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This is the bottom of the turn table as seen on the test track.

I just think there is a middle ground for family entertainment between "Going Bowling or to the Movies" or "Going away for a few days to the GC" It's not necessarily about "value" per day, its about cost in absolute terms, and time. For me, 3-4 weeks in Europe or America works out better value per day than flying to Sydney or Melbourne for a long weekend as well, but I'll still do the long weekends because I don't always have weeks spare or several thousand $$$ available for a bigger, but better value trip.

Sure, most families aren't going to book a spur of the moment weekend away at the GC, but they are more likely to book a week up there, hit the 4+ Major Attractions and get value out of those flights on a per day basis that far exceeds that of a 3 hour round trip to Gosford for the day. Jamberoo and Gumbuya are out of the way, but they've also established themselves in a different era. Less than an hour is the yardstick I would use for the most part. Heck i'm about 90 minutes from the GC parks these days and I rarely visit unless i'm catching up with friends and family who are in town on a holiday. The 'if you build it they will come' mantra checks out, especially if its one of the bigger players in the game because their reputation is known - but conversely, the bigger players have shown that they want to sit closer to major transport infrastructure, and gosford is never getting an international airport to make that viable.

But why? They sell indivual tickets to each park, so they should all be for a good standard on their own. If for example, Movie World was of world class theme park and everything about it was perfect (remeber this is hyperthetical), but Sea World, Wet 'n' Wild and Paradise Country were all awful, falling apart and had nothing to offer that doesn't mean it's okay because they are 'whole' because they all have the same owner. Obviously that's exadurating things a little, but just because Village operate four parks doesn't mean they can all be mediocare because together that doesn't make them great. In the case of Coast Entertainment, yes they have less properties/gates, but if DW was great and WWW was awful, that doesn't make it okay. Obiviosuly their main focus has been on DW to past few years, but that is their 'hero' park and it needed it. I'd hope from next year (once Rivertown is complete) they look back at WWW and expand the park so it's attraction count can have a good boost. In both instances, the parent companies definitley shift their focus in investment year to year because they don't necessarily have the financies to invest into them all at once and that's okay (if they don't let the other parks fall in quality, while their main focus in on another park). Village for example spent 2016-2017 investing in MW (Doomsday & Rivals), their focus shifted to SW from 2019 to 2022 for The New Atlantis, and now it has shifted back to MW with Flash, Wizard of Oz, Scooby, etc. But I'd argue while they were focusing on SW, they lost sight of MW and it has shown, meaning they are now trying to play catch up.

One of the reasons for that I think is Village has to build projects for both Sea World and Movie World, while Coast just has Dreamworld. So the capex has to go to a SW Project, then a MW Project, then a SW Project, then a MW project etc. while Dreamworld can spend that time on 4 Dreamworld projects. Not being a Village fanboy but I think you have to look at Village as a whole compared to Dreamworld.

Yep my family and especially the kids are looking forward more so for Rivertown, than the Wizard of Oz, and we are enjoying Dreamworld far more than Movieworld as of late

I can see where you are coming from, but it would be $400 in flights for a family of 4 (If you fly at 11am on a Tuesday) and 90 mins flying (If you ignore the time taken to drive and check in to the airport) still makes it more of an undertaking. I think people do drive if the park is worth it, Jamberoo and Gumbuya demonstrate that, and heck its an hours drive for most of Brisbane when heading to the GC parks. At the very least, I'd think the Central coast area could support a water park, and the case may improve if the HSR to Newcastle is ever built. As for a dry park, yeah with Sydney being so expensive, it would probably be out at Bradfield, but fortunately since Sydney has expanded westwards, its now closer to more people than Wonderland was when it closed.

saw your video this morning. theming looks good. Murrisippi motors is also coming along well. the website has not updated the reopening date for the ride, so vintage cars may possibly reopen one more time, but it is still debatable. overall i think dreamworld will definitely be able to bounce back with this. I have passes to both Dreamworld and Movieworld and Dreamworld is gaining visitors at a faster rate than MW. Overall I feel like more people are anticipating Rivertown than Wizard of Oz land, most likely due to the fact that Dreamworld has been doing more development than MW over recent years, with Movieworld's last Big development aside from Flash/Woz being DC Rivals (I may be mistaken though).

But also a different time. The drive from Sydney Central to Wonderland would have taken around 45 minutes down the Great Western Highway and Parramatta Roads (which google confirms when you avoid highways and tolls). By contrast using the major highways (as that's really your only option) getting to Somersby would take around double that time, with google showing 90 minutes to arrive on a Saturday morning. So you're already comparing apples with helicopters. But go further - in 1989, flights to London were around $2300 return, which is about $5800 in today's currency. And this was at a time when the average adult weekly wage was $536.50 Today you can get flights to London for around $1400, and the average adult weekly wage is now $1958. So to compare costs - something that used to cost more than 4 week's wages can now be bought in a week, with your entire 1989 paycheck still left over. My point is - Wonderland grew at a time when local entertainment was sought after as foreign entertainment was simply unattainable for the average person. Flying to the goldcoast was a treat in the 80s, with most Sydney based families opting for the 12-14 hour drive up the pacific highway, stopping at Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie, Kempsey or another mid-NSW place on the road trip to the GC. Now, at a time when you can get flights for under $100 to the GC and be there in less than the 90 minutes it would take you to drive to the Central Coast - its a big ask to think people are going to head that far. Parks that established in the 80s have created the destinations around them, but newer operators tend to spring up closer to the services that support them. But this would be a major player in the park game. Disney, Universal would have the pulling power to get people to drive \ travel that far, right? 2024 - Sydney to Somersby - 98km 1955 - LAX to Disneyland California - 55km 1971 - Orlando Airport to Walt Disney World - 27km 1983 - Tokyo Haneda to Tokyo Disneyland - 21km 1985 - Sydney Airport to Wonderland - 40km 1992 - Paris Airport to Disneyland Paris - 44km 2016 - Shanghai PVG Airport to Shanghai Disney - 26km 2005 - Hong Kong Airport to Hong Kong Disney - 18km 2011 - Singapore Airport to Universal Singapore - 25km 2021 - Beijing Airport to Universal Beijing - 37km The problem with your comparison is that the argument to be made today for Somersby as a site of a major international tourist destination is based out of what worked for a park built almost 40 years ago (and closed 20 years ago), and a lot has changed since then including the proliferation of cheap flights making international destinations more attainable, in some cases for less money that it would cost to holiday near Gosford. And while even if the location having all the benefits of the mid-80's going for it was sufficient of an argument... (which it isn't) it still lies more than DOUBLE the distance from the closest international airport when compared to all the big parks that have opened in over 50 years.

Look I get what you are saying. Let me expand on my thinking here. This is in the area of one of the biggest growth corridors in NSW and smack bang in the middle of the 3 biggest population bases in all of NSW next door to the biggest freeway and transport corridor between the two biggest population bases- that is a powerful case right there. Australia's Wonderland when it began in 1985 was probably in a far worse position when it opened- and it had the same issues that were probably more disadvantageous than what a site at Sommersby would be. Australia's Wonderland opened with no rail links, no close connection to any major airport and at the time the road infrastructure was far inferior than what we have today. I just think that as a ground up site, it has its advantages. Everything grew around Wonderland and I think that having a major theme park situated here in NSW people would travel for it. They would also couple it with visits to either the Hunter region or the Greater Sydney region. Dreamworld, when it was built, also had no real infrastructure around it either. To get there, you travelled by car or by coach. And yet they came. Yeah I am talking about a separate entity here- not aligning with the Reptile park. Travel from Western Sydney shouldnt be all that much of a problem-in fact its the exact obverse of what Australia's Wonderland faced when it first opened and now the road infrastructure is that much more superior to then. The M4 and the M7 directly link to the North Connex and that leads to the M1 and before you know it, you are on the Central Coast. Exactly. To me it all depends on the product. Australia's Wonderland worked because of its uniqueness and sheer size to anything that had been seen in NSW at the time. People travelled to it. And it worked. The infrastucture around it grew over time. If whatever was built was a compelling enough reason to visit, then people would. Thats how Australia's Wonderland lasted for 20 years. Of course we know its history and its ending- and that partly had to do with its location but it was not a barrier to its 20 years of existence. Could not have said this any better. But lets remember that when Wonderland opened, the M4 was not even built. That sort of infrastructure came later. The M1 is already there and is acknowledged as one of Australia's busiest highways between a population of 5 million, 350,000 on the Central Coast and another 700,000 in the Hunter. Being smack in the middle of a catchment area of 6 million people is a powerful consideration in my reckoning and with the road infrastructure already being in existence it certainly makes one think. The knock on effects for the Central Coast would be hugely positive. Gosford to Sommersby is just 15 minutes away by road. I just do not think that we can casually dismiss this idea for a future site. It will 99% most likely never happen but I can certainly see the merits of it being considered and I also think a strong business case could be made for one. The best thing I can say about this comment is thanks for your input.

Honest question I know its a bussiness and they want to make as much $ as possible but I think the amount of people MW let in at peak times is ridiclous. If reputation really is important they should cap tickets sold online or have a booking system for 1 day tickets because during holidays is where most of the word of mouth comes from. If they care about the reputation and it really does play a big part People are not going to reward the park with good reviews and returns if every ride has a 3 hour que and staff treat you like a peice of shit. Moive World for me need to get this right Long ques need to be expected but they need to be within in reason and their has to be more effort to make you enjoy your day. This applies to Dreamworld but because its bigger and doesent reach the same attendance Is the only reason why I have targeted MW on this ocasion. But I like how MW socials have been theres not fault in that and im very happy with their recent steps in the past week.

It might not be ‘all new’ because they’ve been open for 15 months now, but it’s their newest thing, so they’re going to keep marketing them as new until something newer opens. I’d argue that Trident has been closed more than it’s been open, so in terms of its operating lifetime, it would only be a couple months old and therefore new. DW are also currently marketing they have 11 new attractions. They really only have 4 brand new attractions, but the other 7 are refurbished/rethemed, so they’re counting them to bump out the number for marketing.

To be fair if an attraction of the size we're talking got built, the PT would materialise.

I guess it depends on how often people visit.

I mean the answer is pretty obvious, how many kids (or teenagers for that matter) that you know are named Rodney? If the number is zero then the Police Academy Stunt Show was successful in eliminating that wretched name from the gene pool. #justsayin

Got this email tonight…. genuinely taking the piss referring to Levi, Trident and Kaboom as “all new”.

The photos and video are awesome. Not sure why anyone is so concerned about dates. Once again, a billion times better than DW's social efforts

Sweet! Mine runs out in June! Wasn't gonna renew it but I actually will now. Shows these things work

Currently anybody who purchases a new locals pass or renews receives a 12 month Digital Fast Photo pass that sells separately for $80.

Sorry I am just confused in what you mean? By 12M? So you get an unlimited photo pass with the locals pass? Or you get a couple photos? Or is it like a random draw thing

I do wonder if it really did start to hit their pocket, they are even including a bonus 12M ride/candid photo pass currently for all One Pass Locals/Lite/Renewals from May 15 to June 30. They haven’t included a Photo Pass with their passes since the VIP Magic Pass.

Problem with this is the reptile park is tiny - only about 8.9 hectares. You can’t do much exactly with that. I’d back it in for a gumbuya world style transformation if they owned more land and sold to a new owner with vision, but they don’t. You’d have to build a ground up park and I’m not sure if thats sustainable as that requires much more capital. You’d be better served getting a lease in all that land around Badgerys Creek that the government owns around the airport site, if any of it is to be used for tourism purposes at all. Also around there may be an hour away from the north shore, but getting there from out west where the people actually are is going to take you 2 hours most likely. No train either - closest one would be Gosford and even then there’s no PT serving the reptile park going from that direction.

I’d have it in the horrendous choices category tbh… or maybe the “this site would make for a good business park in 5 years” category

Ahem: Middle of nowhere No infrastructure an hour away Come on mate, I know you've got a bias for the region, but its a poor choice. Put it 30 minutes from a major international airport with substantial accommodation options next door and several other attractions within a 15 minute drive, or no deal. This isn't Adventure World we're talking about.