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Gumbuya World reduces operating hours


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On Gumbuya World’s social media channels they posted that the park wouldn’t be open Monday/Tuesday this week, which I thought was odd because to my understanding they open everyday, but only the wildlife section is open on weekdays (outside of school holidays). After further investigation, it appears there has been some significant changes to their operating hours over the next few months, which I suspect is the parks way of reducing costs.

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Over the next two months they aren’t even operating their only operating junior rides on weekends, which means they’re main two attractions (TNT & Project Zero) aren’t operating. They’re also not even operating rides every day during the Victorian school holidays.

To my knowledge the park hasn’t operated like this in previous years, even during the cold Victorian months. If we thought things weren’t well at Village, maybe they aren’t good at Gumbuya World either!

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4 minutes ago, themagician said:

They’re also not even operating rides every day during the Victorian school holidays.

Super disappointing, seeing that makes me think we aren't going to see any investment on the rides front for a while

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As someone who went there recently on a Saturday, when I went it was mostly little kids and their parents, and the only non-kiddie rides operating were the three coasters and the tree swing. TNT had some wait but not more than one train, and Project Zero literally had nobody in line for most of the day. Even the bumper cars, the mining coaster and the kids train seemed to have a longer wait than Project Zero, which had a maximum of six people riding at once with some cycles operating with only 1-2 people.

I think what John Verga said about how "if the weathers bad, Melbournians don't go" is true. The weather was decent that day, but too cold for the slides to open. And since the slides weren't open, many people chose not to go. I asked a family member if they wanted to come with me and they said no for that reason.

1 hour ago, Narra said:

Super disappointing, seeing that makes me think we aren't going to see any investment on the rides front for a while

I honestly was thinking of this recently, and I thought of financial issues being a reason. Most of the phases they've announced to be coming haven't happened yet, perhaps the coasters underperforming could be putting investment on hold.

I couldn't see any construction on that visit, so they aren't likely putting anything in for 2025. If they put something in for 2026, that would be a 4-year wait between TNT/PZ and the new attraction.

Edited by TBoy
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There were reductions at least 2 years ago, but not this extreme.

We went down in May 2023 and I nearly got caught out as we had originally planned to go on a weekday. I think I saw it mentioned here that rides don't operate during the week and I'm grateful someone mentioned that. Pretty sure it was rides only on the weekend and animal exhibits weekdays when we went.

It's a nice park too which is a shame it's not getting the patronage during the week.

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I’ve heard through the grapevine that the park hasn’t seen the return on investment they were hoping to get from TNT/PZ. That combined with the low visitation during non-peak times has (I believe) led to this decision. It’s a shame as it was the only all-year park in the state. 
 

12 hours ago, TBoy said:

I think what John Verga said about how "if the weathers bad, Melbournians don't go" is true. 

As someone originally from Melbourne, this is 100% true. Melbournians really don’t like going out in cold/wet weather, especially to venues that are primarily outdoors. 
 

12 hours ago, TBoy said:

Most of the phases they've announced to be coming haven't happened yet, perhaps the coasters underperforming could be putting investment on hold.

What other phases have the park announced? The only one I’m aware of is the on-site hotel complex they were talking about a few years ago. 

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We bought tickets and went to go to the park during the Christmas school holidays. It was the 2nd of January, which was quite a hot day. Upon approaching the park on Princes Hwy, the traffic was lined up about 3km down the road. It was a good 45 minutes crawl up to the gate and upon seeing the car park full to the brim and cars parking out on the grass outside the gates, we decided to come back a different day.

We ended up returning around mid-Feb, as the tickets we bought expired around the 23rd Feb. It was a bit of a chilly day with sprinkles of rain, but not enough to get you wet and uncomfortable. Arrived to an empty car park. Every ride and attraction was walk on except TNT, which was a 1 cycle wait at most. We went on the water slides, but it was too cold to ride, so after 1 turn on each slide and a lap of the lazy river, a quick shower to warm up and back to the dry rides. ended up leaving an hour before closing time, as the kids had had enough of riding the coasters and not much else to keep them entertained for the remaining time. We had already been through the zoo and too cold to go back in the water. 

Last year when we went in April, they were alternating the times that TNT and Project Zero would operate. The water park section was closed during this time of year. So only the dry rides and the zoo was open.

The park seems to peak through December and January (obviously due to the hotter weather and school holidays) and every other time we have been there over the last few years, mostly mid to late Feb, the park has been pretty quiet. 

Edited by yaark
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