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Reasonably well paid executive from private company wants government to spend taxpayer money to make it more convenient for his customers to spend their money at his place of business?

Theme parks supremo Bikash Randhawa has called for improved public transport to help keep tourists out of traffic, including a possible extension of the light rail to Movie World. The Village Roadshow Theme Parks chief operating officer said better connectivity was vital to ensure tourists enjoyed a “seamless experience”. “We’ve got to make sure that visitors are not spending a lot of time on the road. They’re spending more time at attractions, at restaurants, at facilities,” he said. “Certainly the congestion and the issues we are seeing with traffic is a huge concern. “I think the G:Link is fabulous, it’s taken a bit of pressure, but it needs to expand and connect to more areas in my opinion.” The light rail terminates at Helensvale station, three kilometres as the crow flies from the front door of Movie World, and closer still to Wet’n’Wild and the Australian Outback Spectacular. But tourists using it to reach Village Roadshow’s Oxenford parks from hotels must switch onto buses at the station for the last leg of their journey, something Mr Randhawa hopes will change. “It needs to be looked at. For us to have the G:Link connect between Broadbeach and Surfers Paradise into Oxenford will help local government, state government, in making sure that experience is seamless,” he said. “We would love to see that. We would love to see better public transport into the theme parks. “This is no different to any other tourism city in the world. You look at the public transport, you look at the connectivity. It happens everywhere except for here and it needs to.” Council leaders have previously said they want extensions of the light rail in the city’s north to be the next cab off the rank after Stage Four to the airport is completed. Then city planning boss Cameron Caldwell said last year: “All the great cities in the world have great public transport and it cannot just stop at the airport but we need to see stage after stage after stage. “(We need to) get it to Harbour Town and beyond because we need a network that actually works and it will make a huge difference to how people move around.” East-West light rail connections running to Robina and Nerang from the coastal strip have also been suggested, but no concrete plans have been decided. Mr Randhawa said he would also like to see more direct flights to Gold Coast airport from overseas, saying with the creation of Experience Gold Coast the city was heading in the right direction, but had yet to reach its full potential. “What’s happened with Gold Coast Airport has been tremendous. I applaud their management team. With the expansion, with the way that sits with the city, because airports are critical to our success,” he said. “What we would like to see in a perfect world is direct flights into the Gold Coast from India. “At the end of the day we are an island here that’s far away. “So what we’ve got to do is to make it affordable, to get that connectivity going and we would have millions of people coming here. “There’s no reason this city can’t be at 90 per cent occupancy all year around.” Speaking ahead of the Bulletin’s Future Gold Coast forum at the Sea World Resort Conference Centre on Friday November 17, of which Village Roadshow Theme Parks is a major partner, Mr Randhawa said the city was playing a “critical” role as the gateway to Queensland and at the heart of Australia’s tourism industry. He said he would like to see federal and state governments acknowledge that role by appointing MPs from the city to lead their tourism strategies. “I would like to see the next Federal Tourism Minister come from this city. I’d like to see the next tourism minister at state level come from this city,” he said. “It is so important we get appropriate care, get appropriate subsidies, get appropriate attention at all times, because this is exactly where it all starts for Queensland. And finishes. “People come to the Gold Coast. You look at international markets, you look at India for example, typically they would pick Sydney, Gold Coast, Cairns, or it’s Melbourne, Gold Coast and up to Cairns. The Gold Coast is always a part of the itinerary. “It is so critical. You look at the millions of people we put through the door. “For us to have that position, the city needs to be represented in the tourism space. “We are number one, we are the best city in Australia, we’ve got better things than Sydney, we’ve got better things than Melbourne. “And we deserve that attention.”

I'm going to surprise a lot of folks here and defend Village on this point - To be honest, GCB put this out, not village. The shoot is in front of Flash and i'm sure no doubt Bikash was wanting to promote the new attractions before the busy holiday season (despite none of those new attractions opening this season). I'm quite sure that was the whole reason for the photoshoot and interview. I have no evidence, but I would not be surprised if a few casual remarks about how good it would be if there was a better transit connection to the parks got rolled into a full blown article by a click-hungry "media" outlet. With, or even without support of Bikash \ the park in publishing it. As they say though, any publicity is good publicity. We've discussed a tram on the Spit before. There's loads of issues with doing that. This is a bit old, but have a read of Sea World updates 2016 - Page 15 - Theme Park Discussion - Parkz Forums - Theme Park Community for a bit of discourse on the various pros and cons.

If any park needs light rail connection, it’s Sea World. The TX7 bus takes 10 mins tops to get you to straight from Helensvale station to Wet & Wild/Movie World, whereas the Sea World bus pinballs between 28 stops before reaching SW (including Harbour Town) & takes 45mins on a good day w/o congestion or unfortunate traffic lights. And G:link can already get you close, it’d just need a fork up The Spit to be viable.

Oh, like when the koalas buiit Steel Taipan. //s

In a perfect world, I would have added an extra cave over the launch track. But if DW only had the money for one cave and I was to design the theming, I would have built the cave over the launch track instead of the current cave. Not only would it hide the back of house amenities, you would experience the cave 3 times. Caves should disorientate you because you go from light to darkness to light again but DW's cave doesn't do that, because DW gave the cave windows.

The building was extended into the street where Boost juice used to be and the horrible glass office towers were added. But the facade is just aluminium cladding hanging off a steel frame. They could have designed literally anything, moulded it in fibreglass and hung it off a steel frame. Apart from the glass office tower elements, the rest is superficial and could easily be torn down and replaced. Honestly, this and Motocoaster should be the next major projects. Once Rivertown opens, DW needs to get the current park into the best shape it can be, with a unified aesthetic and experience before expanding further.

Fairly sure it was extended to fit the ride in, but not certain. I wouldn't be surprised if after Rivertown is completed that Sky Voyager maybe gets a retheme. Honestly, once Rivertown opens the park as a whole would be pretty well rounded overall and I can't think of too much more they could really do (except for a decent water ride and maybe a dark ride depending on how Jungle Rush ends up). As a whole I really think Dreamworld is making the right moves, obviously there is still work to be done but overall the park is showing much more promise than it has in many years (and honestly since before the rapid's incident) and some clear direction as to where they want the park to go.

Sadly this is most likely the reason, remember the person that tried to sue Movie World for falling off a flower bed (despite signs saying do not climb in flower bed...) Yes, I think it could have been done a little bit nicer sure. But overall the whole area looks very clean, and I actually really like the way the 2 buildings either side of the globe seem to frame it. I really think this will change the whole front entry to the park once it's fully operational. All I can wish for is Sky Voyager's facade to be changed to match the rest of the area.