GoGoBoy

Huss - you beat me to it. I was just about to mention the sign(s). You could see the side of it/them on the top of the rides supports throughout the Rove footage. Glad to see DW is paying attention to detail

'This Goboi person' - that's charming. Especially considering I have been around these forums a lot longer than you. And please don't call me a liar. Wonderland had lots of potential but not enough was done about it. Wonderland went through ups and downs as did Dreamworld in years gone by. The difference is that Dreamworld continued to upgrade and keep up it's standards whereas Wonderland just let go (different owners with different priorities). Then we have Sega World and Fox Studios Backlot. Both pretty pathetic attempts. Sega World could have been good but it didn't quite hit the nail on the head. And the latest incarnation of Luna Park... at the moment it doesn't really matter whether it's good or bad because as I said, it has a monopoly on the market and people seem to go no matter what

You're right joz and it's just crazy. People in Sydney love rides and theme parks and it is now showing more than ever. The problem is nothing has been up to standard and that's what causes the problems. It is obvious that people want something decent in Sydney and would be more than willing to support it. We already have 4 million people and are growing at the rate of tens of thousands every year. A little competition would be good for Luna Park. They have a total monopoly on the market at the moment which means that they can do just about anything and the people will still come. If there are any leisure investors out there looking for an opportunity, now is the right time. In the meantime Luna Park can continue to soak up all that lovely disposable income all on it's lonesome

I walked through the park today to see how it was going over the school hols (I live on the North Shore so it's fairly close). The park was beyond packed. You could hardly move through the crowds. I thought there may have been a special event on but then realised it was probably because it was a public holiday. Every single ride had queues streaming out of the queue houses. I walked past the face around midday and there was still a line for tickets stretching down the road past the pool. It was pretty amazing. I can only think how bad it would have been to actually pay to go to the park today - not fun at all. I spoke to a couple of the staff and they tell me that the park is apparantley doing really well and "beating budgets". Hopefully this is a good thing and we will see them invest funds back into the amusement park. I am surprised the park is doing this well considering that their ride line-up hasn't changed since 1995 and in fact there are now significantly less rides. I think they have been lucky to get such a great response considering their lower emphasis on the amusement park and I'd like to see them concentrate on this aspect a little more. If they do this the park could be really great and something for Sydneysiders to be proud of

Slick - you're not answering the question I asked. And you're the best person to give this info. How have the crowds been since The Claw opened and throughout the holidays? Walking around the park - is it packed? You would be able to give a good comparison/judgement because you have been at DW for most of the holiday periods recently

Well while you're here joz, how have Warner Village been going throughout the NSW/QLD hols?

For those of you that have visited DW over the last couple of days, I'm interested to know how busy it has been. How long are the waits for the rides? Do you think The Claw has made a big difference so far to attendance levels? Being a public holiday today I assume it would have been fairly packed

Yeah I agree with that joz but I'm saying you would still need to keep the dodgem cars. Where could they go?

I would also visit Dreamworld in a flash if they built a big new coaster. The Claw doesn't quite do it for me. I would love to see something huge and something smooth. Too many inversions can make you sick so I'd rather see a massive lift hill (which we don't have any of in Oz) with a fun complete circuit

I agree with pretty much all of joz's ideas... except you can't get ride of dodgem cars as they are always so popular. I don't know why as I hate them but they always draw a big crowd. If they are going to add Spongebob 3D though it would need to be somewhere in/near Nick Central

I was actually driving past it the other day and noticed that they have begun testing the Intamin Hyper. It's a massive structure and looks incredible from the road. I believe they are actually using people from the general public to test it out and guage their opinions of it. So further to what joz said, if any of you guys are planning to head out there to have a look you might aswell sign up for the hyper test ride while you're at it. They are apparantley finding it hard to get volunteers

I have a brilliant booklet full of photos and information on the original Monash playground which I got off my grandparents. It was printed in the early 80's. The playground was a truly amazing place and it's such a shame it was pulled down. They had some of the most incredible, scary looking slides you have ever seen. It almost looked like a big water park except ofcourse the slides were dry and made out of steel. Some of the towers were huge and allowed the owners to constantly add new slides. Apart from the slides they had a big range of various rides and attractions. Most of the 'rides' had moving parts but it should be noted that they were all self propelled - as in they didn't need power or any staff to operate them. There were even a couple of mini roller coasters which you ran yourself. You could spend hours there. Shame I don't have a scanner

I'm joking Gazza. I couldn't care less what they do with the seats and the naked people. I won't be up there for another year at least anyway. In all seriousness though the safety bars on rides would be covered with more germs and bacteria than you can poke a stick at. If they are not cleaned regularly (and I know of some parks which NEVER clean them) then they are just as bad as poles on CityRail trains. These have been proven to be completely coated in bacteria. And when you think about the thousands of people that ride these rides every day and grip onto the handle bars constantly, including hundreds of dirty kids. Well, I guess it's best not to think about it. Not that it'd stop me from riding anyway

Okay if you put it like that I guess it would be a sensible idea to lay some toilet paper down on the seat before you ride The Claw

Why do some of the seats already have crap marks?

I'm still not convinced that Luna Park would consider these rides. If so, why did they find it necessary to sell off their Octopus ride if they now want to buy a ride like balloons which is of a similar size? And Endeavour would look terrible at LPS - such a big ugly eyesore

Last time I was at Sea World... hmm ages ago. I stayed at Sea World Nara Resort with a friend only about 2 or 3 years back but we didn't actually go to Sea World. So the last time would have been well before Polar Bear Shores, maybe just after Dolphin Cove was built. I do remember thinking that Bermuda just didn't wow me as much as it once had but I didn't know whether that was because it had deteriorated or because I was over it. Nothing annoys me more than the way our parks pay millions of dollars for these attractions then just let them go. If something stops working they take a relaxed attitude and just leave it. The only exception to this if it's something that is important to keep the ride running itself. If a piece of theming breaks down then forget it. In most cases it ain't coming back. I think our parks definitely need to start being a little stricter on this issue and implement guidlines which state that each piece of theming must be repaired or replaced as soon as it starts to become a problem. And replaced to its original standard. There is no denying that poor upkeep detracts from the entire ride experience

Are they going to put covers on the seats? If not it's not very hygenic. Remind me not to ride The Claw for a while

I definitely agree with joz's Spongebob 3D solution. The best thing about an attraction like that is not only is it a high capacity 'show', it is also a ride. This would fit in better with Dreamworld than a standard (and probably boring) show. I would agree that more high capacity attractions would go a long way to helping with this problem

Well I doubt Luna Park will get a park version of anything unfortunately. It's road models all the way for them

I also wrote to Dreamworld some time ago with both compliments (the upgrade in theming, particularly to Ocean Parade) and complaints (mostly the Thunderbolt). I got a very thoughtful and detailed response addressing each one of my specific points

wonderbus - Luna Park seems to have a current policy of introducing new 'carny' rides for the school holiday periods. Are you suggesting that Luna Park is going to stop this and bring in some new permanent non-carnie rides?

The thing that confuses me is that no one seems impressed with Bermuda. I remember going on it and being very impressed. Has it really deteriorated that much? The robotic aliens, the disappeaing u.f.o, the big cave-in at the end with the flooding and everything collapsing and then the final splashdown with the flames and smoke. Does this not happen anymore?

Get over the residents. They are not as much of a problem now as they were before. They have sent in hundreds of complaints and petitions re Ranger and the other rides but the government is now taking a more sensible approach by ignoring them. Anyway the noise is apparantley within permitted limits. So really, Luna Park could get anything they want... almost. The problem (and in some ways it's also a good thing, bittersweet really) is that the park seems to be doing really, really well as it is. The general public doesn't seem to care that the rides are all badly presented old trailer mounted models because the place is packed out on a regular basis. Sydney people are becoming less discerning. It constantly surprises me that people are willing to fork out a fair bit of cash to ride a rather dodgy looking machine. I'm a fun park fan and even I won't hand over my money to go on most of their rides. The exceptions to this would be the unique attractions like the Wild Mouse and the giant ferris wheel with its harbour views. Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of respect for Luna Park as a venue, but I'd like to see the amusement park brought up a notch. Unfortunately I don't see it happening as long as the paying public is happy with the way it is

Well they should be making a profit because it is the only theme/amusement park in New Zealand - talk about market dominance. There's no competition. If there is not much else around to compare it to then the punters will usually hand over their cash quite happily no matter how dodgy it is. Seems like they are sorta heading in the right direction now. I just hope this Power Surge is a park model and not a dodgy trailer mounted one. By the way I had no idea Rainbow's End was a publicly listed company but found the financial release very interesting so thanks for the link joz