Spotty

"World Tourist Attractions Australia are proud to announce the opening of a new Giant Observation Wheel, located on the Perth Foreshore, with spectacular views of Perth’s vibrant heart and the Swan River. The wheel experience lasts approximately 13 minutes. After a brief introduction to the facilities available, passengers enter one of the 36 capsules and are gently lifted to a height of almost 50 meters for spectacular views of The Swan River and downtown Perth. A luxury VIP capsule with leather seating, flat screen TV, DVD and CD player is also available. Tickets can be purchased in person from the ticket office located at the wheel, advanced booking, at discounted rates, is also available via our online system by clicking on this button (coming soon)." The Wheel opened on the 7th of January 2009 This is an article from ABC: "You may have some childhood memories of the fairground ferris wheel, and now a wheel is on its way to Perth. But, the man bringing it here, Nigel Ward, assures us it's no simple fairground attraction. Ward has been taking wheels all around the globe and, in June, is set to bring Perth one that has been used on the Gold Coast and in Birmingham in the UK. "We do everything from short-term temporary visits of about 3 to six months to longer term contracts [of] three, four, or five years," he explains. "Our wheels are state of the art, a million miles away from the traditional fairground ferris wheel most people might imagine. These are truly stand-alone visitor attractions [with] fully enclosed gondolas [and are] air conditioned, very graceful, multi-million dollar investments designed to fit into a wide range of environments." So, how does such a creation end up in Perth? "We identify some key cities in each country that we're interested in going to and then make approaches to local authorities to see if they'd be interested," Ward outlines. Once here, "we can set up one of these wheels in less than ten days and, come removal, we can usually get them down in five days." The fear some might have is that a wheel in one of the world's windiest cities might come down a lot quicker than that when not intended. But Ward assures "they are engineered to a very high level and can operate in surprisingly high winds. We actually choose to stop operation if winds gust to a certain level which is still well below the maximum wind speed we're permitted to operate on, simply because it becomes a bit more of a thrill ride than most people are comfortable with." The thrills of this ride should be of a different type. "Because of the location on your waterfront, you're going to be able to see for miles and miles," Ward promises. "All of our market research shows that when people have friends and relatives visiting, they have a go, and a repeat visit is very common. Also, because the wheels are open normally from 10 in the morning 'til 10 in the evening, you've two different experiences, a daytime visit and also looking at the city at night from that height is a spectacular thing to do." If it is something spectacular that you don't get time to do in it's initial time in Perth, Ward is hopeful you'll get further chances. "The vast majority of towns and cities we've been in for three to six months, nine times out of 10 we get asked to extend the stay because it has proved so popular," he points out. "If I take York [in the UK] as an example, we had an initial contract for three years we now have an option to extend for a further five at the request of the local organisations." In Perth "we have an initial three month term but, if everything goes well, we hope to be able to extend that," he notes before adding, "we're very excited, we think it's a beautiful city, the views across the waterfront are spectacular and we think it's ideal for a wheel."

Heck it may have even been YOU that served me that day... I think it was like the 28th of December or something... But there chicken was actually decent... and we know what Dreamworld AND WVTP's Chicken is like...

Short answer: No.

That is the exact reason why i'm not super excited to go see it. A truely good show should have a Storyline, Humor and be different. Police Academy had all of those elements to it, whereas Hollywood StuntDriver doesn't from what I've heard. I really do hope that WVTP do improve on the show in the coming years to try and make it live up to what Police Academy was.

Sounds like 1 Train Operations have allready kicked in. Considering it is VERY much peak season still, I don't really see why this is happening unless it is a technical Issue like what has been happening on the MotoCrapper. 45+ Min waits for Batwing aren't unusual either in peak season, and in my opinion it is NOT worth waiting that long. Was Superman Escape running 2 trains or not? Sounds like you had an alright day out though. However I'm not in any rush to go and See Hollywood StuntDriver after hearing all the mixed comments.

When was the Last time you had one of Dreamworld's Churros? I know that they recently changed the supplier of them, so you may have had the older style ones.

We get the point that it is Queue Jumping mate, and if you don't like the fact of having to wait an extra 5 minutes because you didn't feel like coughing up a few extra dollars for a perk. That is your choice.

Just unlucky I guess. And this may also seem stupid... but the best time to get food is when it's busy as there is a higher turnover rate, so it sits in the warmer for less time

By what... 5 minutes at the max unless the ride breaks down. I am in the park almost every day and I have never heard anyone complaining about it. Apart from someone harrassing a guy in a food and bev outlet about "This peice of crap isn't working, it wont let me cancel the ride!" And there was ALOT of swearing involved and the poor guy had no idea what to do! But yeah, Apart from that very pissed off guest, I have not really heard anything bad about it.

Uh... I wouldn't say that the food at Dreamworld is more expensive than WVTP's without knowing for certain. For example, 2 similar food packs from 2 competing parks. SNACK ATTACK (Dreamworld): $10.50 Regular Chips 2 Chicken Tender Strips 450ml Coke Pineapple Fritter Meal Upgrade + $1.50 ----------- WVTP: $11.50 Regular Chips 2 Drumsticks 450ml Coke Meal Upgrade: $2.00 or $1.50 Also note that WVTP sells there Churro's at $3.00 each, and Dreamworld's are $3.70 but DOUBLE the size of the Warner Village Equivalent. So which is cheaper now? Not to mention the last several times i've ate from a WVTP food outlet the food has been that bad that I even took it back. Except for the people at Kahuna's at Wet'n'Wild, they deserve a medal for there food! However the last several times I've ate at Dreamworld, the food has always been hot, crisp and full of flavor.

Well, the "They didn't know about it" Excuse couldn't work as there is PLENTY of signage about the devices. Even an audio speil at the front gate mentioning it. I have never even heard a person in the normal queue line complaining about it either. They also only allow a certain amount of people to have a ride reserved at any one time so that the normal wait time isn't delayed by much.

Where have you been hearing all this bad stuff about the Q4U? All I've ever heard about it is praise, and having used it myself before it does come in handy. Although as much as Dreamworld says it's not queue jumping. It is My usual cycle if I have the Q-Bot is, Reserve either Cyclone or the Tower, and go on smaller rides like The Claw or Wipeout.

No suprise about The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor being closed. If I remember correctly the last day of the Contract with them was the 17th of January. I'm fairly sure it was posted in the most recent "Our Worlds" Newsletter. But i'm not 100%

I wouldn't be surprised that if Jet Rescue takes longer to come out of this unexpected maintenance period that Corkscrew's yearly gets pushed back till later on. Perhaps after Pirate goes down.

Flowrider IS an upcharge attraction. And considering they are having to build a new building for this attraction to go in, I can see it coming close to or exceeding the 1 Million Dollar mark. The equipment alone is at least 60,000 dollars as I pointed out in my previous post.

For a proper Lasertag system from Laserforce is around 24,000 USD and this is what it includes: * Laserforce Zap Tag game software * 10 Gen 5 Laserforce battlesuits * 2 wireless network controllers * Battery recharger system * Spare phaser * Spare parts pack * Laserforce tool kit * Player briefing DVD * 2,500 score sheets * Operating manuals * 12 months full cover warranty * 7 days help service - supported from Detroit, Michigan And each extra battlesuit / phaser set is $1,650 USD. And that is before you have all the optional extras which range from 500 USD through to 10,000 USD. Somewhere like dreamworld would need at least 30 or so Battlesuits to handle the crowds. Lets take the Laserforce at Woolloongabba for example... they have 50 Battlesuits, as well as warbots and other extras. The pricetag really does rack up quickly. It's 66,000 dollars just for 40 battlesuits. And then add another 10,000 for the Robot's etc and software and the arena. It could easily cost upwards of 1 million dollars if it was done decently. Also it doesn't have to be an upcharge attraction when you do think about it. It could just be something that you have to book like Flowrider and they give you a wristband with your game time on it. On a first in best dressed basis, and if you miss out well so be it. www.laserforcetag.com

The Thunderbolt building will NOT be going anywhere for a while. I can say that much for free. It is being used as a shop and the Flowrider change rooms, not to mention the world pass gate.

Well, i'm currently in the middle of doing a Re-Creation of Jet Rescue as we speak. I'm up to the 2nd launch as far as track work goes. So if you'd like I could do the tracks for it, and if someone knows how to use AHG etc as well as scenery that could work.

Bermuda's Fire effects have not been running for quite some time according to DJRappa. He said there was a reason for it but he was not able to disclose it. It would be nice to find out why it has been turned off as it's really not complete without it. It was the best climax to a ride anywhere in Australia IMO.

Oh fun... I'm heading down tomorrow with a mate from overseas. I can expect the crowds to be really quite nasty tomorrow. I can tell you now that Dreamworld was flat out yesterday, the line for the rapids had overflowed and was heading up the footpath to the Drop yesterday. Having the log ride down for 45 minutes didn't help either I suppose.

email your new details to annualpass@wvtp.com.au Be sure to include your Name, Date of Birth, Pass Number, Park the pass is held at (or Mega Pass) and they will update your year pass information for you.

It's hard to predict what will be next for Dreamworld, with having the new CEO and everything. There are no trends at the moment with his ideas so it could be a interesting few years for Dreamworld. I do know that there has been some painting going on latley. The wipeout got a FULL repaint this year, and 2 of the Kiddie Rides (Nick o Round and Swinger Zinger) Got complete re-themes late this year. I see Sea World and Wet n Wild having a quiet year next year, with possibly nothing added. We allready know what's next for WhiteWater World it's just a matter of when with that though.

Not that we are aware of, Gazza was just being sarcastic and taking the mickey out of you basically.

I'd been wondering what that fence and new gate was for the Claw and Wipeout. Now I know! I wonder if this means the Cyclone Queue might go back into the building like it used to!

Being incorporated into the Tower of Terror would be easy. For the whole queue except the first flight of stairs in the skull there is a barrier that splits the path in half. 1 For Q4U and 1 for Normal Riders. Also the rides Included in the Q4U System are as follows as far as i'm aware.: Tower of Terror The Claw Wipeout Cyclone Mick Doohan's Motocoaster Rugrats Runaway Reptar Thunder River Rapids Rocky Hollow Log Ride