Richard

Your points are becoming so irrelevant. What does people queueing for two hours to get on a ride during the summer have to do with people queuing for the same amount of time at a night event only to be turned away. The thing is, nobody should have had to demand free tickets. I couldn't name too many parks which wouldn't actually initiate by handing out return tickets, before any complaints could be made. Even Six Flags Magic Mountain, notorious for bad customer service, gave us exit passes for Scream!, simply because it had broken down some half hour before we even got there and we popped up to see what the deal was. No, it wasn't return tickets, but it was perfectly fitting given the situation, which is what return tickets are. We're not talking about giving people something equal to the amount they paid for the night or the time that they were queuing. If that were the case, they'd have someone out there with a change belt giving out $6.50 to every guest in the queue. Again, that's totally irrelevant to the purpose of return passes. We're giving these return passes, from a business perspective, not to compensate for the fact that these people missed out on riding after queuing for quite some time, but simply to change these disappointed and angry people to happy, "Hey, they're alright afterall!" people. I find it particularly amazing that now the blame has moved completely from Dreamworld - it wasn't in the least bit their fault - and is now because of the "law".

If by interesting you mean lengthy annual maintenance then yeah, riveting stuff. You won't see it operating again until May 21, as per Dreamworld's website, so expect it to probably be given some much needed love here and there, but if you're crossing your fingers for anything more, then you might end up a bit upset.

That's the great thing about Getaway, Great Outdoors and other similar shows, they'll never put down anything. They're always positive, skipping over any negatives there might be about a particular destination. It was too brief, didn't showcase anything decent at the parks and it was just painful watching them try to pass off the carnival rides and the parks as a whole as anything but very cheap and outdated.

OK, you're right, my mistake. Still, I stand by everything else I said, and I don't see you coming back with any counter-arguments for anything, aside from "You didn't read it properly". If that's the only thing you can come up with (and it's a fair point you did make) then really, your argument is a bit weak.

Back to Shark Bay, there's some articles and galleries up now here. Shark Bay opens (article) Shark Bay Gallery Shark Bay Reef Fish Guide (gallery)

You say that they could be 10-15 minutes out on their guess, but the reality is they were 90-120 minutes out on their guess for Giant Drop. You've kind of shot your theory in the foot there. Actually, it's fairly common practice in the international scene to hire people who watch over the lines. Quite simply, if there's a queue jumping problem, then it needs to be fixed. It's not ridiculous.

The FAQ is your friend when it comes to general forum usage: http://www.parkz.com.au/forums/fa...vb_poll_explain Create a new thread, with a poll included if you'd like. I'll delete this one, otherwise just discuss it here.

And the point everyone else is trying to make that if they did estimate, then they were off by about two hours. By the sounds of things, no "estimate" was made, no one was there telling people that they wouldn't get to ride if they started queueing now, no one roped off the queue line. Paying money to queue for a ride, not being told that it will be closing before you get a chance is bad customer service. The bare minimum to do in this situation is, if someone complains, give them a free return pass. You can't argue that Dreamworld was at all in the right with how they treated the guests. The proper thing to do would be to give everyone who was in the queue for any rides when the park closed a return ticket, because Dreamworld faulted by not advising of ride closing times, shutting off queues etc. Unless Cyclone had at least three operators, if not four, then there weren't enough. I won't bring up Giant Drop's needlessly long ride cycle that doubles the ride time, or the fact that the wave on Wipeout wasn't being used as it was designed, or that I doubt Cyclone ever had guests waiting at the airgates before the current cycle had returned. Don't forget that this money, maybe only $10 per returned guest, is money that the park would not get at all otherwise. It's still a win-win situation for the park, because these extra guests create no real additional overhead as it is a negligible percentage of guests in any given day, but bring in extra profits. If there's a good chance, then Dreamworld should shut the queue off, or at least put an attendant at the queue entrance advising guests that it is unlikely that they will get to ride. Great, now Dreamworld isn't responsible for queue jumping! Reality check: that's also Dreamworld's responsibility, and maybe they do need more staff to keep check on this.

The figure came from a release made a few years ago, when I think they hit 14,000. It mentioned that the Australian record was this 23,000.

For what it's worth, back in 1992 at a Halloween event at the park there were 23,000 in the place, so last year's Union picnic doesn't hold the record.

I got Goliath with a light sprinkle at one stage. That was enough for me, I'd hate for it to be any more Obstructure, it is ENTIRELY Dreamworld's responsibility and fault that guests were turned away. It is not their fault that the park must close at 10pm because of noise laws or whatever, but it is their responsibility to adhere to said laws. This means that when there is a lengthy queue for the ride they should close off the queue at a certain point so that EVERYONE who is spending their time in the queue gets to ride. It is not, and never has been at any properly run theme park, the guest's responsibility to judge whether they will be able to ride if they queue. The point that there was likely no one there telling guests that there is a chance they will not get to ride if they queue now sort of throws absolutely any defence out the window. I didn't think I could get any more annoyed about this incident, but Obstructure, the fact that you're actually trying to defend Dreamworld is pretty warped. Furthermore, I see absolutely no comments in this thread that refer to any Dreamworld operators or attendants. Everything I see is pointing fingers solely at management. A return pass is the very least Dreamworld could have done in this situation. The fact that such a thing should never have happened in the first place is reason enough. A free return pass costs the park nothing, and guarantees them further revenue in future which they otherwise would never get, in the form of food and souvenirs. They say one negative opinion is the same as ten positive ones, and that's exactly true. Let's hope that operations is one area that the new CEO looks at, one which has needed an all-out assault for a good number of years. Tony Braxton-Smith did some tremendous things for the park in terms of balancing out market shares and getting the park's value up, but I hope now that most things with the park are sound, efficiency and overall operations can be looked at, and a breath of fresh air is always good for that.

Yeah, 119m is the official height on Giant Drop, 390ft or 39 storeys.

Interesting idea, but why not go the full mile and make it a tilting standup gondola? My thought has always been to take off both gondolas, maybe add a third set of rails (if it is needed for structural reasons) and instead of two gondolas, have one single gondola, similar to one of the Gyro Drops, wrapping 3/4 of the way around the tower. It'd be a dream for capacity - even Dreamworld wouldn't be able to screw that one up too badly.

I don't know what measure of storeys Wonderland is going by, but a storey is conventionally 10ft which is 3.05m. Long story short, based on their claim of 27 storeys, Space Probe is 82m tall, which it's not. Official documentation suggests the ride is 213ft or 65m tall, which is more or less the correct figure.

Construction has begun on the 2004 Thrill Ride at Dreamworld. Roller-Coaster.com.au will bring you frequent updates documenting the construction process. Construction Updates: April 25 - early construction has begun; removal of pathway etc. May 7 - removal process continues, big circular trench dug in the centre of the site. May 21 - footers are poured. July 19 - main structure is completed. July 23 - arm attached. July 30 - gondola attached. August 21 - pathway layed, theming of the ride and area has commenced.

And now for something completely different... Back to Fright Night. Today at Dreamworld, someone said they were at Fright Night. This person said they queued for Giant Drop for one hour and 45 minutes, at which point everyone in the queue was told that the ride is closing and they all had to go home. I couldn't care less about all the other stuff that was reported to have gone on on the night about a lack of rides or too many people. This is one thing that is a true act of complete and utter disgrace. I fully accept closing the queue for a ride off some time before the park closes s that the ride will close on time or not too late. One thing that you should never ever do is ask (well, tell) people who have been queuing, for hours no less, that the ride is closing and they won't be able to ride. That is throwing basic customer service out the window. That just isn't cricket.

If you don't care then why did you bother posting in this thread? Just skip over it if that's your opinion.

Roller-Coaster.com.au updates will be weekly or fortnightly. I was meaning to visit today and start it actually, but that never happened obviously.

No one wanted Wonderland to close. We're just being realistic. A bit extreme, no?

How about calling it "Revenge of Screech" instead, and get Dustin Diamond in on the ad campaigns and everything? Skip that one if you don't get it - you're probably a bit young.

Dreamworld really lightens the staffing midweek. Even though the park might be empty, you'll probably be guaranteed 15min+ queues for all the major rides. Nothing unbearable though, especially if you're coming up from Melbourne. You'll also have Rocky Hollow Log Ride down for maintenance, no great losses there, but everything else should be operating.

It's a fairly long ride for starters. There are three decent-sized drops on the ride, all of which were designed with very nice airtime. The real gem of this ride is the final drop (which was recently rebuilt to make it more gentle, but it's still pretty good from what people say). The drop has very nice air all the way down (or rather did when I rode), and then you hit a very low bunny hill that gives evem more air. Long story short, airtime plus absolutely no restraints gives a very very nice ride. It's also damn wet too. It's head-to-toe drenching, which isn't too bad for a log flume. I think it's a tad overrated, but it's still one of the best.

I wouldn't class Blacktown as a tourist-friendly area anyway. The fact is, that's just how the area is. Another fact is that not only will the council stand to make some significant revenue from the business park as opposed to Wonderland, but there will be around six times as many employees than at Wonderland. That could be seen as essentially 2500 more people living in the area and making use of local shops and businesses for their own needs. Not bad prospects for any council really. I'd gladly trade the city's lackluster tourism industry for that.

Most newer areas of the park are barely themed. Nick Central is just "nice" with the odd statue or picture of characters. The extent of Ocean Parade's theming is the sand they filled the garden beds around Reef Diver with, and some fibreglass animals here and there. Do the same as what they did with Nick Central - just make it nice with some nice green gardens, open paths, some trees here and there for shade and maybe fill the rest with grass. It would look much better than a "themed" area, because unless significant money is spent, themed areas can really come off as tacky. Make it just aesthetically pleasing, and given that they've suggested the area will be filled with thrill rides, give it a nice name that hints at thrill rides and doesn't need cheap fibreglass items thrown randomly around the place to make any sense

scott, please use the button to add thing to or change your post if you want to do so after you've posted. Don't double post when it's just moments apart.