jake_hunt

I don't think Universal will see Dreamworld as a big enough competitor to justify taking the rights away from them. At least not until such time as a Universal Studios opens in Australia. I mean seriously, have you ever been stuck trying to decide whether to go to Dreamworld or Universal Singapore?

If the axes are still swinging, I'd be more inclined to think that this will be a renovation of the SD theme, not a retheme. After all, if they were changing all the theming, why would they not remove it all at once while they could? They wouldn't leave the axes unless they intended on keeping them.

I'm headed to DW next week, and obviously the itinerary for this visit will be a little different to normal. Do the limited attraction offerings affect the amount of time you can spend at the park before having done everything? I'm thinking about spending the first half of the day at WWW if DW's limited offerings don't quite fill the day any more. Any advice?

@Redboost As cool as that would be on paper, I would really despise WBMW if they did that. I'm a massive DC fan, but even I agree that Movie World should be Movie World, not DC World. I personally feel that the Western area needs to be expanded upon - maybe another ride or two - and there needs to be an emphasis on areas of the parks that AREN'T based on DC heroes and villains. Especially if the new hypercoaster is DC-themed, I feel that they may have overbalanced the park slightly, leaving only the kids' area, SDSC, and WWF as the major attractions NOT themed around DC. There's now plenty of rides and great theming for the DC fans, I think it's time for something different. On that note, I'd love to see WBMW expand into some of their so far untouched properties - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sherlock Holmes, The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings, Mad Max... There's plenty to choose from, let's balance out the park a little. I love the idea of the beach boardwalk in SW, and I'd like the motorsports attractions brought together at DW, perhaps to make way for a new Australiana area, or even an expansion of the Rivertown theme that has been long lost to MDMC. When thinking of themed lands, I also think back to my days playing RCT3 - a sci-fi area, a spooky area, a dinosaur area, an Atlantis-themed area... they've all been untouched and could be pretty cool in the right park...

@bladex I guess we can't say for sure, but I'd think so. Surely just retheming the pre-coaster section would be cheaper than retheming the entire queue, carriages, coaster section and theming/ride signage. Although, as people have said, WBMW could use this to their advantage and take the opportunity to do a full overhaul. So I guess either way is totally possible.

@pin142 Keeping in mind that Queensland doesn't operate on daylight savings time, meaning that closing at 8pm is the equivalent of closing at 9pm in NSW. So, they would be matching Sydney's opening hours just by opening from 9am to 7pm - which both DW and WnW are ALMOST doing.

As much as I feel that VRTP have been a little short-sighted and caught themselves out here, I for one anticipate major improvements when the theming is reconstructed (at least I hope so), and I look forward to it. In the meantime, I will ride the gutted SDSC when I visit in early January, and I'll take it for what it is - a lessened and slightly different experience. As disappointing as it is, 2016 has generally been a pretty difficult year for theme parks and enthusiasts in this country, and this is a blow I'm prepared to take on the chin in anticipation of better things coming from it. Honestly, I'm more concerned about the number of rides that will be open at DW by the time I visit. So yes, I agree that WBMW have probably made quite a big mistake here, perhaps due to short-sightedness and failure to respond to issues, but it's certainly not the end of the Spooky Coaster, let alone the world. And hey, one day when my kids are all theme park enthusiasts, I'll brag about the fantastic theming we had, and the fact that I rode while it looked like a construction sight. Different experience for sure.

Off topic, but I could have sworn that DD and SVU were added to the park map on the MW website... Or did I dream that? Because it's not there now and I had a heart attack.

As cheesy as it may be, there's also King Tutt's Putt Putt. Probably one of the better putt-putt golf courses I've ever been to. Good way to waste a few daylight hours if you've got kids. http://kingtuttsputtputt.com.au/

Pandamonium is officially open, guys, so is Dreamworld Express. @SuperV you beat me to it by milliseconds xD

True, but I don't think a log flume is quite as expensive as you're making out. Considering that Storm Coaster cost $20 million, then Dreamworld should have enough in their budget for a far less-ambitious water ride, even accounting for the LEGO Store, Tiger Island and the costs of the TRR incident.

So SkyWay was removed a few years back. Now VR is closed, and SW are promising a 2019 attraction in what is a tiny, narrow and awkwardly shaped space... Does this not bode well for the theatre? Maybe a refurb, or a complete removal?

I'd guess it will beat the length record. Certainly height for tallest full-circuit coaster in Australia. Possibly speed, too, only beaten by TOT. I'd also say possibly highest drop, highest inversion (although BuzzSaw is pretty damn high)... And of course, first hyper-coaster in Australia, provided RCDB's stats aren't correct...

Surely not another river rapids, just out of respect, but another log flume would be well within their budget, surely? If the 55 million figure is correct, that opens their options to a fairly decent coaster, let alone a log flume. (Forgive me, I'm not 100% sure on the construction costs of a flume. It's been a while since the GC has had a new one...) I'd say not for a good while just because it would be in bad taste, but a new log flume or water ride should definitely be on the agenda.

I think we are saying goodbye to RHLR, not because of the incident earlier, but because it's a built-in-house ride. I'd say it would be the same story that pressured SW into making the decision to shut VR. Given the massive audits and everything, and since TRRR was built in-house as well, I imagine insurance costs skyrocketed and there would have been massive criticism and scrutiny over the safety of DW and SW's designs. While it probably could have passed an audit like it did with the earlier incident, unfortunately public image would have been damaged, and DW are responsible for not only the operations of RHLR, but also the design. If there's a faulty part, they can't shift the blame to any manufacturers, like WBMW were fortunate enough to do with GL. Massive insurance costs, really high scrutiny and probably poor public image. I think we're seeing the gruesome end of the in-house ride designers. The public just doesn't trust anyone except the certified experts anymore.

Anyone else think SurfRider would look awesome standing where Pirate Ship used to be? Fill in some space behind it, another coaster to replace Sea Viper, and you've got yourself a nice-looking little thrill ride area. Talk about landmark photos, the lake in the foreground would be fantastic I reckon.

Add this up: - No thrill rides - Not a particularly warm day to warrant an unprecedented visit to a water park - Probably a good percentage of people unaware of the reopening - Another solid percentage put-off by the incident and concerned over safety - Yet another percentage who couldn't be there on that particular day (you're measuring from one day only so far) - Public school students are still at school, even though it's a weekend I really don't think you could honestly expect a blockbuster crowd...

"Women aren't cool or important enough to be the theme of such a major attraction." "Everyone that disagrees with me clearly has an unusual and radical opinion, which we should look down on." This guy's trolling right...?

RHLR listed as CLOSED on the Dreamworld website With Vikings and now the Log Ride gone, that leaves WWF as the only true flume left on the Gold Coast, and it and Storm the only water rides. To me, this is a serious problem. Not only has the TRR incident deeply affected the theme park and flume target markets, who knows how long it will be before the public trust the parks enough for a new one to be constructed. This knee-jerk reaction has killed a few quality rides, and I can see it crippling SW (with only two family/thrills left) and possibly DW too. It leaves a big hole in the parks. These were quality family experiences, and they'll be sorely missed.

Haha you gotta applaud his enthusiasm though...

Aside from ride photos and the odd item of clothing from WAYYY back, I can't really think of anything I've seen with TRR on it. The thrill rides and the tigers are the poster-boys nowadays, so I can't see it costing them too much. A tiny sacrifice compared to the absolute media shit-storm if they continue to sell TRR merch.

@Slick That's good. I do want it to have its own flavour. Give people like TPR and massive coaster enthusiasts a very big reason to visit our parks.

If it compares to Flash at Lewa, I'll be damn happy. That looks like a really world-class coaster. But I do hope that they don't just go identical. Kind of ruins the whole "world-class" drawcard a bit if it's a clone.

@pin142 You're probably right. Never been to WnW Sydney, and don't have any plans to as of yet, so I'm not very familiar with the slides there. I'll get down there eventually and then my analogies will improve :'D

@themagician That's what I said/meant. Triple Vortex WITH/ADD ON two enclosed funnels and the last one is full-size.