Leaderboard

This morning I was invited out to Dreamworld to get a sneak peek of Steel Taipan and a walk through of the entire area. I’ll start out by saying, overall they’ve done a good job with the area. It’s very nicely presented, good aesthetic/theming elements and watching both trains in testing while in the queue/entry areas is awesome. I was able to take a few photos of the area, so I’ll describe what I captured and if anyone has any questions, I’ll try answer them the best I can with what I can share publicly. The entry signage is something we’ve already seen, but here it is up close The path leading to the queue entry A look at the entry and exit paths There is a test seat before joining the queue. The garden beds throughout have been done very nicely. Suits the theme/style. There is a main, single rider and Tailwhip queue. The queue wait time and ride safety information sign is yet to be installed, but will be positioned here. The station area is massive and allows for many people to be organised for loading to make it as efficient as possible. There are also large fans in the station and queue. The screens will show boarding information. Here’s a closer look at the train

Ahhh That moment when I remember about this place and log in again after 5 years... I learned so much, had no idea lethal weapon was gone and dreamworld has a big new coaster. Anyhow thought I'd share some of my old photos since many of the things don't exist anymore and its becoming a bit interesting... I should go again after 15 years....

The ride sign is up, in stunning 3d too!

I finally had the opportunity to get over to the Gold Coast after about 18 months over this last weekend and it was great to see how things have changed and adjusted as we start venturing out of the pandemic. I won't give a details 1-to-1 of everything I did but I wanted to point out some of the major things I noticed after being away from the parks for so long. Dreamworld - Friday 28th of Jan We arrived at Dreamworld around 11 AM on Friday after landing in Brisbane. Getting into the park was painless with check ins, vaccination and ticket checks. I got my pass online during the drive down and added it to my Apple wallet which meant that I could just wander on in. The staff at the front were super helpful and friendly which gave a warm welcoming experience to the park Obviously the first thing we did was wander over to Steel Taipan to check it out. There was a little bit of a line and we had some others coming to the visit us so we wandered around whilst we waited. Despite this area not being necessarily 'themed' I still found that it was presented extremely well with the taipan and Australian motifs. I likened the presentation to that which you'd expect to find in a zoo and I don't feel it's out of place for a park like Dreamworld. I wouldn't have an issue if this was the style moving forward because it's effective and inoffensive. By the time our friends arrived around midday there was a queue for Steel Taipan that was around a 20-30 minute wait and it grew behind us once we got in line. At this stage they were only running one train but it wasn't long before maintenance came over to assist in getting the second train on the track. From there the park was running two trains until close and it was a walk on for the rest of the day. Whilst some may say that this is a failure on the parks behalf, personally I find this great as you can do the attraction as much as you'd like and I can imagine that many people would prefer doing that over waiting in line for over an hour. Despite the carpark being rather full there didn't seem to be too many people in the park and most lines were a walk on. Operations were efficient and there was barely a stage where I thought that Dreamworld could lift their game expect for one staff member who dubbed a safety video as 'boring' and then proceeded to sass out guests who talked during the 'boring' video. Extending from that, staff at the park were excellent. They seemed rather cheerful and energetic which is what you want in a theme park. There were a lot of characters out and about, and in the ABC Kids area we had B1, B2 and Wags hound us down for a photo. The costumed characters were great to interact with and B1 kept on giving one of our group members some sass after he tried doing wiggle fingers for a photo where the bananas pretended to get offended. Presentation wise the park is doing pretty well. The back half of the park seems to be rather forgotten about considering that the main clientele for Wild Life are currently unable to enter the country and the mood down that way is rather gloomy with demolition and a lack of attractions, but the other half is clean, vibrant and buzzing with atmosphere with the horticulture being where the park currently shines as the gardens and greenery are lush and picturesque. Food was okay. I only had Kenny's Fried Chicken which was seasoned well but the chicken wasn't the best quality in my opinion. Others in our group had the parmigiana which they all said was great with decent value. All round I had a really fun day at Dreamworld and it left me feeling good about the direction that the park is going in. It has it's problems but it seems that its actively working to improve them and I'm excited to see this park's future. Movie World - Saturday 29th of Jan We arrived at 9:30 and met our friends near Scooby waiting for Wild West Falls where we got our first sneak peak of the wonderful world of odd decisions that constantly being made at Australia's premier park. For as long as I can remember Movie World has always allowed entry 30 minutes before park open. I don't have a big problem with this except it's usually luck of the draw as to whether you can line up for an attraction or not. They were allowing guests to get in line for Scooby but not for Wild West Falls and so there was a rush of people heading this way to ride the attraction. As soon as the park officially opened we got a Virtual Queue for Rivals whilst heading to Wild West Falls. VQ is an okay system but I don't love it because it's incredibly temperamental and get's wacky when you've got a large group. Also it appears to be geared towards pushing their one-shots which is a problem that I'll extend on later. Thank goodness we did rush Wild West Falls because otherwise it was around a 60-90 minute wait for the rest of the day. Thanks to an issue with the new boats they are unable to use the first row and what was once the parks people eater is now what appears to be an operational nightmare. From what we could gather they were only using around 6 boats with the new stop-start unload things moved really slow. The staff were making the best of a bad situation here but you could tell that it was putting them under a lot of pressure and there were not pleased about it. Next up was Rivals as our VQ was ready. It was about 10 minutes before we got on but I feel sorry for those waiting in the stand-by line because it was stinking hot and that queue has very little shade. They were also blasting mist through fans to help cool down guests but that now means that your phone is going to be temperamental with it's touch screen whilst you wait almost an hour in line. Once we were on-board I was reminded once again what a great coaster this is albeit it's definitely not as smooth these days especially compared to Steel Taipan. As soon as our VQ was scanned for Rivals we booked another Scooby-Doo. This lined up perfectly with unload so we head straight there. Scooby-Doo is still a very fun roller-coaster but my goodness is that ride in a sorry state. Multiple effects and screens were just flat out not working including the on-ride photo and the only part that seemed to be in an acceptable state was the disco room. It's still as popular as ever with guests consistently crowding for it but I could imagine that rider satisfaction would be pretty low. From here the VQ system becomes less handy and the app starts to falter. Most virtual queues had become full except for Superman which was an hour and a half wait. A lot of the wait times were wrong on the app which was frustrating as you'd reach an attraction only to find that it's an additional 40 minutes on top of what is posted in the app. After struggling to find something to do that didn't require us to be in line for a huge amount of time we decided to check out road runner and it's new trains. They look and feel great and they're definitely an upgrade. Eventually Superman was ready so we got in line and had a ride which was great as always except for being a bit headache inducing on the final bends. We noticed it was running two trains but they were constantly stacking at load/unload with little happening. Throughout the day it was not uncommon for a train to enter the station, then the staff would start organising people to the gates, then loading guests in and sending them on their ride. I have no idea why they don't start sorting guests at the gate sooner but its really awkward when the train is just sitting there and it seems like nothing is happening for a hot couple of minutes. Equally as frustrating; DC Rivals was only running one train. This is the parks premier ride that is constantly getting international praise and it baffles me that they're not just running a blanket two trains through the entire Summer season. In saying this, it makes a lot more sense when you realise that the park has monetised wait times with one-shots. Why should the park reduce wait times or add more access to VQ when they're charging $40 AUD to ride DC Rivals once? I would absolutely love to see the metrics as to how many people buy the one-shots because I feel like they'd be embarrassingly low despite putting the park in a position where it needs to decide whether it prioritises those who paid for a ticket or those who will pay in the park. We did Justice League as it was one of the shortest lines of the day and I understand why; in its current state this attraction should not be operating. The first scene has a majority of it's lightning not working so you can only see the starfish, a majority of us in our group found that the lasers just didn't register half the time, one of the screens was not working and apparently hasn't been for months, the 3D no longer works, many of the sound effects and musical queues didn't work and cyborg within the queue needs a hug as his face screams that he is in constant pain. After doing this attraction and Scooby it compounded to me unfortunately becoming very jaded to the state of the park. Many of the buildings are filthy, a lot of the gardens are unkempt, the White Christmas lights are degrading to a disgusting brown colour, there are multiple dead ends with little signage to say what is going on, the park refuses to acknowledge Arkham, multiple ride signs are degrading with Justice League legitimately having a mushroom growing out of it and the villains area near Dooms Day is basically rotting in plain sight. The park is massively resting on its laurels despite being years from its 'A' game. Compounding onto this, Main Street had four external vendors operating with pitched gazebos and banner signage. This is just generally embarrassing. The presence of a Boost Juice van, Exotic Filled Candy stall, some donut joint and a custom engraved light up stand thing makes Main Street feel more like the Royal Easter show than a theme park. I am absolutely fine if external vendors want to be in the park, but at least make it thematically consistent. The first thing you see on Movie World's website is Australia's #1 Theme Park but this statement has as much weight as their marketing campaign which touts AOS as a park. It just feels like nobody at the top really cares about this place beyond the money it can generate and it's blinding them from the problems that are plaguing this park. It's a huge shame because these excellent attractions are being let down by mediocre theme park. Sea World Carnivale - Saturday 29th of Jan After leaving Movie World we went directly to Sea World for the opening night of Carnivale. The atmosphere at Sea World as great! It was a stark change from Movie World as you can tell that a lot of the focus at the moment is on this park. The food offerings are a bit lighter this year but the breaded chicken bro buns were nice and filling. I would personally prefer some smaller and less expensive selections so that you could try more because I've always found the food to be a big draw that was under utilised this year. Entertainment was great but at times it felt like there were multiple bands fighting for your attention against the park music. I didn't see the night time dolphin show but frankly I'm against the idea. Let the dolphins rest. The new show at the front of the park is spectacular and has scrapped any story elements from yesteryears. It's a fun light show with fireworks, live dancing, live drumming and lasers but I do think that they needed an opportunity for each element to shine. Often times there was so much happening that it was difficult to know what to focus on and the pacing was basically 0 to 100 in 5 seconds where it stayed for the duration of the performance. This sort of high octane experience is good fun but can get very overwhelming very quickly. I got to experience Vortex for the first time which is good fun. It's not mind blowing but it's very intense and does a decent job of fleshing out Sea World. In saying that the queue design is awful and does not assist the operators in any way. There should have been an area for them to stage guests with a number because from what I could gather they would send a group and then wait to hear how many more people they needed on their ear piece. This lead to cycles being over 10 minutes even with 4 staff members operating the attraction. I also got to do Jet Rescue for the first time in about half-a-decade. I forgot how fun it was! We got to use Virtual Queue for this but it freaked out when our group of 10 booked as some people were ready straight away and others had to wait 30 minutes despite all booking within 30 seconds of each other. Storm Coaster at night is always a pleasure. It seems that they've fixed some elements that haven't been working in years like the storm projection screen and the video just as you enter which is nice. Operations were great on this which seems to be assisted by a cleverly designed system that can accomodate so many boats/trains. Beyond VQ it wasn't worth getting in line as they were very long. I think for paid after hours events they should be doing everything in their power to keep queues down because it could be a major selling that the park has short waits during the event because beyond the entertainment and drinks there isn't too much grand appeal to Carnivale. It's great fun as an AP holder, but I wouldn't spend $60 on the event. Side note; if New Atlantis opens by Easter then I'll eat my own face because they don't look anywhere near ready enough to open in 10 weeks. The next day we were back at Dreamworld to cap off our trip and we visited WWW as well. I don't have too much to say about this day beyond reinforcing my perspective that I think Dreamworld is doing great things at the moment. Despite being a lesser version of its former self, it really does feel like it's finally got its footing and is on the up and up. White Water World is always good fun when you just want to do a couple slides and vibe out. Ultimately all of this is my own opinion but I'd love to know your thoughts on the parks. If you've got an issue with anything I've said feel free to quote it and provide your two cents. Edit: I'll add more photos later as I'm just waiting for my phone to sync with my laptop.

Hot PR tip for the person managing the social media account: If you're explaining, you're losing. Everything in that statement prior to the last paragraph should never, ever be said publicly or privately to a paying customer. They do not care about why the rides are closed, planned or not. They care about the fact that they've paid $110 to enter the park to watch HWSD2 while eating $20 chicken nuggets and possibly getting a ride on WWF, if it's open. They care about the disappointment they're experiencing for paying so much money to effectively enter an overpriced, extremely limited shopping mall. Movie World's failures are not the customer's fault - even if scheduled maintenance is listed on the website, people expect the majority of rides to be open, not one ride for part of the day. Acknowledge the unplanned stoppages and then direct people to guest services and tell them that you want to make it right. Don't say that guests are going to be 'well informed and an outcome achieved'. That's effectively code for 'Go F*** Yourself, no refunds'. Just acknowledge the disappointment, acknowledge the unplanned stoppages, acknowledge that this is not how you want guests to experience the park and then direct them to guest services because you want the chance to make it right. That's it. What guest services offer can be tailored to what the guests want, but don't blame the visitor because Movie World can't keep on top of ride maintenance enough to keep even ONE roller coaster operating. Right now, you're taking a bad situation and making it worse.

2 hours here and i’m calling it - movieworld is now the worst theme park in the country, by a decent margin hopefully Oz and and a reopening Scooby make a difference but there is no magic left here

I'm no engineer, but can't they just get Superman to push it around the rest of the track? He does it all the time with the other coaster.

Some pics from today! Zoom in and you can see some rockwork in the queue Two new statues! (one pictured). Much much larger than the current one near Vortex. Crates of 'Split Bluestone Tiles" Edit: Not sure if this is new or not but Levy and Trident now appear on the map in the app! Looks like they still may be planning some kind of theming on the bottom right

Statues that make up the rides entrance have now been installed, this looks a letter better then i was expecting. source; Bikash

About time. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 As of 17th Dec, folks need to be fully vaccinated to enter Queensland anyway so it'll affect a whole lot of 0% of interstate travellers. As for Queenslanders, if you're part of the tiny fraction of folks who think vaccines are bad, speak to a trusted GP and get vaccinated. Vaccine hesitancy and vaccine mandates aren't a new thing. All in all, i'm very doubtful it'll impact business in a meaningful way, and these kinds of mandates have shown to increase vaccination rates, which is a really good thing.

Sheds are an iconic part of Australian Roller Coasters. Please don't disrespect our sheds. DC Rivals - Shed with backdrop. Green Lantern - Green Shed. Storm Coaster - Very Big Flooded Shed. Jet Rescue - White Shed with shade covering. Demon - Black Shed. Gold Coaster - Suspended Shed. Superman Escape - Theming until you look up then Shed. Scooby Doo - Same as Super Man But Spooky Shed Arkham Asylum - Batman Shed Sea Viper - Wooden Shed The Bush Beast - Wooden Shards Buried Under An Industrial Park Shed Road Runner Rollercoaster - Orange and Red Wooden Shed Feat. Children. The Orphan Rocker - Rusty Shed. Abyss - Spooky Statue Outlet Warehouse Shed. And many more Sheds.

It's big!

This is my interpretation of the layout. I made a GIF to help explain. In regards to the ability for the layout to be run forwards and backwards: if the train leaves the station travelling forwards, and performs this exact layout every single time, then the train will always re-enter the station travelling forwards. If however, they choose to program the ride to do the green/red loop twice then you'll get the train re-entering the station alternating backwards/forwards. The choice to do the green/red loop an infinite number of times (as others have stated already) is the beauty of this new mechanism and layout. You could potentially run a longer cycle during off-peak, and the shorter cycle on-peak.

Notice the logos on his back for each ride More Trees Looks like he's about to invade Bikini Bottom Testing! It was loud and could be heard throughout the park

That really sucks. I know he's had his health worries for a while now but doesn't make it suck any less. I've been thinking a lot about DW's history lately, and one thing that has occurred to me is how rough calling his DW a 'Disney knock off' is. I'm sure I've even been guilty of making that point somewhere in the past. It's true that the influence is there to see, from building designs to the Paddle Steamer to the Matterhorn with a ride in it, to the animatronic animal show to so much else. It's there and it's not a secret. He wasn't alone in it; there are a lot Disney knock offs out there The thing about John though, is he studied it understood why it worked, and took that understanding to make his own totally different and unique thing. Look at all those Disney knock offs that have sprung up in Asia (or even the entire Chinese amusement industry as a whole) and tell me the people behind them understand what makes a park good. John not only understood why Disney worked, but was able to craft it into something else entirely, an Australiana version, that was really charming and amazingly good. That's an effort, I don't think there's any one else that could have done it. There are a million other things he did, but that will always be the one that made the most impact on my life, RIP mate, see if you can book a chat with Walt while you're up there.

Wasn’t sure if I should create a new thread or not so I’ll just put it here. But trident is on site. It’s great to finally see some progress. Seeing as though they haven’t started the foundation yet it might be a bit till it goes vertical. Thanks to themeparkqueen_au on Instagram.

Saw one of the Trains on the track today getting moved into the maintenance room!

I’m so glad that, even 8 years on, a post that was up for a single day still gets remembered 😂 I live in London now, but I’m back in Australia for a holiday in 3 weeks. I’ll see if I can get some behind the scenes photos What’s the worst than can do? Deport me?

Hey all! I saw the video released by Sea World's official Facebook page of the Leviathan completing its first test run and heard that testing commences later at night, and went to have a look to see if I could witness it in action! There was nothing from the Leviathan in terms of test runs, unfortunately; but here are some things I saw! The operators were testing the lighting that was projected onto the timber structure. The lighting has quite a few options, with colour, transitions, and some pretty interesting modes. Of course, all of this was being manually changed by the operators. One notable mode was where the lighting follows the track around, almost as though the train is lighting up the track as it traverses. Very interesting to watch! Thankfully, there was some testing going on, I wasn't expecting it but I noticed these flickering white lights behind the Leviathan. This turned out to be the Trident completing some test runs! You can see the chains connecting from what looks to be a three-personed carriage on each section of the chain. They tested the Trident once every 5 minutes, adjusting the height and the bank at which the chains are swung. Even though there was no sighting of the Leviathan completing some test runs, I witnessed something quite bizarre. I noticed that one of the two 12-car trains was resting on the chain lift. You can see the 'tail' as well as the backwards positioned seats as well. Unfortunately, there were no signs of movement when I was watching as quite a few contractors were scouting the track and presumably inspecting the structure and rails. I was determined to watch the train go around and assumed they wouldn't leave the train sitting on the chain lift overnight, but I never saw any movement. So I returned today to see if the train had been moved; to my surprise, it was gone! I will return another day and grab an update once I see it going around. Maybe even this night! Cheers! Liam

Your ad hominem attacks don't make look you right, they make you look desperate. Honestly at this stage Movie World may as well have killed people because their response post accident is embarrassing. The park is on the decline and it's sad. I wouldn't have gotten engaged in and worked with the staff on Village property if I didn't deeply care about those parks so don't assume that just because I like some things about Dreamworld that I'm a shill or that I think Movie World should crumble. If I didn't care then I wouldn't point out the problems that I experienced. The Dreamworld Incident had detrimental implications for the industry as a whole and it's a valid point that some of the problems that we experience today is a flow on effect from that event. The previous ex-management were exactly what you said and literally nobody is arguing against you in that regard. However, that's not how you decided to interject and instead of refuting the central point you thought it best to come in guns blazing whilst slinging thinly veiled insults for no other reason then it seems that the conversation wasn't going in the direction that you'd like. Unfortunately some theme parks will never embrace certain features of rides and immersiveness and efficiency again because some very dangerous people who ran things at a single park gave them a scapegoat. It's not the actual problem; it's the perception. The entire park is in an awful state of presentation and this is from somebody who hasn't been to a proper theme park in over 18 months before coming there so my bar is pretty low. Do you think that instills confidence into the general public that don't care for the enthusiast discourse? If I see a rusted old car hanging out in a parking lot my first assumption is not 'well it must be squeaky clean and operationally sound under the hood!'. Instead I think 'if this is what they want to show me then imagine what they're not showing me.' This was literally my exact argument that you decide to reflect with an ad hominem attack. The Dreamworld Incident is likely a fraction of the problem affecting Movie World's operations. You can't blame Dreamworld for Doomsday operating on 10-12 minute cycles, DC Rivals operating one train during Summer, Superman bizarrely operating two trains with not enough staff allocated to utilise it efficiently, and Wild West Falls only running 6 boats. Dreamworld also didn't force Village to implement an app which directly benefits from extended wait times and therefore incentivises the park to take things slow and underperform to push more people towards One-Shots.

Sea World's dormant beast: up close with the Leviathan wooden roller coaster Sea World's Leviathan is looking more and more like a fully realised roller coaster as it inches closer and closer to its delayed 2022 opening date. Click here to continue reading

Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CQqUs6JMrsg/?utm_medium=copy_link

The first supports for Jungle Rush have arrived at Dreamworld. (from auscoasters on Instagram)

I don’t think the intention is for one new spin and spew to bring in the crowds, I think the intention is to offer a bigger, better overall experience at the park, more rides, more kinetic energy, more atmosphere, and a fuller day of experiences. I have been going to the park regularly for 6 or so years now, and I do believe that the average attendance day to day is increasing, even more so in just the past few months. I think they’re in for a pretty busy summer actually. It’s not the fact that it’s just one new ride, it’s the fact that there are multiple new rides to open within days, the park is looking brighter and fresher than ever and just feels better value/quality due to the addition of a ‘spin and spew’

It begins! Like with the Surfrider track this can be seen on the road to Paradise Country

[[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).

Got to visit the park on Saturday 12/11/2022. Wow! Truly amazing to see rollercoasters of this scale finally being built in Victoria - it's been a long time coming. Construction is progressing very nicely, but still lots to be done before the Dec 23rd opening. The excitement from park goers was tangible, lots of people taking a look at construction. Below are a few construction photos of TNT. Will upload Project Zero construction updates later today. Lots more TNT construction photos can be found here: https://www.parkz.com.au/search/photos/location/unknown-suspended-family-coaster

Dreamworld’s CEO Greg Yong will remember victims of the Thunder River Rapids tragedy and how its past is building a better future A familiar tune filters through the loudspeakers of the theme park. “Take a trip away from the every day …” While the audience of guests – predictably thin on the ground this mid-week mid-morning – hurry on to the next thrill ride, the lyrics hit home for Dreamworld CEO Greg Yong. After all, the 41-year-old first came to the park when the Coomera attraction was still reeling from the Thunder River Rapids tragedy that saw four lives lost in 2016. Arriving from Village Roadshow to Dreamworld as chief operating officer in 2019, before being named CEO last year, he was confident he could steer the park to better, brighter days. And then came Covid. For the last three years, it’s safe to say that every day has been anything but a holiday for Greg. But rather than hiding from the park’s history, Dreamworld is owning it. And that includes its darkest chapter. While details are yet to be released, Greg confirms the park will memorialise the victims of the disaster. “Something is coming, we’ll be announcing it soon,” he says. “We will never try to hide what happened, we have to own it. Sadly, it is part of our history forever. “We’ll never get over the heartache of it, but rather than hiding from it, it drives us to move forward.” In fact, acknowledging its past is part of Dreamworld’s grand plan when it comes to facing its future. Not only has it remastered its famous 1980s jingle, it’s restoring some of its heritage rides and attractions. Greg says nostalgia has become a huge drawcard, not just for Gold Coasters, but for people worldwide who crave the comfort and safety of the past compared to the roller-coaster years of the pandemic. And his plan seems to be working. While this summer was not the post-pandemic season of his dreams thanks to Covid regulations and the virus itself, Greg says the park still posted good numbers and is now looking forward to a bumper Easter. “We’ll be releasing those shortly but January was especially good,” he says. “Our guest scores were the highest they have ever been. “Throughout all of these troubled times, we have really felt the support of Gold Coasters – and Australians – who want us to succeed. And once they were really able to come out and see us, they did. “I think we’ve finally reached that point now where we have officially turned the page on those tough times and we’re focused on moving forward. But part of that does mean acknowledging our past. “Even with our theme song, we had some marketing experts come in and pitch new tunes and they were great … but really, you can’t go past the one-day-holiday song. It was perfection then and it’s still perfect now. “There are so many things that Dreamworld has done right and we’re embracing that. That is our identity.” That embrace includes the renovation and refurbishment of the nostalgic train the Dreamworld Express, which even has its own appreciation page on social media, that will include making the ride wheelchair-accessible. The park’s signature Giant Drop tower is also set to be completely repainted and topped with a permanent lighting display come mid-year. But the future is not all about the past, with Greg actively working on the park’s “next big thing”. “Every second day I’m talking to someone in the US or Europe about the next big ride we build,” he says. “We haven’t made the final decision yet, but we know it will be something in the family-friendly zone that’s world class. It’s going to be more in line with Sky Voyager than Steel Taipan. “I’m also still actively pursuing the development on-site accommodation for the park. We came close last year but the package we had just wasn’t the right one. “We’ve known for 15-20 years that this is what this park – and this area of the Coast – needs, but we’ve never nailed it down. I’ve got the hammer ready.” While these international Zoom calls require Greg to work odd hours, that seems to just be part of the job these days. The father of three daughters – aged 17, 14 and 8 – is at work early in the morning and in the office until late at night, often seven days a week. He doesn’t have a personal assistant or secretary but is hands-on around the park, from greeting guests at the gate to taking photos for tourists to operating rides himself. “That’s just where we are at right now, that’s what the park needs. After the tough times we’ve had, it’s literally my job to know what’s happening at every level and to be there to talk to people. “It’s also just the way the world is right now, no one has the luxury to just do their one thing … we’ve all had to economise and learn to work efficiently as we can. https://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/news/gold-coast/dreamworlds-ceo-greg-yong-will-remember-victims-of-the-thunder-river-rapids-tragedy-and-how-its-past-is-building-a-better-future/news-story/230f489547b7ceaff742491822fe6200

Dreamworld showcasing the fountains on their socials. They go HIGH.

The Energex objection alleges the following (my emphasis): So the entire substation is already built lower than the Q100 flood level. A 55mm increase in levels may mean the site is impacted earlier, but it sounds like Energex already knows that they have a problem, and i'm wondering why they haven't already taken steps to mitigate the flood levels since their equipment is already around 500mm lower than the flood line. I took a quick look at some of the other submissions, and here they are in a nutshell: Old Woman yells at cloud. Expects everyone to return to horse and cart. Man thinks property with direct on-ramp access to major highway in both directions will worsen traffic in surrounding roads. Hasn't lived in metropolitan area for 50 years. Man thinks rollercoasters are transparent. Doesn't want people looking in his backyard. Doesn't realise Google has been doing that since 2005. Guy thinks traffic will be busy during busy times. Thinks theme park needs new rides and experiences, doesn't realise how that works economically since the hotel would support the theme park to upgrade more. Says local shops will also be impacted 'dramatically' but doesn't say whether he thinks it will be positively or negatively. (Sounds like the local shops could benefit from a whole bunch of tourists staying nearby) Woman thinks a traffic impact assessment is needed, hasn't read the application to see they've already done one. Also thinks Movie World needs to upgrade, but thinks the money should be spent on upgrading the park rather than creating a new revenue stream... Also thinks Village should have to pay to upgrade the local woolworths. Man thinks stunt show is noisy and hotel will reflect this noise. Doesn't understand how sound waves work. Resident thinks check-in and check-out days will bring more traffic to the area without acknowledging mid-stay days would result in less traffic on those days. Thinks the local area is 'rural'. Considers overlooking a childcare centre as an invasion of privacy. Local business will lose customers. Apparently building a hotel on an asphalt carpark will decimate the local wildlife. Woman objects. Doesn't say why. Lives in Upper Coomera Man objects. Also doesn't say why. Lives in Robina and is definitely suffering from this development. Woman objects. Doesn't say why. Lives in Biggera Waters. Looney* Woman STRONGLY OBJECTS on the basis of additional light pollution. Also claims wildlife impacts from this hotel built on a carpark. Claims evening noise will somehow be worse than the highway. Also claims no increase in parking. Probably objected to the parking development proposed a few years ago. Woman objects to lighting impacts, thinks special purpose tourism zone is still rural. Has different surname but email address suggests a 'looney' relationship exists. Woman thinks half the rides closed at movie world should be a reason for denying a hotel. Intelligent man supports application as he recognises that the GC's economy is tourist driven Intelligent man supports application as it will create jobs, provide facilities for use by locals and tourists, diversifies the local tourism \ business sector and is consistent with the zoning of the property. smart person recognises there is no decent hotel at the northern end of the gold coast Woman is all for bringing money into the northern gold coast, but doesn't want hotel that will bring more money to the northern gold coast. Complains about the waste of electricity for Lantern and DCR, says nothing of the stupid street light art on the M1. Thinks the hotel should be half the size and powered by plants. Woman supports proposal. doesn't say anything else, but at least lives in the correct suburb. Man supports proposal. Doesn't say why but lives closer than the ones that don't support it. Man supports proposal. Praises the boost to local economy and recognises that vacant land isn't going to impact on wildlife. He notes traffic is already crap in the area, but feels hotel checkout would be after peak commuting periods anyway. Also states other residents should read the plans before jumping to conclusions. Person supports the proposal. Doesn't say why but lives closer than Robina. Many very politely STRONGLY SUPPORTS the proposal as it is wonderful for the gold coast and interstate visitors. Woman resides in Oxenford and thinks a hotel will transform her backyard into surfers paradise. Thinks Village should build their hotel at Dreamworld instead. Woman thinks council shouldn't even allow businesses to submit development applications. Claims to speak on behalf of literally thousands of people, claim is doubtful. Asks council to consult with the residents in a submission literally designed to consult with residents. Blames state minister for transport for traffic. Man objects. Says they should build hotel at Sea World. Hasn't visited The Spit in 50 years. Man STRONGLY OBJECTS. thinks area is rural. claims endangered koalas will lose their habitats. thinks koalas live in asphalt carparks. Thinks they should build a hotel at Surfers, and bus tourists in. Also thinks local traffic is horrendous, wants to add more buses. Woman objects, uses same copy-and-paste reasons including bad traffic and lost koala habitat. Hasn't looked at plans. Man objects due to flooding - doesn't appear to have read the flood study. Thinks tall hotel in carpark bad. suggests tall hotel behind outback spectacular instead. Business supports application. Based in Arundel. Nothing further to add. Man objects because the proposal is different to the last proposal. traffic. local businesses. homelessness (apparently), koala habitats, alleges council officers must be taking bribes. Thinks one hotel will enable other high rise buildings in the area. Doesn't understand what progress is and thinks surfers paradise has been around since the dinosaurs. *Looney is her last name, according to the submission. Of course, i've added my own bias here (I'm supportive of the application but did not make a submission). My summary is meant to be humorous and anyone taking offence should sit on a pineapple. What I did find though is that many of the objectors did not appear to have read through the application or its associated studies and other supporting documents and have made very large assumptions which mostly appear to be false. I think the biggest complaint from residents should be traffic (and it appears to be) but it seems like the net effect of people staying on property would largely reduce the traffic at peak times, or at least spread it out over a longer period. I think its a bit of a stretch for people to claim the area is 'rural' when the only bushland on the western side of the highway is the property operated by Village themselves. It's also a stretch to argue that a tall hotel is going to be out of place when it stands beside a hypercoaster (and others) as well as giant golf nets and waterslide towers. Just have to wait and see!

No child shall suffer again.

Coaster had its first full run late this afternoon. Photo is a screenshot from a video a lady shared with me this afternoon

I’ll post more later but the biggest elements are going up!

That is very nice that he took time to respond directly, but more importantly agreed with you on the choice of music. These are the subtle unquantifiable items that make a huge subliminal impact on guest experience.

“This is the first time a ride has been placed within a ride in the Southern Hemisphere”

I started writing out one for each park and realised all my answers were the same! I honestly think every park would benefit from a high-capacity, slow-moving dark ride. It's the biggest gap I feel our parks have at the moment.

*Pic heavy thread* Hi all! Whilst in Melbourne, I decided to visit Funfields theme park to wrap up 2022 and figured I’d share my thoughts here. For those who don’t know, Funfields is located in Whittlesea (about 40 mins from Melbourne’s CBD). Opening in February 1985 as the “Alpine Toboggan Park” (that’s right, this park pre-dates Wonderland) it was rebranded as Funfields in 2005 and has seen rapid expansion ever since. The park no longer offers printed park maps, however a large sign containing the map (as well as a QR code that links you to a digital copy) is located near the entrance. As you enter the park, you are greeted with a large outdoor picnic area complete with barbecues. Funfields allows (and even somewhat encourages) guests to bring their own food and drinks and camp out on the lawn (multiple people even brought tents which are also allowed). Turning left leads you to the first themed land in the park; “Mystic Kingdom”, a children’s area with a medieval theme. The area features some impressive theming, including an interactive animatronic tree. The land is home to a series of flat rides for the youngsters, including an SBF mini drop tower, an SBF Airborne Shot, a ferris wheel, carousel, spinning balloon ride and a teacups ride re-located from Australia Zoo (most of which I forgot to take pictures of, opps)! I love the way this operator’s booth is themed. The “Burnout” (formally the “Stingray” from Dreamworld) was also located in this area, but has since been retired to the car park (apparently it’s for sale). Continuing through this area leads you to “Amazonia Falls”, the park’s interactive water playground with a jungle theme. Manufactured by Wizard Works, this attraction is quite unique in that it’s completely solid-state and uses a computer to activate the water effects, rather than relying on the traditional mechanical valve technology most water playgrounds use. This also allows for some pretty interesting effects such as motion activated fountain jets and “TNT detonators” (where pushing the plunger will cause water jets hidden in the surrounding splash pool to suddenly activate, soaking unsuspecting guests). The structure also has a “tipping bucket” of sorts, though it’s not really a bucket at all. Instead the “treehouse” simply dumps water on guests every 3 mins. A smaller, more traditional water play structure by Whitewater West called Birdy Cove is also located nearby. This attraction is designed for children under 6. Private cabanas are available to hire in this area as well. Moving further up the hill, we arrive at the Tiki Bay Bumper Boats (manufactured by J&J Amusements), one of the older attractions at the park, having been installed in 2004. Still as popular as ever. Behind Tiki Bay is the Typhoon, a Proslide Cannonbowl water slide advertised as being the longest of its kind in the world when it opened in 2013. Despite the many expansions and additional investments Funfields have made after its launch, Typhoon still remains one of my favourite slides not only in the park, but in the country! The sheer amount of speed you pick up in the enclosed section never fails to take my breath away. You absolutely FLY through this thing! That combined with the drop into the typhoon bowl itself and the suspense of not knowing if you’re going to complete the final drop facing forwards or backwards creates an incredibly fun and intense ride experience. A must do attraction when visiting the park! Next up is unfortunately the first stinker in the Funfields line-up IMHO, the Splashdown in-ground water slides. A flashback to the old “Alpine Toboggan Park” days, these slides were installed in the 80’s and quite frankly, that’s were they belong. Whilst they may have some historical significance, I wouldn’t mind seeing them be replaced with something a little more modern. Next are Wipeout and Blackout, two slides manufactured by Australian Waterslides and Leisure and installed in 2009. While they may have been somewhat overshadowed by their newer Proslide counterparts, these are still decent, fun slides that are worth checking out (especially Wipeout which lives up to its name. It has a tendency to launch riders over the final splashdown pool, providing a pretty thrilling finale). Now we reach the ride that started it all, the Alpine Toboggan. Despite being installed in 1985, this attraction still holds up extremely well today. The carts were speed-limited a few years ago due to multiple accidents when guests ignored the warnings to slow down on corners. Some believe that this has negatively effected the ride experience, however I was still able to get my cart up to a decent speed and had a very enjoyable ride. Perhaps it differs from cart to cart? Between the Wipeout/Blackout waterslides and the toboggan is a path that leads to the rear section of the park. Following this takes you to…The Voodoo! A very highly themed Zamperla Discovery Revolution. Funfields really went all out with the theming for this attraction and the attention to detail is amazing! The basic storyline is that your are exploring an ancient temple, looking for lost treasure. However, the treasure is guarded by an ancient Voodoo spirit named “Tawhirl”. Signs throughout the queue combined with an ominous soundtrack help to set up the story and prepare you for the experience ahead. Many props (lost items from previous explorers who attempted to grab the treasure and failed) are scattered throughout the queue and around the ride area. I love the attention to detail in this rock work too! It’s supposed to look as if the gondola has smashed through the middle. Then, as you enter the site of the old temple (or board the ride) Tawhirl becomes displeased with your presence and unleashes her wrath, picking you up and throwing you around (the ride swinging you around) to keep you away from the treasure. The ride experience is a perfect balance of being fairly intense, but still something the whole family can enjoy. A perfect addition to the park with simply excellent theming and a well executed storyline. I also really love how the theming from nearby Volcano Beach in the background perfectly matches up with Voodoo’s theming in the foreground here. Seems the park actually thought about sight lines which is pretty impressive! Speaking of which, Volcano Beach is the park’s wave pool and another very well themed area. I think I’ll let the pictures do the talking here: As you can see, it’s probably the most immersive and highly themed wave pool in the country. I absolutely love having the volcano as the centrepiece and that there’s plenty of shade around the beach area to relax in. It pumps out some pretty decent waves too! A cafe is also located in the area offering takeaway food such as chips, burgers and pizza as well as ice creams and lollies. Salads and even coffee is also on offer here (a larger cafe near the front of the park carries a similar menu too). Private cabanas surrounding the wave pool are also available for hire. Behind Volcano Beach sits the newest addition to the park, Supernova! It’s a shame this attraction has been largely overshadowed by the opening of Gumbya’s new coasters, as it’s the park’s biggest investment yet and is by far the best water ride they’ve installed to date. The pacing on this slide is fantastic. From the very beginning of the ride, you immediately pick up quite a lot of speed and navigate the first few turns at a pretty fast pace (this speed is maintained throughout the slide). The “Supanova” colour effects in the tunnel are very impressive and the fact you pass through them at fairly high speed really adds to the experience. Then comes a pretty intense drop into the main tornado (not sure if the drop is any steeper than other tornados, but it certainly feels that way) before taking one final turn and finally ending the ride in the splashdown pool. It may not come across in this write-up, but the slide is actually quite long in length and would have to be one of the most intense water slides I’ve been on (aside from maybe some drop slides). If I was to nitpick though, I would say the most disappointing aspect of the ride was the first “bowl” element near the beginning (not sure what it’s officially known as). I was expecting that you would spin around in this bowl or do something exciting. But nothing really happens. It’s just sort of there and you simply glide past it on one side and that’s it. Not really sure what the significance of it is TBH. Apart from that though, this is a sensational slide overall that is fast and thrilling and not to be missed! Next to Supernova is 2017’s Gravity Wave. I must say, the two slides weaving around each other looks very impressive from the tower. While Gravity Wave is definitely a decent attraction, I do unfortunately think it’s a bit of a one trick pony (at least compared to Supernova). The ride starts out incredibly slowly and meanders around until the main drop. While the main drop is still incredible and definitely worth checking out, Typhoon is still the superior slide overall IMHO, with Supernova beating them both by a mile. Still, having both Supernova and Gravity next to each other works really well and adds to a solid line-up in that area of the park. Next to Gravity wave is the Kraken Racer, a 4 lane aqua racer from Proslide. Another good addition to the park. The park is also home to Thunderdome Speedway, a go cart track installed in 1997 that still pulls in decent crowds today. Heading back towards the front of the park leads us to Treasure Cove, a pirate themed mini golf course. One of the holes even goes through a tunnel! This cemetery area reminds me of Movie World’s Boot Hill. In front of the mini golf is Sea World’s former Pirate Ship, Blackbeard’s Fury. Manufactured by Huss and added to the park in 2009, this attraction still rides beautifully and is well maintained by the park. It even has additional theming that wasn’t present during its time at SW. That covers all of the major attractions the park currently has on offer. All up, Funfields is a very impressive park that is well kept, well run and features a fantastic line-up of rides with decent theming and a great atmosphere. Other factors such as themed audio throughout the park, decent food, friendly staff and great operators add to a fantastic overall experience. I do feel like the addition of a coaster is very much needed to complete with Gumbya, though there is plenty of room for expansion, so hopefully this will come later. The water rides on offer are far superior to what Gumbya currently have though. So they easily have them beat in that regard IMHO. All in all, Funfields is definitely a must do park while visiting Victoria and is easily one of the best regional parks in the country!

5 year rebuilding plan after 20 years of neglect people. DW aren't looking at fixing everything year 1 & 2.

Here's a few pics from Saturday evening prior to Spooky Nights Has a silvery "scaley" look between arches Rockwork! Entrance sign soon? Grass/Tarmac has been added by Trident Looks like they're going with the Green look as shown on the preview model (pic credit Parkz) Leviathan with the lighting package looks great at night! No testing tonight but Jaggs Journeys uploaded a vid of it testing the other night:

Cheers for the shoutout @Rivals - here’s the photos in higher quality.

The main tower is just about all gone Also the flood lighting for steel Taipan is on, cool.

That's simply not true. Here's an article from a reputable news source. Here's their data. Vaccines lower transmission rates and enormously lower your risk of death if you are infected. Here's another article from another reputable news source. Here's supporting data. You are correct - it's 100% a choice. Societies are full of choices - when you get on a road, you agree to the rules we as a society agree upon (don't drink and drive, don't speed etc.) - if you don't like those rules, you're welcome to challenge them and/or simply choose not to participate. The thing I loathe about the "democracy is over because they're forcing me to get vaccinated" argument is that while everyone is protesting about faux government over-reach, the government is actually over-reaching and no one is blinking an eye about it.

Now that I can finally go that extra few kilometers outside the 5km bubble fromy my house to Luna Park Sydney, I popped in today to see the progress on all of the upcoming additions. Big Dipper has both trains on track and was finishing up the part of the queue that will take you over the first launch and into what can only be described as a scare maze looking lead up to the station. The front of the Big Dipper station was getting some thematic touches added too it, though it's a shame these appear to be incredibly flat compared to the building it's trying to continue the style of next door. Elsewhere it seemed to be a big day for testing, with Boomerang, Loopy Lighthouse and Cloud Nine all cycling in the time I was there. Sledgehammer was having the finishing touches placed on its locker system. The Big Dipper was also creating quite a buzz amongst the local wildlife, with a rather large beehive deciding to call the brake run home. The park's set to open next week and I'll be there over that weekend to finally ride at least 8 of the brand new attractions!

It had been about 3 weeks since I went to the park and checked out the progress. It’s looking fantastic. I’m going to say I think this is one of the most nicely presented coaster on the GC. Not necessarily best themed, but best looking. It’s really well done. They’ve finished the structure that hides the first aid doors. They’ve finished the fencing behind the entry sign (which looks great) and removes the orange on orange issue. And they haven’t installed any boring fencing around the entry/exit paths.

Ride sign installed, picture from Destination Dad and Daughter on Facebook. and it’s a 3D sign for once and on rockwork.

They have just done 2 half launches 20210904_150238.mp4