DaptoFunlandGuy

Admittedly, several of them didn't have kids, but I know pre-having kids I always checked holiday dates before booking to ensure I avoided those peaks - apparently some people don't. According to this government website The Easter school holiday break for 2021 spanned the following: Friday 2 April - Sunday 18 April: ACT, NSW, QLD, TAS, VIC, WA (TAS Finishes 1 day earlier, returns 2 days later) Saturday 10 April - Sunday 18 April: NT Saturday 10 April - Monday 26 April: SA Literally zero staggering down the entire Eastern states and territories. So it isn't THAT unusual.

I know a lot of people in several states that didn't realise the QLD and NSW holiday dates differed. It's not outside the realm of possibility that they also didn't realise it.

Worse yet, during the double school holiday week.

It's unusual for the ride to be removed. Usually it's just shut down and taped off. RAS don't usually allow heavy vehicle movements on the grounds overnight without move orders and authorised escorts. I'd say it'll stay closed, and sit there. Yeah look, its unfortunate, but not really anything they could control. Practically the exact same event has happened at Disneyland and Wonderland to my knowledge and i'm sure a lot of other parks too (SFMM has metal detectors at the entrance and it's not to stop you bringing in more than 100mls of liquids!) On the back of the Ride Harness story its a bad run of news, but these are isolated and unrelated stories.

While there may only be about 20 people currently discussing it in this thread, rest assured, a lot of people are noticing it. Not necessarily consciously - until you mention it to them and they go 'oh yeah! i did notice that!'. It used to be - when you'd point out the horrible state of something in Dreamworld, you'd point to a similar 'thing' at Movie World and say 'see? that's how you do it'. While the tables certainly haven't turned (DW still has a long way to go) MW is racing to the bottom fast.

^100%. It feels like a canned response and while I didn't go and check it sounded word for word like some of the GC Park statements when a ride stoppage made the news..

I think the current 'name' is "Dreamworld Wildlife" or just "Wildlife" Haven't they been doing a lot of work on the Koala viewing area recently?

Yeah this is just flat out unacceptable. RAS NSW has issued a statement this morning saying that safety systems worked as they should but I think this is more a case of good luck than anything else. My first thought is - is it possible to dispatch the ride with a harness in the unlocked position under normal operation, or only possible when operated in manual \ maintenance mode? If it is possible in normal operation, how did the ride get approval to operate in Australia? And if it is not possible, why was the operator running it in manual \ maintenance mode? On the weekend I watched a video about the Mine drop ride incident, and the similarities here are frightening (although a kids drop is probably a little less of a risk) - but at least with mine drop the seat belt was plugged in - this harness is very obviously not in the correct position.

to see that this has continued to rot without any attention except 'badly half-cover it with a hoarding' is bullshit. I suppose given the other stuff we've seen recently of abandoned audio equipment etc, this shouldn't really be a surprise. Even if the facade wall wasn't high enough, build it higher. As for view, I think Universal Singapore had a kids wheel inside the exit gift shop of Donkey Live, so view isn't super important. By all means, another more central spot (the top of the hill behind Speedys perhaps?) would be better as there would be a 'better' view of the whole land.

^A very good and fair assessment. Likewise I don't think anyone can speak as to the CEO's intentions, but I think we'd all like for him to settle in for the long haul rather than make a quick buck. (For anyone who can't wade through the Annual documents, the precise wording of the LTI is as follows:) Noteworthy is that Main Event and Theme Parks are calculated differently - with ME calculated on Equity value and Theme Parks calculated on Enterprise Value. Note also Greg Yong is now listed at 2% after assuming the role of CEO.

Surely not growing out of a whirlybird...?

^Don't forget the chainlink!

That's my take on it, yes.

What about a covered area WITH a garden? (Is this JDS Queue area, or Staff Break Room?) Source

I mean, I guess its as close as we can get to it these days... Scooby's had a 5 metre wide cargo net ramp climb. slower kids could be overtaken without getting in each other's way. A need to surround everyone with safety netting so they can keep to their feet is what results in Sky fortess - a single file version that isn't quite the same.

Alright, I'll do it. Ardent-Leisure-2021-Annual-Financial-Report.pdf (ardentleisure.com) Pages 14-18 details executive remuneration for executives. The long term incentives (LTIs) are awarded based on measurable growth and return on investment. The amounts are paid out 7 years after the grant date, or when the company sees a change of control or an IPO (theme park only). So it would seem that there are still bonus incentives payable when the park sells, but it appears that those payments will eventually pay out even if the park doesn't sell, based on business growth. My understanding of the previous LTI was it was exclusively achieved on sale of the business, and the amount was calculated based on the sell price. *I'm going off memory here, other than the 2021 report link above, so if any historic arrangements are the same \ different to what i've presented here i'm happy to be corrected - just going on what i recall.

Yeah I don't know - although the Parkz article also stated this as fact, and Rich generally states if something is speculative. The only reason I asked (I don't keep up to date on things like this) is because my recollection was Osborne's contract was pre-Weiss, and with control of the board changing, their priorities or aims may have also. Clearly the CEO's remuneration was made public at some point (I assume AGM?) so likely we will just have to wait until that happens to see if there are any changes...?

If you take a closer look at the Six Flags portfolio, you'll notice that they've got 15 current property locations, with 13 of those in the continental United States (the last two are in Canada and Mexico). (I'm not counting Hurricane Properties, but suffice to say they fit much the same pattern). Now sure, they are building a park in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (supposed to open next year) but we don't have the oil money to pull that off. If you look at the number of parks that Six Flags have closed, or abandoned, withdrawn from or sold off over the years, you can dig a little deeper and see that they were once a much bigger (property count) operation - but it was too large to sustain. A similar fate befell Taft \ Paramount Parks - and when they restructured, the parks they didn't keep were the ones that were the furthest away from their main headquarters - like Australia. They had 8 different properties in Europe - all of which they sold off in 2004 (including the two European Movie World parks.) They also had proposed multi-gated park complexes in three different chinese regions and a Dubai park as part of the Dubai parks and resorts, all of which were cancelled in 2020 (except Dubai which was cancelled in 2019). Suffice to say - if Six Flags wants to expand, they'll take on the large populations of China well before they consider picking up a rustbucket australian park with a rocky history.

I think WB Kids can be reinvented without resorting to the loss of the gardens and greenery. There are areas of the park that lack gardens and they are depressing, IMO. Those giant carrots used to have vegetables (or were mock-plantings of vegetables) with signs indicating what was growing once upon a time - but even just some nice hedges, topiary, shady trees, make it a much more pleasant space to be in.

It's a much easier themed marketplace to be in though. Westfield can afford to elaborately theme things because the revenue is pretty much guaranteed - if a tenant moves out, someone else will move in, and the rent just keeps rolling in (not even mentioning anchor tenants that will exist in the location regardless of the environment, so long as they are local enough to people for them to visit). Its a symbiotic relationship - Westfield creates an environment that brings the guests in, the shopkeepers move into those environments to expose their products to the guests, the guests buy from the shopkeepers, the shopkeepers pay rent. if the shopkeeper doesn't sell his product he abandons the location and in comes the next shopkeeper. Neither works well without the other. But in a theme park all of the risk is on the park. they must both build an environment that people not only want to be in, but PAY to enter, selling their environment AS the product.

As long as it operates, and isn't converted into a housing estate or commercial shopping complex, i think any outcome is fine - trade out of it with the long haul, or sell it off to someone more interested (and better equipped) to build the business. I don't know that the state government would take any direct action, but it's in their (and the GCCC's) best interests to keep it as a theme park. Not to mention that Dreamworld is the only direct competitor to village in an already small market - if they were to exit, village could afford to rest more easily on their laurels.

Do we know for sure that that particular clause continued on with the appointment of a new CEO? or are we just assuming that based on the conditions that were applicable to the now-ousted guy?

I suppose we're pushing shit uphill to think anyone might have a MW park map from the early 90s... My first visit was 1994. LT Stage was actually where RRRC sits now as far as I recall. Where Carousel is now used to be an LT merch shop which played (gasp) a laserdisc of LT cartoons on a small tube TV. Shop was absolutely STUFFED full of plush toys and quality LT memorabilia. There was a food outlet to the right of the LT Stage (Sam's Diner?), the front of which I think was boarded up a while ago as it was rarely open tucked away in the back corner of kids land. I think it serves only as an on-ride photo scanning kiosk for Road Runner. Going off the timeline on Wiki - The LT Land only had river ride, Taxis, an 'unknown playground' and the LT stage (open air) on opening and no new additions were made until 1997 - Marvin Rocket, Tweety Cages, Taz Cars and Sam Train. The carrots were where the table and chairs are. Inside they had 90's era touch screens that kids could use to colour in LT related 'digital colouring in' pages. I recall a 'fan page' set up I think by cast members of the park, devoted to trying to save the carrots when MW was beginning to think about removing them. Ultimately unsuccessful, I think there was some mention of them on the forums a hwile back, although I don't have the time to go trawling for it right now, you can clearly see the foundations of the carrots on the park's Google Street View I am really really racking my brain now, but I think the dilapidated shack hidden behind the character wall near the land's entrance (next to first aid) was also once a carrot, now converted and since left to rot - it has the same round shape and garden edging as the others, but I just can't be certain...

I wish the modern litigious society could tolerate Scooby's Silly Stix. Still one of my best memories of a kids theme park attraction when I was growing up. It's amusingly true - that kids might ride 1-2 times and then 'get bored' but can spend literal hours playing in a McDonald's play place, and still complain they aren't finished yet when its time to leave. Don't build things that require them to stand in line for 20-30 minutes to have a 45 second spin on a mechanical device. Sure its fun, but kids like to make their own fun - give them a play structure of epic proportions and make sure its safe and job done.

My take on it is that they will no longer be distracted by two very different businesses operating in two very different markets. Every single person from the cleaner to the CEO will be focussed on the one thing for the first time in almost two decades - making their Gold Coast attractions the best that they can be... There's no parachute, no safety net - if they don't make it work they're unemployed. Yes, more of a risk, but now, less distractions and a helluva lot more motivation.