DaptoFunlandGuy

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.

I'm assuming he meant Starro

https://youtu.be/pP5CdRiY8Ak

Yep. I think Scenic World is ripe for 'a coaster' but sadly I don't think Orphan's current track or structure is up to today's standards. Rip it out, and put something else in that wasn't built in a backyard.

^Whilst totally suitable to Aussie world - a park that by most accounts is 'rarely busy', the illusionarium having 'terrible capacity' would be an atrocious fit for SW.

Wow - so the 'garage' looks as though they've knocked out the front facade of the building and set up the inside of it to look like a mechanic type shop... interesting twist. Of course, it'd look better if the old 'jewellry display case' on the left wall wasn't still there, but cut in half... Then again it'd also look better (in line with the apparent 'brisbane' based smash repairer next door) if the entire set wasn't italian themed. Is it really that hard to hit the buildings with some cement render to do away with the now fatigued italian buildings and make them look more believeable? Heck - the 'bridge' in the middle could easily be themed to look like a local rail bridge instead of the current 'cobblestone' look they've got. I guess we have to be thankful the park is at least TRYING to make things look a bit better instead of those giant motorcycle jumps with the fake brick wall wraps.

Absolutely agree re: the night events. Originally - they were only available on the Gold pass which made it worth the upgrade... then they cheapened the gold pass and began giving it away. I share Richard's sentiments regarding their previous failed attempt at lockout days. As far as I was concerned, the lockout period was clearly spelled out for me when I purchased a pass that year. I couldn't believe it when they backflipped on it in the middle of peak season. Disney has 'tiered' lockouts - different days are available to you depending on what pass you purchase - pay more, get more - simple as that. I do... when an annual pass costs the same or less than a single day ticket, and they also give you a single day ticket when you renew, who in their right mind would buy a single day pass? (obvious tourist exceptions). If it's going to be a similar price to a day ticket, it needs to be restricted by postcode or something. I recently went to Ocean Park and inadvertently bought 'HK Resident' tickets from a 7/Eleven. I realised my mistake before I got to the gate and had the tickets exchanged at the ticket window - it only cost about HK$25 more (+/- A$5) and I was fine with it. I didn't attempt to use them at the gate so I have no idea whether I would have been asked to prove residency or not. The way I see it - Regular day ticket price remains the same Short term passes (the 14 day combo tickets etc) remain the same Standard VIP should be around $100, but limited to SE QLD postcodes and subject to lockout dates at Easter, Christmas and most of January The same ticket should be about $110-120 for people outside those postcodes (which is still excellent value) Gold should be up around $150 - with no lockout dates Night events (and they need to specify Carnivale, as well as WC and FN) should be an optional upgrade to your Gold pass for say another $50 Discovery Passport should sit at around $250, include everything the upgraded Gold ticket has, plus Food and Merch discounts, and special seasonal offers (eg: BOGOF at Rick's in March or BTGOF at AOS in August) I don't believe they should make the 'night upgrade' part of a wider deal - people may buy the upgrade for other things (such as no lockouts) which then entitles them to 3 night events which they may or may not attend - making it hard to account for attendance at those night events - ie: there may be 100,000 people entitled to attend Carnivale - but 30,000 of them may just decide 'not to go'. As mentioned - they'll probably take a hit in the first year as people rail against the steeper pricing, but then it becomes the norm. No longer will we wait with bated breath towards the end of the financial year to see what price point they're going with for next year... it'll be the same offer each year, with maybe a few extra sweeteners for those renewing an existing pass. We will. I'd like to say that they couldn't introduce it these days given how long we've had free parking - but Westfield has proven you can do it. People won't stop coming just because they have to pay for parking - although nearby businesses may get a little upset when half the guests park over the highway... If they DO go in that direction - they need to consider what other parks have done with their paid parking - and offer premium services as part of the deal - Valet or VIP parking that offers you a park closer to the gate for a little extra. In our time in the states we paid for that at Universal and it was worth it.

^was that pure construction cost, or was licensing a part of that? Did it include Pandamonium? I assume, since we're expecting SW to put in a new kidfamily coaster as part of the development, that the cost will definitely be 'up there'.

Not every day - only when they don't expect a big crowd. Holidays etc they'll run everything full cap. Dreamworld is always busy - yet they still manage to get away with having rides closed for half a day alternating runs.

LOLZ if the night events aren't an "upgrade to your pass" but merely just a cheaper price. We've all been screaming for the park not to give this stuff away - we can't very well get grumpy at them now that they've decided to make it tiered staggered premium pricing for the same stuff. I think they finally realised that people will buy a VIP pass without being given $70+ of extra stuff... oh - except the free ticket for a friend... whoops.

Rappa hit the nail on the head with what I was getting at. The better example of an unnecessary OTSR would be abyss... of course it does have inversions... and of course the exception to the rule in Buzzsaw... but what i meant was the unnecessary 'extra' systems employed on Aus rides that other countries show are unnecessary. Cue the response about the lower incident rate in Australia... but my point is we're very much nanny state when it comes to rides.

I do remember a train trip through the plantation... didn't think it was a monorail though... are we talking monorail as in Sydney Sea World Disneyland type monorail or just a ground based tracked tour through the bananas?

Fair point Richard, and as i've said a couple of times, i'd expect guest services to know these things. You rightly point out that an annual pass processing centre should know these answers too. My only issue with that part was that it came across as rude. As Joz said though - benefit of the doubt, and i'll take that one on board. The bulk of my discussion, however related to this: Do you expect a toilet cleaner, burger cook, security guard, flashy crap seller etc. to be able to tell guests whether the park will release a premium annual pass offering at some time in the future - especially before the spinning of the Marketing Departments Mystery Wheel?

They had a monorail???

^in a Park (and country) where rides like Verbolten have only lap restraints and no OTSRs though... I didn't mean whether they COULD do it, moreso whether our risk-averse safety regime would permit it.

It'd be a lot of work, and probably not worth it - but i'd like to see a hydraulic element installed on the bridge to have it 'partially' collapse as you approached... a la the old Universal collapsing bridge in LA. Don't know whether they could achieve that as it is 'overhead' the ride path and may have issues unless it could be made completely 'failsafe'. All we can hope for in such well themed rides in AUS is that they maintain the current theming and not let it deteriorate like Bermuda and LTRR.

As I said - i'd expect all staff to be able to tell me where to go to find "x". They should know the park they work in backwards and forwards. I wouldn't expect every cast member to know the admission cost of every adult, pensioner, child, group combo ticket, add on Outback Spectacular upgrade and future park ticketing offering. If every cast member was expected to know all this, then we could do away with guest relations and just let each and every cast member handle that role. They SHOULD know the CURRENT offering (which would include the current VIP renewal offer) but as at that time the Gold upgrade option hadn't been announced - why should any of them be REQUIRED to know. They might have received a cast newsletter suggesting it was coming, but as you said - if noone in marketing has spun the big wheel - how can all park staff be expected to know these things? I think you've misunderstood me, and for the first part of my response - see above what i've said to Joz. I expect all cast could tell you where to find "x" in the park, but when it comes to ticketing enquiries (and more importantly - ticketing not yet advertised) all i would expect any cast member to do would be to direct me to guest services, and whilst i'd expect guest services to be able to tell me, i would be totally understanding if a GROUP ticket option not yet advertised was as yet unknown to them - in which case directing people to the call centre is the next logical step which is precisely what was done. As for Big W - would you pick an item off a shelf, hand it to the nearest staff member, and tell them to put it on layby for you? Would you ask the guy working in sporting goods for a refund? Would you take the latest PS4 game to the girl in the fitting rooms and ask her to unlock the case? No. Because in that store there are certain people who do those things, and so long as those staff directed guided held your hand and walked you to the appropriate layby customer service desk entertainment counter, they'd have done their job. I'm not aware of the background of the 'pass renewals' staff, but i'm fairly certain they aren't your typical cast member. I would expect they're either casual staff hired on for the job, or admin staff temporarily assigned to processing passes. they'd be shown how to process the pass purchase, take the photo, enter the member info and print the pass out. I'd hope they'd be 'fully inducted' into the park, but if they're in desperate need of those staff quickly, they'll shortcut to get things sorted. So long as those guys know how to direct you to guest services (which they apparently do) i'd be (frustrated, but) happy with that.

I really hope you mean "Team Bonding" The ski slope, and the ice rink are in fact two different operations - set about 200 metres apart. The slope is built down the hillside whereas the ice rink has a nice flat spot with a large open carpark...

For someone who is constantly banging on about other people's rudeness, it sounds like you were quite rude to the guest services folk. I also find your expectation that ANY staff member in the park should be able to answer questions about ticketing offerings purely ABSURD. Ride operations cast members have a lot of things to remember to ensure your SAFETY... and you want them to be able to tell any guest that might ask what ticketing options are planned for two months away? You want cleaners (who are typically the bottom of the ladder in a park and paid the lowest too - note i'm not saying this is the case in MW, only generalising) to be able to do the job of guest relations? NEWSFLASH - Guest Relations staff are the only people who should know the answers to those questions... However there's something you've missed here - you were asking about a multi-park ticket... and this is where multi-park staff (such as the call centre, or the website) come in... because the staff at each park cannot possibly be expected to know everything about every park within the company. I would never expect a park photographer to be able to tell me (reliably) whether the park would offer a premium ticket commencing in 2 months time. I'd expect them to know the showtimes for the street and stage performances on the day... I'd expect them to have an idea of which characters were appearing when... and i'd expect them to be able to tell me where (and when) I could collect my photos, and roughly how much a single print would be. I'd expect most park staff to be able to point me to the nearest toilet, locker, and major attractions... I wouldn't expect anyone except guest relations to be able to talk to me about ticketing, and for group wide ticketing, i'd expect the local park guest relations to know, but totally understand if a yet-to-be-released product was as-yet unknown to park staff, and totally understand if they would suggest calling the call centre to find out further info. I'd also totally understand if the call centre wasn't able to answer these questions yet - the company may not WANT people to know that it was coming yet - perhaps because they're planning on NOT offering free VIP gold upgrades this time around, and hoping to get most of the 'budget-passholders' onto a regular VIP before upcharging for VIP Gold like they used to. All I can picture is a petulant enthusiast stomping his foot in the middle of guest relations about how THEY should be able to tell him what the company is planning to do about tickets BEFORE the company has decided to release that info to the public. What makes you so special?