Slick

All I read was "i'm no expert, but here's how am i'm an expert." Seriously though, 100% agreed, TLDR, right before summer season, the busiest time of the year, and you want to give people a reason to save their pennies until next year?

Keep in mind VRTP have been traditionally a quite a conservative company, the kind of company who chooses to use the word "erratic" instead of high or low in reporting attendance post Dreamworld incident. There's nothing wrong with that, what i'm getting at though is that at this point i'd be surprised to hear an announcement while Dreamworld's still closed or realistically until the dust has well and truly settled on the other side of the highway.

Neither am I, and it's also completely silly. I could be wrong here, but is there anywhere else in the world where the media has been this petty with e-stops and normal operating procedures? Because I genuinely don't think so.

Totally speculative, but given how long the park's been closed for and the general public's interest in the situation i'd dare say the park will have an initial spike in attendance before being quieter for a while. In saying that, I could be wrong, and the park will re-open to a constant quiet for a while. #shitpost

Not having seen the blueprints, I do hope when all is said and done that it's well integrated into the existing facades of Dreamworld's Main Street i.e. if this is a 100% standalone building and you can walk around it, that any guest facing facades outside of the Lego building retain that Victorian style finish.

I just edited the post with some more meat in it which explains that it's definitely worth the cost overall (would've edited it while you were writing the response.) Dreamworld's always had some gorgeous flower gardens, I don't think it's a stretch to see them expand on that and just do something nice and fresh. It's something that would easily become a staple design point of the front entrance if done right. They could do amazing seasonal gardens just like the Disney parks that people would add a unique touch their first point of contact with the park.

I've also heard they're really off the rails on another project right now, so it might be a while.

A lot nicer then a green wall of nothingness, I think. Personally I think those grassy hills should have some really nice gardens built into them just like Disneyland in Anaheim. Also, perhaps while they're at it, can they finally blend that cream wall in with the rest of the building (the one that's smack bang in the middle of the front entrance building.) Quite possibly one of the most average first impressions i've encountered for a theme park. It feels very Ekka-ish, very basic, particularly with the border-control style metal little windows. I'd go so far as to say the whole process for getting into the park is super messy as a whole. Too many temporary bollards, too many different types of dedicated ticket entrances. That first encounter at the front gate for guests always sets the stage for the day's expectations, so if I was a park owner, i'd make it very clean, very concise, very friendly and very efficient. And while i'm ranting... the next step for the big globe inside the park should be for them to drill in some LED's / fibre-optic lines into the countries so at night that capital cities sparkle like I would in real life. Dreamworld as a whole could benefit greatly from stepping into 2016 with a much better centralised AV system and a park as well lit as the likes of AOS or Movie World. This isn't lost or wasted capex either, it's easily recoverable via private/corporate functions and would serve the park well even in terms of Screamworld and specialty events open to the public.

Is that bad?

Well shot, clever idea, and totally Japan. Don't forget that in Japan "onsens" (public bathhouses) are a big part of the country's overall history & culture, up there with Mount Fuji & Sumo Wrestling. Most hotels will have an onsen of some description, and i'd dare say if you go to Japan and don't experience an onsen at least once during your stay you're missing out. Beppu isn't exactly part of the main tourist hubs (Tokyo, Kyoto & Osaka), in fact as far as transport goes, you'll be putting your JR Rail Pass to good use just getting to Beppu (approx. 4 hours from Kyoto via Shinkansen / JR Rail) but something like this is a new forward-thinking way to get themselves on the map, which I think is worth commending. Having said this, I still think if you want to really go full hog on your onsen experience, you travel up to Hakone or somewhere around the Fuji five lakes and grab yourself a nice Ryokan (traditional Japanese hotel) and perch yourself up there for a few nights. Great view, some excellent ryokans and you're only roughly 2 hours from Shinjuku Station via public transport.

Probably build a bridge and get over it. Get it? Because there's a creek. I'm so funny I make myself laugh sometimes.

Best advice for everyone reading these forums who are into roller-coasters is to be cool about educating your non-enthusiast friends and family on things like this i.e. stopping on the lift hill is a totally mundane, routine safety mechanism and can happen over something as silly as someone getting their phone out mid-ride.

Planks of wood can be used for things other than roller-coasters, just FYI. I hear houses are built from them and stuff.

So is it opened or closed? In regards to the post above - if there's anything that'll force a premature closure of this ride (outside of park management, anyway) it'll be the fact that VRTP's insurance provider (highly likely Lloyds, although TBH I have zero idea) will hike the premiums up on home-made attractions in light of recent tragedies up the road. If that happens, then I see both log flume attractions at our Gold Coast parks seeing either major refurbs by a third party like Intamin or Hopkins, or they'll close.

I think it's fair to say making an announcement about a major new attraction on the back of a recent local tragedy is in bad taste, which is why we haven't heard anything yet.

I think the park's due to get a new slide and some general improvements. It's definitely sat largely in autopilot as a money-printing machine for many years and is due for some love. They're obviously on the right track with the redo of the Super-8, but to see the F&B offering get expanded and to have the same kind of seasonal shows & experiences that its Sydney counterpart has would definitely get the locals out more, especially during the summer.

One of these.

Agreed. Here, I organised a map. If you want to send construction men over, the co-ordinates are 4,8,15,16,23,42. http://www.bitrebels.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/LOST-Geography-Map-7.jpg

They did that because OH&S wanted them to streamline the splashdown. So the ride is toast. It's a real shame, I guess ultimately it's down to public reaction and what the park thinks is appropriate in response. I recall Six Flags completely scrapped that Intamin drop tower with the cable that severed that poor girl's legs, so while say Disney might not wipe out a ride after a death (or two), on the flip-side it's also possible that companies will remove a ride after a non critical incident too. In any case, i'd much rather see them really go all out now and invest instead of pulling a Eureka, because truth be told for them to get out of this mess I think they're going to have to, especially given the media beat up. Time to buy one of these. Any takers?

If we're looking ahead as to the future of that area, here's what i'd do. Firstly, we're presuming that indeed, River Rapids isn't coming back. For all intents and purposes then, there's nothing beyond Buzzsaw really holding the area to a theme, and i'd imagine Buzzsaw would be rethemed out of respect at some point anyway. What i've thought Movie World & Sea World have always done really well is putting on big crowd pulling shows. Stunt Driver, Main Street Parade, the Jet Ski Show, the Dolphin Stadium etc. etc. etc. and yet to this day there's still not a unified large auditorium/stadium/space for people to go to see unique shows beyond the stage in front of the globe. This has meant entertainment has ended up in weird spots like out of the front of the ice-cream parlour or just sporatically in the most of random of places, which has drawed at best, a passing crowd, and not the thousands Village pull in their respective stages & environment. With this in mind, i'd go back to basics and redevelop Gold Rush into old school Dreamworld Village Green, and here's how: Redevelop the cinema into a soarin' attraction and build into the Eureka space. Open up the pathway to allow for a parade to run all the way from the fountain right up to the Dreamworld Auditorium Redevelop the Dreamworld Auditorium, modernise it onto a much more useable daily space, rename it in memory of the four that tragically lost their lives, and create a gorgeous entrance space with four, tall, distinct palm trees at the entrance roughly where the Hollywood House is now. Re-theme Buzzsaw to the Thunderbolt, essentially repaint the ride to look like one of Thunderbolt's signature loops Re-develop the horrid pathway systems that the Sandersons Group put in when they built The Giant Drop and create a more accessible, open & green thoroughfare through that entire corridor of the park. Add more Main Street style facades in and around the Soarin' Style attraction and create new retail experiences and spaces for people to enjoy I've always thought @Gazza was right on the money with some kind of Gerstlauer Eurofighter into that space, and I think given the tremendous value you get from them (just look at Abyss) not to mention how great they are in a tight space, this would be more then ideal. Combine that with a Star Flyer and you'd have a revitalised area that would honour the past, be a worthy response to what Movie World's doing next year (if done right), would be able to manage the capacity lost from River Rapids and offer guests new retail and show experiences that can be refreshed often. And to top this all off, this would then open up a clear and open path to expanding out into where Blue Lagoon was, and also give Dreamworld a clear and appropriate corridor to expand into should they build a second gate in the future to link to the Coomera Town Centre. Thoughts? I'm going to mood board you guys while i'm here. Above - Buzzsaw paint job inspiration Above - Look and feel for the new buildings that would wrap around the other three sides of the Soarin' theatre. Above - Blue Lagoon could be redeveloped to look like this in the future. Above - Inspiration for some of the gardens and pathways that could interconnect the area between Rocky Hollow, Giant Drop and Village Oval. Above - super rough idea of what the entrance could look like for the Dreamworld Auditorium.

There's. No. Asbestos.

I always thought the house in question was the one on the left as you walk into Gold Rush that they subsequently themed.

That's what she said.

Total speculation here, but suppose the conveyor belt is automated, the staff at the unload station would be relying on this to work as it should and would be focussing their attention on unloading the raft at hand that is in fact at the unload station at the time. For example, had they might've been assisting someone out of the raft in the station at the time, it would've taken a few seconds to become aware of any stimulus that would prompt an e-stop, another few seconds to safely unload the person at hand, and another few seconds to reach for the closest e-stop button. I guess what i'm saying then is that i'm confident attendants would have raced to an e-stop button in the most practical time possible.