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Levithian

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Levithian last won the day on January 17

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About Levithian

  • Birthday 17/11/1971

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  1. Im talking more about them doing things that obviously slow up load/unload. Like the example raised earlier about waiting until the whole platform is clear until opening the gates. Poor performance within those constraints is 100% up to operations. In peak times, some of it is crippled by needing more staff, especially when it comes to sorters. Village have shown time and again theyll give someone multiple responsibilities and save having to pay another staff member, even if it slows load and dispatch times significantly. The training on specific rides and positions was (still is?) pretty generic. Focused on the responsibility and the safety aspect, but not really a lot on how to do the job efficiently. Plenty of people who really dont want to be there, its just a minimum wage job, turn up and leave. Also it seems like seasonal people that just havent got enough experience. They rotate people around too much they dont really get much of a chance to work on their skills at one particular ride for a long period of time. If they really cared about these complaints they would get together a bunch of their most seasoned/experienced ops, then go through each ride procedure and drill each ride to death to find where improvements can be made and set a realistic benchmark everyone should be able to achieve (time wise) between dispatches. I know they do have meetings with senior ops and discuss problems and receive feedback, but id never seen anyone revisiting their procedures and actively drilling the process on anything other than their newest rides that everyone is being trained on. Youd think they would revisit this at least a couple of times a year, just from working on efficiency I mean. Opening crews get the most time and scruitiny, then everything else is filtered down to the rest of the staff instead of giving everyone a couple of weeks intensive training at a time. Surely they could develop a rewards system for the crew achieving the most consistent (maybe highest overall daily dispatches?) dispatch times. Likewise, if the procedures arent being followed properly, you going to be penalised so people cant risk safety over winning stupid prises. It means managers would have to be actively watching whats going on every day, which means they probably need a level below park operations management team though as theyve got plenty to do as it is. Maybe something senior ride ops could rotate through, giving them a bit of a bump in pay in the process? Trouble is they have been having real issues retaining these people since covid. Other side of it is, you know what motivates people? Acknowledgement from management for good work (not just senior ride ops) rewards after being recognised and actually paying staff properly instead of hiding behind an EBA to underpay them. They used to have a pretty good ride star awards each month. Recommendations, prizes, even just seeing your name on notice boards for doing a good job. Lots of stuff kind of just faded away and not enough effort was put into maintaining everything. Its summed up by saying its all a bit average.
  2. They have done it for a long time. Take Arkham for example. They actually had a staff member go over and open the exit gate, then wait until the platform was clear, close the gate, then give a clear signal and for the console operator to open the platform gates for entry. Other rides that shared a load/unload you could say space was an issue, but not there. I guess its a bit like the changes at west too. Now they have gates, boats have to come to a stop in position before they will open them. I don't think we can blame village for everything though. You can't underestimate how much of an effect the dreamworld accident had on things. They were already focused on high levels of safety, but after reports came out, it's almost a pathological need to be seen as the safest place in all of existence. A lot of these things are picked up during audits every year. Sometimes they aren't official and make it into reports, it's more like a verbal discussion on what the person doing the audit might see, or suggestions they might have based on what they could see might be a problem in the future and management run with it. Couple all that with a pro active culture and you can see the results. I can tell you 100%, they will sacrifice ride throughput, even levels of guest satisfaction to maintain what they feel is that standard. Some things have probably gone too far in the effort to minimise all risk, but it is what it is and it's unlikely to change. In the next decade they probably won't be seen as being overreactive, they'll just be ahead of the curve when we experience another incident that causes parks to reassess their policy and procedures world wide. I don't even want to think of the effect insurance has on procedures. Getting someone to underwrite your policy for a particular ride and how much you pay for this has a lot to do with your track record and your safety measures in place. Risk managers (or "safety teams", hehe) are pretty much on the front line now and nothing makes it through without their scrutiny. That goes for both sides too.
  3. You can't easily put a flat ride in there short term. There is a massive cavern under the platform. The mast for the ride is set down on top of concrete footings over 8m deep, but all around it is open space to allow the platform to retract. It would be like digging out the bottom carpark of an apartment block. There will be a fair bit of earth works going on to remove and you'll just be left with a big hole you need to compact and pave over. If you are going to replace it, replace it.
  4. You drastically overestimate the turnover these parks have in Australia and the capital they have to spend with a view for actually seeing a return. They might be owned by an investment capital firm with big pockets, but no park in Australia is big enough to see 15-20 million dollar capex every year. Its 100% why you see targeted, staggered spending, especially when you own more than one property. The other side of it is, you are still seeing effects of new ride installations even years after their opening. Nobody wants to spend money until the figures start to show they HAVE to. To be honest, i wish village would put money back into their park presentation and the visuals and themeing of their existing rides, even start thinking about their guest comfort in the blazing hot sun before they start investing in another ride let alone a whole new themed precinct. In short. You know what makes guests happier? Air conditioning. Bonus points if you even attempt to provide them with something to keep them amused while they are standing in queue lines.
  5. They needed to fill more of a gap in the tween demographic without building rides adults couldnt or wouldnt go on. With that regard, they pretty much nailed it. Helps to fill a void between kids flat rides and the extremes of thrill rides. Even scooby doo was too frightening for miss 12 to go on when it was open, but she was bored with road runner, so i think this is great. Pretty much all the rides have ammended safety devices and additional control proceedures that the ride manufacturers deemed unnecessary. Its the biggest stumbling block when it comes to throughput, ride capacity vs actual capacity. Unless safety policies and proceedures drastically changed at village roadshow, nothing is going to even go close to approaching their actual capacity. Could things be improved? Especially with regards to their queue management? Hell yes. But you arent going to shave minutes off dispatches while the above is still the biggest influence.
  6. New coasters? Are you kidding? If you think they are going to spend another 40-50 million having just completed WoZ, i think youre in for real disappointment. Its not like movieworld to do any serious maintenance work without the whole thing screened off. If they were actually dismantling the ride id have expected the precinct to be completely closed off at the gates and temp fencing errected around the western side entrance like they usually do with annual maintenance. Theres no road access to the area at all, its hemmed in on all sides, so it makes things difficult. Id be expecting them to knock down the poison ivy wall to provide back of house access between the pump house (killer croc) and scooby. They need to put a real show back in the showstage and absorb 1200 people, at least twice a day for anything up to an hour. Thats what they need to do. A 20 min or 30 minute show used to be stretched out with pre show, plus doors were open early to allow people to get out of the sun and into the air con to cool off in the middle of the day. With the price of drinks and snacks these days, surely the show would pay for itself in the number of carts you can jam in the entrance alone.
  7. Its turner. And village dont have any ties to warner bros anymore, not even as a film distributor, so they pay for everything. You dont get all your characters in a packaged deal. You generally have contracts and agreements for everyone you licence. Usually image rights and the ability to have the characters in your park can be seperate from merchandising rights too. So agreements might end/come up for renewal at different times for different characters (or groups of) vs a blanket agreement to use any of a studios IP.
  8. Wasnt the spend the combined total across parks? Where did the 100 million figure actually come from? They had always been planning to remove arkham, long before it eventually went sbno. Its fate was pretty much sealed after the turnaround following the dreamworld accident and govco introduced new guidelines. They just intended to continue running it longer than they did rather than sitting. Back when they were announcing planned spends during/after covid, it was to incorporate a new precinct.
  9. You have to act on it though, having planning approval doesnt last for ever, it lapses if you dont continue the process and you have to reapply. You are 100% right. While they have made some improvments visually to parts of the park, replacing obviously run down and rotted out parts of buildings, the quality as a whole just isnt there. For my money, what really underlined they werent concerned with looks was when they started replacing hand drawn/painted signs and murals with decals and screen printed nonsense. To me, thats management saying we dont care for quality, what it used to look like or what it will look like in the future. I could understand temporary measures, but to permanently replace things like detailed, sculptured signage with things stuck/printed on sheets of ACP.... thats really just naff. Once upon a time there used to be a great manager at village who had the attitude you cant add or remove anything that would devalue the park or the guest experience. Sure could use a little or that sentiment right now. Edit: people shouldnt be quick to blame equity partners either. The management teams largely went unchanged. While the partners obviously ultimately have control over operations and the business direction, the management team still run the park. Their attitudes, their reporting and decisions they make, its what youre seeing directly represented. Even when roughly half the operations and senior management team split, left or retired prior to the aquisition, it was more of the same and business as usual.
  10. Doomsday was a pile of crap from day one. It wasnt forced upon them. Very big difference. They also spent almost zero money (and time) in maintaining the precinct which was a shame. Its what you get when an upper level management culture doesnt seem to care how bad things look. Trees growing out of buildings anyone? They did. It got a whole new site/sound control system and audio upgrade with a qsys core. Very good quality, everything can be managed remotely. Problem? You have to put money into everything else too. There are some tallented people working behind the scenes who actually give a damn, but they are up against it getting budgets approved. Not just talking cap ex stuff, but the manpower required to repair and maintain things too. Eventually the system grinds them into submission and they either give up, or give up and quit. Want a great example of this? Look at justice league. Multiple system upgrades over the years so the technology actually running everything experienced forced upgrades, but little spent elsewhere to correct or update the sound and lighting. All the money they spent to only do half of the works. When it comes to visuals, theming and effects, they always seem to be the first things cut from the budget even though the ride was fully costed and the spend approved. Its like having an F1 engine sitting in your grandmas old 1978 toyota crown. Completely under utilised and in desperate need of a transplant. It drives, steers and brakes, so thats all that matters. Only gets attention when it cant do the weekly shopping trip. Then its like the world is ending because its unreliable and finally broken down for good. No shit? Youve neglected repairs and upgrades for years. The tyres are shot, only one headlight works, theres no seatbelts and it only has 2 gears working in the transmission. Are you really surprised when you get a bill to overhaul and restore everything that makes you consider buying a new car, even though the engine under the bonnet is worth an average house in the suburbs? Why did you spend all that money on a new engine if you were only going to do half the job? Ohh, just spend the absolute minimum to get it physically driving again? we promise to look at everything else "next financial year"? Speak to us then as we may just scrap the whole thing or shutter it and pretend it doesnt exist when we change our minds next week.
  11. Thats a valid feeling, but its in the minority. Its still an excellent ride that should stay open, it just deserves a bit of attention...
  12. I remember reading this too but this article (with info from the lawsuit), claims she was unemployed at the time.
  13. You could work out the risk for yourself and openly discuss anything you think might be an issue or a concern. It has everything to do with the fact that employees (even past ones) are not supposed to share anything from back of house, full stop. They sign media policies and disclosure agreements. You can see anyone who does tread a fine line between ok and giving away too much that might raise the ire of the parks or management. Often this information is shared with people who want to respect the source and the trust placed in them to keep certain details private. Its pretty much how any info makes its way out from behind the scenes. So coming out and detailing in full why things are as they are, or why they do what they do probably isn't going to happen. Not unless its obviously been outed by someone else and its no longer confidential. You have to appreciate there is a difference between discussing the impending debut of a new churro cart vs things surrounding operational procedures, safety or incidents that may have a legal responsibility attached (on both sides). Sometimes you just have to settle with what people are prepared to talk about, and hopefully there is enough info in their posts to understand the person is probably telling the truth. Or you don't. But its probably not going to change their feelings on the matter.
  14. This is starting to get into its own thread territory. Look, i dont feel comfortable talking about all the details. Obviously you dont believe me when i say it was a serious issue that put the continued operation of the ride at risk. As to why so long in operation? Why only now? Thats the point of risk assessments and investigations. Sometimes something happens externally (like incidents on similar rides) and forces greater scruitiny and a focus on risk based on worse case scenarios. It had nothing to do with the new boats or wanting to change the speed of the ride or anything of the sort. Long story short, the water levels were too high/troughs too deep. There was an unacceptable risk found, thoroughly investigated, the safety teams responded as they should have and modifications were made to the depths of the troughs to mitigate the risk. They did everything they should have, credit to the park and the team, it's results allowed continued operation of the ride. I can tell you 100% it would not be in operation today if this process and result had not been completed. Do you understand enough of what i said above to leave it at that, or is this going to be a continued issue? FYI, contrary to what you might think, the water levels were actually raised in the majority of the ride, not lowered. What you are feeling is new concrete ramps and infill panels raising sections of the trough floors. The replacement boats were actually more than 100kg lighter than the old ones and are every bit as boyant. If wild west falls was demolished you would never get another ride like it again. Thats the simple reality. Its nowhere near in the budget for developing another flume as big and as detailed as west is. For all its faults and neglect, its a big, expensive ride. Anything else you think is the problem you want to raise? If you doubt what im saying, go back and look at shutdown photos posted here. Pay close attention to runout 2 (the final drop) and the throughs ahead. Youll see exactly what im talking about and should be able to put 2 + 2 together and work out what the issue might be and why it required these modifications. There are very little complaints from guest about the roughness of the ride following the modifications, so im going out on a limb by saying the majority of people either never noticed or werent phased much by the changes and would still rather the ride stayed open.
  15. Maybe the difference is if it's original works vs a painting of a real landscape. If its all an artwork with no real locations in it, you can copyright the whole artwork, designs, colours, etc. Otherwise, you can still trademark the artwork itself to protect against reproduction, but you can't trademark the real area like buildings, etc. So, if you took the same artwork of the original emerald city and used it as the front for the ride, it's not a real place, so the artwork and design is probably copyrighted and can't just be reproduced. I think this was the issue with the movie disney made? They had to tread a real fine line between anything that looked like the 1939 movie. You're still floating for the most part, just you might feel the bottom sometimes. You know what really removes the immersion? The ride being closed for good because there are safety concerns. Which do you want? live with the changes or have no ride at all? The answer is yes. Have you seen it/ridden it? Its not really themed as well as west and overall it is a smaller ride, but the same thing seems to have happened. I know their boats aren't as big so it might not work, but one thing that would have been amazing is to swap the chain drive of west for lift conveyors used in rio bravo.
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