We decided to stop by Movie World this morning to show the kids the park knowing that it would be busy and we gave them the heads up that they probably won’t get on any rides because we needed to leave just after midday.
The park was pretty busy, but not unbearably crowded when moving around, however the wait times were really high. As mentioned in the other thread, Doomsday and Green Lantern are down for the day and Wild West Falls was down for the morning and opened with a 100 minute wait.
We mostly wandered around, did the Batman exhibit and some of the smaller rides in the WB Kids area. None of us adults got on any rides, but the kids got on three which was good for keeping them entertained. We passed on HSD2 as it didn’t seem like our groups cup of tea and watched a short Cat Woman show as we left the park.
The parks presentation has improved since I last visited which was great to see, but unfortunately the general atmosphere was pretty down. A lot of families appeared pretty lost, there were many people just sitting around, and I overheard a few verbal altercations amongst family members deciding whether to try for the rides or just go home.
One of my friends was working in the parks today that I didn’t know of and they had no idea I was there. I ran into them interacting with guests and they were fantastic, serious Disney level of professionalism, so I stopped by Guest Relations to put in a good word. Whilst I was filling out the form there were several families that came in one after another complaining about the crowds and waits. The mediator in Guest Relations noted that Virtual Queue was turned off today to help with the wait times, but was giving out single use fast tracks to the more persistent complainers. If you’re reading this and see an opportunity, please don’t pester them. The staff are already under an immense amount of pressure and I saw that many were visibly flustered by the situation.
The parks size and what’s on offer just doesn’t lend itself to the sort of demand that we’re seeing at the moment. Considering that I didn’t get on any rides, I can’t comment on their operations, but DC Rivals was only running one train with a notice out the front that said it was operating at a limited capacity due to circumstances outside of their control which I’d be interested to know more about.
Also of note was that almost all stores and F&B options were open, with some new temporary booths such as coloured braids and those long tube candy things you see at shopping centres. They’re not my thing and I didn’t check the price, but they could make a decent bribe to satisfy a frustrated child.
I agree with others that the park needs an improved layout with some high capacity attractions. My dad noted that when we went as kids it was nothing like this, and that now-defunct attractions such as Gremlins, Batman, and Looney Tunes created a far more fulfilling family day out which was interesting to hear from him.
Going with my family gave me some great perspective regarding our parks and how one might visit with the hierarchy from a toddler to grandparents, what they notice, and what they’re interested in. Their top pick was Dreamworld due to the variety of what was on offer, but they want to come back in the future during a quieter time to really experience Movie World, Sea World, and their attractions properly. I’ve always wondered whether presentation is actually that important, and whether I’m too picky on certain things, but talking to my dad doesn’t do rides and helped push the grandkids prams around, he had nothing better to do then to look around, and this spurred several questions from him about things that I genuinely only thought enthusiasts noticed and cared about.
All round, everybody seemed to have fun with the three parks, including movie world which I believe was in part due to tapered expectations, and they’re excited to come back again in the future. I think it helped them by having somebody who knows the parks and things like virtual queue, because I know that not everybody has had a great time these school holidays.