MickeyD

From the parts of script I have heard, it pays no mention of any specific film. Yes the theme of the set is an Italian village and the scene is around shooting a jewel heist sequence for a supposed 'upcoming film' that the audience too is involved with. I think to keep this attraction a little more timeless and perhaps repeatable, there will be no specific movie tie-in.

^ Well with two launches and a far more twisted layout, I think it's a given - this will be a far superior experience compared to DW's poorest investment. Isn't it amazing that by throwing a few extra million bucks at an attraction, how much it improves the overall experience? I'm intrigued by the enclosed scene - it sounds fun!! I can imagine it involving some turbulant water effects as well as some projectors perhaps? I too hope for some animatronics in the ride but I certainly wouldn't count on it! WVTP's have been moving away from AA's for some years now and when they are used, (AKA Scooby) they are more like moving statues - which is fine with Scooby, they merely compliment the attraction & as you are moving by so quickly you don't get a good chance to check em out anyway. The reason for the shift is general upkeep and the high cost of ongoing maintenance. Take for example the Looney Tune's River Ride - since removing a dedicated Sally Animatronic's specialist about a decade ago, the show has progressively gotten worse - an absolute shame because with that attraction, the Animatronics ARE THE SHOW!! It is one of the Park's flagship attractions that has been going downhill for years. MW Management I hope you read this and pay attention!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quick update, the plan is to start the show on the 15th of December

well before you go calling people a dumb ass consider your topic choices 1st? BTW, Wild Wild West Adventure ride was the title of the original name for the Wild West falls attraction, I think you're meaning The Western Action Stunt Show.. Redundant topic, sorry

Love your work Gav - this news has made my day.. AND IT'S COMING TO SINGAPORE FIRST WOOHOOO!!! i think you are right about the Spiderman ride system being used but with the integration of full sized Transformers this ride is going to ROCK!! Awesome find

could you imagine the outcry from animal welfare lobby groups?? As much as I think it would be fun to see them up close in captivity, it really is just a selfish thing to do with such a massive and beautiful animal. For SW Australia, I very much doubt it would ever happen

One would also assume that with the weakening of the Australian dollar, we should see a significant increase in Domestic Tourism and therefore an upturn in Theme Park patronage over the coming months (if anything)... BAD FORM MOVIEWORLD!!! Something like this happened about 4 years ago when they decided to operate attractions sharing alternate cycles throughout the day. This was not at all well received by the guests & before too long got back to the media. They immediatly changed things back the way they were. I am assuming Gazza is correct and they have only closed certain quieter stores during the low seasons. IMO MW Management should continue working more toward attracting locals to bolster the Park numbers, at least until Domestic tourism picks up. Blatant increases in prices and shuttering stores is obvious cost cutting and not very clever either when it becomes so obvious to the guests in the park. Look at what accountants have done to Stella properties throughout Australia? They have turned successful Resorts and Hotels into lean, mean money making machines.. IF MW management go down this road it will again only be a matter of time that Patrons respond negatively to the changes in the form of Guest surveys and Guest Services complaints

OK, so about the show (or at least what I have heard about it so far).. For one, let me just say that from what I have heard the show is going to be pretty amazing!! I can only imagine Mitsubishi will be a sponsor for the show given the 10 or so Evos being specially made for the job. Interestingly, NONE of the original Police Academy cast will be returning for the job however thankfully Mr Vic Wilson will once again be 'taking the wheel' and directing the stunts for the Production. Come summer time when the show opens and as guests enter the huge arena, they will find themselves greeted by a Camera man and the 'film's' Director (two actors). The Directors character will somewhat play as comedy relief and the Camera man will be interacting with the crowd in all sorts of ways. As all of you heard earlier, a huge screen will be placed at the back of the venue. Perhaps what you didn't hear was the entire audience will be involved in the show in one way or another! The film sequences will be cleverly spliced with pre shot segments - the whole thing sounds mildly reminiscent of the old Movie magic show.. Enter the film's Producer - this character could be loosely compared to Police Academy's 'Harris' character I guess. He is there to disrupt things and clearly does not get along with anyone else except himself. As the lead up to the action ends, the scene is set explaining they are going to be involved in the filming of a jewel heist scene - shot in an Italian village setting as previously mentioned.. This is about all I can remember, the only other thing is expect loads of cool driving, action & MASSIVE explosions (as hinted by the Director and Camera man during the show's introduction.) Sounds like it's going to be a fun and much needed interactive show

I have been informed that MW has/is acquiring 10 Custom Evo's for the show. I have also found out loads more on the show and will spill my guts on what I have learned later in the week

Don't count on it - the usual opening for a major new ride is Boxing day. At best there could be soft runs in December, all going well

Yeah!! How bout those Gremlins huh?

I get you Alex but it depends on the type of show you are looking at really - both maverick & PA costed loads to run, hence why maverick was no longer viable to continue with. Not only were there pretty big casts for each show, there was also of course the back of house operations such as animal care (old western action show), mechanics, show techs, pyrotechnicians, prop, wardrobe and costume shops, trainers, audio visual, fitters etc.. Even with only 2 - 3 shows a day, operationally and cost wise, they were very much considered MAJOR attractions. I very much doubt a version of Soarin would cost as much as this. It's basically the functionality of the Batride with a big screen. Keep in mind I spent the best part of 10 years working in Operations at MW in a fairly senior role so I have a pretty good idea of backend running costs. Even so, MW management have always been very cautious with 'over capitilising' their Park. SW has it's exobedant costs of animal care whilst MW spends loads more on the behind the scenes stuff you don't see. I think this is the main reason why we haven't seen so much growth as we have seen replacements and upgrades (Gremlins, Western show, Studio tour, MM, PA). There is the obvious need to keep the place fresh as parts of the product date quickly but the main back end reason is to control capital expenditure and keep it in line with attendance growth. As I said, I believe the Maverick venue is the site for the next Major Attraction. Traditionally they have added a major ride to the park every three or so years & that number comes up again for MW xmas09. I don't regard Hollywood Stunt Driver as a major initial cost outlay, the venue is already there & the massive savings made from not running Police Academy can be dumped in to the initial set up cost of this new show. With other additions to the park over the years such as Wild West, batman, a bigger Looney tunes area etc, they no longer see it viable to run two major shows that swallow 1500 - 2000 guests at a time... However, we haven't really seen a new people eating addition since Wild West, that didn't already replace something else (unless you can't Batwing, Roadrunner, intencity)

^ I'm not sure if they did in fact acquire the IMAX projector or if the plan is still in the pipeline for a version of Soarin. I do know that was something that was tossed about before Superman was decided on. Who knows maybe it's still on the back burn? One thing is for sure the Maverick show venue is a hot spot for redevelopment. Personally I think a version of Soarin would make for a magnificant addition to MW's line up and would be a HUGE draw for international tourism. It could easily be themed to the western area with an appropriate Aussie outback themed entry. Something like this would be not only a massive crowd eater but would also prove relatively inexpensive to operate, needing only about 3 staff.

^ the stage has been used for Toon shows on and off for the last few years now. Personally I think it's a waste.. How do the Looney Tunes Characters fit into a Western themed area anyway? I know they don't have room in their own "land" for a show any more but it seems like a pretty piss poor excuse to fill a gap in their entertainment program to me? As for the Maverick show, it was a flop from day one. They spent MILLIONS on the set and even got Arthur Coghlan in to assist with the development of the illusions. Unfortunately the show never lived up to the promise of the set. The script was reworked countless times after it got off to a ludicrously shaky start and was never really that well received by it's audience. There have been tentative plans to rework the venue since Maverick was inevitably shuttered. A new show, Holiday events, a new ride or simply a function venue are all things that were being touted. Now that Events have Main Street sorted out with it's roof and the Maverick venue has been used time and time again for Holiday "Filler" shows, I think it is only a matter of time before the area is eyeballed for a new project. My money is on a new ride. A new Live show would take dozens of cast members to run whereas rides have greater appeal for repeatability and take only a fraction of staff members to operate.

^ absolutely nothing!!! Alf was simply a more popular character in Germany than Beatlejuice was in Australia.. so they went with him instead.. BTW BJ has nothing to do with Gremlins either in case you didn't know

^ so would I.. Another show of the MAV/PA standard IMO would be a great addition to MW. My hunch though is this is the site for the Park's next major attraction/ride

All though it will never happen I would love to see someone from WVTP's approach the role. Someone who has been in the bizz for a long time and as Joz said can approach things with a new set of eyes.. Many moons back, MW hired a GM who had worked at various Parks overseas including GM at Universal Florida. He was hired for his ideas, experience and er his cost cutting mastery. Perhaps DW could go down a similar road? (just not the latter!) I would much rather see DW cope as they are for the time being until they find the RIGHT PERSON for the job.. I know... JOHN LONGHURST!!

^^ MW Germany WAS copied from the original GC park - in fact when I was working there, some of my collegues were priviledged to fly over to Germany and assist with the opening of the park. When WB's sold out their ownership of the parks, Germany cut it's ties all together. The Gold Coast park has been lucky to maintain the WB's indicies (VERY marketable) As for Gremlins, ask me anything about it - I ran that ride from a control room that was basically behind the loading dock wall (where BJ sat) for a number of years. Had an awesome time working in there and scaring the little ones:) I have to say I am quite suprised there are so many people on this site commenting about the ride actually being scary? The feedback I got when working in the park was that it needed to be scarier?!?! As for it's removal, there are two main reasons; #1 The rides general repair and upkeep. We had a permanent guy on site that would make the conifains and skins for the Gremlins which would constantly deteriorate under the rides conditions of water and lighting. They would literally melt and fall apart after some time. At any given time there half a dozen odd Gremlins that were out for repair. It was an ongoing nightmare!!! The cars themsleves would often crash into each other around the building and damage the frames. They were fitted with Whiskers at the front that should (in theory) have prevented this from happening - the constant rusting caused by the water and steam effects throughout the ride didn't help either. #2 The rides repeatability. Attitiude of most people on Gremlins was been there, done that. The film itself became quite dated and tedious to those who had seen it all before. The Supervisor had an option to play with long or short show - you would have been quite lucky indeed to see the long version as it was rarely used. Whilst I miss Gremlins and would have dearly loved to see them plus up the ride, the on going upkeep costs really didn't justify it in favour of a new ride that had greater reliability and repeatability

^actually mate I appreciated the pics you took because I have been keen to see how the whole project is coming along for a while now - and I'm with you and others in agreeance that this is a positive move for the park. A lot of people just don't like change I guess?? I think the supports and in fact the ceiling itself will provide great frames to place up different decorations, movie posters, Christmas decorations etc.. I'm happy to wait and see how the finishing product looks.

Does anyone know if the roof is finished yet? I expect they will have it done in time for the September Holidays but was just wondering. When I drove past the park a few weeks ago all supports were in place

Put in some Cinemas, an Olympic Lap Pool, Basketball & Tennis courts.. ... or is that already planned?!?!

^ That's your opinion but I am sure many would disagree. I visited the park a few months back with friends from melbourne. We were there from opening till close. The only attractions we got to do twice were Scooby & Superman but then again, we did go on everything and saw all of the shows. I guess when you are visiting by yourself you can zip around and visit just the things you want in no time but when you go with a group, your hard pressed doing everything in the day. Sounds to me that there were a few attractions that you decided to overlook? Personally I would rather visit a Park like MW any day than stand in line all day long waiting for rides that have poor capacities

^ Personally I don't think the Batman ride is going anywhere any time soon. In it's current incarnation I guess there is a possibility for it to be one day updated with a new storyline and new film but there are no plans for that right now. You would be suprised at how popular it still is: in the morning on quieter days it operates with 3 - 4 motion bases and then down to 2 in the afternoon. It can run up to 6, taking a max group of 120 every 5 minutes or so. I spent a bit of time in the Tower control room during my ride supervisor days at the Park and oversaw over 1000 riders per hour during busy times. Typically nowadays almost 1000 people will have ridden by lunch time. Come the end of the day, almost the whole park of guests have been on. It's still a popular ride and a good mid range attraction for families. I would just like to see them spend some bucks on it and update the whole thing with new technology, a new film and additional FX. By the time they get around to it I think it will be long overdue

Menzies has been mentioning the roof over main Street for years and I still suspect that one is a bit of a pipeline "oneday maybe" project. -Sure the Universal Florida version of Rip-Rocket will be too expensive a project for MW to consider a complete clone but they could do a version that is just as fun for half the price. Back to the Future IMO was as good as Batride when it opened and BTTF cost somewhere in the realm of 70mil. MW did Batman for around the 12M figure I would have loved to have seen the proposed Soarin attraction come to Australia. It's a much needed family attraction but i think that idea has been and gone now.

Well I worked at MW for nearly decade and over that time I got to know some pretty key people. I have formed some great relationships with some who I still keep in regular touch with. I try and stay on top of the goss going on over there since leaving but I also understand and respect the sensitivity of their future plans. That said, everything is subject to change!! If John Menzies says they are going to do something, I wouldn't believe it until it is officially announced! Woodies would certainly add charm, character and uniqueness to the Park but would the general Australian public also agree? Whilst it would make a great family ride, MW have always tended to go for new technology and what has done big overseas. For example, Batman Adventure was built on the basis of success of Star Tours and Back to the Future. WWF was based on the success of the Jurassic Park ride. Interestingly we have recently seen the arrival of Shrek so what next out of the gates of Universal?? I suspect a version of the Hollywood Rip-Rocket Rollercoaster as Gazza and others on the board have suggested:)