DaptoFunlandGuy

They also probably worked out that correct spelling is popular on the forums.

I think they figured that out:

Yes it would be mickey - but if you read Gazza's post, you will see he says "My best attempt at a preview:" hope that clears it up for you - i made the same assumption - then edited it with "nevermind"

nevermind....

Honestly Nathan, I've seen the show, and I noticed the dings, bumps, scrapes and quick patch up jobs that were on the cars, but coming from a motorsport family, i'm kinda used to it. I actually didn't think to mention it on here simply because a precision driving team ALWAYS makes a mistake or two.

I had no intention of doing so paul, just trying to get where you're coming from.... Honestly, I would have thought Jet Rescue would have ranked before MDMC... What it doesn't lack in thrills it makes up for in seating arrangement and it actually goes fast

Used to be a policy at Wonderland too - but only for the Shrek characters... before they moved up to WBMW that is. As the park photographer, it was a hell of a time, because, particularly when Shrek was brand new - EVERYONE was coming and joining the queue well ahead of time. Shrek was opposite Bounty's Revenge, next to Bounty's burgers, and the minders \ guest relations \ ushers just weren't paying attention to the crowd. Parents were standing on the stone wall around the fountain zooming right in on their kids. Now, I have to say here that on that topic, it was not an instruction of Wonderland management, but of DreamWorks pictures, and Shrek photos cost extra at the Wonderland Memories shop. The park paid a royalty to Dreamworks from every photo sold, and if there were too many "unauthorised" photos appearing, they would have lost the contract. Don't ask me how they would figure that out, but all i know is we were told to make sure parents did not take a photo, and if need be, to stand right in front of shrek with our back to the crowd until it was sorted out. But those early days - when the shrek costume was a round head with the features painted on... then a few weeks later when we got the rubber molded suit, and "shrek" upchucked a couple times in the heat..... "it's ok kids... thats Ogre Sweat.... Shrek is going to take a shower" (Donkey was worse however)

... until it fades... It is still quite possible a coloured undercoat is being used. My eldest brother is a master painter \ decorator, and, for instance, certain primers that contain bases to prevent rust, corrosion, or reduce conductivity only come in certain colours... looking at that photo, it would appear to be permanent, but it is still possible it is some form of primer. Need to get a close up look - is it a glossy finish... or no? If it's glossy, it's probably there to stay.

I know it's each to their own, but Paul I can't understand how Thunder River ranks higher than WWF? Or how you can call MDMC a thrill ride?

Well it would help.... if it had the length of the track.

Hopefully they offer a literacy program as well.

Sorry Richard, but I don't get what you mean by the "6pm" bit....?

Klassen the flaw in your idea is that out of the $50,000 (which is grossly below any ordinary store - for obvious reasons) the store would be franchised, not McD owned. WVTP could either purchase a franchise themselves, or contract an independant franchisee. Either way, the costs associated with either them buying a franchise, or contracting someone else in would eat into those profits. They would have the freedom to charge higher prices based on premium positioning, but who would pay $3 for a cheeseburger when they can get it over the highway for $2? You also figure on operating from 11am to 5pm. There goes the breakfast menu that would generate the early morning income of most stores. No drive thru deletes another chunk, and most people buying food in the park are done by 3pm at latest, so you have another two hours of trade that will not even substantiate the staff you propose. And if the store does not jack its prices because of it's position, it will directly compete with the park's overpriced (in comparison) food outlets, eliminating an income stream where 100% of the profit goes to the company, and substituting it with a stream that is diluted with fees to the corporate franchise, additional supply costs by having to purchase specific menu items not already stocked in bulk... And where are you going to put it?

Firstly gazza, no, you may not. But seriously... Subway have the aura because they offer people a CHOICE to be healthy. And believe me, it is a good option to have - why do you think McDonalds now has a healthy options menu? There are parents out there who would baulk at the decision to go to McDonalds because, whether they care about what their kids eat or not, there was nothing there that THEY wanted to eat. Now the kids can have their happy meal (with apple pieces if they want), and mum can get a wrap, or a bagel, or a muffin from McCafe.... sophistication, healthy choices, but still the food you love (or love to hate). All of the chains are trying to offer something healthy these days - trouble is, none of them have tried like McD's have - McD's have added new things to the menu that they could not have done previously, whereas the other guys trying to "go healthy" are just making it out of the same stuff. Bottom line is - Subway ARE a healthier option IF YOU CHOOSE TO DO SO. And if you don't choose the healthier option - what can you do? Subway don't hide their nutritional values - they post them bold as brass on the front window - if you choose 600cal sub... thats your own fault.

Of course, the colours for wiggles world are required - it is after all, a childrens area, my comment about WW was more directed at the fact that it is in a quiet riverside bush-town setting.

Richard, don't get me wrong, but I wasn't trying to show accurate figures of any sort, just hypothetical scenarios to provoke discussion. I'm sure their income will be bolstered at the end of the financial year, my comments were mainly to go over how much of that extra income will be chewed up by increased maintenance, etc. And certainly agree with you that a large number of people will spend whilst in the park, I disagree that there will only be a minority who do not. A family of 4 or 5 going to a park once a week using the Q150 is not going to spend $100 PER WEEK on a single meal. between $15-$20 per meal at most food outlets is not something a regular visitor can afford every single week. The fact that the passes are unlimited entry relieves the restriction that they cannot "come back later". A lot of people who bought these passes are people who would not have otherwise gone to the park, and for that family of 5 who has just forked out maybe $350 to buy those tickets in the first place, isn't about to spend another $400 per month on food items... they bought the passes because they were a cheap idea for entertainment for a few months. Of course, my figures will be WAY out, but the example is still sound and true. My figures were exaggerated slightly for effect, but the logic is still there - any machinery that works more than usual will require more maintenance than usual. It will consume more power, and other consumables such as grease or lubricants. The costs on running an attraction at what can be considered peak attendance during periods where it is usually lower usage will have an impact on the pocket. Yes, they have sold more tickets than they would have without the pass, but I just don't think this is going to see them dramatically spike in profits for this fiscal year - moreover they will stay steady in comparison to the previous years, where other attractions that do not offer this great deal might decline.

My guess is a rust-proofing coat, or a non-conductive coat to prevent electrical conductivity. I am sure it will get painted over again - otherwise they're going down the path of dreamworld with bright gaudy colours where it is really inappropriate - like wiggles world and mick doohan.

You're asking a bit too much I think Gazza.

It's been mentioned already, but since you feel scooby is doing so well Klassen, can you explain why the dark ride section has gone from an immersive, all-round, in your face sound experience, to ONE (or one bank in the same position) of speakers? It is so quiet, I can hear the braking systems engaging as I go around. I could hear the gentle hum\hiss of the fogger just as we rounded that low end corner near the laser (lift end). Lighting and effects are one issue - they have consumable items that wear out over time, but there is ABSOLUTELY no reason for the sound to be below par. The consumable items for the sound system have extremely long lives, and are extremely cheap to replace. What gives? Of course Gazza, and this has always been the case. Simple fact is - the end of the day is where you make your money. People will hold off buying during the day to save carrying it, but merchandise and skill games alike, when you are exiting the park, that is when people spend the money. So long as there are guests in the shops, OF COURSE they will keep them open. Any park who closes their merchandise areas at the scheduled park closing time is pure psychotic. I've never seen any park close their merch areas on closing time. Wonderland and Dreamworld are perfect examples of this, in that you exit THROUGH a retail area. Close the rides, they've done their duty, and no point operating them, because they're costing you money, but for the sake of electricity for the cash registers and wages for the staff, you're making big money. Of course, because under industrial relations rules (and it should be four hours by the way, not even a casual can be rostered to work three), between 4 and 5 hours, no lunch break is required - so start em late, finish em early, and then you don't need to have extra staff to relieve them for their lunch break. quite simple really. Edit: (thats what I get for making long posts) - Lotl, Sure, they're making an extra $4 or $15 in their FB and merch areas, but that guest has just paid $15 to experience all the rides, shows and attractions that a normal $70 gate paying guest would. The Q150 masks the effect, but basically, you have thousands of people entering the gates, riding the rides, cycling them much more than would be normal on a quiet, off peak day. The park made an extra $15, but it cost them thousands in operational costs for attractions running at peak capacity in off peak seasons. Example: Pirate ship at sea world (and I pick this because it is usually always a walk on, except in serious peak season). Say in normal off peak, the ship cycles once every 10 minutes at a cost of $50 per cycle. Thats $300 per hour in off peak season, or $2100 for the day. Now add on the extra Q150 guests. Averaging the guest load out over the park, lets say that the cycle is now full, and therefore, a queue forms. As soon as the last guests are off, the next cycle begins to load. This includes those re-riders who rode last time and re-queued, making the queue longer. The ship is now cycling every 3 minutes and 20 seconds. This triples the cyclic cost, so you're now attracting $900 per hour, or $6300 per day. $4200 extra. Now if an average off peak day is 3300 guests, so with triple the numbers, we're talking an extra 6600 guests, they paid, on average $60 for their Q150 ticket (adults \ kids), so we've got an extra $396,000 in the bank. Over 120 days of the Q150 (Mar-Jun), this gives you $3300 per day to allow for the extra cycling of ALL of your attractions - as you can see - we can't even cover the pirate ship. Even if we allow the extra $10 or so average spend per person, those extra people are only giving you another $66,000. Out of that, you are likely to have, on average, a 20% margin in the product (some higher, some lower), so out of that 66,000, you've only got $13,200... so for the day, $16,500 extra to cover the additional load on all attractions - extra staff, extra maintenance, extra power, extra wear and tear, and therefore extra consumables. For Sea World, who only have 7 "rides" (lets not even count the extra shows etc they're all hosting), this gives you $2357 per ride per day. Larger rides cost that much to operate per HOUR I think it is obvious that the Q150 pass, while a great idea in concept, is actually putting a strain on WVTP, and this is the main reason we are seeing all these cutbacks across the board - because, as you can see above, they aren't really making more money, no matter how much merchanise is sold. And as I said a while back, even if they do make a substantial amount of money from each guest buying merchanise or FB, lets remember that they won't spend that sort of money EVERY time they visit - and they've got 120 days to keep coming back, and increasing the workload on those costly attractions.

Definitely saw this coming. March 3 in the Wet and Wild peak season thread Look, I'm all for the park doing what it needs to survive. I do not want to see any park go the way of wonderland. But compromising the guest experience isn't satisfactory. Fewer staff? Sure Close an attraction, close an outlet... sure. Late-start attractions and outlets - its been done. Wonderland never used to open Goldrush until 11am, and that was two huge capacity attractions, and another few old favourites. I agree with the statement that a movie themed park shouldn't have turned off the special effects. They tried skimping on the fog in scooby by using mist, but it just didn't cut it. They've revamped the whole ride, and now they're going to turn it off. And as far as the gatekeeper at superman - - The gatekeeper is supposed to be there to prevent loose articles making it onto the ride, to preserve guest safety (ok so we know its a money making excercise with the lockers, but they say it is safety) and removing the gatekeeper means you then need to task the loaders to checking for loose items... We're going to give people, whose job it is to ensure guest safety another task to occupy their minds while they check the harnesses? not good. Closing batman adventure is sad, since it is the first attraction in the gate, and a lot of the parks theming is built on Gotham, however it is an attraction that requires many staff, and is not quite as popular as it used to be. It still gets the queues, but this is mainly because, like scooby, everyone can ride (almost). We really shouldn't have expected any better to be honest. let's look at the facts: WWF experiences fire - attraction rebuilt "bare bones" without the original premium theming Scooby fog is costly... change to mist to reduce costs Lethal Weapon store "being refurbished" - put up an LCD clock and tell riders to remember their times... don't even show them a preview screen, incase someone takes a photo of the screen... shops begin opening later... which everybody discusses and says "thats ok, if they can save some money there, it will give them money for other things End result - we have shown them that it is ok to deliver substandard products. Shops and attractions now open even later, some cycle on and off during the day, theming is laid to waste, and not repaired to its original. Its been hinted at already - but for the first time, I am starting to consider whether WVTP are going down the road of Stephen Gregg and Dreamworld. I really hope that it is not, but its starting to look that way. If the park is going to cut back on staffing, attraction and outlet hours, open later, close earlier, not deliver the full guest experience, then I would want to see a drop in gate prices, and a drop in annual pass prices quick smart.... I know they need the money, but if they don't drop the prices.... will people still pay?

I will say that in the past, I have noticed the steam, and it is both wet and warm, but the warmth is only for a moment until you pass the effect, and it quickly cools as the air keeps rushing by. On my last visit to MW, I did not notice it at all. I mean - the pipes were steaming in the drive-by after the launch, but in the pre-show, it wasn't there.

Where do you put it? Simple - demolish boot hill and the now defunct shopfronts of the old blazing saddles. If need be, the show stage can go too.... sure its great when it has a show on, but they are few and far between, and taking up valuable real-estate, just like the MMSFX show was. Sure, its another case of getting rid of one thing to bring in another, but at the end of the day, it solves the problem, and utilises prime real estate for prime attractions. As for merchandise storage space, there are COUNTLESS places they could put it besides where it is... so that is a pitiful excuse at best.

or even better, here on PARKZ

Going by your geography, i'd recomment Disneyland Paris, Tokyo DisneySea, and maybe Luna Park Melbourne. This is, of course, only accurate if you still believe that New York, Orlando and Washington DC are on the West Coast as your thread title suggests. If however that was just a woops on your part, then from a Western perspective, (and I know a lot of people will disagree with me) my favourites to visit on the west coast would be Knotts, Disney Precinct Cali (DCA and DL), SFMM, and since you're heading to SF, make the effort to get to SW SanDiego. Universal is also a must, but it depends on what you're really after, since they all offer something a little different. That is pretty much my west coast itinerary on my next trip O/S. East coast \ Central, I can't help you. I've never gotten that far on a trip to the states. I always end up heading north or south way before I get past nevada. Next trip I plan to go east, but its a year or two off yet.

Hanging signs everywhere would be just like joining the facebook group - pointless. As far as making people remember Sydney is a hole, speak for yourself. I was Born and Bred in sydney, and while there are a lot of places that are "holes", Sydney isn't itself a hole as a whole. And you are unlikely to find a hole without a guy holding a shovel - so look around, and if you don't see a guy holding a shovel - it's probably you.