World’s Largest Robotic Dinosaur Amusement Park Gets Approved In Australia
What is being billed as the world’s largest robotic dinosaur amusement park, Australian billionaire Clive Palmer’s dream, has been approved by a regional council. Palmer’s robotic dinosaur theme park will be built on his resort’s property in Queensland.
The robotic theme park, to be built in the Palmer Coolum Resort, was approved by the Sunshine Coast Regional Council on Thursday with several conditions the park must follow, reports Agence France-Presse. Palmer, a mining magnate whose business ventures include several resorts and golf courses, plans on building 160 robotic dinosaurs as part of the park’s main attractions.
This is not Palmer’s first foray into the ambitious, albeit scrutinized, world of dream mega-projects. In 2012, he stated his intention to build a replica of the Titanic, dubbed Titanic II, and contracted a Chinese company to build the vessel. The Titanic II would have the same specs as the original but would include modern technology and other luxuries. The businessman hopes the maiden voyage of Titanic II will be in 2016.
The council cited the potential economic boost from tourism the dinosaur park would bring to the Gold Coast, reports AFP. The proposed robotic dinosaur park met plenty of public resistance but the council hopes the conditions attached to the approval will resolve the issues raised by residents.
The park has to follow height restrictions, with the exception of one robotic Ruyangosaurus with a height of 10 meters, 32 feet, and noise restrictions, reports the Guardian. The roaring from the animatronic dinosaurs cannot exceed the environmental noise level by more than five decibels. Some of the safeguards in place will include timed performances that are motion-controlled, notes AFP, reducing noise created from the attraction. The park will occupy 1.3 hectares, 3.2 acres or 139,392 square feet, of the resort’s 150 hectare property.
The resort already features two replica prehistoric creatures, “Jeff” the Tyrannosaurus Rex and an animatronic ancestor of the crocodile, the Deinosuchus, which measures 20 meters long. The robotic dinosaur park will feature at least five more T-Rex robots, reports AFP, and some of the animatronic robots will move their tails and blink. In addition to the proposed dinosaur park, the resort also has an automobile museum.
The resort hopes to blend the giant robotic dinosaurs in with the natural environment to create a realistic world for visitors to explore. The dinosaur theme park is scheduled to open later this year.
Palmer’s motivation for creating what he calls the world’s largest robotic dinosaur theme park and the Titanic II is simple. When he announced his plans for the replica Titanic, AFP quotes him saying, “I want to spend the money I've got before I die.”
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