iwerks

Yeah, I’m hoping for a couple of family flats. Some team members were saying junior flats, but we know certain people like family rides. I’m suspecting another Zamperla. That kid who said Kraken cost $17 mill was full of crap. I think the feeling was the park wasn’t doing as well as they had thought. Not getting another slide like Kraken is a good idea. Anyone who thinks Kraken is too challenging won’t like another slide just like it. Also, did AW just get a baby emu?

Went past the park, today, and noticed no major construction underway. Looks like those doomsayers who predicted the end of the Mi-s might have been right. Inferno is in pieces at the back of the park and appears to be getting a new paint job. There are no signs of construction on the hill next to Kraken. There are a ton of tyres next to the staff entrance, but the rest of the Grand Prix still seems to be in place. There’s more bunting than a 1970s’ roller coaster movie. For some reason they are using those flag things to block off large areas of the park. The spray tent is in residence next to the back of house area. There appears to be a new line of retic behind the bushes at the front. The rumours we heard before the park closed was along the line of family flats, but we also heard that Kraken cost $17.5 million! It also appears that they’re saving up for something decent. So, it looks like the water/dry ride cycle might be broken. Congratulations to all who predicted this downturn. 😢

Had a nice lunch at The Maze, this afternoon. There were a few people enjoying WA Day and the lovely winter weather. There’s always some construction work going on, even today. It looks like they’re trying to piece the slides together like a large jigsaw. I’m also including a shot of a piece of theming I forgot to include last time. The trench Tim and I saw on the other side of the park has been filled in with shrubs and retic for a berm covering and a new fence has been added.

That’s what happened to the money?! The crazy fools knocked down Viking’s Revenue Flume Ride!

1.Who knocked down Scenic Railway? 2.Did Sea World just replicate Ben’s plan for Dreamworld? 3.The top spin looks to be in a different position on the model, so which is the final position? 4.So many of the GP think that the top spin in the SW plan is Wipeout.

After Outback Splash’s post yesterday, I was keen to get up to the park and check things out. @Tim Dasco also managed to meet us for lunch and go exploring. Luckily for us, they had their slide bits littered all over the place, in plain sight. It’d been awhile since Tim had been there and he really noticed how faded the original water playground is. The park was really quiet, despite the beautiful weather.

I think that’s a really positive sign if Greg Yong’s gone there. Surely, he’d be going there on the promise of having some capex to spend and would be keen to make his mark. Isn’t this what we’ve been saying all along - hire someone with theme park experience?

This from Outback Splash, today. I did visit before the waterpark it closed at the end of the school holidays, but there wasn’t too much to see. They were building a trench for the new gate area. They also had lots of pipes and had some rebar in for the foundation of the slides.

I really liked Ben’s video because it’s a plan and offers the park a two step process on how to get back on track. I think Australian parks should still go for that middle ground of attractions that would appeal to most and allow plenty of re-rides. Some rides are just too tall or intimidating for some. Water rides like Bermuda Triangle or Looney Tunes were great because they had theming and some moderate thrills. A lot of recent park extensions, like in Dollywood or Hollywood Studios, offer popular family attractions that have theming and mild thrills. Coaster-wise it’d be great to see Dreamworld get something that makes the most of its landscape. Could you imagine something like Light Water Valley’s The Ultimate going through the landscape?

^ So Scenic Railway doesn’t count?

I agree with lots of the comments so far. Adventure World is a hard one to classify as it didn’t really start as a theme park or an amusement park. It didn’t have any off the shelf rides; they only showed up later. It was more of an action park. However, it does mean things like Old Sydney Town/Pioneer World or Fox Studios Backlot were theme parks. Just out of interest: what’s the difference between a Legoland Discovery Centre and a Legoland theme park - theming wise? Why didn’t they call it a theme park?

I miss Python Loop/Nitro Coaster, although not those Pinfari brakes. I hope it’s riding well. 😢

Just a quick visit to AW, today. They did halt operations and observed a minute’s silence at 11am. I entered the park just before 10 from the members’ entrance. Struggled with a dodgy locker before securing a sun lounge and hitting the pool. It was 29 degrees, today, with warmer temperatures forecast for the weekend. I went on the rapids and the waterslides before any sort of queue formed. The bumper boats are now working in a similar way to the go-karts, with the red group going out, then the yellow ones getting loaded up, with a brief lap over time in between. There are coloured flags so you know which group has to go back. The Grand Prix had a wait time of approximately 45 minutes. There were long queues for most rides, with Kraken posting a 40 minute wait on its board. Visited the Aussie Wildlife Experience and caught up with Keeper Amie for the last time, this season. Dudley and Patrick were being given some treats. She has a theory that one of the heads of department runs Patrick the peacock’s Instagram account. There was a long, but smooth flowing, line for lunch. The verandah roof for the Kahuna Cafe has been painted bright colours. The barbecue at the Kahuna Bar was busy too, with plenty of people buying alcohol with lunch. There wasn’t any progress with Mi-4, only the pipes near Kraken have been capped. The grass, especially behind the Tornado funnel, looks very short too. I’ll be back for the last day of the season on Sunday.

It's that time of year again. https://www.ceosleepout.org.au/fundraisers/mark-shaw/?fbclid=IwAR2AoIuewvCEsZ5nTwYjPBT5OtXoejNqO2K4wy0BBuDrwlsN5pf_hJmwSEc

@pushbutton - I hope you’re joking. This kinda happened to Tim and me at Adventure World. Our favourite sitting area was on the verandah, where it now costs $30 to reserve a table. Don’t give DW any ideas!