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How long are they going to blame their failures on TRR, instead of the fact that they are a poorly planned and poorly run park with boring and unreliable rides? There are better parks with better rides, better water slides, better animals, and better experiences. Dreamworld's unwavering commitment to relics TOT, Wipeout, RHLR and HWSW seem more like a desperate attempt to cling to the nostalgia of when the park was in its prime and wasn't a confused mess of cheap, mediocre 'thrill' rides dumped into any available piece of land. People don't hold that nostalgia. Dreamworld is not Disney and anyone under the age of 30 is too young to remember any of those rides being new and exciting at an age when they would have been able to ride them. Young people - the people that you want coming to your park - don't care about how 'classic' RHLR is, they only know that WWF is better. They don't care about how 'iconic' Wipeout is, they care if it is open and can actually make it through a complete cycle instead of just rocking them side to side for a few minutes. They don't care that TOT2 launches you backward, if you can get a faster and better launch on SE. And the sure as hell don't care about a rickety and painful old steel coaster made by a company that went bankrupt in 2001 - when they can ride a brand new Hypercoaster, and a rickety old Inverted coaster at a different park for the same price. The TRR incident is not the reason people aren't returning to Dreamworld. In my opinion, when they closed for several months, people (like me) realised that we didn't really miss it when it was closed, and when it reopened there really wasn't anything interesting or exciting worth going back for. There still isn't. And that's the problem.

I was fortunate enough to visit Shanghai for a couple of days while I was on my way to visit another part of China, which gave me the opportunity to visit Shanghai Disneyland (my second Disney park, Paris being the other one I've done). This is the first of two trip reports (the other one is for another park elsewhere in China that you probably haven't heard of before). It was an insanely busy day (welcome to China...), so even though I didn't get everything I wanted to done, I'll run through my opinion on everything I did manage to do. It's hard to believe this park only opened a few years ago, it's a huge park and is certainly a complete Disney experience (not quite the same as the experience you'd get at other Disney parks though - more on that later). I'll run through every area of the park and the rides I managed to do in each area (in the order I did them). Mickey Avenue/Gardens of Imagination/Storybook Castle I've grouped these three areas together because they're the first three things you see when you walk in. Interesting to note Main Street USA is actually called Mickey Avenue because China doesn't want any references to America :P ). Mickey Avenue itself is a little underwhelming, but the Gardens of Imagination is an enormous open area, with the giant Storybook Castle in the middle. It's hard to describe the scale of this area of the park. Certainly makes Paris' castle look tiny, even if this one doesn't have a dragon underneath it (it does have a boat ride though!). Treasure Cove This area of the park is Shanghai's replacement for Frontierland (remember - no American-related theming allowed). As the name implies, it's a pirate themed area, and even though it's pretty small, the theming and attractions in this part of the park are incredible. Pirates of the Caribbean - Battle for the Sunken Treasure I had very high expectations for this ride, and they were exceeded. This ride is strides ahead of the Paris version (the other version I have done) in almost every possible measure. If you haven’t already seen one, I highly recommend watching a POV (even though they don’t fully-capture the full on-ride experience you get). Keeping in mind that I haven’t been to a huge amount of Disney parks, I reckon this ride is definitely a contender for the best Disney ride ever, words cannot describe how impressive this is. Pros The boat movement (the structure of these boats allow for spinning and some sudden changes in acceleration that tie in really well with the rest of the ride) The animatronics - the skeleton that turns into Jack Sparrow is breathtaking (even though I’ve watched the POV many times before.) The Davy Jones animatronic was probably my favourite though, it’s so lifelike The screens - In particular, the scene where all the ships surface feels like you’re actually there The storyline is fantastic (even though the audio is in Chinese), something that other Pirates rides are lacking Cons Not at every Disney park in the world Only in Chinese so wasn’t sure what the audio was saying (not really much of a complaint as this was to be expected in China) I’m pretty sure I rated the DLP version of the ride a 10/10… and this is at least 10 times better than that, so I give this ride an overall score of 100/10 Fantasyland Like every other Fantasyland, this is probably the most "magical" area of the park. A quaintly-themed area that I didn't get to see in full due to it being so huge. Many things here that I would have loved to do, but just didn't get time for, such as Voyage to the Crystal Grotto. Seven Dwarves Mine Train I took the single rider queue for this ride, so didn't get to see the full extent of this ride's theming. The actual ride was good fun. Obviously not the best coaster I’ve done, but some really fun moments. The biggest problem on this ride was definitely the pacing. Pros Some sudden drops that provide decent airtime Lots of twistyness The swinging of the carts was a lot smoother than I was expecting Cons Not a long ride Just as the ride started getting some good speed it ended Below average operations Overall rating - 7/10 Alice in Wonderland Maze Stopped here on the way to the next ride. Not exactly a maze since I could see over some of the hedges and there were very few dead ends… clearly catered more to younger audiences. Peter Pan's Flight Honestly a little underwhelming - had heard a lot of great stories about this ride but didn't find it too amazing. Don't get me wrong - it's a fun ride - just nothing I'd rave about. Pros The “take-off” scene and flight over the city is pretty cool Really captures the flight sensation Cons Not completely immersive (if it was a bit darker inside it may have been harder to see some of the doors and backstage areas that were partially visible) Some technical problems (the audio kept cutting in and out) Overall rating - 6/10 Toy Story Land Only walked through this area, so didn't spend long here. No different to other Toy Story Lands. Tomorrowland I've heard from many people that Tomorrowland at many Disney parks envisions what the future was thought to be like 20 or 30 years ago - certainly not what we think of when we hear the word "future" today. Disneyland Paris' Jules Verne theme, while very unique and full of detail, certainly isn't what we think of when we think of the future. Shanghai's Tomorrowland does not have this problem, its space-age theming makes me feel like I've been thrust right into the far future. Tron's structure is certainly the highlight of this area, especially at night. This might even be my favourite area of the park. Buzz Lightyear Planet Rescue Another ride I wouldn't rave about, but still found it fun. Would’ve skipped it if we didn’t have a fastpass for it. Overall rating - 6/10 TRON Lightcycle Power Run Despite a three hour queue, this ride was certainly worth the wait. The queue for the ride starts outdoors, and isn’t incredibly immersive. However, once you get inside the experience really begins. Near-complete darkness with only bright (mainly blue) lights to lead the way. It does feel like another world. With the only motorbike coaster I’ve done in the past being Motocoaster (unless you count Jet Rescue), I didn’t have too high expectations for this ride. But after riding this I can say that Motocoaster is put to even more shame by this ride. Unlike Motocoaster, the restraints are really comfortable and there is a lot of freedom to move around. Big bags are taken by the staff and given back to you on exit. Each seat has a small compartment to store any smaller items (eg. phones or glasses). The ride starts with a twist out of the dual-station and around onto the launch track. After a countdown (in Chinese) and a few flashing lights, you’re thrusted down the launch track. This is a very powerful launch - makes Motocoaster and JR seem very weak. You then fly through the outside portion of the ride (it’s a lot more intense than it looks) and come into the first MCBR back inside the building (which doesn’t actually kill the pacing too much). The indoor part of the ride is truly world-class - it’s fast, intense, and the lights and screens make it super immersive. Even a bit of airtime! My new #3 coaster (just behind Taron at Phantasialand). Pros An incredible coaster Much more forceful than it appears Some of the best on-ride theming I’ve seen, rivalling the likes of Taron Even more fun at night time, even though only a small portion of the ride is outdoors (passed up an opportunity to do a new ride so I could ride this at night) Cons Start of the queue and the exit path is a little underthemed The single rider queue wasn’t being used properly - even though the queue started at the start of the queue, they were forcing single riders to queue in a large portion of the main queue before switching queues. Once past the main queue the single rider queue was empty, which resulted in a lot of empty seats on the trains Overall rating - 10/10 (yes, this takes the cons into account, it’s just such a good ride. When the Florida version of this ride opens I’ll definitely try to head out and ride it there) Adventure Isle A really cool spin on Adventureland. Multiple rides here that I didn't get the time to do, like Soarin and Roaring Rapids. Camp Discovery, which is a smaller area inside Adventure Isle is possibly one of the most unique attractions Disney has done. Camp Discovery Challenge Trails These were really fun, and something you would not expect to see at a Disney park. There were two challenge trails operating, and the one I did was really fun with some tricky sections to get across. Definitely would give this one another try if I were to come back. Pros Very unique attraction Some great challenges Cons The lax Chinese safety laws made me question how safe my harness was at times Overall rating - 9/10 Sadly, that is all the rides I managed to do. Other rides I wanted to do, eg. Soarin and Roaring Rapids, were sitting at 3-4h waits all day. To finish up, I will run through a couple of problems I had with the park. Issue 1 - Cultural issues I was warned about this - seeing the park is located in China there are a few cultural differences. While I didn’t encounter any of the more disgusting habits (eg. spitting - in the park at least), I did encounter a few line jumpers (fortunately none of the ones I noticed managed to get past me). Issue 2 - Crowds Kinda also a cultural issue. This park was incredibly busy. I visited on a weekday and yet there were people everywhere. 2-3 hour queues for most rides, with upto 4h queues for some of the most popular rides at times). I did visit in summer though so if you are planning on visiting, I do heavily recommend visiting in a quieter season. Even the next day, which was very rainy had similar wait times on the app. Issue 3 - Operations For a Disney park, the operations here were pretty poor. Staff were slow and seats were running empty on multiple rides (including ones with a Single rider queue). This definitely would’ve been one of the contributing factors to the long queues too. Issue 4 - Sight lines Okay, I know this is picky. But I know Walt Disney cared a lot about this, and this is an issue I did notice in a few places. For example, as soon as you step off the metro the first thing you see is the exposed back of the Camp Discovery mountain. Additionally, the back of Tron (which basically looks like a giant blue shed) is very obvious in Toy Story land. My overall opinion of this park is mostly positive, despite the issues. If it was in another country, it could be up there in the top few Disney parks in the world. But the crowds, operations and cultural issues do bring this park down a bit. Definitely would still rate it above DLP, but the park isn't perfect. With the negativity aside, it is a superb park. Pirates and Tron alone make this park worth the price of admission, and there are some unique attractions that can’t be experienced in any other Disney park. Since it’s a relatively new park, it still has a lot of room to grow, and I look forward seeing where it goes over the years to come.

I’m sorry but that junk market setup for the entrance is just a complete embarrassment for what is meant to be a world class park.

Can't read that, can you upload a video of it?

It reeks of a cheap US tourist attraction where you have to get your green screen photo of the view you will actually see when you get inside before you’re let in

For whatever reasons, I never visited English amusement parks until this year, even though coasters across the Channel - especially Alton's - had my interest ever since I became an enthusiast back in 2005. But with the additions of both Icon and Wicker Man and the opportunity to join fellow French/Belgian goons on a road trip meant I finally got the chance to experience creds in England! Day 1 - Blackpool Icon - I was actually quite worried about the Qs after seeing quite a packed entrance, but in reality the wait times were fine throughout the whole day - 30 minutes at most on the new coaster. Rode it 6/7 times and while Icon doesn't reach the graceful bliss of Helix or the insanity of Taron, it remains a pretty solid ride experience. Some weak spots here and there, but also a couple of strong highlight elements as well! It is a grower for sure. Definitely preferred the back seat for the nice mix of airtime and laterals exiting the Immelmann. Highlights: The first hill, the twisted hill and the Immelmann (back seat) Lowlights: The first launch is kinda weak, the meandering turns around Stepplechase After starting the day on a high, our group decided to tick off the classic woodies one after another. Big Dipper - Was quite worried to ride this, fearing a really unconfortable experience. In the end it was pretty harmless, and even delivered some fun little pops of air! Re-rode later in the day with a bulky guy, which meant I had a lot of space between me and my lap bar. Flying over those small hills was quite exciting actually Grand National - Only got to try the left side. It was quite bouncy, but not to the point it became too rough. There are some definite moments of sudden airtime only old woodies (and maybe some wonky Pax coasters) deliver. The racing element also made the experience quite enjoyable. Nickelodeon Streak - Apart from the flash colour scheme, it was kinda forgettable really. Not too rattly, nor too exciting either. Blue Flyer - Couldn't help mispronounce this kiddie "Blue Fire" instead. Kinda cute coaster actually, and I would have loved to have this sort of ride at my home park when I was a child. With the woodies done, we went for a lunch break before getting on the Arrows... Stepplechase (yellow side) - Hmm... ouch?! The seating position was really awkward and almost every turn entrance or exit was jolty. Really unique ride for sure and I wouldn't want it to be torn down, but it's really unfortunate that the ride experience is not so comfortable. Big One - I have to say this Arrow hyper looks really photogenic and mighty. Aboard, it provides nice views of Blackpool and the coast as well. Otherwise, this is arguably one of the shakiest coaster I've ever ridden! Definitely had to hang on to the bar in front of me. For some reason though I couldn't help laughing during the whole experience - despite the rattle, the coaster carries some good speed throughout the whole layout making for an 'entertaining' experience. Actually wished I could get a second ride on it but the train valleyed in the final turns so... nope. Revolution - The whole thing looks really weird - first climbing some stairs as if you were about to do some water slides, then entering this 'station' without a ceiling and with no doors between the platform and the train. But for all the weirdness, Revolution is quite a fun ride actually. Fairly intense loop and some little pops of airtime on the drops. Avalanche - Was surprised by the second half. I ended up being crushed by the bar with the ending helixes being unexpectedly intense and twisty! The lack of MCBR arguably helps the momentum of this Bobleigh, and it feels smoother than Trace du Hourra back home. Didn't get to ride Infusion as it closed right when I was about to enter the Q. Not that I care much about that. I am quite happy with my first day at Blackpool. Some areas feel quite tacky, but the whole place is lively and I appreciate its unique selection of dated vintage rides (RIP Wild Mouse though). Icon adds a much-needed quality ride experience to compliment well the heritage coasters. I wouldn't return soon unless they add anything big, but BPB was a pleasant start to our trip! Next part: Alton Towers For whatever reasons, I never visited English amusement parks until this year, even though coasters across the Channel - especially Alton's - had my interest ever since I became an enthusiast back in 2005. But with the additions of both Icon and Wicker Man and the opportunity to join fellow French/Belgian goons on a road trip meant I finally got the chance to experience creds in England! Day 1 - Blackpool Icon - I was actually quite worried about the Qs after seeing quite a packed entrance, but in reality the wait times were fine throughout the whole day - 30 minutes at most on the new coaster. Rode it 6/7 times and while Icon doesn't reach the graceful bliss of Helix or the insanity of Taron, it remains a pretty solid ride experience. Some weak spots here and there, but also a couple of strong highlight elements as well! It is a grower for sure. Definitely preferred the back seat for the nice mix of airtime and laterals exiting the Immelmann. Highlights: The first hill, the twisted hill and the Immelmann (back seat) Lowlights: The first launch is kinda weak, the meandering turns around Stepplechase After starting the day on a high, our group decided to tick off the classic woodies one after another. Big Dipper - Was quite worried to ride this, fearing a really unconfortable experience. In the end it was pretty harmless, and even delivered some fun little pops of air! Re-rode later in the day with a bulky guy, which meant I had a lot of space between me and my lap bar. Flying over those small hills was quite exciting actually Grand National - Only got to try the left side. It was quite bouncy, but not to the point it became too rough. There are some definite moments of sudden airtime only old woodies (and maybe some wonky Pax coasters) deliver. The racing element also made the experience quite enjoyable. Nickelodeon Streak - Apart from the flash colour scheme, it was kinda forgettable really. Not too rattly, nor too exciting either. Blue Flyer - Couldn't help mispronounce this kiddie "Blue Fire" instead. Kinda cute coaster actually, and I would have loved to have this sort of ride at my home park when I was a child. With the woodies done, we went for a lunch break before getting on the Arrows... Stepplechase (yellow side) - Hmm... ouch?! The seating position was really awkward and almost every turn entrance or exit was jolty. Really unique ride for sure and I wouldn't want it to be torn down, but it's really unfortunate that the ride experience is not so comfortable Big One - I have to say this Arrow hyper looks really photogenic and mighty. Aboard, it provides nice views of Blackpool and the coast as well. Otherwise, this is arguably one of the shakiest coaster I've ever ridden! Definitely had to hang on to the bar in front of me. For some reason though I couldn't help laughing during the whole experience - despite the rattle, the coaster carries some good speed throughout the whole layout making for an 'entertaining' experience. Actually wished I could get a second ride on it but the train valleyed in the final turns so... nope. Revolution - The whole thing looks really weird - first climbing some stairs as if you were about to do some water slides, then entering this 'station' without a ceiling and with no doors between the platform and the train. But for all the weirdness, Revolution is quite a fun ride actually. Fairly intense loop and some little pops of airtime on the drops. Avalanche - Was surprised by the second half. I ended up being crushed by the bar with the ending helixes being unexpectedly intense and twisty! The lack of MCBR arguably helps the momentum of this Bobleigh, and it feels smoother than Trace du Hourra back home. Didn't get to ride Infusion as it closed right when I was about to enter the Q. Not that I care much about that. I am quite happy with my first day at Blackpool. Some areas feel quite tacky, but the whole place is lively and I appreciate its unique selection of dated vintage rides (RIP Wild Mouse though). Icon adds a much-needed quality ride experience to compliment well the heritage coasters. I wouldn't return soon unless they add anything big, but BPB was a pleasant start to our trip! Next part: Alton Towers

I reckon both @wikiverse & @Skeeta are correct in their own way. Simply put - Dreamworld has way more on offer for young families than Village's whole offering and it's why it's been able to hang on for as long as it has. On the other hand, Movie World's teen/adult offering is an order of magnitude better than Dreamworld's. Dreamworld became the country's best tourist attraction because for the first ten years of its life John Longhurst paid extraordinary attention to detail and quality and the place had pride in delivering once in a lifetime memories. The next ten years my generation thought it was the place to be because the thrill rides were actually world class. Skip forward twenty years, John's legacy has been literally bulldozed to bits and the ageing thrill rides that were built in the 90's are still mainly the poster child for competing with things like the Hypercoaster.

Thanks for the update @themagician! We can always count on you for bringing us the latest 😃 What a confused mess the entry area is becoming. Surely no Senior Executive could see this with their own eyes and think this looks good? Even from a revenue raising perspective it stinks. Visitors being corralled and guilted by the Park vicariously through the eyes of their Kids into buying Photos - even after leaving! Hmmm.. The whole execution is cheap and nasty. Inconvenient to Passholders and a pathetic cash grab to practially anyone else. Regardless, this is not the way a visit to a (once?) iconic Gold Coast Destination should be remembered? 😥

I understand this is the worst video and it is verticaly recorded and crap quality and too fast but its better than nothing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQUytDPAjrw

The park officially opens today

Coming soon 'The Void' - looks like an empty shed, smells like an empty shed. Experience it this Summer at Dreamworld

The value of the park, if they went to sell it now compared to a year ago has dropped ~75 million. Kind of like you buy a house for $500,000, then a sewerage treatment plant gets built next door. You try to sell, but can now only get $250,000 for it. Though in this case it is the culture and perception of the park that stinks, not what's over the fence.

You're a bunch of dicks. I didn't even notice until you pointed it out Mickey.

This is what happens when bean counters have more than their usual say (or people listen). They care nothing for what damage they are doing (both physically to the buildings and to the reputation), only how good the numbers look for this year. Look what they did to dreamworld, looks like its time for village theme parks to get the same treatment. It takes years to turn things around when they start ripping into a company.

I love how the lighting on the ceiling is controlled to create different moods and effects. There are some really great rides and experiences - somethings which are desperately needed to balance out a certain Aussie Park that's currently too thrill heavy.

Hopefully prepping the track to be able to run the Baldwin steam engine again..

Pathway past Billabong is out of action, so Corroboree etc can only be accessed via the fancy teleportal they’ve apparently built in the Ice Cream store....

Here are some of the latest images (Most overall theme park images, but there are some focus points or updates from the above post). Gumbuya World (March 28) Sea World (May 10) Movie World (May 10) Topgolf (May 10)

It's worth keeping in mind that this is no longer the Ardent Leisure that was but rather a long play by Gary Weiss to fix and flip what was a troubled business and that it's exactly what he's known for doing in the first place. If I was Weiss and I had sunk a lot of cash into Ardent then my obvious aim is to maximise my return, and in his case, you don't get to be a multi-millionaire without being ruthless and cunning. That means maintaining a low profile and letting the news cycle wash over your investment, that means being reactive and not proactive with the way things play out and ultimately that means being frugal with expenditure on making the individual parts of the company looking as attractive as possible to potential buyers to maximise the return. I think that there's plenty of people who sit in the "well it happened to Wonderland so it can happen here" camp that get ahead of themselves - the council's never going to let such a crucial part of the economy be bought up and then approve land rezoning for Dreamworld to become residential. The only way that'll ever happen is through Weiss - if he figures he can't make a return on his investment (read: no one wants to buy it in the next 18-24 months) he Ardent will tell investors it won't ever recover and then if the market actually buys that crap then the council will be backed into a no-win corner.

There used to be a policeman that entertained people in the vintage cars (when it was where MDMC is today). In addition to @Roachie posting about a themed final room in GD, there was a movie about the disaster on the Oil Rig that played before you went to the ride room. Tower of Terror had an elevator system to get you to the ride (and better immersive queue theming) before the stairs were put in, back when the ride entry was on the western side of the building. Remote controlled boats.

There is a lot currently happening at the park, so here is one big update for everyone. ENTRANCE CHANGES Firsly, the biggest change. And if you thought the entry process at SW couldn’t get any worse, think again. They have changed it (probably make it more efficient, but I can’t see it being in the busy periods). The big walls, lightijt framework and path you have to take isn’t good. Once you’ve had your photo taken, you go left for tickets and right if you have a pass. I was there not long after opening and they weren’t using the left entry point as they have done for many years. And the exit process also forces you have o see your photos. l SEA JELLIES Check out my full update here: In summary, I think it’s looking great RAY REEF The attraction has partly removed, with the northern entrance open. The southern area of the exhibit is currently having the flooring currently repainted VIKINGS REVENGE No changes with the ride itself, but the rock fountain has been turned back on and makes the area look better CREATURES OF THE DEEP Tne whole area has now reopened, but I definitely think some of the creature need a repaint or fixing. Hardly any of them were moving or making noise, and some were very faded. LAND RECLAMATION Still plenty of machinery on site doing their thing OTHER WORKS This area next to Seal Harbour has been fenced off with construction on the pump house underway Jet Rescue is closed for maintenance It seems that Storm has some new theming And these toilets are under refurbishment PARK MAP I haven’t looked at the new park map since the changes, and I’m glad to see they haven’t done the angle style and instead went from straight above. Did notice they have included a path, zoning the land, so this may indicate towards three new attractions or more at some point.

Agreed @djrappa and I think what makes it even worse is it makes the entrance look really enclosed and uninviting. It isn’t until you get the front of the queue area that you can see into the park. They really should just get rid of this idea and change the entrance to how it used to be, and if they really want this type of crap, put it inside the park and let people do it if they want to.

Another teaser posted

For god’s sake Dreamworld, make it a dark ride! Make it a dark ride! They were talking recently about making a dark ride (but in the Gold Rush area)?. When I walked through it the other week I was horrified that the Brock cars could be considered a theme park attraction, but I do remember thinking that building would make a perfect dark ride. Make it a dark ride!