Richard

Yep, I think it's actually really interesting how everyone has their own way of attacking forums. It'd be impossible to have a one-size-fits-all solution unless the Forums becomes nothing but sidebars/blocks/widgets. I personally never do anything but browse into each individual forum based on the "new posts" icon. There's possibly a place for "latest posts" on the main homepage, though we'll probably look at the stats closely to see if it is commonly used enough to warrant this prime real estate. I'd see the forum sidebar being used for main site activities rather than forum-related. I can't imagine anyone actually uses that "Recent Topics" block tucked down on the right of the page?

There's a new version of the forum software in the pipeline from Invision... we'll probably upgrade when it's released. But for now the forums will stay the essentially same. Though the top banner is definitely overdue for a change!

Latitude/Longitude needs a bit of an overhaul in a few places quite a few things are a bit skewy here. Yeah the forums have their own favicon... but should be easy enough to fix. It's only been 8 years...

Favicon is there now for the site... forums are still generic though. Good point with Big Brother... though I wouldn't be surprised if it's remained as "closed" for the most recent run of the show. We'll hold off on new parks/rides and edits until this system is in place because it's going to make the process very painless. All good feedback... thanks for the comments guys!

After two years in development, we’re pleased to announce an all-new Parkz. It’s been about eight years since Parkz launched, and in that time a lot has changed and the site has grown hugely. There’s now more than 7,000 photos in our gallery, 1,500 rides in our database and each month we serve more than 100,000 page views to mobile devices alone. As such, the primary goal with this relaunch is accessibility. The new Parkz is about putting this content at your fingertips. http://www.parkz.com.au/ Mobile Design We’re fully mobile friendly. Search Find content easily and intuitively with a new site-wide search engine located in the header of every page. Easily the best new feature of the new site! Browse Browse, sort and filter all the content on Parkz in every imaginable way to effortlessly find what you’re looking for -- or kill some time. Check-Ins Keep tabs on rides you’ve been on and parks you’ve been to. Submit (coming soon!) The whole submissions system has been completely rethought. Drag and drop photos onto a ride page for instant upload and tagging. Edit or add to our park and ride database quickly and intuitively. This functionality will be enabled in the next week or so -- for now we just want to get the new site working smoothly! Behind the scenes, this is probably the biggest leap ever in the Total Thrills / Roller-Coaster.com.au / Parkz continuum. The site is built from scratch using entirely new technologies and every aspect offers a faster, smoother and overall better experience. As always, feedback/comments/thoughts/suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Yep, agree with you on both counts. But you go on to say then that Cyclone -- a ride themed to a storm in a tropical beach themed area -- is a stretch. The actual difference is that Movie World and Disneyland pull it off well and keep it maintained, Dreamworld don't. But bad theming ≠ no theming. The theme is there in a superficial way -- just like Green Lantern or Batwing Space Shot offer a pretty token theme. I've argued many times that Dreamworld would fare better by simply installing good rides and offering pleasant landscaping/surrounds. Ditch all these over-engineered, underwhelming themes that they never even attempt to maintain, but as long as they continue to deliver second-rate themed rides in themed-ish areas, they'll be a theme park. A second-rate one, but a theme park. Back to the final point I made in my first post, Dreamworld pales in comparison to good amusement parks too...

What boxes aren't they ticking? The park is broken into themed areas, and for the most part the attractions within those areas are consistent with that overall theme. Does it qualify as a good theme park? I don't think so... it's all over the place. But if we're getting critical we have Scooby-Doo across the road from Dirty Harry and Batman across from that at Movie World, or The Matterhorn next to the Great Barrier Reef at Disneyland. "Dreamworld isn't a very good theme park" is a much more accurate statement than "Dreamworld is not a theme park". Really? Thanks for clearing that up...

This is Australia, where anyone with a giant fibreglass piece of fruit, a jumping castle and a rock collection can open a 'theme park' on the highway. Theming, consistency or even overall atmosphere aren't Dreamworld's strong suits, but they're still ticking enough boxes to remain a theme park before we demote them into the amusement park category with dubious company like Cedar Point or Holiday World.

Looming threats of car towing and fines versus a gentle "sorry, this gate is for resort guests only"? I know which I'd be choosing if I were a company that makes money from people having a good time. Seems that with a high percentage of passholders word has gotten out about the "secret" parking option which has otherwise been perfectly manageable for the past 25 years. Just a matter of gently training people to use the correct car park before the resort should look at boom gates or parking passes and towing companies. If it were me, I'd be letting people in the first time but telling them not to again and marking it in the system or punching their VIP cards so they can't try it again...

Perhaps there's ongoing issues with the resort car park being filled by day-trippers? That's probably the most logical explanation...

The aliens basically looked like they could be roughly approximated with about a dozen bits of Lego... I don't think it was an homage or wink to Lego so much as it was a design that could be easily replicated a hundred-odd times and easily made animatronic where needed. If there were a Legoland in the pipeline -- even if 10 or 15 years down the track -- I think they'd be very careful about the brand's theme park exposure. A LEGO Store is probably more plausible and something that there's a precedent of with the stores on Disney properties. Surely a more profitable and interesting use of space than a graffiti cap or Harry-Potter-turned-new-agey-crystal-and-dragon-crap shop -- and surely a drawcard in itself to both tourists as well as local passholders. Not to mention the all the film-franchise LEGO products that they'd have access to.

Merlin Entertainments' largest shareholder is the family that owns LEGO -- given the potential they obviously see in the Australian market I'd think that they might be reluctant to let anyone else in the theme park industry take a crack. A Legoland in Australia really isn't outside the realm of possibilities. They're smaller, family-oriented parks that attract 1-2 million visitors a year, the LEGO brand has never been stronger in Australia and Merlin are steadily building a solid operation here.

That sign out front is a premise, not a narrative. Storm has no storyline in any meaningful sense. That's not to say it needs one to be a successful themed ride. See Big Thunder Mountain or Grizzly River Run (and dozens of others) for examples of Disney rides with superb theming -- and even a backstory -- but no actual ride narrative. Conversely, the idea that Storm is as good as it possibly gets in Australia doesn't ring true to me. The ride's immediate predecessor Bermuda Triangle had an immersive and completely cohesive theme and storyline start to finish in its heyday. The ride even had a major plot twist worthy of any early-90s campy sci-fi blockbuster.

+ve and -ve are very widely used shorthand for positive and negative... particularly in maths/sciences/engineering.

Anyone else expect a Mission: Impossible style fish tank explosion from that? That's mildly more spectacular than when an aquarium I had sprung a leak...

When your average pub these days serves up a decent gourmet burger for $10, it's kind of disappointing to see the same old bad imitations of fast food that our parks dish up for the better part of $20. In every other aspect of their operation, our theme parks charge the premium they do by offering a unique, quality experience. Food on the other hand seems to be an afterthought driven by sheer dollars. They like to jump onboard current trends (peri peri, Angus beef etc.) but I've not tried too many different options at any of our parks that I'd recommend or go back for in a hurry and these days tend to avoid park food altogether. I don't mind paying premium prices and I'm not looking for hand-rubbed pulled-pork brioche sliders (or anything else worthy of an eye-roll on MasterChef), but when you can get fresher, better and cheaper food just about anywhere outside of the parks it just becomes an aspect of our parks that I happily ignore.

Keep in mind also that the Gold Coast parks have collectively sunk millions into the 'Theme Park Capital' initiative; it's logical that Dreamworld would see a very tangible benefit from this. 20% up in January makes perfect sense. Also worth pointing out that Sea World has had its best January ever. That's probably the biggest win of the summer on the Gold Coast.

There was a plan once upon a time to port all the videos from Roller-Coaster.com.au over to Parkz. Never happened... but maybe we'll get around to it with the next version of the site. In the meantime, enjoy the pixels: http://www.roller-coaster.com.au/videos/wwf.flv

Really, Dreamworld is cheap/lazy/inaccurate for separating Dreamworld and WhiteWater World into two distinct entities on the maps? To me it's the only logical way to present the two overlapping separate products, while also emphasising their biggest strength -- the fact that the two parks are directly connected.

Lots going on behind the scenes... but in this case I happened upon this article and fixed a typo, which triggered the system to create a forum topic.

Wet'n'Wild Water World: historical featsn nnClick here to continue reading...

As does waiting for the bus or mowing the lawn in the rain... I've always found it intriguing at how dry Australia's wet rides are, considering our climate. In the US it's a given that a wet ride will soak you. More often than not, even a humble 30-year-old log flume over there will do its very best to drench you. And no one complains... people ride these rides to get wet, even in the middle of winter. Over here even our wettest (Storm, WWF etc.) are pretty tame by world standards. On one hand I'm not the biggest fan of getting soaked -- I even did the indefensible and wore a poncho last time I rode Grizzly River Run at Disney California Adventure -- but there's something pretty cool about a wet ride that lives up to the 'genre'.

Yep Six Flags Magic Mountain beats out any other water ride I've been on. The massive 12 person rafts aren't tossed around over the rapids like most smaller versions, they simply heave through any wall of water in their path. And then the ankle-deep water that pools in the raft just ensures that your shoes are as soaked-to-the-core as the rest of you by the end.

Not so fast... here's a photo dated 9 June 2013 that never made its way into a Parkz Update.

Regardless of what you think of this idea, I don't think there's any call for the aggressive / abusive tone some of you are taking. Say what you want to say without the inane Internet posturing please... or we'll delete posts.