GoGoBoy

I get the reasons for the removal, which we've debated in detail, but can I just say the aim of any theme park should never be 'decluttering the skyline'.

My biggest concern was that Kaboom was going to be too short. I would have preferred them to save some money by ditching some of the other basic slides on the tower and reinvesting that into Kaboom by giving it at least one more uphill section each. But looking at these pics it looks like there might be enough twists and turns to give the ride a bit more length and interest than I was expecting. Should be fun. Just think they need to reassess the name and logo now that the master blaster slides are a different colour from the original proposal. PS Love the transparent slide sections!

I thought the new-ish VRTP maps were bad, but this is next level hideous. Outrageous if they spent that much money on it, Slick. Why have Aussie parks gone down this path? Seems like, just as we've seen with some attraction theming and design choices in recent times, it's another attempt to be 'modern', forgetting they are theme parks

And that is just wrong because considering how much money they spent on Luna Land, and the extent of the upgrade, it shouldn't look cheap or sad. But it does. And are they really going to fix it in the coming months? They didn't fix Maloney's Corner for 17 years

Good ride selection. Shame it's just all so ugly

Thanks for the pics themagician. The sad face emoji was because of how terrible and non-sensical that whole pathway and area is

I was talking more about their $99/$119 offering. But yes, those offers would definitely contribute too

Brilliant update 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

There seems to be a correlation between rising complaints and DW's flogging off of cheap annual passes. They're getting the customers they're asking for. But I guess DW's current ride line-up can't really justify a high price

I take back my ideas - I prefer Joz's! Overseas parks are doing amazing things with their queues and station buildings (and as Joz suggested, sometimes carrying over to the very start of the ride) to really build up the atmosphere. These days the best we seem to get at the major parks are basically jazzed up open-air tents

Which seems strange because they are a hugely popular ride model and I haven't heard of any other parks having trouble with them. Happy to be corrected on that

What about a small and cheap-ish dark ride section at the start, similar to Blue Fire? That's what I'd really like to see. And way more rock work and near misses. Honestly though, I'm not too bothered. I'd like DW to direct their focus and put as much effort and money as possible into desperately needed new rides to beef up the line up, particularly a new water ride.

Interested to hear what makes it better than Spooky Nights. I thought the two events would be similar?

Thanks for the great article - an excellent summary of this multi year saga. I do think April will be a challenge for them. But perhaps an even bigger challenge will be convincing the Australian public that wooden coasters can be just as worthy as steel coasters

👍🏻👍🏻

It's funded by Gold Coast Tourism / Destination Gold Coast

I wonder if they made any modifications to Fully Six to rectify the 'risk of internal trauma' or whether they've decided it was a one off?

Ride looks fun but it's clear they've spent as little as possible on the rock theming elements. 'The cave' definitely didn't deserve its own media release. The fact that they didn't build the mountain facade that was in the original render to cover the Sky Voyager building is a real shame. You spend a good chunk of the ride staring into the AC units.

Love the description of the oil refinery towers! That's exactly what it looks like. As I mentioned previously, Wet'n'Wild was doing some cool stuff in terms of theming and presentation with White Water Mountain and Calypso Beach, but that period unfortunately came to an end, I'm guessing with new management. I like the transparent slide pieces on Kaboom!, but I notice the colour doesn't match the logo or concept(?) at all.

The best additions at WnW in my opinion were Whitewater Mountain and Calypso Beach. It was the first time they brought strong thematic elements and a real sense of international standard excitement to the park. It has been disappointing that since then they went back to generic additions with no theming and a distinct lack of imagination

The new Road Runner sign uses some relief though? Not as much as the old WWF sign, but it's still there

Cheap

How sad is it walking into DW now and seeing that cheap white 'modern' awning and facade around Sky Voyager? Being a theme park, as if you wouldn't have run with the existing theme in that area and just jazzed up significantly the existing heritage style building. So much more character. And now there's more white vinyl stretching as far as the eye can see with Taipan. Do current Gold Coast theme park bosses realise they are in charge of THEME parks?

I believe Movie World now has their own sign printing workshop which makes these in-house. Not sure if they've always had it? I don't think it's too bad in this case because the new RR logo is decent plus there is a little bit of relief in the signage, and it looks like it has been placed on fake track for extra dimension? The Scooby Next Gen one was terrible though. Hoping this won't become a standard for major attraction signage - they need to stick with whichever company made the Doomsday signage (Sculpt Studios?)!

Totally agree. And let's not forget that they actually lowered demand themselves by having a major accident and then removing a significant number of popular attractions.