Leaderboard

I wanted to post a few updates about Sea World but couldn't find a recent topic for doing so, so I'm starting one ?? Firstly, the old bridge is now completely gone. Stumps have been removed as well. Pretty sure this has already been spoken of, but meh... new theming popping up around the seal show entrance path, which is nice! Seems they are building a new resting area for the pelican enclosure next to the seal show, or at least fixing the old one. Looks like they are planning to relocate some of the sideshows to underneath dockside tavern whilst the food plaza has its new roof built (hard to see sorry, the sun wasn't my friend today haha) : Otherwise that's pretty much all that's happening at Sea World right now ?

So after a very long absence I finally made a trip to the Gold Coast this past weekend (Admittedly it was for a Roller Derby tournament) and decided to take a few extra days to get reacquainted with the parks. Movie World I hopped off the plane and headed straight to Movie World. I was dissapointed that Superman was under maintenance but I haven't had a chance to ride Green Lantern yet. I was really annoyed when rocking up to the front gate to see that Green Lantern was also not operating. It would have been nice if they had this information on the website or on their hotline (of which I checked both). Not wanting to really visit having 2 major attractions down I decided to cut my losses and head over to Dreamworld. Dreamworld To say it's been a while since i've been here would be an understatement. The last time I visited The Giant Drop was only new. Overall though I was pretty impressed with the park. It was clean and tidy and everything was operating. I was very unimpressed with HWSW as they only had 1 ride op to man the ride. Cycles were taking upwards of 5 minutes and the wait was around 45 minutes. It was still just as rough as I remember it being back when it was a Luna Park the last time I rode it. Aside from the Rapids and Log ride everything else was a pretty short wait. The highlight of the first day was definitely the ride op on BuzzSaw. That guy really enjoys his job, my favourite quote from him to a girl who was screaming BEFORE the ride even started was "Don't worry if you fall i'll catch you". Day 2 he was working on Pandemonium and was cracking wise the whole time. Sea World What happened to Sea World? I was very dissapointed overall with Sea World. The first impression that they made was terrible. I got there about an hour after opening time and had to wait 45 minutes just to get inside. I was handed the usual promotional stuff and a computer printed map on a piece of A4 paper. With the food court area getting the new roof getting around was difficult and very poorly signed, Jet Rescue seems to be abandoned in a corner all by itself (It was a walk on). Most of the rides were a walk on but I couldn't help thinking that there really wasn't much to do for the older crowd. There's certainly lots of rides for kids but not for teenagers or adults. The animal exhibitions though were great. One thing I did notice, sorry if this has already been posted somewhere, but there seemed to be some work going on around the old Sea Viper site. So that was my quick trip up to the Gold Coast. Overall things were OK, not great but OK. One thing that I did find interesting though through talking with the ride ops was that the parks were all on offpeak mode now that the QLD school holidays were over. When I mentioned that it was only QLD that was back at school and that most states were still off on holidays they mentioned that management only looked at QLD school holidays. I thought that this was a bit short sighted seeing as many of the tourists on the Gold Coast, hell even from less than an hour away across the border, were still on holidays.

It's actually a bit more complicated than that. Single gondola operation usually cuts the staff required for the ride so there is no grouper - the grouper also plays the role of harness checking etc. It's not a direct double to the queue time as the staff doing multiple roles slows them down - they must ensure guests are clear from the load zone and exit door before they can proceed to the queue to admit more. I'd say the 45 minute marker would have easily equated to 2 hours. just my opinion.

How long til a certain facebook page starts calling the bridge a new ride....

Just saw this on one of my co workers fb feeds... Nice to see some people have some common sense...

Hi, my humble opinion, for what it is worth, is that Jamberoo would easily be my preferred destination for a fun day with my kids than Wet n Wild Sydney. For their operational excellence, theming, landscaping and the way all of that hinges together in a journey of discovery. Mark

Well if that 45min sign is for two gondolas running common sense would indicate that with one gondola running the same point would equal about a 90min wait, not rocket science. Considering it was a Public Holiday the park would have been running on skeleton staff, top that with the fact that Movie World and Wet 'n' Wild were closed and you would have to expect long lines throughout the park.