Jamberoo Fan

Here are some more videos (even though they are mostly not from the 1980's or 1990's): Tuesday the 14th of January 1997: Sea World's Research & Rescue Foundation Rescuing & Rehabilitating A Dugong (Channel 9 footage): http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/Australia-Endangered-dugong-rescued-off-beach/218b8dfcc7d41f6a1fccb23f3e446a03 Wednesday the 17th of March 1999: Wonderland Sydney's Bush Beast & Triple M's Whirl Till You Hurl (Channel 9 footage) - http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/AUSTRALIA-ROLLERCOASTER-RIDE-RECORD-ATTEMPT/b36e90b2c8f00d9d5c0a0eb645e18596 Tuesday the 26th of December 2000: Sea World's Polar Bear Shores opens (ABC footage) - http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/AUSTRALIA-GOLD-COAST-POLAR-BEARS/1ec48ef3f6b7105254dcae23a8859e0c Thursday the 23rd of November 2001: More polar bears arrive at Sea World's Polar Bear Shores (ABC footage) - http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/Australia-Bears/0dd8493335af574ee78247f9f655a113 Thursday the 26th of September 2002: Incident during Sea World's Ski Challenge (Channel 9 footage) - http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/Australia-Ski-Accident/171afe9b07b18637f665c50fec77045a And lastly, see Luna Park Melbourne during it's golden era (I don't know if it's still there but the mountain theming surrounding the rollercoaster is pretty good for it's time): Monday the 6th of March 1933: Luna Park Melbourne's Scenic Railway (British Movietone footage) - http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/Luna-Park-Provides-Fun-At-Melbourne/654d38c6fc3d48f7b34412c2535f91d0 Can someone verify that the footage above is of Luna Park Melbourne or it's Scenic Railway? The Scenic Railway has a rather simple layout and this footage shows a more complex layout.

Early last year, I posted links to videos of Dreamworld & Wonderland Sydney. However, those links don't work anymore. Don't worry - here are new links (with some new videos!). The previous videos were from ITN Source. These new videos and links are from AP Archive: Monday the 24th of July 1995: Sea World (near the former Adventure Island) & an Australian-Austrian Choir (Channel 9 footage): http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/Australia-Austrian-Choir-Perform-With-Dolphins/3839915ec459dea2da9bb207b632d3b8 Thursday the 23rd of January 1997: Dreamworld's Tower Of Terror opening (Channel 9 footage): http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/Australia-Fun-park-Dreamworld-/fa806bcbb651f4438688232e7e547f5c Thursday the 23rd of January 1997: Dreamworld's Tower Of Terror opening (Channel 7 footage): http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/AUSTRALIA-WORLD-S-FASTEST-AND-TALLEST-ROLLER-COASTER-OPENS/c065ed6e142c0dea8faad5e0d81967e4 Wednesday the 29th of January 1997: Sea World's Rescue & Rehabilitation Foundation Rescuing & Rehabilitating A Dolphin (Channel 9 footage): http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/Australia-Dolphin-rescued/b4a1bbf366d11414d3ee84377caa400e Wednesday the 11th of November 1998: Dreamworld's Tiger Island (Channel 7 footage): http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/AUSTRALIA-RARE-WHITE-BENGAL-TIGER-CUB-SHOWN-TO-PUBLIC-V-/af952d2cbf4eaeb1b66bf8b75620d497 Friday the 26th of February 1999: Wonderland Sydney's Bush Beast & Triple M's Whirl Till You Hurl (APTN footage): http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/AUSTRALIA-ROLLERCOASTER-ENDURANCE-RECORD-ATTEMPT/c9905e995dbda8174eae2b19a699af34

Sydney New Year's Eve revealed on the 6th of December that Luna Park Sydney's Ferris Wheel will feature as part of the event for the 1st time. Like with Vivid Sydney, they are making the most of the lighting upgrade to The Ferris Wheel. From the Sydney New Year's Eve media release:

I'm sure a lot of Parkz forum members will be surprised to hear the coronial inquest resumed in Southport yesterday at 9:30am and finished completely earlier today. So here are the most interesting quotes I could find about the final 2 days: From the Australian Associated Press via the Brisbane Times: From the Australian Associated Press via Cowra Guardian: From 9 News: From Australian Leisure Management: From the Australian Associated Press via the Brisbane Times: From 9 News: From The New Daily: Now we wait for the coroner's report and just as importantly, his recommendations...

If you didn't know @Skeeta & @Slick, Ardent Leisure Group got relisted on the ASX last Friday. Ardent Leisure's ASX page is now here (ASX: ALG). It was all part of their transition to their "alternative structure".

Dreamworld made an application to Gold Coast City Council (not a link to the application - see the paragraph at the end of the post) on December the 1st: Oddly, the application isn't for DW's main lot. It's for the lot between the main roundabout outside DW and Oakey Creek. However, unless it's for the "special structure", this is highly likely a mistake on Gold Coast City Council's part as a recent application for a shop in Westfield Coomera was listed as for DW's excess land instead. That was later found to be a clear error. As far as I am aware, Dreamworld's plans have not yet been approved by a private certifier but, according to Gold Coast City Council, they are "in progress" of being assessed by the private certifier. I'd add a link to the relevant Gold Coast City Council application but from previous attempts to link applications from there in recent months, I've found it will just lead to an error message for you all due to the recent information technology system upgrade the Council implemented.

I agree @rac2703. I know, for example, though that the venue is themed to, I assume, an outback farm building and have seen the inside of AOS (minus the arena) through Google Street View. I was just saying, at a minimum, with the word 'Outback' in the overall title and having known the names of all their shows, it gave me the impression that the outback is heavily featured in all their shows. I'm assuming you are referring to me saying "and there aren't many of those at AOS" but yes, they count. Compared to the average theme park, which would have heaps of souvenir shops and a few bars, there is only 1 souvenir shop and 1 bar at AOS I believe. There aren't many things at AOS you can adjust when trying to just break-even without affecting the experience somewhat. At least at a theme park you can close a few attractions and still seem like it's fully open (like closing a water park portion of the park during winter. Come to think of it, how much would have DW saved during last winter by closing Whitewater World instead of closing most of their other attractions for "maintenance" (not saying maintenance is a lower priority - in fact, that's the highest priority)? But that question is for another topic.)

If that's the case @rac2703, then AOS may be suffering a brand image problem, which might justifying removing the word 'Outback' now rather than later. I've never been to AOS and due to the word 'Outback' being in it's title, I'd assumed every show is linked to the outback, which, when considering whether to attend it again (if I already went there), would lend to an argument that the show is roughly the same as before, so it's a lower priority. The outback is also very stereotypical Australian, which might discourage interstate tourists from attending as they might feel it's not targeted to them. Obviously, international tourists would attend and locals would attend to support local business. I know some shows have featured World War I & Phar Lap but I assumed there was major connection to the outback in some way due to the word 'Outback' in the overall title. Maybe they should remove the word 'Outback' then? I was referring to when they can no longer break-even. If they are making a strong profit, they have some lee-way to lower prices to return to good attendance levels. But if they start making losses, lowering prices may no longer be an option. The only option is to increase upcharge/food/beverage/souvenir prices (and there aren't many of those at AOS) or try to produce a cheaper show without making it less entertaining (such as by adding projection mapping).

Due to the nature of AOS, it will last as long as it is profitable. Since it is a dinner show, a lively atmosphere is needed as part of the experience. They need to ensure it remains at near-full capacity for every show otherwise prices would go up and there would be less in attendance and therefore, less atmosphere, a critical part of the experience, which would reduce value for money. AOS seems to update the show every time attendance drops enough to be close to break-even and/or near it becoming noticeable that some seats aren't being filled (I have never seen AOS sadly - though I want to - so I'm not sure about the latter & the former is just a guess). If projection mapping wasn't introduced, I'd say Heartland would have been it's last show before a major re-think. To 'replace' it, they should just remove the word 'Outback' from the title of the attraction. So it is just the 'Australian Spectacular', which would allow them to also tell other Australian stories not related or linked to the outback. Retrospectively, they could rename the original show as just 'Outback'. However, I'd say projection mapping has allowed Heartland to have a 3 year stay rather than a 1 year stay. As I will detail below though, projection mapping may only add a short-term boost to AOS though. It should be noted AOS are heavily influenced by Olympic ceremonies. Ignatius Jones, who designed this segment in the Sydney 2000 Olympics Opening Ceremony, yes, you guessed it, helped design the original AOS. In 2002, he even directed and wrote a travelling musical theatre called The Man From Snowy River: Arena Spectacular (You can see the influence it had on AOS in the below video, which I think was filmed in Brisbane Entertainment Centre): So no doubt, he was the man to help design AOS particularly since that film above was distributed by Village Roadshow. Back to the Sydney 2000 Olympics ceremonies though, those ceremonies heralded in the 'technology' era of Olympic ceremonies. These types of ceremonies reached their peak a decade later with Beijing's massive effort in 2008. 2 years later, Vancouver did the 1st ever near-fully projection mapped ceremony, heralding in the 'projection mapping' era of Olympic ceremonies. Projection mapping was used prominently throughout that ceremony but this segment (from 01:35:55 to 01:41:44 - the impressive projection mapping really starts at 01:37:41) was what really heralded in that era as people then realised the possibilities projection mapping can provide. David Atkins creatively directed the Sydney & Vancouver Olympic ceremonies and helped Ignatius Jones with The Man From Snowy River: Arena Spectacular. Projection mapping has been used prominently in all Olympic ceremonies since then except London 2012, who used it only in 1 segment. However, projection mapping has been critizied in Olympic ceremonies in the past 4 years as being 'lazy', 'cheap' and 'overused' as it has replaced many of the special effects once utilized in the Sydney 2000 to Beijing 2008 era. VRTP shouldn't fall into that trap as it will turn the show into a glorified cinema screen otherwise and regular visitors would easily see a lack of creativity in technology & special effects. Olympic ceremony directors have, since that criticism, in the past couple of years, began to try and blend projection mapping with technology more where budgets permit, which has reduced that criticism, though not fully. So it should be noted that how Olympic ceremonies evolve will likely be how AOS evolves.

The wording has been changed to "completed", which I assume means it got approved.

@Richard, so the things mentioned in the article (such as the wildlife experience inside Whitewater World possibly next to or part of a lazy river) aren't an accidental error?

What's the source stating that the future wildlife experience is being combined with the Whitewater World extension and that an amphitheatre is being built in the former Town Of Gold Rush area? I didn't see that information when reading Ardent's AGM documents a few days ago so I'm a bit confused. As far as I know, since the dark ride is now seemingly cancelled, either Dreamworld Corroboree is getting an expansion (again) instead or they are relocating Dreamworld Corroboree to the former Town Of Gold Rush site, given that was the rumoured location of the now seemingly cancelled dark ride. If it is a relocation, I find it odd given they've been expanding the area in recent years particularly after the Thunder River Rapids incident. All that work just to relocate or even rebuilt it??? By the way, the 3 parks mentioned in the article as having lazy rivers, one is mentioned as Sea World's former Adventure Island & Ferry. I believe you meant Adventure Park? Remember, the Dreamworld Express originally opened with just 2 stations - Central Park & Rocky Hollow. Except for viability reasons, the only worthy reason of getting rid of Dreamworld Express then is if Rocky Hollow Log Ride and The Giant Drop closed. It wasn't until Koala Country opened in 1987 that they built the Dreamworld Corroboree station. In the 5 or so years prior to then, the purpose of the long trip around to/from Rocky Hollow was either for just a relaxing journey through a bush environment or if to Rocky Hollow, for Dreamworld Express's bushranger show. Maybe the recent Beware Of The Bawd Brothers show was so successful, they are planning a bigger version in the place of Dreamworld Corroboree if they relocate it? However, since Ardent is the owner of DW, I doubt that. In the end, travelling through a great landscaped area to/from Rocky Hollow would be enough to say it is worthy of keeping it if it is still viable.

Thanks @Skeeta. In the latter section of the video (quote above from the Parkz article, which for some reason didn't appear in the quote in my last post), I did find the missing slat you were referring to. In fact, I saw two slats missing in the latter section of the video but there was a full slat in between them. The two missing slats were replaced with two spacer blocks. Immediately after the last spacer block I could see, 2 full slats appeared, meaning the spacer blocks were not placed consistently around the conveyor. Some portions of the conveyor had more slats than another rather than a consistent '1 full slat, 1 spacer block' pattern around the whole conveyor. The first 15 seconds of the video, looking at the side of the conveyor closest to the camera, gave me the impression of all slats being on the conveyor.

@Brad2912, does the source of your information have any more detail on the quote above? Or anyone who was at the coronial inquest, can you provide more information about the above quote's context within the inquest proceedings? As it contradicts with this Parkz article stating that the slats were removed after 1993: The only way the Parkz article is wrong is if the video uploader got the year of the video wrong.

Thanks @Brad2912. I am clearly getting the months & years of the 2019 financial year completely wrong today - Ardent aren't helping with the lack of construction in the Whitewater World construction site too. If they are due to start construction in roughly the next month and the construction is going to last no longer than 6 months (that is, no later than June 2019), maybe coincidentally I was right in the 1st place?: Mind you, given I've gotten the months & years of the 2019 financial year correct now, maybe Ardent are actually seriously thinking of an official opening in the middle of winter. Surely, they wouldn't though?....Right?

Thanks @AlexB. I completely forgot. So that makes the official opening most likely on Boxing Day 2019...if they finish it in time as that quote implies they are going to build in the lead-up to summer, which is when most water parks begin operations. Wouldn't it be better to begin construction in the autumn so it is ready to 'soft' open in September with a big media/marketing campaign in October & November for an 'official' opening on the 1st of December? Unless of course, the 'extension' is not much (like plain swimming pools) meaning they could get it built in 2 months for a 'soft' opening in September. If there were delays and it didn't open until March 2020, it would completely miss the summer peak period & will probably have the longest 'soft' opening period for a theme park attraction ever - until summer 2020/2021.

Now whilst an "adventure river" is rumoured (especially given the original expansion plans included one (see 1st post of this topic)), Ardent's Gary Weiss confirmed some details of the expansion today in his AGM address: So no permanent retail outlets. And "pools" - plural. I assume one of the "pools" is the rumoured "adventure river". After all, that is just 1 large pool. Given "pools" is a plural, there might be another ride being built as well. I assume the "waterfalls" and "beached areas" are part of the "adventure river" forming part of & the entry/exits of the ride respectively. But if he literally meant just "pools", well that would be a new low in how to invest wisely in water park attractions. It would be fine with no hype but if you are making a massive expansion to win back visitors after a tragedy in your park, it would be anti-climatic to those potential visitors when they find out it is just a couple of plain swimming pools. Hopefully the "pools" are more than just a concreted hole in the ground with filtered water in it. Even if one of the "pools" is actually a wave pool (like Wet 'N' Wild Gold Coast's Giant Wave Pool), that's still silly because Whitewater World already has one (Cave Of Waves). That doesn't mean they shouldn't add a wave machine in an "adventure river" if they add one though. That's a different type of water park attraction altogether. A quote in the AGM presentation mentions a very similar amount will be spent in the 1st half of next year: This could mean the Whitewater World expansion will be ready to 'officially' open in September 2019 with a potential 'soft' opening, if they want, in July 2019. After all, who 'officially' opens a water park expansion in the middle of winter? Unless they are planning a version of Wet 'N' Wild Gold Coast's Whirlpool Hot Springs? A spa pool is a another type of pool, after all.

Also, in regards to Ardent's AGM, I found this quote from Ardent in the same presentation: "...lack of investment in rides, attractions and systems in the past." Make what you want of that.

An updated artist impression:

Here's some information that you may find useful: A list of all exhibitor press conferences (details exhibitor names mainly) Exhibitor product videos (only 12) IAAPA Attractions Expo press release detailing all (already announced) new products being exhibited

Notice the sign referring to 'Planet Square'? Does this mean the area of the rollercoaster's outdoor portion is now called 'Planet Square'? I do agree the exit looks like a "waste of space" but like @AlexB said credit to them for at least theming the exit. They just need to justify the lack of earthquake damage but like @themagician suggested, that is an easy solution to make. Maybe to liven up the exit and reinforce the theme in the exit just a little bit more they could add TV screens showing a loop of TV coverage of Superman's rescue of the MRT train, timed so the critical part is shown when guests hop off the ride?: As the train leaves the station, the TV is covered with static. This lasts 60 seconds, at which point the train should launch. The static is then replaced with a 'breaking news' bulletin. It shows the hosts explaining the situation to the audience whilst showing 'live' footage of damage from the earthquake such as a burst water main near the entry of a subway and a collapsed road with 2 police cars in it (referring to events seen on the ride's indoor portion). This lasts 30 seconds. The news bulletin concludes with 'live' footage of Superman bringing an MRT train into another (presumably safe) MRT station. This last 20 seconds and imitates the rollercoaster's brake run and exit station arrival. Superman then does a quick interview for the TV channel before flying away. The TV channel also quickly interviews a passenger of the MRT train. This is all shown as guests leave the ride. The hosts then return the channel back to 'live' coverage of a baseball game held in another far-away city. The baseball game footage lasts however long it needs to. The TV loop then restarts when the ride leaves the main station causing a reference to the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

You may be correct meaning it was a sensationalised article. As it was a subscriber-only article, I only read the limited information I could see without subscribing. Given Ardent Leisure already delivered documents late once, I thought it was worthy of posting on the Parkz forums. I do recall the Coroner requested proof of certification of all of DW's rides in the October hearings but I thought they wouldn't have been part of those 500 documents. Update: Just read @Jdude95's information about it in the middle of one of their posts above - there was a delay but at least it wasn't a 2 year delay. Still, hopefully it doesn't add an extra month (or any time) to the coronial inquest though.

I'm sure the general public has high interests in enjoying theme park visits. Your ghost train example isn't exactly the same situation. Scooby-Doo is a very well known intellectual property. The general public would notice the difference. SkyFlyer & SkyVoyager are two very unknown intellectual properties hence why the general public could get easily confused particularly since they are very similar products. The problem is the brand names. Imagine a conversation between 2 members of the general public: Person 1 clearly mistook SkyVoyager for SkyFlyer. I didn't mind SW getting a travelling version of a StarFlyer but after the revealing of the name SkyFlyer, it just sounds too much like VRTP are now taking ideas completely off Dreamworld and not just ideas for ride names but ideas for rides & their theming altogether.

According to the Gold Coast Bulletin (subscriber-only article), Dreamworld's lawyers have submitted about 500 more documents towards the Thunder River Rapids coronial inquest. This could potentially drag the inquest into next year, something the Coroner was trying to avoid by scheduling the 5 extra days of hearings between the 17th & 21st of December, which only happened because Ardent Leisure submitted 1000 extra documents exactly 1 month ago. All this despite all documents being requested 2 years ago, shortly after the Thunder River Rapids incident occurred. It is also rumoured Ardent Leisure's & Dreamworld's former safety manager, Angus Hutchings, will be one of the first to take the stand tomorrow morning.

Technology timeline: Before 1000's - Cinema (Began as Chinese 'trotting horse lamps' and over time, evolved to the cinema we know today) 1910's - 3D 1940's - Hologram (Began in usage of electron microscopes) 1960's - Virtual reality & projection mapping 1970's - IMAX 1980's - 4D (This includes 7D) Most 'new' theme park technology has been around for a while - they've just improved over time or gone through different periods of popularity. The ones between 1960 & 1990 were all introduced to the world in a theme park or it's predecessors. The ones prior to 1960 weren't originally created for theme parks or their predecessors but were later introduced in theme parks. Based on what I wrote above, it seems likely that most future theme park technology will be introduced in a theme park-like environment first anyway. But in terms of what could change theme parks next, this article released this month in IAAPA's Funworld Magazine, details future technological changes in theme parks (such as projection mapping, which is gaining attention with Australian theme park enthusiasts due to it's introduction in Scooby-Doo Spooky Coaster: Next Generation). The article focuses on 3 technologies: Unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) - 1840's (Began as incendiary balloons but over time, evolved to the 'drones' we know today) Projection mapping - 1960's Fireworks - 800's (Also very likely had it's debut in a predecessor of theme parks) Probably the most 'new' implementation of technology in the article is the use of unmanned aerial vehicles in Puy du Fou's Cinéscénie: Unmanned aerial vehicles have already been used for entertainment in Australia but not in theme parks (yet) except for marketing purposes: You can imagine a show similar to the one above at night time theme park experiences such as Park After Dark or Carnivale but using the Cinéscénie example, imagine the possibilities of unmanned aerial vehicles at night-time theme park events such as Fright Nights & White Christmas! It would utilize the theme park's airspace for more than just fireworks and flying foxes. For a DC Comics/MW example, imagine the night the Bat-signal appears seemingly above Arkham Asylum: Shock Therapy for the 1st time.