Guest 239

I know, I'm disgusted in myself, but it makes sense from an operational perspective. The park already has a reputation for being gutted and they can't really afford to have this land down for any extended period of time. I'd imagine there are some stipulations from Dreamworks to have any theming connected to their IP removed by X date. This is likely the quick and nasty response to that. Other than operationally - I don't love it. Like, what's the story here? What are these little things meant to be? I predict that down the line this will likely cause more problems than it immediately solves. Probably the only reason why I don't despise it is because I have a fondness for the colour blue.

It's quick and nasty, but it keeps the ride operating. More guests will care about that any additional work they could do here.

I've continued tracking uptime data from Sea World since the 19th of January. Here are some stats - Down Time Percentage My system tracks three states - CLOSED, DOWN & OPEN. Generally CLOSED is reserved for when the park is shut, but can also be used for down time though it is rare. For simplicity sake on this output I just used my DOWN & OPEN data considering that these states generally need to be assigned manually by the park. Still, a rough estimate of 30% uptime for a brand new attraction is pathetic. The rest of New Atlantis isn't much better at 38% uptime for Vortex and 47% uptime for Leviathan. I get that there are teething issues, but when your coaster from 2008 is operating more reliably than your coaster from last December than you've got some problems. Sea World Likelihood Of Down Time Using this combined data I wanted to see what times of the day rides were most likely to go down. Keep in my mind my data is recorded in Sydney time so 11 AM is 10 AM, etc. With that mind, there are some interesting things to note. Leviathan is more unreliable in the first half of the day and gets more reliable as the day goes on. Storm Coaster is insanely reliable during most of the day. Trident is the opposite of Leviathan and appears to go down more in the afternoon. The other rides seem to be pretty standard. Wait Time Averages This is the average wait of each ride over the day when the ride is open. Nothing too much to note except for Leviathan seeing a huge spike at the start of every day. My assumption is that a lot of people are visiting the park but it's generally down at the start of the day. Therefore people hang out for longer than usual and a larger-than-average crowd forms because of it waiting for the ride to open. Also people really don't like Vortex. If there is any data you want feel free to let me know. Again there are problems with this considering that it's only sampling every 15 minutes and we're relying off output from the park but it's still interesting none-the-less.

I agree with the sentiment of what you're saying @Slick. A wave swinger in this placement is not ideal, but neither is Dreamworld's entire situation. They have to carefully balance profits and brand recovery. A big criticism I have for Dreamworld is that it's first impression once you walk through the gate is pretty bad. Sky Voyager sucked a lot of the charm out of Main Street and any kinetics that could recover the mood are hidden other behind structures (except for perhaps Claw but even then it's around a corner. Even during busy periods Main Street just has a tendency to feel lifeless and considering crowds play an important part in determining atmosphere I honestly think a bit of congestion will do wonders for the parks first impression. Once it's up and running you'll be greeted to a much better first impression when entering the gates. You'll have the visual kinetics, happy groups of guests, gleeful sounds from the attraction, etc. Plus they then get the bonus of using it in the night markets which hopefully solves some of the lost revenue problems that you mentions. In my opinion it's the best possible outcome for their entrance experience without completely redoing it.

I wish somebody could replace my baggage

I started writing out one for each park and realised all my answers were the same! I honestly think every park would benefit from a high-capacity, slow-moving dark ride. It's the biggest gap I feel our parks have at the moment.

If you took out the bags out from under the big screen in the queue and changed some of the lighting and visuals it wouldn't look that out of place as an aquarium.

There is a stack of rotting timber, but I don't believe it's from the Bush Beast. I think it's from one of the water attractions that was also supported by wood.

Even little Haze machines can pack a bunch. I've been in theatre productions that have been hazed by a machine the size of a backpack. The big and more expensive issue I can see would be removing the haze as quickly as possible in an emergency. You don't exactly want to be doing an evacuation with limited visibility.

Colloquialisms, grammar and personal choices aside - I have! A friend and I were in the area of the Wonderland Boneyard one day and decided to stop by. It was interesting seeing parts of history just strewn across an overgrown field. I still find it bizarre that almost two decades after it closed there is stuff from that park just sitting there rotting away. It's a sad end to that park. Also I wouldn't recommend going there unless you've got experience going bush. Others who have ventured out have noted that there are often snakes hanging around.

Disney are all about storytelling. They may not have the tallest or fastest rides, but for some their storytelling will make them feel more than any thrill ride can. Space Mountain is nowhere near the best coaster in the world, but when you combine the setting, pacing, visuals and insanely good music it quickly becomes my favourite coaster experience.

New supporting documents and plans released to the public: Plans.pdfSupporting Documents.pdf What on earth is this?

When next-gen worked it was neat, but I found that many of the new effects were incredibly unreliable and made the attraction feel far more than dated than it deserves. You can employ a lot of tricks to make practical sets and effects look good even when things might not be working as intended, but there is a much lower tolerance for error when it comes to screens and projectors because you can't easily compensate for them being off. Also this sign replacement was a crime:

Maintenance schedule has been updated to include Leviathan going down for two weeks in March.

That's fair. Cheers for the recount. Honestly I feel like Dreamworld is in for the long haul but likely just not under Ardent. The most likely outcome is that it gets taken over by Parques Reuindos and continues along as expected with some additional cash injections to be sold off further down the line, or it gets purchased by Merlin and gets a similar treatment to Cypress Gardens to become a Lego resort. This leaves current management in an awkward spot where they need to plan for the future to keep the park fresh whilst also not doing anything too dramatic to affect it's sale potential. So as long as Dreamworld is under Ardent I feel we will mostly see safe and generic expansions.

Isn't Dreamworld still actively trying to sell? Wouldn't IP just make that harder?

Open up Peppa Pig World and give me Daddy Pig Hyper Coaster.

Which is a shame, really. There is a reason why Disney invests so heavily in marketing their food and beverage options and making sure they're as photogenic as possible. At the end of the day the guest is essentially purchasing a product that becomes free marketing for the business.

I find it strange that there has been no mention on any shops in this new land. IP-based lands are a great opportunity to sell merchandise and goodies because a lot of the leg work to convince somebody to purchase has already been done for you. There is an incredible opportunity to have an Oz themed bakery that sells delicious & unique pastries that people can post on Instagram (I know, I hate it as well but that's the world we live in). Even a simple stand selling in-universe merchandise such as shirts celebrating a visit to the Emerald City would be great. In fact, thinking back on it, shops just seem to be a low priority for any new developments in our parks. Some free standing shops such as these from Galaxy's Edge could go a long way in WOO and retroactively installed into New Atlantis:

I wouldn't be surprised if Universal let the contract expire considering their new family-focused park in Texas is almost entirely DreamWorks. https://www.travelandleisure.com/universal-announces-new-theme-park-texas-7094079 Disney have stated that they have been losing traction with families as of late, and this is Universal's opportunity to sweep in and get people into their brand whilst they're young. It makes sense that'd want to control the DreamWorks ecosystem as much as possible and allows for them to build one of these parks in Australia in the future without figuring out licensing.

Just wait until he finds out that Bermuda Triangle is closed!

Whilst an out and back coaster would be awesome in that space along Whitewater Road, I reckon they're better off leaving it for a future second gate like Peppa Pig World at the Legoland Florida resort. It's probably not the most exciting idea for enthusiasts, but I feel a smaller family-only style park would do great to draw more families towards Dreamworld.

I reckon a Dive Machine would be fantastic. Even better would be if it had some themed sections. They could even call it Tower of Terror! I would not want to see a B&M Flying Coaster operating in Australia. Even in some of the most efficient parks they still have huge load times because they're confusing for most guests to figure out. Also I've never done one that hasn't made me feel absolutely dreadful afterwards. Maybe we could get one of the new Vekoma versions like F.L.Y though.

Oof. Were you not able to get a ride in?

I'd love another hyper coaster but we've got enough big thrills. Both operators have acknowledged that there is a major gap in family attractions which is why the priorities of both Movie World and Dreamworld at the moment are to get more high capacity rides with low height requirements.