joz

It would be your own stupid fault. If anyone blames the park then they have serious issues.

That reminds me Richard, what happened to that extreme on-ride footage you were going to post on coasterbuzz?

Warner Village is spending around $13million on Shark Bay, and $20million on the Outback spectacular, then some more to move Paradise Country. Added with all the additions the parks have received this year (Planet SOS, Matrix and the 'All-new' Whirlpool), their looking at spending $40million in the space of 2 years, so I don't like the chances of a new thrill ride next year. Having said that, if Paradise Country and the Outback Spectacular are well received, and are the success they're expected to be, then Warner Village will have more money then they can poke a stick at. So its looking good for a new thrill ride the year after.

We are?

Probably a better bet to stay closer to SFMM for the time your visiting there. DLR and KBF, are pretty close to each other, so one place close to the DLR would probably be ok. When I was there, I stayed at the Best Western Raffles. Not a bad place, clean and reasonably priced. I'd reccomend it, but I don't think I'll stay there again though. There's allot of places closer to the DLR and the bus stop to go to KBF.

One thing I forgot to mention, don't get food from Jack in the Box. The food I got was under cooked you could tell by the edgesof the burger pattie), and I'm 99% sure I got food poisening from there. Since I've been back someone bought this little incident to my attention, which makes not eating there part of my travel advice.

I can see Dreamworld adding Delirum, but as Richard has pointed out, it won't be placed in 'Cyclone Country'. Knowing Dreamworld, it'd probably get Aztec themeing while still being in Ocean Parade. Personally, I think the idea of Cyclone Country would be a good idea if Cyclone was a better ride.

Richard, I'm told that Steeve Peet is actually going to attend a public education program, designed to teach people the difference between 3-D and 4-D. As for Dreamworld's Imax theatre, well, I think all they really need to do is put in a new film in it, and promote it a bit more. Fair enough if it is under performing, after all Imax theatres are old news, but so are 3D films, and Pirates was popular right up till the day it closed. Marvin the Martian still packs 'em in, and Planet SOS is being met with enthusiasm by guests. I don't think it would take much effort from Dreamworld to get the theatre as popular as it was at its peak (back in the days when a day at Dreamworld always included watching an Imax film and watching the Bushranger show). The only thing I don't like about the plan is putting a Nickelodean film outside Nick Central, but since Gum Tree Gully will probably turn into an extension of Nick Central in a few years (sigh), it'd probably work out all right.

And as a staff member of Warner Village theme parks, I think that is an excellent decision :mrgreen: Seriously, I think that the rides in Australia (well, the Gold Coast) are looked after pretty well. Probably the best example of this, although it makes me sound biased (which normally never happens ) is Corkscrew. That ride is 21 years old and still runs smooth. LW from all accounts still runs pretty well for a SLC of its age, so I dare say your gripe is with Vekoma.

Probably my favourite bit of Wonderland would be Snowy River Rapids, and the whole Goldrush area. Its got the same feel to it as Goldrush country at Dreamworld did pre Macquarie. I am also taken by the whole area surrounding Demon and the lake at the front of the park.

As for how long to spend at each park, well, I've only been to the DLR, as my intense 4 day park stopover in LA turned into a 3 day vomiting experiment with only one day to do the parks. In my experience, I say one day at each park is enough. When I went, I got a 1-day hopper pass for both parks, and was able to see just about everything that interested me in one single day. The only thing I missed was Soarin', which was my fault as I got a fastpass for Mulholland Madness instead for some unknown reason. As for must do attractions at the parks, well, just about everything at DL and most of DCA is worth a look. Indiana Jones is a must, along with all the 'classic' disney attractions (Splash Mountain, Pirates, Jungle Cruise etc.). If your short on time, I'd probably reccomend missing Innoventions, HIStA, and pretty much the whole of Tomorrowland. At DCA, make sure you check out Cali Screamin', Soarin' (from all reports) and Grizzly River Rapids.

Hard to go pass Dreamworld. They've more or less confirmed new attractions are on the way to replace the rust pile which was once known as Thunderbolt. I doubt Wonderland will get a new attraction ever, Seaworld's next ride has been confirmed as "years" away, and with Warner Village spending up big on Shark Bay, The Outback Show and Paradise Country, I suspect the money may be a bit too tight to buy something big for Movieworld.

Is it just me, or is does LW seem to be the new whipping boy now TB has closed?

A little article on www.screamscape.com has caught my eye, and just thought I'd bring it to everyone's attention: With Dreamworld and Paramount such good friends, and Dreamworld with its new Nick Central area, could it be the obvious choice to replace the Australian Outback Show? Have the 2 other 3D films on the Gold Coast made it not worth the efforts? Post your thoughts here.

Does the attendance from the Australian Park get counted towards Wonderland? Everyone's saying thats where most of the attendance comes from, and would quite fit quite well with the conflicting view we've got going around here.

Tell ya something, we had a 'difficult' year up north, and the only time I can recall the attendance dipping below 1000 was a rainy day, in the middle of the week in June, and that was only around 200 people. Just for the record, every ride opened that day, and every show went ahead. 50- 100 people in the park in one day? Thats all of $5000 in gate takings if everyone's and adult, and pays full price. Doubt that'd pay for much.

You know guys, I ask every customer I serve where their from. If their from Sydney, I always ask "How do we compare to Wonderland?". I this answer 9 times out of 10: Don't know, haven't been there in years. They never add anything. People are voting with their feet, and will continue to do so for a while to come.

Its a bit of a neglected market isn't it? There's a real demand for theme parks between Melbourne and Adelaide. With a population numbering in its 10's of 11's, and its new international landing strip, its surprising no one has invested millions in that area. Thank god for Johnny ay!

Interesting about Tony and Juleen going to Dreamworld. They did shows there for many years before they went down to Sydney. It'd be good for Dreamworld to get the show back, as having seen them perform in both places, I prefered the show at Dreamworld. Wonderland's show just seemed to scream "Tacky!" the whole time I was watching it, where as Dreamworld's was more of a fun diversion during the day. The only thing I liked about the Wonderland version was that Tony and Juleen were getting a bit more exposure for themselves while they were down there.

I don't know about anyone else who watched it, but I saw it and lost all respect for Guy when he said it was the scariest thing he's ever done. It was Metropolis, which makes it on par for thrills with driving behind a Volvo. BTW I don't watch Idol, but my girlfriend does, so I had to sit through it.

While on the off topic topic, I would like to make an off topic post to bring this topic back on topic... I went on Scorpion at DW when it was there, and I must say it is one of the better carnie rides out there (and I'm qualified to say that being the veteran and expert on the topic that I am). At the end of the day, if it were in RCT, its nausea rating would be around the 7 or 8 mark. To me, it was little more then a more intense scrambler, and although fun, I doubt I'd place it in my ideal park. Each to their own though.

So Catwomen is getting her own movie without Batman ay? Be interesting to see how they go about that one...

Finally got around to downloading it, and I must say I'm quite impressed. Simon has done a good job putting all that together. Nice mix of stuff too, although it would've been good get bits of the ski show Go on guys, if you haven't watched the video yet, go do it. Its well worth downloading and sitting through.

If we're ganna be like that... MW 1 DW 1.5 (Counting TOT as half a coaster, that way everyone's happy) WL none worth counting (like that isn't the case anyway :shock: ) I'm not dumping on Vekoma, they produce good, cheap rides. I even went on a couple of Vekomas while overseas, and while they weren't without bumps, they were enjoyable. However, I have noticed that their rides do tend to rate quite highly in the area of roughness. If they could get a formula to fix the roughness, I think they'd be building some of the best rides out there. Also, as DJ mentioned, its not just Vekoma that do rough rides. I've been on Meisho, Arrow, Intamin, Schwarzkopf, B&M, Pinfari and all of which have sections on their rides that are considered rough.

As far I'm concerned, if there's a trick to riding a coaster without getting hurt, it needs work. I hope BB goes, but I have my doubts. Like Phsyco, I also don't take that much notice of Wonderland rumours. A rumour that the BB will close just in time for Xmas is kinda hard to beleive, although it might be a Xmas promotion? Something along the lines of a bonfire....