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Zero IP mazes this year tell me they are moving in-house to save coin

He was looking on with pride at King Claw yesterday and taking some photos on his phone. he seems like a fantastic leader. Happy to jump in and help as Ash said serving in Jane’s (saw this many times), or helping ride ops in busy periods.

I’m interested in seeing if Village will try to license out any Netflix IP for new attractions or mazes in the parks if WB and Netflix do end up under the same roof.

Seeing Greg serve drinks and food when Rivertown opened last year was refreshing too see, he and the team have definitely turned this park around and now with the theming on “just a flat ride” is second to none once again.

What a great upgrade from the original Claw ride. The restraints are 100 times better with the air time feel being great to experience. The speed is on another level. Theming once again Dreamworld knocked it out of the park. As I’ve said previously, I’m excited for when they do a dark ride/water ride with the theming they can pull off.

And the price increase to HBOMax. Why charge for one streaming service when you can charge for two? "Netflix's Co-CEO Greg Peters told investors the company could package the streaming services together in a bundle -- or find ways to introduce HBO Max to Netflix subscribers. The streaming service has a long history of building audiences for television series, as it did for "Breaking Bad" or the legal drama "Suits." - Reuters. Looks like the plan is to increase the prices of both, then 'bundle' them back down to the current prices.

Given how he was basically overlooked at village, and with bikash now gone, I really wonder if Greg goes home at the end of his day with a nice smile on his face, knowing the general public is now seeing the positive effects and influence he (and half his team that ended up following him) has had since taking over the company. Must be really satisfying to help turn around a company that was close to insolvency, have a plan for improvements (not just recovery) and start to see the positive feedback from guests following investments in things like this. It looks fantastic, when the other reality could have just been another relocation of old cars running around on a track. It's refreshing to see some care and attention given to the setting and themed elements of a ride again, especially when it isn't a big budget thrill ride. Yeah, limited budgets, limited space are always constraints in Australia, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't at least try to deliver something that improves the overall experience. To me, it really shows intention to build zones or lands back into theme parks, something that at least makes an attempt at something cohesive instead of just plonking something down on a bit of land and calling it done. Makes me wonder just how constrained he was working under the village shroud, when this is like the polar opposite of how things are going over there.

Only thing to change will be the price increase to Netflix.

Every single high risk industry is playing the risk aversive game. That's what I mean by this day and age. Change is just an opinion. While they continue making profits everybody is happy with, there is basically no metric that shows they actually need to change and its business as usual. There's lots of things they do need to change about the business and the delivery of the parks that would improve guest experience that has nothing to do with their operations policies though. But operations wise, everyone can keep discussing it till they are blue in the face, it's just not something the current management will ever deviate from. Because they purchased the company massively undervalued, they talked of improvements all round as a lot of the properties were seen as run down, dirty, etc. Private equity will spend money if it means they make money. All the properties will look and feel their best they have ever done.... right before you see them for sale. Only question is are BGH playing the long or shot game, because it's already been 5 years and we haven't heard any murmurs yet. All they really needed to do was ride out the covid disaster and return visitor numbers to the figures of 3-4 year period before and they probably could have offloaded the theme park division pretty easily for good profits.

Fire departments don't do that. They don't make policy or give people direction on things like building materials. That's what building codes are for. Anything you use just has to conform to whatever the current standard is. For things that are flammable, it usually has a performance minimum, ie, how long it takes to burn, ignition points, etc. Lots of this can often be overcome with all these different types of fire retardant though, BUT, it generally has a shelf life too. That's what village found out across a number of their properties, not just in scooby doo. It's what lead to the gutting of the ride the first time around. Think poorly performing aluminium building cladding levels of fire. There is pretty much always a safer alternative though. Especially now with the use of 3d printing and reconstituted stone materials. It often just comes down a cost or convenience thing. Are they happy to go the downgraded cheaper option or are they really looking to keep the aesthetics with the additional cost associated? Even with 2d backdrops, there are vastly different outcomes that can be achieved if you actually use artists vs just slap a vinyl print up there. We saw the outcome of the latter in recent years, often at the cost of painted murals or signage that were night and day different. Village had one of the best muralists and sign writers working for them for over 20 years, it really showed across all their parks, the quality and level of detail was evident. It also showed when they got rid of him...... You can thank most of the "movie magic" or themed elements to buildings, set pieces and rides across the parks to a company called sculpt studios. They have been designing and building these elements for village roadshow for quite a long time, not just in their theme parks either! They are a pretty diverse company and can make pretty much anything look like something else. It all just comes down to cost.

Warner bros don't own even a small portion of movieworld, let alone any other village property. They haven't done for quite a long time. It's just a licencing deal to continue to use the name at this point.

So most likely everyone already heard the announcement of Netflix acquiring Warner Bros. So the discussion, and question for this is how would Netflix be included in Warner Bros Movie World?

The park is opening at 9am this weekend for passholders to experience King Claw before park opens

I think it still has space and is appropriate for Dreamworld for the next 5-10 years at the most. I think they would expand WhiteWater world once more on the Thunderbolt land first, and then when it comes time for another expansion to WhiteWater World that's when it will be replaced. For the most part, it works as a coaster and would be a good stepping stone coaster between something like Jungle Rush and Steel Taipan. My ideal timeline would be: 1-3 years: WhiteWater World Expansion on Thunderbolt / Trolls area 3-5 years: New major thrill coaster - Rocky Hollow space 5 - 7 years: Water Ride / Family Dark Ride - Rivertown stage 2 where Motocoaster is? 7 - 10 years: Replacement for Hot Wheels Sidewinder / new expansion for WhiteWater World It's a fairly simple ride as far as mechanics go, and I actually suspect we might see Motocoaster go before this. So until they actually have a plan for the space, I'd like to see them keep it.

Zoom Zone was open today

Flash was also testing yesterday.

flash has began testing today with Superman’w cables now tightened, it shouldn’t be too much longer until they open.

They were working on it earlier but all finished now

Photo op is back with soft-fall now all around it

Been open basically all day today. theming for a flat ride in Australia’s is top notch ride experience is fantastic, a major upgrade on claw especially with comfort with no over-shoulder restrains, speed and forces

They have been gone a long time though I seem to remember a ruling that fire dept wouldnt allow those full foam walls anymore in that space?

I think he was meaning flat 2d walls are a downgrade from the textured, rock like looking ones that were used before.

They look like a combination of some 3d and some illusion of 3d paint effects which I think is actually pretty fitting for a park that was meant to be about movie techniques I appreciate its long time since the park has actually been about that but nice to maybe see some touches here better than a black cinder block

King Claw officially opens Friday December 12th

Are the new walls 2d instead of being like the original 3d walls?