Leaderboard

Okay, so I just got back from my annual trip to the GC and I have to say, despite all the negative press and downturn in attendance, this was the best visit yet. So I've decided I'm going to do a write up on every park the family and I visited, things that stood out and things that could be improved. So lets start.... Warner Bros. Movie World This was the first park we visited and also the only one where we went back for a second visit. Things we liked: Fast Photo - this is a great option for those wanting ride photos. In years past, we were very selective about which photos we wanted simply because of the asking price (close to $20 for your 6 X 8 photo). With the fast photo option, we could go on all the rides and simply just save the photos to our VIP pass to access later and print out. Admittedly, I did purchase this option for only $39 instead of the regular $99 when MW offered it last year so my opinion of it might be a bit skewed, but I guess even at the higher price, its still a good option, especially when you can print the photos off at your local Harvey Norman store for a $1 each. Atmosphere - being the busiest of the parks, there was a buzz in the park. It just felt busy and happy and the kids loved it. Licensed characters - most people know the characters, Batman, Superman, the Looney Tunes Gang, Scooby and Shaggy. The kids knew who they were too and were happy to pose for photos. DW had licensed characters too but they're not as big a name as MW's offerings. Things that could be improved: Paid photo opportunities - there were sessions where you could get a photo package with the Justice League or the Looney Tunes gang but it was limited. We lined up for a chance to get the package but just as we got to the front, they said it was sold out. Times and locations for photo opportunities - on the first day we visited, photo opportunities were rare, but on the second day, there was at least double the chances compared to the first day. They should have a listing like they do at DW where times and locations for photos are listed. Makes planning much easier. Food options - Rick's Cafe needs a major shakeup of its offerings. Overpriced for what it offers. Gotham Burgers, with its family package was tolerable as far as theme park pricing goes, but the chips tasted like ass, and the chicken tenders in the kids meals were overcooked. Scooby Doo coaster - 40 minute wait for this ride - I only had to wait 10 minutes for SE and I rode that twice in the same time I would've waited for SD! But the kids wanted to ride it so we waited. The gutted out backdrop really does this ride no favours - there's no atmosphere, no cohesiveness, it just feels like a rollercoaster in pitch black darkness. I'm aware that its due to be fixed up but the ride simply wasn't worth waiting 40 mins for. Lets hope the fix restores this ride to its former glory or better yet, improves it. Overall thoughts - a great day had by us all but you just get the feeling that MW knows its the best at the moment with their offering and are just cruising at the moment. Dreamworld This was the second park we visited but for me, the biggest surprise. Things we liked: Staff interaction - Every staff member we spoke to had a genuine, warm feeling in their interaction with us. They asked us how our day was, where we were from and even made suggestions on how to save on merchandise without being overbearing. Then there was one point late in the day when the family and I were on the DW express doing a lap and then a DW staff member boarded at the next stop and sat behind us. He began talking to us and another family, asking us how our day was, what our favourite things in the park were and anything we could suggest to improve the park. The other family then asked him about the park and how it was doing since the accident last year and he said the park realised that there was a negative perception of theme parks in general at the moment and that they were trying to rebuild the public's trust and the only way they could do that was to talk to them directly. Food offering - The Billabong Buffet was great value for money with kids eating free and soft drinks included as well. For less than the price of the Family Deal at MW, the whole family was well fed, and even had dessert thrown in as well! And the range and quality of food far exceeded that of Rick's Cafe at MW. Photo opportunities - all the photo ops and times are listed on the park map making it easy to plan our day for photos. The Photo Pass USB band which costs $50 for unlimited photos (both ride and character) is fantastic value too. Tiger Island - the whole family loved this and the walk-through shop was great. The show itself was entertaining but it could do with some improvements...... The Lego Store: This one is a no-brainer for me as I am a massive Lego fan along with my kids, and we spent close to an hour here alone - me shopping for myself, and the kids playing with the various items around the store. This store is a godsend for DW - the amount of customers exiting the park through the store, all stopping to browse and for photos, the exclusive sets, I was like a kid in a candy store. If not for the wife, I would have maxed out my credit card shopping here!! The queues - we didn't have to wait more than 10 minutes for any ride which meant the kids were able to get multiple turns on their favourite rides Things that could be improved: Tiger Island - there isn't enough seating!! Hopefully this will be resolved in stage 2 of its development but it desperately needs more seating! Gold Rush Country - Buzzsaw was closed the entire day we were there, add to that the Log Flume being out of commission and TRR's closure, there's no incentive to visit that whole side of the park. And the view from Giant Drop makes the area look so depressing. Hot Wheels Sidewinder - my god, this thing is rough!! My daughter kept complaining afterwards her neck was sore and my head was throbbing after riding this. Overall thoughts - I felt that this park was the most family-orientated of all the parks we visited. Everyone seemed genuinely happy to help, serve and/or greet us. My wife commented that she thought DW was the best of the parks we visited, but the tragedy from last year was however, still in her thoughts. If the experience we had is anything to go by, this park deserves to be doing much better than it currently is. It also needs a major, family-friendly ride of some sort to fill out the park. The Gold Rush Country area needs a major overhaul - Buzzsaw was closed when we visited so there was no real incentive to venture on that side of the park at any time throughout the day. The family man in me loved this park but the thrill seeker in me preferred MW. Seaworld The 3rd park we visited but the weakest of the ride-based theme parks. Things we liked: The covered food/retail area - the whole area looks great with the covered seating and the monorail passing through. Fast Photo - same as with MW, our Fast Photo pass allowed us to save all our ride photos. The multi-park nature of the pass made it better value for money than buying individual photos. Things that need improving: Lack of things to do - Vikings Revenge is out of commission, Spongebob 3D was closed and the lines for Storm and Jet Rescue were long enough to make us think about lining up again Not enough character photo opportunities - the kids really wanted to meet Spongebob and his cast but we didn't see him at anytime - Dora made a visit but aside from that, we didn't see any other characters. Shows are becoming stale - The Dora Show, Affinity, Fish Detectives and Jet Stunt show are essentially unchanged from the last 2 years we've visited. For a park which seems to be using its shows as it drawcards for the time being, the shows are need to be refreshed. Overall thoughts: this park really needs to be next on VR's list of improvements. The whole park at the moment, seems to be a work-in-progress. Even the park maps seem to be an afterthought, merely a printed A4 sheet that you could print out on your home printer, and in low res too no less! There wasn't enough to keep the kids entertained, let alone the adults. There's nothing new to draw us back and even the things we loved in previous years were now closed. The park isn't terrible as such, but there's just not enough to fill a full day for the family as in previous years we've been. Paradise Country The last of the theme parks we visited but felt like a value-added attraction rather than a stand alone park. Things we liked: Animal feeding - the kids loved the interaction with the animals and the free feeding was a bonus. The kangaroos roaming around brought a smile to kid's faces and the variety of animals available for the kids to feed and pet was great. Live Shows: the live shows were great and entertaining and gave us some insights into farm life. Things that could be improved: Lack of Paradise Country themed merchandise - a lot of the stuff available for sale was generic - the stuffed toys were similar to what you could find at the tourist shops in Surfers, the trinkets were all just basic stuff you can find at your typical retail outlets. The only thing I could see that was marked with Paradise Country were some of the T-shirts and even they were just a koala or kangaroo on a shirt with the Paradise Country logo. I was looking for a key chain with the Paradise Country logo on it and all they had was a photo keychain with a photo of either a kangaroo or koala with the PC logo printed over the picture. Even AOS has their own keychains with a metal logo!! Overall thoughts: I'm not going to judge this park too heavily because the way I see it, its a little value-added extra which you get on the VIP passes which you would otherwise never have got. I don't see why anyone would visit this park before going to the other parks but as a freebie with the VIP passes, its certainly worth a visit if you can spare the time. Final thoughts: While there is all this talk about how theme parks are going through a rough patch at the moment, I certainly didn't feel it and I'm still optimistic at what's coming. Obviously the new coaster at MW will be a big draw card, but if DW can keep doing what they're currently doing and add another major ride in the future, the future looks bright. Even SW, with their new attraction for 2019 has a silver lining but they'll need to add either another ride or refresh their show offerings. Paradise Country will, for the foreseeable future be the value-added extra for those looking to purchase/renew their season passes. If I had to pick my favourite of the parks, MW would just edge out DW but not by much. SW sits in 3rd and PC in fourth. Now I just need to wait another 12 long months before I return......

Laxatives won't make the announcement come quicker...

The ride is due open at Warner Bros. Movie World in September.....and due to be announced in December.

99.9% of people in Australia would have zero clue of a single ride in China, who Mack Rides is, or that there is Flash Coaster somewhere else. 99.9% of people in Australia also have f**k all idea the best ride in the history of the country is being built either...

I cannot understand why Sea World hasn't taken the Broadbeach monorail. They are one train short and they could have had this one very cheap! (Obviously that's assuming it's compatible)

Sinestro was mentioned early on when the first track arrived. again though, its a minor villain not known to anyone outside of readers of the Lantern comics, those who watched that terrible movie. Hes not the basis for the best coaster ever built in a country. The colours have no resemblance to ANY Wonder Woman imagery. Some people here know what the theme is and are keeping lips sealed (rightly so), I am not one of them, but for me it's either a generic/non-individual character themed, or it's The Joker. That's it.

i echo @Slick's sentiments... it's just the panel of pool fencing in front of it that detracts from it - it does look like its meant to be permanent (i hope not) - but surely a few bollards would have been less obtrusive?

I really dig this. Glad the studios are getting a semblance of culture and identity given how important they are to the film industry here in Australia now.

@pushbutton and yet they have a villains area, which has the slogan, it's good to be bad. I doubt SS will be the theme, just doesn't make sense now. WW makes sense if you are thinking that because the track is (what ever colour we want to call it) and that's a feminine colour, and because of that it makes it themed to WW. Doesn't make sense. Flash, well no, flash is red, not this colour. But I suppose with no hints (except the track colour, which has turned out to not really help at all), there are too many option to narrow it down. They just need to starting hinting, something, anything. People on social media, not just enthusiasts, are asking the question too. But they need to make an announcement to get way more people talking about it. Everyone can see the coaster is being built, but people ask a question, MW give a vary vague answer and that's it. People are excited about this, but when they don't know when it's opening (and by this I mean, not just people who saw the sign, but people who live else where or don't visit the park often), what height or speeds it will reach, what's going to make it the greatest attraction in the Southern Hemisphere. We need answers MW. You are digging yourselves a hole, and you won't be able to get out of it if you don't act soon. It might be too late, as a lot of people may have planned holidays already.

Sea World's monorail was built in 1986, making it three years older than the example built at Broadbeach. However, building a new monorail as you suggest would be costly, and considering how ripe Sea World is for rides at the moment, VRTP have other things to focus on in the park instead of completely replacing a monorail. The closure of Sydney's monorail in 2013 was a missed opportunity for Sea World - they could have bought cars from that older monorail - from what I remember they were air conditioned. Likewise, the closure of the Broadbeach monorail is a final opportunity for Sea World to give their aging monorail the short-term upgrade it desperately needs to last into the future.

Last day of the season today, was quite busy. Inferno wasn't working. Nothing photo worthy, though quite a few staff were openly talking about the new ride being a "big swing" and "64 seats"

Look, I didn't mind SS as a movie. It's not a bad movie at all, just suffers from introducing the audience to about 15 new characters that have had no prominence in film or tv previously (except Joker). It also suffers from a poor major 'villain' in Enchantress. It was popular enough to get immediately greenlit for a sequel, and spin off movies for Harley & potentially Deadshot on the strength in their portraying actors performances. In saying all that, I still don't think it is an easily marketable theme for a coaster. We have a villains precinct, a "generic" villains based Coaster in AA, do we need another "collective villains" coaster? I still have no idea why it's not red/yellow and themed to The Flash, it seemed a perfect choice for mine. Maybe there was a special on magenta paint...

@themagician did you steal my camera😜 I got the same shots this morning, just beat me to the update, but it does look impressive in person!

Middle of summer full of people it can become a bit of a sauna.

I think you've pretty much just described every job, not just marketing I'm really hoping to be blown away by some massive campaign then have lined up for this, or in my opinion, it's time for a new creative agency to get on board and help them out a bit. Why they're not even doing something as simple as teasing the theme is beyond me at the moment. Let's say for example the theme is Ironman. (Obviously it can't be but I'm saying that as to not start a theme debate in the wrong thread). They could add in posters around the park with theme hints like the arc reactor, or the iconic eyes etc. Wouldn't need anything else, no text etc, just something that makes people stop and go "I wonder if..."

Do you really want to be having this debate with me, Jason? Or are you going to start nitpicking everything I post?

It's not pink. No part of it is pink

My money is still on Bizarro. Give it dark purple trains and you've pretty much nailed the colour scheme. Joker makes more sense if we don't look at the colours. He's popular, everyone knows him. Except I'd be expecting a dark purple and green colour scheme, not pink and grey. I think two-face could still be a possibility - the pink probably matches him the best, but the grey I'm not too sure where it fits. I'm liking this one more and more as I think about it - the colour scheme fits better than the Joker, and he's reasonably well-known as well, being in two batman movies. Sinestro is possible but I don't know why they would've used grey supports. He's not too much of a minor villain, he's a pretty major GL villain, and putting it next to GL makes sense. Although overall he would still be one of my lower picks for the theme. It's definitely not Wonder Woman.

The scary thing is that the Broadbeach monorail was said to be nearing the end of its life (which I believe is probably right), yet the Sea World monorail was the first in Australia. It doesn't take a genius to work out that the Sea World monorail must be running on borrowed time! I get the argument that Village would want to see a return on investment, but sometimes there is an indirect return. They should invest in these things to ensure the long term future of Sea World. Much as they have by investing in new paths, toilet upgrades etc.

My daughter thought of something unexpected - could this possibly be a sinestro coaster to combat the green lantern coaster? Unlikely, but I thought she was clever to come up with the idea. The coaster could represent sinestro's skin, the cars themselves could be yellow. Just a thought....

For BGW, Tempesto might be regarded as a filler attraction. The strategy for the likes of Falcon's Fury (same chain, different park) was wildly different. As for Cedar Point's RMC Mean Streak conversion, mystery is part of the strategy. They're not being silent, they're being cryptic and feeding the rumour mill, saying things like "We will not mention Mean Streak anymore because it does not exist at Cedar Point anymore." Again, this is park (and a chain) who recognises the brand loyalists, the digital audience, the power of ZMOT and the ROI of digital over traditional advertising. As it stands, Movie World's website doesn't have a mobile portal despite that being ridiculously important and priority one for your digital strategy for this reason alone.

Does anyone fear that by the fact of MW denying their is a roller caster and not announcing it this ride will just be a big bust. People won't come to ride it if they don't know about it. A lot of people I know have already booked Christmas holidays now. So every day the wait to push it is money wasted. At this stage Abyss had news stories on it and had PR stunts happening around Perth and this hyper coaster is a lot more expensive than Abyss.

What on earth is that rubbish post even about?

Unfortunately have had to leave literally *just* before the crowning moment of the last track piece, but here's a couple of pics I just took on site! @pushbutton is still there and will post the aftermath I am sure! (Nice to meet you by the way, Andy 😆👍)

Visited Sea World today for the first time in ages, so thought I'd do a post about it for those interested, since the park hasn't been discussed for a while. Although be warned in advance, there isn't a huge amount to really report. No real visual changes with the Vikings Flume ride as yet, the ride appears to have been sitting stagnant since its closure. Although worth mentioning that the sound of power tools could be heard coming from the roof of the castle earlier this morning, not sure if related or not but would make sense if it was lol: The park was fairly busy for the last day of interstate school holidays, Ray Reef was pulling in quite a modest sized crowd around its first presentation time: Still no real movement happening for the water park either, although some relatively new signage has gone up along the monorail fence: Today was World Penguin Day (well, officially it's Tuesday but the park was celebrating today to avoid Anzac Day conflict) so naturally they had some celebrations happening for the event, including a free prebooked arts & crafts workshop for kids: Plus discounted Penguin merch for today only: (Obligatory penguin photo for World Penguin Day lol): The Gold Coast's one and only Monorail is looking good, if not a bit bare now since all its in-park advertising was stripped off a while ago: The Our World of the Dolphin show is still taking place at the pool near the front of the park, although I decided not to wait around for an hour to see it (maybe next time lol: The Storm Coaster was slow to open this morning, witnessed what appeared to be numerous test cycles focused on the brake runs before it eventually opened to the public around 11am: All in all it was a nice day to visit the park weather wise this morning, despite not having any real signs of improvement work happening anywhere. Hopefully they will start soon, I suspect Sea World will be next in line once they finish dolling up WB Movie World 👍 So yeah, that's what's happening and not happening at Sea World of late lol ☺️

There have been a bunch of rumours floating around as to what it's going to be and pretty much all the suggestions have been awful. For a ride that would have so obviously been perfect to be themed to one of the top tier hero's they've managed to get themselves into a rather strange place creatively with a massive magenta coaster. It's almost at the point where they're better off too announce the coaster and have a competition to see if the public can figure out what to do. Maybe no one will scream sexism if a female member of the public calls it Wonder Woman. As for the logos, yeah the park logos are good, the parent company corporate logo can piss right off. I hate to break it to you Village Roadshow, but you're not a lifestyle brand, give up trying to put your logo on things. Movie World is a stronger brand, and that's what'll make people excited when they come to the park. No one cares about the logo of the parent company.

But did it make you hoot?

New guardhouse has some cool retro movie theatre style signage

Why waste time typing a paragraph when you can sum up his post in 2 words?

You sure about that? Looks at least 30 Retard alert 😂 Sorry mate but c'mon you can't be serious?