DaptoFunlandGuy

I'm wondering if someone could get crazy enough to create a zacspin style track for a zipper - so rather than just the loop it could do more? probably not practical for a traveller but that thing would look insane - i'm just spitballing what they could do to the humble zipper to reinvent it?

I've seen the same thing at many parks that open midweek in the off season. He frequently doesn't. The point about the attendance is that it increased on the prior year - by more than the amount you saw in the park no less. I'm quite sure someone said recently 'a water park is not a theme park'. It makes less sense to open it in winter. you're competing with a small enough crowd as it is. Dry park on the other hand, if you're open, you're forcing customers to choose between you and a competitor. If you close, you're giving the game away. As for the insurance payout, i'm sure it was absorbed into the capex for rivertown, so in a way, they did rebuild it - just elsewhere. (and even if it didn't technically get absorbed into the rivertown budget, it's all CE's money so it really doesn't matter. they got paid by insurance to rebuild vintage cars, and they rebuild vintage cars. end of. First of all, they're not sacked. Let's not start using emotive and inflammatory language to get people upset about a normal thing that happens every year. They're hired on contracts and the contracts have a fixed end date. As I understand it Raging Waters in Sydney has a similar issue with retaining staff over seasons, but its just the nature of a seasonal business and the workers go into that eyes open. I think more than a few waterpark folk double as Ski Resort workers in the winter, and many come back year on year. But that isn't a good enough reason to open the waterpark in winter. It is however a good enough reason to keep your dry park open.

plural? so either fully 4 is losing weight or triple vortex is going?

So, just to be clear, the person who was crying the park closed an hour early... is now suggesting the park should close in the off season instead? Just for the record - the 2024 annual report indicated attendance had increased by 14.3% from 2023 to 2024. On average, that's an extra 478 people in the park each day*. I am willing to bet that the opening of rivertown will have boosted this number again. Are there likely to be some days with low attendance that eat into profits? Yes. Does it make sense to shutter the dry park entirely in cold months? Not at all - events like winterfest are a hit and people are willing to visit a dry park in colder months - in fact the lower attendances make it a nicer visit for folk who prefer lesser crowds. Additionally the park being open midweek opens the opportunity to have school or tour groups drop by. International tourism is still increasing in the sector so offering a wildlife product to compete with Paradise country is also a source of additional profit. If they close the park entirely due to low visitation on some days, they give up the opportunity to turn a profit or welcome tour and school groups which supplement the park income. They also decimate their full-time employees who are no longer able to fulfil their contracted hours - which then leads to staff shortages in peak seasons and 3 hour waits for a hypercoaster.Nevermind wrong park. Does it make sense to shutter a water park in colder months? Yes it does. You're unlikely to make a profit, especially if you're competing with another one down the road. period. *Yes the group reports attendance across all properties including Skypoint so this isn't precisely indicative of park attendance. I'd like to say 'you get the point though' but I suspect you'll ignore it.

A reduction to zero is still a reduction. Yes, one stays open over winter, the other doesn't. See, a different perspective on this is the locals who have been many times who drop in for an afternoon after school, get a couple of rides, stay for the night market on those days. By putting the new thing in the morning, and having it stop before school lets out, those afternoon visitors HAVE to attend the park in the morning, when the kids are typically in school - so that ends up being a weekend visit for the school kids, and well, we're already here dad, can we go on other rides too... etc etc. Dreamworld doesn't want to put their hand in your pocket for a measly cent - they're going after the families having to make a special trip and likely to spend the day once they've been. Its the different demographic of the park though - Universal Hollywood guests are not typically dropping in for a single show and leaving, whereas most folk stopping into dreamworld are likely to spend at least a few hours (and a few dollars) while they're there, so bringing them in at a time they otherwise wouldn't have increases spend for normal people. I still say you'd get more money with a second eatery. No brain no pain. But it's also acclimatisation. I grew up in an area that regularly got temperatures below freezing. top temperatures rarely went above early 30s except a few days in the peak of summer nosing up to 40. When I first moved to QLD, I visited WNW in the winter, and everything was a nice walk-on. the wave pool was a bit chilly but everything else - because we didn't stand still in a queue - was pretty warm (I do miss the whirlpool springs being heated though). Almost two decades on, i've acclimatised. You won't catch me in a pool post-easter. For parks that we well know rely on the locals to support them in the off-season, expecting a bunch of folk acclimatised to a south east queensland climate to go swimming in winter is a bit absurd. The only feasible way to make it appealing is to build a dome over the park like they do in countries with cold climates so it becomes a greenhouse oasis. Unfortunately that means in Summer it becomes an Oven. And truthfully, I don't think anyone could agree that an all-weather dome over a park that big would be a practical and sensible expenditure. A winter attendance of 3-400 in a waterpark dropping due to rain = practically zero guests. A winter attendance of 3-4000 in a theme park dropping due to rain = still hundreds of guests.

Yeah if they've got a risk assessment that says that number is needed, i'm not going against it. I've seen the lifeguards and the aquatic trainers, and the constant view scanning they do, the frequent fatigue changeovers... much like the requirements in Australia for seatbelts and supplementary restraints on rides, i'd prefer overstaffed lifeguards than dead kids.

Well that's a relief. You've been banging on asking everyone and sundry why they're closing a waterpark in colder months and why they're operating less hours for the dry park midweek, so I figured you mustn't have understood the concept. And as has already been pointed out to you - WNW is open likely because there is no competition. Nevertheless, they're still running reduced hours and you're not crying about that. Do you want a waterpark open during cold months when patronage is low, and bleed money through payroll and ops costs? Just because WNW has some people attending - doesn't mean its a profitable exercise to open BOTH waterparks - you're likely just splitting the existing patronage even further - making it even LESS profitable to open the park. Honestly if you start pushing the idea of turnstiles and complaining about seatbelts, we won't have to stick a fork in you - we'll know you're fully cooked.

I think we're all well aware of your position. Nonetheless it was nice of you to concede that the concept does save money, and given current climate all round, as well as the park's particular journey toward profitability, i'm ok with them saving money in non peak times by running one train (subject to other attraction uptime) or closing an hour earlier than normal, or shuttering a predominantly summer attraction in the colder months. I don't think there's anything further to discuss.

If Merlin wanted a legoland, they'd 100% build a greenfields park. You wouldn't buy dreamworld and then knock everything down to build a legoland park. legoland typically shoots toward a younger demographic so you'd have millions of dollars of thrill-rides that wouldn't suit the park style. Merlin also owns Alton Towers, Thorpe Park, Chessington and Gardaland, and none of those became Legolands. If Merlin bought dreamworld I could see them putting in a third gate style park, or redeveloping space inside the park into a mini legoland, but Dreamworld would stay.

We are definitely in the dry season, which is typically colder - but Winter doesn't officially start for almost another 3 weeks, we're still in Autumn. I hadn't realised WnW ran reduced trading hours. I wonder why someone isn't banging on about how they should be open for a full day mid-week regardless of the business sense it makes...?

You've always been able to see the emergency exit signage through the screen. It's not a reflection - it's behind the screen. It has always bothered me, but i've just discounted it as being the price you pay for "cheap soarin'" Some theatrical installations have been able to get exceptions allowing them to have emergency lighting shut off 'during performance' and automated so that they kick on in an emergency but I suspect that there are hoops to jump through which may be too expensive or labour prohibitive to implement here. Great to hear the new film is well received. Have they posted an end-date to the film yet?

Are you really holding up a village business decision as something to aspire to? or is this one just because it suits your particular position on WWW being seasonal?

Have they though? My understanding is people were still lining up at the trough while Village continued to coast on their previous reputation? Have guest numbers finally dropped significantly as a result of the guest experience? or are the numbers dropping due to the current cost-of-living climate? Any potential investor will see current figures and assume financial climate is the reason for the downturn, so they get to keep shitting on the guest experience and blaming lower profit on 'the environment'. Say it with me folks! PEOPLE. DON'T. WANT. TO. VISIT. A. WATERPARK. IN. WINTER.

You don't say? You mean a theme park with an attached waterpark wasn't worth as much as a diverse cinema, themepark and entertainment conglomerate? #this-just-in. It's not about the pricetag, it's about the worth.

Disney formally announces things every year. They're the kings of announcements that never eventuated.