DaptoFunlandGuy

My guess is they probably need the hole for access to the building (although it could be the 'new' entrance). I don't think it will be used to link the two attraction areas together - for starters - you block the path that leads further back, but also, you kill one of the vehicle access points to the park. Large vehicles like parade floats can only really enter the park in two spots1 - next to intencity and next to LTRR. 1(Yes, i'm aware of the vehicle access gates next to West, Arkham, JL3d, and the western perspective facade, but I don't think you could get the floats through any of them, and for most of them, even if you did you wouldn't get them to main street from that point because of the clutter [or rides] in the way)

That's quite a cynical approach. Given comments made by another member recently, i'm inclined to think Scoob is probably getting some love soon.

HOLY SHIT! The similarities to the Mark Twain here are quite striking. The team have outdone themselves this time - that one photo is enough for me to want to check this out. I keep looking at this photo and all I can see is the big finale of Fantasmic with all the costumed characters waving streamers.... this is going to be great!

Fabbri are also italian and could be in the running, but I agree - Zamperla have the previous working relationship! Edit: Cooper just got in!

Why buy shockwave, when you have claw? Why buy Cyclone, when you have Thunderbolt? Why buy Jet Rescue, when you have Sea Viper? Why buy Green Lantern, when you have Superman Escape? Why buy Superman Escape, when you have Lethal Weapon? Why buy Mick Doohans Motocoaster, at all? Some among us are hoping that with the introduction of Mini Cars, we might see them redevelop the rest of WB Kids, and we might see the end of Tijuana Taxis...

That's ok.... you can have Euro Disneyland to look forward to instead!

Well if you didn't get no email, does that mean you got some email? Nobody said it was an email - I did say (twice) that it was a text message. Perhaps you didn't provide them with your current mobile number?

to be fair with Gazza's design - the splash down area would probably need a little more space IF it were a raft slide. If it's a body slide, they probably don't need as much of a run-out chute - think Aqualoop style run-outs for a body slide.

So - they imposed 100 conditions for the whinger NIMBYs benefit who made noise at the council, and now the project won't go ahead to the detriment of the majority of the local area who would have loved to have such an attraction...

Well it seems like I was on the money (to be fair though, it was too obvious a concept for them not to do it) - from the Carnivale thread: And I received this text this morning from "Movie World" I assume a text-blast just went out to the entire VIP (or VIP Gold) membership. It's a nice deal, and i'm certainly taking it up - effectively they've just given me another night event for no extra cost... I would have liked to see them up the price for the pass though - it's still insanely good value even if it's $150... (Edit: Just saw the renewal details went out earlier as per the posts in the off-topic thread... still think the VIPs need a thread to discuss them as they do come up with quite a few variations through the year...)

VIP isn't currently Postcode restricted. Occasionally, they do a special reduced pricing for 'locals only' which usually doesn't come out until after December... but the current pass pricing does not have a postcode restriction - go to themeparks.com.au and try to buy one - there are no T&C's on it...

given we haven't heard even a whisper as yet - either VRTP are doing very well at keeping it quiet - or they aren't building anything - they're just doing earthworks or maintenance for some generic operational structure... like a storage shed or something. Very happy for them to prove me wrong with a new blockbuster for next summer though....

No - you learn from your mistakes. We're talking about 7 trading days lost here for them (from my recollection they were open Fri-Sun until the last weekend in may - so thats the weekend just gone that they were closed for, and this next weekend coming... 2 June is WA day, so they'd probably be open for that too). Sure if the weather is bad, thats a bit of a financial loss, but the commitment to their guests should count for a little more than that. The lesson to be learned is to be careful with what promises they make to their visitors - "we're open until June" two months ago translates to "the few of you who had planned to make a visit can get stuffed because we think we'll lose money today" So what i'm saying is - stay open (this time) for the period you've already advertised eat the loss as a lesson to the decision makers think more carefully next year about whether you'll open until June again Perhaps only announce the continued trading 1-2 weeks out 5 trading days isn't a disaster to the bottom line... but the loss to reputation can hurt... For example - next year if they say 'open until May 10', my thoughts will be "last year they closed earlier than they said they would... i'm not going to make any plans to visit the park after April 20" - so their last 4 weeks turn quieter... repeat that each year and eventually they only open for the summer holidays. (this is an exaggerated example, but the possibilities still ring true)

Yes I think it did - i posted a link to the wonderland history site which had two videos of snowy - one that was posted above by iWerks and another which actually did show Snowy in startup... I'm quite confused why it would have been deleted, but I certainly didn't do it and nobody has PM'd me about it either.

However given Abyss was one of their biggest ever investments, they might need more than a single season to recover...

BAM! Hehehe - Considering they built WnWS in 12-13 months - knocking together a slide tower and associated infrastructure in the next 4 months is quite feasible, especially if the necessary approvals and certifications have already been done. I'm getting a general sense that DW's certifier is a slow lazy lot (whereas VRTP are a lot quicker in filing with council). A pool can be built from bare earth, and ready to swim in less than a month. Pre-fabricated tower sections (if ready to go) only take a few weeks. I drive past several construction sites on my way to work and i've seen blocks of 50-100 townhouses go up in 4 months. Considering any new slide is pretty much 'support towers+slippery surface+water pipes+poolsplashdown+filtration' I don't see any reason why they can't get something decent up in the timeframe given. The lazy river is the only thing I can't see happening as in my opinion the ground work would be more difficult... but anything else is pretty much on the table!

And see thats annoying. park says 'we're open until june' spate of bad weather leads the park to close the gates on days they were previously planning to open. people who made travel decisions to visit the area based on the park being open are then disappointed. I realise the park can do whatever they want, but if they've made a commitment to open the park for the next two weekends, they should follow through. Sure it might cost them a couple bucks if they don't get the crowds, but if you say you're going to open - you need to bloody open!

Precisely.... lol.

The phrase 'lights on' and 'pov' entered into YouTube will generally yield many results.

Of course i'm going from my own knowledge with Bush Beast and Beastie. It may have just been the age of them, but the maintenance guys would walk the entire length of the track every day, generally armed with a hammer and nails. Where the timber was starting to lift, twist, kink, or otherwise degrade, they'd hammer it back down into place, and in some cases knock a few more nails into it. This i've seen with my own eyes, and of course this is the reason why a steel coaster wouldn't need the same sort of attention across every part of track) If it were something bigger, my guess is that they'd mark it for a look on the next maintenance period, or even bigger again, they may not sign off on the ride until it had received attention. I would presume other coasters would have similar inspections on a regular basis, as much of the timber would be nailed (obviously not the structural supports which would be bolted), but as woodies are meant to move and shake, two boards nailed together would, over the course of many many cycles, shake and wiggle their nails loose, and preventative maintenance, by walking the track every day, would identify the problems early before they became a serious issue.

I hope they do well with it, but I'd like to see them continue to offer their themed nights included with the gold pass (all three, not just 'pick one')... increase the price in line with your margin (if they don't go to all three then it's more profit), and then NOT giveaway the gold pass for free. They've given it to enough people, and shown them the value in it - now they need to make it worthy of it's content and charge the right price. I would say if VIP stays around the $100-110 mark (with no free tix) then the Gold should go to about $170-190, and include all 4 themed nights. That was theres a BENEFIT to spending the extra money, it's cheaper than buying VIP and then booking the night events separately - you could even offer fastpasses for FN at a cut price rate as well...

I totally missed this thread until now, but stumbled across the webcams from some other sites. I tuned into Rivers of America at 3:20 (without knowing the showtime) and instantly recognised that Fantasmic was about to start. I had the soundtrack on my phone, so got it cued up pretty close and watched the show with sound. I'm not sure whether they deliberately switched the camera to black and white night vision for the show for copyright reasons, or whether the low-light aspect of the show meant night-vision was sort of necessary... but it did come back into colour right around the time the Mark Twain did the finale... so not sure either way. It was good to watch the show again, and a nice little touch to Disney parks that I wish they would do more often (I think every day would be a bit much, although I do remember at one point Wonderland had several webcams supposedly 'live' in different points of the park. (The bloody wombat didn't move for about a year though I think)

I think he's talking about American parks Brad - that would make more sense...

They would be able to recycle old stuff as brand new stuff again - tagline wise... however I believe they'd have to go with a 'both sides' refit. If they refit only one side - you run the risk of not being able to ride your preferred side on any given day that they're trying to cutback on staff wages and maintenance by only operating the one side of the tower... conversely, if they did refit only one side - maybe that would force them to run both of them each day.... (nah - who am I kidding - this is Dreamworld!)

No way in hell Dreamworld would divert funds from the foundation. Granted, if the foundation is in need of funds, the lack of the donation would need them to divert operational funding to support it... but I doubt the Foundation is that desperate for funds.