webslave

I'd rather see the kids area developed into a standalone (not kids-focused) area with some rides relevant to multiple age groups, and then see kids rides integrated into the other areas of the park to spread them out a bit. Speaking as a parent, the kids area is frustrating because it feels miles from everywhere else in the park - so inevitably one parent is saddled with the youngest kid in that area and is isolated from the rest of the family as they do the rest of the park. An approach of integrating a kids ride into each area of the park allows families to stay together throughout the day, and to move together through the park from area to area without tedious back-tracking to a far-flung corner of the park.

If DW had left you out to dry after you'd been giving them a sweet ride for years would you be in a hurry to play ball with them on their next ride?

One more outburst like that and he's going to send you to your room, mister.

Yeah, a friend of mine who is on the large side couldn't ride it. I was fine. You didn't miss much. It was pretty crap.

Buddy, it's called critical analysis and reporting - it's a good thing. When you're not doing that you're basically writing press releases.

Well, it all depends on perspective doesn't it? What good decisions have Dreamworld made, announced and executed upon recently? I may have missed them.

Are you sure, Push? After all...

I think we are pretty well aligned in thoughts on improvement. I didn't compare it to the previous incarnation simply because I only saw it once and it made absolutely no impression hence I have trouble remembering it. I reckon they can aim higher.

Yeah, and I quote; I reckon I saw maybe ten stunts in all that time, but a shitload of yakkity-yakyak and what the blue fuck was with the dance? tl;dr list of wtf; Creepy cover version of instrumental of Highway to Hell. Unclear who the audience are supposed to identify with. What is with the bike ramp and BMX stunts? You should never let the cast hot-dog to the crowd for longer than the stunt lasted. Cotton Eye Joe? A song that was divisive even back in 1995 - in a new show more than two decades later? I can't even... What's the point of the River Rats characters if they are going to dance with the Kurt Angles at the end of it? Ratio of talk to stunts is waaaay out of whack. What, we couldn't have spent any time on themeing up the boats except for the truck (whose wheels clearly do not spin, but other than that is decent)? The cadence of the show is all wrong. Everything seems to be about having the stuntperson stand there in front of the crowd, say something asinine in the name of 'story', and then send the stuntperson off to circumnavigate the lake before they do their next trip, leading to dead air while we wait. What/where was the 'big finish' stunt? If you want to try and salvage something from this here's some tips; The stuntpeople don't need to return to the main stage after every trick. Keep them in the water for the most part to allow them to be ready sooner. There needs to be a clear progression in the scale of the stunts. On a lake of that size you need to be prepared to run stunts that involve two or more stuntpeople on the same stunt (two separate stunts adjacent to each other is not the same thing). Ditch the crappy A vs B narrative once and for all. The audience is not interested; you give them no reason to identify with your characters, not your cause. If you must keep it then instead of having them compete 'just cause' or 'for the lake' have them compete to give the best show to the fans. None of the bullshit fake rivalry - make it real; real stunt-people working on stunts to play to the crowd. At the end have both groups combine for some large scale stuff to end people off happy. Do not do the dance. Ever again. Like, ever. I mean it. Don't. Do something with the set on the island. I don't care what. Jump a boat through it, swing somebody off it onto a boat. I don't know, just something. It dominates the view and adds nothing. Lose the BMX stuff. It is out of place and adds nothing to the show. We know Showtime does BMX stunts, but this is not the place for it. Lose the hotrod. It takes a long time to get out there and does nothing for the show. This isn't a motorsport show, no matter how much you'd like it to be. You need to find some more height in some of the stunts because this all felt a bit small-scale. Never allow more than 45 seconds to elapse between stunts.

I can't really say it adds anything much to the park. Snooze-fest.

Yeah, I don't. All of those staff still need to be paid. If you don't pay them they go elsewhere which means you need to restart recruitment all over again. On one hand it staggers me that the bulk of the advice here begins with "bring back..." and includes arbitrarily closing the park for a period to do... something? But then I remember the type of people Parkz often attracts...

Yeah, that's what everyone was interested in at the AGM... Give us a break. Until they work out how to build apartments on top of them they will never be considered their most valuable resource.

...so they are now running their own RTO? Jesus, could this park get any cheaper and nastier?

Great idea. I know when I go to an airport I like to see old, rusted, unmaintained aircraft as I walk to my flight.

Investigations found that Dreamworld lacked the necessary management capability and maintenance program to keep flowers alive.

You'd have to be an idiot to want to invest in the short-term. The plus-side from where I sit on seeing a management team and board so hellbent on bringing the park to its knees to justify a real-estate sell-off is knowing that they have likely started their run too early, and as a result have made life even more difficult for themselves. Go figure - a pack of corporate vandals who can't even manage a basic asset sale. Woe to anyone who would hire any of them going forward.

I was told that the reason there's no fog is that it was found the correct filters for the projection gear hadn't been specified/ordered, so therefore it's running without it until that stuff eventually arrives and is signed-off. I rode the ride a few days ago and honestly... what a mess. The projection in the lift is out of sync front vs side and it's just way too close. It also makes not a lick of sense. The AR-projection earlier in the ride was frozen on a still from a much earlier ride and there was a Windows 7 error message projected on the wall to the right of it. Several of the set elements in the dark ride section are unlit. The lasers in the dark ride section are on but ineffective without aforementioned fog. All-in-all we were left scratching our heads at how something like this could happen, given shortly afterward we rode Arkham with VR. How can a park that is capable of something of the standard of Arkham VR also produce something like Scooby 2.0?

Fire-fighters have the park surrounded to try and save it as the fire closes in: https://twitter.com/tdolling/status/1102014814476353536?s=19

Animals were apparently evac'd this morning.

The park is closed today and tomorrow with the emergency warning zone now including the park itself. The highway that passes the park is closed in both directions. I've not heard it mentioned specifically, but I'd be thinking the park is now under direct threat from bushfire.

There's a bushfire burning immediately to the north of Gumbuya World this evening.

It's a classic move out of the Australian Hospo Playbook. The next one is hospo night.

Seems like a pretty weak way to lead your marketing

How exactly do you quantify "most impressive" I wonder? I also quite dislike referring to a four-lane racer as four slides. Cheap. Have they missed an opportunity here? Neither of these elements is new to Victoria AFAIK.

It's always the same - this team of guys vs this team of guys to decide who is better. It's like their own little life narrative writ large.