Richard

At a recent visit to Warner Bros. Movie World, there is one thing that is immediately obvious. The park is incredibly more popular since the introduction of Scooby-Doo Spooky Coaster, there is no denying that. Movie World has spent the last 10 years trying new things to boost attendance significantly enough, and they've finally found it. It is clearly evident that Scooby Doo is what is attracting thousands more families through the gates. Wild Wild West (now Wild West falls) didn't do it when it opened, neither did Lethal Weapon, Looney Tunes Land didn't. They've finally managed to increase attendance dramatically, and personally, it is for the worse, at least short term. Movie World was designed clearly without capacity in mind. The park itself has narrow paths, no real open areas and is notorious for uneven distribution, thanks to the 'T' shape of the park, and the inability to get crowds flowing. They have added rides that aren't designed to be really high capacity, simply because there has never been the need. Scooby Doo, which runs quite consistantly at 1000pph, had an hour thirty queue today, to give you an idea of the crowds. Lethal Weapon, a ride that I have never queued for, other than waiting for the doors to open etc. Today, it had an hour queue. What really irritated me, was the lack of a second train on the track. The ride has two trains available, since the Blue train recently returned from a big rehab. Movie World has proved that two trains can be run effectively ont his ride earlier this year, when there was no queue. What does it take to utilise this when there is a desperate need to? If Movie World really wants to take this increase in popularity to their benefit, it won't be as easy as sitting back and taking in the profits, as other parks are able to do. Quite the opposite. The park should hit the ground running, so to speak. If the park is smart, they will do their first major expansion since opening, within the next few years, at the latest. An expansion, not necessarily consisting of giant B&M and Intamin creations. Just an area, that has some signature attraction/s, which not only draws crowds, but manages them effectively. Not another dead and area, like EVERYTHING currently in the park. No, they will have to make it lead somewhere, make it possible to exit the area a different way to entering. Honestly, when you're at a park, you get hungry, and decide to eat, you head usually to the closest food outlet. Movie World only has two real fast food shops, both very close to each other. As I entered the Gotham City Cafe today, I was rather hesitant to order, for the simple reason that in the surrounding area, where they have tables and chairs, there was not a single table free. If they are to expand the park. They will need more than attractions, and some amazing theming budget. They need facilities: toilets, various shops, food of course and anything else of this nature. Anything to relieve the stress put on the few of these facilities that already exist. Scooby-Doo Spooky Coaster is a ride that certainly has changed everything. But unless they can expand to meet the current demands, I see little point in further promoting the park. Comments, personal or similar experiences are more than welcome.

Visit www.totalthrills.com for a sneak preview of some of the pages on the new Total Thrills page. We're looking at an early November release, at the latest. It will have full photo galleries from: Aussie World, Dreamworld, Warner Bros. Movie World and Sea World to start off with. New galleries, such as a Luna Park Melbourne one (By February 2003), will be added as time goes on. Currently, there are around 50 Dreamworld photographs, and about 30 Movie World photographs all ready. All photos, I guarentee, will be the best you've seen of Australian parks. I have taken around 300 Dreamworld photos this year alone, and only the best are going online. The site will be added to frequently. There will be construction updates, and general Australian theme park news. Videos may be possible within the next few months. I'm hoping to have at least 25 members of this forum, before we go live. Once the site is up, I'm hoping to attract many many more Aussie thrillseekers to this community - so finally we can have a place of our own to sit and talk about exclusively our parks. To quote a good friend of mine, Kev, "I'm Excited!". 8) Feel free to add comments suggestions to this topic.

They have indeed improved loading times on most of the major rides. Back a few months ago, when I photographed Cyclone, it would take about 10 minutes to get two of the same photo. Today, there would have been ride time +30 seconds. They now have two ops on the entrance side, including one in the booth, and one on the exit side. This is a million times better (well, 3 ), than much of this year, where they had only 1 running the ride, who did everything from check the restraints, to getting a new trainload of people, and dispatching and monitoring the ride. Now, one attendant checks the left side, one the right, one operator dispatches, and while the ride is on the course, the left side attendant gets the next load ready. They were/are aiming for 500pph on the ride. Boxing Day, when it opened, it was running at a pretty consistant 288pph. Over the summer, they got it up to about 350, max. Then, for the rest of the year until now, they went down to under 288, probably closer to 100 (yes, at times they were only getting one dispatch every 15 minutes). I am very very happy to say that they are currently running at easily 350, if not more. :!: Just a quick point. If you've got a question to ask about something that isn't totally to do with the topic of the thread you're in, don't hesitate to start a new one. The more on the topic the posts are, the easier it'll be to find answers. In this case, let's keep it to do with the Nick Central construction as much as possible. :!: Nick Central, as of today, they've laid a huge slab of concrete at the old Kenny Koala show area, next to the Swamp Gators. Over at the back - they've got some new footers up, which look very suspiciously like coaster footers. That's all the major news. Over by Thunderbolt, they're repainting the Seaplanes, probably to be rethemed for Nick Central.

They took a ride down for rehab, and its taking a bit to get it back into top running condition. There is not a ride I know that is able to bounce right back from rehab, and perform as a ride that has been operating in its current state for an extended period of time. Tower of Terror experienced a large spell of downtime, over several days, after recent rehab. Giant Drop has been similar. Same with new rides, as just like after rehab, it takes time to warm up to any changes Cyclone was quite moody for much of the summer, it was having lift and sensor problems. Scooby-Doo Spooky Coaster was down for much of the Media day. We were told to come back later. Guess what - little to no communication was made for either when it was down. Not only would guests loose faith in the park or ride's safety, but 99% of the time, they don't really care about the problems, or they simply wouldn't understand. I've found myself before, watching Tower of Terror's car being winched back in with a cable, because the sensors aren't letting them bring it back with the magnets, explaining to people who were obviously wondering what was happening, using language that they were unfamiliar with. (They usually end up more confused than before after I've finished with them. ) Guests who want to know, will enquire with somebody on duty. It is expected up here, from the park's view, that they give as simple yet accurate answer as possible. Surely you would be instructed to do the same at Wonderland, or at least it would be common sense. I severly doubt the park is instructing you specifically to be hush-hush about this sort of thing. Last time I was at Wonderland Sydney, they were having troubles with the buzzbars on Bush Beast. After a lot of excess 'buzzes', and some rather frustrated ride operators (quite understandable under the circumstances), they closed the ride down, at about 2pm, meaning the ride had 3 ours of 'unscheduled' downtime. Somewhat related, but quite interesting I think: I consider Wonderland Sydney, in its current state, to someone like me (a thrill ride enthusiast), a 5 or 6 hour park, before the park gets uninteresting. The park operates the standard 7 hour day (10-5). I'd consider Dreamworld a 7 hour park, because of the wide variety of thrill rides. This doesn't mean that guests get ripped off, because there isn't necessarily a true full day of fun available in the park. You must remember that the park is only $46.20 to enter, as opposed to $54 for all the parks up here. That is only 85% of the cost of a day at a park here. And what is 85% of a 7 hour day? It is under 6 hours. The park is therefore, the most valuable. Needless to say, this is also not including the warmer months, where you could easily fill a full day with the waterpark combined with the theme park. A family with younger children could easily fill a full day of activities at Wonderland Sydney, with the wide variety of shows, as well as rides, wildlife park, and the waterpark if available. A family with younger and older children (say, 5, 9 and 14), would probably struggle to do everything that is offered, while remaining as a family group.

Well, I stand by my claims, which are backed by statistics and figures, that Wonderland is performing at the forefront of Australian theme parks. They are attracting crowds that make the park not just viable or profitable, but it is performing well above expected. Wonderland has said they're building a 'Wonderland Business Park' over the next few years. I say, that this would be pointless, especially with such a name, without the Wonderland Theme Park also operating. The selling point of this Business Park will undoubtedly be the exclusive use of the theme park at non-public times. It isn't a case of Wonderland being given a period of time to shape up or disappear, the park has developed tremendously over the past few years, and attendance has reflected this improvement in park quality. I don't think the park has poor public relations. Quite the contrary, they always give out information freely without any problems, unless they've been instructed to keep hush-hush, such as with the forthcoming thrill ride that was confirmed last year (nothing since, however), or who knows, though highly unlikely, the eventual demise of Wonderland Sydney as a Theme Park. :?:

Personally, I'd like to see the whole ride knocked down. The ride design isn't paced well, and it, as well as the rides it was a clone of, are generally spoekn of fizzers. It has some good points, but none are anything that you don't find on other standard wooden coasters. Still - I can't argue that the ride is any less that fun. Wouldn't you agree that it would be a bit pointless to continue upgrading their facilities, in this manner, if they were to close for good, in under about 4 months? Just one of the many many good arguments against this rumour.

The new Total Thrills Site, which will have hundreds of high quality original photographs of Australian thrills, as well as some park guides and all that sort of stuff, is well underway. Currently, the site design is completed, and it is just a matter of filling in the gaps with information etc. Expect it out, if all goes well, by some time in October. Australia's Premier Guide to Thrills is closer than ever!

By the looks of things - construction is just about ready to go vertical, after about a month or so of the groundwork. Can't imagine that they're too far away from some real construction. Like the sound of that, you say they've got lots of bricks, that's rare, after the past few structures have been made from aluminium and wood. Gotta love those sheds! Let's keep an eye out for that Vekoma family coaster now! They'll either be keeping track in the overflow carpark out front of Cyclone, or they will be moving it in behind Thunderbolt, or further along to the actual construction site. Hopefully the first one so we can all take a good gander. How'd you find that Double Shot promotion? I for one was surprised at how well it works. You might have noticed too that they've improved efficiency on Cyclone by about 400%, which is good to know, particularly after a very lazy past 6 months.

Well, I dared take my camera on the ride for one ride, turned off the flash, and all but one or two were duds. This one is on the turntable, just after you turn around (before it started moving again). If anything, it just gives you a bit of an idea of the lasers, and a pretty poor example of what they do. Although this particular laser effect is my second favorite on the whole ride, photos don't do it any justice (when riding, it looks like a vortex that you're about to head into - you can't see the track). If Movie World asks, I didn't take this photo. :twisted: I want to get some of the station, as IMO, it is the best themed part of the ride. It is just that I've seen the stares that others (myself included), give to people who blind the whole queue with their flash.

Well, that is interesting to say the least. I'd like to see one of them some time, I'm sure I'd laugh or cry (probably both). Well, day or night, it'll be great - the lights make it feel like night time anyway. And the whole ride is indoors.

Yes. This (relatively) unawaited coaster has finally opened at Warner Bros. Movie World. I was given the chance to ride it last Saturday, at a press day, and to be frank, it was the best ride I've ever been on. Just because it isn't a thrill ride, doesn't mean it can't be good. At around 5:30 long, the ride has length, EXCELLENT theming and some amazing effects that simply can't be beat. Kudos to Movie World for this fantastic ride, and if you haven't checked it out yet, or are a bit bored one sunday, head down (or up) to Movie World for this fantastic ride. You won't regret it. And here's to Movie World's bright future with B&M's, CCI's and Intamins galore!

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