Leaderboard

Shade sails are all completely installed, and looking really good. They cover the queue area pretty well, and don’t hide the theming. Well done to MW

Look one way to ruin your multi million dollar investment is to go and install some crappy shade sails every pub and day care center around town has... So good on the park for doing something different and a bit out there to present the area well.

A few from Friday night.

Alright, I've had another look at this today, so lets have a look at this in more detail. The Map: Let's enter the park as a first time visitor and turn left, working our way around the park from there. First off, I'm happy with Green Lantern. The colour, the position, it's all pretty straight forward and works. However. When did the creek become either a bike path or a river of slime passing by the park? This isn't Dreamworld's river, this is a creek that should be the same colour as the body of water on the left that it should run to. Moving over to Rivals. The placement of the tag is so very close, but just a little off where it needs to be. I don't remember the Rivals station being the Justice League ride. The queue path to it itself isn't that bad. I'm ok with it. IMO it doesn't need to show the full ride. Although I do distinctly remember a large joker head on top of the ride. Sure, it's there. But it's hardly pronounced or even close to visible on the map. Justice League - they've done alright. They've even managed to get the off centre building facade in there and the trees and statue out the front. Not bad. Ok, so that corner of the park is fairly easy to navigate, going to head back towards main street. Not sure what this giant tower thing on my left is. Seems to be Batman themed but there's nothing there on the map. Better keep moving. Strangely I've now come to this rather large path that the map seems to say should be a tiny footpath. I assume I'm allowed to walk up here, however with it being next on the map, I want to experience this Batwing ride before I move on. Alright, now that I've walked through the gardens and hedges that seem to be where this path is supposed to be, and now this building I'm standing in front of is apparently the Batwing Spaceshot. There's no theming or any sign of a queue. If it was me, I'd probably use that random tower ride looking thing I passed before as the spaceshot ride instead of this closed off building, but you know, the park knows best. I wait for 5 minutes and leave disappointingly that no one seemed to come and let me into this building. Time for Superman Escape now. This one's pretty easy to find and I ride it without issue. Next on the map is what I assume is an army themed coaster, despite the "Arkham Asylum" name. I expect to see a bunch of tanks to match the track and roof colour. Maybe this is an army asylum? Imagine my surprise when I arrive at the ride to find a grey tracked ride themed to DC Villains. Why is this ride green on the map? Where's all the army theming? Was the ride originally army themed? Is the ride about to be painted green to match the map? Is it such a terrible ride that they're trying to hide it from the public so no one remembers that it's there? Maybe it's part of the asylum theme, I'm not sure. But I've now exited the asylum and wanting to get over to main street. It looks like there's a path I could take, but checking the map, all I can see is these two buildings merged into each other. Maybe I'm better off being locked in the asylum. Confused and clearly delusional, I walk back through the gardens on the non existent path and arrive back beside the roundabout. Taking a left, it's time to arrive at guest services. I wont dock them points for not showing the room on the map, makes sense to see what's under there. I find guest services easy enough and now it's time for a 4D movie. As I make my way over to the Roxy 4D Theatre I pass an empty street that should be filled with statues according to the map. I'm disappointed to not have these statues out all the time. Movie's done. Now where to go? I think the Kids WB! Fun Zone is best. Not sure what's going on in this area. It's a fairly small area filled with kids rides, but I can't see where I'm going on the map. And why did they put one ride within the stunt arena? That hardly seems safe. Looking at the map, are there any paths here? Apparently not. Confused, I leave the area and head over towards the Scooby-Doo Spooky Coaster. This was pretty easy to find. I do find it strange however that there's a show and eating area in the park, but not on the map. Guess it's off limits. Some people haven't realised it's closed but don't seem to have trouble getting food. Did I maybe pick up the wrong map at the entrance?? All I've got is this conjoined buildings. Time to experience the Super Villains Unleashed.... show? .....ride? .....movie? Not really sure what that is as there's no signs in the park to point me in the right direction. Must have been removed I guess. I'll check out this Doomsday Destroyer. Seems fairly accurate on the map location wise. Well, from what I can make out of it though. It really blends in. Also interesting to note that the arms are not this camo brown on the map, but more of an off-white lighter colour. With that ride done, I planed on checking out this "Wild West Falls Adventure Ride" however with no path to it on the map, I turn and leave, yet again disappointed. I check these Fair games, Intencity and dodgems area out, not bad, easy to find. The last thing left for me to do now is watch this "Hollywood Stunt Driver 2" show. Easy enough to find I guess. Wouldn't hurt to label the entrance on the map though. Home time now. I seem to have missed a lot of the rides and been very confused by the paths and colours, but here we are. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Too long; Didn't read? (I wouldn't have read it either, but if you did, virtual high five!) Despite what I said earlier, this is really nothing more than a guide. It kind of works on the website, but not as a printed map. The colours are wrong on some rides. Labels are not aligned where they belong. Parade floats are pointlessly in the street. Not only that, but the image is available on the website, but only in one resolution. The more you zoom, the less you can read. It needs to be redone. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now as has been pointed out before, I'm an entitled asshole who demands everything from the park, so I'll say, what, a 3 month time-frame for them to fix this before complaining again? Deal.

Today’s update: And I don’t ever remember seeing this element within the Sky Fortress in Castaway Bay, but thought it was pretty cool and shows how good the theming of the area is

When I went on JL yesterday, it was running near perfectly, with effects working that I hadn’t seen before, as well as some being prepared. The boom gate has returned, and there was lighting, smoke and sound effects I hadnt seen before. It was really one of the best runs on the ride I’ve ever had

Time to share your pics from this year's event. I found this years event a lot harder to photograph. The lighting was a lot harder to work with, but the event seemed a bit brighter. Not really sure how that works, but I guess it poses a challenge at least. And for all my complaining last year about the purple lighting, this image was blue when I started.

I must say these shade sails are quite different to what I expected them to have. They do fit the modern look of the ride. Having not experienced a shade sail as see through as these, it will be interesting to see how it goes in the peak summer heat. Given how busy the ride would likely be, I'm a little surprised it doesn't cover the whole queue line. Hopefully this is a sign that we'll see 2 trains in operation most times and the queue will move pretty quickly.

Maybe if the queue videos weren't so boring they'd have something to entertain themselves with.

Now if only the cars weren't so boring and actually had some movement to them

Yes & no for MW's fault. Number one rule for theming is keep it out of reach of guests, to try and prevent vandalism. That corridor used to be wide with poles to stop guests getting near the walls. Fast Track means 2 queues now in the one corridor, which means guests are right next to the walls. Perfect for etching their names into it.

A few things i've noticed after spending the last 3 or so days at MW and SW. -When was the Seal taken from the 2nd launch of JR? -4pm-5pm is the best time for MW. Yesterday we did Scooby, Superman, Rivals and GL in this time with a bit of waiting. and on Friday, at 430 or so Rivals was a walk on. -2/2 GL audio -Was Scooby's station always flickering Lights? Last time i rode it they were on and dimmed and it seemed a bit nicer that way. -As much as i love Scooby Doo and behind the scenes of films, that BTS video gets old quickly. -Much of the groundwork for SW's play area has been done for the water area. They just need to concrete where the dips are and i think the volcanoes are already bolted in. -The photobooth needs to not be blocked off from like 430 for the FN people. Or at least allow the exit shop people to trace back your photos if this is going to be the case. -Battle boats targets are hit and miss when it comes to activating -Headed down to the DW carpark just to show my new-to-the-GC friends what that parks like, and at about 2/230 the carpark was half full. -Arkhams NFC Reset is a fantastic idea -First time riding Arkham, and now i see why people say its rough as shit. -JL needs to fix its 3D convergence and reset times. When Starro gets confronted by everyone, as you turn the corner to leave that scene, if you watch the screen as you pass you notice the 3d doesn't follow you very well like Spiderman and Transformers and the likes and the video resets while you can still see it without turning around. -They also need to fix the registering of the targets. I hit heaps but either i got no feedback or they didnt go lights out. Even the dog went to normal when nobody shot him. -There were no door portals and the Smokescreen was very dim. -The wonders you can do theming wise with a simple roof. with the Scooby queue and a degree of Storm being the only exceptions. Ie, look above cyborg or above the MRT. Breaks immersion. -When did Storms splash section turn into a constant waterfall instead of a bucket drop? -tThere are some COTD animatronics with the sensors that aren't working too.

We went General Entry on Friday night for photos and videos and returned the Saturday night for the Ultimate Terror tour… We did not do any mazes on the Friday and spent most of the evening walking around the park enjoying the atmosphere… Did everything on the Saturday night... For the following TL;DR... Could have saved myself $149... 4.5/10... Terror Lounge - 9/10 Free non alcoholic drinks, buffet food and desserts all night… Who can complain about that? Meal was great as it is every year… Scarer Briefing - 9/10 Much better run than last year’s effort… Plenty of time at the start to get photos with the cast before the brief and then sent out into Main Street (we were told to hurry as they were holding the opening for us yet ended up standing there for almost 10minutes waiting for it to start)… Shows - 5/10 Opening - 7/10 Was fun and a definite change from last year… Did feel like they were trying to push the whole Zombie Extermination that was new this year along with the girl power that the park seems to be going with using Supergirl and Wonder Woman in their advertising more (not complaining just stating)… And as stated by others, despite the VO, people stood around at the end not knowing if it was finished or not... Bloodlust - 2/10 No gentle way to say this… Waste of 20 minutes… And the large amount of guests walking out during it seem to think the same… Old tricks, no real storyline or reason to invest any interest in the characters… (Maverick Grand Illusion show was more impressive)… Tesla - 9/10 This show was definitely the stand out show and really fit the Fright Night theme… This could have been in the HWSD arena and held the crowd better… Live Band - 3/10 What happened to the band from last year? One of those times you wish they were lip syncing and playing to a backing track… Closing - 5/10 If you are going to go far enough to roll out a fake deck for your fake dj, at least get someone that is standing near said deck pretending to use it at the right times… Otherwise felt very similar to last year… Hell the dancers outfits were last years… Mazes - 5/10 The Conjuring 2 - 5/10 Returning from last year with only one or two minor changes… My wife was looking forward to this one but after just one trip through and despite having the UTT pass lost all interest… From Dusk Till Dawn - 5/10 Returning from last year… Felt exactly the same as last year… Not much more to say… Halloween - 7/10 For me… This was the better maze this year… Its shortened length actually suited this maze and a few sections were set up to disorientate you well while trying to get away from the scarers… Jigsaw - 4/10 This is the maze they have been pushing and to be honest… It was overhyped… I get that the movie has not actually been released yet and they could only go from the trailer… It also felt a bit of a rushed to be put together maze… Some parts just didn’t make any sense, some sections were just too dark to see anything… Last year we raced back through mazes 3 or 4 times each on the Ultimate Terror Tour... This year not one maze made me want to return and experience it again… Precincts - 4/10 Dark Arts - 5/10 I counted 3 scarers in this area at any one time… All of which were pretty much continuously taking photos with people… A few scarers (guys in Raven masks sliding around) moved into this area occasionally and were doing well (spent 20 minutes just standing there watching them)… Gothic Hall - 3/10 Someone decided a projector onto the Gotham City Hall would make a precinct… They also threw in 4 flame boxes… The Evil Within 2 - 4/10 Barely wide enough for 2 people to stand side by side, crowded by people trying to get from Scooby Doo to Arkham Asylum, so much smoke you couldn’t see more than a foot in front of you, there was no way either of the 2 scarers in this precinct could do much other than stand there so people could walk past… Ultimate Tour - 4/10 As we were being loaded I was really hoping it would be part of the experience… I think it took longer to load than to get there though… Best thing about this year’s Ultimate Tour was the access to an area usually off limits to guests… Like the Jigsaw maze, this felt like a rush to throw it together experience… (The fact the area was only announced to be closed during this month not long before does add to this thought)… Best part of this was walking back past the scarer green room right as one of the girls from the From Dusk Till Dawn maze was taking a selfie in her G-String costume… General - 3/10 Given Gothic Hall was marketed as “the only place you can seek refuge”, there were a lot of empty areas around the park… DC Heroes area, DC Villains area, From the Conjuring 2 queue up past Wild West Falls, past the mazes, past Arkham Asylum, past Superman, half of Main Street there was nothing… No scarers at the diorama cabin or cop car, 2 scarers at the fountain, 3 in main street, 3 in the plaza, 3 near the Midway Games… All the scarers seemed more approachable this year as well… Saw more of them getting photos with guests than scaring… Overall - 4.5/10 The atmosphere was great… Standing there listening to the revving of chainsaws followed by screams was one of the most enjoyable things about the evening… The night itself though did not feel as smooth and well thought out or put together as last year… Some parts seemed like after thoughts, some they were so excited to be able to do they didn’t seem to worry about doing it well…

Who's "they"?

I don't think that's a fair statement at all. In my experience the park limited Fast Track sales on Rivals to an acceptable number (it was sold out at one point when I went to ride) and the wait time was very small. They were also doing a great job of merging the Standby and Fast Track ques at a fair level. This ride doesn't require lockers so there is no money gouging in that regard either. I think the whole thing has been managed extremely well and the price point is generous even , is completely fair.

Because I looked for shade sails, not poles.

And nor should they. You can't charge $10 for people to ride it then let others go one for free just because no one paid.

Well they're trying to get splash taken down but that's for a completely different reason altogether.