DaptoFunlandGuy

Since they've already trialled the process at WnW GC, and have, to a degree 'ironed out the kinks', i'd suggest they're likely to make it available on a whole array of their bigger attractions, because they have been able to design queues and gates with that in mind, whereas the GC has had to ad-hoc it on rides they could work around in. Pricing based on height is reasonable, so long as the array of attractions that become available at the 110cm mark is the full adult range... Perhaps they should have a pricing based on height AND weight - because a 7 year old 110cm kid is probably going to be too light to ride aqua loop... and that's why it's fairer to have an age based pricing.

To be fair, they've been pretty flat out putting this thing together. We've seen them handling 'themed rock castle wall' facade... I haven't seen it outside anywhere as yet - we don't know whats inside the shed, but we're still a little while away from opening - plenty of time for additional things to be set up around the shed.

(Those of you that know me know i will sometimes come up with a long response. Some of you don't like reading more than a paragraph. For those of you who wish to do so - continue scrolling now - the bullet points are probably all I needed to say.) I too remember the toll booths at Wonderland but I think that was a throwback to the American park model, with massive sprawling parking lots, and shuttle buses that took you to the front gate as it was such a long walk. I also remember that those booths were removed somewhere around the year 2000. Wonderland's biggest problem there was that most people had to drive there, because the public transport arrangements were pathetic, and pre-purchased tickets didn't include parking fees, which was an unpleasant and unexpected surprise for many first time visitors. Hopefully WnWS has a much better arrangement with local bus companies, and perhaps connection to Blacktown, rather than Rooty Hill or some other backwater station. I don't know that paid parking would have been mandated by the relevant government authorities. I certainly know the relevant authorities would have insisted on sufficient parking being available... I see the 'payment' aspect simply being a way for the park to recoup some costs... They couldn't introduce it on the GC now because everyone is so used to having free parking, it would shock people to have to suddenly pay for the privilege, but a new park that sets it as the status quo, why not? It would certainly cut down on some of the chaos we see at WnWGC in summer - with people parking anywhere... grass, road verge... wherever they can. I think Sydney is more used to having to pay for certain things - paid parking is common, but the difference is the rates are usually reasonable. The operators installing it in Brisbane are moreso setting their prices to recoup costs of implementing it, and it's unpopular because nobody is USED to it up here... but with paid parking being installed at Chermside, Garden City and Carindale westfield centres, all reports suggest it hasn't impacted on revenue or visitation numbers... the only thing i've noticed as a visitor to both Chermside and Garden City on a regular basis is that parking is more commonly available in peak times (in other words, the turnover of cars every 3 hours is helping with parking availability - 3 hours is free so people rush to make sure they're out in that time). But I digress... Obviously WnWS isn't going to have a 3 hour turnover, so you're looking at all-day parking, with a limited number of spots, in an area (western sydney) that is renowned for scorching summers that will act as a magnet to the park in peak times. The 'pre-paid parking gold passes' have got me confused though - are they going to reserve a spot for each and every person who buys one of those for every day of the operating season? What happens if i'm a gold-pass parker, and i turn up at 3pm for a quick dip and there are no parking spots? All that aside - parking wise, I can see a lot of parents who will drop off their kids at the park (i'm condoning teenagers... not primary schoolers), so hopefully they have designed a good 'kiss-n-run' area that doesn't impede the flow of guests intending to park (like the GC does)... In summary, i'm all for the higher-priced ticket, the charged parking, and any and every other issue that has so far been raised. I'm happy for those penny-pinching people to say 'we won't be going'... GOOD. Less rude, obnoxious, poorly behaved brats in line in front of me (or pushing through the queue behind me) to dampen my day. I'm happy for the ticket price to be triple-figures - that means less self-involved people who feel that a ticket with a name like 'VIP' means that they are different and entitled to better treatment than the other 10,000 people who hold the same ticket. I'm happy for the paid parking - it will discourage people from abusing the privilege - such as those motorhomes and caravan tow-ers that take up two or three parking spaces on the GC, or those families with one child each, who take two cars, (or more) between families, when they could carpool and only take 1 van or tarago (if they had one). And all of these things mean the park is likely to be more self-sufficient and profitable, and far-quicker will it be able to expand and build new attractions, rather than stagnating after it's initial opening like WWW has. As for parking on the street - they can easily make the whole street a clearway Friday PM to Monday AM or something like that so that the industrial park workers have parking, but that the cops can make some revenue on the weekend. I guarantee there will be parking cops out there policing it and making a mint. And one last word on the public transport debate - but unlike the GC's Surfside buses, the blacktown bus company that would probably do the shuttle-runs aren't that well off, and most likely won't provide air conditioned buses. The worst thing about visiting a water park without your own car is sitting in a stiflingly hot bus, with sunburn, on vinyl seat covers that everyone sticks to. (because you don't send a bus with cloth seats to a water park, otherwise, the seats are constantly saturated, and the bus cannot be used for anything else. Public transport to a theme park is one thing, but for a water park, nothing beats getting back to the car wrapped in your sodden wet towel, and then folding the towel up over your car seat to sit on for the ride home in your semi-dry swimmers. </end rant>

I know it's kinda hard to come up with a storyline for a laser tag challenge where the 'bad guys' are just other guests from the park, but really - the setting is different but the storyline is IDENTICAL to last time. Hopefully the re-designed maze is enough for the attraction to last until the next re-theme.

Reading the full statement in context, i put that down to part PR spin, and part from the qualifying statement of 'world first' attractions. That, along with many water park staples going into the park is justifiable to say 'best' on the grounds of the newest and world first attractions. As far as biggest - if you count the greenspace and carparks, maybe they DO have the biggest land space... which would entitle them to say biggest... So while in a worldwide poll, (such as a hawker type poll) they probably wouldn't make 'best' by a long shot, it is a statement they could probably qualify if they had to.

Friend of mine was boarding in Brisbane last night with Virgin at 8:15pm.. flight was delayed - he boarded at 3am... so it's not always Jetstar thats the problem!!! At the end of the day, the biggest problem with doing a park the day you arrive is if anything goes wrong, you've lost the day to do that park... and if you're doing that, you probably don't have another day to fit it in - have a 'standby' day or a 'rain day' spare in your trip, and if something goes wrong with SW on day one, you can go back there on your 'rain day'...

Pretty sure I said that... Yep, I did.

Honest question - but where do Dreamworld have the space to put in a blockbuster without resorting to the carpark, or taking over Big Brother area that has been signed on with Ch9 for another couple years? Blue Lagoon comes to mind - but anywhere else would impact on the AWE... What could they fit into the BL space?

Bear in mind that WnW GC uses the catch phrase 'Biggest n Best' which is their marketing campaign against WhitewaterWorld - who were much newer, with some gimmicky slides, but a lot smaller. My guess is they're just continuing the branding of 'biggest n best'. I don't necessarily believe that they're saying 'in the world'

I think its really disgusting that Dreamworld will publicly delete all the comments made by people making criticism, and then reply to them privately. Dreamworld needs to make their replies public - what are they trying to hide?

You don't think almost a decade of Big Brother broadcasts AUSTRALIA-WIDE has made everyone aware of the existence of Dreamworld? And you think a piddly $15million joint advertising campaign will? More likely - with more money in Ardent's bank account, they can finally pay out a half-decent dividend to their shareholders, and install another mediocre flat ride to appease the masses.

Come on Gazza! A single metal stake won't hold those big statues! You have to use concrete sealer on them all the way to the ground!

I have just one question... Whatever happened to old Neb?

Maybe they have so many in case one of the statues falls over in the wind and the hollow concrete shatters, and they need to replace it?

If his profile is deleted, will it delete all of his posts?

Enough horn blowing RWC. What Jobe has posted is interesting, but no more rumour than the crap you came forward with a few months ago. I made a visit there several years ago with similar discussions had and similar details revealed. Until I see them start work on it, it's still just a rumour and nothing more. On a different note Jobe - the big thing to remember with the old railway is it used to be the only mechanised method of descending into the valley. Making it non-stroller friendly killed much revenue opportunity - so naturally they would accommodate it on the train. The Cableway (isn't it still called the Sceniscender?) Provides a better, safer option for the strollers, and therefore when they redesigned the train, they didn't allow for it because they had an alternative. Only issue I see is that now instead of having multiple options for strollers in case of maintenance or breakdown - now if the sceniscender breaks down, there is no option for strollers. As far as the cruddy weld, I'd say it's been hit nail-on-the-head... So long as the track is complete, the attraction structure is too... This coaster is stuff of legend, and i'm sure scenic world has already approached Katoomba council for permission to demolish and start again with modern technology and manufacture. I assume they're wanting to preserve some heritage idea of the coaster (holding a record for taking the longest time to open i guess only stands if it were actually to open one day?), but my guess is the same - they've done a dodgy weld job in order to keep it 'complete'

It really is the most bold-faced and shining example that theres no sense trying to prove a point and reason with this retard. Is there anyway we can set up a bot to 'autoreply' to any post he makes with two words ("you're wrong) and just leave it at that? then no matter what he says, he always gets a response that says he's wrong without anyone else having to waste their time on it? Better yet - Just set the forums to auto-delete? I'm sure theres a few things we could do. On another note - did anyone notice it started out as 'obviously the launch event tent' and ended as an 'event style tent'?

I thought the exact same thing... Although a few people made those suggestions, I think you're setting yourself up for failure with a name like that because (rightly or wrongly) comparisons will be made "that's not a rampage!" etc. I also think that VR haven't chosen it, regardless of any popularity in the name simply because it doesn't really fit - given the duality of the attraction - both relaxing and turbulent options, calling the entire attraction a 'rampage' doesn't paint the picture of a relaxing paddle in a gently flowing river... for both of those reasons, and i'm sure a few more I can't think of right now, it was right for them not to include that option as a finalist. Didn't Jamberoo have something called boomerang bay? Or was that Billabong Beach? All this aliteration (?) is doing my head in. I think the winner has to be The Lagoon... or perhaps that could be tacked onto by calling it 'the lagoon + rapids' or something?

An apt summation of Dreamworld, Mr Pin.

Well for starters it's indoors, and supposedly will have an immersive theme based on a miniature version of the entire park... as opposed to the two you refer to which are not.

Any word on the fate of the steam locos?

I think the trouble with Hallowe'en at Sea World is there are many locations where people under cover of darkness could cause mischief. The park is so strung out it is hard to have security keep a close watch on everything, and you risk things like contaminations to animal enclosures, people going swimming in the exhibits, and losing small penguins to the gold coast canals... They would need to contain any such event to midway coaster-zone... and thats still a big area to rope off - laneway between castle storm, ray reef, and the two pathways around ray reef... Nope. Our sea world is not suited to these type of events.

Who is Boone, and why is he different to everyone else who rides men in black. The thing you've got to take a look at is that Universal usually runs with long-running franchises that hold popularity long after the movie is out of the silver screen - they only just retired Jaws 2-3 years ago, and that was easily a 25+ year run. ET stood the test for a long time until it was replaced, as was Backdraft. In most cases, the hardware stays the same and the theme is changed, ala Back to the Future into The Simpsons in Hollywood. Universal seem to have a canny knack for replacing an attraction when the time is right. Disney doesn't need to do this as much as many Disneyland attractions never held a linked theme - such as the submarine voyage - until a suitable franchise came along. Peter Pan is more than a movie, its a book and something of folklore thats been around forever - of course it continues to have currency today. I forsee Universal will keep MIB around in Orlando until they're sure Will Smith doesn't need another Ferrari (decides not to make another MIB movie). As for attractions like Revenge of the Mummy, considering Orlando, Hollywood and Singapore all have slight variations on this immersive and amazing attraction (each of which improved on it's predecessor) I don't see that franchise leaving anytime soon. Even without the movies to back it up, it's still a solid concept that lends itself to an entire themed land in singapore. Having not been to Orlando, I can't speak from experience, but from what most others say - your opinion sounds like the odd one out. I'm not saying you aren't entitled to it, it's just at odds with others I've heard from is all. I guess my main point is that if an attraction is done well, and if it doesn't ABSOLUTELY hinge off the film in order to make it relevant, if it can stand on it's own as a solid attraction, then it doesn't matter if the film is 10 years old or 30. Memphis Belle was released in 1990, and was still very appropriate, and perfectly suited to the special effects stage at Movie World for the next 15 years, as a classic movie of the time. Lethal Weapon the same as the foley effects section of the same show - especially after tying in with the coaster. ( The irony that the superman special effects show (along with the other two) was removed in time to install a coaster themed to the same character - around the same time as a new film of that character was due for release is also an interesting side-track. )

Just on that picture - but it'd be interesting if the show building was still a hollowed out shell, if they considered using it for a scare-maze for hallowe'en... or even a walk-through scare maze such as the Evilution. I know it's in WB kids, and so not necessarily appropriate to the area, but surely they could adapt work around that? Unlikely, and probably impossible, but i'd like to see what they could come up with if they tried...

Well they're adding to an existing venue, which is cheaper than trying to build a new attraction out of the ground - people already know it's there and they're just adding to the things you can already do there. The outback splash isn't something that would attract people to the park far and wide if that is all that is there - imagine building that, and only that on a vacant block, even if it were positioned near a major arterial interchange? Just wouldn't bring in the numbers, which would mean the money would dry up before they could build the rest of it. Aussie World is a good example - what started out with very basic attractions, mini golf, ettamogah pub and a small collection of shops is slowly revamping and reinventing itself as a bigger destination - adding in more permanent and thrilling attractions as it grows. If Aussie world opened today with nothing but the funnel web (or is it redback?), they wouldn't pull in enough visitors for future expansion. The 'shadowed' layout of the future waterpark expansion looks like a well thought out concept - i hope they progress to building it.