Leaderboard

The MW layout has always been a shemozzle but today, it's a painful ball ache, at best. Right now, the s/western corner of the Park is lonely, sad as f*CK & boring (regardless if WWF is open or not) + if you're sans smaller kids in your group the n/eastern Looney side is another no-go zone! As a veteran Cast Member, It's hard not to be critical.. sorry I just can't help myself, as much as I try to ignore the little things on any given visit, some things are hard to look past (don't even get me started 🤦‍♂️ on the OZ land, seriously wtf??), but tell me I'm not the only 1 who finds the place has entrenched itself with pointless dead ends.and the worst crowd flow I've ever experienced in a Theme Park, globally. All criticism aside, I must say the majority of Cast Members are the best in years and deserve to be properly recognised for their hard work and efforts. Cast aside, being repeatedly funnelled up and down the same Main Street, Christ knows how many times on any given day, is the fundamental reason why most people leave the Park feeling dissatisfied. It's monotonous, mundane and repetitive. Simple solution* - Management just need to set foot in the Park, (during trading hours) & take a look through the eyes of all visitors - especially the Holidaying families. Take a seat with them, shout the kids a front seat ride pass, buy Mum & Dad a coffee & take the time to have a chat, engage, listen & learn about how to reconnect with what Movie World has struggled with for far too many years - an industry leading relationship between Guest and Cast. We all know there are simple & obvious fixes to improve circular crowd flows around MW, but tbh opinions of Theme park enthusiasts on sites like this, which to be frank, no-one knows about is entirely useless. That's why the only way to fix things is for them to go back to basics, get those precious executive's arses out of their casual clothes, put on a uniform like everyone else, get out of their cushy office (and that goes for you too, Clarke!) hit the pavement, get to know your employer (the customer).& open your hearts and minds! The rest will work itself out 👍

The only thing I have to say is to this Haven't we learned from TRRR that placing sole reliance on operator compliance with procedures is a recipe for disaster? Staff should not have been able to override the sensors without a manual \ visual inspection first, or attendance by a supervisor \ maintenance with an override key. This is an absolute cop-out from Village as far as i'm concerned.

I think the average punter isn't going to have the breakthrough suggestions the park sorely needs. There will be short term focus priorities mum & dad call for that won't help the park overall. The current park set up as I see it needs a few things to change and these are the immediate moves i'd make: Connect WOZ to West via the maze buildings. theme that area permanently and include it as part of the park envelope. In the short term you can just landscape it nicely and call it a picnic ground, drop in some food or merch carts along the way so it isn't entirely abandoned. Label an area a chillout zone for sensory escape. whatever you need to do here to make the area work. Drop a small flat into Western area. It doesn't have to be blockbuster, it just has to enliven the area into more than just a ghost town. As Rappa said - Showstage needs a purpose other than storage Use Doomsday area to install a few small kids attractions under a new theme. I have no suggestions for the IP but have seen several parks O/S pull this off well This will primarily take the load off WB Kids to enable a full transformation of the WB Kids area (or at minimum, a chance to bury the temporary overhead power cables, rip out the rotting wooden fences, re-level the uneven pavements etc. Give up on the main arena show. While i've got fond memories of PASS, bringing something like that back to the park just wouldn't draw a crowd. The current show isn't really any better than HWSD, though the stuntman element is certainly an improvement. There's just so much burning rubber and fireballs you can take. We've seen parks overseas walk away from their large stunt and special effects shows - Universal Hollywood used to have Western stunt show, Special Effects (both lower lot and upper lot stages) and Animal Actors - now all three are gone. Use the arena space for a high capacity dark ride. My mind is thinking an intamin dark ride like spaghetti chase in USS, but not necessarily children's IP - just ride system and overall experience.

A Chinese tourist is suing theme park giant Village Roadshow for more than $2m after she was allegedly trapped in a water slide at Wet ‘n’ Wild on the Gold Coast and slammed by another rider, fracturing her spine. Yanfei Xu, 32, has launched a Supreme Court lawsuit over the accident on the AquaLoop slide at the Oxenford water park in September 2023 which saw her taken away by ambulance. The AquaLoop, a famed trapdoor slide where riders dropped 18m at up to 60km/h down four separate intertwined chutes, was dismantled in 2024 to make way for new slides. In her claim, which Village Roadshow Theme Parks is defending, lawyers for Ms Xu said she was at the theme park with her partner Leon Zhou when the accident happened. The claim says both intended to ride the slide, with Ms Xu going first. However, she did not clear the tube and instead slid backwards into the slide near the “escape hatch”, the claim states. It alleges that two slide operators failed to identify that Ms Xu was still “trapped”, with one dismissing Mr Zhou’s concerns that his partner had not exited the slide. That operator then launched another rider onto the slide, who hit Ms Xu at “high velocity”, the claim alleges. The claim alleges the AquaLoop had “an inherent design fault” because riders became stuck, creating the risk of collision. It alleges both water slide operators acted contrary to the park’s written policy and clearing process by failing to identify that Ms Xu was stuck in the slide and by releasing another rider when she was still inside the tube. Optical sensors on the slide also failed or were overridden, the claim alleges. It also alleges that Village Roadshow misled Ms Xu via an audio message and evacuation procedure sign that represented the slide would stop automatically in the event a rider was not ejected. The claim alleges riders not being “catapulted through the loop” was a common occurrence on the AquaLoop, with about 728 such incidents in the month leading up to the accident. There had also been a number of similar incidents or “near misses” on the slide, including one in 2017 when two riders collided. The claim alleges that following the incident involving Ms Xu, one water slide operator was sacked and Village Roadshow was issued with an improvement notice by Workplace Health and Safety Queensland over inadequate risk management for the AquaLoop. It states that following the accident, Ms Xu was taken by ambulance to Gold Coast University Hospital where a CT scan revealed fractured vertebrae and other injuries. According to the claim, Ms Xu developed “escalating psychological symptoms” and endured “pain, suffering, inconvenience and loss of amenities of life”. The claim states she worked as a reactive marketing manager for games developer giant FunPlus but lost her job in March 2024 after being bedridden for weeks and taking sick leave. She had since moved to Australia and found work in a duty free outlet at Melbourne Airport. Ms Xu is seeking a total of $2,341,551.78 in damages. In its defence, Village Roadshow admits Ms Xu suffered injuries in the incident but says their nature and extent are disputed and must be determined based on medical evidence at a trial. Village denies the AquaLoop had an inherent design defect because any water slide designed to propel riders upwards “carries with it an inherent risk”. The theme park operator says it had mitigated the risk of collision by ensuring the slide had an escape hatch and implementing and training staff in a written policy and clearing process. It says the incident was solely caused by the two water slide operators’ “momentary inattention and inadvertent noncompliance” with procedures and this did not breach the company’s care guarantee to patrons. Court filings reveal mediation between the two parties has failed. https://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/news/queensland/village-roadshow-sued-for-2m-after-tourist-allegedly-trapped-hit-on-slide/news-story/a70764519c2b6082afd395fd223dc714

It makes sense as to why the slides were abruptly closed then removed

@MickeyD We can only dream. In the meantime, park hours have been reduced, events have been cancelled or scaled back, and food prices have gone up. (Superheroes and Super Villains event has gone from super to, "that'll do) Sorry, Village, but price rises are a reward for improving the guest experience, not shrinking it. The recent restructure at the top has pretty much shown where the priorities are, and its not the things guests are asking for. At this rate, the only thing expanding is the receipt.

We should frame this! Village began ruining their image around 2023 when they could get on top of maintenance, would have almost half the rides closed some days and people were getting very frustrated with it. Even guests with annual passes were annoyed because every time they went several things would be closed, unless they went in the school holidays (which some pass holders avoid). Then they started charging more for less, the quality of product was poor and even if everything was open, guests were still getting frustrated because queues were slow, staff service was poor and the lack of seating and shade was minimal (looking at you Oz). They had such a strong reputation, they were riding on those morals, but they started digging themselves a large hole and once DW started getting their act together, everyone realised that was the place to be because everyone was having a better day out (and it was cheaper).

I don't say it often, but I agree with Skeet. They're tearing through their public offering and doing whatever they can to save a buck. Right now, this is worse than previously where we thought they just didn't care about the guest experience.