aaronm

And they still want $50 for a day pass. I paid less to get into Cedar Point!

^It seems to be an Aussie park thing - I've been on plenty of older Arrows overseas where the crews manage to get trains out pretty quickly, even with only one ride op checking restraints. Viper might be slow-loading but Cyclone just borders on the ridiculous.

Given how much growth the GC has seen over the last decade, I think there is definitely potential to market the parks to the after-work crowd on Thursday/Friday nights during the warmer parts of the year. I'm kind of surprised that Movie World doesn't have a Citywalk-style dining/entertainment complex attached to keep people spending money after the park closes. So this is what I was getting at when I said that Sea World was "close" to being a world class park. I don't think it's quite there yet either. Once Storm Coaster and the gorillas are in it'll be getting there. Unless you're hell-bent on seeing all of the shows and parades it's difficult to stretch out a visit beyond the six hour mark. They should definitely offer something better than a 5 minute Spongebob cartoon in the cinema, and a pet show would be a solid addition that could build on their animal welfare/conservation theme. Filling in the back of the lagoon isn't a bad way to increase their usable land. Getting rid of the bridge might help open up that part of the park, especially given that it doesn't traverse a body of water any more. The whole park layout is a bit off though, not sure what they can do about that - most of the food venues are at the exit? And for a park which doesn't have much room to begin with I'm not sure a splash battle was the best use of space.

My point is more that when every major park in the world adjusts its daily opening hours according to demand, the Gold Coast parks are stuck in this time warp where nobody would possibly want to ride a rollercoaster after 5pm. Personally I'd much prefer to hit up the beach during the day, head down to a park in the late afternoon, and stick around until 8pm or later. I think you're selling them short. Their dolphin show is better than San Diego's, they might not have anything on the scale of Manta or Kraken but Jet Rescue is one of the best family coasters anywhere in the world. Certainly some improvements could be made but on the whole it's a pretty good park. Looking at it from a 'guest experience' perspective rather than a straight-up comparison of attractions, I'd expect to have a fairly similar day at Sea World whether down here or in San Diego. Remove or look for ways to make it better. Essentially the park got Intamin's prototype motocoaster, which has been improved upon with Jet Rescue and then again with Juvelen. It's still better than any of the Zamperla motocoasters, and with some track additions/modifications could be significantly improved. The capacity issue could be addressed by having a second train in operation, and training the ride ops to help dispatch trains faster (but it's Dreamworld so probably not going to happen...).

^There is no way Buzzsaw could possibly do 600 pph. That would mean a 50-second cycle, including load/unload and ride time. From memory the ride time alone would have to be at least 45 seconds! But I can definitely believe 600 pph for Abyss, providing the ride ops are on their game.

A true "world class" park would be open longer than 10-5 during peak season. I think Movie World is one big coaster and another show away from being a full-day park. If Dreamworld expanded their wildlife offering and replaced Cyclone with a decent coaster they would have something similar to Discovery Kingdom, which is a great day out. A flying scooter ride wouldn't be amiss either. Sea World is the only park I'd classify as being close to world class, once Storm Coaster opens they will be almost on a par with their namesakes in the USA.

Only $10 more than the Gold Coast park, looks like they are pursuing the same strategy of pushing people towards buying the season passes rather than pricey individual tickets.

^Cheers thanks.

Hey guys - long time lurker, first time poster here. Looks like I'll have the chance to check out Fright Nights this coming Saturday - coming up from Melbourne and staying down near Surfers Paradise. Does anyone know if there are buses running to and from the event? Movie World's website mentions there should be but I can't find any detail anywhere...