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Agreed - it's like what, .01c per cup to put a bottom on them?

It’s actually the new soft drink refill dispenser. This week is Blue Powerade.

Guest should be allowed to drink the soft drink straight from the tap. Better for the environment, no cups required and Village could save a penny on cups.

I don't have a problem with them selling soft drink. What I do have a problem with though, is the bottomless soft drink cups. I think it is very irresponsible and they need to stop selling them.

Just from my previous experience as a ride operator (for theme parks and travelling rides), you were required to sign a log book first thing in the morning (and at the end of the night), and if it wasn't signed off by maintenance you couldn't operate the ride until it was. Travelling rides were much the same, checklists needed to be completed each day before operating. Training at Village Roadshow was very thorough, and you would not be signed off until you (and your trainer) felt competent that you could work by yourself. And when working on travelling rides, I was never left alone until I felt that I was comfortable with what I was doing. So a lot of these things, operators and theme parks were already doing anyway.

This image I think summarises the park today. They’ve taken the old stuff, and ruined it or removed the magic that was there. They could have adult out those doors in the middle, and yet they are too the side. And they probably could have even left the original lower facade, and just widened the door to make flow easier. But no... they did this

Just continuing on this and sidetracking, I think a lot of people aren't aware just how much of Florida's Disney World (specifically Magic Kingdom) played a part in Main Street's design. Magic Kingdom's. Dreamworld's back in 1981. Dreamworld's (in 2018). Magic Kingdom's. Dreamworld's. Magic Kingdom's. Dreamworld's (in 1981). Dreamworld's (in 2018). You'd think you'd only find amazing stores like this only in the Magic Kingdom. But actually Dreamworld did cool stuff like this too. Here's Disneyland's Market House from the air. Here's Dreamworld. From the ground back in 1956 at Disneyland. From the ground back in 2012-ish at Dreamworld. And this is what Disney have done to theirs. Now i'm not saying Dreamworld needs to somehow procure the money Disney has to continually drop millions on facade additions, that's unreasonable and even John Longhurst recognised that was impossible, but I do think management has done a lot of bad with the money they had by tacking on cheap lights, painting facades garish colours and in the case of the main entrance, actually knocking out a part of the building to put in a bland, cream, textured wall with barred windows. I mean talk about a jarring and hostile first impression. Disney have looked after what they had and now, some several decades later, a thousand tiny improvements have resulted in untouchable quality and finish. That's not to say that was never the case either with Dreamworld - Village Oval is a fantastic example of an addition where the facades and buildings were simply second to none. This was Village Oval. It got a lot worse. But it did get better. But we did lose amazing little buildings like this. Sometimes I feel like just they seem to get it wrong more then they do get it right, and that's where people irk up, because when you destroy something the expectation is that whatever replaces it is as good, if not better, and that hasn't been the case for so very many things at Dreamworld. Despite that, refurbishments like Green Bean, the ice cream parlour & the Dough Bros end of the plaza are all actually really well great examples in Main Street of bringing something into the 21st century without cocking it up completely (although in the case of the central plaza, removing the chandelier in the main tower and putting lino over the Dreamworld mosaic are both sins in their own right.) The Dreamworks area is another example of bringing a higher level of quality into the mix and is really great overall and Tiger Island is dead set the park's biggest asset and provided you ignore the gigantic tin cage down the end that shouldn't exist it's honestly one of the world's best Tiger exhibits. In the case of Green Bean as a Main Street facade example, when they renovated it they used softer, more realistic colours, the interior aesthetic is muted but fun and detailed, and there's plenty of nice places to sit - that kind of execution is how the entirety of the park is how the whole park should be in my mind and that's why folks like me are so judgey - it's not because we're anal theme park nerds, it's that Dreamworld used to be shit hot, and since Ardent came along a lot of things have fallen well below the bar that John Longhurst had set. With all of that said, bulldozing the Dreamworld Cinema facade would be an utter shame and frankly speaking I doubt there's anything better you could put in its place given just how iconic the design itself is.

Had to take a leak and get a coffee, so I stopped in at Dreamworld to see how things are. "Theming" (don't worry, keep reading and you'll see why this average first impression and degradation of an iconic building bugs me.) This new precinct, dubbed WhiteFacadeLand is coming together nicely. Guests will be stoked. This is a good execution of continuity for the new WhiteFacadeLand as it starts outside the park and continues inside now. Jokes aside, i'm sure all these panels will eventually get wraps on them but to have your first impression when you enter the park be this is pretty piss-poor. If regional theme park operators like Six Flags don't miss details this glaring this then so can Dreamworld, a park that was once known for its attention to detail. Also, the whole Buzzsaw area is now closed. More WhiteFacadeLand construction. Stuff is definitely happening for "unknown i-ride #1." After taking a leak, I noticed this. Can you guess what picture doesn't belong? If you guessed #6 you guessed correct! Speaking of Peter Brock's Garage - they've wasted no time gutting the place and putting up bollards near the sliding doors to keep guests out. Does that stop them from advertising it in park though? Hell naww! That photo was taken outside of their brand new "Designated Smoking Area" a.k.a. Big Brother Cafe a.k.a. Hollywood Cottage (no shit, that building there is 100% Hollywood Cottage and played a pivotal part in Dreamworld existing in the first place. They would actually be nuts to demolish that building given it is such an integral part of Dreamworld lore.) Currently the whole space is very inviting and "themed." Half removed walkways more theming. Super flammable foam disintegrating more rustic theming. Posts from abandoned pathways more colonial theming. After walking down and seeing Log Ride unexpectedly closed, I jumped on the train to see what was left of Blue Lagoon. While I was waiting I got to take in this scenic theme park vista. (Below is what it used to look like.) It used to be awfully pretty. But leaves are too hard to sweep up so it is what it is. Nothing to see here. Definitely nothing to see here, like unkempt and hazardous tree matter. Nothing to see here either apparently, even though it's the only thing you can see. Definitely no dangerous fences to be seen. On my final walk around, I stopped to admire the maroon theming that's been in place for nearly two years now. Theming. I'm definitely in Australia's Disneyland right now. You thought seeing this from ground level was bad? Check this out - if my theme park went through a globally seen incident people then i'd probably avoid giving influencers a great vantage point of where we're trying to pretend like nothing happened hey. On a positive note, after The Claw's random extended downtime (it's okay, we'll gloss over Buzzsaw's extended downtime, the West side of Giant Drop's random down-time earlier in the year, the east-side's current un-announced down time and just a total myriad of unplanned maintenance because the park is super duper safe) the ride has re-opened and it's looking really good. This was a tiny silver lining from what was otherwise a super depressing visit - the signs look great (both the one pictured above and the entrance side have been really well taken care of) and the new surfacing and paintjob is very well done and should be the standard for the whole park. I don't care for upcharges attractions that are forced into areas like this. You couldn't have just chucked all of this into Kevil Hill and connected it via the current passholder centre? You know, i'm just saying that if you did that, then the Trolls IP would be connected to all the other Dreamworks IP. And you know, if you did that, then the whole area would be air-conned and then when it closes (because you said it was temporary except first it was 12 months and now it's 18 months so who knows) then there'd be no impact visually for guests? Because you know, no parent wants to have a toddler crying because they see Troll stuff but they can't actually DO any troll stuff. And you know, then you wouldn't be chucking more conflicting themes inside an ocean themed area. Because, you know, you're a theme park and people expect that kind of hindsight. Because you know, maybe you should've learnt that when you tried to jam car stuff into an ocean themed area? Because you know, it's an ocean themed area. Dreamworld was successful because of John's attention to detail and nothing else. Today's Dreamworld is not even remotely detail focussed and I think it shows. Those who reckon there's no money to keep it to some unrealistic "Disney" standard couldn't be further from the truth - poorly-placed attractions and mis-matched themes are the result of bad management, not a lack of funds. Same goes for rides that continue to be down with little to no communication on why or when they'll re-open. Same goes for letting iconic facades get knocked over, spray painted and then lets design aesthetics be ruined by a dozen and one poorly integrated conduits, crap paint jobs and air-con boxes. You folks tell me - looking at the pictures below that were all taken in the 80's and 90's, has the park really improved?

That's kind of my point really. You put it better than I did!

That’s ridiculous. Adults can choose what they want to put in their bodies, and as parents choose for their kids. Guess they should ban beer, burgers, hot chips etc as well. If people can’t use self control and moderate their intake, or hell, if they choose to drink soft drink all day every day, that’s their perogative.

Wonder if he fancies a job selling soft drinks 🤔

There is a new roaming character in the western area at MW. This photo is also stolen from TPSN

It's definitely for I-Ride, it's been spoken about to death in some other threads. For those unfamiliar - Dreamworld's IMAX/Cinema now i-ride facade is seen in Walt Disney World, Disneyland Paris & Tokyo Disneyland. And here's ours - spot which one is well maintained: And here is how it looked on opening day, 1981. For all the marketing copy they spent on justifying not spending the same amount of money as Movie World on new rides because they're so focussed on "nostalgia" it then would be hypocritical and down-right tone deaf to destroy one of the last furnishings that exude high some semblance of quality design and overall planning / theming / integration. Let us pray that is not the case. Also worth nothing - Dreamworld's facade facsimile may not be as lush as the three above but here's the thing - every single one Disney's facades has been refurbished over time and subsequently improved upon to arrive at this point now where they all look top notch. By comparison, when Dreamworld painted the entrance building they opted to paint over almost all of the windows. If that's not half-arsed, contemptuous and ignorant of why the place was so successful in the first place I dunno what is.

Safety officers have been doing final checks of all of the rides that will operate at this years Ekka. (at least for the cameras anyway. </sarcasm)

I am not an engineer but my best guess is either for rainwater drainage from the land around (and north) of it, or they have an exciting new Mosquito Breeding exhibit planned for 2019.

It's about time they stopped offering soft drinks full stop. Absolutely terrible for guests health yet they encourage everyone notonly to drink it, but to drink far more than could be considered acceptable (sort of) as an occasional "treat".