Brad2912

Having not been to MW in a few months, it’s sad to see it looking in such a poor state. It’s all in the details and that’s just poor.

Was just driving past on Seaworld Drive and there were a couple of cranes doing something with the top of the lift hill

It’s been doing that for as long as I can remember, like 5+ years, maybe even since opening. The chain & motor go to full speed when a car departs the station and rolls towards the block at the base of the lift

As a few had speculated… Scoob is the new 4D show

They have multiple corporate events each week outside of park hours. The Scooby castle is very popular for birthdays, formals and weddings too

Wouldn’t mind a Teen Titans Go - 4D. Super popular show and an IP they really should use in the kids area when they get around to refreshing it

Possibly nothing and it’s purely strategic as the industry should be back in full swing come spring. Winter is a somewhat at unknown variable for us when it comes to covid as we dealt with the major outbreak during our summer. I think they are possibly just sitting on it to launch when it can maximise attendance and give strong lead in to the Xmas holidays without a winter waning of interest…

Not so much “maintenance” but it appears we may have a new 4D movie at Roxy for the Easter holidays…

Surely there is some entertainment from 5-8pm to encourage people to stay? whilst the concept of an eating preceding at night is a sound one. no one is visiting DW just to be able to eat with the generic dreamworld soundtrack playing in the background.

The weather would arguably make the entry process faster….

Damn… even Insert Park is closed today!

Pretty safe to say, imo, that the parks will be closed today….. (except possibly SW)

One could argue that when talking safety, DW would have more risk associated than WWW in this weather. the reality would be WWW would be scarcely visited on a day like today so operationally it makes no sense to have it open as it would likely be running at a loss. when you mention safety as a reason, it calls into question why the main park is safe to operate. “Due to inclement weather” was all that is needed

Until about 2 hours ago, the rain really hasn’t settled on the GC. I’m not far from DW and we only got sporadic showers, maybe 5ml over the whole day. if it keeps up overnight and into tomorrow like it is now though, that may be a different story

We have very different definitions of cute…

Well I’d love it to be family water ride, but I just cannot see it happening, so a decent family coaster would be my choice.

Dreamworld’s CEO Greg Yong will remember victims of the Thunder River Rapids tragedy and how its past is building a better future A familiar tune filters through the loudspeakers of the theme park. “Take a trip away from the every day …” While the audience of guests – predictably thin on the ground this mid-week mid-morning – hurry on to the next thrill ride, the lyrics hit home for Dreamworld CEO Greg Yong. After all, the 41-year-old first came to the park when the Coomera attraction was still reeling from the Thunder River Rapids tragedy that saw four lives lost in 2016. Arriving from Village Roadshow to Dreamworld as chief operating officer in 2019, before being named CEO last year, he was confident he could steer the park to better, brighter days. And then came Covid. For the last three years, it’s safe to say that every day has been anything but a holiday for Greg. But rather than hiding from the park’s history, Dreamworld is owning it. And that includes its darkest chapter. While details are yet to be released, Greg confirms the park will memorialise the victims of the disaster. “Something is coming, we’ll be announcing it soon,” he says. “We will never try to hide what happened, we have to own it. Sadly, it is part of our history forever. “We’ll never get over the heartache of it, but rather than hiding from it, it drives us to move forward.” In fact, acknowledging its past is part of Dreamworld’s grand plan when it comes to facing its future. Not only has it remastered its famous 1980s jingle, it’s restoring some of its heritage rides and attractions. Greg says nostalgia has become a huge drawcard, not just for Gold Coasters, but for people worldwide who crave the comfort and safety of the past compared to the roller-coaster years of the pandemic. And his plan seems to be working. While this summer was not the post-pandemic season of his dreams thanks to Covid regulations and the virus itself, Greg says the park still posted good numbers and is now looking forward to a bumper Easter. “We’ll be releasing those shortly but January was especially good,” he says. “Our guest scores were the highest they have ever been. “Throughout all of these troubled times, we have really felt the support of Gold Coasters – and Australians – who want us to succeed. And once they were really able to come out and see us, they did. “I think we’ve finally reached that point now where we have officially turned the page on those tough times and we’re focused on moving forward. But part of that does mean acknowledging our past. “Even with our theme song, we had some marketing experts come in and pitch new tunes and they were great … but really, you can’t go past the one-day-holiday song. It was perfection then and it’s still perfect now. “There are so many things that Dreamworld has done right and we’re embracing that. That is our identity.” That embrace includes the renovation and refurbishment of the nostalgic train the Dreamworld Express, which even has its own appreciation page on social media, that will include making the ride wheelchair-accessible. The park’s signature Giant Drop tower is also set to be completely repainted and topped with a permanent lighting display come mid-year. But the future is not all about the past, with Greg actively working on the park’s “next big thing”. “Every second day I’m talking to someone in the US or Europe about the next big ride we build,” he says. “We haven’t made the final decision yet, but we know it will be something in the family-friendly zone that’s world class. It’s going to be more in line with Sky Voyager than Steel Taipan. “I’m also still actively pursuing the development on-site accommodation for the park. We came close last year but the package we had just wasn’t the right one. “We’ve known for 15-20 years that this is what this park – and this area of the Coast – needs, but we’ve never nailed it down. I’ve got the hammer ready.” While these international Zoom calls require Greg to work odd hours, that seems to just be part of the job these days. The father of three daughters – aged 17, 14 and 8 – is at work early in the morning and in the office until late at night, often seven days a week. He doesn’t have a personal assistant or secretary but is hands-on around the park, from greeting guests at the gate to taking photos for tourists to operating rides himself. “That’s just where we are at right now, that’s what the park needs. After the tough times we’ve had, it’s literally my job to know what’s happening at every level and to be there to talk to people. “It’s also just the way the world is right now, no one has the luxury to just do their one thing … we’ve all had to economise and learn to work efficiently as we can. https://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/news/gold-coast/dreamworlds-ceo-greg-yong-will-remember-victims-of-the-thunder-river-rapids-tragedy-and-how-its-past-is-building-a-better-future/news-story/230f489547b7ceaff742491822fe6200

I’d say 40-50% or more of any segment (thrill/family/kids). If more than 2 from DCR, GL, SE, BW, DD more than 2 from WWF, JL, SDSC, RR 2 or more of WB kids rides given the lack of them as it is

True, but if the park went to an effort to increase photos ops and roving characters, families with kids would have a great time, and we know that kids influence purchasing behaviour heavily in families.

If they head into the weekend with that many rides closed they may as well just open the gates for free, or for say $10pp. Some people who haven’t been before may take a visit, and off the back of that decide to buy passes in the future

Not particularly theme park related (at present) but Village Roadshow is suing Warner Bros regarding issues with the release of Matrix Resurrections. Some of the public comments already thrown out by both parties don’t point to any kind of future happy unions. whilst unlikely to directly effect MW - I wonder if the relationship continues to sour or a protracted court battle ensues if it may make attempts at licensing and access to things such as the Batman collection for Legacy harder to instigate or troublesome in the future https://variety.com/2022/film/news/matrix-resurrections-village-roadshow-sues-warner-bros-1235173757/amp/

Front rows still out? That’s pretty horrendous for an off-peak weekday

Unlike previous years however, the Easter long weekend is the last 4 days of the school holidays, with kids back to school on the Tuesday. It makes little sense to launch for that weekend imo… they either launch 2 weeks earlier at the start of the holidays to maximise on attendance, or may as well hold off for June holidays…

Supervillains definitely was a winter holidays event until last year when it was moved to summer due to covid closures whilst I can’t specifically recall who/where it was said - I’m pretty sure I did hear that based on the success of HFH they were looking at making it an annual thing. Of course the events of the past few months covid wise may have impacted that decision

If you don’t want to take that risk the I wouldn’t be booking anything until we see solid testing happening and a ramp up in marketing from the park which would then point to a firm launch window