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Hey Alex. Just curious what wasn't working? I went to watch the parade tonight too and didn't notice anything that seemed to be broken. Usually I'd notice something like that. Funnily enough I was just on the highway and past a police who's lights were doing a kind of red blue pause thing. Made me chuckle after reading your post just before. So maybe they did get it right after all, guess it depends on the police car. That is of course assuming they were actually trying to make it look like a police car, with a continous snake light, but we dont know if that's the case do we. Perhaps one of our men on the ground could put their feelers out and let us know. Glad to see another positive review. Also glad to hear about the good smoke in Scooby, certainly makes the lasers look great hey.

I can now of course comment as well and say that the parade is one of the best things I have EVER seen come out of the park. The floats are of course amazing, and far above the standard of anything seeen before (except maybe the scooby float which was great too) and I am intimately aware of the hard work and dedication put in by those who built them in such a short time frame. The work the sculpters have done blows me away, especially the joker float. But what makes this all so fantastic is this isn't a parade with floats, it's a show with floats. The whole package the Show and Entertainment team have come up with is just really great. It's a decent length show that involves the entire street and the crowd loved it. I must also give credit to the marketing department who have clearly done a good job as the park was packed for tonights show. Was so amazing to see the park so alive and busy at 5:35pm. I must admit that I did get a bit of the warm fuzzies just in taking in the atmosphere, much the same feeling I get on the aproach to Disneyland. I just got the feeling that something really special had just been pulled off and I was witnessing the first sign of big things to come for the park. As Joz said any of this drive and creativity is NOTHING without the support of management and that support has been there on this project at a level that I have never seen before. The park is presently in the hands of some really good leadership and I see a good future. I still can't believe I'm talking about the same park as I would have been a year ago, I really was blown away, everyone should be real proud. Keep in mind this was only the first show too and it's only going to improve from here. The hype was justified, and you can really feel it amongst all the staff how excited they are to be working on something so quality. The bar has well and truely been raised here, and I for one am so happy to see it and very proud to be associated too. NOW GO SEE IT! ^ Just to add to what Gazza said now that the spoilers are out... Some comments had been made earlier about how people had hoped they didn't just 'redress the same old crappy floats.' There are a couple of the usual floats in the parade, but someone has taken the time to work in a fully plausable story line as to why they belong. Now THAT attention to detail is at the Disney level, in fact even the new floats have a reason for being in the street rather than just 'its a parade.' So just on that subject... another big congrats and great job at raising the bar.

Just be careful with general comments like that as people may be surprised with what influence such employees can have, and what activities they may be involved in. Whilst my employ does often allow me to be privy to all sorts of information, something like what is being discussed here is not likely to be something Id know. Needless to say however if I did, I would not be permitted to discuss in a forum such as this.

It's certainly interesting, as WVTP continue to spend big money on significant caped additions to their properties, Ardent seem to remained focused on getting more out of what try already have. Only time will tell which strategy proves more fruitful.

As the press release states te parade will feature all new DC comics floats. They are not old floats re-dressed. The significance of the 5pm time is that it's almost dark, so take from that what you will. I'm very impressed with the floats, and you all know how much it takes to impress me. But sorry, you won't be getting any spoilers from me. Best to get down to the park in July!

Those looking forward to the parade are right to be so.

Pretty much every show in the world has a Stage Manager to 'call' the cues of the show. Whether you call it a Drive Co-Ordinator as it's a car show doesn't matter, they are still filling the Stage Manager Role. So Yes you still need someone out front on Comms to the rest of the show crew/cast. The guys in the booth are executing the technical cues and effects of the show.

Just curious, does anyone know what they do with the animals residing in those tanks when they empty them out?

One of the best theme park characters ever in my opinion (mainly for the WTF factor) was that crazy wizard that used to ride around Dreamworld and blast ACDC music out of his scooter!

I just saw an add for this in the Jetstar magazine tonight, looked great!

I think our parks are just trading on their laurels and think that just throwing up a new ride, or giving a discount will get you there. I get into the parks for free but I hardly ever go, because nothing is motivating me to do so. Public are expecting new rides so it doesn't make them RUN to the park. Now building a major record breaker or similar will, but they just don't seem to want to do that. Giant Drop was wow factor, Superman was wow factor, heck Polar Bear Shores was wow factor. Something like a water slide, a jet ski coaster (whilst it's awesome) or a swimming pool with some Rays doesn't have any WOW appeal. The public aren't stupid, if the parks are discounting, its obvious there is nothing there worth paying the full price for. Just for interest, whilst these past few months are now, the Village parks are on target for a good year overall.

I can understand that. A photo of off limit areas is really no different to asking for a photo of the superman launch bunker, which no one is permitted to take or post either. The mechanical side of me us curious though. Is the new design you're refering to the curved support for the rope to lay upon as the weight shifts and the direction to the rope is pulled changes? Did old designs use some sort of pulley or something to achieve this which wore on a small section of the rope over time?

Check this thread out http://www.parkz.com.au/forums/index.php?s...ost&p=63040

Couldn't agree more. Disneyland has the same problem with it's millions of annual passholders. AP prices need to go UP and be almost an elitist item, rather than the cheap and accessable ticket they have become IMO.

Whilst I don't think the show will go down as one of the great all time theme park shows (as PA did) or receieve rave reviews like others such as Waterworld do, I think the show has matured a lot and is now a reputable addition to the park. The show works MUCH better with the reduced number of cars and the pacing and overall 'feel' to the show has been much improved. I do have to give credit to the Show and Entertainment directors for improving this show so much over time. I still don't really like how it just screams being a watered down knock off of the Disney show, and I feel it lacks the comedic element that made PA so popular, but that is a conceptual problem, not an executional one. So in short, yes I like it, change has been good in this case!

I would have to agree with you. By design the goals of a theme park are escapism and immersion... anything that serves to bring you back to reality is breaking your experience of the park. So if cheap shoddy merch is what is doing that, then yes, you have every justification to be upset about it. Unfortunately revenue in the parks is all about making money, and cheap and nasty is what it's all about. Nothing is unique to the park, it's all about tacky crap that makes a quick buck. The revenue department needs to embrace the concept of 'value adding' and what it can do to enhance their brand.

Troy we are looking at the bigger picture, it's the park that's not. If it was truely about making money then we would be paying $70 entry to get into a shopping mall, but this is a theme park. It's meant to be about escapism... and the key word is THEME. As for Bermuda, it's funny, several years ago I entered a Sea World video in the TPR video contest and Robb was amazed how good a ride it looked. Only a few short years later I will be embarissed to have them ride it!

Well you won't get me to justify in any way why they should open Anzac day, I mean they open every other public holiday and pay the penalties. But no, keeps the parks closed Anzac day. As for anything else Wyn... no, completely unacceptable. The park hours are 10am to 5pm and therefore EVERYTHING should be open 10am to 5pm. The scheduling of attractions pisses me off beyond belief. As with shops being closed to. This will feature in my Seaworld report with nearly everything closed at 3:30pm... It's a joke!

The track switch is one of those cool, roll over type switches like you have on Expedition Everest...

Just wanted to quickly point out that Monorails are running again, all be it with a creep speed limit through the deconstruction area of the waterpark, 2 trains running yesterday. Also Dockside is open agian, all F&B outlets have been closing for a short time to allow electrical upgrades to take place throughout the park. Expect a massive rant thread from me in the next couple days about my Seaworld Experience yesterday!

I dunno if the resort patrons would necessarily agree with this one Gazza...

After only a few days I can say how much I like this format more, definitely the right decision. It's so quick now to jump through every active thread and keep up to date. Good Stuff

I've often wondered if that really is required (writing down in a log), seems like something only smaller time parks do. They certainly don't fill out a log every time a Space Mountain car leaves the station (no one could write that fast LOL).

just to put it out there that age is NO excuse for the ride being the way it is. Splash Mountain and Pirates for example are both older then BT and they are only getting IMPROVED with age! I would love to write a bulletin article about all this crap but I'd probably get fired... I wonder if our parks stopped cutting costs and actually spent more, the revenue would follow?

WHAT THE HELL! How did I not know about this??? That's just plane ridiculous. I can tell you exactly how much it would cost to have a new support for a friken piece of glass fabricated from wood or steel (whichever it was) and it's a blip in the maintenance budget for that attraction. I'm honestly shocked it has gotten that bad. I would also have to say that if that was Movieworld even that just wouldn't happen. Managers at Sea World really have just dropped the ball. They seem to worried about themselves and forget they are actually meant to be running the park. A bit sad given I know who most of those people are, and it upsets me that they personally let it get to this. Problem you got with the big company restructure, most of the good staff went to Movieworld whilst Sea World got the dregs. I think for the first time I would actually like them to sell off Sea World. Mainly because I would sooner no company I work for is associated with the state of that park. Sell the place to John and Trevor and let them get it back to where it should be!