aaronm

And in the meantime they are fast running out of product to sell, there are only so many rides you can close before people completely stop bothering (especially the current ticket price). At this point I'd consider the waterpark to be their core attraction, everything else is a bonus...

They heard about Dreamworld's new covered seating attraction and are building a bigger one to compete.

If it was the first addition in a 3 year plan to refresh the attractions (i.e. Sky Voyager, one major flat ride or family coaster, two-three kiddie rides) I would be optimistic. Right now it seems like SV is the "ride most likely to be relocated when Dreamworld inevitably closes".

Harry Potter land confirmed

One down, eight to go...

Hmm... too early for Santa. What's the odds it's one of the failed Eurovision contenders?

Wasn't the blue area where the hotel was going to go, or is that in a different carpark?

Sound attenuation? Given it's already next to the M1, what are they being asked to do? Also where is the pedestrian bridge going - over the creek to Kopps Rd? Apologies if I'm completely confused about where this carpark is and these questions make no sense...

We love it, cultural capital of Australia. Some areas are better served than others for sure, where this proposed park is going is predominantly light industrial/warehouses and golf courses so even the bus routes are a bit thin out there.

Not a terrible idea, will save on some opex. Aussie World already shuts at 3 on a weekday.

I was just pointing out that the bus a reasonable alternative if people want that extra 45 minutes in the park. Most of the time it seems to start emptying about 3:30 anyway so a 4:15 ferry departure may well suit a good number of guests.

I'm impressed if you can make a Sea World visit last that long. Even seeing all the shows and taking your time, it's hard not to be done by 3pm. Looks like the ferry is $10 one way though, so you could take the ferry up and bus back if you really want the full day experience.

Well if a glowstick party doesn't turn park performance around I don't know what will.

It's in a bit of a public transport black hole but that doesn't appear to have hurt the other Victorian parks. I suspect a lot of that $100m is going towards the structure, hopefully they have enough left over to build a decent collection of slides.

So is this a Queensland thing or did Dreamworld screw up? Brogent have installed enough of these rides that I assume the ride system isn’t at fault.

On one hand, good on them for waiting until it's properly ready before opening. But fairly terrible on the marketing/expectation setting front, not only is their ride not open (seemingly not any time soon either), an already cash-strapped park has wasted a pile of money on promotional spend as well. Once again, Ardent clearly have no idea how to run a theme park...

July school holidays

Thanks, that's definitely interesting - particularly that none of the parks fall into any other's "90 minute" zones. I think this shows that while there's some overlap, they all have solid potential to grow without cannibalising too much of the others' business. And while West Gippsland has historically been mostly farmland there are suburban developments springing up either side of Gumbuya at the moment so it's definitely in the right spot to benefit from the population boom one that side of the city.

If you had a version of the map that showed population within a 1 hour drive, there'd be some crossover in the northeastern suburbs but generally I think my theory still stands (bearing in mind Gumbuya is right on the freeway but Funfields is a bit more out of the way, and Adventure Park requires a drive through the middle of Geelong).

Point being people are highly likely to go with the park they live closest to, and the three of them are far enough apart that there isn't much of an overlap in the catchment areas. Given all are very much locals' parks many visitors will go the annual pass route which further decreases the incentive to check out the other ones.

It's interesting that this is being perceived as a sort of waterslide arms race between the three parks, given they aren't really all that close to each other - would be close to a 2.5 hour drive from Gumbuya to Adventure Park for instance. I think what we're seeing is more that park investment/opening new rides drives ticket sales, which in turn provides the income to fund further additions. I also think that dollar-for-dollar the Victorian parks have made smart choices in terms of how they've spent their money, whereas there have been some questionable decisions made by the bigger operators up north (not least the debacle that was WnW Sydney).

On the back of zero evidence, I am 90% convinced this is the reason. Start with a bangin' tune and build a show around it!

I think in general water parks end up being "locals parks" more than tourist destinations for the most part. There's at least a million people within a 30 minute drive of Gumbuya and it seems to be packed every time I drive past or visit. Clearly the demand is there and it doesn't seem to have dropped off in year 2 despite the attraction lineup being largely the same. Funfields and Adventure Park also seem to draw a reasonable crowd with a relatively small set up compared to the GC parks. Sure the weather isn't as good as up north but you only have to look at the US and Europe to see that seasonal parks can be quite successful - I mean, Cedar Point has a waterpark and it snows in Sandusky during the winter!

Anyone know what a "monster Twister" slide is? I haven't heard of this one before.

There's the potential for TG to be smart with their offers - i.e. if a group is spending up big on F&B, offer them heavily discounted rates to keep the party going for another hour. I think the time-based pricing probably does discourage people from slowing down to eat and drink, especially the $90/hr on weekends.