downunder

I went with a local mate just after Christmas, and we decided to splurge on fast passes (I've never done FP at Movie World, excluding Ultimate Tour at Halloween). He was shocked at how much we got done. But mostly they all go there to hang out and aren't as focussed on riding. Ha, if the new world's best rollercoaster is a B & M, that will be a serious people eater.

Fuji-Queue is one of the most daunting challenges in the world of coaster enthusiasm, only one step up from getting a ride on Orphan Rocker. Having a great day where you get a good number of rides is the stuff of legend. I hope you get one of those days when you go back. Personally, I'm torn on this place. The coasters and Horror Hospital are of great interest to me, but getting a ride on anything sounds super hard - though the fast passes they have now might help.

^But it was fun trying to stay on that postage stamp sized mat, and that rapids one - I had no idea when I was supposed to stay or go - my donut was a little flat so I kept getting stuck.

Went there yesterday, Kraken was a lot of fun, ha it's good fitness going up that steep hill. Looked like a very busy day. Kraken was an hour wait I hear, we did the fast pass, so nil or minimal wait. On the whole the slides were all fun - the slide with the tiny mats was hilarious trying to stay on, and fast. Abyss is a really good coaster, though some seats and rows are better than others. A nice little park, with some really good attractions.

In the US, a lot of parks have shows that only run during their Halloween events, so shows that have a 6-8 week run aren't unheard of. And they don't have to be complicated, not even involving stunts, might work. Magic shows, character shows - families might be happy to sit down for a half an hour and watch balloon animals get made...all kinds of possibilities, though I don't know what the appetite is at management level - is customer satisfaction scores linked to their KPIs and bonus?

I went the say after boxing day, quite possibly the first time I've been on a "peak" day. The lines at their worst that I was able to observe were 90 mins for Scooby and Superman, 45 mins for Justice league, probably about the same for Green Lantern. The bottom line, as observed in this thread, is MW simply need more attractions. I don't know what their cap is for when they put up the "park full" sign, if they have one, but it sounds like a hellish customer experience isn't one of the considerations. Perhaps adding some shows (or maybe walk-throughs like the Potter and Matrix ones) only for peak times might be one way of adding capacity, kind of in the same way some parks add temporary rides during summer. Disclaimer: I purchased the fast pass and had a very good day, braces self for flames.

^I think $35 is a bargain. So did my mate who used to work there.

You couldn't before, I'm going on Sunday and originally the website had you had to get them at the park first in best dressed. And then I went back the other week when it came time to buy a ticket and it was great - I can buy online.

I'm going there on the 17th, got the fastpass, and going with a local mate who used to work there. Should be a good day. The back pack thing looks like a good idea for Kraken.

Went there yesterday after work and did Mystery Manor a couple of times, the maze talent were really on their game. Excellent walk-through, albeit a little short, but heaps of fun. The drop tower seemed a little smoother on the big clunk at the end, maybe I was sitting in a lucky seat, or it was a good day, or they've done something to fix it a bit. I found this cool video of the original Luna Park pre 1979 fire. It's a little grainy and shaky at times, and there's no sound - but it does have POV of the original wood Big Dipper at several points in the video. https://youtu.be/aZ1FdM9YSGs

Though it is a little easier to do that with soft over the shoulder restraints. If you'd done that with the old restraints, you'd probably still be in a coma LOL. We got a few early rides on Arkham when we went just after Christmas, with the obligatory shout of "bonus helix" at the bonus helix. So much more bearable with the new restraints, and to think there was a time where you had to sit through that Lethal Weapon short in the theatre and get your brains bashed in. I know some people disagree philosophically with this, but fast track on a busy day makes for a much better time. I know it's now 2016, but we I wonder when we can expect an announcement about the new coaster based on previous patterns or should we just wait for that a week before it opens?

^I hear they are staging most events at MW. The 100 metre sprint is scheduled to start at park opening and runs from the gate to Superman LOL. I would think that Movie World would want at least one visually impressive new ride, so when the TV coverage does the aerial pan over the GC during the games that might be something they focus on, and viewers all over the world will think that place looks cool. A 500 foot tall launched woodie with fire effects and aquatrax may achieve this.

I was led to believe the Storm Coaster cost also took into account the value of the existing structure it was built around and through. Went to Movie World the day before last (and surprisingly Dreamworld too). MW really have some great attractions, just too few of them. If I had to speculate, and they were going to use that dead spot between Intencity and Wild West Falls. I'd speculate maybe a small dive coaster with heavy theming (think Krake) or I would hope for a woodie like Balder, which is very compact and is built inside itself. But only time will tell.

Kentucky Kingdom is right there (been there myself a while ago), and it's looking like a must-visit more than ever with the RMC coming. Beech Bend is in Bowling Green, Kentucky though that is really just 1 GCI woodie, and not a lot else, and Holiday World is even closer. I recommend the "parks nearby" function in rcdb.com, look up Kentucky Kingdom, and then use parks nearby to see what's close.

Nope, all my local friends park at the back too. Smart move, it's not that much of a walk to the gate. I might check out White Christmas on the post-Christmas date if I get a chance.

Good to see the Lantern is back on. The transition from lawn ornament back to El Loco is complete. Just in time for the crazy season.

My only grounds for an actual complaint (which is the only I mentioned to guest services), was the snafu at the gate. Not being able to scan a ticket at a gate is pretty basic, and having a half hour wasted when you only have 2.5 hours max at the park is frustrating. Like I've acknowledged, the lady as guest services was cool and I sensed she was frustrated about all the crap going on in the park too. It's the first time I've ever bothered complaining about a theme park. Most other stuff constituted the guest experience, which was poor, and not something I'd make a complaint about. I just simply won't go back - and I know I'm not alone there, and I'll also warn my friends off the place. And the weather, however frustrating, was bad luck.

To put it in perspective, I wouldn't normally even consider going to Florida at all, but a good mate moved down there from Minnesota so I was mainly there to catch up. The primary objectives while there were Halloween Horror Nights (incl. lights-on tours) and Busch/Howl O Scream, anything else was kind of a bonus. We did consider an extra Disney day, but in hindsight it was good to have a easier day. Like I said, I mainly wanted to satisfy my curiosity about Disney and do a bit of a taste test and check out mostly attractions I haven't been on before (in hindsight, Dinosaur sounds like a crazy ride - the other credit at AK was closed BTW). Some of the new to me stuff blew me away like Mission Space and Test Track, and others not new continued to impress me like Space Mountain, Haunted Mansion and Big Thunder. I'm more into thrill rides, though I can appreciate theming. Though themed rides to me are like movies and I only want to do them once or twice for the most part. Whereas thrill rides, the good ones, I can do over and over (I can liken it to something I won't mention here). There's no right answer here, everyone has different preferences. I don't jump up and down (or even notice) if someone has different likes to me, to each his own - enjoy. With Tower of Terror, I've been on it plenty of times before, it was new when I was there last LOL. It's good, but I could live without doing it again. Again it comes down to preference, I wouldn't be saying that about Bizarro at SFNE. We covered what we wanted to Disney and much more, I was pleasantly surprised at what we achieved. Zantasbar I thought Disney in one day was insane too LOL, but we had a clear plan (albeit with some rookie errors) and went for it. I have no regrets.

I am kind of being facetious, taking the piss more than a bit (too many P J O'Rourke and Hunter S Thompson books), but I know many people who live on the internet don't get that. I'll cease reporting, it was fun to reminisce. I actually had a ball; at most of the parks and catching up with friends on both coasts, and I will repeat next year - though I'll give Orlando a miss.

Tuesday 20th October - Sea World and Fun Spot Kissimmee The day before was about satisfying my curiosity about Disney, and this day was more of a pit stop after a frenetic series of all day-all night park days. Up early as usual, but at least I'd get to bed before midnight. We got to Sea World before opening and headed straight for Manta, first ride of the day. It's a solid flyer (not a huge fan of this ride type) - nothing too out of the ordinary, intensity in the pretzel loop and floating around otherwise. It has an excellent themed environment around it, which the coaster interacts with nicely - I'd put it just behind Tatsu which is the best flyer I've been on. We headed for Kraken, which my mate is a big fan of, but it wasn't open yet. We did a lap on Journey to Atlantis, which is the best of the rides with this name. Some really good themed environments and enough coaster action to allow the fatty patch jacket brigade to consider it a credit. Got fairly well drenched at the end, was hoping not to LOL, but I got the wrong seat. Kraken was still not open, so we tried this (new to me) arctic environment next to Kraken. Seriously freezing inside, great for a hot day. It had a funny ride with penguin shaped cars that went along a floor rather than track. After the ride there was a stack of exhibits including penguins. Fairly impressive. The onto Kraken, the B & M floorless. It's a pretty good coaster without being spectacular. Rode it about 8 times with minimal wait, mainly front and back. The new B & M hyper building site is next door, and it was a fascinating pile of dirt at the time. We went through a few more exhibits like the sharks, rode the small coaster Shamu Express (new to me). Went on the polar simulator ride, and checked out the Shamu show. Given the tragedy that has happened in recent times the show was somewhat muted, in any case it's not really my thing anyway. We left after half a day at Sea World, it was nice to have a cruisey day, because tomorrow was a big one. Orlando is the best of the Sea World parks (including our non-affiliated one). It has a lot more attractions than the Gold Coast - but the Gold Coast has a far better Shark exhibit and several other attractions that would match anything at Orlando. Yes VRTP can be world class when they want to be. Had lunch in Kissimmeee and then headed to the Fun Spot and rode the Spinning Mouse and the small coaster, and wandered around Old Town. After this went back to the accommodation and crashed, because after I got up early the next morning I was going to get about 2 hours sleep in the next 36 hours. Next up: Universal Orlando, lights-on tours of 7 Horror Nights Mazes and Halloween Horror Nights.

^That was a cool little thing they do in the lower lot. We did the early entry for Halloween Horror Nights and caught a bit of the last outing for Mr Raptor for the day. It's so simple, but really works.

I'm indifferent about the place now, I just want to move on and forget LOL. I hope they improve the place, I want Village Roadshow to succeed and build more "world's best attractions". I think they could learn from the responses from the guy at Adventure World in the kraken thread.

The Gold Coast Titans were at the park too, not sure if they were promoting the NRL or just dealing cocaine. Taylor who?

^As opposed to someone who spits the dummy when someone has an opinion that differs from their own. One, the comment about the car park was pointing out how cynical the place was - they lay a bitumen car park and then chuck gravel on it unnecessarily to make it painful to walk on. An observation rather than a complaint, we were close to the entrance, so it wasn't too far to walk. If I went again (I won't), I'd bring thongs and pay for a locker. As I observed, guest services were really cool. I have no intention of going back to the park so why would I bother getting free tickets. I had no complaint about the lightning, it happened, the closures just happened at unfortunate times. I do not share others complaints about the hours, it made operational sense to me. I can only base my observations on my own experience of staff and what happened on the day. Great you enjoy the place, that's fine with me. I hear there's a bunch of people complaining on facebook too, you might want to complain about them complaining. I very rarely complain about anything, but my experience of W n W was especially poor, no big deal in the greater scheme of things - I have plenty of other things I'd rather be doing. Peace out, keyboard warrior.

^Yeah we did it, OK looper, usual Schwarzy smoothness. A bit hidden now, walked right by it on out first park lap, caught it on the second. Monday 19th October - 4 Disneys in One Day, or Downunder Does Disney Animal Kingdom We had a day loose in our schedule, so we decided to do Disney Orlando. I hadn't been in 20 years, so why not? We decided to do all 4 parks in one day, which sounds crazy, but there wasn't a lot we wanted to do at Animal Kingdom or the Studios, and we were prepared to skip Epcot if we weren't doing well for time. I appreciate Disney, but I'm not a huge fan, I'd rather be riding Expedition GeForce than Everest; El Toro than an E-ticket. But I thought I'd see what the little rodent had to offer. We started the day at Animal Kingdom, we only wanted to do the coasters and go. We got there before opening and were escorted by a cast member towards Expedition Everest. The other coaster was closed so our expedition was simple. I was chatting to the cast member and explained to them that we were going to do all 4 parks in one day. Impressed, or perhaps taking pity at our folly. He pulled us aside when we got to Everest, and gave us extra fast passes for Animal Kingdom (all our fast passes were pre-booked online for Magic Kingdom). As Everest was only thing we were doing at AK, we clocked up two laps with the fast passes. I thought Everest was an average ride, the mountain was really cool, but it really didn't do a lot, and we all know about that dysfunctional yeti. I thought Disney could have done better with $100 million. Park opened at 9am and we were out the exit at 9.15am, and worked our way back to the car to head to the studio. My mate is a Florida local, so he got a season pass with parking so we didn't have to pay for parking. Disney Studios We arrived at the Studios and made a bee-line for the single rider queue for Rock n Roller Coaster. About twenty minutes wait, it's a solid launched Vekoma indoor Spaghetti bowl themed around Aerosmith, definitely a righteous rock band. Surprisingly intense for Disney. But I'm all for the mouse growing a pair. Didn't think the line was worth it for Tower of Terror, been on it before so not fussed. We went to the Great Movie ride which I really liked last time I was there. About 20 minute wait. I must say the animatronics were fantastic, as it took us on a ride through great movies over the years - everything from Singing In The Rain to Alien. The on-board interchangeable cast member(s) were lively as they got out and interacted with various scenes and swapped with a new host. Definitely a fantastic ride. OK we were done with the studios and making good time, so we decided to hit Epcot. Epcot The great right-wing satirist PJ O'Rourke in his book Holidays in Hell described Epcot "a land of make-believe that's worse than real life". He was totally right at the time, though fortunately there has been some improvement since then. First up, we hit Test Track, using the single rider line, we were on in 15 minutes. Go to love 3 across seating on an attraction. Test Track was excellent, and intense. The indoor section is a little cheesy, but fun and the outdoor part was balls to the wall speed. Someone had to do something about making Epcot less boring and they achieved that in spades with this ride. I wasn't that interested in Mission Space, I thought it would be just a glorified centrifuge. I was wrong. It was about a 20 minute wait for the intense side. We were immediately immersed in the majesty of Gary Sinise (an old in-joke). Oh boy was that space shuttle launch intense, and the mission finished before any motion sickness kicked in. I was pleasantly surprised at how good this ride was. We decided to wander around the lake, did a lap, checked out the food carts of the food and wine festival, but decided a restaurant would be better - so we did Italy, had a massive pizza. Wandered a bit more and drove over to the magic kingdom. Magic Kingdom Time to take on the little rat in his lair. Main street was a sea of mobility scooters, people who weren't so much knocking on heaven's door, as running into it on their scooter, then reversing and doing it again. Any gaps left by the scooters, were taken up by strollers full of semi-retarded hellspawn who could not have possibly been comprehending their surrounds. We were in the badlands now. We did Barnstormer to get what is known in the coaster world as a credit, not a bad little coaster to be fair. Our fast passes were for later. So we saw what we could do that had an OK wait, but my friend wanted to leave. My mate is a top dude, but he likes s***ty seventies and 80's bands and he needed to go back to Epcot and see...Air Supply. Another Florida mate was messaging us that when he drum-teched for them, and that he found the noise of the lead singer and guitarist making out quite off-putting - which fuelled a great deal of political incorrectness. So lame music and unfortunate white-man Afros were about to prevail - I personally would rather have my balls stung by scorpions than listen to Air Supply so I left him to it. I didn't care because that meant I could do more laps of Test Track. I must say the monorail between MK and Epcot was a good way to get between those parks. So a few more laps of Test Track, the big ball and we were back to MK. Plenty of time before our late night fast passes (rookie error booking online, no early times). We hit Haunted Mansion, then Big Thunder Railroad. Over to Tomorrowland (now wasn't that a huge hit at the movies, they'll have to jack up theme park prices again to cover the massive loss) for Space Mountain. Our fast pass was for a little later, so we did Stitch and Laughing Floor, which were seriously lame attractions, mere filler. Rookie error on Space Mountain, a fifteen minute line (which we couldn't see outside) so we should have used our fast passes later. Once we got off the ride, the parade had just finished and all the foamers were running for Space Mountain like greyhounds after a rabbit. Line was instantly long again. Space Mountain was awesome as usual, we all know what that entails, so I won't go into details. Our last fast pass was for Seven Dwarves Mine Train, which I'd heard horror stories about how long the line gets. Well the line was long, but the ride is short. What a cheap attraction, seriously lame. Did Disney spend all their money paying James Cameron for the Avatar IP use? Just an average mine train with a few effects here and there. On that note, we left, having done much more than we expected. As final f*** you from Mickey it took us an hour to get to the car, the monorail is a hell of a bottle neck. We walked 15 miles that day.