DaptoFunlandGuy

Jordan, it has all the hallmarks, but something's 'not quite right' for me. Bussy would be the better person to question... the S and the P look 'close' to what they should be, and the dome is roughly right - but the 7 looks wrong, and overall it just doesn't seem to come together right. Given 7's involvement in the development of the attraction, i'd think something so "front and centre" as the uniform would have nailed the 7 logo perfectly... this hasn't. I have seen a different patch, which was just SP7, rather than 'S7P'... but it's hard to say. by the time I got familiar with wardrobe, the 7 logo had been stripped from the ride so it would have been different anyway.

*cough* insurance job *cough*... No. I don't really mean that. it's a possibility though - the park is growing and the castle looks like something out of the Pirate Movie... it probably needed to go either way... at least this way they might get some money to fund another expansion...

As I recall, the first round VIP pass didn't include fright nights - it was something they decided to do when fright nights rolled around. Sure - it boosted numbers, but at what cost? When Gold was first released - we upgraded immediately. We paid the extra because we saw the value. They've cheapened that value now by offering the free upgrade. Even with our 'gold' passes (now held by about 90% of the people in the park) we still bought fast track. I went on Friday, and in two and a half hours we got one coaster, all 4 mazes, a sit down dinner, all of carnevil and Space Cowboy... in other words - everything that isn't 'normal' about a day-visit to the park (except the coaster). We were on the road at 8:30 (and promptly pulled over for a young idiot with too much power under his foot who had lost his car off the verge of the northbound onramp). So my only experience of fright night was pretty much without queues. We timed our entry to Carnevil perfectly so there was no queue to get in, and we left right on time at the end of the show to walk straight to the front ropes for space cowboy. We also ate dinner a little later at gotham after the crowds were gone without much of a queue (side note - the burgers have gotten much better - i'm tempted to complain about the really small size of the peri peri burger - but we can't have it big and nice at the same time without upping the price so i'm just really impressed with the quality of the small burger I got). Given this experience - I still say there were way too many people in the park - and this is coming from someone who did not have to wait in a single queueline for anything except two people ordering food in front of me which took all of 30 seconds. It's one thing to have that many people in the park, with all 'lands' open, and all rides running at full capacity in peak season, it's another thing to have the overall 'floor area' diminished by the loss of wild west and WB kids (sound stages don't make up for that loss IMO), and still have a peak-season crowd in the park, in the dark, with blinding fog and harsh (or no) lighting in some areas - its just downright dangerous. Despite the complaints of the fog, I found it to be a little too much only in two places - the alley to the soundstages (I think the plastic blood-sheeting prevents the breeze from dissipating it) and in the middle of mainstreet (I think it's just a little too sheltered) - but even then, it wasn't much, and was only for a moment before it began to clear, so overall not something I would complain about personally... but when you combine it with the number of people in the park, along with the extreme darkness (eg: soundstage alley next to arkham's load station) and the blinding lights down mainstreet, these three issues begin to cause a hazard, and it's only a matter of time before someone does a serious injury. That said, I am confident I can now repeat my previously stated opinion, and include 2013 in that opinion, when I say that MW has, once again, improved on their fright night experience in leaps and bounds over previous years, and I urge everyone involved to take the experience (and the extra cash from FastTrack) and throw it into their next big event to make it better than ever before. Edit: I want to restate my opinion on age limits for this thing - we saw families with children barely old enough to be out of a stroller, and witnessed a conversation between a mother and a child under 10 (both of whom had a fast track), with the mother cajoling and encouraging the child to come to the next maze because she had paid for the fast track and wanted to do all four. The boy did not want to, and even said to his mother "you're forcing me to go". I believe they'd just come out of hillbilly slasher (which was probably the best in my opinion for scares - and that lady at the entrance to the house gets better every year), and the mother wanted to do darkness. they hadn't done WD or ED, and the kid was already too scared to do more. I think the best way to age limit these things is to offer a cheaper VIP for under 14s that does not, and cannot receive a fright night entry. the adult ticket should get FN & WC, and the under 14s only WC. Make it cheaper, and all the parents will lie about their children's ages to get the cheaper ticket - and then they won't have a 'free fright night ticket going to waste' because it isn't included.

'only a teen' doesn't excuse you from making an effort. As Wyn suggested, unless the dress code has been specifically stated, try to go with something a little better than a t-shirt and chinos... For example: Try a collar. It's much more presentable. Polo shirt is good, button-down shirt is better, Business-type button down that has been well pressed is best (with long sleeve obviously better ranking than short sleeve). Jeans or chinos are ok - but make sure they're properly ironed. A pair of linen slacks or trousers would be better - but as I said earlier - don't wear something you aren't comfortable in or it will show. Avoid a tie unless you're used to wearing it. Don't wear a tie with a short sleeve shirt unless you're trying to come across as a private schoolboy. At the end of the day though, while these are just my views after years of being on both sides of the interview table, I would expect MW would know their 'staff demographic' and recognise that they do hire a lot of young people, and that those young people don't always have the experience (or the wardrobe) to fit the status quo on interviews... but I still say it can't hurt to make an effort and show them you are willing to go that extra mile to get the job - because that shows you'll go the extra mile IN your job. If they list a contact phone number for enquiries, I'd suggest to call and ask them if there is a dress code without giving your name - they can't hold that against you if they don't know who you are!

Be yourself. If they don't hire you, you weren't right for the job. If they do, you may not last long once the real you comes out. Speak clearly and with confidence. It's ok to pause for a moment after you are asked a question to think about your answer. using phrases like 'hmm, thats a good one' or 'gee it's hard to pick just one' or whatever suits gives you a second or two to think about the question and word it appropriately. Unless the question starts with the words 'tell me about a time when....' then your answer should probably last for around a minute or 2. If you're talking longer than that - have you answered the question or gone off on a tangent? Since we're talking interview tips and techniques - heres another one - always pay close attention to how nice your shoes are. Anyone can get a suit dry cleaned and pressed, but most people won't expend the effort in giving their shoes a good polish - and it shows. I've interviewed people who showed up in immaculate suits and businesswear, but their shoes were grubby, scuffed and unpolished, and that was enough to turn me off them - they're willing to pay someone else to make themselves look presentable but they aren't willing to put the hard effort in themselves suggested to me they weren't motivated... but MOST importantly - polish them BEFORE you shower and dress, otherwise you risk getting polish on your hands, arms, or clothes! (and don't CHEAT and use the black 'paint' polish... get real polish and a polishing brush and do it right, otherwise the shine wears off quickly.)

Whilst I don't speak for any of the gold coast parks personally, you've got to remember that most parks are looking for people who can have fun, whilst still adhering to strict 'on stage' rules. The 'cast member' crowd is almost a fraternity, in many cases with some fairly wild shenanigans going on after hours when people let their hair down - but when it comes to being on stage, you're a performer. Many park recruitment exercises seem to forget this when they're looking to fill many positions, as they take on 'the best of the bunch'... but there might only be 5 who are actually suitable - the rest are just because they need the bodies. I can't really comment on Wyn's situation, but it seems a little weird that someone who knew the spiels so well wouldn't be successful. As for being pushy or impatient - one follow up call 2-3 days after the promised date is enough IMO. If they really like you that much, you'll find out quickly enough (as in Joz's case) Above all, present well, but don't be someone you aren't. If you don't normally wear a suit and tie, you will be uncomfortable during the interview and it will show - same goes for not having properly fitting clothes - collar too tight will make talking an effort and that will show also. When I was called for my Wonderland interview, they advised us to wear smart casual clothing we could move around in - i went with a nice polo and jeans, and given the interview technique, that was probably the best choice. a suit and tie would have been too restrictive for what they asked us to do. Insider tip: most people get nervous during interviews, and tend to sweat. Try to wear colours that don't easily show sweat marks. Whether it's understandable or not - nobody likes to see it, and it certainly can put a guest off seeing a cast member in that situation... if you do tend to sweat it in an interview - go with something discreet!

You say you're in Newcastle... long distance relationship?

This...

One thing to consider though - have we given them a good reason to try and make wait times better? In so many people buying maze fast passes, we've encouraged them to keep the lines as long as possible, as long wait times mean more revenue from those who want to skip the queue, at the expense of people who dont or can't pay the extra. I'm not saying this is something they've done intentionally to make money, but the revenue from these passes would not have a high cost against them - colour printed cards done in bulk by vista print, a couple of hole-punch devices, and a few queue rails organised differently (don't forget the inevitable A-frames). Implementing this idea hasn't cost more than $1-2k, and over 8+ nights at $30 (or $40) a pop, i'm sure they well and truly made a killing. I do sincerely hope that the extra revenue they've generated from the fast pass tickets is reinvested into the event next year and not just absorbed into central revenue, with the same budget attached to next year... if that makes sense?

But who is going to drive them? Bussy certainly isn't going to?

Everyone dumped on the bureau last year when they failed to provide sufficient warning of a hailstorm that hit the Brisbane CBD. Since then they (and other weather centres) have invested a lot of time, effort and money into forecast modelling. Watching the cyclones last year early this year was interesting as each model was predicting a vastly different outcome. But the closer we got to day zero, the more each of the models tended to agree with each other. Theres a reason the BoM releases a storm warning an hour or two out, and not three days prior - because things can change. These advance models are only estimates based on a range of factors. I will be extremely thankful if nothing eventuates out of it, but the facts are simple - it is storm season, and you don't have a storm season without a few storms. I'd much prefer them to put people on an alert level, prompt them to do things like clear gutters and secure outdoor furniture. Hell - i usually leave my upstairs windows open during the day to let the afternoon breezes in - but due to the warning, I closed them all in case the storms hit before i get home. As a member of the QLD State Emergency Service, believe me when I say we appreciate every minute of advanced warning we can get - it helps more households be prepared, and it also helps us to put our employers on notice 'a storm may be coming, I might need to leave work unexpectedly' so when they see us run out the door, they know why. Most of my colleagues (and bosses) look to me to give them info on storms because of what we do - but our information is no different to the rest of them - we just watch it a little closer.

Remember, in most cases they're looking for people who can make things fun. Answer the questions seriously, but always with a smile. When I went for my interview with Wonderland many years ago, they did it as a group. Split us up into groups of 4, gave us a random product to sell (none of which were easy) and asked us to come up with a high energy TV advertisement to sell the product - each of us had to speak for at least a minute. While we were brainstorming, one of the interviewers came around, heard us talking about taking the mickey out of Tim Shaw and his old Demtel ads - his eyes lit up and he told us 'yeah you have to use that'... 5 minutes of high energy fast talking about a book on australian native plants never sounded so good, and our group of 4 were the only group that all 4 of us got through to the next stage.

See that doesn't make sense to me. they're going to try a hallowe'en scare attraction, and debut it 2 days after the month is over? In my opinion, October is the month you can get away with Hallowe'en - they should have maybe had it last weekend as well. (Yes, MW is hosting a FN event on 1 November, but that was never planned, and only added due to the sell-out crowds they've had)

It's a great shot, but i'm disappointed you chose Greezed Lightnin over Montezooma.

One thing i'm wondering (and I really don't mean to be pessimistic) but are Perth park-goers less likely to damage queue lines? Or is it likely this awesome theming will be reduced to graffiti and broken foam in 6 months? (or worse yet - put behind bars). It's great that they've stood-off the queue rails a good distance, but in a long wait that won't discourage visitors from ducking the rails and picking playing with it... I hope they have some cameras in there...

thats pretty good if they're going to throw out an opening date this far in advance... Is that their official first public opening day, or just a suggestion? Do you think they may have a media day soft opening ?

That wasn't either of my suggestions. You can't lower capacity AND add more events without upping the price. Here are your choices: Leave everything exactly as it is reduce capacity, increase prices increase capacity, freeze prices Or if you really want to argue for them to put more attractions in that blow people away: increase capacity, increase prices End results for each option: People complain it's too crowded People complain its too expensive People complain it's too crowded, but theres an extra maze People complain it's too crowded AND expensive - but still go because they got a free ticket included with their VIP Gold pass. Twitter melts down over the number of 'FML' posts coming out of helensvale. VRTP decides the money would be better spent on alcohol for their staff christmas party - no more fright nights - all the staff rejoice.

But thats just it - thats the problem that DjRappa was talking about - (ok it's the opposite problem but still the same issue). If you add more mazes, you need to either up the price (to pay for it) or increase the park capacity (to sell more tickets at the same price to cover the cost). So your suggestion doesn't work - you still have to up the price, or alter the capacity to do anything. If you're talking about needing to add things to soak up crowds to reduce queue times, then you're agreeing that as the park stands, there are too many people for the amount of attractions present.

I saw the ad during the V8 broadcast, and the bottom left of the screen had the website " themeparkcapital.com " Except the site is actually " themeparkcapital.com.au " I'm not sure if that was overlaid by the V8SC team or if its a misprint on the ad, but either way someone's head is gunna roll...

Let me preface this by saying I haven't yet been this year. Was planning on going thursday night, but now that they've released another night on friday, I may end up going then instead. From my previous years experiences, I would happily pay a bit extra if they just capped the numbers. The numbers i've seen in previous years aren't TOO far from a happy medium... so i'm not suggesting a DRASTIC reduction to numbers, just a little bit. That said - they obviously ARE capping numbers (otherwise they wouldn't sell out) but it's just capped too high. (And it gives the wrong impression when they say sold out, but then sell tickets at the gate for a premium - I realise they are doing this to stop the website from committing to a sale when they reach capacity, and they have to charge more at the gate because of staffing costs etc.) I'd probably suggest around a 15% reduction to the current cap - maybe pushing 20%. I know it's comparing apples with formula 1 racing cars, but Universal's HHN go for $69. A standard ticket for FN is $39.99. I would love to see the sales figures for MW on how many full-price tickets are sold vs. how many are VIP passes with a free entry. I say this because theres no point trying to up the price of admission if the majority are freebies included with a standard ticket - another reason to advocate steptiering the VIP passes with different levels... if people want the cheap pass, they get no extras, and lockouts. If people want the big-kahuna, let em pay extra! An increase to the FN ticket of $15, and an increase to WC of $10 is needed. Then add another $20 to the price of a gold VIP pass, and don't make gold a free upgrade... (but make it $5-10 cheaper for gold holders that are renewing). This means the ticket price has been increased between 10-25%, but you've only reduced park numbers by 15-20%... overall it should balance out as I don't see the price differential to be drastic enough to make people shop elsewhere (because where are they going to go, realistically?) That said, the feedback i've heard so far is pretty good this year - the biggest complaint is that there is too much fog (is that possible?) so perhaps turning down the timing or duration would save some bucks. Environmental wise, i think the level of lighting through the park is mostly fine (Showstage area could use a little more), so what they really need to do is cut down on some of the entertainment - realistically I don't know a lot of people who go for the street show, and given that they 'steal' maze actors to take part in the opening show it could probably be done away with as well. I'd like to see China Town Alley reused for a darkness-like maze, because it doesn't impact on scooby, doesn't cause confusion with the queues, and doesn't choke Dirty Harry Corner. I know its technically a back of house area, but the Dragon's Lair maze a few years back was perfectly suited to that area, and surely back of house could work around it? I want to go on record on the following points: I haven't seen this years efforts, but have been for the past 3 or 4 years I think MW improve FN every year, and I think each one is fantastic and better than the last. I understand the financial economic responsibilities, you can't have your cake and eat it too - it needs to make a profit for it to be worth it. i'd love to see them reduce the numbers (slightly) and charge a little extra (slightly more) to compensate. At the same time i'd like to see a little less money spent on things that aren't essential (like the opening show street show) and put any savings made towards better arena shows and mazes.

I stand corrected. In my mind, they all looked like this: Having just gone back and looked at some of the other shots of some of the statues already installed, I can see the statues with their arms reaching out, so i'll say props to the artists, the paintwork is realistic enough to fool someone in a photo, they'll work pretty well for people flying by at high speed...

I've found that the 'long gaps without scares' work well - if you go through the mazes with scare after scare after scare, you hear them ahead of you and you anticipate it. When you walk through for a while, you get the feeling theres a scare coming, but not sure what, or where, it builds fear, and makes the sudden shockscare even worse. That said, when we went through HS last year, we were at a point where there were no scares, and the anticipation on another scare coming kept building and building until... we walked out the exit without any other scare... that was a bit disappointing... As for kids - it's my biggest pet peeve for HFN - they tried with warnings about unsuitable content last year but it didn't work. The problem is there is no differentiation in VIP passes between adults and children, so those with FN tickets included (gold) which were all upgraded for free anyhow, want to use them - because they're free. So just like when you see an adult carrying a child onto a ride that they are obviously too scared to go on, and watching the adult force the child on - this is exactly the same with FN, because the adult doesn't want to have wasted the time queueing free ticket. Even if it's the same price, they shouldn't issue an 'adult' VIP pass to children who would qualify for a child's ticket if they paid for a one day entry. ID should be required and anyone who meets the admission criteria for 'child' should have a slightly different VIP ticket - even if it's $5 less, that doesn't include fright nights.

didn't they throw out (as in use the name) corroboree ages ago? And wasn't the media release (several months ago) talking about it being cultural and traditional?

Yes, I was the big man, who attacked from behind a keyboard by making a tongue in cheek comment to the guys who had been critical of him, and then provided Zacsta with a google map link that answered his question. Gazza misunderstood my tongue-in-cheek comment, so I explained it. My comment referred to Laziness as a debilitating illness - or a disability. I didn't say he was disabled, I said he must have had a disability that prevented him from googling it himself. If being called Lazy offends him, perhaps he should try google before asking a silly question. If he was prevented from googling something himself, then it must mean he is impaired in someway - simple as that. So slip out of the saddle and dismount that high horse of yours. You've made three bloody posts on this forum and one of them is to tell me off for having a bloody joke? You obviously don't know me well enough to pass comment. I still helped him, which is more than anyone else has done so far. Personally I wouldn't recommend the walk, and suggest a bus or taxi from blacktown station. As for how to get there, trains run from wollongong to central, upon which a western line transfer will be required to get him to blacktown. You can catch a blue-mountains mt victoria train which is an express train, and shouldn't take more than 45 minutes or so from central. I had a look at timings for this weekend just as a guide, and you could get a train arriving at blacktown just before 10am, but you'd be leaving wollongong station at 7am. Unfortunately this weekend isn't a great example due to trackwork, so a weekend without trackwork would probably decrease the travel time from 3 hours to something a little more reasonable. You can do this yourself at www.131500.info by using the trip planner. Once the bus services to WnWS are set up and have timetables, these will probably be added to this page also. As for the others spouting how helpful the american theme park forums are should try whining at people like Robb Alvey about things they don't like on TPR and see what his response is... usually its something along the lines of GTFO. So don't attack me for being negative and unhelpful when i'm the only one who actually provided answers. Simply because I had an laugh about the absurdity of it at the same time doesn't make me the bad guy - the request WAS absurd.

I want to be clear I was never trained as a BB op. Those experienced operators like Daniel or Bussy would be the ones to ask. I only ever hung out after my shift finished (while still in uniform) with some of my friends in Ops and they occasionally let me push the buttons... they of course would tell me when what to push, so there wasn't any danger of accidentally screwing something up. I also want to be clear that this wasn't 'manual' operation as such - the block system was still in full operation - the train simply would not advance until the operator was ready for it to do so - which was signalled by the operator holding the button - also a dead-man switch in a way as if you stopped holding the button, the train would stop wherever it was. I am pretty sure from memory that if train 2 came into brake run, and station block was occupied by train one, holding down the brake release did nothing until the station block was clear. If you continued holding the brake release and the dispatch button down (holding both brake sets open), as soon as station block cleared, the brake run would release train 2. I'm also fairly certain that the station block would not allow train 2 to exit station block until train 1 had cleared the lift hill block. I'm not sure on the block arrangements between lift hill and brake run. I know that the trim brake could potentially have been programmed as another block, but from memory, I don't think train 2 would dispatch until train 1 had entered the brake run. As far as I know, if it was run in FULL MANUAL mode (which was generally only used by maintenance to add or remove train 2), the blocking system was totally overridden. The block indicators would still light up to indicate where the trains were, but it would not stop you from causing a collision (i think it did have an alarm to warn of one though). Thats as far as I could remember with the limited info I have, and it could be incredibly wrong. I'll look to Bussy for confirmation. If it eventuates into a nice little discussion we can always split it off from the thread, but I think the thread topic has gone as far as it could given the subject matter, so why not let it devolve?