It was another quiet year in Australian Theme Parks, with sadly little happening across our major parks.
Movie World was the Gold Coast park to see the most change this year, although compared to recent years like 2012 it was still a quiet year. Early in the year (February, I believe) they opened a new version of the Stunt Driver show called, Hollywood Stunt Driver 2. I haven't seen the show, but from all reports it has minimal set changes, a new (but thin) story and some new stunts. In September, Movie world opened a new kids ride (in the show building that was the Looney Tunes River Ride) called the Movie World Junior Driving School. This attraction is designed for kids taller than 90cm, as they drive around a miniature version of Movie World. This attraction was due to open much earlier than it's September opening, but progress on this stalled with the arrival of the Henry the Polar Bear Cub at Sea World in 2013. This arrival changed a lot of planning within the VRTP company, however it is good to see that this attraction made it largely unchanged. Movie World offered it's traditional Fright Nights and White Christmas events with moderate success, as well as adding a new event Carnivale to their arsenal. This new event ran in June and July, with a theme of the New Orleans/Rio Carnivale. There was a distinct focus on food, with a large number of pop-up food stalls filling Main Street. Movie World has confirmed that Carnivale will return in April 2015.
Over at the big competitor Dreamworld, there was probably the largest ride opening of the year, when it opened Tail Spin (a Sky Fly from Gerstlauer) on Ocean Parade in September. This was a replacement for the very aged and unpopular Reef Diver. Dreamworld has counted this as the ninth of it's Big 9 Thrill Rides. Readers of my earlier posts would know that I wasn't exactly thrilled with the addition of another flat ride to Dreamworld, however I can't criticise the ride itself as I am yet to ride it. In December 2013 Dreamworld opened the Dreamworld Corroboree re-theming of the Australian Wildlife experience, which continued to get good press for the park into the new year.
It was a complicated year for Sea World. Riding high on the back of (finally) replacing the Bermuda Triangle with the Storm Coaster in 2013, there was mostly bad news from Sea World. The biggest news for the year was the closure and demolition of the Sea Viper roller coaster, one of the oldest steel roller coasters in the country. The ride itself had been reportedly having structural problems for some time, and eventually the cost of maintenance and repairs must have gotten to high. Once this closure was made a official, Sea World wasted no time in ripping down the ride. It was gone within a matter of weeks. Another slightly quieter change at Sea World, was the removal of advertising for the "Wild" attraction that was originally slated for 2014. It had been suggested that the land which as being reclaimed behind the lighthouse was to be used for this attraction, whatever it was going to be. It is likely that the arrival of Henry the polar bear cub, and the rapid construction of the Polar Bear Pre School habitat changed at the very least the timeline for Wild. It is possible that they likely (and now completed) removal of the Sea Viper on land adjacent to the reclaimed land may also have altered plans. It is hard to predict what will happen with the Wild at this stage, as we have had no further news on this project. This year also marked the end of the Dinosaur Island attraction, which was always known to only be a temporary addition while the Storm Coaster was completed. In some good news, the end of the year (literally boxing day) has seen the opening of a new version of the Dolphin Show (called Affinity) and the addition of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to the park, as part of the Nickelodeon licencing deal.
In other parks around Australia, Aussie World on the Sunshine Coast continued to grow opening a wave swinger called Ballroom Blitz. They have also closed down the Town Hall and are working on a new attraction called the Illusionarium, which will open in 2015. Aussie World have also run Halloween and Christmas events (for the first time that I know of), which a great thing for this little park. Adventure World in Perth had a quiet year, after opening the Abyss last year. They added new theming to two existing rides (Rampage and The Black Widow), and a new kids show stage. Adventure World are also adding a temporary Dinosaur Island exhibit, which is a walkthrough of animatronic Dinosaurs. Hmm.. that sounds vaguely familiar. Let's hope that this little park keeps on improving. We've heard rumours that another big Abyss style addition is on it's way in 2015 or 2016, so let's keep our fingers crossed.
The strangest Australian theme park news from this year has to be from Luna Park Sydney, which in December 2013 opened Hair Raiser, it's first new permanent ride in a decade (that is from my recollection). The ride is a Larson International Super Shot drop tower with beautiful views of Sydney Harbour. The only bad news about that is that they might have to tear it down. The ride is still operating at the Sydney park, and hopefully this mess has all been cleared up, but I haven't heard any official word about it yet.
So, that is a full round up of happenings in Australian theme parks in 2014. To be honest, I'd hoped for a little more investment in the Gold Coast parks. My expectation would be for a quiet start to 2015 but hopefully we'll start to see a bit more action towards then end of the year. I'm looking at you Sea World. Hopefully, Adventure World and Aussie World will both continue to grow and reinvest in their parks.
Showing posts with label Sea World Australia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sea World Australia. Show all posts
Monday, 29 December 2014
Thursday, 2 January 2014
2013 Year in review - Australian Parks
It's been another interesting year to be a theme park fan in Australia. We didn't have the big openings of 2012, but we did see a couple of changes of note. Let's take a quick tour of our parks, and see what changes have occurred.
Firstly Sea World, the park with the most changes this year. Early in the year, Seal Harbour opened, at the back of penguin point. To be honest, I'm not sure anyone noticed. I thought it was a great addition. I love the animals and the stylish enclosure. I also liked it because it allowed me to get a sneak peak at what was meant to be the second big opening of the year, the Storm Coaster. This opened for the school holidays in December, to mostly positive reviews despite opening late. There was clearly great effort on the external theming, which is always a plus in my book. I haven't had a chance to ride this yet, but what I hear riders get absolutely soaked. The big surprise for the year was the birth of Polar Bear cub Henry, which has turned out to be a big hit. This surprise caused a number of VRTP projects to be delayed, including the storm coaster, while an enclosure was specifically constructed for mother and cub. There has been great progress on the future Wild project, as the fill in part of the main lake to house a number of yet to be confirmed wild animals. Likely to be Gorillas and crocodiles. That will be a project to watch this year.
Next, over to Movie World. After big years in 2011 and 2012 with the opening of Green Lantern and Justice League, and the retheme of Arkham Asylum, 2013 was a quiet year for Movie World. We saw a new version of the stunt show, a new 4D movie and a refresh of Ricks restaurant, and that's about all. The Halloween and Christmas events were big hits. We know there is work going on for a new Kids Driving attraction in the show building of the former Looney Tunes River Ride, however it was delayed massively by the arrival of Henry at Sea World. We now have no idea when it will be finished, but I'd guess second quarter this year would be the plan.
To Dreamworld which also had a smaller year after a big 2012. The DreamWorks Experience opened it's last ride, Pandamonium, on Boxing Day 2012, so this was the focus of the start of 2013 for Dreamworld. The middle of the year saw the closure of AVPX, alien laser tag, which has been redesigned as Zombie Evilution, zombie laser tag. In the end of the year we saw a retheming of the Australian Wildlife Experience to our indigenous Australians. With sponsorship from the state government, this will be a positive addition for the park. We also saw a new version of the Tiger show open in the final quarter.
Without a doubt the biggest Australian theme park news this year came from Adventure Park in Perth, Western Australia. This little park stumped up 12 million for a Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter similar to Saw – The Ride at Thorpe Park, called The Abyss. This is a huge investment for the park, and we are hopeful it has paid off. Sadly they were in the news again not long after the opening of their new ride, when Halloween fireworks set fire to the parks iconic, but out of style, castle.
Amusingly, this addition, plus the construction of Wet 'n' Wild Sydney, has caused a little panic from our big gold coast parks. As these two openings occurred our TV screens were plastered with state government tourism adverts for the Gold Coast as Australia's Theme Park capital. Just like all theme park fans, my view is that competition is good and drives improvement. We've always had competition between our Gold Coast parks, it's good to see some regional competitions well.
So that wraps up 2013 in Australian theme parks. A quiet but surprising year! Let's hope for big things this year in preparation for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
Firstly Sea World, the park with the most changes this year. Early in the year, Seal Harbour opened, at the back of penguin point. To be honest, I'm not sure anyone noticed. I thought it was a great addition. I love the animals and the stylish enclosure. I also liked it because it allowed me to get a sneak peak at what was meant to be the second big opening of the year, the Storm Coaster. This opened for the school holidays in December, to mostly positive reviews despite opening late. There was clearly great effort on the external theming, which is always a plus in my book. I haven't had a chance to ride this yet, but what I hear riders get absolutely soaked. The big surprise for the year was the birth of Polar Bear cub Henry, which has turned out to be a big hit. This surprise caused a number of VRTP projects to be delayed, including the storm coaster, while an enclosure was specifically constructed for mother and cub. There has been great progress on the future Wild project, as the fill in part of the main lake to house a number of yet to be confirmed wild animals. Likely to be Gorillas and crocodiles. That will be a project to watch this year.
Next, over to Movie World. After big years in 2011 and 2012 with the opening of Green Lantern and Justice League, and the retheme of Arkham Asylum, 2013 was a quiet year for Movie World. We saw a new version of the stunt show, a new 4D movie and a refresh of Ricks restaurant, and that's about all. The Halloween and Christmas events were big hits. We know there is work going on for a new Kids Driving attraction in the show building of the former Looney Tunes River Ride, however it was delayed massively by the arrival of Henry at Sea World. We now have no idea when it will be finished, but I'd guess second quarter this year would be the plan.
To Dreamworld which also had a smaller year after a big 2012. The DreamWorks Experience opened it's last ride, Pandamonium, on Boxing Day 2012, so this was the focus of the start of 2013 for Dreamworld. The middle of the year saw the closure of AVPX, alien laser tag, which has been redesigned as Zombie Evilution, zombie laser tag. In the end of the year we saw a retheming of the Australian Wildlife Experience to our indigenous Australians. With sponsorship from the state government, this will be a positive addition for the park. We also saw a new version of the Tiger show open in the final quarter.
Without a doubt the biggest Australian theme park news this year came from Adventure Park in Perth, Western Australia. This little park stumped up 12 million for a Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter similar to Saw – The Ride at Thorpe Park, called The Abyss. This is a huge investment for the park, and we are hopeful it has paid off. Sadly they were in the news again not long after the opening of their new ride, when Halloween fireworks set fire to the parks iconic, but out of style, castle.
Amusingly, this addition, plus the construction of Wet 'n' Wild Sydney, has caused a little panic from our big gold coast parks. As these two openings occurred our TV screens were plastered with state government tourism adverts for the Gold Coast as Australia's Theme Park capital. Just like all theme park fans, my view is that competition is good and drives improvement. We've always had competition between our Gold Coast parks, it's good to see some regional competitions well.
So that wraps up 2013 in Australian theme parks. A quiet but surprising year! Let's hope for big things this year in preparation for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
Sunday, 22 July 2012
What a difference a year makes!
When I started this blog just under a year ago, I had no idea what a huge year of Australian Theme Park development lay ahead. This past financial year would have to go down as one of the biggest in recent memory for our parks. Each in their own way expanded and enhanced their offerings in surprising ways, and all are promising more to come! For this quarterly essay I'm going to focus on breaking down everything that has happened during the 2011-12 financial year at my 4 local Theme Parks. I might even speculate on a few changes we'll see in the year to come!
Where we began
The 2010-11 financial year was a quiet one for Australian parks. Due to the dipping tourism market, and the heavy discounting of Annual Passes, profit for the overall sector had been quite flat. I prefer to think that the parks were preparing for the year to come, rather than resting on their laurels, but from the outside it is very hard to tell. The most significant changes from that financial year was the closing of two long standing rides in the Bermuda Triangle at Sea World and the Looney Tunes River Ride at WB Movie World. Dreamworld took some time to revamp and relaunch one of their signature rides, the Tower of Terror. The creatively names Tower of Terror 2 launched on September 2010, featuring a new tunnel, some extra light effects, but most importantly, an escape pod travelling backwards. Amusingly, the only park to add a brand new major attraction in 2010-11 was Aussie World on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. It opened it's biggest thrill ride, The Giant Redback, a 2 million dollar Disk'O on April 1 2011. We had very little idea that this was the first clue of what was to come.
Dreamworld
The first of the big 3 parks to fire a shot in this war was Dreamworld. In April 2011 they announced that by June they would be opening a new family ride. On the 25th of June they opened there own Zamprela Disk'O Coaster called Shockwave. At the same time, they had mysteriously started removing theming from the Nickoledean Central kids area. This area was also relaunched on the 25th of June as the ultra generic Kid's World. Speculation was rife as to what had happened between Nickelodean and Dreamworld, and what Dreamworld would do to this area. In September Dreamworld launched their big ride for the year, the Maurer Söhne SkyLoop coaster Buzzsaw. Themed to an old haunted saw mill, this attraction certainly added to the Dreamworld skyline in a dramatic way.
The third big opening for the park this financial year, was announced in November last year. DreamWorks was coming to Dreamworld. This was met with some initial scepticism from the Australian park community, as they weren't known for putting in the most detailed theming. When the major phase of the DreamWorks experience opened for Easter 2012, everyone was pleasantly surprised. Together Dreamworld and DreamWorks had created a wonderful and detailed world, perfect for the market they they were trying to meet. The very end of the 2011-12 year was tinged with sadness for the Dreamworld community, as Mohan their 18 year old White Tiger passed away.
WB Movie World
After news had broken that Dreamworld was planning on adding 2 rides within 12 months, there started to be rumblings about something big occurring at Movie World. Initially pegs in the sand out the front of the park, turned into shipping containers with green track, which finally turned into the S&S El Loco Green Lantern Coaster. The coaster soft opened on the 16th of December, for an official opening on the 23rd of December. Before opened Movie World reported that it would have the steepest drop in the world, however when the ride was officially measured it was only the second steepest drop in the world after Takabashi in Japan. The official advertisement correctly claimed that it is the steepest drop in the southern hemisphere. In late 2011, Batman Adventure the Ride 2 closed to make way for a new attraction in late 2012 (which has now been announced to be the Justice League Alien Adventure 3D).
Around the same time we started to hear rumours that the ageing Lethal Weapon suspended looping coaster was going to receive both a new train and also a new theme. This was well supported in the Australian Theme Park community as the ride had been wildly criticised for it's increasingly rough and uncomfortable ride. On the 7th of April Lethal Weapon re-opened as Arkham Asylum - Shock Therapy. While the new trains and restraints were well received, many theme park fans were more impressed by the theming. Without spending much money, they were able to transform an old empty shed into a tour through the Joker's Insane Asylum from the Batman video game. The final major change for Movie World in the 2011-12 was the replacement of the Journey to the Centre of the Earth 4D with the Ice Age Dawn of the Dinosaurs – The 4D Experience on 23rd of June.
Sea World
At Movie World's sister park Sea World, there were also a number of changes this financial year. The biggest change was the removal of Sesame Street characters and the addition of Nickelodean characters which were stolen from Dreamworld. The centre piece of this was the multi-million dollar SpongeBob ParadePants Parade. This parade has been critically acclaimed as one of the best shows in this already show heavy park. SpongeBob is a great fit for Sea World, and the show is truly impressive. They also opened a smaller show based on Dora the Explorer and a SpongeBob 3D Movie. Sesame Street Beach was replaced by Beach Break Bay, which is inhabited by generic Sea World characters.
Finally in mid June 2012 Sea World opened a brand new (but sadly temporary) attraction called Dinosaur Island. This attraction had life size animatronic dinosaurs with sound and smoke effects covering a small "island" within the park, as well as inside discovery centre and a shop. The very best part of this attraction was the enormous T-Rex at the very entrance to the island. I'm sure there was more than a few confused dolphins swimming next to these pre-historic beasts.
Aussie World
The smallest genuine theme park in South-East Queensland was definitely striving to enhance it's credibility this year. After opening the Giant Redback late in the 2010-11 financial year, they followed it up this year with another major investment for a park this size, the Plunge log flume ride. This opened in December 2011, and had it's theming enhanced (with water shed added at the top) in early 2012. The also opened a fairly standard Giant Slide in September 2011. They were rumoured to be opening an Australian theme playground in early 2012, but unfortunately I have not been able to visit and verify that. The opening of these 3 rides account for a $2 million investment by the owners of Aussie World. On the back of record attendance, the rumours are there might be more of this to come.
2012-13
All of the 4 parks have signalled that while they have been happy to spend during the 2011-12 financial year, none of them are done yet. The attraction that we have heard most about in the last few months is the replacement for Movie World's Batman Adventure the Ride 2, the Justice League: Alien Encounter 3D. This dark 3D projection and live action shooter is being developed by Sally Corp, who have said it is one of their biggest projects to date. If it is done to the quality that is being rumoured, this could be a fantastic addition to the DC Superhero area of Movie World. What remains to be seen, is what will become of the Looney Tunes River Ride. While it is not taking up valuable real estate, it was a great ride for families which also soaked up a lot of guests at time. I hope that a revamped kids dark ride with improved animatronics would be an excellent enhancement. We can only hope that Sally Corp continue working with Movie World, and give us a couple of great things in the next few years.
Not to be outdone, Dreamworld is planning their final expansion of the DreamWorks experience, which will be themed to the Kung Fu Panda movies. Rumours have been extremely varied, but even in the last few weeks we have seen closures to the bumper cars as part of work in this area. This joins the near by Avalanche as possible places for the rumoured new ride/attraction to be built. I'd love to see a dark ride themed to Kung Fu Panda, or a dark theatre show at the very least. It's the one area where Dreamworld has never really challenged Movie World. DreamWorks finally gives Dreamworld a decent piece of IP that is worth of a dark ride. Although I'd love it, the chance of Dreamworld having real life panda's is extremely small from what I have heard. Dreamworld have also announced a partnership with the Australian government to re-theme it's Australian Wildlife experience to include Indiginous Australians.
Being just as mysterious as Dreamworld is being about Kung Fu Panda, both Sea World and Aussie World have signalled there are upcoming attractions that they don't wish to talk publicly about. At Sea World action has been seen around the back of the Bermuda Triangle building during the last year. Very little is known about this, but speculation is rife that a small park like Sea World can't afford to have a central and prominent location like the Bermuda Triangle out of action for much longer than they already have. There has been a report of demolition permits for the internal structure of the Bermuda Triangle building. Interestingly, popular website Parkz has reported that German manfucturer Mack have announced they will be building a water coaster somewhere in Australia in 2013. While this might not be at Sea World, it stands to reason that it would be a good fit for this park. Mack rides have been linked with planned but not completed Sea World projects in the past. A water coaster with a dark ride elements would be perfect for Sea World. I've even heard speculation that Dinosaur Island has been design to test the waters for a full dinosaur themed ride.
Just as mysteriously Aussie World have announced that they are in discussions for the addition of another million dollar ride in 2013. It would be nice to see a full circuit coaster added to Aussie World's lineup. Something like a compact woodie would be a prefect fit for their market.
Summary
If every 12 months of theme park enhancement was the same as the 2011-12 financial year, the parks would run out of money in no time. Having said that, we would have some truely world class parks. We can only help that the rumours of what is to come for the parks in 2012-13 is going to be exciting enough, and also increase park number enough, to keep up this level of investment. Personally as my first year as a theme park twit/blogger, the last 12 months couldn't have been much more exciting. My only hope is that next year is even bigger!
Where we began
The 2010-11 financial year was a quiet one for Australian parks. Due to the dipping tourism market, and the heavy discounting of Annual Passes, profit for the overall sector had been quite flat. I prefer to think that the parks were preparing for the year to come, rather than resting on their laurels, but from the outside it is very hard to tell. The most significant changes from that financial year was the closing of two long standing rides in the Bermuda Triangle at Sea World and the Looney Tunes River Ride at WB Movie World. Dreamworld took some time to revamp and relaunch one of their signature rides, the Tower of Terror. The creatively names Tower of Terror 2 launched on September 2010, featuring a new tunnel, some extra light effects, but most importantly, an escape pod travelling backwards. Amusingly, the only park to add a brand new major attraction in 2010-11 was Aussie World on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. It opened it's biggest thrill ride, The Giant Redback, a 2 million dollar Disk'O on April 1 2011. We had very little idea that this was the first clue of what was to come.
Dreamworld
The first of the big 3 parks to fire a shot in this war was Dreamworld. In April 2011 they announced that by June they would be opening a new family ride. On the 25th of June they opened there own Zamprela Disk'O Coaster called Shockwave. At the same time, they had mysteriously started removing theming from the Nickoledean Central kids area. This area was also relaunched on the 25th of June as the ultra generic Kid's World. Speculation was rife as to what had happened between Nickelodean and Dreamworld, and what Dreamworld would do to this area. In September Dreamworld launched their big ride for the year, the Maurer Söhne SkyLoop coaster Buzzsaw. Themed to an old haunted saw mill, this attraction certainly added to the Dreamworld skyline in a dramatic way.
The third big opening for the park this financial year, was announced in November last year. DreamWorks was coming to Dreamworld. This was met with some initial scepticism from the Australian park community, as they weren't known for putting in the most detailed theming. When the major phase of the DreamWorks experience opened for Easter 2012, everyone was pleasantly surprised. Together Dreamworld and DreamWorks had created a wonderful and detailed world, perfect for the market they they were trying to meet. The very end of the 2011-12 year was tinged with sadness for the Dreamworld community, as Mohan their 18 year old White Tiger passed away.
WB Movie World
After news had broken that Dreamworld was planning on adding 2 rides within 12 months, there started to be rumblings about something big occurring at Movie World. Initially pegs in the sand out the front of the park, turned into shipping containers with green track, which finally turned into the S&S El Loco Green Lantern Coaster. The coaster soft opened on the 16th of December, for an official opening on the 23rd of December. Before opened Movie World reported that it would have the steepest drop in the world, however when the ride was officially measured it was only the second steepest drop in the world after Takabashi in Japan. The official advertisement correctly claimed that it is the steepest drop in the southern hemisphere. In late 2011, Batman Adventure the Ride 2 closed to make way for a new attraction in late 2012 (which has now been announced to be the Justice League Alien Adventure 3D).
Around the same time we started to hear rumours that the ageing Lethal Weapon suspended looping coaster was going to receive both a new train and also a new theme. This was well supported in the Australian Theme Park community as the ride had been wildly criticised for it's increasingly rough and uncomfortable ride. On the 7th of April Lethal Weapon re-opened as Arkham Asylum - Shock Therapy. While the new trains and restraints were well received, many theme park fans were more impressed by the theming. Without spending much money, they were able to transform an old empty shed into a tour through the Joker's Insane Asylum from the Batman video game. The final major change for Movie World in the 2011-12 was the replacement of the Journey to the Centre of the Earth 4D with the Ice Age Dawn of the Dinosaurs – The 4D Experience on 23rd of June.
Sea World
At Movie World's sister park Sea World, there were also a number of changes this financial year. The biggest change was the removal of Sesame Street characters and the addition of Nickelodean characters which were stolen from Dreamworld. The centre piece of this was the multi-million dollar SpongeBob ParadePants Parade. This parade has been critically acclaimed as one of the best shows in this already show heavy park. SpongeBob is a great fit for Sea World, and the show is truly impressive. They also opened a smaller show based on Dora the Explorer and a SpongeBob 3D Movie. Sesame Street Beach was replaced by Beach Break Bay, which is inhabited by generic Sea World characters.
Finally in mid June 2012 Sea World opened a brand new (but sadly temporary) attraction called Dinosaur Island. This attraction had life size animatronic dinosaurs with sound and smoke effects covering a small "island" within the park, as well as inside discovery centre and a shop. The very best part of this attraction was the enormous T-Rex at the very entrance to the island. I'm sure there was more than a few confused dolphins swimming next to these pre-historic beasts.
Aussie World
The smallest genuine theme park in South-East Queensland was definitely striving to enhance it's credibility this year. After opening the Giant Redback late in the 2010-11 financial year, they followed it up this year with another major investment for a park this size, the Plunge log flume ride. This opened in December 2011, and had it's theming enhanced (with water shed added at the top) in early 2012. The also opened a fairly standard Giant Slide in September 2011. They were rumoured to be opening an Australian theme playground in early 2012, but unfortunately I have not been able to visit and verify that. The opening of these 3 rides account for a $2 million investment by the owners of Aussie World. On the back of record attendance, the rumours are there might be more of this to come.
2012-13
All of the 4 parks have signalled that while they have been happy to spend during the 2011-12 financial year, none of them are done yet. The attraction that we have heard most about in the last few months is the replacement for Movie World's Batman Adventure the Ride 2, the Justice League: Alien Encounter 3D. This dark 3D projection and live action shooter is being developed by Sally Corp, who have said it is one of their biggest projects to date. If it is done to the quality that is being rumoured, this could be a fantastic addition to the DC Superhero area of Movie World. What remains to be seen, is what will become of the Looney Tunes River Ride. While it is not taking up valuable real estate, it was a great ride for families which also soaked up a lot of guests at time. I hope that a revamped kids dark ride with improved animatronics would be an excellent enhancement. We can only hope that Sally Corp continue working with Movie World, and give us a couple of great things in the next few years.
Not to be outdone, Dreamworld is planning their final expansion of the DreamWorks experience, which will be themed to the Kung Fu Panda movies. Rumours have been extremely varied, but even in the last few weeks we have seen closures to the bumper cars as part of work in this area. This joins the near by Avalanche as possible places for the rumoured new ride/attraction to be built. I'd love to see a dark ride themed to Kung Fu Panda, or a dark theatre show at the very least. It's the one area where Dreamworld has never really challenged Movie World. DreamWorks finally gives Dreamworld a decent piece of IP that is worth of a dark ride. Although I'd love it, the chance of Dreamworld having real life panda's is extremely small from what I have heard. Dreamworld have also announced a partnership with the Australian government to re-theme it's Australian Wildlife experience to include Indiginous Australians.
Being just as mysterious as Dreamworld is being about Kung Fu Panda, both Sea World and Aussie World have signalled there are upcoming attractions that they don't wish to talk publicly about. At Sea World action has been seen around the back of the Bermuda Triangle building during the last year. Very little is known about this, but speculation is rife that a small park like Sea World can't afford to have a central and prominent location like the Bermuda Triangle out of action for much longer than they already have. There has been a report of demolition permits for the internal structure of the Bermuda Triangle building. Interestingly, popular website Parkz has reported that German manfucturer Mack have announced they will be building a water coaster somewhere in Australia in 2013. While this might not be at Sea World, it stands to reason that it would be a good fit for this park. Mack rides have been linked with planned but not completed Sea World projects in the past. A water coaster with a dark ride elements would be perfect for Sea World. I've even heard speculation that Dinosaur Island has been design to test the waters for a full dinosaur themed ride.
Just as mysteriously Aussie World have announced that they are in discussions for the addition of another million dollar ride in 2013. It would be nice to see a full circuit coaster added to Aussie World's lineup. Something like a compact woodie would be a prefect fit for their market.
Summary
If every 12 months of theme park enhancement was the same as the 2011-12 financial year, the parks would run out of money in no time. Having said that, we would have some truely world class parks. We can only help that the rumours of what is to come for the parks in 2012-13 is going to be exciting enough, and also increase park number enough, to keep up this level of investment. Personally as my first year as a theme park twit/blogger, the last 12 months couldn't have been much more exciting. My only hope is that next year is even bigger!
Sunday, 20 November 2011
Theme Park Credentials
I thought it was about time I outlined my theme park credentials, and in particular which are my favourite parks from around the world. I've been to 18 parks across 3 continents. I'm lucky that I grew up in an area of Australia with easy access to our local parks, and that my parents took holidays which visited parks in America.
Starting of with Austrlian parks, I have been a frequent visitor to the 3 Gold Coast parks: Dreamworld, Movie World and Sea World. I know these parks backwards. Dreamworld and Movie World are particular favourites of mine, which have memories ranging from my early childhood through to last month. I have also just recently visited Aussie World on the Sunshine Coast, which is a small but fun family park. When I was young I also visited the now defunct Australia's Wonderland in Sydney, which was also a great little park. And the very short-lived Leyland Brothers World.
With my family growing up we took 2 separate U.S. vacations which visited two of the world great theme park hubs, Southern California and Orlando. Across the 3 trips we visited Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm, Universal Studios Hollywood, SeaWorld and the 4 parks of Walt Disney World. I would put Disneyland and Magic Kingdom as the best theme parks that I have ever been to. While there were some other fantastic exprences in other parks, those two parks are still the standard that I judge all others by. People who know me know that I go on and on about how much I love Disney parks.
Finally my beautiful wife and I travelled to Europe last year and visited 4 parks while we were over there. They were Prater, Europa Park, Legoland Billund and Tivoli Gardens. All of these parks were wonderful for different reasons, but I will always hold Europa Park and Tivoli in my heart as two of my favourite parks.
So there you go, that's my theme park background. I have lots of parks I still want to see, and I want to visit a few of these parks again, but I think that might be a post for another day!
Starting of with Austrlian parks, I have been a frequent visitor to the 3 Gold Coast parks: Dreamworld, Movie World and Sea World. I know these parks backwards. Dreamworld and Movie World are particular favourites of mine, which have memories ranging from my early childhood through to last month. I have also just recently visited Aussie World on the Sunshine Coast, which is a small but fun family park. When I was young I also visited the now defunct Australia's Wonderland in Sydney, which was also a great little park. And the very short-lived Leyland Brothers World.
With my family growing up we took 2 separate U.S. vacations which visited two of the world great theme park hubs, Southern California and Orlando. Across the 3 trips we visited Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm, Universal Studios Hollywood, SeaWorld and the 4 parks of Walt Disney World. I would put Disneyland and Magic Kingdom as the best theme parks that I have ever been to. While there were some other fantastic exprences in other parks, those two parks are still the standard that I judge all others by. People who know me know that I go on and on about how much I love Disney parks.
Finally my beautiful wife and I travelled to Europe last year and visited 4 parks while we were over there. They were Prater, Europa Park, Legoland Billund and Tivoli Gardens. All of these parks were wonderful for different reasons, but I will always hold Europa Park and Tivoli in my heart as two of my favourite parks.
So there you go, that's my theme park background. I have lots of parks I still want to see, and I want to visit a few of these parks again, but I think that might be a post for another day!
Friday, 11 November 2011
Commonwealth Games 2018
Today it was finally official that the 2018 Commonwealth Games are going to be hosted by the Gold Coast. This will is a huge win for the Australian theme park industry as it will bring thousands of international visitors into the area which is home to the 3 major Australian parks Dreamworld, Movie World and Sea World. All 3 parks are currently in the midst of major redevelopments with major rides and new experiences either just completed or in the pipeline.
Dreamworld has just opened it's second new ride for the year, and a major drawcard, in the Buzzsaw. They have also just announced a major partnership with Dreamworks to be completed in 3 phases over the next year or so. You can see the local news report here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id22sneimEU.
Movie World has completed the track of their new multi-million dollar Green Lantern Coaster. This is predicted to open in December (by Boxing Day at the latest). They have also closed a couple of their older attractions (the Looney Tunes River Ride, and the Batman Adventure The Ride 2) with the suggestion that they will make way for exciting new attractions. It is also rumoured that the oldest major coaster the Leathal Weapon is going to be getting new smooth trains, and also potentially a retheme!
Sea World is currently working on incorporating the Nickelodean licence that they acquired in the last 3 months (which used to be owned by Dreamworld). They are currently producing a "spectacular" parade based on Sponge Bob Square Pants, and working to incorporate Dora into their current child friendly zone. Sea World promises to boom most from the Commonwealth Games, given it's close proximity to the heart of the Gold Coast.
Lets hope we see the good times keep rolling as we get closer to the Games in 2018!!
You can read more about the Commonwealth Games win here http://www.news.com.au/national/decision-on-who-will-host-the-2018-commonwealth-games/story-e6frfkvr-1226193308390.
Dreamworld has just opened it's second new ride for the year, and a major drawcard, in the Buzzsaw. They have also just announced a major partnership with Dreamworks to be completed in 3 phases over the next year or so. You can see the local news report here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id22sneimEU.
Movie World has completed the track of their new multi-million dollar Green Lantern Coaster. This is predicted to open in December (by Boxing Day at the latest). They have also closed a couple of their older attractions (the Looney Tunes River Ride, and the Batman Adventure The Ride 2) with the suggestion that they will make way for exciting new attractions. It is also rumoured that the oldest major coaster the Leathal Weapon is going to be getting new smooth trains, and also potentially a retheme!
Sea World is currently working on incorporating the Nickelodean licence that they acquired in the last 3 months (which used to be owned by Dreamworld). They are currently producing a "spectacular" parade based on Sponge Bob Square Pants, and working to incorporate Dora into their current child friendly zone. Sea World promises to boom most from the Commonwealth Games, given it's close proximity to the heart of the Gold Coast.
Lets hope we see the good times keep rolling as we get closer to the Games in 2018!!
You can read more about the Commonwealth Games win here http://www.news.com.au/national/decision-on-who-will-host-the-2018-commonwealth-games/story-e6frfkvr-1226193308390.
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