joz

Without Nostalgia goggles, I thought the final scene on WWF was; OK. The sparks up the hill were pretty cool despite it looking like an automatic angle grinder. The Barrel effect was pretty cool, the 'planks' of the barrel were made out of rubber and it made it look like the barrel was expanding, in a rather cartoony sort of way. I think the only reason people think it was amazing is because the current 'knocked together in 2 weeks and inexplicably left that way forever' final scene is a bit underdone by the standards of the rest of the ride. Truthfully, even in it's current form, I love WWF. Despite it's flaws (and there are a few) it's really nothing short of a master piece. The themeing is next level particularly by Australian park standards, it has a very broad appeal, and a capacity that manages to keep the queue short on all but the busiest days, and when it does get a long queue you know when you get your turn you'll be rewarded with a nice long ride. In another thread I wrote about being a kid and being utterly underwhelmed at Movie World in it's first year. I often wonder what my opinion of the park would've been if WWF was at the park on opening day. It feels like such an epic ride, and you can't help but get excited when you see the mountain. It's also a fun ride to just watch, where as when Movie World opened you couldn't watch any rides and get excited, but it doesn't give everything away when you watch it. It's a shame that the year it was added Dreamworld happened to get a litter of Tiger Cubs, because they smashed WWF as a draw card. Seriously, an epic elaborate $20million boat ride didn't move the attendance needle at all, because Dreamworld had baby Tigers. I think it was largely seen as a failure when it opened, but the park is so significantly better for it having been built.

See as a kid, I found the park really bland and boring. To me it didn't become a worthwhile day out until Scooby Doo opened. If you could somehow make it that the park had all the attractions that were there when Superman opened, as well as Gremlins, the Studio Tour and maybe Maverick then you'd have a well rounded full day park. Movie World seemed to do a strange jump from being far to dull and family based to be any real fun when it opened, to having almost nothing for families today. To me it was never a 'magical' park, because although it was well executed, it didn't create an interesting sense of place. Here's an example, at Dreamworld there was the PaddleSteamer, when you got on that as a kid, that was like an epic journey into the middle of the bush. There was no Tower of Terror giving you a reference point, it was just an expedition out into the bush. Same thing with how Gold Rush Country created the feeling of an old mining town, and then the European feel of Village. More than that, Dreamworld (and Sea World) were big parks that you explored and found things. Movie World was just a small, fairly generic Main Street with 2 dead ends with not much to do in either. The individual attractions were great, but the park felt so boring and sterile. It's weird trying to put into words what I thought as a kid, but I vividly remember that feeling of getting to where the Western Action Show was and going 'oh that's the whole place, there's really nothing to it'. I liked Western Town because it at least created a sense of place, but the rest of it was just bleh to me. I remember how boring Movie World was when it opened, thats why it always makes me laugh when people say how good and magical Movie World was, and act like the roof somehow ruined it. I think the park is better than it was when I went as a kid, but it's still a small park. I like the fact it has more thrill rides now than it used to, I just wish they could just have another genuine family ride, another show and fix up WB Kids Land just to round the park's line up out a bit better.

I love the roof. Totally changed Main Street for the better. In an ideal world it'd be nice to have the poles on the outside of the street, but that's a pretty minor grumble.

These dining plans are pretty industry standard now. They know how much on average a pass holder spends on food. They then charge a bit more than that and they've increased their f&b takings wether people eat the extra or not, and if the guests eat more than what the extra charge was, then they are still ahead because the margins are so high to start with. I'm not saying it's a bad idea by any stretch, I'm just saying if you want to encourage spending and you don't mind if the margins take a hit, lower the price to more acceptable levels, and give pass holders an arbitrary discount so they think they're getting a deal. But what they're doing works too! I think the reason I don't like this is because I'm pessimistic in nature (surprise!) and I don't trust Village will put this revenue into extra capacity at the outlets to cope with the increased demand they've created. They didn't do it with the parks more broadly so why would they with the outlets?

Or they could price their f&b reasonably from the start?

Waiting for the money to roll in, aside from that I think it's still for sale. Just as an aside I'm very tempted next time I have a big inside scoop to drop it on Theme Parks a Go-Go

I know the movies being filmed are good for local jobs and all that jazz, but from a purely theme park fan perspective, what a pity that as soon as Movie World figured out they could use the studios for Halloween all of a sudden Village Roadshow started being more aggressive about getting productions in. I used to joke that if you ever wanted to hide a body where no one would ever find it your best bet would be the studios. Not anymore, this is the 3rd proper big production in as many years.

Thanks man!

I'll be honest in another year you will need to remind me again.

Maybe he saw the shed in the background and thought it was the show stage? How old is that photo though? I mean who still has the rego sticker on their car anymore? Would also say that it's more than just Doomsday being represented in the new area. That type of themeing isn't entirely unrealistic

To be honest, I never even went back and checked who did it, I just know there's been pages and pages in different threads. I don't forgive you because I was never really that worried in the first place lol

Is there much scope for moving something that's already at Luna Park into the space to create a big plot of land elsewhere?

I would but honestly moving them involves trawling through and deleting off topic posts, leaving others and deciding on posts that are half and half and all the rest. They're here now, and I'm OK with that. I'm aware that this has been a traumatic time for everyone involved, but I don't think we learn from history by pretending it didn't happen, and that the visual scars to this thread will be felt through the years. But visible scars are a sign of healing, and I'm optimistic, that with correct community spirit, we can move on, we can heal, and we can be wiser for the experience. In future post photos in the right thread.

Yeah, that's wrong.

I don't know why I feel a need to quote this. I just do.

He hates everyone, all theme park websites needs at least one person who hates everyone, and he's ours. But I like you reanimated, and from how long I've known Djrappa, I'd suggest there'd be stronger language than what you've encountered in this thread if there was actual dislike. Anyway, finally caught the Sharknado thing, yeah looks kinda cool in a totally ridiculous way, be interesting to see where it pops up. As for the Gold Coast candidates, Dreamworld have the current relationship, and it'd fit themeing wise where you'd expect it would go. Movie World have used him in the past for early Fright Nights, but it'd be interesting to know their current relationship after Movie World decided to go off and design their own walk through attractions using a lot of the tactics that they learnt from Lynton. Could be an entertaining little filler Movie attraction, and one not related to DC either, so winner! Personally though, I think it'd be hilarious to see this placed in a series of shipping containers underneath Storm at Sea World. Let's be real though, we all know it'll end up at Luna Park Sydney.

Sweary rant, but you know what, who cares: Society has gone utterly mad. I was out today at a shopping center (Pacific Fair FWIW) and a kids ball had landed in a water feature, and was out of reach, the fountain must've been maybe a bit deeper than ankle deep, MAYBE knee deep and had a flat bottom. What's fucking mental about it is there was a group of about 3 or 4 staff trying to figure out how to get the ball back. Like it was some impossible challenge that simply couldn't be solved. I watched for a good 4 or 5 mins until the wind happened to pick up, which brought the ball back, if it hadn't I think they'd still be there trying to figure out what to do 5 hours later. We're so far up bullshit public liability creek as a society, a bunch of adults couldn't bring themselves to take off their shoes off and walk though a small amount of water to get the ball back. $500,000 for a garden bed fall? Fuck what's left of society love, have a million! If some staff saw you standing there, that's basically the same thing as if Bugs Bunny himself had personally clubbed you in the kneecaps. Lady, if you happen to read this; thanks for making it that staff and customers have to be involved in confrontations about where they can and can't stand because of your inability to function as a person. Thank you for adding to the culture of a lack of personal responsibility. Just so you know though, society is fucked, and it's YOUR fault, and anyone who is even a little bit like you.

I wonder if it's ever happened that a raft made it into the reservoir. I kinda assumed it wasn't possible (like the rafts would be too big). Would be an epic thing to see happen though. Also just as an aside I'm surprised at how deep the water is. I also wonder if there's any chance of some extra Rapids since the chance of something bad happening has been reduced with the rails.

'Verified' members is something we've looked at, but it's not something that comes up often enough to push any further. The track record of park reps joining the forums hasn't been great, the Dreamworld PR rep was shot down basically because the attraction that she was announcing was a bit crap, someone from Jamberoo joined and happened to misspell something and got jumped on to hell. Mark is really one of the few who has joined with any success. I'm totally down with the idea that the member was Dave, I'm also open to the idea that this whole thing might happen one day. I just have been around long enough to have seen countless proposals come and go, many of which have been further along than this one is, and still came to nothing. When I say I doubt it, that's based on how these things normally go, if this one is different, then that's great! There's just nothing in the public domain to make me think this one will be any different to the other proposals that didn't happen. This one is way more ambitious than the Paramount Park for Melbourne, the Village Roadshow Safari Parks, Wet 'n' Wild Sunshine Coast, the Cultural Theme Park for Molendinar, and the 5 story indoor theme park that was proposed to take over the Surfers Paradise Transit center all combined, and each of those had more compelling information in the public domain than this does. If it happens I'll be there on opening day, but I'll be honestly shocked if I end up having to book a flight to Sydney.

There's a genre of films that Movie World could base a new themed area off.

Not for me that one, but I must say it'd be a hell of a day out if you were to buy it. They're taking the high end ticket thing that Village do at night events and going even further with it, so that's pretty cool. I also can't see it impacting other guests at all really, so I approve.

I think the idea of saying 'That painted backdrop is a representation of a filming technique' is a pretty big stretch. I think it'll look fine once it's blended into the background a bit and the other buildings in the area take the focus. I'd love to have a further opinion beyond that but that's all I've got on this one. I guess I'm glad they didn't just leave it blank.

I believe it happened because honestly there's no evidence to suggest otherwise. 'I'm so embarrassed I called the paper after trying to talk to people about it multiple times' I kind of struggle with, but I think you just have to take her word for it. Also the idea that someone who breastfed on a bench facing a very crowded pathway would be too embarrassed to ever breastfeed in public again seems questionable. Movie World as far as I know don't have a policy or a rule that says women can't breastfeed, but old mate who told her to move was acting on behalf of the company, even if he did it off his own back. If the policy is that breastfeeding is allowed then clearly it's not communicated to the staff clearly enough. No one pays in cash anymore, it should be a very simple case of proving they bought tickets, just give them a refund and an apology and be done with it.

You can still buy the big tubs of Lego (at least you could up till last Christmas), but obviously they can charge more for the sets with all the cool little pieces that make a space ship. My collection growing up was a big tub and a view other one off sets mixed in, I suspect that's the same for most people and that's still the case today.