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@rappayour cheque is in the mail. Regards SW

I’m sorry but that’s entirely incorrect. A soft open is to test the ride with the stresses that comes with the general public. Universal and Disney do it because it’s a really good idea. Guests have no expectation of the ride or ride elements working and they’re free to close it any anytime. Sea World operated it for a few days for staff and a few invited guests (media reporting on the opening day weren’t given a ride before reporting on the opening) Doing the official opening on a Friday was a bit dumb

If Rivals & Steel Taipan had soft-openings/passholder previews (and, if I’m not mistaken, even Dingo Racer had somewhat of one), why is it so hard for some of y’all to admit that Levi should’ve had one too? Cause yeah, new rides obviously have teething issues, but just blatantly speaking, the ride shouldn’t have been marketed to families, interstate or not, for months to hold it’s grand opening on a date where it wouldn’t even be close to properly operational. Having an unpublicised soft-opening/passholder preview before the grand opening makes it abundantly clear that any early guests are lucky to be experiencing an ultimately unfinished & ‘alpha’ experience, thus any resulting issues/faults are to be expected and rectified before opening day. MW knows to do it, DW knows to do it, AW knows to do it, most global parks know to do it, why is it a point of contention as to if SW should’ve? Maybe it’s just my current distaste for SW (after coming back from a very unpleasant stay there) speaking, but IMO there’s just been fumble after fumble with how they’ve managed New Atlantis’s opening from the get-go.

You must be missing the point of a forum. I also don’t buy the “that’s just what you get” excuse. The way Village has handled Atlantis has been very average and it feels like people are far more lenient on Seaworld than if the experience was the same at Dreamworld. In fact, if we compare directly to Dreamworld, Steel Taipan was constructed quicker, there was passholder previews, the communication was better and the train has been reliable ever since. Now let’s compare this to Atlantis which took 3.5 years to get going, has had issues for all 3 of the days it has been open, Trident meanwhile simply isn’t ready and the experience today was very average, I’m just reporting on the general sentiment today, the general public just knows they waited 2 hours to get a go on the ride and their was no communication whatsoever. The ride itself, fantastic, but let’s not look at it all with rose tinted glasses.

Incorrect. I lined up today cause they advertised it as a brand new ride open from 2nd Dec. I wouldn't have lined up the week or two previously if I knew it was soft open and they were still having issues with a new ride and that It might be a very long wait or not get a ride at all if i line up during soft openings. Which is why I wouldn't go. Should have soft open from 2 Dec and opened 2 weeks later imo. I also don't get the issues, it's a brand, designer and manufacturer who have built this ride in other location. Yes the layout is different but the control systems and train I would have thought would have had the bugs ironed out of it many years ago. Also the fact it's nearly 2 years late and still not right 🤔 However I'm still a massive fan. Great ride. Great theming. 🐉

Technical rehearsals aren’t promoted, and they are told even if they don’t read it there’s a chance it won’t open. As it’s not announced and most of the people who were mad aren’t coaster enthusiasts, they wouldn’t even know it’s open, and travel once it is promoted as being open.

Comparing Rise of the Resistance (arguably the most advanced technical ride in the world) with a gravity woodie... train go up hill, train go down hill... is a stretch 🤣 Not surprised operation are terrible.. this is village we are talking about here

Leviathan wasn’t fully commissioned when they announced the opening date so they had no idea what issues could’ve happened. They should’ve waited for both rides to be fully commissioned, then decided and announced an opening date with either daily employee previews, soft openings or pass holder previews. No one’s saying it shouldn’t be having issues, it’s a new ride it’s expected HOWEVER a period of time to allow for daily operations with whoever should’ve been done. Comparing a brand new ride advertised as now opened after years of delays to a normal ride that’s been open for a while and having a technical issue in normal day to day operation doesn’t make sense.

I went to Sea World yesterday. I was extremely disappointed in the park opening when things clearly aren't ready. For me, I don't mind. I have a pass and can come back whenever. I expected issues. But for the poor people who spent $100s of dollars, I would be extremely angry. I saw no signs explaining that these are new rides and to expect delays. Trident and Vortex were down (at least until I left around 2pm). Jet Rescue 1 train (no surprises) to take up the slack... What Village should be doing (same comments I said during school holiday madness at MW with rides closed) is organise the essentials for guests - signage, shade, water fountains, communication. It's the little things that help guests feel cared for.

That's why you have soft openings. It may not be SW fault it has issues but SW knew the issues would happen.

Quite clearly should have had a soft opening 🤷 expectations are that it is open. Maybe if they'd done a soft open the last few days they could have worked out the kinks. Hasn't been enough for me to renew my pass yet. Might wait till after the holidays and go for free to see if it's worth the effort. Looks good though from the pictures and videos. To bad it's not operating at it's potential yet but congrats to the lucky ones who have braved the crowds and been lucky to ride the world's most iconic woodie 😅 (marketing bs always makes me giggle regardless of park)

At the park and seen they were testing TNT today, it’s super quite and smooth!

Firstly, the train doesn’t ‘stall’ on the lift, it will stop there if the 2nd train isn’t brought into the station. Second, maintenance staff ride the ride as part if the daily safety checks, so it’s silly to be annoyed they are doing so. And finally, I know its been a while since a big major ride like this opened, but this is pretty normal anywhere in the world, new rides often have issues and as an enthusiast you should know that the price you pay for wanting to be ‘first’ is the thing might break down. There is no such thing as a soft opening, its open or its not. When parks like Disney do ‘technical rehearsals’ they bring in select groups at select times to ride. Sea World already did this with staff and contractors. And the reason? Because if you had public there they would be all buthurt just like the above when they didn’t get to ride. Until you open open a ride for normal ops you can never properly test it for how it will run under normal conditions. So unfortunately inevitably small issues will come up. Just keep in mind, its an amusement ride in a theme park, it’s not the fight against world hunger, so if you have to wait a little longer to have a go, it’s not the end of the world.

Typically they just ran it anyway when half the tech was not working. If things are broken I’d rather it not run tbh…

Okay, but Joker at SFDK both: - had a soft opening (4 days before official open). - is a regional, thrilling attraction opening at a Six Flags chain park, not subject to a country-wide advertisement campaign aimed at families and holiday trips. Yes, it can happen to any ride, but it could’ve been handled better, and might’ve had less of an impact if so. And, again, that’s coming from someone who was also there on Levi’s opening day, and was able to ride it more than once, so the idea of me not being able to ride it right now isn’t the thing that I don’t like. Families don’t know if/when to wait a month, it’s just “the holidays have started and there are cool new rides for us to go on at Sea World, let’s book a vacation there and go on ‘em”. That’s what has already been happening, and that’s what I don’t like.

exactly my point. Rivals was commissioned then had employee ride nights, previews and a couple leeway weeks of testing before opening, all while being advertised as opening soon. Same thing with Taipan, except only around two weeks of leeway testing but accompanied by a soft opening, all being advertised as opening soon. if ST’s opening went how this weekend and process has gone, they would’ve been torn apart as “unprepared, unprofessional and management needs help.” which did kind of happen even in a soft opening period, so i really want to know what’s different?. The theming around the ride isn’t finished, the ride and employees don’t seem like they were as prepared as they could’ve been to take on so many guests, and they never had a leeway period to conduct extra testing or testing while also leaving room for normal issues. no matter what anyone says, it’s clear they needed more time, some sort of technical rehearsals and a period to accompany this.

It’s a much more simpler way of saying “The management decisions made for the opening schedule of DC Rivals (among other opening schedules, like that of Steel Taipan) were more thought out, planned, better implemented, and certainly more well-recieved than the management decisions made for the opening schedule of Leviathan, Trident, and Vortex, also known as the New Atlantis precinct (though, mainly Leviathan is under scrutiny in current context).”

All new rides everywhere have teething issues! They are extremely complex pieces of machinery! Enthusiasts should know that far better than the GP. It's not like SW would be wanting these issues

I wouldn’t haven’t lined up for hours on opening weekend or opening week. The same people lining up today, would have been the same people lining up in the “technical rehearsal” and would have had the exact same complaints and annoyance and frustration. Having a A-frame with “technical rehearsal” on it that 99% of people wouldn’t have read or even understood would have changed nothing

If you bought flights for a one day trip interstate solely to ride a coaster that is in the first few days of operation, you’re either too rich or a moron. if I see a billboard saying “Hamilton now showing in Melbourne” I don’t book flights on the assumption when I get there that tickets will be available for any date I choose to fly down. The advertisement is to peak interest and trigger you to look further into whatever is being advertised. By your account KFC billboards around the country should be pulled down at 10pm each night when the store closes incase someone shows up at 2am only to find the store closed when they wanted a zinger burger And how do you expect them to do this? As others have said it’s either open or it isn’t. Rehearsals happened with staff days ago. Some issues have arisen in opening days as cycles have increased, again it happens with new rides. Be disappointed if you line up and don’t get a go, but anyone being “pissed off” needs some perspective in life

Soft open is open. It's just a way of saying 'manage your expectations' as people aren't able to. As demonstrated in this thread. Yeah it sucks, I get it's dissapointing, but there seems like a real lot of vitriol on here. Like it's intentionally done to fuck with you rather than just an unfortunate thing. Because people will queue even if you ask them not to. May as well put them where they're meant to queue, particularly if you honestly think you will have the ride handed over imminently. Do you really think you've made a good point here?

Thanks. Finally some recognition!

I mean I'm using previous experience to not travel interstate within a coasters first operating week, but there's video billboards everywhere in Sydney right now advertising that it's open.. when it isn't. Airfares are $500 return to the gold coast/Brisbane right now.. if I travelled up for the day as a GP I'd be very pissed. It's ok to say they could have done a better job with this. Like why even open the queue if it hasn't been handed over yet? That's theme park 101 stuff there.

Yeah and I’m saying no one would get it. The ride would brake down and everyone would be on here bitching that screens weren’t working and they came all way there and didn’t get to ride, etc etc. As usual your posts are living in a fantasy land. Does it suck the ride is going down? Yes of course it does, but it happens. Steel Taipan was an off the shelf ride with a car port for a station from a manufacturer that already built one 5 mins down the road. Leviathan is a one off custom built coaster and the first one for the manufacturer in a country that has INSANELY different safety standards to the rest of the world. You really can’t compare the two. Like I said, it sucks. But throwing around things like “they’ve handled the entire ride building poorly” is a bit if a stretch. Reality is, it’s annoying, people get annoyed and then have a vent. Which is fine, but let’s have some perspective at the same time. Be mad at things to be justifiably mad at. The ride going down in its first few days of opening isn’t one of them. As for communication, no park ever including Disney has told guests how long a ride will be down for or what is wrong with it when it is.

Its got nothing to do with Sea World. This is the care at nearly every ride opening anywhere. I once flew to the other side of the world to hopefully ride Lightning Rod. When I got there it died and didn’t run again for months… and STILL has issues years later. Shit happens, and as I said it’s just the risk we all take trying to get on something early. What good does pissing and moaning on the internet do?

Queue rails lasted 2 days.

It must’ve been a glitch as it is now back on the maintenance website, Leviathan isn’t so im going to guess it will be opening today.

Some fantastic new additions to the 2023 parade. Even more floats than anticipated, definitely world class. Great to see them drop a bit of money on the event this year seeing as WC was very much lacking for several years prior. Thanks tiaras1215 on YouTube for the footage! Curious to see the ice-skating rink if anyone has any photos/details ?

Visited the park this morning to ride Leviathan and check out the whole precinct now complete. LEVIATHAN Arrived at the park for opening at 9:30 and headed straight for Leviathan. They had set up a temporary extended queue area to the left of the rides entrance. We queued here until 10, when the ride was supposed to start operations. However they did move us into the main queue area in the centre of the attraction. I was surprised that this was the only permanent queue area. Considering this is the parks headline attraction, the queue footprint isn’t that big. However, the outdoor section of the queue is impressive. The rockwork, planting and story setup that happens is very good. The shade structure while isn’t anything special, it’s definitely needed as this morning it helped protect from the heat and then the rain. But the true magic happens once you pass through the sliding door. The internal walk through area is the best themed ‘queue’ in the country. The use of planting, theming, lighting and audio was fantastic and VRTP should be highly commended for how great this part is. It’s a shame you don’t queue in this part, but the way they are operating the attraction it currently works as it has more of an impact than if you were standing in there for an hour. It also removes the chance that people will ruin it like we’ve seen in Scooby at MW. And then the station experience… WOW. While it was slow loading because of the need to wait for the show to begin. Once it does, the story being setup and the way the Leviathan moves between screens and ‘interacts’ with you is awesome. And the way lighting and smoke is used adds to this whole experience. The storage compartments were simple but effective (and should work well during 2 train operations). The trains design is great and they are very comfortable. The restrains were similar to those of BuzzSaw, without the seatbelts (thankfully). And as someone who is 185cm, good leg room too. The audio played as you climb the lift hill and just before the first drop is also a nice touch and probably more reliable than the onboard audio we’ve seen with Green Lantern. The coaster itself is more thrilling than I expected. I managed to ride in the back row, and the amount of airtime and near miss moments were great. This was my first wooden coaster, so I didn’t ever understand the appeal. And while it was tougher than a steel coaster, the way this coaster manoeuvres through itself was a great experience and one you don’t really get on steel coaster. After exiting the station, the theming in the stairs down continues, which is awesome. But then as soon as you exit through the door, unfortunately it becomes disappointing. The blue walls were a shame as it would’ve been great to continue the rock/greenery through here. Even if it was a simplified version. Maybe it’s so they can remove these walls during maintenance because it is very tight moving through the coasters structures. However, it is great being able to walk under this very immersive and technical structure. Overall, this is an immersive attraction. The level of theming though the majority of the ride is fantastic. And the story and experience created in the station alone blew me away. The park are still learning how to operate the ride efficiently and these high wind speeds haven’t helped that. Hopefully they can get the loading/unloading and technical issues sorted before Christmas so they are ready to go in time for the peak period. This coaster is definitely in the top 5 for the Gold Coast. The coaster itself isn’t the top, but the queue and station experience alone is the best we’ve seen on the coast in a long time and might even be the best ever. It’s definitely worth checking out (once these winds clam down) and I definitely look forward to riding it again. TRIDENT The precinct has a whole has come together nicely. While Vortex is still a missed opportunity, they have done a great job with Trident. The theming and design is overall simple, but they have executed it really well. There is some great detail in the queue area, with a minimal colour scheme that is very effective. OVERALL PRECINCT The precinct as a whole has come together well. The gigantic statues are very impressive and their scale can’t be appreciated until you see them in person. It’s great they continued the themed floor colour/pattern throughout the area. The waterfalls around Leviathans entrance are a nice touch I wasn’t expecting. And it’s nice they’ve continued the language of the arches introduced at the entrance to the area throughout the precinct. I do wish there was more large scale planting, but at the same time, the grasses areas they’ve created allows for people to sit and watch the attractions around them. And The Garden of Cyphers is another great vantage point of Leviathan. And while the connection between Atlantis and Nickelodeon looked tight during construction, in reality it wasn’t as bad as I thought. SUMMARY As a whole, The New Atlantis is a fantastic addition to Sea World. But it was also a necessity. For too many years, the park was heavily lacking in rides and this precinct has finally got their ride count back to a more expected number. A couple more rides are definitely needed, but they’ve got the room for that in the future. They’ve still got the large site that Sea Viper was on, the Vikings station and potentially the castle site too. While it wasn’t a great start with Vortex and some very lengthy delays, Leviathan proves that Australia can produce a fantastic attraction that has extensive theming and a story. It’s truly an experience to ride Leviathan, something that I haven’t had at an Australian theme park in a long time. And while it’s not perfect and not at the Disney level (mostly because of their efforts with the exit), it definitely gets me excited for what VRTP will do with the Wizard of Oz at Movie World, but also sets the bar high for Dreamworld to ensure that they produce something great with Rivertown. Congratulations to VRTP on what you’ve done with The New Atlantis and congratulations to you for making it to the end of this lengthy read. PHOTO DUMP

ONE 👏🏼 TRAIN 👏🏼 OPS 👏🏼 Unfortunately it’s seems like there was an issue with 1 of the trains this morning. The opening was delayed around an hour or so. From what it looks like they bit the bullet & instead of making guests wait for them to fix the 2nd train, they pulled it off & got the line going. As expected, line is moving slow with the 1 train.

I got on a couple times yesterday. I will say - Wow. I'm so happy we finally have a decent woody down under and they've done a great job with most elements of the experience (those exit walls though). The station experience is really cool, I do wish there was more time to experience it as I feel a lot of the detail is lost due to the rush to get loaded while the second train bakes in the brake run. The opening day crew were struggling at the beginning, but by the afternoon (even with all the wind stoppages) they had hit their stride and found the right rhythm. My personal opinion - Backwards seats aren't worth it. You can't see the headchoppers, and the airtime elements aren't the same facing backwards. the thrill of a woodie is seeing all the nearmisses and going backwards I just felt like a ragdoll. Out of the three gimmick seats we have on the GC, i'd rank them Taipan first, Rivals second, Levi third. I want to discuss the show without giving too much in the way of spoilers. I also want to be clear that this is just my thoughts on what i'd prefer, and I have absolutely no direct knowledge of whether this is the case \ whether my suggestion is possible and\or how hard it would be to do - call it a wishlist item? I got the impression that dispatch wasn't possible until the show scene completed, and I think this is going to hurt in peak times. I like the idea of a loop of interaction scenes that repeat (but have more scenes than necessary for the time you'd spend on station) and then a method for ops to skip to the last scene on dispatch - so the show tailors to the Ops tempo, rather than Ops tempo being limited to the show. I think the speed of Ops would be greatly improved if they could have a second group on the station while the first group is being loaded, and I feel like the above is what you'd need to do so as not to ruin 'show'. Not seeing the loading procedure before you get there has always been a way to cause delays in load - as there is no monkey-see monkey-do. This isn't a criticism of the show as-implemented. Those elements are fantastically done - I just felt it could have been done differently to improve ops. Hopefully at a park like Sea World after the initial hubbub dies down, it won't impact nearly as much.

[[SPOILERS AHEAD]] Just got off my first walkthrough/ride of multiple today, so I’m far from an expert on the topic, but I’ll try my best to cover the bases. Theming The whole theming of the area is great, for current-day Village. There’s still some pretty open areas, and as the concept art shows, it could use some more trees to make it feel less empty. Garden of Cyphers is a nice place to sit down, but I’d imagine it gets loud, due to… Leviathan The queue for Leviathan is split up into 3 distinct sections: Queue (the blue shade structure inside of the helix), a sort of Holding Zone, and the walk to/station. There is no single-rider queue, and a mention for a disabled entry, but it isn’t the main queue or the exit. Starting with the Queue, it’s pretty and is mostly enclosed in the helix. I’m sure this will be fine once it’s been open for a while, but it’s certainly caused a lot of overspill now. As for its theming, it’s surrounded by faux rock & plants on all sides, with the ride itself being just above said walls. It’s certainly good looking, but I can’t help but think it’s a bit too short (and, just quietly, the ride isn’t quiet, and people were already getting irritated at the near-constant ride noise from being surrounded by the coaster). The Holding Zone is pretty self-explanatory, after being advanced from the queue, you’re put into a little hallway and wait to be allowed into the station. If you’ve been to Fright Nights, it’s basically just the wait between the queue and entering the maze. If you haven’t, it’s a mixture of Scooby Doo’s post-warehouse queue, and the second boarding row in Steel Taipan’s station. Not much to say about it’s theming (it’s just a hallway), but I noticed there are names on the bolts on Levi’s supports, which is cool. Last queue section, the walk to/station. Seeing as this is completely indoors, it’s definitely got the best theming of the 3. You enter through the sliding door, and are surrounded by faux rock and cool blue lighting, as you advance up the staircase to the station. The station is where it shines, smoke-filled with faux rock blended into the advertised screens, where Leviathan swims around and tells you off from time to time. This is, by a decent amount, the best theming I’ve seen in Australia. (Sorry for blur in the photos, it was completely indoors and I had to keep moving) Now, the ride itself. As you dispatch, more smoke billows out in front of you. Small dip, lift hill, Leviathan says ‘Ride With Me’, then you’re in the layout. Being a wooden coaster, the layout is (as expected) far less forceful than the likes of Superman, DCR, or ST. Thus, it’s more fun and rerideable than insane and physically tolling. Also, being a wooden coaster, it’s not the smoothest thing ever, but it’s luckily far from uncomfortable. I didn’t notice any big potholes, nor did I feel scrambled after riding like you would on Cyclone. It’s a great, rerideable, fun, family-thrill ride, from the drop to the brakes. I’m not skinny by any means, but I’m not the heaviest person either, and it was a bit of a squeeze to fit, so if you’re overweight you might have some trouble getting your restraint locked (and there’s no test seat, so you’ll have to queue before you know). In case you’re interested, here’s its vertical and lateral force graph. Once done, Leviathan tells you you’re worthy and you exit through a similarly-themed staircase to the one you entered through. Then you’re spit out into a maze of tight painted work walls, walk through the ride photo booth, past the main queue area, and are spat out the way you came. Vortex Vortex hasn’t changed since it originally opened, so if you went on it then, you know the experience. If not, it’s just a decent flat, a worse Wipeout with rather generic ‘ocean’ theming (though it fits in more now that the whole area is open, ofc). Also, they may have dulled its squeaking? Idk, but I haven’t heard any. Trident As discussed elsewhere, Trident wasn’t open due to high winds, but the ride experience is pretty predictable if you’ve been on a swingchair before. The theming is a step above Vortex, with a colosseum-style ride platform, some nice murals/detailing work, and Big Man. All in all, the details are good (but the trident at the top should’ve been larger).