DaptoFunlandGuy

*giggle* As an alternative - what about an LED wall? They're only about 8 inches thick, they matrix together pretty well as big as you like. They're not the clearest of image systems, but they'd be bright enough, no hassles for projection housings, and you keep all of your control systems behind the pool, out of the way. Not a bad idea - the only issue I see is obtaining relatively recent films to show in a DVD type format (but that wouldn't be too hard I presume?) One issue I can see is that unlike Village Roadshow - who themselves have access to a large array of popular movies - What kind of 'cheap' easy access would Ardent have? Lastly - Assuming that the rear of the pool isn't built to support the weight of the LED system - so a new structure would need to be built to house it? They could even hire it in just for the summer season - take a look at the LED walls they use on Australia's Got Talent... those things move on stage (sliding door style) so a static rig wouldn't be too hard??? Someone in the industry would have to fill me in on the cost differences between the LED and a projection system though...

Agreed 100%. The ride's name was out there well in advance of overt construction, rather than a guessing game. KFP as yet doesn't have a name, a concept... anything really... We know it's going to be themed to KFP - but thats all we know. This is supposed to be open by Christmas - we're in late september and still nothing is known.

Yes, all they need is a projector that can throw across a lit pool, a building to house it in, an upgraded sound system... hmmm... what else.... Maybe a projection screen?

Is it just me, or does it look like there are picnic tables in the whitewater mountain splashdown pool?

Easier to close the park at normal operating time, than open just the wave pool for movies - trying clearing that park without additional security. You can't just turn off the slides and send the staff home - Each 'area' still needs supervision to ensure people don't enter areas they aren't supposed to. In my opinion it's got to be all or nothing.

No - I don't think i'm forgetting anything... firstly - this is in summer - you can't accurately record an increase in numbers just because the movies are on - attendance goes up in summer because it's a waterpark! In recent times the movies have only been on frisat nights, which would be more popular with working families... Secondly - whilst you might entice people to the park specifically for the movie (say - late afternoon entry) how many of these are full-price-ticket paying guests, and not just passholders who are going specifically because it doesn't cost anything, they've had dinner before they got there, and it's just a cheap way to see a movie?

realistically - the money they would make would only be for food and beverage.... few people would be buying a ticket just for the night... and they still keep all the slides open and running... thats a lot of staff to pay, and only the food and beverage takings for people having dinner at the park (for those who don't duck out to mcdonalds) to pay for all of it - not to mention all the filtration systems, pumps, and power they're paying for...

I'm almost 100% the press release mentioned cloverleaf... but I may be confusing that with the Jamberoo announcements...

I wonder if theres a way they'll include the park as an upgrade to the existing VIP... I mean - they would know on their sales records the 'home address' of every VIP ticket holder - if they could see enough people interstate that own one, wouldn't it make sense that interstaters who already own a VIP might want to go there too? Although - depending on the wording, 'unlimited access to Sea World, Wet n Wild and Movie World' - nothing would say it has to be Wet N Wild GOLD COAST??? just speculating - i doubt that would wash... I'd definitely buy an upgrade to my VIP. We already have plans to go to WnWS when it opens (after the rush - in february), if I could get it for an extra $20... instead of a standard $39 ticket (or whatever it is - so long as its a bit cheaper) it'd be great. I'm not keen on buying a one-day ticket at the normal VRTP prices if I can help it.

...and then only on weekends. I was at wet n wild on the weekend, and I did notice all of the signage off the shelters around the pool (the ones that say Dive N Movies) as well as the large artwork on the projection building had been removed painted over... didn't occur to me at the time that they wouldn't be doing them... just thought they might have been redoing the signage...

Wow. That's deep. Talk about protecting your brand...

I agree with you Richard, which is why I said firstly that a substantial leeway should be permitted. Anyone leaving their property in a locker for over 2 hours, when the locker is clearly marked 1 hour, is most definitely abusing the system. Can MW legally enforce the payment of the late-fee of $8? No - but can they clearly signpost a fee is payable, and failure to pay the release fee will result in ejection from the park loss of annual pass? Yes - the park has clearly posted in their terms and conditions, on the back of every ticket, pass, at the gate and on the website that the passes tickets remain the property of VRTP and can be revoked etc etc. Regardless of whether they have a legal right to charge the fee or not - you're trying to be fair to the individual who clearly exceeded their locker usage time. I'm trying to be fair to the thousands of other people in the park who may wish to utilise a locker, but can't, because out of the 120 lockers (or however many there are), 119 of them have been used by people who are trying to save $8 by not hiring an all-day locker. Of course this is an isolated incident - because most people on these forums know, and abide by the rules, and in this case, it was a matter of a small delay that resulted in them going over the time - this isn't my issue. I've provided a perfect solution to the overall issues a few posts up... If MW won't enforce this type of 'penalty fee' (and there is always a legal way for them to do so), then i'm going to utilise the locker as soon as the park opens, put my keys and my pass in, pay my $2, and then go to guest services at 4:55pm to have those things released. Can I get another 118 people to go to the park with me on saturday to do that? Imagine the pandemonium when there are NO lockers, and people want to ride but can't because they can't leave their wallet keys sunglasses etc anywhere... As a guest who follows the rules, drops $10 on an all day locker to store a few small items in, and rarely accesses the locker again until closing time - I expect - and demand - that those who are abusing the system by using a 1 hour locker as an all day locker be dealt with in an appropriate manner - either by an $8 fee, or ejection from the park if they refuse... ***but please remember - i'm not talking about this occurring after the 61st minute - i'm DOUBLING the 'hire period' before any penalty is payable. Thats like the police not fining you on the highway until you hit 220km/h... imagine that!

Good luck picking up tickets for this december... the park won't be open until December 2013.

In short - I did complain to guest services on the day - immediately after the ride. TBH, I don't think (Lauren?) took the complaint very seriously. Of course - she totally agreed with what we said and assured us she would follow this up with the attraction supervisors - but didn't write a thing down whilst we were there. (*side note - i wasn't expecting any free stuff or anything - just to be reassured the matter would be dealt with properly - In my opinion, when a complaint is received, it should be accurately documented whilst the plaintiff was there, to ensure all the details were captured correctly.) Whilst I acknowledge Rappa's comment about general politeness, and yes, we probably could have communicated our intentions better than we did - the point is - we weren't being paid to be there and provide a service - when the cast member was - regardless of a guest's particular behaviour, no cast member should respond to a guest in that fashion as it can escalate very quickly into something the cast member can't control. Had I been brought up differently, I might have responded that 'i pay her wages, and i'll tell her exactly what i'm going to do, and she's going to deal with it because i'm her boss'. Given her response to a rather benign comment, I can see her response escalating to that... certain unsavoury elements that visit the park would not see anything inappropriate with escalating that situation to something physical - i've seen it happen when I worked at Wonderland - and she's out there virtually on her own - only the operator can see what happens to her, and only if they're watching. The point is, regardless of how I interacted with her, i'm not employed by the park, and I don't represent them - she does, and should have responded appropriately.

I had a look at the zipline tower from Aqualoop. I'd say they'll easily have the room on that top deck to run both zipline and constrictor... it's not like Zipline has a 30 minute queue - people have to book timings, so 1 or 2 people every 5 or 10 minutes isn't going to be a big impact. I'm curious though - whether a raft conveyor will be installed here. If the cloverleaf rafts are similar in size to tornado, I think many would struggle to carry them up that long hill - not to mention if you've got a slow moving raft going up the ramp, the people heading for whitewater mountain will not be able to pass for much of the trip... here's hoping a conveyor is planned.

It's been a while since I went to Sydney, but weren't there plans to extend M4 under parramatta road to connect up to the airport somewhere???

I know the fire brigade attended the park during fright nights last year - but that was to Scooby (they drove round the back of stunt driver to access scooby from behind intencity) - maybe thats what you're thinking of Kujo?

In my view, the $8 fee rounds up your hire charge from $2 an hour to the $10 all-day locker rate. It's an incentive to people that if you're going to exceed the hour time-limit, you should just get an all-day locker. I fully support MW doing this, although I agree there should be a significant lee-way - perhaps allow unlimited re-entry during the first hour (you might just want a drink between rides, or want money to buy your photo), but after the first 60 minutes, you get an additional 60 minutes where you can enter to remove stuff only (so if you enter on the 61st minute, your time is up, but if you don't re-enter until the 119th minute, you don't incur a penalty). From that point on, anyone exceeding that time is abusing the process, and should be required to pay the fee. Rather than guest services or retail staff unlocking, it should be done by security - and anyone rude or refusing to pay should be immediately ejected from the park (and have their VIP pass revoked if necessary). I don't believe this is 'gouging' - the point is, they offer two different locker systems - a one hour locker (that is suitably extended if there is a long wait time) and an all day locker for $10 (7 hours for the price of 5). If you're going to exceed the time, you're safer to go with an all day option.

As has been said before though - the budgets for these other attractions usually entail the construction of a building to house the attraction - this would be a sizeable part of the budget - they aren't just a tin shed - many safety systems need to go in as well. The building in this case already has all of those systems and infrastructure in place, so the costs are drastically reduced because of it. As for 'milking' the DC brand... is Hong Kong Disneyland milking the brand by it's construction of Toy Story land? DC is one of two major licenses held by MW - the other being Looney Toons. Considering the park already has one full land, a show stage, and several parades and street shows built around that brand, they're equalising the branding by bringing the attraction count up on the DC side. What other theme would you suggest to replace a previously 'batman' themed ride, except another in the same universe? I don't think anyone is questioning the quality of this attraction. Just looking at the new facade on the old wayne manor - it is extremely well done (my partner thought it was real marble), so without 'inside' pictures, I can only predict the interior will live up to the standard we've already seen. My 'expectations' are quite high for this attraction - i'm not sure where my exceptions are though...

I went to MW and WnW yesterday. As for putting the prices up on the passes, I wouldn't complain, but I think WVTP have got their heads sorted as far as the price point goes. VIP for $100 is a bargain, but most people didn't want to shell out the extra $30 odd dollars for VIP gold. Then those who didn't complained when 4 people got into the park 30-45 minutes early, and essentially had ERT on the 'early entry' ride of the day. We both have gold passes, we only paid $80 for each pass this year, and yesterday was our first trip. Between the two parks we spent: $20 on lockers $60 on food and drink. (We bought an unlimited refill at MW, and had lunch at Rick's). So, out of ONE visit on our passes, they've just made $240. Granted, we don't always spend that much, but the in-park sales are where they're going to make their profit (as has been said already). I know that some people with VIP passes will take the cheaper option - go to McDonalds or bring their own food and drink etc - but if they don't have the money to spend in the park, then fair enough, But I don't think it's fair to say that every VIP pass holder eats outside the park. We will frequently have an 'in-park spend' whilst we're there, and at the very least - we usually need to get a locker - and an all-day locker usually works out cheaper than the $1$2 ride lockers for an hour. While i'm writing about our trip yesterday - I just want to name and shame Rachel, who was working as the grouper at the head of the SE queue yesterday. We had decided that we were only going to ride SE once, and we wanted to take on the front seat. As usual, the queueline worked so we were in the middle of the queue, and when we reached the head, we stepped to the side, and advised her that 'we'd like to wait for the front seat'. Her response? 'well are you going to ask me if you can, or are you just telling me that that's what you're doing?' To make things worse, the cycle that we'd 'passed up' ended up ejecting the front row for 'loose items' (i'm glad to see that they're actually doing this now, rather than just taking the items off them), and she immediately canvassed the queue for a 'group of 2 - it's for the front seat' while overlooking us when she knew that was what we were waiting for. The couple behind us was led forward to take that front seat. On the next cycle, when she opened the gate, she sarcastically advised us 'you can have your front seat now'. Most of you know i've worked in parks before... and to be honest - i've never experienced that kind of 'rudeness' from WVTP or Dreamworld. Hell - even Aussie world aren't that abrupt. It just irritated the hell out of me. Anyhow... I'd like to see the passes increased in price next year - not by a lot - $10 or $20 is easily justifiable - and sets the scene for another $10 or $20 the year after that... while keeping their F&B pricing the same. If they decide to keep the passes where they are, they really need to maximise their in-park offers - and while some people will eat lunch outside of the park, the unlimited refill soft drink is a good offer - so putting their focus there is probably the way to go. As I understand it from one of the staff operating one of those outlets, it's been extremely popular (albeit a little stickymessy) so here's hoping they continue along those lines as $8 for all-day drinks is a really good way to make some money - a cup of post-mix doesn't crack a dollar in costs, so theres money to be made!

Well given they're advertising it on fright nights, it will definitely open before october...

Given that it was MonTues nights on the dev site, i had a quick look. MonTues in October this year is 1, 2, 8, 9, 15, 16, 22, 23, 29, 30 & 31. October 2011, those dates are Saturdays and Sundays (and 31st is a monday) October 2010, those dates are Fridays and Saturdays (and 31st is a sunday) So my bet is that the current dev site has used prior year dates as fillers.

My sources are private, but a former employee, who is both an accomplished horserider, breeder, working dog trainer has communicated to me the conditions for both staff and animals alike. What most might see as very good facilities for some of those animals are in fact detrimental to them. I've made that statement in my personal opinion, and I'm not prepared to go further into the detail and nitty gritty, or argue over it in public as I believe that the attraction is 'adequate' in that regard, just not 'best practise'. Is it harsh - yes it is, but then when you own both race and pleasure horses, and understand that different treatments apply to them depending on the work they're put to, you can take one look at the feeds they have in the shed for their horses and know they're not doing the right thing by the animal. As for the 'people management' that is just hearsay based on one former employee's opinion (but one who left of their own accord after becoming fed up with those practises).

A gold upgrade option would be welcomed. My Gold is fine, but others in my family who didn't see the value in it will jump at the upgrade once offered...

Agreed - work around the studios - you're not moving them. You'd sooner close the park than the studio. And also agree re: Paradise Country. Sure it isn't to the tastes of most people on this forum, but it has a target market, and delivers on it very well. Personally, i'd shut it down simply because of the poor people management, and the poor animal management practises they have there, but front-of-house, theres nothing wrong with it, extraordinarily popular with tourists, and they'd be nuts to shut it down.