Theme Park Girl

LOL yeah, downside to living out of town at the time, we didn't always get to some of the new rides straight away In this case we were a bit late with the Cyclone and yeah, it was the streamers and the turbine spinning that we saw when we rode it for the first time. Never knew there was a cow before that, let alone that it had news reports and stuff ? That has always been one thing that has disappointed me about the parks, they put so much effort into full theming when they first open and then let it all gradually slide into the "don't give an f anymore" stage, despite leaving all the evidence around of what USED to be ie. TV screens and broken lighting etc. I hate that I missed the original Buzzsaw theming, I heard all about it having a story and there's TVs everywhere inside the ride barn, but they all are just left switched off now. Same with the Giant Drop which has a TV in the queue line, although I did see/ride that not long after it opened, just don't remember what was on it at the time.

Well that's one thing I do give them credit on. Whilst they are more expensive for adults, the kids prices are a lot cheaper than MW, which is around the $15 mark. So I guess for a typical family of 4 it would work out to be around the same price in the end at either. Although we do tend to visit these buffets occasionally on days when the kids are at school, otherwise we just eat outside the parks where it's cheaper in general.

Just spotted this in my FB news feed this morning by the TPSN... according to their info it starts this Tuesday and is called "Inner City Rush 500":

Yup. My husband and I ate there once a couple of months back, and weren't really impressed with the food nor the atmosphere. I don't recall that there was even any music playing, and the room felt very 'empty' despite being full of Asian tourists at the time. I can't describe how or why I got this feeling, I think it was just the room layout (ie. one massive room full of tables) that did it. We did Rick's Amaricain buffet @ Movieworld this week and found it to be heaps better, and also a lot cheaper at $19.99 a head. They recently changed their offerings to pizza/pasta/salad/dessert (similar to Sizzler) instead of mostly Asian food like it was beforehand. The room and atmosphere is a lot more pleasant as well.

So awesome! Thanks for the sneak preview! I'm going with my family tomorrow. Can't wait. I'm a big Star Wars fan ???

Wtf. The Cyclone actually had a COW on the turbine when it opened??? ???

Exactly. If anything the Redline thingy should be moved over to where the Motorcoaster is. Maybe into the 'fast food' outlet that's never open anyway... The Oil Rig isn't IN Gold Rush, it's in between Gold Rush and Rocky Hollow. I don't see a problem with it at all, I think the three blend together quite well theme wise. At least they are all related to each other in some way (olden days, mining etc)

They have Batman Adventure: The Ride still at Movieworld in Germany, also practically identical to the one we had here: Eta: ok just read the one in Germany has since closed as well, but they still have one open in Madrid!

http://www.mygc.com.au/news/peter-brock-race-cars-to-be-re-located-to-gold-coast-theme-park/ Well, I guess we now know what Dreamworld has planned with it's new V8/racecar attraction XD

Or we could just send Andrewh on a field trip to Movieworld? (Sorry dude, couldn't resist )

Still... they couldn't do something like the Wipeout where you put your things in pigeonholes on one side of the wall, and then retrieve on the other? I suppose they couldn't make money from something like that, though.... ?

Popped into Dreamworld today briefly (yeah, I know, we ended up visiting all theme parks today lmfao) and nothing major to report... - Wipeout is back up and running after getting annual maintenance. - River Rapids is now closed for annual maintenance. - Vintage Cars is back to being closed weekdays and open on weekends only :/ - RC boats have *finally* been removed from the entrance fountain (yay!) and a garden appears to be being added around it's outskirts. There was a guy in there re painting the interior. Looks like they may finally be restoring the fountain to it's former glory, which is good news - Section of pathway between MDMC and Wiggles World (along the waterfront) is barricaded off, with a fresh smell of asphalt coming from inside. Unused shop between MDMC food outlet and toilet is barricaded off as well. Signs around staying something new is on the way, along with lots of "ABCkids coming this July" signs in the area (as per the recent announcement) - Goldie the eagle is as awesome as ever Oh, and of course it's Stormtrooper weekend this coming weekend: Am I planning to attend? Hell yeah ???

Took some pics this arvo from the skyway, not really much to report atm though. It's basically just a big empty patch of dirt lol...

Ohhhh yeah, I remember those red strip lights now! I recalled that there was red lighting in there of some sort that was no longer, but thought it was the laser lights. Now that you've mentioned it, I remember they were wall lights. Did they have them in the lift part as well? As I keep thinking that there's something different about the lighting in there now compared to when it opened. I thought it was the addition of the white light under the lift, but could be wrong. I'm trying to remember if the last Scooby was physically talking today. I'm pretty sure he was? I know the one near the mirror wasn't at one stage but he is fixed now, too. As are the swinging axes and all the other creepy demons and werewolf thingies And yeah, unfortunately they did have the music turned down a lot compared to when they first opened it. They were, however, blasting the creepy music outside the ride entrance, more so than they did last Saturday when we also visited. Could hear it from all the way near the WWF/western area lol. I noticed they have all the TVs turned off in the queue lines inside the spooky castle as well, but possibly because it's off-peak period and the end of the line now seems to finish in the hallway bit anyway.

Happy to report that after riding the Superman Escape today, MW have the water/flooding effect going again in the pre-ride bit ? Seems the park has indeed been doing a little bit of fixing up of their rides of late, given that (as per my post in the other thread) Scooby is all back to normal functioning status as well. Oh... come to think of it, they do still need to bring the fog effect back for that outside fly-through building corner of Superman. But meh, not gonna whinge too much over the little things since they are obviously making some effort to keep them maintained of late Wasn't too impressed with the whole $2 locker crap for that coaster, though... wtf... why do all the other GC rollercoasters provide storage boxes to put your valuables/loose items in whilst riding (including AA right next door) yet SE doesn't? Hubby and I had no choice but to fork out for it in order to be able to ride together. Boo. Bad form, Movieworld ???

For what it's worth, we rode Scooby today and everything mentioned in this topic has now been fixed. Animatronics are fully functional, warehouse had laser lights going and was nice and foggy inside ???

So when our passes were scanned into the entry booth at Seaworld today, we were handed 4 of these new "Great VIP Giveaway" scratch-it promotional thingies. We won a free game at Intencity @ Movieworld, 2x VIP express entry into the dolphin/seal shows at Seaworld, and.... a free adult annual pass for Paradise Country, valued at $49.95! Bonus ??? They also have codes on each of them which you enter into an online website for a chance to win 1 of 7 international holidays. I like this new promotion already ???

Hmm, they could always pave a big walkway in the section between WWF and AA to that area if they ever intended to expand there. Although that would obviously call for the complete removal/relocation of the Maverick theatre. But that would be the most logical option I can see. Alas, I completely agree that the park really needs to learn to utilise what free space it already has first before it ever considers expanding, though. I like the idea of relocating Boot Hill to the Wild West hill lol. Although I would want to hope they make the effort to breathe some "life" back into that mini-attraction though if they were to move it. I remember some of the graves used to snore, tombstones used to move etc. and it's a shame none of this happens anymore, as it was a neat little touch Oh, kinda off-topic, but has anyone else discovered the macadamia nut tree growing in the garden in the Wild West/Boot Hill area? My kids were having fun finding nuts in the garden/footpath and cracking them open to eat when we last visited there ???

Ah sorry Alex, I obviously worded my post poorly lol. I meant the "exclusive gold deal" to be a deal (ie. cheaper/cheapest price) exclusive to those who did the $79 renewal thing, not that the upgrade would be for renewal deals only. Sorry if that's how it read. I agree it would be silly if VRTP did that, as they would severely limit their potential customers and profit for gold upgrades ???

You do know that Village Roadshow backdate passes of up to 3 years old for renewals... right? I just renewed my entire family's passes which expired in June 2013 for the same price, plus got 4x "bring a friend for free" entry tickets. You unfortunately also missed out on the exclusive upgrade to gold deal coming up for in the next couple of months which is apparently only for those who recently renewed for $79 each. This would have been the better deal for your family! Just remember in future, you don't have to be current ones in order to be renewed, so long as they are recent

Ok, so I am now curious... who owns the land between W&W and Paradise Country? It's a pretty decent patch... Also can see that they do still have the maverick/western theatre sitting there collecting dust. If they levelled that, there would be a decent sized bit of room between the AA and WWF for a new ride or attraction (or two). Alternatively it would be nice if they did something new with it ie. a new western show. Either way, it looks to me like there is still plenty of room around for MW to grow, even if they have to knock a couple of unused things down. They are definitely in a better position than Seaworld expansion wise lol

Lack of space? Sheesh, they have big sections of the park which have been going completely unused for years. I'm assuming the maverick/western stage arena is probably still sitting behind those big doors collecting dust. Not to mention the large ghost town (quite literally) in front of it. They also still have 3/4 of potential space within the old LTRR warehouse, the driving school only takes up one corner of it. There's definitely room for at least one new ride and one new attraction/show without the need to expand the park.

I wouldn't be surprised if GL was pulled down. I get the impression that Movieworld - along with other Gold Coast theme parks - takes it's safety record very seriously. Take Dreamworld for example... what happened when there was that Kodak chairlift incident? They permanently closed down the ride. What happened when they had the helicopter incident? They got rid of the helicopters. Nobody died in either of these scenarios, but they didn't want to take any more chances. The exact same fate could very well be now in store for the green lantern coaster, given how serious the accident was. I'm sure most of us know it could very well have ended a lot worse, given the information and photos we have been fed on the aftermath. And I am sure the village roadshow bigwigs are very aware of this as well and won't want to take any chances again :/

Is John Menzies still the CEO? I remember he used to do walkthroughs back when we worked at SW in the early-mid 00's. Didn't see him at all when I was working there over the most recent Xmas holidays though, them again I was only there for 4 whole weeks lol.