Happy Halloween 2021

[New display name]

1 hour ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

Re-mark the entire carpark either with the angled parking facing the opposite way, or make them 90 degree parking (the angle parking is the one good thing here as it permits really fast entry to the space)

Angle parking increases the amount of car parks you can fit by reducing the width the parking aisle have to be.  DW increased the number of car parks they had previously by going to angle parking when WWW was built although WWW took existing car park land. 

In the past DW had a dirt car park for staff to utilise during the silly season near the Big Brother house to free up car parks.  (Which I don’t believe is there anymore)  Marked in blue

DW has also in the past lodged an application to create an overflow car park here.   Marked in red.

 

 

DW have previously had plans to fix their parking issues, but I guess because the car park hasn't been filling up for years DW have forgotten they have a problem.

 

Edited October 20, 2021 by New display name

[joz]

20 minutes ago, Slick said:

The carpark works great 99% of the time

That's pretty much it really. Just put some parking attendants on when you get nighttime events on and MAYBE for peak summer trade. I think even if you do a whole redesign you'll probably still need parking attendants for those big events anyway so what's the benefit?

[New display name]

1 minute ago, joz said:

That's pretty much it really. Just put some parking attendants on when you get nighttime events on and MAYBE for peak summer trade. I think even if you do a whole redesign you'll probably still need parking attendants for those big events anyway so what's the benefit?

What do people do when they turn up and there are no parking spaces left?  I don't think parking attendants can solve that.

[joz]

I'm more talking about a wholesale redesign of the car park than adding overflow car parks.

 

Obviously yes if the Carpark is filling up and there's actually no where to go then that's a problem.

[Slick]

5 minutes ago, New display name said:

What do people do when they turn up and there are no parking spaces left?  I don't think parking attendants can solve that.

That's shifting the goal posts. The discussion is about the feedback and ultimately the issue at hand which was that getting in was an issue, not that there was enough parks.

If you want to talk about that, Dreamworld's easiest solution would be to move staff parking to the Coomera Indoor Sports Centre, which happens frequently during peak season anyway.

[New display name]

What, this feedback?

 

 

 

Edited October 20, 2021 by New display name

[joz]

Yeah, people are talking about wholesale redesigning the car park for ease of entry. I'm saying that's a waste of time. At no point did anyone say that they shouldn't have an overflow parking area because it's not needed. Some mention of how they normally deal with the parking issue came up, but that doesn't read to me like anyone is saying 'There's plenty of parking for everyone!'

 

I get what you're saying and I broadly agree, but read the other comments that I'm/Slick is responding too

[New display name]

Show me where I said people are saying that they shouldn't have an overflow parking.

[Slick]

13 minutes ago, New display name said:

What, this feedback?

 

 

 

Okay, sure, to re-clarify, the majority of Dreamworld's feedback and this thread has been about traffic flow, not lack of parking. For the latter, both of us have raised some valid options that avoid spending millions on redesigning a car park.

[New display name]

20 minutes ago, Slick said:

The discussion is about the feedback

No car parks was in the feedback. @joz

Edited October 20, 2021 by New display name

[joz]

Do you understand that there are different wavelengths going on here?

[New display name]

2 minutes ago, joz said:

Do you understand that there are different wavelengths going on here?

So that's a no about me saying people are saying that they shouldn't have an overflow parking.

Edited October 20, 2021 by New display name

[joz]

My brain seriously hurts dude.

 

Read the post from daptofunland guy and im hungry about redesigning the Carpark for traffic flow issues. Then see I'm quoting slick who is responding to them.

 

If you don't get it from here I'm not sure what else I can do to help you understand. Sure they should have overflow parking. No one is arguing with you on that point.

[Im Hungry]

Perhaps they can work with Coomera Indoor Sports Centre and get guests to park there, and with some security enforcements, utilise the back staff-entry into Dreamworld too?

[New display name]

@jozAll I was doing was "adding" DW needed more car parking and I outlined what DW had done in the past.   

 

@DaptoFunlandGuymentioned  90deg car parks and all I said was why they are angled for a reason and what DW had proposed in the past to fix parking issues.

 

My first comments about adding car parks was to @DaptoFunlandGuyI wasn't talking to you and I wasn't talking to Slick.  I don't read Slicks comments unless the comment is directed at me.

Edited October 20, 2021 by New display name

[rappa]

I think DW has a pretty well designed car park, big fan of angled parking.

Where this breaks down is as always, the user, the human factor.
It would be like if they just opened the gates at Brisbane Entertainment centre and said "have at it peeps."

As has been suggested, simple solution is to have attendants (only needs a small number) directing cars in, and filling each row, one at at a time all the way. When you leave it up to people they will naturally try to go to the next row to get a closer spot to the gate. Don't let them do that.
Yes they will grumble and be pissed for a whole 5 mins when then are forced to go all the way up the back of the first row. But they'll soon forget this after a good experience follows and save a lot of the frustrations that seem to have been felt on the previous night.

[joz]

39 minutes ago, rappa said:

As has been suggested, simple solution is to have attendants (only needs a small number) directing cars in, and filling each row

Don't see how this fixes the people lined up at the gates issue.

[rappa]

No well it doesn't.

But getting vast amounts of people through turnstiles is kind of a known how to do thing. Even 9000 isn't many. I'm guessing that solution is just having more access lanes open for people with fast scanning?

 

[GoGoBoy]

22 hours ago, New display name said:

DW isn't currently flogging off cheap annual passes.   The Queensland Government & the Gold Coast council have been giving people money towards the passes.

I was talking more about their $99/$119 offering. But yes, those offers would definitely contribute too

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

  

34 minutes ago, New display name said:

@DaptoFunlandGuymentioned  90deg car parks

I did, but I didn't mention them favourably. I only mentioned them as an option because if you were remarking the entire carpark you'd have the freedom to choose. My personal opinion was angled was better - as shown by the part that was left out of the quote:

3 hours ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

Re-mark the entire carpark either with the angled parking facing the opposite way, or make them 90 degree parking (the angle parking is the one good thing here as it permits really fast entry to the space)

 

20 minutes ago, rappa said:

As has been suggested, simple solution is to have attendants (only needs a small number) directing cars in, and filling each row, one at at a time all the way. When you leave it up to people they will naturally try to go to the next row to get a closer spot to the gate. Don't let them do that.
Yes they will grumble and be pissed for a whole 5 mins when then are forced to go all the way up the back of the first row. But they'll soon forget this after a good experience follows and save a lot of the frustrations that seem to have been felt on the previous night.

This sounds wonderful in a utopian world. I have a lot of experience with traffic control and carparking in surfaced and grassed carparks for events from school carnivals to V8 Supercars and even Sirromet's Day On The Green. (in various roles as a volunteer and a member of the SES.

Having done these events both with and without the presence of Red and Blue lights -

I can tell you.
Categorically.
Without a doubt.

Unless you get the police in - none of that is going to be successful. Professional, qualified Traffic Controllers might get you most of the way - but you'll still have outliers (this is why night roadworks have traffic control to do the work, and police cars to encourage compliance)

Sure, a good number - probably more than half - of the vehicles you handle will do as they're told, park where they're told (with or without grumbling) and this will neither ruin their night nor cause you any issues. 

But you will also have a lot of people who won't want to go to the end of the line. "Don't let them do that" - the only way you can stop them is having barriers to prevent that that requires machinery to move them - water or concrete. I've seen people drive through empty 'water barriers' to get where they want to be. Or people drive down the other end, U-burn and come back up the next lane.

People will do what they want to do - including endangering the lives of the people working the road. Take it from me - Dreamworld do not want to be putting people on those roadways unless they are qualified traffic control operators working to a designed and approved traffic management plan - if someone gets hit by a car - on purpose or accident - the absence of qualified persons and an approved TMP will tear them a new arsehole (and they've already got several from lax attitudes to safety).

We saw this (to much greater disaster) with Thunder River - administrative controls - making people responsible for filling the problems with a faulty design - is never the best solution to a problem. Cost vs. benefit is probably the deciding factor - and in the rare scenario the park hits capacity, a people based solution is probably the most effective in both cost and outcome (putting aside future events that may continue to have these problems - we don't know yet) - but putting "staff" on these tasks, who are not trained or certified in traffic control is dangerous and asking for trouble.

(And in turn - do professional traffic controllers who cost more money to engage close the gap between using them as an administrative control, and actually fixing the design, long term?)

[rappa]

See I have to say that this simply isn't true.

Every single event at Boondall is parked in this exact way and works perfectly. 

Sometimes Police attend the end of the event to ensure the roundabout at the exit flows smoothly but that isn't what we are talking about here.

[New display name]

14 minutes ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

  

I did, but I didn't mention them favourably. I only mentioned them as an option because if you were remarking the entire carpark you'd have the freedom to choose. My personal opinion was angled was better - as shown by the part that was left out of the quote:

I know.  I was only telling you why they went angled parking.  I never thought that is the way you wanted to go.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

10 minutes ago, rappa said:

See I have to say that this simply isn't true.

Every single event at Boondall is parked in this exact way and works perfectly. 

Sometimes Police attend the end of the event to ensure the roundabout at the exit flows smoothly but that isn't what we are talking about here.

I know a bunch of guys who work (or at least used to work) the BEC carparking. Among them are many qualified traffic controllers and retired police officers. Perhaps its just the attitude that comes with the training. Maybe it rubs off. I don't know. 

The thing about BEC is it doesn't really matter the type of event, they pretty much have the same plan. And they HAVE. A. PLAN. They also have a LOT of land to work with too. 

I don't know - Maybe concert goers who spent hundreds of dollars on 3 hours of entertainment are less likely to do stupid shit that would get them booted from the venue over $99 364-day a year Annual Pass bogans bringing their crotch goblins for a night of 'free entry with annual pass included in admission' entertainment.

But - they (BEC) still have issues with people not doing as they're told. And I did say that - professionals (I would call the BEC crew professional regardless of their organisation) - will reduce problems but you won't eliminate them without 'behave yourself lights' nearby. 

What happens at Boondall doesn't change the fact that untrained Dreamworld staff holding a stop go bat vs. qualified traffic controllers is a huge difference in how effective your 'don't let them' plan will be. In Dreamworld's current situation, i'd be wanting to engage qualified professionals over untrained staff for anything where a professional qualification exists. As a bare minimum, after the last event, engaging a professional traffic controller seems like a no-brainer.

[rappa]

Nobody said to get untrained staff to go out and get traffic.

But you could hire traffic control for about 20 years of events the park would need them for for less money and effort than redesigning the whole car park.

 

But this is just my shallow small world view, I don't have intimate extensive experience in traffic control or know countless professionals who actively work in the highly qualified role.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

40 minutes ago, rappa said:

Nobody said to get untrained staff to go out and get traffic.

  For the record, i've taken the below posts to imply that Dreamworld employees either were operating in these functions, or should be used to do so. I acknowledge however that nobody specifically said 'untrained' but nobody said 'professional traffic control' either.

18 hours ago, Slick said:

Was there staff in the car park managing traffic flow?

 

17 hours ago, xRazzBerryx said:

Not when we arrived at 5pm, however there was “lollipop ladies” directing guests at the crossing. This didn’t help as the cars then had to stop as more people crossed.

 

4 hours ago, Slick said:

most likely be addressed by having a team of staff direct traffic flow of cars into parks.

Two staff are out on the road signalling traffic into a row.