Slick

Wait, they're not real?

I'll definitely give Mark that. Engaging with the brand loyalists (us) has earned him and the park a lot of respect in my eyes and would urge the other parks to follow suit in the coming year as they continue to open new attractions. I think this whole idea of needing utmost secrecy is well and truly dead, especially when almost no-one else internationally does it anymore to the level our gold coast parks do and I would even dare say the concept of utter "Apple-esque" hush-hush works to their detriment. Take today's steam train trial at Dreamworld - no-one except for the clued in few and the extraordinarily lucky knew this was going to happen, and given it was a trial today for the park to see if it's worthwhile bringing it back more often, simply engaging their most hardcore fans to drum up hype in advance would've made all the difference. Taking Mark as a case scenario here, he's effectively taken a group of customers who have an uncanny eye for detail and an unparalleled amount of industry knowledge (for the most part, anyway) and has been able to fine-tune common gripes and potential issues far more efficiently and we in turn have felt actually acknowledged and valued which in turn makes us more passionate about spreading the love for the park and more inclined to help in the future. Welcome to marketing 101 in the 21st century, folks. And that's not to say the parks don't read this or our feedback either, most do, but I think it's another to sign up for an account and go "hey, we appreciate our most avid fans, and you guys love picking apart crazy details like how to hide Superman in the station, how do you think we should tackle x?" Or "What do you think of the burgers at the new motorsports experience?" You know what would be even crazier? For them to actually make sneak peaks and content just for the fans, or even create alternate reality games that we can pour hours into figuring out what the next big thing will be. The crazy thing is that it's totally anything but. Everyone else has been doing this for years, with everyone from Alton Towers to Six Flags and even smaller players like Dollywood doing the very thing i'm referring to. TLDR: we don't bite, we just seem to bicker. It's the internet, trolls exist; it's all good.

Well that's certainly good to hear then. I guess the point I was getting at was that I just don't think it's that unreasonable to wait that long during peak season. Alot of other waterparks let alone theme parks experience similar wait times at one point or another.

We're one step closer to them selling Motocoaster.

Have you bought a Ride Express pass yet?

Always sad to hear something like this happen. Dreamworld does some seriously amazing conservation work and losing an ambassador like this comes at a great loss for everyone. https://www.instagram.com/p/BAl7MGPGAkX/?taken-by=dreamworldau

Number one thing that any unbiased news story should have: both sides of the coin, of which this does not have. Don't worry about mentioning the 12 hour trade or, you know, the logical bit about busy crowds during the school holidays. Also worth noting, Kraken is experiencing the exact same wait times over in Perth, as do a lot of waterparks do right across the world during peak season. It reminds me of the piece they did when Green Lantern had a normal run of the mill e-stop a few days after re-opening "OMG GREEN LANTERN IS IT STILL A DEAH TRAP, OH BY THE WAY, HOW AWESOME IS DREAMWORLD?"

No tubes this time around. Here's some shots from last night. It was lovely to see a return of this old Wet 'n' Wild staple. I really, really hope it comes back more regularly. Given how cheap it was, it'd be a sweet way for marketing to upsell VIP passes throughout the year i.e. buy the premium pass, get 4 Dive'n'Movie passes free. Highlight of the night was seeing a guest give a pizza to a team member for their hard work and just seeing that big screen make a glorious return.

This will probably interest you - http://ourworlds.co/dirty-harry-grill-review/ I personally really liked the new Dirty Harry Bar and find it pretty solid bang for buck wise, especially when you're comparing it to the likes of GYG. If it were sub-par ground beef, thing tortillas and lacklustre filler i'd take issue at the price but it's the polar opposite, the beef steaks they use are nothing but quality that's not seen anywhere else. When you match that with the dirty fries they make are a pretty rare if not unique offering in terms of not just theme parks but south east queensland as a whole. In fact, it's why I liked Carnivale so much - where else do you get actual clam chowder to go or a seafood boil that's just insanely spicy and addictive?

Hmm... Electric Glass like Skyway's floor?

You're right, and I did think of this too - I guess it comes down to where the park wants to draw the line in terms of what's appropriate for their brand image. My thoughts are that given the age of the ride now, it's probably not too big of a deal to let the back rows peer in and see Superman before the curtains close and hide him again. I think, much like the exiting thing, it's something that's far too overthought in its execution (everyone knows he's there anyway because he's clearly visible outside and especially visible when people hit the brake run). Ditto this. From a film-maker's perspective the screens are super under-utilised, and i'd go so far as to say most larger theme parks under-utlise their screens too because of budgets and other departments getting their hands into the mix. If Movie World's executive team were reading this, here's what I'd do to make the most of those screens: 1) Craft a 60 second loading procedure video filled with little details and easter eggs with an exciting cut that makes people keen to watch it multiple times while waiting. 2) To pad the loading clips out, i'd continue to use the screens like they are (schedule boards) and add on to the idea - add faux-flipping letter effects, make the screens go statticky every so often (because of that earthquake) and even add little easter eggs while the letters flip and when the screens show static. 3) Craft shorter loading procedure clips with multi-language support. You could play on this and even change MRT's artwork to the style of each nationality being spoken. Huge amount of play there for sure that I can't think of right now. 4) Place faux-ads for things in the DC universe like the Daily Planet Newspaper etc.

Just to get back on topic, here are some things i've noticed that would be great short term solutions to get the most of their existing attractions. Let's first start off by saying, getting that extra 10% is primarily all about understanding people psychologically when they're queueing and giving guests appropriate visual queues where you can to guide them. As @Richard has mentioned, being able to see the loading procedures is key to people not being so blind while loading. In the case of Superman, it'd be great for them to remove the semi-see through grates they have separating the queue from the station and replace them with acrylic. While you're at it, i'm sure replacing the doors with a sliding mechanism instead of what they have currently will mean the park is able to let people load without any worry of people pushing in the doors while trains are in motion. Boom, you've just gained precious minutes because people can see what's about to happen and having them ready at the gate as soon as humanly possible. Put feet stickers down on the ground for rides that don't have them already. This is particularly the case for Superman & Arkham. In those moments before boarding people are anxious and are looking for ways to prepare and ready themselves. This is when you have a visual cue like feet stickers on the ground so people can group themselves and have a better idea of where to go. That means when the gates open, there's not an awkward few second shuffle while people realise what the deal is. This more the case for Superman and less with Arkham, but with Arkham's current loading procedure it still helps for international tourists to understand what's going on. Even an arrow system and some deeper queue gates would be a plus. Open up the air gates while the previous group is still exiting. This applies for Arkham & Green Lantern. Trust me, no one's going to keep sitting down, especially when there's stickers on the ground and people know which seat they're about to take. Perhaps offer them a few moments to stand up and start moving, and from there let the next group enter - I can understand all these hypothetical "what if someone tries to stay on or the loose article bins are a mess" - these are minor hypotheticals that ride-ops should be trained to deal with and not relying on staff in this way costs substantial time between loads for the weakest link (or in this case, the slowest guest) to get their act together and leave. Do a classy loading guide video for every ride and put it on a few screens. Even if it's an open queue like Green Lantern every little bit helps, and it's something Universal & Disney in particular do well. Keep it clear and clean and entertaining. Superman's is a good start but it needs a lot more to make it bearable (like fake Metropolis ads between bits and an updated video that doesn't get on the nerves too much). There's a start. Thoughts?

I have so many good memories of Intencity at Parramatta. Shame to hear that joint closed.

Everytime I see discussion about a new theme park in Australia...

Let me ask you some questions that should help guide you in the right direction: - What themed area in the park is having an anniversary this year? - When do new rides or refreshes generally open in the year? - How long does construction of that type generally take? With a bit of common sense, you can guess if anything were to happen, you'd know when.

If there's one thing i've learn about theme parks is that nothing is set in stone, especially when it comes to future projects. Surfrider at Wet 'n' Wild is a great example of a ride that was meant for one park, and then at the last second was installed at another. In the last 18 months alone i've seen one or two major projects get pushed around or even delayed over the simplest of reasons. So what do you do then as someone in guest enquiries asks you the same question you've been asked a hundred times already that no one except for the board & management know the answers to? You give a concise and definitive answer to avoid having a longer conversation where you have even less answers to.

Just to recap on Dirty Harry talk a short while back, I thought i'd post a picture of the menu. I've also posted a little review on my thoughts. In short, it's really great, and well worth a try next time you're in.

It seems like a nice little treatment for what was an awkward, small space. I'll be interested to see what changes, if any, have been made to queueing and how that all looks. Given there's everything from unused vibrating floors to LCD screens it'll be interesting to see how it all pans out and if any of the existing elements get re-used.

It'd be really neat if it was another digital display. They could show maps, wait times etc etc.

It's really great to see that it's back up and running, no doubt it's the culmination of many hundreds of hours of work to get to this point.

It's almost as if they read the forums.

Review is up: http://ourworlds.co/white-christmas-review-2015/ It's a lovely night, like pushbutton said, i'd recommend the Christmas dinner too. It's a little shorter then Fright Nights but keep in mind it is essentially a family event. Anyway, check it out, let me know your thoughts.

It's been covered in the past that it wasn't asbestos.

Went last night. Being a bit of a christmas grinch myself it was lovely to see all the younger kids really light up and get into the christmas spirit. There was a few tech mishaps that were noticeable (like the countdown to turning the lights on that didn't go as planned) but I think with these things you can practice as much as you want after hours but until you have a captive audience it's tough to predict what you don't know you don't know. I'm sure by tonight it'll be a tight show and when I head back next weekend it'll be a well oiled machine. Anyway, here's a few shots. As the day progresses i'll get a chance to look through all 650 and pick some favourites.