[The New Atlantis - Construction Updates]

Saying 'by Australian standards' is like giving an encouragement award to the kid that turned up. Our parks aren't somehow randomly isolated from the world market and shouldn't just be given a pass because our personal standards in the last few years have dropped dramatically entirely influenced on the output that all our parks have given us. You also can't randomly put our parks into the Australian basket considering that every second piece of media from VRTP boasts it's additions as being 'world class'. 

If they say that they're world class, then they're competing with addition such as F.L.Y which opened recently at Phantasialand and that park sees less attendance then VRTP's properties so I'm not sure why we are congratulating the bare minimum requirement for what classifies as a 'theme park'.
 

 

[Village Roadshow releases full year results, commits to ride removals and new additions]

10 hours ago, rappa said:

Yes all anyone was talking about here is reusing a bit of bare concrete trough. 

Just throwing it out there, ‘Bare Concrete Trough’ is a great band name. 

[Size doesn't matter: Dreamworld makes concrete moves towards a smaller theme park]

2 minutes ago, Brad2912 said:

Think they are aiming for a broad spectrum approach. Their target market is simply “human beings”. 

Poor choice if you ask me. Human beings are the worst sort of people.

[Village Roadshow releases full year results, commits to ride removals and new additions]

On 29/08/2020 at 10:42 AM, jcgoldcoast said:

Could they finally be removing Vikings Revenge at Sea World?

Could Sea World potentially use the new-ish portions of Vikings Revenge to create a log flume if they demolished the castle? I wouldn't be against them building some sort of updated log ride at Sea World in the coming years.

[Size doesn't matter: Dreamworld makes concrete moves towards a smaller theme park]

Good article and I agree with many of the points. Closing BRC is an odd decision and does take away a lot of the family appeal. Hopefully Dreamworld have some plans regarding a decent replacement because I feel its losing both it's thrill seeker and family appeal. Who are they catering to anymore?

[Luna Park Melbourne needs a new Coaster]

Luna Park Melbourne has never really been an interest for me when visiting Melbourne. I always saw it as an even lesser Luna Park Sydney. A good, quality coaster would definitely make me more interested in visiting when I visit Melbourne almost annually. 

[Happy Halloween 2020]

The list of 'what's on' doesn't really have all that much but 'free' rides at night is always welcome. It's interesting that for an event which is redeemable for free with season passes they don't seem to have a huge focus on uncharges like Spooky Nights. I wonder if they'll have more uncharges visible when you get there?

[Ardent Leisure FY 20 results]

Changing the name would probably have the opposite effect because people would see it as them trying to divert attention. Flynn is pretty spot on with a lot of what he's said. It'd be kinda like if airlines changed their name every time a plane crashed instead of identifying the root cause of the problem and fixing it.

[The New Atlantis - Construction Updates]

11 hours ago, colonelbmx said:

Huh, Trident is looking a little different from the concept art but I’m excited to ride ‘Surf City’!

[Theme Parks Reopening Post COVID-19]

Great to see Superman reopening! That ride brings so much life to the park. It was sorely missed. 

[Dreamworld pleads guilty over Thunder River Rapids accident]

13 minutes ago, red dragin said:

Genuine questions, not stirring. I'm not a finance type person.

Did Macquarie Capital have anything to do with Macquarie Leisure (now Ardent)? As Robin Bishop was head of Macquarie Capital prior to BGH.

And what is a private equity firm? My impression is they buy something big, then split it into pieces then sell it for a greater profit.

From what I know the ELI5 is that they take donuts for $2, pump them full of jelly and then sell them for $4 as jelly donuts. 

[Dreamworld pleads guilty over Thunder River Rapids accident]

1 hour ago, rappa said:

ummm BGH Capital is an Australian and New Zealand-focused private equity firm established in 2017 by Robin Bishop, Ben Gray and Simon Harle.

Yeah see Village are going to use the money to continue their planned capital investment which brings construction and development jobs to Queensland, they also have the doors open which creates more jobs. 
 

Ardent plan to use the money to open the gate and cover the losses they have had from their past poor decisions. So none of that money benefits anything. Any jobs they make by being open is offset by all the people they have sacked. 

If you kissed ass any harder you’d tear off skin. 

[Theme Parks Reopening Post COVID-19]

Here’s our take on the reopening. It expands a bit more on my thoughts and Luke has added more as well. 
 

 

[Nostalgia at the Parks]

3 hours ago, Smol bean said:

Kids probably get bored because kids theses days only care about fortnite and tik tok or whatever carp their into 

It’s really bad, my kid won’t stop going on about carp. 

[Theme Parks Reopening Post COVID-19]

1 minute ago, rappa said:

Went to the website, red banner directed me to COVID info. Clearly states check the maintenance page. Maintenance page clearly shows closed rides so...

Straw man argument. We're not talking about the website but the app that is a requirement for entry. 

Visiting the website is not required for entrance but having the VRTP App is which doesn't have the disclaimer. Why would the app which is required and will get more traffic choose to opt-out from a similar disclaimer to the website?

[Theme Parks Reopening Post COVID-19]

42 minutes ago, Brad2912 said:

Haven’t seen said photos, so obviously not taking those into account. However you must have the VTP app on your phone to enter, and that clear as day shows the closures. 

Clear as mud.

To see the maintenance schedule you need to either click Info and then Park Maintenance or you go the Park, click 'Now Open' and then scroll down to 'Park Maintenance'.

If you go to 'Ride Wait Times' it doesn't even bother mentioning that any of the featured attractions are going to be closed before you get to the park. Every currently closed attraction is still showing in the list of rides with no disclaimer.

Under Virtual Queue it simply says 'Ride Paused'.

Even if you go to a closed attraction it just says 'Wait times will show when you're in the park'. 

Also provided is the white corflute covering the usual ride closure sign that greeted us yesterday. 

[Theme Parks Reopening Post COVID-19]

Quote

@CaptainLazerGuns is your wife named Karen.

Incredible contribution to the discussion. Kudos kiddo.

It's interesting getting an insight from all of your perspectives as locals. If the parks are busy you go home. If a ride is down you come back when its open. If you get hungry you can go grab something from home. You can all literally visit the parks whenever you want and that's something I'd love, but I don't get that. 

I get to visit a theme park maybe once every 3-6 months. I took time off work and planned a trip to come up here and support our parks at their opening. I pay more because I'm not a local but that's okay because I'm happy to support the parks. I knew what to expect and I managed my expectations accordingly. My comment was on how I felt the park felt but I honestly had a fun day even though nobody has asked how I personally felt. I'm always happy to ride Rivals and soak up that theme park atmosphere but the energy and life just wasn't there. Is that my fault? Well judging but your reactions it seems so. 

Will I leave on Sunday feeling disappointed? Not likely. You don't dedicate this much time to theme parks to get disappointed when you visit theme parks. I also know I'm coming back in the future and can ride all the rides that are closed so it's honestly not a big deal for me. 

But do other families who have come up from NSW have a right to feel disappoint? Probably. We've been locked in our state for months and were likely about to be locked down again. Many families are heading up here to catch a quick break and enjoy a holiday after they've probably lost a year worth of plans and they're seeing a fanfare from the parks about how they're reopened. If you're a family that's got a week left of school holidays and who has had since July to throw together a holiday than your last priority is to jump on and check the Movie World maintenance page because you trust that you're in good hands. 

Also these parks are damn expensive. For a family you're paying a lot and for many families I can imagine that a theme park holiday is a special occasion. 

My biggest criticism is this: We also don't exist within a bubble. Village is more than welcome to tout that it's world class but if so then they need to be ready to be compared to other theme parks on a global scale. From almost every park I've seen reopening internationally almost none has opened up in a state like Movie World and if there is one then please I'd love to know.

Though then again we don't need to look internationally because Luna Park Sydney has reopened with every available attraction opened.

Though I also want to know; where any of you even there today? What's the point of having this argument regarding the atmosphere of the park if none of you were to experience itself? 

This whole back and forth is like me saying that the park smelt like garbage with several others also saying it smelt like garbage but several of you at home saying that it didn't smell like garbage because you saw lots of photos of people not holding their nose and if it did smell like garbage well then its the guests fault because they should know its garbage day.

Quote

But it is that Reviewtyme can’t speak for the overall satisfaction for the park based on their experience. 

I'm not ReviewTyme, I'm Dominic. My thoughts and opinions are my own. 

[Theme Parks Reopening Post COVID-19]

9 minutes ago, rappa said:

Yes I have read it, but you also have to look at the nature of Facebook commenting. Most commonly people only take to Facebook to make complaints, not compliments. 
that particular post had around 100 comments, that’s still a small sample. 

There are plenty of compliments towards the park in the post below. 

Also 100 comments seems small but judging on attendance today and car park occupancy I'd say there was roughly 1000 guests in the park. If 1-in-10 guests felt the need to jump online and complain then you've got a problem. Disney didn't become the biggest theme park operator in the world because 1-in-10 guests was disappointed with their experience.

Quote

Then you have to also consider the validity of the claims. As I mentioned, first hand I’ve seen the barrage of complaints over Covid related things from tourists visiting, all completely unjustified. 

This was actually something I was surprised by. Whilst I saw a lot of guests not following the rules, when they enforced I actually didn't see many complaining. I've seen more people in QLD taking a relaxed approach to the restrictions than those over the border. I'm happy to wait for an empty elevator or in a line to get into timezone but the amount of people I see just going 'Why bother?' has been pretty astounding. 

[Theme Parks Reopening Post COVID-19]

4 minutes ago, rappa said:

To be fair this is one persons review of people’s experience. 

It’s also at odds with the many other reviews and smiling faces I’ve seen dotted around the internet from the park. 

Why is everybody getting their undies in a twist because I provided a first hand account on my experience in the park? The only opinion I provided was on the expectation of the opening and why I felt guests were justified to be disappointed but everything else was based on what I saw around the park today.

Also the quote above is appalling from somebody who is meant to be fostering the community. What a sly, backhanded way of throwing away my comment because 'it's just one persons review'. See Facebook above and discover that there are plenty of others that are matching the sentiment of what I saw.

Though why should I bother even acknowledging your post? To be fair this is one persons response to my post.

It's also at odds with the many Facebook comments and reviews I've seen dotted around the internet. 

[Theme Parks Reopening Post COVID-19]

7 minutes ago, Brad2912 said:

Severely disappoint? Outside of GL being down, and no parade as that is banned due to covid, in what way are people being let down vs attending last July holidays? 

Today Wild West Falls, Green Lantern, Superman Escape, Arkham Asylum, Parade (COVID-19 reasons) were down plus a few kids rides. From Sunday we can add Doomsday to that list with the carousel joining on the Sunday after.

Rivals went down for around 90 minutes and Batwing opened after midday with difficulties meeting its opening launch.  Also talking to guest relations they said virtual queue went down in the later half of the day. 

I think that's a fair reason to be disappointed. Judging by the comments on the post below it seems the court of public opinions is also not really on Movie World's side either.

 

[Theme Parks Reopening Post COVID-19]

13 minutes ago, Brad2912 said:

When the coast is full of nsw tourists why wouldn’t you try and attract them? They need to maximise revenue at the moment

the ride closures are on the maintenance Page, everyone is aware of the COVID related changes, so anyone disappointed with what they get only has themselves to blame...

Such a great long-term business practice they've got going there. Really shows the forward thinking of the company. "Let's reel them all in and then severely disappoint them. It's their fault that they're deciding to come to our park!"

This is a fast-food tactic. Show an amazing, incredibly crafted burger and then sell an awful mass produced mess. I expect that from a company that sells $2 cheeseburgers not a company that sells $89 day passes.

[Theme Parks Reopening Post COVID-19]

Atmosphere was dreary at Movie World today. You could tell many families were disappointed with their visit and I've never actively heard children complaining about being in a theme park because they're bored until today. 

Village really dropped the ball on managing expectations with this one. You really shouldn't roll out the carpet and celebrate reopening when half your park is basically a construction zone. It would have made much more sense to quietly reopen with a focus on local community attendance whilst aiming to really ramp things up for the next holiday. 

[COVID-19 & Theme Park Closures]

10 hours ago, Jordan M. said:

VRTP have already shared the following... so essentially your pass starts “ticking” a week after MW reopens.

If you have the VRTP app this is already reflected on your passes page.

Cheers for the heads up Jordan, appears as though I don't even have as much insight into the situation as I thought! This is legitimately good news. 

I do wonder how they will address the multi-day passes. 

[COVID-19 & Theme Park Closures]

2 hours ago, rappa said:

Why is it bad for Village to half open, but it’s fine for Dreamworld to not open at all? I don’t get it. I’ll never get the idea of going somewhere you don’t like and then complaining about how much you don’t like it. 

Because not everybody is as informed as we are. When the average guest sees that Movie World or Sea World has reopened after a few months of closures then they're going to expect everything to opened and ready to go. VRTP has only mentioned that parks will be at 50% capacity but have mentioned zilch about what will actually be open within the parks other than 'social distancing will be required'. The problem that arises from this is that many of us have season passes and once Sea World reopens next week I can guarantee that the passes will start ticking over again. Though if you're not feeling safe or don't feel value in going; too bad so sad. You're still paying for it whether you like it or not because technically the parks are open and you can go. It's like being charged for a gym membership but not being allowed to use any equipment though you're more welcome to wander the building. Also they're not going be generous and provide discounted day passes so imagine the poor sod that buys a one day pass to Movie World when it reopens and gets to enjoy a handful of attractions for the same price as they could have pre-COVID. 

If Dreamworld isn't opened then they aren't charging anybody for an inferior product by having half the park closed and nobody is out of pocket because their season pass isn't being wasted.

[Coronavirus and theme parks]

I’m emerging out of my cave for a little bit to post this because I feel it’s relevant.

The reopening of the Gold Coast parks is going to be a logistical nightmare if rushed. It's one thing to get guests through the gates but once inside there needs to be enforced efforts to ensure the safety of guests and so far Ive seen nothing publicly that suggests that the parks are ready for this.

If the parks want to use their position as leaders in the tourism industry which they’ve been boasting they should also be laying out their own framework to the public and other establishments for how their reopening is going to occur and what measures will be in place to ensure guest and employee safety. If a single outbreak occurs within those gates consumer confidence is going to plummet and it'll cause a cascading effect to the wider tourism industry.

The global industry is adapting to this situation and many companies are laying out proactive plans for their reopening that go beyond the necessary guidelines to instil confidence in the public eye because without that confidence it doesn't matter what your capacity is if people aren't willing to attend the venue. 

I want to see the leaders of the Gold Coast tourism industry lead in this situation and provide clear demands not only on what they require to operate safely whilst still being financially viable but also outlines on what will be in place when they are operating to ensure safety of staff and guests. 

Opinions are my own.