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This is actually not correct. These are mood board images. In this particular instance AI has replaced random photos and screenshots pulled from the internet. I work in a creative job, and no one has been stomped on or replaced through the specific use of AI in this way. A mood board is not the creative vision, or the finished work. It is simply a collection of images to show someone else the general idea of what is in your head so they can agree to it before you actually engage the artists/designers/engineers to do the work. I don't really understand or share your outrage because I do understand the creative process. All that AI has replaced here is some random photos from google images, some screenshots from movies, and at worst some stock photos from Getty which would have been obtained as comps (for free) anyway. That's it. No one was engaging artists to put together a mood board in any creative field. This isn't architecture where they're putting out 3D renders. If anything AI has given them a tool to better communicate the look and feel they want without having to just show photos of what has been done before, and for that reason it will make the end result more original, more creative, more detailed and less of a knock-off of existing work. Exactly no one has been put out of work or disrespected or 'stomped on' because of the use of these images, because they're just replacing random photos that someone would have pulled from google images, slapped into a mood board to get the go-ahead from DW to actually start designing and creating. A few of us have been saying this for a while. There is no way DW want all of the story/art released before the ride opens. After the ride opens, Earthstory will just use the photos/videos of the finished product.

They would have pitched more than one idea/story, likely at a very high level against other companies, and when DW selected them as the vendor they would have selected their preferred story to flesh out and design more thoroughly with more detailed concept art. I'm not sure if we're reading the same thing, but they're clearly talking about their design philosophy for the actual physical visitor experience, not their graphic design process for early concept art. They're clearly saying that the visitor experience should be more mechanical and less digital, not that they're hand-painting their concept art in oil paint. It is doubtful that DW would allow them to publish the actual documentation until after the ride opens because it would just give everything away, nor would they want to because it would just be educating their competitors on how to win a pitch.

AI is exactly the right tool to use to show a vibe to a client to get approval to move forward on the actual design. They will remove the current pitch/design images from their website as soon as they can get promotional photos of the actual finished product. But they're not talking about their pitching process in that quote. They're talking about the actual ride design and theming - meaning fewer screens/projections, more physical props and animatronics. Given how SDSC turned out using digital 'solutions' for Next Gen, I think that is the right decision and I'm excited to see the finished product later this year.

$15 is the price point at which I'm willing to give it a go, so that's on the list for my next visit. If they have dynamic discount pricing for off-peak days (say $10 even just for pass holders), I'd likely make a regular thing. And now that we know DW are reading these threads and implementing some of our suggestions, can we also get some better designed soft-drink sipper cups? Something a bit more adult and easier to carry - or even something that has a seal so it can be put in bags and station lockers on rides without the risk of spilling.

They've made it available for purchase on the website, and there are 12 'spots' per hour. This doesn't seem to change from weekday to weekend (when you'd expect 2 train ops), which would mean only 6 dispatches per hour have spinning seats available for purchase online, with the rest presumably available for in-park purchase. Not sure how a second train changes this. There doesn't seem to be an increase in slots available online on any given day. But I've been to DW a few times this year and I've never seen anyone riding it. I've also never ridden it because I think $25 is too expensive. Seems like a lower price but higher volume of sales would generate more income than sending empty seats all day. I'd be curious to know what other people's price limit is for an up-charge like this - for a one-off or to motivate you to buy each visit.

I was at DW on Sunday. Both trains running with spinning seats. I rode a few times throughout the day and never saw a single person in them. The queue was never more than 15-20 minutes long, even with the second train stacked on the brakes because of the slow operations. $25 p.p. is too much for an average day. If the queue isn't long, there's not even a fast-pass benefit to paying. DW needs an in-park app so they can dynamically push a limited number of 2-for-1, half price or $15 deals to people when there is no demand. Let people know the maximum number of discounted seats available (say 20) and they'll get snapped up quickly. If they sell out, do the same thing a few hours later. The trains are cycling anyway, might as well get some money than no money.

Finally! It's been a long, tense 13 and a half years, but we've now got the definitive answer we've been waiting for. Jokes aside, if Huss still made the Rainbow, it would have been a perfect addition to Sea World instead of Vortex, or even a Wipeout replacement. Hopefully they, or another company can bring it back. Something with similar height, speed and airtime, or even a super-sized version of it that is more suited to a permanent park install.

This does not look like a well engineered ride. From the video, there are a number of spots where the 'single rail' track is mis-aligned, and you can see a lot of welding and grinding has happened to get the actual rails aligned and smooth. There's nothing really wrong with welding track pieces together, but most modern coasters are so well machined that they just bolt together. There is also a lot of rattle happening in this video. It's always hard to notice initially since both cameras and editing software can add stabilization/smoothing, but look at the track as it moves past the bottom of the screen, probably not enough to be painful or even uncomfortable (for now), but definitely enough that you'll notice it. It will be interesting to see how well these rides age.

To be fair, the Channel 7 news story was just reporting on the delusional Victorian MP that thinks Disney should build a park in Frankston. Their choice of soundbites from the locals set the tone from them. They can't have opinions in news reporting, so the best they can do is report on the MP and get the locals to say it's dumb.

I don't want to be 'that guy' but why would you change a mountain-themed ride to the New Orleans Bayou? Clearly no one from Disney has ever been to New Orleans because, famously, the highest point of elevation is only 27ft (8.2m) above sea level.

The trend for Disney and Universal is to go bigger not smaller. They don't want to just build parks, they want to build resorts. They want to make 100% of the revenue you spend on your holiday from hotels, food, drinks, parking, airport transfers... etc. They want to build destination parks that keep you on company property for the entire duration of your stay. When they build parks, they're usually joint ventures that are majority owned by local governments. No Australian govt (state or federal) want one of these companies consuming 100% of an international/interstate tourist's spending. They want them to spread it around the local communities, so they will never support a large scale park in Australia. The local population is too small to sustain a park of that scale anywhere in Australia, if it could, Dreamworld would have expanded to fill their available land and done a licensing deal with one of the major studios (like Universal). As for international tourists, Australia is really, really far away and expensive to get to. Our nearest neighbours are generally poor/developing countries, and the ones that aren't already have Disney and/or Universal parks (Singapore, HK, China, Japan). A Korean or Vietnamese person wanting a Disney or Universal experience isn't going to come to Australia, they're going to to an Asian park or make a one-in-a-lifetime trip to the US. I personally like that we can have parks like Dreamworld and Gumbaya (even Aussie World) that are smaller and have their own unique vibe. I'd like to encourage them to to better themed experiences and tap into unique Australian stories and experiences that you can't get in the rest of the world, rather than just cloned experiences from a park 6-10 hours flight away.

I'm not particularly concerned about the recency of the photos for an update, but it does raise the question of why Village waited to post these photos if they had them in late March. The rides are still a long way from being finished, with no official opening date, so this isn't to build hype and promote the ride to families booking holidays (although it may have that effect, but the social accounts are also filled with negative reviews, so who knows). This and the recent video are reactions to the ongoing closures. Village let the bad reviews and negative sentiment set in, not just with enthusiasts but with the general public. One can only assume that visitor numbers are down and people aren't renewing passes, so they've started some crisis PR to try to save the park's reputation because they've finally realised that reputational damage = real financial damage. So the complaint about recency for the sake of recency definitely is 'fucking dog shit' as you put it, but in the context of all the problems the park is facing and the lack of communication, why did they sit on these photos for so long? If they're part of the solution now, then they were part of the solution 1-2 months ago when NSW was still in school holidays and all of the roller costers, WWF and JL were closed for several days. Yes, people can say 'they've posted it now, so they're doing better', but the real measure will be whether they can keep rides open for guests, whether the communication continues, and most importantly if there is a change in staff attitudes toward guests which has been pretty terrible for 12 months. I'm hoping that this is meaningful, sustained change, but the same management and social media team was telling people 'F*** off, no refunds, you should have checked the website', just 3 weeks ago. I guess the point is that it's not just about communication anymore. They've done real damage to the trust that guests have in the park to provide them with a great experience. A PR campaign and some social media posts just aren't going to fix the underlying problems with the management of the park. That's what they need to fix to rebuild the trust.

The only viable area with enough land close to the city would be Hamilton, and you could build it as a destination alongside the athletes village for the Olympics. It could tie-in with Eat Street. It would only ever be small because it is landlocked, and directly under the flight path. But honestly, Brisbane is saturated for shopping centres. That area is an easy drive to DFO, Chermside and Carindale across the gateway, and there just isn't much of an appetite for 'small' parks in Brisbane when the major theme parks are so close. The Gold Coast can barely even get smaller attractions like mini-golf and a slingshot to survive with it's booming population. Australia just doesn't have the population to sustain a Universal or Disney park. Our current parks are dead on most weekdays outside of school holidays. The US has much larger international tourist numbers, and a local population of over 300 Million. China has 1.5 Billion, Japan has 125 Million with another 50M in Korea a short flight away, Singapore is central to Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Phillippines, with a combined population of over 400 Million, Europe has over 400 Million. A tiny country with barely 26 Million people is just not going to sustain a Disney/Universal park. They're bigger and better themed, but with much higher operating and maintenance costs - which would be made worse by Australia's high minimum wage/super costs and highly volatile currency exchange rates. They'd be bankrupt within a few years. Plus, Australians love traveling overseas and have proven that they will go to Singapore/Japan/US/China to visit a Disney/Universal park. Disney also don't own their international parks outright. They're co-owned with local governments, usually with Disney holding a minority stake (which is why Disney can't tear down Splash Mountain in Tokyo like they did in America). If the Australian Govt decided to pay the construction costs, Disney would look at an Australian park, but there is exactly 0% chance of that happening. Even the joint-venture Universal Studios Dubai couldn't get off the ground and they have more money than God. The best you could hope for is a Disney-themed cruise terminal if they choose to significantly expand their cruise operations here.

Are they slowly trying to change the name to Uncle Rush, one letter at a time?

The lockers might end up staying and just be paid lockers for general use.