DaptoFunlandGuy

Given the $3M was already 'awarded' to them in 2019, it stands to reason the gov wouldn't give them the same $70M they gave village when $3M was already unspent and on the table - it's not like Ardent received 'favourable treatment' by getting to keep $3M of it - they got a smaller loan because there was already cash on the table. If the grant hadn't been sitting there already, you can absolutely bet your arse both companies would have gotten exactly the same money. It's pedantry, but since we seem so hell bent on splitting hairs, It would be correct to say that Village received more covid relief funding than Ardent did. The fact that it was because they already had unspent grant money is beside the point. They could have spent that prior to covid and still put their hands out for $70M and nobody would be crying that they got more money then. Thread title needs changing too, now we've determined it wasn't a koala research grant, but an international tourism grant.

...and people are carrying on like this is a new thing. Tourism grant diverted to help COVID response in East Arnhem Land | FRRR Has the Tasmanian government diverted $1.6 billion in GST funding away from its health sector since 2014? - Australian Associated Press (aap.com.au) I wonder why Dreamworld's loan was precisely $3.1Million less than Village's loan?

It's important to note that the Future Lab grant wasn't a "native animals need our help" initiative, it was a "improve international tourism" strategy. Don't cry for the Koalas - they weren't the intention of the grant in the first place. So its arguable that "keeping one of the biggest tourism operators on the gold coast operating" well and truly meets the aims of this grant.

Bad faith argument. Comparing Taipan - a landmark attraction designed to aid the park's financial recovery to a personalised licence plate is absurd. A better example would have been 'mate needed money for mum's surgery, but lost his job for 2 years and needed to use the money to pay his electricity instead to keep the lights on' Damn right he's still my mate. And I'd never have asked him for the money back (and neither would the government - that's not how grants work). You wanna hear worse optics than spending koala money on building a rollercoaster? Bankruptcy. The park is open. And people are going to return to the park because unless they were personally impacted by these negative events (ie: friends or relatives were killed, or are koalas) when it comes time to decide where to go over the school holidays, Dreamworld's giant orange rollercoaster gives a lot of families reason to visit regardless.

They still have koalas. they have an entire plantation just to feed them. This facility was pooh-poohed when it was announced, but now everyone is up in arms that it didn't get built!

I can guarantee you that those people visiting the parks in December will have long forgotten their outrage for the Koalas.

Probably because he doesn't work for Murdoch

They're in the position that they're in now largely due to the help they received - including this grant. This is totally inaccurate. Government grant compliance is extraordinarily strict. Grant recipients have to provided audited accounts back to the government to show how everything was spent and how each dollar was justified. They couldn't just choose to spend it elsewhere. The only two options were: give it back ask permission to spend it on something else, and put forth a business case on why it would be worth approving (similar to the original grant application). Seriously, everyone's acting like Dreamworld just winked at the government and pointed at a bag of cash and Anastacia just gave a thumbs up in return - trust me - its a lot more involved than that. How can you attribute their current position absent the grant? for all we know their current success is simply because they were allowed to use the funds to build Taipan, and without that, their Summer 21\22 season was toast and they were bankrupt. There were plenty of discussions ON THESE FORUMS about how Ardent couldn't even afford to build Taipan. (Just in case you forgot - you can refresh your memory here: No-go roller coaster: how Dreamworld banked on a hand-to-mouth recovery strategy they could never afford | Parkz - Theme Parks) Quote - "HAND TO MOUTH STRATEG” And this is the crux of the matter. People are outraged because the media wanted them to be outraged and designed the clickbait headline and article slant to achieve that aim. This very website has published pieces calling out the mainstream media for their bias and all your statement here does is confirm it.

I think you answered it best. They were given funding for something. A worldwide pandemic happened, and the thing the funding was for got halted - like MANY OTHER THINGS. Governments across Australia have thrown covid recovery money at encouraging tourism and hospitality visitation - holiday vouchers, dining vouchers etc. Dreamworld, like many other tourism operators were also impacted. It is NOT an unreasonable request for the park to ask QGOV if they could use the money for something to help with their covid recovery, and at the end of the day it was QGOV's decision to approve that.

Sorry i'm a little confused here - which gold coast based theme park company are you referring to here?

You're being bloody optimistic.

The last carriage had a flip-over ramp that came out of the carriage to bridge the gap to the station. It had several manually operated gates and latches. You could fit several wheelchairs or strollers in the centre area, and it had elevated spots over the bogeys with seats and more space for strollers. So, yes, wheelchairs could be accommodated - but only a couple of them, and essentially shoved down the back end as an afterthought rather than being able to enjoy the same ride everyone else got. It was far more manual labour for the conductor too, and although small strollers could fit on the end of the normal carriages, many larger baby carriages and prams wouldn't, and would be the main passenger aboard the caboose.

Can tell you there's been no adjustment to Rivals. Taipan IS DEFINITELY more forgiving. I'm right on the limit for Rivals and always ask to be stapled to be sure. Taipan never needs any extra effort. Exactly. I think though that the RFID system in Taipan has something to do with it - clearly the mechanics behind the actual harness are different and that is why there is more flexibility on ST.

Leviathan's opening will be postponed, due to being due for its 10 year teardown.

This is probably the biggest point to make. A boiler can explode, catastrophically in fact, if mis-handled. Likewise, you'll go boom if you're cavalier with a bic lighter and a petrol bowser. The main issue is whether something is done right. But a steam boiler vs. a start\stop diesel is inherently safer, and I don't blame them taking the safe route.

The carriages - the roofline of the carriage is what people are hitting. The main cause for this is because the station platform was raised significantly to give the carriage a roll-on, roll-off path. But the carriages aren't designed for standing passengers, so the roof is lower for that reason. If one was to be stepping up onto the carriage, it wouldn't be an issue, but because its at noggin level, clang.

Tripling down is new though...

As I mentioned recently, I rode the train a few weeks ago while it was operating with just the driver. The driver was at the rear of the train, and the PA announcements were cycling periodically. I'm not sure whether the 'mind your head' announcement was retroactively added, or whether it just wasn't heard prior to people smacking their melon into the roof. The station roof is a lot lower, because the platform has been raised. While I applaud them for making this attraction entirely Wheelchair accessible, I feel as though they've gone a step too far - raising the floor to accommodate a roll-on carriage has had the flip side of reducing the headroom for normal passengers. Has this created an unintended consequence? I know we're all laughing about being adults and able to not hit our heads on our cars and things, but we've talked for decades here about theme parks - specifically about guests checking their brain at the gate. A modern park attraction with such a high-risk hazard to the average population should never have existed. They need to look into some sort of rubber bumper or other padded edge to these carriages.

He didn't decide anything. They said "later this year" after specifically sprouting "September 3" for months. This slight change to the language implies September 3 isn't the current target - so one presumes it would be later. You can't get much later in the year (and opening for holidays is always the goal) so it seems quite sensible and reasonable for a normal person to conclude a Christmas opening. ...Further, not mentioning Trident in any media statements or commentary, when it was forecast to open at the same time or soon after, and the lack of progress on the site also, it's entirely reasonable to assume that the omission was intentional. He did however go on to allow for the possibility that it just wasn't the headliner and was omitted for that reason too.

In 2011, it was confirmed WB were the rights owners of the 1939 MGM Film. The Disney\MGM partnership a while back has confused folks thinking that Disney owns it too, so it's easy just to leave it as 'its complicated'. If you missed it, I did a little snip of the complicated copyright applying to various Land Of Oz products: The short answer is - if you intend on using the specific images - Ruby Slippers, Green Wicked Witch, Flying Monkeys etc, many of these images and elements are copyrighted by the film, and therefore owned by WB. You could skirt this restriction in the same way that Disney did a decade ago with 'Oz' but as the park is marketing as 'first wizard of oz land et al' it is very implied that they're going very much for the 1939 style, so we must conclude that they've licenced through WB. The publicity shots with Dorothy wearing 'ruby' slippers, and the specific imagery of Scarecrow, Lion and TInman that all fairly represent the on-screen characters - it's certainly used under licence. I remember Mark Shaw mentioned a while back how much a ride cost vs. how much the total project cost was, but I can't for the life of me remember. For some reason I keep thinking it was about 50% of the costs - but I know someone here will remember that and correct me...?

Zig Zag Railway. Travelling from Sydney in an old Model T Ford to lithgow and it was absolutely freezing. Many of my family worked in the NSWGR over the years so we've always just 'been around' trains. Zig Zag I think is the most memorable just because it was so. fricking. cold. Yeah as mentioned i'm hopeful once GD is out of refurb, they'll add to that area a bit more. I personally think that all the ABC Kids buildings that face the railway need something to hide all those back of house areas. The backs of those buildings have been largely ignored for 2 decades because Tower hid them from view. Now that they're visible again, they look dreadful, rotting, and things like refrigeration units on the roof are just unsightly.

I've always known that house as the Spielberg house. It was a studio bungalow, used for many things over the years but including editing suites and similar. I'm sure the Spielberg name attached itself after it was used, but I don't have any source for this. I noticed over the holidays the entire house had been demolished and a new one was being constructed in the same location. My guess is the existing structure was end-of-life or was otherwise in need of an upgrade, and the studio sprang for a replacement facility. I'm pretty sure it's Building 26 on the studio site plan which is listed as the home of ProxiVR although I've no idea whether that site plan is current or not.

I must admit, it's been pretty hard. Try proof reading your own ramblings. "I think all 5 mazes will be new" - your thought "as IP licences would've expired" - reason number one for your thought "and set designs would need replacing / refreshing" - reason number two for your thought. You had the option, you chose to double down. I'm not keen on dragging threads down into bullshit, but I also won't stand for someone re-inventing reality when they realise they goofed.

You literally said "all 5 mazes will be new as IP licences would’ve expired". You said nothing about "if they haven't been maintained". Are you mental? The thread is still on the same damn page - try scrolling!