they should go with, and which do you think I'll tell them?  I'm sure you've been asked plenty of times by friends and family too.

That's the trouble with stuff like this.  When your business is on its knees it's usually best to try and make as many friends as possible, rather than actively looking for ways to piss off more people.  What starts out as one person who looks at it and says "It's hardly the end of the world, but I'm already in a split decision so this may as well tip it", can then become four and potentially five figure revenue losses.

49 minutes ago, Gold Coast Amusement Force said:

@webslaveYou made your decision based on whether they gave a press release to Parkz. Im sure you'll find you are the only one in that boat.

You are of course welcome to your opinion, but my advice would be to learn when you're beat. 

Game. Set. Match. @webslave.

2 hours ago, Gold Coast Amusement Force said:

@webslaveYou made your decision based on whether they gave a press release to Parkz. Im sure you'll find you are the only one in that boat.

Just after the incident, NewsCorp did a hit piece on Dreamworld being a "ghost town" and distributed it amongst a bunch of online outlets. They used images during odd times of the day to show the park "empty" and I did a counter-piece which highlighted how phoney their photos were. That article went on to get a few hundred thousand hits in the first 48 hours and helped to shift Dreamworld's initial re-opening narrative.

My point then is that both individually and as a collective, we can say and do things the parks themselves can't and people value that level of authenticity and credibility, especially when they're doing research and deciding where to spend their money. It's why Trip Advisor reviews are so important to the parks, or why the YouTube clip I produced two years that speculated on what coaster Dreamworld would get still has more views than Dreamworld's last four YouTube clips combined, despite all being about the same thing.

Independent voices matter. Most industries get this. Apple doesn't pull The Verge's or MKBHD's credentials just because a review wasn't glowing. Sony doesn't ban the Rolling Stones just because an artist's album wasn't received well etc. etc.

 

Edited August 25, 20214 yr by Slick

Communications and media relations within the industry in Australia leave a lot to be desired. Ultimately it's off-topic but our Australian theme park reviews have been seen by a collective half-a-million people and those views are growing exponentially, but we find out about everything happening the exact same time as the public does. We're constantly for doing new and exciting things with parks but they are really hard to get a hold of, and even harder to keep their attention. 

Small medium spends years bitching about park and suddenly doesn't get a press release
Huge medium spends years talking about the park in various formats, bad and good, continues to get press releases. 

Maybe they just don't want to support the small folks who shit on them but are happy to support the mass media who also shit on them because their reach is in the millions

Let’s hope they give the farmyard a bit of a clean up and update 

In the spirit of spring, I bring you an animal update

Paradise Country are also holding a spring event with baby farm animals 

https://paradisecountry.com.au/events/spring-on-the-farm

 

Edited September 3, 20214 yr by themagician
Can’t spell

Quote

Paradise Country are also holding a sprint event with baby farm animals 

Haha is there going to be pig racing then?

5 hours ago, themagician said:

Paradise Country are also holding a spring event with baby farm animals 

https://paradisecountry.com.au/events/spring-on-the-farm

Why do I feel like Paradise Country just exists to spite Dreamworld? 

'You got baby tigers? We got baby tigers! You got a spring event? We got a spring event!'

Jokes on them though because I've never been there!

Paradise Country did a spring baby animal thing a few years ago

Appears they have repurposed the sheep shearing stage for the petting zoo and stuck cardboard flowers everywhere outside to make you believe the dusty outback themed area is indeed colourful and welcoming. Photos courtesy of Greg’s’ insta