Dreamworld's New Look Train

[Slick]

30 minutes ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

But in times of Austerity, spending what little money you have on something elaborate, when something simple would do is foolish. 

Two points worth adding I think (both of which don't inherently disagree with what you mentioned):

Firstly, I'd say the second guiding star I have (lol, can't believe I'm calling them this but here we are) is "did they spend the money they had wisely (regardless of how much or how little it was)". Take the pathway from the Main St station to Giant Drop - they've spent a fair chunk of money trucking in literal tons of rocks to theme, and hopefully, tie in a pathway that is, at the end of the day, outside of that theme's physical or visual boundaries. Those rocks are also a fun trip hazard (especially considering the park has two rides where guests look directly up) and make the pathway and surrounding space hot and inhospitable. That's not great given the fact that guests mill about there waiting for their friends or family to ride. I'd argue grass would be infinitely cheaper, and the money they saved they would've been better spent on shade, seating and landscaping that improves that would improve the space exponentially.

If you look at that old photo I mentioned, what it has going for it is nice shade, nice seating, nice grass and nice landscaping. And i'd argue you'd get all of that for the price of several metric tons of rocks. The same can be said here. Are they spending their money well here? Is it additive or subtractive to the space?

My second point is that theme parks are a hospitality and service business through and through. Likewise, if a large chain hotel starts losing money, they don't fix the demand issue by simply cutting their average total cost over time. They'd continue to experience a loss if instead of fixing the pool, they just close it. Or if a guest breaks through a large glass door, they replace it with a cheaper alternative that sticks out like a sore thumb. Nope, they do what the JW Marriott at Surfers did and re-invest on new fixtures that let them shift their business and functional strategies and ultimately get them back into profitability.

TLDR; you don't fix quality issues by cutting corners.

 

[Guest 239]

1 hour ago, Slick said:

With that in mind, and not to diverge too far away from the topic, but when it comes to theme parks, most of my opinions are founded on a pretty basic fundamental guiding star (a guiding star that's mentioned in dozens of posts and is something i've said to you in person) and it's this:

If a park replaces something, it should be better than the thing it replaced.

Your guiding star is a great basis, but it's naïve and innocent. It implies an inherent goodness in things and that money will always be flowing, but that's not the way the world works. This has been discussed ad nauseum with the 'how do we bounce back after Dreamworld killed people'? discussion.

Sometimes you have to problem solve with what you've got, and the interpretation of 'better' can be the difference between having something versus having nothing at all. For example is it 'better' for Disney diminish their guest experience with Genie+ so that they have the additional cashflow to pay for more workers? Better, in this instance, is open for interpretation. 

So in Dreamworld's instance, what is better? It'll differ for each person, and aesthetically the fence looks like garbage, but is it better for them to have this fencing up so that they can get the railroad up and running quicker, or is it better to spend more time and resources making a more aesthetically fence whilst delaying the railroad? The definition of 'better' would be determined by variables we have zero access to and an outcome that only time will tell which is the irony of having these discussions in the first place in an enthusiast forum. 

So with this guiding star expect to bump heads, because 'better' is inherently subjective.

52 minutes ago, Slick said:

Basically, this. There's a lot of whataboutism and false equivalencies going on there.

Call them what you like, but you're addressing my perceived intent, not content. Genuinely, I was curious about what the park should do because I can't get a read on it. Consider what I'm asking before seeing it as some sort of attack or 'gotcha'.

55 minutes ago, New display name said:

I don't know anybody said they liked the fence, the importance of the fence to be part of the theming every time is under question.

This is the nail on the head. The original argument, which we've strayed very far away from with some fairly bad faith commentary and personal quips was that the validity of a theme park was brought into question because of their choice of fence which I thought was a silly argument. A fence is a fence, and the point of my posts was to show that fences are fences.

Some are good. Some are bad. Most are fences. None determine the validity of a theme park. 

Edited March 29, 2022 by Dom

[New display name]

1 minute ago, Dom said:

Some are good. Some are good. Most are fences. None determine the validity of a theme park. 

After we have finished with fences we are moving onto queue handrails.

[Guest 239]

2 minutes ago, New display name said:

After we have finished with fences we are moving onto queue handrails.

It wouldn't be a real enthusiast community if we weren't throwing fisty cuffs over queue handrails.

Personally I think well worn galvanized steel adds real character to a theme park. Anybody who thinks otherwise is the enemy. 

[Slick]

3 minutes ago, Dom said:

Call them what you like, but you're addressing my perceived intent, not content. Genuinely, I was curious about what the park should do because I can't get a read on it. Consider what I'm asking before seeing it as some sort of attack or 'gotcha'.

I wasn't, I was explicitly clear, and you've now shifted the goal posts and ignored the vast effort I went to in replying to your post.

4 minutes ago, Dom said:

Your guiding star is a great basis, but it's naïve and innocent. It implies an inherent goodness in things and that money will always be flowing

Again, your interpretation. It doesn't imply that and it's sure as hell not naive or innocent. For example, basic economic modelling isn't naive or innocent just because it assumes certain variables and discards others. Your argument only checks out if that you assume that I think that they must spend every appreciable dollar on being better in every way every single day, which isn't the case at all. In most cases (like say replacing Gremlins with Scooby Doo) you can indeed do better within a realistic budget. True brilliance (like in the case of Bermuda Triangle or the Gum Tree Gully animatronic show back in its day) was doing something that appeared to cost a lot but for very little.

[joz]

Is this the right thread to drop in my love for the the queue rails for Bermuda/Log Ride/Rapids

[Guest 239]

1 minute ago, joz said:

Is this the right thread to drop in my love for the the queue rails for Bermuda/Log Ride/Rapids

Take a seat, my friend.

5 minutes ago, Slick said:

I wasn't, I was explicitly clear, and you've now shifted the goal posts and ignored the vast effort I went to in replying to your post.

That post has changed since you posted it, but it doesn't say that it's edited for mods.

Anyway, I respect your updated conclusion and I get where you're coming from, but I still don't agree that fence choice determines the validity of a theme park. Perhaps in the context of Dreamworld it does? But it's fairly standard for theme parks and amusements park to have practical fencing for practical purposes and often that's okay. 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

18 minutes ago, Slick said:

I'd argue grass would be infinitely cheaper

Agree with all your points except this one. Can confirm that Queensland's biggest residential (detatched) dwelling builder frequently utilises river pebble\rock (pretty much Dreamworld's product in question) in place of grass as it is cheaper to acquire, install en-masse, and maintenance costs are practically zero. (The safety hazard is a good counter point however).

21 minutes ago, Slick said:

TLDR; you don't fix quality issues by cutting corners.

No, but you can fix budgetary ones. 

If you put it this way - 'make the fence better quality, skip maintenance on 'x' ride for a week' - people would slaughter you.

We don't know what the balance sheet looks like. What we do know is we're seeing their competitors tighten the belts and add plenty of upcharges, while letting maintenance lapse on non-essential items. If that's happening over at Village - we have to presume it is the same (or worse) at Dreamworld. 

We can only speculate as to why the decision was made as it was. We can agree it could look better. But - (and this isn't a village vs DW argument) - there's a big difference between fencing costs by the metre and a few bottles of zero weedspray.

19 minutes ago, New display name said:

After we have finished with fences we are moving onto queue handrails.

Oh Boy!

16 minutes ago, Dom said:

It wouldn't be a real enthusiast community if we weren't throwing fisty cuffs over queue handrails.

Personally I think well worn galvanized steel adds real character to a theme park. Anybody who thinks otherwise is the enemy. 

Worn steel rails will never beat the hand-polished lengths of Kopper-Log rounds. I can still vividly feel every knot and bump in the timber rails surrounding HMS Endeavour at Wonderland many years ago, and I remember thinking about the many years and literal MILLIONS of hands that had slid along those logs, polishing each beam one stroke at a time

(Shut up and get out of the gutter Skeet)

11 minutes ago, joz said:

Is this the right thread to drop in my love for the the queue rails for Bermuda/Log Ride/Rapids

This. Much the same as Wonderland, Sea World's old queues were made with a lot of Kopper logs and all were well worn and polished by years of queueing riders. Can't agree enough.

Modern chains just don't cut it (and are too fricking noisy when kids bash them against the also-metal posts at each end.

[New display name]

17 minutes ago, Dom said:

Personally I think well worn galvanized steel adds real character to a theme park.

Stainless steel soothes the soul. 

14 minutes ago, joz said:

Is this the right thread to drop in my love for the the queue rails for Bermuda

Bermuda could do no wrong.

1 minute ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

Oh Boy!.

Don't fight it.

 

Why does DW have a fence around it?  People are dying to get out.  (still to early💁‍♂️)

[themagician]

It seems the station refurb is complete. I really like the new signage. And the colour scheme is fantastic. I hope the little train under the clock is turned on again too.

Can you spot what’s wrong in this photo (hopefully they will go back and finish it off)

And the placement of this guy is interesting

 

They have also rebuilt/patch up the brickwork too

Edited April 9, 2022 by themagician

[Slick]

@themagicianare the train station’s fences gone?

[deano554]

will the fences return in blue?

[themagician]

@Slick there was no sign of them and I didn’t notice any fixing points for any to come. I hope they don’t return, but I imagine they will for ‘safety’ reasons 

If it does return, I hope it isn’t just a standard pool fence. I hope they put some little extra money into a aesthetically nice fence 

[Slick]

1 hour ago, themagician said:

@Slick there was no sign of them and I didn’t notice any fixing points for any to come. I hope they don’t return, but I imagine they will for ‘safety’ reasons 

If it does return, I hope it isn’t just a standard pool fence. I hope they put some little extra money into a aesthetically nice fence 

Thanks for letting us know. The previous wrought iron fence had quite a few dozen layers of paint on it, so here's hoping they've taken that away to be properly looked after and like you said, it's not instead replaced by a standard pool fence (or worse yet, chain link).

[rappa]

It will of course be a chain link fence choses especially so kids can see the train. 

[red dragin]

20 hours ago, themagician said:

They have also rebuilt/patch up the brickwork too

No track added to the points as yet. Assume it's still to be a maintenance siding eventually. 

[Guest 239]

New train carriages have been revealed on Dreamworld's socials. Looks nice!

https://fb.watch/cUq-mYldi2/

[rappa]

Agree. 

Pity about the POS pulling them. 

[Naazon]

Dreamworld lose Wipeout, Seaworld gain Vortex

Seaworld lose Monorail, Dreamworld gain a new train

[Coasterjoe]

1 hour ago, Naazon said:

Dreamworld lose Wipeout, Seaworld gain Vortex

Seaworld lose Monorail, Dreamworld gain a new train

MW lose Arkham Asylum, Dreamworld gain a B&M invert? One can dream lol

[themagician]

The station platforms are currently being rebuilt to flatten them out to allow for better wheelchair access

The new fencing is in to match the colour scheme

And here’s the current progress of the brick wall next to the switch track 

[themagician]

They’re also doing work on the other station 

[Rivals]

Here is a look at the new carriages via ‘goldcoast_themeparks’ on instagram (https://www.instagram.com/p/CdhVy2VJBrd/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=). 

The carriages look really nice and sleek, with the post confirming the carriages will feature on-board lighting, on-board audio and wheelchair accessible carriages (as expected). Really great to see them pouring so much love into such an iconic and loved attraction.

Edited May 14, 2022 by Rivals

[joz]

Yeah sweet. Are the carriages not as wide or is that an illusion?

[themagician]

No they aren’t as wide, but you could sit 2 adults and two small kids on one bench if you really wanted. Basically it would be one family per section.