Slick

There's suddenly a lot of whataboutism going on when your original argument and my reply were awfully specific. Walt Disney is dead but whether it's new rides or the fundamental ethics of the Walt Disney Company, folks both inside and outside the park care deeply about what his opinion would be, so the "he sold it" line doesn't work as an excuse on meeting the minimum standard of expectations that's been eroded for 20+ years at Dreamworld. But you're right, Disney isn't the only template for success, in fact both Dreamworld & Sea World owe a lot of credit to other successful operations like Busch Gardens. Both Busch & Universal (another highly successful chain) do a great job in catering to thrill-seekers and less of the "family unit" that Disney does. Same goes for Dollywood & Hershey Park. Noticing a trend here by the way with those parks? They're all successful parks that look after what they have (what's that? They still have all their steam trains? What a coincidence) and don't do really, really basic things you wouldn't even do in RollerCoaster Tycoon like, say, plonking a space-themed ride in a western area or, maybe, I dunno, plonking an ultra-modern facade in a Victorian-era main street.

At a fundamental level, the Victorian-era facades aren't tired, otherwise Disneyland wouldn't still be printing money in multiple countries. As to what @AlexB said above - there's definitely some truth in there - Longhurst's Dreamworld is well and truly buried (figuratively and literally at that) and trying to hold Ardent to the same bar that Longhurst had ends in major disappointment.

These screens really scream "turn of the century Victorian aesthetics" like the buildings that surround it.

I don't think so - I think everyone is going to always yearn to step into a bygone era of yesteryear and nostalgia, and the proof is in the fact that people are still just as fanatical about Disneyland today as they were when it was "new" decades ago. And shock horror, part of that continued success is caring deeply about the guest's sense of immersion, however subconscious and minor the detail is. People know the difference between a living, breathing steam train and a John Deere diesel engine, and to say folks don't is why Ardent is in the predicament they're in - really caring about experience instead of holding the customer in contempt would go a long, long, way here. John Longhurst got this, and it's why Dreamworld was such a hit. Now we've got a FlyOver America from Mall of America facade industrial park facade rubbing up against Victorian-style facades, a diesel train, a totally disjointed Ocean Parade filled with trolls, car theming and an exhibition hall.... is it any wonder they're still struggling?

Which is exactly why in almost every Magic Kingdom they have a knock-off diesel tra.... oh wait. I feel bad for theme park management - their biggest fans always complain that the parks "aren't what they used to be like" but shrug their shoulders and remark things are "fine" when a change happens. It's how we end up with skydancers at Sea World.

The spacing is making it look very crowded.

Fair enough, had me fooled.

Yeah.... I’d read the article hey.

It’s definitely worth giving the Parkz articles a read on the front page (like this one specifically) - the “additions” to the lazy river are well documented. The long story short here is as an example, moving the crocodiles from one end of the park to the other indicates two things: 1) maximising Dreamworld assets with as minimal capital as possible for eventual sale 2) Weiss wants to sell as much land as possible to maximise his own ROI.

I really appreciate the update but I just don’t get the need for a) videos when photos will suffice and b) the want to make the 10,000th Gold Coast theme parks fan portal. This community is way, way stronger when we’re not separated into hundreds of fractions, just sayin’.

@Richard this is super worthy of an article.

Dreamworld is 100% already on the market - right now it’s all about timing. Weiss is already closing in on separating the most profitable parts of Ardent (US) away from the failing components (AUS) and this is now after every other profitable piece of Ardent’s Australian operations has been sold. When Weiss can get the money he wants for both arms, it’ll be sold.

Yep - watch the whole clip - the shadow's a give-away, and to add, they were there on Thursday, so no chance of all them coming off between now and then.

Sea World's lack of attention was only second to Wet 'n' Wild Sydney, and now Village don't even have that excuse. I'd bet good money in the next shareholder call you'll get Burke blaming the pirates for illegal downloads and Sea World (which is kind of fitting actually.)

Hopefully less corners being cut.