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Small point, but it's the Australian Geographic Society - publishing Australian Geographic magazine. NatGeo is National Geograpic, magazine and Cable TV channel - now (partially) owned by Disney. Similar organisations, easily confused. But it's a good fit for Dreamworld and will probably make it a lot easier for them to build out educational experiences, since Aus Geo has the magazine/Awards and is associated with Northern Pictures so they effectively have a production arm to lean on.

It's Showtime Entertainment Production group, not Showtime FMX. Completely different companies. MW are changing from this: https://www.showtimefmx.com/ to this: https://www.sepproduction.com/projects/

Here is the company doing the new show: https://www.sepproduction.com/projects/

6 have been built (plus Powder Keg), Only Ring Racer in Germany is the only one pulled down, but it only operated for 4 days and was closed because it was not economically viable (built at an F1 race track, not a theme park). Maxx Force is reliable - usually down because of train/sensor/block issues not launch system issues. The 4 in China are currently SNBO because Bullet Coaster had a roll-back on the top hat and collided with another train in the station. All of the air-coasters at Happy Valley parks stopped operating in China the same day. Powder Keg is an air-launch retrofit of a Premier Rides Water Coaster, and it's extremely reliable. I wouldn't buy a coaster from S&S, but the air-launch system is just a horizontal launch tower, which are generally one of the more reliable rides available. If the goal is to keep the existing Intamin ride (and trains) and just change the launch, then S&S would absolutely be an option. Building the compressed air launch systems are the one thing they do really well.

Red Force can accelerate a train from 0-100kph in 2 seconds, which is the same as Superman, so the current track length is enough if MW were to invest in the same super-capacitors. Regardless, modern LSMs can be placed on curved track and vertical track, so the launch could just continue up the top hat. S&S also do compressed air launches which are still being produced. So there are more options than just an LSM conversion.

The sad part is that Showtime have enough talented performers (bikes, cars, etc.) that they could put on a good 'action' show with a proper concept/script/direction, but they just don't. I don't really understand why there is a truck on a lake at Sea World with BMX riders, when those same BMX riders could be contributing to a better action/stunt show at MW. It's one thing to need to cut costs, or reduce risk, but a good concept and script only needs to be written once and then it costs nothing. Same with allocating performers to the right park and the right show. It would probably be more cost effective for Sea world to just invest in a really impressive fountain show, and put all the money for performers into MW, and both shows would be better than they currently are.

One of the greatest things I've ever experienced in my life is the queue for the Flume at Seoul Land. It's about a 90+ minute wait to get on the ride, the queue is just switchbacks under an awning (similar to Murrissippi Motors), but they have slim benches (maybe 8 inches wide) lining one side of the switchback all along the line. So you can actually sit down in the shade, while queuing and just slide along when the line moves. But to get back on topic, new 'Action' could be anything. It could be a street show, stunt show, showcase or just an announcement for a Doomsday replacement.

Universal only license the rights for their specific parks and exclusion zones around their parks. Village could license Harry Potter from WB at any time (and have previously) for an attraction. WB World in Abu Dhabi is currently building a Harry Potter World. There are plenty of other WB/New Line or Village Roadshow IPs to choose from: Dune, Mad Max, Happy Feet, Final Destination, Lord of the Rings, Austin Powers, Mortal Kombat, Ocean's 11, The Matrix, Gremlins, The Exorcist, Wonka. They also distribute the Monsterverse (Kong/Godzilla) for Legendary Pictures, and Mattel movies like Barbie. Mattel previously licensed Hotwheels to Dreamworld. There's also all of the WB/HBO TV series like Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon, Friends, The last of us, Rick and Morty, etc. Village don't need to look outside the WB catalogue for popular IP that would create amazing theme park experiences. They just need to be willing to spend the money on the license AND creating an amazing experience.

So, this has been memory-holed at this point, but what ever happened to the refurb of the Superman station and the removal of the locker system that MW announced last year?

The government is building the Coomera connector which is an alternative 6 lane highway route south from Coomera and will remove much of the local traffic trying to enter the M1 southbound at the roundabout - which will improve the traffic at the DW entrance.

But the point wasn't about getting onto the M1 quicker. The point was to clear the DW car park quicker. Filtering even 50-60% of the south-bound traffic onto Foxwell road would help clear the round about for north-bound traffic and overall there would be an improvement in traffic flow over the current situation - including on the M1 outside DW. There is no situation where improving signage and funneling south-bound traffic onto that exit would make the current traffic worse as Dapto described it.

It needs to be more prominent, and signed as Exit to M1 south or 'Exit to Gold Coast'. Currently all the exit signage directs people toward the round about. Look at the arrows on the ground. The majority of the car park directs people to the right, away from that exit.

This could be remediated with a one-way exit from the car park on the WWW side, with a slip lane heading south onto Foxwell road. People could then take DW Parkway to Hope Island Road and enter the M1 southbound there. The current DW car park is a cul-de-sac which is never good for traffic.

More info - Slides designed and manufactured by Weigand (Germany). https://www.wiegandwaterrides.de/en/projects/cruise-ships/icon-of-the-seas-royal-caribbean/

Can anyone give a detailed explanation for why it is not reliable, and how it became that way?

This post from July 19, 2004, shows that supports were only being installed on The Claw in mid-July. The ride opened September 18, 2004. Dreamworld is definitely aiming for a September holiday opening.

I get that there are probably few fabricators, but this isn't really a niche theme-park thing. Queensland has nineteen 2ft gauge sugar cane railways covering over 3000kms (a longer distance than Melbourne to Cairns). There is absolutely infrastructure in QLD to build/maintain/service them.

MW also had a Shreck 3D movie at Roxy - which at the time was Dreamworks (now owned by Universal), so there's clearly not an agreement with WB to use exclusively WB properties. Everything is available for licensing for the right amount of money.

Seems plausible. Gives a new, highly marketable ride experience for minimal spend. Or, if we're just speculating on fun ideas, it could be a conversion to a Gyro Drop with a 10m height extension to the tower to make it the world's tallest - increasing capacity, giving 360 degree views, new control panels and ride machinery, 50% tilting seats.

Just to clear something up because it seems to be repeated a lot here: Village do not have purpose built television facilities. The do not have technical control rooms, green rooms, catering facilities, audience holding areas, motorised lighting trusses, epoxy floors, or any of the other things that are required for television broadcast - particularly live TV. They are film production facilities - sound stages. Essentially large sheds with plywood floors, black walls and large doors. They could be used for television production - game shows, or other studio-based shows - but everything from lighting trusses to green rooms, make up trucks and Outside Broadcast trucks would need to be hired and brought in - like they are for films which typically have higher budgets. If you're bringing in all of that, you could film in any old shed. Big Brother is usually a windowless house (which is possible in a sound stage) with a back yard. It would not be possible to do this at VRS in the Sound Stages. The lot is too busy with too many other productions happening at the same time. You would see the sound stages from any exterior shot, and you would hear the coasters (and top golf), trucks and forklifts and construction crews building sets. To shoot Big Brother on Village property, you'd need to construct a purpose-built house somewhere back near Paradise Country, at which point you're in the same position as doing the same thing at Dreamworld. Purpose built TV studios and film studios are not the same thing. The current VRS lot is more like warehouses built on a car park. They could be used for studio-based TV - something like Dancing with the Stars or The Voice, but they really are not setup for a show like Big Brother. Sorry for the long essay, but I think it's good for people to understand the difference.

If WoO had more than just rollercoasters, then yes. Kids that age need to fill a whole day too. Right now, their options are all coasters (including Scooby) and maybe WWF if it's operating. Rides with small footprints like a Nebluaz, Condor, or ABC Interactive tower, would all have been solid additions to WoO and could easily have been themed to suit. It will be hard to add them later because so much space is wasted on the emerald city queue lines.

Is the fence actually different? Is this just the old fence with taller posts?

While I appreciate nostalgia, (and would love to see the old Cinema Facade restored, personally (and probably controversially) I would tear down the old thunderbolt building in any redevelopment. It was placed there specifically for Thunderbolt and if you're expanding the water park and possibly building a new GC replacement, I'm not sure that the existing building is in a great spot, or the best size/layout for a food outlet. Design the entire area as though nothing is there, and build it from the ground up to have a proper connection between the parks with appropriate, well-themed attractions that fit into the space. The possibilities of what you could build to last the next 30 years shouldn't be hindered by trying to save an old building that was built for a mediocre coaster that was demolished 21 years ago. There are better ways to honour the legacy of the park's former attractions.

If we're being realistic, that whole end of the park needs a massive Rivertown level upgrade. Gold Coaster is now 30 years old. It's rough and unreliable, and it's approaching the end of its life. That station area could be used for another slide tower. The Thuderbolt plot has been sitting empty for 20 years and is perfect for a WWW expansion - including a lazy river. You could even put a new coaster in that area and have it interact with the water park like GC currently does. Effectively everything from the Wipeout plot through to Kevil Hill needs redevelopment. Something like Barrels Smokehouse being moved to bridge the parks would be good - especially if they were to build a proper (themed) bar on the DW side so there's a place for adults to just chill and have a drink.

Additional trains aren't necessary and single train operations outside of peak are also fine. The problem is the operations/maintenance. When I last visited in March, the fastest dispatch we experienced was 5 minutes and 28 seconds. The slowest was 12 minutes. When we were on the ride, the restraints got stuck in the closed position on our ride and we had to wait for maintenance to come and release us - which was about a 5-6 minute wait. We queued for about 1 hour and only 1 cycle had backward riders. When I've been in busy times with 2 train ops, the rotating bins don't seem to be functional, and they're not great for bags or the sipper cups. So they could probably clear the platform quicker by improving the loose item storage system, and having better screen/recorded announcements so staff don't have to shout. Small changes that could reduce wait times by 1-2 mins per cycle.