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Thanks for the pics! I gotta say I was impressed when I visited the Park recently. Fresh paint everywhere and smiling, friendly and helpful staff should always be the norm in any Theme Park. DW definately has that over the competition! The only major ride down was MDMC which was no loss, it sux anyway. We spent a long time out in the Animal areas of the Park, which truly have become one of the Park's greatest assets. They are most certainly getting their fare share of Tourists from.Asian countries still visiting. Honestly DW hasnt looked this good in years and the recent changes in Management are clearly a reflection of this. I'm happy to sit on the side of optimism about the Park's future at this point.

11/8 update

I got back from the states just over a week ago, but I spent my final day in LA at Disneyland before catching my late evening flight. Due to circumstances beyond my control I had about 8 hours at Disneyland, which was enough time to try Smugglers Run and have a good look around the new Star Wars: Galaxy Edge, plus have a go on all my other favorites (Yes to Indy, no to Autopia). Still, its an expensive day out, Admission is $150 USD, plus buying a few of the special food items and a souvenir mug meant it turned out to be a day out worth over $300 AUD. Totes worth it though. You can see pics here: https://www.parkz.com.au/parks/US/Anaheim/Disneyland/ride/4314-Star_Wars_Galaxys_Edge https://www.parkz.com.au/search/photos/location/ride-2449-Millennium_Falcon_Smugglers_Run As for Galaxys Edge, its’s awesomely themed, with plenty of detail, with a mix of architectural styles. Perhaps though there was an over-reliance of random electrical boxes and cables everywhere, and throwing varnish / scuffed paint around everywhere willy nilly to make it look aged. On the plus side, they’ll never need to paint anything. The Morroccan inspired architecture is a real treat. I think the main shortcoming though is that there's not a whole lot for youger kids to do compared to the rest of DL, it seems heavily geared to Star Wars fans with money to burn in the shops. The entry to the area is quite sublte, there’s no big entry sign, you just pass through a tunnel, the music changes, and there you are. In particular the rockwork was impressive, I liked how the really tall stuff was done just a tiny bit lighter to give the impression it was further away with the atmosphere in front of it. I thought some of it felt a bit static though. A lot of parked space ships with nothing in terms of sound or light or vibration, and I was hoping they’d have more droids everywhere whirring and buzzing. Looked all very beautiful, just lacking a certain energy. As for the area, one end was a sort of marketplace/ town area, with interconnected plazas and several buildings, and this is where you find Smugglers Run. The other end was a bit more natural feeling, with essentially a main path lined by futuristic lamp posts and arid bushland (Plus a couple of token space ships which were fenced off and some container type gift stands) , in some ways it felt like being in the picnic area of an Australian national park. On one side, behind a layer of scrub is rocky façade and the queue lines for Rise of the Resistance. I sort of couldn’t get excited for this bit. Obviously Rise of the resistance will anchor this end, (But even then it’s largely a hidden attraction) but what it basically means is that once you get past Splash Mountain, its more or less just a path with nothing much to see for a good 300m or so until you get to the marketplace bit of Galaxys edge…It feels really strange compared to the energy of the rest of Disneyland (Like the lively bit in Adventureland for example). Kind of feels like they need another restaurant, or things living in the bush, or some sort of minor attraction to anchor this end and give it some life. But down the marketplace end, it’s great, I stuck my head in every shop, which are oozing with details and animatronics. They’ve made the decision to go super realistic, so there are no signs for any shops, and there are only subtle hints (Or not so subtle, in the case of the First Order shop) outside each one as to what they contain, for example the light sabre place has some religious looking statues. The lack of signage means a bit of trial and error to find what you want. The droid place was cool and reminded me a bit of star tours queue, with robot parts running around on conveyor belts overhead. The marketplace section is the most interesting, with ramshackle shade made from cooling coil panels and bits of wire, and various handicrafts. A lot of the merch seemed geared towards full on cosplayers, with full jedi outfits and flight suits and the like. Again, for realism they’ve shied away from too many T shirts and products with “Star Wars” on it. Where printed T shirts do exist, it’s much more subtle in their design. Merch on the whole seemed less expensive than I expected. A storm trooper themed mug was only $17 USD. As for the food, it’s my favourite in the park, and the menu items feel more at home in a laneway café than a theme park. If you want something more sophisticated than chicken tenders or burgers, come here. Over the course of the day I tried a few things. Kaduu Ribs, pork ribs with a nice sauce, very little gristle, and this lovely vinegary cabbage slaw. Fried Endorian Tip Yip, a slab of fried chicken on bubble and squeak, and this salsa verde type gravy. Moof Juice – Sort of tasted like that Lavaburst fruit punch you get a maccas in the US, but with a bit of pineapple and a tiny edge of smoke flavor. Not full bodied enough for me. Pink orange colour like grapefruit juice. Meiloorun Juice – A bit more citrus and sharper, and more refreshing, but again, not that full bodied. Ronto Wrap - This was like the thinking mans hot dog / best Bunnings snag ever. Was a spicy sausage, plus thin slices of peppered pork, plus slaw, in a pita. I shall try to recreate this at home. Blue Milk – The milks aren’t really milks, but rather a frozen icy frappe type consistency made of plant based milk. It tastes a bit tutti frutti and reminds me of those frozen Weis Bars, but had a bit of a citrus finish. Green Milk – This one tasted like the scent of those automatic air fresheners in the toilets at shopping centers, a lot more citrus, and bit floral and fragrant too. It’s not cheap though! $8 a glass! I’d happily have more, full bodied but not heavy going. I also spent $5.50 usd on a 400ml fancy bottle of diet coke. I didn’t get into the Cantina, it was booked out, so no Carbon Freeze for me. F. The one and only ride is Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run. For my first go I did the full queue, where you first wrap around the outside of the millennium falcon, past rows of cargo crates etc that form the queue. You eventually head inside and ramp up through a workshop area, with a giant engine on display (Again, I thought it looked great but felt a bit static for a giant workshop. A couple of robot droids doing work in here would have really livened it up. You then loop around on a top floor, lookout out over the roof of the Falcon and the area as a whole, a great vista. Heading into the preshow room, a ultra realistic Hondo animatronic tells you about your mission. You’re borrowing the Millennium Falcon to pinch a shipment of a rare element from another planet. With that you board down a jetway tunnel, with a slightly bouncing floor, and enter the millennium falcon itself. Before you enter, a CM hands out your card for your role. I got gunner. They have different colour coded cards for each boarding group, and a few boarding groups are milling around in the main room of the falcon, so this gives fans a few minutes to look around and enjoy the interior, sit at the chess table and so on. In what feels like only moments you are called up to board, and led down a hallway into the cockpit. Unfortunately we had some 7 year old kid in the pilots seat, so we crashed into everything and anything. The way the controls work is someone controls steering, someone controls up and down, the two gunners just gun by spamming the shoot button (you have an option to set up auto aim, and I did this setting by accident ugh), and the engineers at the back just button bash to fix problems with the ship, and also fire a harpoon to nab the shipment of the rare element. For everyone not piloting, it feels a lot like mission space in that you just blindly hit whatever button is flashing. You cant fail the mission, but you do get a score based on how well you do your task. At the end of the day it is just a simulator, just a very well themed one. Second time round, I got engineer, and this has a surprising amount of influence on the health of your ship. If you react fast with your button presses, you can repair a lot of damage and get a good score for the group as a whole. The ride film itself lacked a certain level of soul and humor you get on rides like the new Star Tours, there aren’t any characters diving for cover as you fly around, it mostly takes place on an industrial alien planet, with a lot of the action focusing on following a flying freight train and avoiding tie fighters, to steal the shipment. It feels a bit like playing something like F Zero. At one point there is a tense moment when the ship plunges down a shaft before pulling up at the last second, but otherwise feels fairly on the rails. Maybe to improve it, it needs a bit more drama on the way or an impromptu encounter with a well known villain where you really have to fight (not just pick off tie fighters) Overall its quite good, and well polished, and an impressive technical achievement in terms of having something animated on the fly, but for most people, I’ll be solid quality simulator attraction. Cant wait to see how Rise of the Resistance turns out.

How so? They installed safety fences at a rail crossing, they are actively repainting their rides and performing maintenance on their water rides during this winter and they left a sticker on the ground from an event that technically ended a few days ago, but it's still technically winter, so the photo ops are at least still relevant

The maintenance list has been updated as well.

Are the tiger cubs X rated or something?

You know me too well. A Lazy River is a must for WhiteWater World's future, but not the over the top one with animals and other junk that Dreamworld were planning. Rather, the best thing for a lazy river is to keep it simple with well landscaped shaded spaces and BBQ's. Because if the aim of the game is to get season pass holders to make repeat visits (which it is) then combining really pleasant capacity sucking attractions with facilities that keep people in park for longer in an environment that guests desire visiting, then you've got a real basic recipe for success. Dreamworld seems to really be on the up and up. I'm not sad about the amphitheatre being crushed, John Longhurst remarked that it was his biggest mistake about the park and it's better gone at this point than left to rot. What I do hope is that when we start to hear announcements about new attractions and masterplans etc. etc. in the coming months/years is that everything's done with a sense of holistic consideration to the greater picture and not just out of necessity to deliver something as soon as possible because Village is doing XYZ in the same time period. Dreamworld doesn't need Trolls, Cars, Zombies and a Convention Centre inside a beach themed area, nor does it need more modern facades like Sky Voyager's succeeding what were beautiful Disney facsimile facades in a turn of the century themed area. Same goes for MotoCoaster in Rivertown, same went for an oil rig (Giant Drop) in Rocky Hollow, etc. etc. etc. etc. Everyone wants Longhurst's Dreamworld. The steam trains, the exciting attractions, the attention to detail, all done with an Australian spirit and passion.

The creatures are starting to be removed (Photo TPSN) Definitely not the most flattering angle

It all starts with the little things. A lick of paint, some polishing. Make the park look loved again. Then people spread the word. Then eventually we hear about the parks future visions and we watch them unfold. I cannot wait to see how the future pans out for the park. They finally have the right management team. Not a bunch of amateurs anymore. Onwards and upwards.

I wouldn't. I mean - its a great ride. Nothing beats going super fast. But here's my issue: It cuts the park in half. ...And especially with the TOTII tunnel, it's not appealing to look at It's noisy AF. It completely destroys the park atmosphere Its unreliable. Constantly down for maintenance, but even when its up, you can't guarantee it'll be up all day Its expensive. Each launch chews up SO much power to drive the car. Its capacity is shit. 14 people, 30 second ride, 60+ second load time (if the staff are on their game) for 560pph max (and let's face it, it almost never goes that frequently) It's old. The ride operated for 13.5 years before it was converted to ToTII. In it's second incarnation, it's about to hit a further 9 years. It's a 22.5 year old ride, and while groundbreaking (and record breaking) in 1997, technology has overtaken it - When SFMM upgraded to S:EFK a month after TOT, a new, modern, more efficient launch control system was installed. Dreamworld passed on the upgrade, and still operates with 1997 controls. It's slow. For whatever reason (but rumored to be cost-cutting) the record breaking launch of 100mph is almost never reached today - the ride operates at a lower power, and never uses the top 30% of the tower, as it did in it's heyday. These days, the only real reason for keeping it, especially with all of the currently present reliability issues, is sentimentality. And there's really no evidence that Dreamworld is sentimental - just take a look at the cinema steam train marketplace wipeout paddlesteamer traditional disney-esque main street facades... oh fuck it - they aren't sentimental.

There is some post processing but actually really simple (compared to some of my other work) - mainly adjustments to shadows and highlights (is a high contrast subject after all), and a slight boost to vibrancy. Basically the simple edits you would normally take to process a RAW file - the light was really that brilliant on the day. Here's a few more from the day too.

Actually, what you will find is that parts that are certified overseas are not compliant to AU/NZ standards. Now this dosn't mean its unsafe or dosnt work, it means that the part hasnt been tested and approved by an Australian regulator. It happens in the gas industry where parts haven't been tested to the AGA standard and cant be used. Someone like Bunnings and there supply chain get the overseas parts tested to conform to the AGA standard because they will sell 1000's of the unit at a time. However a ride like this may have a part that has never been used in Australia and will never be used again for any other purpose, So when a part that is EU Certified arrives in Australia that is not wildly use, it need to have an Australian approved part to replace it. This often cant happen because there is no AU/NZ part that can do the job or the certifier cant do the test for months. Now apply that across the board to an overseas ride that arrives in Australia with 10,000 moving parts, valves, hose, hydraulics. Each part has to meet the Australian Standard and also be certified. Its the certification issue that takes so long because our backwards regulators dose not have a prior certification recognition system in place that will allow tested and often superior parts from overseas. This is not just happening to Dreamworld but across the whole amusement industry, its harder to get things certified with much longer lead times and the introductions of the new rules. Also it would not just be WHS involved, it will have several government agency who will require different requirements and from experience they will change the goal post with out notice.

It doesn't even have to be concrete. The number of master plans i've seen Jamberoo generate in the past 15 years - very little today looks like it did in the master plan 15 years ago. It is allowed to change, to evolve, just stop plonking things 'wherever there's space' and actually plan things out ahead of time.

Girl got hit in the face by a flying ibis whilst in the front row on DCR over the weekend video footage on FB too but can’t save it to post here Definitely brought a laugh to my otherwise boring day 😂😂

Maybe this is where the new rollercoaster could be going? Seems the most logical.

Shit. Skeeta and Push agree. The world is going to end.

Omg Dreamworld and White Water World are starting to look amazing and once Sky Voyager open and new roller coaster is annouced I think it's going to get ahead again.

So the Germany Movie World, err I mean "Movie Park" has decided to keep their Bermuda Triangle going. This one's for you @pushbutton

TBH I would be surprised if there are any new plans for Chairlifts (the ski lift type like AW/Arthur's Seat.) due to potential safety issues surrounding being able to restrain daft Rider's. Gondolas/Skyways on the other hand feel like a safer experience and possibly easier to introduce in our Modern Day Australian Theme Parks. Personally, the old fashioned Chair Lifts scare the shit out of me and for that reason I absolutely adore the experience. Rode one in Rotorua recently and there's something about sitting on (basically) a plank, unrestrained, feet dangling and basically 100 foot drop directly below you...yikes! I sincerely hope we one-day see a Skyway return to gracing the Skies above Sea World. Even with all the new Atlantis additions, this Park still needs something like this, for sure.

CONFIRMED - SW have a new breading programme.

My favourite part is that you can so clearly see what words she is saying after it. It just makes it so much better

Parkz has been saying for a while that it's not got long left. It looks a lot to me like it's being nursed through so they can make the inevitable closing date as far off as they can. I've said it before, announce the date it's going to close so peiple can visit and have their last rides, and announce that on closing day plans for the future will be announced. Announce new coaster, point out that new coaster has a feature which renders tot2 obsolete, and start building hype for the future.

Hey all, I just wanted to pop back and say thanks for everyone's advice and input. I was at Movie World on Monday. Had an absolute blast of a day, and had no issues with my bag. Locker for Superman, but everywhere else was fine. Queue times weren't too bad, although if I had a do-over I'd probably get a fast pass to skip some of those 30 minute waits. Had a blast with my camera too (off-ride, obviously - I love my landscape photography, and rollercoasters - duh - so was great to have brilliant conditions for that too) Just a big thanks for everyone's input and suggestions - made heading out solo much easier knowing what to expect. And now I want to come back and do it all again

If the amphitheatre is being demolished, maybe we will finally see the removal Blue Lagoon