DaptoFunlandGuy

^I don't miss it. i think it looks perfectly fine - from a beach perspective we've got a giant wave and surfboards, with REAL WATER! The sand isn't a major loss, it allows non-riders the chance to get CLOSER to the action, and by not having sand in the area, it minimises the amount of sand that gets blown out across the pathways that then needs to be cleaned up. I really like their current look - the decking is more like a boardwalk or pier out beside the beach. You don't need sand to make it 'beachy'.

^OG - I thought we were looking for old rides that draw crowds AND wow riders...? By all accounts Scenic Railway fails on one of those counts.

My distaste is for the phrase 'safety malfunction'. When a safety system does precisely what it is meant to do - it's not a safety malfunction. Thats like saying traffic lights are malfunctioning every time they turn red.

^you gotta hook 'em first Richard!

So previously, you've budgeted by choosing one park franchise or the other, rather than holding passes to both franchises simultaneously... Assuming the DW passes still have some time left on them (because DWs passes usually offer expiry dates other than 30 June) couldn't a family stagger their purchases if they wished to do this? I appreciate you can see where i'm coming from and have said as much - and I also appreciate that paying ~$1000 for passes in one hit is a big cost to a family budget... but it doesn't sway me from the argument that the prices should be higher - ~$1000 for a year's entertainment for the whole family seems like a great deal.

Wiggles will be PART OF the ABC area.

I understand the issues that surround having to buy tickets for multiple persons within a family - however I don't see that that justifies keeping the price as low as it is - the arguments made for the passes to 'be more expensive' are just as valid whether you're a single or a family. Yeah ok - for a family to buy 4 passes, increasing the price is going to have a big impact - $400 changing to $800 is a big jump - however that is where the tiers (as i've suggested previously) would come in. Perhaps the family can opt for a cheaper tier, which includes lockout dates for example to keep the price low. Also as stated previously - the first year would be a bit of 'bill shock' so to speak - and it may mean you don't have a pass this year - but if the parks stick to the pricing model, you'll have an idea of what it will cost - and you'll save up if you really want to get passes for the whole family. Considering an average family trip to the movies (for ~2 hours of entertainment) costs somewhere around $100 once you buy 4 tickets at around $15, and at least two combo drinkpopcorns at around $10-15 too - I don't think a $100 pass, which gets you 364 days of admission to multi-million dollar attractions is priced appropriately. Consider the fact that a person visiting Australia who goes to the park for a SINGLE DAY pays almost as much as a VIP passholder does for 0.27% of the time in park (and these are the people most likely to spend big in park on food, experiences and souvenirs). Pass pricing should be reasonable - but I don't think a "basic" annual pass membership (with blockouts, no discounts, no night events) would be unreasonably priced if it were ~$50 more expensive than a day ticket - it's then a good 'upsell' option for the park to upgrade your ticket to an annual pass for only 'a little more'.

It's been suggested (on these forums) that there was something about the council approvals that meant they had to keep the existing track (and keep it complete) in order to have hope of reopening it as the council wasn't likely to approve any 'new' application. Since then it has fallen into a worse state though, and at this stage I feel confident in saying Orphan Rocker will never open with it's current track. They will be better off going to a reputable manufacturer and purchasing something from their range - albeit custom fitted to the landscape to take best advantage of the location. It'll probably mean much more involvement in development and approvals though - so it may be prohibitive for them.

I believe they updated the lighting package.

If 10 years of our 'interest' hasn't brought it back I don't think anything more will. I'd say it's on the cards, but the ABC promo just came along at the right time, and they've put it on hold... again.

^No and No. I also don't recommend investigating yourself in out of bounds areas.

yep - most Kiddie rides are minimal in the infrastructure needed - power supply is usually all they require with everything else self contained. As Richard said the development of the area has been underway for a few months with nobody thinking any more than just 'they're removing the dock and putting down a new deck'... so they've kept this one a very good secret!

Look - as an adult - i find BRC cringeworthy - but i'm not the target market. I'm sure that any wiggles-aged kid who goes on that enjoys nothing more than singing along to their favourite tunes whilst being immersed in the 'wiggles house'... and i'm sure the parents of said kid will: love the smile it puts on the child's face - especially considering the littlies can't ride much else outside of that area probably buy the on ride photo of little johnny in the big red car - having a positive influence on revenue and per cap spend. enjoy the opportunity to sit down in air conditioned comfort for a few minutes during a wild day at dreamworld, whilst the rugrat is thoroughly occupied and entertained. I like the news that their going with some additions, and some rethemes - the maze sounds like a nice little addition and a new ride will round out the area nicely. More opportunities for costumed characters too (in that the main focus for the wiggles are face characters who can't really be played by anyone else) so B1 and B2 can make some appearances as well... I mean seriously - Dorothy, Wags and (to a degree) Captain Feathersword aren't really the characters the kids flock to (ok maybe Dorothy a little bit!)... but costumed characters are far easier to pull off. Thanks to the mod who changed the topic heading - that was quick!~

Well I guess that ends the speculation and answers a few questions for us. Would have been nice to see some concept art of new attractions (assuming the ABC franchises will get at least one attraction for each of those mentioned in the article)...

It's a good question - and I partly discussed this in another thread yesterday. For me - i'm always partial to the 'classic' Disneyland attraction - ie: how it was when I first sawrode it. Although I draw similarities between the two, as MM is really meant to be HKDL's HM (but for obvious cultural reasons they couldn't just clone it) so they had to come up with their own little storyline, characters etc... - the attractions really are very different - and a comparison is difficult... you will easily be able to 'pick' which one you like better - but comparing one to the other - they're totally different ride experiences. For me I think today's imagineers rely too heavily on gimmicks - sure the trackless systems are great - you can position your rider precisely where you want them rather than having to theme and dress everything that will be visible. There were lots of 'blank spots' within MM that in HM are cleverly covered with the appropriate theme. Eg: the maintenance bay for HM is between unload and load - so you don't see it unless you're riding MIP - however the maintenance bay for MM is accessed through scene 5 - mediterranean antiquities - this means one of the walls in this section needs to be moveable - which also means they need to be able to set it back precisely in the same spot in order for the projection effects to work seamlessly... and just like the trackless vehicles leave tracks on the floor from the constant repetition of the same path (locals can look at Big Red Car to see what I mean), the maintenance door also left a 'track'. Whilst fairly well hidden - a person with attention to detail (or who knows where to look) will spot the door immediately. Mystic Manor stands on it's own. It's not a 'poor man's haunted mansion', and I think it has long suffered that mantle because in the absence of any other 'concept' to compare it to, that was how it was first announced. It's not a Haunted Mansion, but it is what took the place of the HM in HK - it isn't trying to be HM - it's more like - Zombie Evilution took the place of the Vortex - they're using the same real estate, but are nothing alike in theme. The similarity stops with it being a Mansion. HM is vacant, occupied only by ghouls, whereas MM is occupied by a living and breathing (albeit eccentric) resident - there are no cobwebs in MM - everything is very clean. I kinda feel like i'm rambling now - so i'll stop - but feel free to ask more questions if this hasn't made sense... it's kinda hard to explain without seeing them both.

This is a fair representation of the park based on my trip a few years ago. I found JP Rapids to be quite soaking - though I guess it would depend on the season, as well as the position in the raft. The finale was definitely the strong point on this ride. I did find ROTM's queue to be incredibly long for what it was (longer than the queues at Grizzly Gulch and Mystic Manor as i've just written about). I do feel one can spend a full day at USS - although this depends on your interest... and whether you 'skip' things you aren't interested in, or experience everything. Shrek 4D is the same film as what was previously at MW - however I feel like USS does a far better job with the '4th dimension' aspect of the film as the effects are far more immersive than those used previously at MW. The best part of resorts world sentosa is if you're done with the park - there is plenty more to do in Sentosa Island - I found USS to be a 1.5 day park to fully experience everything (especially when interrupted by tropical showers), and the other half day can easily be spent on the various Sentosa attractions, including 'Songs of the Sea'.

Absolutely - it's personal taste. Having experienced LA's "new" and "old" Space Mountain - I prefer the 'old'... but when comparing current versions in LA and HK - both Casey and I prefer HK to LA. Mystic and HM are very different, original pieces in the parks - and i'm more a 'traditionalist' when it comes to Disney dark rides. My last ride on HM in LA didn't appear too different... I know they need to upgrade and 'keep with the times' - i just prefer it the way I remember it from my first trip, and i'd rather they didn't have to change or upgrade it - just maintain it how it is. I'm not a big fan of the overlays they do on their various attractions either - although the different soundtracks they do are cool. Of course (as you'll see in my TR on Mystic - just posted) Mystic was great for what it was - but in terms of experience - i preferred HM... it's not to say for a moment that Mystic wasn't a great attraction - just didn't rank as highly as HM in my opinion.

Day 2 - Disneyland (wednesday) Part 5 - Mystic Point Disclaimer here: Whilst many of us are familiar with Disney Dark Rides and their concepts - Mystic Manor is a unique ride-story and theme, unlike any other Disney dark ride attraction. If you haven't experienced Mystic Manor - there are spoilers within the below TR. If you don't want to know what's coming before you get a chance to ride it - i'd suggest skipping over the spoiler section in this part of the TR. So after a bit of time off (and sorry for the delay) we continue with the next instalment – Mystic Point. Like Grizzly Gulch, Mystic Point was part of the major expansion project to HKDL to try and develop a greater offering for the park. Where Grizzly Gulch is a melding of themes from other classic Disney attractions and lands, Mystic Point star (only) attraction – Mystic Manor is intended to take the place of the classic Haunted Mansion. The ride does well to offer something different, which was clearly their intention (otherwise they’d have just built a haunted mansion in it’s place). The rest of Mystic Point offers little more than a gift shop, a few food carts and a nicely themed garden – as well as a newly added stop to the Disneyland Railroad well themed with crates and cartons marked with shipping details indicating they are destined for the Manor. The railroad stop here is well needed, given the Park only offered a ‘Main Street’ and ‘Fantasyland’ stop prior to the expansion. It also offers guests an alternative stop to alight from when Fantasyland closes early for the nightly fireworks, given the only way in and out of Toy Story Land at night is via Mystic Point and Grizzly Gulch – as these three lands do not connect to the Hub like most Disney parks do – clearly demonstrating the ‘ad-hoc’ nature of these additions to the park. This youtube video also gives a great visual representation of the ride control system, along with two individual POV mounted on separate cars within the same ride (as well as a muffled, but still very indicative version of the ride soundtrack: http://youtu.be/YgXLCwSDLmE Toy Story Land is next – and I’ll try not to keep you waiting too long for that.

Very different to the original though. I don't like the 'modernisation' of HM - to me it's classic haunt effects are far better than all this modern stuff they're going with - part of the reason why Mystic Manor didn't rank higher than HM on my recent HK visit (which reminds me I haven't posted my review of that part of the park yet... not enough time lately...). I'm all for them improving their effects, but sometimes they go to far - and I think the HBG in that video is probably a bit too far.

Having just been to Ocean Park - i've seen what a park can do with their 'entrance fountain'. I missed the show but the infrastructure was clear... it'd be a nice addition to their laser and light show if they had a dancing fountain... they could even 'end' the day with a show in winter months. Was the signage updated when the 'new' wiggles took over? Maybe they're doing that if not...

^Bingo!

Given the time SDSC spent as a 'new' attraction on a billboard on the M1... i think we can forgive Aussie World for not immediately updating a ride installed in the last 12 months.

No parks are listed in the filming location credits on IMDB... but clearly it shows in still imagery that they're entering 'walley world' - http://www.imdb.com/media/rm383120896/tt1524930?ref_=ttmd_md_nxt It doesn't look anything like SFMM's entry plaza (but the metal detectors are there so that's one positive! LOL) I think Gazza is the best one to ask to spot the entrance pic (linked above) and tell us which park it appears to be. Of course - it could just be facade courthouse style film location and the rides were shot elsewhere again... have to wait an see when more info is released - it's premiering in the US in July so it's not far off.

...I'm not an avid follower of the Nintendo universe, but i'm familiar with it's stalwarts. I'd have to say Star Fox wouldn't mean anything to me, whereas Zelda or Bowser would make much more sense. I guess thats the same as Starro in JL3D... but it's the heroes, not the villains that matter in that story... and stars are easy to spot, and shoot.

Nintendo wants this as much as Universal. Mario and friends will all be there.