aaronm

And hand another free kick to Village. $129 for Dreamworld annual pass, waterpark open sometimes $149 for Village locals pass, waterpark open every day except Christmas If I was a local it's an absolute no brainer...

I imagine most rides are too old to resell and would be scrapped. Buzzsaw is a maintenance nightmare whose manufacturer has pulled out of the business, MDMC and ToT are problematic prototypes, nobody wants ancient Arrows anymore which rules out HWSW. Maybe Madagascar would be picked up but that's really the only coaster I could reasonably see being relocated.

Hard to see how they can save $13-14k/day otherwise. Surprising that there’s that much to cut really.

This was kind of my point, you have the rides that are announced as being closed, then there’s usually a couple more surprise closures once you get to the park. It’s a lottery of disappointment.

I don’t think I’ve seen more than 5 of the “big 9” open at once in the last two years. Some, like Tower of Terror, are often closed even outside of planned maintenance periods. Even outside of the rides it’s become mediocre, the animal enclosures are increasingly sparse or empty. Gumbuya World has a far more impressive collection of Aussie animals at a much smaller park.

I’ve had a Dreamworld annual pass for at least the last 5 years, usually make it up to the Gold Coast 3-4 times a year so generally works to be good value. 2019 is the first year I haven’t automatically rolled it over, too many major rides closed during last year’s visits and no sign of SkyVoyager opening soon. So for the first time in a long time, looks like we will just enjoy the Village parks on next month’s trip. I suspect a lot of GC visitors will be making a similar call.

Maintenance, cost-saving closure, who cares anymore?

I cannot think of a single troubled theme park that has turned around on the back of spending no money. Next stop for Dreamworld is either a new owner or closing forever.

Capital light = "we're going to spend as little as possible and hope nobody notices" So basically the same strategy they've been running with for the last two decades.

Distinct lack of experience editing the Women's Weekly might also rule him out of contention if Ardent's track record is anything to go by...

I'd expect them to be Whitewater like the existing slides. There is already provision on the current tower for another two slides starting from the lower deck (presumably going out over the pump/filtration shed).

I can’t imagine they’re selling too many sessions when it’s open with those PS1 graphics...

I'm sure somewhere further back in this thread I was scoffed at for daring to suggest a March opening... this now seems optimistic.

Come on Dreamworld, go full Six Flags and put an M&Ms wrap on the train!

Will be grabbing the popcorn for this one. They can’t even blame the weather this year...

I'm not sure it happened all that often pre TRR.

The park has had 2+ years of 3-4 major rides being "down for maintenance" on any given day, I guess they figure guests don't care that much about rides being open. That said I seem to struggle to make a Dreamworld visit last more than 3 hours these days anyway, so shorter ride ops probably won't make much of a difference.

I have seen this system in action at Holiday World as well, very handy, wish more parks would do it!

Outside of school holidays, I don't know why the parks don't close one day a week for maintenance and budget reasons. Village could stagger the closures to funnel crowds to their other parks (i.e. Sea World on Tuesday, Movie World on Wednesday, Wet n Wild on Thursday). There will always be a need for extended maintenance from time to time, but I'd rather a park that was open six days a week to one with potentially two major rides out of action during a visit.

Perhaps I am too cynical, but extended maintenance windows are another way to keep operating costs down. Interesting to note there is a window where Arkham, GL, Dodgems and Speedy Gonzales are all down simultaneously. Village must have an army of technicians ready to roll!

Superman and Lightning Rod both had prototype elements, compared to the off-the-shelf Flying Theatre being installed at Dreamworld. It's not all that far-fetched to suggest that the Dreamworld/Ardent factor is again at play here. Look at Trolls Village (a shop and some painted flats) - opened six months after they'd announced and it was still mediocre!

Will be up there in early March, beginning to worry that it might not be open yet!

Not really, just means the ride system is operational. Ride movement doesn't need to be 100% synced to film a commercial.

Dora is Nickelodeon though, so perhaps they would be able to leverage that relationship with a slight rebrand of the showcase. At least as good a draw for families as Trolls Village 😆

Slightly concerning, given Helensvale may not be the ideal test location for the concept. Hopefully it continues to perform well as I think a well-situated Topgolf in Melbourne and Sydney would have excellent potential.