The Parkz Update: Movie World, January 2016

To complete a week catching up on the Gold Coast's theme parks we head along to Movie World to see all the latest changes and improvements.

Image: Parkz. New gourmet food options are one of the highlights of Movie World this summer.

Update By Richard Wilson
17 January 2016

Newly renovated, the expanded News Stand serves largely as a drink refill station and snack shop. Movie World is really emphasizing their unlimited drinks program as of late.

Of course Green Lantern is back up and running and totally not spewing nuts and bolts left right and centre.

The traditional Superman colours of royal blue and faded pink.

A few bolts missing here and there never hurt anyone, right?

Colours on the Wild West Falls mountain aren't as bold as they once were, but it's still one of the most impressively themed structures in Australian theme parks.

Obviously there's a chair bolted to the wall. Because theming...

At least it's the wild west, so they can get away with this many cobwebs. Because theming...

Surprisingly, Wild West Roadhouse is closed. Like it always is.

The newly expanded Dirty Harry Bar serves up a Mexican menu.

Everything on the menu is at the more expensive end of the spectrum, even for theme park food.

Relatively speaking though, you're getting a fair bit more on your plate than the average burger-and-chips combo, and the sizes are definitely larger than your average Mexican fast food restauarant. At $22, it's a premium meal, but worth it.

It's pretty impressive that they've managed to get the rare beef look like in the promo photos. Solid effort for a theme park that in the past hasn't exactly had a reputation for great food.

Note the bamboo plates – they also offer wooden cutlery as a more environmentally-friendly alternative to plastic. Plus it suits the hipster vibe of the whole place.

Though for the same price as the make-your-own burritos, you can head to Rick's Cafe for all-you-can-eat pizza, salad and dessert.

A few changes to Hollywood Stunt Driver 2 – they must be up to version 2.3 by now at least – have seen the introduction of this bogan-mobile.

Movie making is only one part of the show. Thankfully, the corporate sponsorship is still very much ~~the most obnoxious thing about~~ a fantastic part of the show.

It's still about 50% awkwardly filming extras reaction shots while the crowd sits awkwardly with nothing really to look at.

Nothing like the old special effects show where extras were used for humourous effect, or the old Police Academy Stunt Show where they acted as a decoy for the Rodney character. Here they serve almost no purpose to an already plotless show.

The show is now ostensibly set on the Gold Coast – but in addition to the largely Italian-themed set, it has these bumbling, hillbilly cops with American accents. And perhaps the worst example of miming to prerecorded audio you're ever likely to see.

What's odd is that they chose to give the sympathetic protagonist the most obnoxious, hated style of car you ever see on Australian roads. Maybe if he spent less on spotlights, stickers and excessive antennae, he wouldn't have to be entering a race to save the family farm?

I would have expected that this hotdog stand placed right in the middle of the arena might serve a purpose in the show – it doesn't. Aside from a pre-recorded slo-mo squirt of tomato sauce, this stand – like the rest of Hollywood Stunt Driver 2 – seems to exist "just because".

Not exactly new, but these barely-themed relics of the original Italian-themed Hollywood Stunt Driver are tucked behind Dirty Harry's Bar for some reason.

Having no shows running in the Show Stage for many years is probably a big reason for the old Western area being abandoned.

A few things have been tried here to breathe life into it after the Show Stage stopped being used, including an arcade before Intencity was built, but by and large it's been the ghost town it is themed to.

And yes, we have run out of things to talk about at Movie World in this update.

Maybe it's because the majority of guests these days are annual pass holders or VRTP members, but casual walk-through exhibits like Boot Hill Graveyard don't seem to have the appeal they once did.

Minor landscaping...? Or... construction begins on Movie World's new hyperultramegathingy that will totes be the bestest ever???

Everyone loves a bit of landscaping... especially when it tries to be something as hard as this topiary abomination is. Maybe the gardener should have gone to Specsavers?