Levithian

Even if it was timed, it was setup with the intention to open. So you had to be training staff already before the monday expecting it to go live soon. Its also had the dates changed 3 times over the week. I think youd know if you had trained staff or not, and not need to keep changing the date each day. Besides which, you only need the minimum staff (4?) to open it. Anyone else that needs training or a refresher could do it while open. Sounds like something technical keeping it from opening, or even a number of unrelated failures across a number of days that keeps missing the deadline.

If superman was closed longer due to staff training, the park was ready to open the ride on time and posted about it on their facebook page that morning. It didnt open and the post was removed. So it would suggest that they had it staffed and intended to open it on monday, but something went wrong.

Its all iron, the bit under the rocket is bright, but the other parts where the boxes are was painted to look like floor boards. Brown with black lines for joins, knots, etc. I doubt they have kept it nice and fresh though, given the lack of cosmetic upkeep in their parks anyway, so the qld sun has probably killed it and its just an oxidised mess, but you can see the "effect" in videos. Regardless, its about on par for village, and the factory is definitely the station. I remember it used to have a big wile coyote on the front too, like the rocket (train) has run him over and he's pinned to the front like in the cartoons. Its a shame because village parks seem like a death of a thousand cuts. All these little things not kept/maintained over the years really add up when you didnt really have much to start with. A bit of effort in the cosmetic and visual appeal would make a big difference in the park. Id love to see some random placement of IP hidden around the park, giving the kids something to look for/hunt around kinda like a treasure hunt. Would keep our kids interested when walking around/standing in line and waiting if they have hidden easter egg type things to find on/in the facades and gardens, etc. How is it embellished? The back story is on point, and honestly, the ride was probably one of the better themed rides and it's just been left to deteriorate. Look closer inside the station next time. See the size of the timbers and the construction? They are massive wharf piers, built like an old factory. Same with whats on the roof. There used to be cactii and things in the ride area too, along with the ground looking like a desert, all dry and sandy, not full of trees, gardens and dirt like it is now. Plus there used to be a really well done mural around the side that looks like wile coyote had met his match after the rocket ride. Even the walk way was painted. It all looked exactly as they said. It's just a lame impersonation of the one it was based on in germany.

Aside from the boxes of fireworks and a giant rocket you speed past? The roof isnt like a roof either, its like timber floorboards. Maybe the second floor of a fireworks factory? Its hardly disney or universal, but its not like they made no effort to the back story.

Forgetting the station building?

They were good when they were still putting money into the shows. Anyone remember when they still themed the pre show area like with journey to the center of the earth that had the giant forest scene and shrek had the punch and judy show?

Current management are staying on after bgh takeover.

You may be very lucky under the grounds of no australian worker is available, but critical infrastructure is things like telco, medical, power etc and recovery industries are pretty much all your major exporters; mining, agriculture, manufacturing, etc. And even then they are denying a lot of people coming from countries of high risk like the US.

What? Where did they generate liquid assets prior to covid then? Where do you think the money will go that it's flushing it down? It's not going to keep people employed? pay accounts and services? There's absolutely no return on the investment? 100 million dollar losses didn't come until after the accident and included the valuation losses to the business. How is it not profitable when prior to the accident they were generating about 33% margins and ebitda profit figures of 30-35 million on average per year for the 5 years prior? There's a reason why dreamworld returned valuations of around 220-230 million prior to the accident. It's because it operated within stable division generating steady profits, not because the park is worth 60 million dollars in land and completely mismanaged. Like the direction the park has been heading in or not, it matters very little when they were still seeing 2.4 million people through the gates each year. Don't get sentiment confused with actual operations.

You cant fly to australia period unless you're a resident, citizen or immediate family member of a resident here. The borders are still closed. There are very few exemptions you can apply for, skilled workers aren't on the list.

They are handed government money to keep about 1000 people employed, along with all those funds that filter down through the supply chain that keep probably hundreds of businesses turning over. If you cant see its in the states best interest to keep a significant employer in business, paying their bills, paying for goods and services, money that ultimately flows back to the government, and instead focus on a miniscule maximum potential fine of 4.5 million; Youre either blind with rage or a complete moron.

Problem is the recovery is unknown. The 100 million capital they have just generated to help them through this period doesnt account for anything getting worse or factor in how long it will take to reach pre covid levels. Its just for immediate running expenses through into next year. That could mean regular injection of substancial capital over the 2-3 years AFTER state and nternational borders are open and people are allowed to travel freely anywhere. You could be faced with a 4 or 5 year return plan, which could basically make the company insolvent if left unchecked and recovery is slow. The 350 million debt turns into 500 quickly and could reach 600 or more to complete planned works. The company values continue to drop and suddenly your ability to generate more captial dries up and your stuck in a situation that dreamworld are. They wouldnt let it get that far, so it means years of thinning costs and reducing expenditure, likely throwing your plans for new rides and attractions in the bin. Its kind of the opposite of everything you want to be doing to recover from the complete unknown that is covid. BGH have capital to inject without needing to seek financing, so its a good situation for the company vs taking on more debt and trying to trade out of it. It could be another decade before you see that money paid down just to get back to pre dreamworld incident debt levels.

Given how early corona hit and the park closing, I wouldnt be surprised if they hadn't produced anything for this years fright nights yet. Doesn't anything left over usually end up at sales? so might be pretty thin on the ground for previous years stuff too.

They werent canceling shifts, they werent offering any at all. They just stayed closed and ran on the bare minimum staff to "keep the lights on", while staff went on job keeper.

They are prepared to shit all over their reputation/good will/whatever you want to call it to get another 20c in the share price. Just like they are prepared to shit all over the other private share holders by selling the company off drastically undervalued knowing they (the kirby's and burke) will make money, but just about everyone else will be a hard luck story and blame covid. Money wins vs what is open/closed and if they should have kept the gates shut until they had more to offer.

It wasn't. Have you been to a show at outback spectacular where its used on the sand to project a creek bed and running stream? It looks great and is very well done. Even the back wall projections are better and blend in with the floor projections, so village can do a proper job of it when they want to. They just did a really shitty job implementing it at scooby doo.

Time wise, not a problem. It was the deaths at eagle farm race course that ushered them in. But, as already said, industrial manslaughter charges only prosecute deaths to employees.

The problem is village can go to banks and capital partners and request a loan. Even though their figures arent great either, it just basically means they'll pay more in interest, but they have a lot of equity in the company just in terms of value of the holdings, ie each business adds up to being worth a fair amount of money, so while it means the company will be further in debt, they'll get the money if they need it. The share offering is way under realistic value of the company if you want to use it as an example, with the near atomic bomb that covid has been, a capital firm still thought enough of the company in these terrible times to offer them a buyout to nearly half a billion dollars. Even if your company has debts to 300 million, you can look at profitable divisions and see the result (and return) of securing capital to fall back on when needed. Ardent... well, they sold off pretty much all their capital in the US because the company was going backwards. In Australia they sold off what remaining capital they had in things like AMF bowling centers too. So it puts the company in a position where they don't have a lot of tangible assets and they want to borrow money to recovery a struggling business that has been written down in value each year since the accident. Don't forget the legal issues still haven't been resolved yet either. So what are they borrowing against? You could argue they have no goodwill and the company still hasn't recovered so you have no cash reserves from trading, so anyone lending them money is basically running the risk of becoming a creditor if they fail. That's essentially the same with everyone else that borrows money, but lenders don't like risk, not unless that risk is calculated to work in their favour (ie they lend money, they step in and negotiate the outright purchase of the business when the loan gets called in and the company has to default). The risk lendering dreamworld must be huge, possibly so large that nobody will offer them any credit. So it means Ardent are in the position when their biggest asset doesn't offer any equity to secure the loan which makes it difficult to drum up another 100,000,000 - 150,000,000 to cover their COVID losses and get the redevelopment back on track. You could end up with a situation where all these things happening within the last 5 years has completely sunk the company and the only way out is for someone to buy them out, possibly renegotiate some of the debts they have and have enough capital behind them to rescue the business. That largely depends on if someone big enough thinks there is a long term investment to return the park to the 400+ million it was worth prior to the accident and even if the company has fallen so far they are close to insolvency.

You need something to open to though. At the moment, approx half the park is going to be closed at movieworld (while still charging full price). The public will (and have started to) voice their opinions on whether they think it stinks. A big hit to the public opinion might be worth a few extra million to the sale.

Im assuming because seaworld was largely still running behind the scenes while covid forced closures. They probably had literally nothing to open at movieworld or wet n wild when seaworld opened otherwise they would have opened them too once they got the government approval.

What does that have to do with arkham?

Because you have to start paying for them.

Then why is it odd?

You guys seem to be forgetting the sale of the company comes with a provision of a higher sale price if the parks are back open and people are back at work when the shareholders vote on the sale....