DaptoFunlandGuy

Gazza, wash your mouth out! I'm leaning on the "Testing the waters" theory. It is true you'd always want something happening in the studios, but if the movie is a WB\VR partner production, who says they need to bump out the day they finish shooting? If the soundstage isn't required for another film, why can't they leave the set up for a while? I recall the last time I went on the studio tour (back in 1994) one of the soundstages just had a big spread of mannequins with authentic costumes from big blockbusters of the day. Some animatronic figures (such as one of the gremlins) were also set up there. Some of the matrix mini sets and costumes from the matrix exhibit, harry potter - you could ensure there was always SOMETHING to view - who cares if they don't change it for a while - only the locals and regulars would notice, and thats no worse than the same stunt show running for 15+ years.

Well, I'm going to look towards Gazza to provide the stats on how often Mattcrombie has been right - i've got a feeling its a high percentage, but Gazza is the master of finding old threads and topics - so i'll await his opinion, but thanks for the insider Matt - I can't wait.

Two questions - What is a Cust? ...and how do you COT it? At the end of the day, if you can get it for free, why pay for it? We recently rolled out a screen capture program across several thousand computers - and at the end of the day, the program we chose was an unlimited trial - No purchase necessary, no restrictions, no locks - nothing. There is the option to buy the license, but only if you want it to capture full time, not just when you press a button (as in like a security type thing). We use it to capture screen shots when troubleshooting an issue at remote sites. So to movie world - if the author of the program made the functionality of the PDF creator work for your needs without the need to buy a license - GREAT! A few extra bucks in the pocket towards other - let's admit it - more important things.

If I remember correctly, wasn't MW doing shuttles to PC at one stage? couldn't this be it? Or maybe this is the start of some sort of local park hopper - maybe between SW Resort and MW\WNW?

^^^ Except it won't hire a locker for you.

Good to have confirmation, but i think many of us worked that out from TipsyBella's comments a while ago. I'm glad to see they're going with 4. 1 would have been a waste IMO, with queues wayyyyy too long to be worth it. 4 is a good number and will keep the people pumping through nicely. Hopefully, they will all feed out of the same queue, unlike the whitewater mountain (i think that's the name) where there are four different slides with four different lines at the top of the hill. Any speculation on where it will go? Hoping they do something with the terror canyon space, but it's probably likely IMO to go over near Kamikaze.

^^^ Agreed, however they would have to take over part of the carpark to do anything more. They can't built backwards, WB kids is walled in on that side, and while the studios do have spare space, I would think they might just need a little buffer zone between the studios and the noisy attractions. I know it's easy to filter out background noise but its an easier job to do if you're not intentionally causing it.

That must have been REALLY early in the morning - there's barely a person in sight, theres 50 or less cars in the carpark, and the shadows on everything are so long. Thats a nice website Gazza, and by the looks of it - updated more frequently that google maps.

I don't deny an organiser is entitled to suitable profit for their efforts in organising the event - As i've said, I do some work in event management, so i'd be pretty hippocritical if I did. I think my issue was moreso with the margin that appeared to be involved. Realistically, for that money, anyone could organise this event for them and 70 of their closest friends. I could do it for the guys in my office and make a nice hefty sum out of it, simply because I made the phone calls and signed the contracts. I think give or take it worked out about $30pp profit, or $2100 for a one day event, plus the organiser would have their own free ticket out of the deal as well. Now Rob and Elissa would have their own free ticket, but to be fair, there are a lot more phone calls, and a lot more people to deal with (a coordinator for every park, bus\coach, hotel and so on). I also wouldn't imagine that they would be taking a 23% profit margin out of the deal. The costings they offer, and the inclusions provided, I can't imagine that (on a per person basis) they would be taking over 20% profit - their trips wouldn't be affordable. (And with the number of trips, and number of people, they can would easily afford to have a lower margin) Of course, I could be wrong, but only Rob and Elissa could really supply that information, and Rob is rarely around, unless theres something from TPR he needs to plug.

The family scored Sea World the same as Dreamworld - 10/10 across the board. The teens didn't, for obvious reasons, so i think Sea World did well out of that - because families are their main demographic. Dreamworld the same - Thrills are what they try to market, so getting the teens vote is easy. The family one I was a little shocked over, but considering Nickelodeon and Wiggles, the younger kids didn't do too badly out of it. Surprisingly, while voting DW as the best park, MW got voted the best coaster in Superman (and mick doohan didn't get a look in). While the investigation is great, it is obvious the parks went all out for the film crew's visit - MW had street performers playing up for the camera all the way down mainstreet - so of course the parks controlled what they actually got to see and do, and were very accomodating to the film crew. Queuing wouldn't have been an issue either, which is a problem. These guys would have had the attractions without queues, obviously because the film crew had most attractions rigged with cameras - so I ask - how would they rate it if they visited without a film crew and had to wait in line all day? We also featured the Q4U, and as we all know, on a busy day, a Q4U is almost a necessity at Dreamworld, however, not so much at the other parks? WWW also rated higher than WnW I think... Obviously all parks gave their best to cooperate with the film crew, and i guess it's possible just the cynical view I've come to have about DW that I look for reasons to disbelieve the stats (but this isn't necessarily an undeserved cynicism at DW either) . At the end of the day, all the parks were well represented, with two or so attractions from each park featured. Each park had about the same air time, and if it helps to increase the tourism dollars flowing through them, i'm all for it. One thing I am disappointed in is that the start of the story promised to give info on the best deals, or best value park, and the only info was to give the Dreamworld.com and myfun.com websites. I would have thought they'd tee up a "special offer for ACA viewers". At the end of the day, nothing will draw me back to Dreamworld until they install a decent, worthwhile attraction. I'm not just talking a coaster, but just something that isn't designed to milk guests of every dollar, and is actually installed with some thought to theming, capacity, and overall experience, instead of going right to the bottom line.

Yes, but it isn't an EXTRA hour for all staff - the cleaners and street washers and maintenance crew would START an hour earlier - and therefore FINISH an hour earlier. As to the maintenance crew, depending on what order they do it (because you don't have a separate crew for each attraction) you just change the order - so instead of doing Superman last.... do it first! no extra time required! I seem to recall the wonderland maintenance crew started around 5 or 6 in the morning, so if this is a similar situation for MW - just get em to do the rides you need first... the only additional costing would be the overtime (25% extra pay) to those starting early, and the extra full hour's pay for the operators.

Rappa, I understand where you're coming from, but this is a common thing across many industries. As you say, at overseas parks, it is commonplace to do such things restaurants close to the public when hired for a private booking i've been to bowling alleys that close when someone hired more than 75% of their lanes for a private booking. school groups that hired Cables waterski park in penrith had it to themselves certain celebrities close down a lot of a hotel's facilities because they want private use of the gym, pool, sauna etc i used to take my dogs down to penrith regatta centre for a walk and a swim every afternoon, but when it was hired out for a school rowing championship, or some other sort of event, I had to pay to enter the centre, when all I was doing was walking the dog! I do understand your point from a PR perspective, but seriously - take it in from the AVERAGE guest's point of view: I arrive at 10am to buy my tickets. The ticket booth attendant draws my attention to the sign on their window that says "Please Note: Superman Escapae will be closing at 4pm for a private function". I go, "ok, I guess i'll just have to ride it before 4pm then." As a guest, I am slightly disappointed that it won't be open all day, but it IS still open, and therefore I DO get to ride it. It is better than if the ride were closed for maintenance, where I wouldn't get to ride it at all. It's like the forever argument we have about theming. We moan and whine about the tiniest detail of theming that is off, but for the most part, do the guests notice? And if they do, do they care? For the most part, No. And American parks DO lockout during park hours. From what I read, it happens a lot for ACE and TPR, so why is it so different for Australia?

Nathan there is a problem in your math - the all day ticket pricing - your price is RRP, not group discount rate. For 70pax, WVTP would offer a group discount. I've no idea how much, and in my example above I gave a 30% discount. I based this figure on the price I paid when attending wonderland with my school, which is the only group discount i've ever had at a park. With a $50-$60 one-day ticket, we paid $16, which is between 70-75% off. Obviously this is a little too generous, so the 30% seemed like a good middle ground, and not too unreasonable. So with your attractions figures, $45 for SE, my group discount is another $43. I said $10 for a shirt, but it would really depend on the quality of the shirt and the printing, so lets go with $7.50 to split the difference. We've got $95.50. There's $39.50 left out for your venue fee, and considering the event would have purchased "all day" passes as well, i can't see the venue price being much more, since it would be before park opening, rather than after, and therefore most things that would normally be done for an event would be the usual opening day stuff, just done an hour earlier (+ the breakfast, which on normal continental catering would cost about an extra $4 per person, or $99.50 in total) I'm interested in seeing if MW would lockout some ERT during park hours - like the last hour (or the first) of the day for an attraction - this way, the park is open and staffed, there is no additional costs to the park, other than the ordinary running costs (maybe an extra cast member or two to control admission into the "exclusive" area). Attendees to the ERT make their own way into the park with daily or annual passes, and are granted exclusive use of the attraction for an hour. The park simply posts signage at the entrance (like they do when attractions are down unexpectedly, or for maintenance - to say "Superman Escape will close at 4pm today for a private function" ), and that way, guests are aware of the downtime, they have the opportunity to ride - just a little earlier in the day, and no-one can really complain when they were made aware of the closure before they accepted the terms and conditions of entry by passing through the turnstile. This way, no extra hours, extra maintenance, extra staff or security, no need for a food and bev package (your attendees are most likely going to eat in the park anyway). And they can charge a fee for the ERT to those attending (which would likely not be the $135 proposed here). We seriously need a public advocate out there to get the same treatment in Aus parks that ACE gets in USA ones....

Good shots there Rappa. It's been a while since I paid close attention to the corkscrew station - that metal work (cross beams etc) looks like it's new.... is it?

For those that have become immediately lazy upon Richard's announcement (like me)

As to the clearance, I don't see that these trains are in any way more elevated - it just looks like the sides have been cut away, so to speak, so i can't see there being any further clearance issues. It will be enough. Here's hoping theres some money left in the budget for the attraction, and they do decide to splurge on something to jazz it up a bit - Dark corkscrew anyone? (yes ok - impossible given it's proximity to jet rescue - but SOMETHING would be nice... what about a CaliScreamin tunnel near the loop?

It is actually a pretty good choice - low outlay ($170rrp approx), lamp (globe) cost is minimal (500 hours for about $3.50. Costwise, that's pretty good, but for best results, you'd have to consider coverage, and theming. To cover off the station, you'd need about 6-8, but to maximise it's effect, you would have to black out the station, which IMO wouldn't be too bad. Black out the whole station and walkway, and install fish tanks along the walk way, with educational details etc fitting around the sea world conservation theme (like jet rescue does - sort of). By blacking it out, the lighting really does have a great effect, and the initial "drop" out of the station could also be shrouded until you go under the bridge - themed to a blowhole or sinkhole or something, with appropriate sound effects. Not blacking out the station would mean the effect of the lighting would be minimal at best.

Actually i'm not sure a Gobo is the correct term for a water-shimmer effect. Sure, two rotating patterened gobos can give the effect, but a lot of the water effect devices out there tend to use oil wheels and other such effect - and I don't know if they're actually a "gobo" From: Typical "Water Effect Projector" Also From: (You will need to search for the item "AquaSplash" So the aquasplash doesn't actually use a wheel of any sort, but actually relies on the reflector built into the globe to create the effect, and the globe itself is actually rotated to give the shimmer effect, in multiple colours (the "red" light is used for a fire effect) I'm sure there is probably a set of gobos out there to create a shimmer effect (and I know AOS utilises gobos in the "Rain scene" to increase the effect of the water falling from the ceiling) but for a blue water, moving shimmer effect, a wheel, or dichroic globe is your answer, and not usually a gobo in and of itself.

looks similar to the SE trains. Different OTSR, but relatively the same seating position.

Good to hear, and good luck!

I'm with you Gazza - iPod, Laptop, Media Centre, Car.... i travel with some of these wherever I go... Of course the entire Wonderland Park instrumentals (you'd think in all the time I worked there, I would get sick of it - but it's strangely comforting - I suppose from all the good memories I had). 'Le Carnaval des Animaux' by Camille Saint-Saëns is the main element in the soundtrack of my absolute all time favourite attraction (pre-refurb) - 10 bonus points to the one who names which ride and park this one is from... Scooby Doo - MXPX I could be happy - Altered Images (another wonderland one) Spybreak - Propellerhead (show intro PA announcement for millennium magic) Wake Up - Rage Against the Machine (show intro for millennium magic) When You Wish upon a star (the original Disney closer from pinocchio - don't know the artist) Tiki Tiki Tiki Room - Hilary Duff (remake) Grim Grinning Ghosts - (don't know, but I think Bare Naked Ladies did a remake) Zip A Dee Doo Dah - (Splash Mountain Version, not song of the south) Yo-Ho (pirates of the caribbean - don't know artist, but i love the curse of the black pearl version too) Yep - mainly disney and our local parks, but rarely am I far without at least one of them. Tiki Room, Carnival, and I could be happy are on prime rotation though. On a side list, ones I don't consider "strictly" theme park are the movie themes used in attractions - Batman, Superman, Back to the Future, Gremlins, Police Academy....

I did actually see this last friday when I was there. For those familiar with wonderland (or any ekka\easter style show) it's called High Striker. It's a standard carnival\strongman attraction (I wouldn't be surprised if it IS the one from wonderland, it looked pretty similar). Standard sideshow games. Obviously the games at MW are working well and they've decided to branch out. It's not really an "upcharge" attraction, just a sideshow game. Win a prize style thing. For those that haven't seen these things at the easter show \ ekka etc, here's what the base looks like. Can't find a pic of the top. Also attached - you tube video - gives you an idea of the sounds. For those of you who went to wonderland - you could hear Striker down by snowy if it was a clear and quiet day. i hope WnW tone down the volume, because that thing is damn noisy. Looked like they were having electrical problems with the head (score) unit - they had sparkies there working on it in a cherry picker.

From memory, Casey the Clown was a Tony Laffan character, and I don't think it lastest much beyond when Tony's contract ended. He still takes Casey on the road occasionally. It was a few years ago now, but he performed at the australia day celebrations at penrith regatta centre. I think he and Casey Laura (his current assistant) had taken on a large stage act contract a while ago, but i think it ended recently. Not sure what he's doing now. I'd love to see him open a spellbinding sorcery style show at DW or MW... I always loved the millenium magic show, even though I knew half the secrets. As to the other characters - it seems characters are getting phased out all over - you don't see many characters these days at the parks, except for "face" characters at MW (and scooby). The parks need more wandering characters, IMHO.

Good find Joz. I'd never seen Lasseter in it's original form - my first visit was during the lassester's tear down. Oh My God, was Jackie McDonald in just EVERYTHING in the 80's? "Many of them are very rare - like this little fellow" (it's a clown fish.... the most popular damn fish in aquariums these days...)