DaptoFunlandGuy

If that's photoshopped i'll eat my hat. I'm extremely confident that is a very real photo... and yes - it is quite scary. On the few cycles i've done on that ride, it has always locked in upright well before landing. I have no idea how that could have happened. It's also an inside seat - so it would have taken quite an effort for him to get it spinning at any great rate of speed in order for the lock to have 'missed' it's home position in time. ouch.

Usually being a passholder, and subscribing to their mailing list is a good start.

mnews.com has mentioned this article from the mirror this morning: Full article here at The Mirror UK

A DVC property would work well... DVC already has a 'guaranteed market' as its very similar to the timeshare mob that everyone on here seems to detest. Plenty of people looking for a place to spend their points on a holiday... perhaps an Aulani style resort would be a foot on the ground that would help them drive tourism to the area and ultimately establish even a small park...

Considering the efforts they've gone to to theme it out properly, rather than just make a separate stand alone building, i'd say they're trying to make this fit the bar because it will be part of it. I like the idea of them having a 'quick service' point, and that looks like what this will be. If it's a drink station - i'm happy with that - they do need some more soda points so you're not just buying bottles... expanding the 'free refill' option would be a great idea for the park.

Yes, Dreamworld is very Australian. It was only last week I booked domestic flights to Madagascar, Faire Faire Away, KungFu Panda Land..... Dreamworld may ONCE have been very Australian themed, but the themes across the park are now muddled. Sure that makes the 'so many worlds' line work - but i wouldn't suggest in their current state that they meet the criteria that would see the foreign market drawn to the park as a 'must do'.

I hear you DD - but HKDL was never designed to be like the others - look like them yes, but the designers did their research, and determined that the locals didn't want big thrills - they wanted photo opportunities - hence why such a large chunk of fantasyland is dedicated to the character photos. When i first went to HKDL, Space Mountain was the only 'real' thrill in the park - and it was a ghost town. They have cast members out the front just to make sure you know it's a roller coaster before you go inside as most locals avoid them. Trouble was - after all their design work - the locals don't visit as much as internationals do, and the lack of big E tickets was noticed very quickly. The expansion to include Grizzly, Mystic and Toy Story was meant to address that, at least in part - more kids rides in Toy Story to make up for the lacking in fantasyland, Mystic to bring out the adventure sector, and Grizzly for the big thrills. There is a development and expansion plan for HKDL, but chalk it up to 'the designers got it wrong in the beginning' as the reason for it lacking. Lastly - considering MW can be done in half a day, Sea World the same if you skip the animal shows, Dreamworld, WetNWild and WWW all in a day - i think a park 8 hours away that can keep me captive for 2 days is just fine. (Well - for me it would keep me for at least 3)

That's just it though - 'generic theme park number 1' having a food outlet that sells 'Aussie BBQ' isn't going to make the foreign tourist go "let's go there instead of unique australian experience 1". The WHOLE PARK needs to offer that point of difference. THis is why Australia Zoo, and to a lesser extent, Aussie World work well for foreign tourists. they offer an entire experience that is unique. AOS is the same - nowhere else will you get such a show. These things don't bring people to our shores, but it's what shows up when you ask Dr Google 'things to do on the gold coast'. Sure the parks always rate a mention, but so does King Tut's Putt Putt and the Beach... so when you're looking at interesting, unique experiences - something you can't do "back home" visitors from countries with large park operators don't generally see our parks as something enticing, unless they're enthusiasts. Much of Asia, America and Europe have fantastic parks that outshine ours any day... and this is the majority source of our foreign visitors. Dreamworld gets the Asian busloads through the door - but they don't stay after they've posed for a photo with a Koala. Why? well - for one, itinerary, and two - they have no interest in what the rest of the park offers. I saw this in Wonderland many years ago - Koala Photos, Outback Woolshed and the various other wildlife park exhibits would be 'all hands on deck' because of the number of booked tour buses. The retail plaza would likewise be well staffed - but you are unlikely to see any of them near bush beast or snowy - they just weren't interested. Most of this demographic visits the parks in business dress pants, dress shoes and button down shirts. not exactly thrill ride attire. As for their itinerary - the guides fit as much as they possibly can into their tours, and a stop to pat a koala doesn't warrant a full day out of their trip - it needs an hour or so (depending on how many tourists and the efficiency of the venue), and the rest of the day can be spent elsewhere - Paradise Country, beach, AOS etc - they can hit 5 or 6 attractions in a single day in a whirlwind tour, and take a nice little commission out of each place. I think the best odds of increasing foreign visitor numbers is simply to increase the foreign visitors overall. more people into the country will consequently increase the likelihood of more people through the park gates. I think we'll naturally see a spike in visitor numbers (both foreign and domestic) as we approach 2018 - and the parks need to be prepared for that with either something VERY unique, or something VERY big. My prediction - all of the parks are preparing something very big to open before the COMM games.

Thanks DD. *facepalm*

I think the point is - theme parks in Australia don't offer a point of difference to parks elsewhere in the world. Sure our tourism may be up (this depends on the dollar and nothing else to be honest), people come here for the AUSTRALIAN things they can do. Just look at Richard and Megan's trip at the start of the year - sure it was filled with parks, but they killed themselves to get those 'classic aussie' moments in. When our parks don't rank better, the international crowd may just decide their limited time in our country is better spent on things that are uniquely australian.

I'm with you on all coaster aspects - total agreeance - except for Mine Train. It has quite a few nice pops, and the location is what really makes that ride. HKDL is what you wanna look forward to - I enjoyed everything thoroughly, however i feel fantasyland needs more to keep one busy. Iron Man will be a good addition, but in order - Space Mountain, Mystic Manor, and then Grizzly would have to be my personal favourites.

Yay bullnose roof!

^that may be true, but given the heritage listings for the site, nothing would happen to the site if it were to shut down. i'm not sure if the developer that operates the park has actually 'paid' for the land or whether it's some sort of trust... but LPS shouldn't be the yardstick for other parks. I don't believe Wonderland 'never' made a profit - but i agree margins would have been slim. the lack of investment by sunway was ultimately what led to it's demise. As for the cynicism - Ammar's dream is big, and he's driving everything to try and make it happen. he needs more experts in the field, as the current imagery is lacking - but with enough money and the right people he can make it happen. It was originally viewed as a publicity stunt by a guy running for parliament - however the dream and the concept of the park has been around a lot longer than that, and it didn't die quietly when the elections were over... so that is something...

The thing to remember is that these rooms are for a small group, and each one takes time to go through - the rides do hundreds of people per hour... so do the mazes. the panic rooms wouldn't achieve anywhere close to triple digits - but it still requires staff to man - so they are going to be an expensive addition. They're a great idea, but the cost of putting them on has to be passed on to the punters experiencing it... unless everyone going to FN wants to subsidise it with an increased ticket price... whether they use it or not... User pays is totally suitable, and i'm fairly confident that the price will drop if it doesn't prove popular... but i'm fairly confident that it will.

Allow me to translate: If that's all you want to say, that's fine. I'm just very curious about how our local parks and events are viewed, in comparison to other parks and events globally (ie: around the world). As you can probably guess, your statement really struck a chord with me.

Wednesday is a good day for OP - try to get there early... the busloads don't normally arrive until closer to 4pm.

Tower of Terror's original quoted cost: $16 Million Not outside their standards, but definitely at the high end. given their recent cash splash, one could read two things - they have no money for anything else because they've spent it all on the little things, or;they're aiming for a long term improvement, and accept that it's not good enough to install big rides - but also to maintain the rest of the park, and in that case they're going to do both.I'm hoping for option 2.

I really hope they're going to work some magic to make the new roof at least resemble the old roof - bullnose edging rather than flat...

I guess I was moreso referring to the 'ride rotation' that is common amongst Six Flags chain parks for instance - it may not be a 'new' coaster, but it is 'new' to the park. Asides of which - dropping $25 million on a coaster (Gatekeeper) after $21m on Maverick - and with Valravn coming only 3 years later (cost as yet unknown) suggests at least $60m over 10 years. You make a good point, I guess we're just used to the 'annual' announcement of Six Flags - but of course noting that they don't always go into the same park.

Yeah ok we got that... and i'm sure the parks do to - hence why we've had: Dreamworks ExperienceWiggles World > ABC KidsJunior Driving SchoolWnW Jr.SW's Nickelodeon expansionKids are covered... let's move onto the thrills....

:sigh: We have covered this. Roller coasters are what brings people to the park in general. By my count, Dreamworld has 5 coasters - BS, Cyc, ToT, EFM and MDMC. Out of those, I think we're all fairly universal in our opinion of MDMC. EFM suits the younger market for a kiddie coaster, BS is a one-trick pony and ToT, whilst classed as a coaster, really is a one trick pony as well. Cyclone really is the only true full circuit coaster they have. Movie World has RRRC, GL, SE and AA... and in comparison - RRRC is not as good as EFM, but SE vs. ToT, In my opinion SE wins out - theme, experience, full circuit. GL beats MDMC hands down and AA vs. Cyc will all come down to personal opinion - but given the recent comments on the favourite coaster thread, I'd be inclined to say AA wins... so the only spot where Dreamworld is taking the cake is with their Kiddie Coaster. Since MDMC in 2007, DW has added only Buzzsaw as a coaster, and that was in 2010. It's a long draw - but considering american parks see coasters every year, or at least every other year, DW should see a coaster at least every 5 years. Shockwave isn't going to draw a crowd. TailSpin won't either. I've just asked my colleagues what they think the last ride installed at dreamworld was, and they were all unanimous - BuzzSaw. This is an issue for the park - firstly - that nobody knows what they've installed in the last five years, and secondly - further proof that coasters are what people pay attention to. As for walk through attractions - theres a reason why a bounce house and a maze are some of the first rides you can build in RCT. They're crap, they're low capacity, and they don't belong in a park that aspires to be a 'world class park'. Heck - even Jamberoo removed their maze. We all know you like immersive dark rides and exuberantly themed attractions - but walk throughs are not going to draw a crowd. I do agree Dark Rides are great - but how much fanfare did JL3D get? virtually none. Many people don't even realise it is there, as all the signage facing main street is for GL and Batwing. DW also don't really have space for a 'dark ride' showbuilding in their current footprint - if the studios are resumed, they could put something there, but it's in the wrong area of the park to do something easy - goldrush style attractions aren't simple, and although WWF is going strong, it's getting on in years. Overseas the technology we're seeing is with space aliens, transformers and the like. No - dreamworld needs a full circuit coaster - by all means with a great theme - take Superman Escape as an example of how this can be done well. It may be worthwhile them considering something on the old thunderbolt land behind WWW - but thats only if it doesn't upset the tigers.

i'd like to think they'd do something with a V8 supercars racing theme...

Shitty concept art done in a 3D design program as filler on a website is not indicative of real world construction. The imagery being used (over and over again) is the same imagery from when Ammar was just a guy with an idea. Sure they could update it, but how about we wait and see if they secure some land (the next step). Once land is secured, they'll have an idea of what size the park can be, and then they'll start with some more concept art designed to fit the actual land they get. And yes - since the original announcement, we've seen WnWS, and the announcement for the zoo. This means western sydney is forming a cluster of parks - just like the GC has. Although it will mean competition - it will also make the area a destination, meaning more people are likely to visit the area, because there is more than one thing to do, and this means they're likely to stay longer, and do them all. This is not something that's going to happen tomorrow. I have it on good authority the funding announcement is legit, and the money is there. Land purchase won't be hard - what will be is getting the necessary government approvals for the usage of the land. After that it won't take much to break ground. Time will tell.

Meh. Yes it looks like what universal has done, but as pointed out, both have logos of a globe, with their name wrapped around it. wouldn't be the first time one park franchise has copied an idea from another. won't be the last. At least dreamworld is trying to improve themselves.

It would be wonderful if we could search for existing threads for these things rather than create a new one every time. Although being from February I must admit It took me all of 8 seconds to search for "Sydney's Wonderland" - I don't know how I find the time... I realise the site doesn't do much for their image, but I have a feeling that for the very reasons cited above - that Ammar Khan isn't letting go of the idea, he'll eventually find his way towards backers or otherwise who pick it up and run with it. It's the Pantene effect.