Slick

Being frank here, if it's a monster, and it has four legs... what the hell is everyone riding on?

You mean like Trevor's piece for the Jet Rescue queue? Hell yeah! #savetheseals

#sorrynotsorry

Remove any remnants of Rapids, Skylink or Mine Ride (perhaps sans the Mine Ride station building) & regrade the land to a nice hilly space. Put a clear, clean path in that connects Rocky Hollow and the pathway from Main Street at ground level (this also means cleaning up the clusterf*ck that is the Giant Drop elevated pathways and adding in level railway crossings, which would help add atmosphere for that space.) Move Model T-Ford Cars there. Have them going up and down through the hilly space. Refurb the old Big Brother outlet to a great F&B Gold Rush space. If you do it properly, it'd be a fantastic space to have lunch or a beer (views of Log Ride, Giant Drop, T-Fords, Buzzsaw, great atmosphere.) Move some of the Corroboree animals down to new Gold Rush Space i.e. abandoned brick building is really a snake exhibit. Will help make the overall space more full, complete and family friendly. Long-term, add a Gerstlauer family spinning mouse ride that could dip up and down through the area and be a worthy Mine Ride successor. To complete the area, add a windseeker in or another small, family friendly attraction. To me, the idea of having "Gold Rush, Rocky Hollow & Corroboree" as three "worlds" (not to mention Gold Rush is shoe-horned in there somehow) is making life hard for yourself. To me, they're all a rustic, Australian theme. I mean yeah, give them names, whatever, just get on making it feel like one big consistent space and make it feel like a nice space to be in (which isn't hard, Corroboree as it stands is already great, ParkChat live be damned.) For the park to heal and for the general public to move forward in the conversation of Dreamworld, it needs to really get on removing Rapids AS SOON AS POSSIBLE in my mind. I'd be transparent about what they're doing with the land too, so that when the bulldozers come, the message people are getting is "okay, they're dealing with the space, they're putting in x & y new things, I look forward to seeing what comes" not "oh, they're getting rid of the accident and covering their tracks" which is what folks will default to if they're not given something else IMO.

But it was okay because afterwards I caught a fish THIIIIIS BIG!

Village eServe is the quick and easy to order food on the go, so i've heard.

Clearly i'm talking in generalities, otherwise I would've said "@Sarm thought this, then this" not "theme park fans thought this, then this."

For years, theme park fans have been going "you know what would be great? If WhiteWater World & Dreamworld merged." Now they're doing exactly that, and what do theme park fans say? Do you want to go inside or outside? Make up your mind already so I can close the door.

Nope.

Unfortunately Village doesn't have a low friction mode built in on this one.

I'm surprised no one reports the water slide maintenance periods.

Yeah, something about a multi million dollar company, filled with dozens of talented marketing, advertising, PR & digital folks handing over an announcement to an Instagram account less than a month old on a whim.... See, when you use logic, you get a logical conclusion.

Dreamworld 1 Day Adult Pass - $79 2 Day Adult Pass - $99 Annual Pass (With blackouts) - $179 Annual Pass (365 Days) - $219 Village 1 Day Adult Pass - $79 (Less a bit for Wet 'n' Wild) 2 Day Adult Pass - $99 (Less a bit for Wet 'n' Wild) 4 Day Passport (1x day to each park plus a day of Paradise Country & AOS) - $199 4 Park Annual Pass (With blackouts & slight discount or perk for AOS) - $199 4 Park Annual Pass (365 Days + moderate AOS discount) - $269 4 Park Annual Pass (365 Days, plus cool shit, food, photos, solid AOS discounts, etc. etc.) - $329 Here's my take on it: This is relative to global market prices for the size of the parks they are, adding into a consideration that our HR costs are some of the highest in the world. Just like anything I buy these days, i'm generally adding 20% as a base on top of the global cost as an Australia tax. The day passes are not cheap, but they're also not expensive. For casual once a year guests or interstate travellers (who make up the bulk of visitors) they're right in the sweet spot of affordability while pushing ahead with a sense of newfound "premium" ideology, which is where the parks need to be going anyway to survive in the future. Annual passes are too damn cheap. I remember my first "Max Action Pass" at Dreamworld was $143.50. That was 2003. It's 2017, and most annual park passes are cheaper then that. If that's not an indicator of the state of pricing and how woefully out of touch the price is relative to the product, then I don't know what is. Annual passes are based off roughly 2.5 visits, at which point you break even. Prior to the price crash, the break even point used to be around 3-4 visits, so it's a nice middle ground. AOS AOS AOS - @Richard's article should've highlighted just how much of an underrated gem Australian Outback Spectacular is, and marketing should be finding every opportunity they can to cross-sell tickets. I'm not saying give them away, i'm saying do exactly what Dreamworld do with F&B for season pass holders - here's 10%, or $20 off this experience, or get this photo (that costs VRTP nothing) for half price. Part of getting this pricing to work is all about not making people feeling screwed elsewhere. For VRTP, that means no more charging $30 for a season pass replacement (especially when Dreamworld charges $5), likewise for tomato sauce (charging for tomato sauce is downright un-Australian anyway). Initiatives like the new Dirty Harry Bar is where it's at, parks need to be finding ways to jazz up F&B offerings with as little money spent as possible all the while justifying premium pricing. I think Movie World & Dreamworld are certainly clueing in to this, given their J&B and Jelly Belly stores, just give me more cool shit to eat and i'm there, baby. (PS: this is why people loved Carnivale, btw). Bloody grog, mate - I swear Dreamworld, if you ever take away my premium lagers & ales, i'm going to be one cranky guest. Grog should be everywhere and served appropriately. I don't care if you have to hire more cleaners to handle with the ensuing spillages, you'll be making so much money from alcohol sales it'll be a blip in the radar by comparison. TLDR, go to the Gold Coast every once in a while, take in some of the amazing bars and restaurants, and keep creating premium experiences for guests to splurge on. There's something about having a beer and watching Pat the tigers that's pretty damn awesome. Blackout periods will spark locals to choose the days they go more wisely, which means the throughput of the park will be a lot more consistent, which then means thinks like operations can be more consistent, which in turn means that bigger and higher capacity rides can be justifiable purchases down the line (no more Buzzsaws.) DO NOT DISCOUNT THE DAMN PRICES - If you want to market the tickets for a promotional period, only ever value add in-park products that cost little to nothing, and value add totally different things throughout the year. Why? Because Timmy will buy his VRTP pass with Fast Foto in January, and then Sally will by her VRTP pass with unlimited food in July. They'll go hang out, and both of them will see the other in-park upsells, and then two things will happen: 1) Their friends will organically market the products to each other during the course of the day and 2) if the products appeal to them, they'll be more inclined to watch out for deals, meaning they'll be a more proactive participant in your overall marketing & advertising strategy in the future. #nothingbeatsthefeeling

Craig Davidson has made good changes at Dreamworld, like giving a lot of attractions and areas a much needed face lift. He's worthy of some serious recognition in my mind given what he's achieved and what he's endured in his tenure.

Well, they have one thing in common with Ardent, they both like to bulldoze Meisho Double Loop Coasters.

For BGW, Tempesto might be regarded as a filler attraction. The strategy for the likes of Falcon's Fury (same chain, different park) was wildly different. As for Cedar Point's RMC Mean Streak conversion, mystery is part of the strategy. They're not being silent, they're being cryptic and feeding the rumour mill, saying things like "We will not mention Mean Streak anymore because it does not exist at Cedar Point anymore." Again, this is park (and a chain) who recognises the brand loyalists, the digital audience, the power of ZMOT and the ROI of digital over traditional advertising. As it stands, Movie World's website doesn't have a mobile portal despite that being ridiculously important and priority one for your digital strategy for this reason alone.

Blackpool, Liseberg & Disney have all announced their 2018/2019 projects, meanwhile, nothing from Movie World for the park's single biggest project ever opening in months. I literally can't think of a single major theme park project of this magnitude in recent history having no announcement or teaser this far into construction. Seriously, can anyone actually find a park that has? Because i'd love to eat my words here. I've done probably a quarter hour of research and haven't found anything. As it stands, either VRTP have the greatest launch strategy for this coaster in the history of theme parks, better than anything Disney, Universal, Merlin etc. etc. have ever done, or, they're way off the mark here, and that worries me. It worries me because I want nothing more than for this to be a runaway success for both the park and the company, and from a marketing and PR perspective, having your #1 unofficial source (Parkz) be your guest's primary portal for information is hysterically dangerous. And not because this site is bad, oh contraire, this site is more reliable than any other news source VRTP engages with in terms of getting facts right (7, 9, courier, GCB etc. etc.), the issue is you're not controlling the message, so people who are ZMOT-ing your product are looking at this and not something like this.

My favourite thing is how there's Superman theme music as the backing track but no shots of Superman or Superman Escape.

This is absolutely totally speculation here, but if I were in charge of the park (and indeed being very cautious, mindful & respectful to those affected by the accident) I wouldn't be re-opening a water ride with belts & channels of water (regardless of how dissimilar the ride type or ride vehicle is) until the River Rapids ride was cleared away from the property completely, or until an appropriate time has amassed anyway.

Great to see, I was quietly hoping it wasn't going to be just green panelling, Dreamworld does not disappoint.

One of my favourite things VRTP do every year. I have family who are in the Air Force, and this gets a lot of respect and praise fro them.

Heh, heh, sidewiener. (This is why you should proofread, kids.) As far as I know the audio has been off since it's been re-opened. Honestly? If my choice was an early EDM chart topper from nearly 2 decades ago (yep, released 1999) being blasted into my ear drums versus silence, i'd probably pick the latter.

Someone give this guy a raise (or, you know, a job in the first place.) Great work mate, keep it up!

I really dig this. Glad the studios are getting a semblance of culture and identity given how important they are to the film industry here in Australia now.

Here's some just simply amazing photos courtesy of your bros from OurWorlds & TPAGG. It's worth noting, the super out of date hipster photos are from OurWorlds, while the up to date shots are from TPAGG.