cthulhus_lawyer

Even if it were true (which it isn't) that 100% of people visiting from Brisbane/elsewhere are setting off before the park even opens, there is no reason not to provide ride wait information in real-time. I'm a professional UX designer and I've actually showed the app to other software developers on my team. No one can wrap their head around why they are locking that information, beyond a) performance issues - not good b) obscuring information from users deliberately (also not good). As you yourself say, the VQ is clunky. While it may have always worked for you in spite of that, it has failed for me and others. Given the frequency/scope of the failure I'd say the app needs serious improvements so that it doesn't detract from the visitor experience. One thing which I found interesting was perusing reviews online and the number of people who resent having to be on their phones all day when they expected to have a phone-free time at the park. It just feels to me like VR rushed the app out (probably because of Covid) without doing a lot of user testing. Hopefully they can take the feedback they are undoubtedly getting on board.

Brad, I'm venting, critiquing and sharing an experience. What's the problem with that? It's a theme park forum. And I'm also alerting you and others to issues with the app which may affect your experiences in the park - you seem to agree with me that the app should be improved. In fact that is the whole point of my post, that this app is taking value away from paying guests. You seem to be getting really riled up

Thanks Webslave, you are right, the UX on the app is terrible and the lack of competition/innovation is what is holding them back.. To you Brad I would say that even if I agreed with you that these 4 parks are worth visiting on an unlimited or even one-off basis (debatable -they are low/average quality by international standards - few rides and poor theming), the major irritation is the lack of communication re: these peak/off-peak price fluctuations. Again, these things can be built into the app and communicated to users which would improve the experience. As to not letting users know wait times prior to arrival in the park (because the app locks these details until location detection), that is a dark UX pattern. It would have been simple enough to provide that incredibly useful functionality for users (which would actually help the park ease congestion) but it has been cordoned off. This is surely to manipulate customers. With virtual queuing often not working at all (check trip advisor recently - lots of complaints about this app, its performance and overall UX), it's such a lousy digital product.

I am a season pass holder. When the fast track system was first brought out, I purchased that on top of a season pass and had a blast - no problem paying extra to skip the queue. Visited movie world again today, fully intending to purchase fast track again because it's worth it. Find out that fast track has been completely nerfed - $99 just to skip the queue on 7 attractions just once. And keep in mind - one of those coasters wasn't even running today, and the other two (Road Runner Coaster + justice League 3D) are crap. Come on. So, I decided to see if I could fast track individual rides (as it had been just until recently). No, that is gone as well. On top of that, the app's virtual queue is broken. Joined the virtual queue for one of the rides and was told I could board - in FIVE hours. But visiting the ride itself obviously revealed that the wait was 50 minutes. Useless virtual queue, useless fast track, and sadly, useless season pass. So, to summarise, this park is ripping off its customers. There are not enough rides at MW to justify the cost of entry, especially since wait times are absurdly long and the app which is supposed to reduce congestion via virtual queueing doesn't even function. More than that, the Village Roadshow app doesn't even function properly.. Irritatingly, it doesn't tell you wait times for rides until it detects you are at the park. Gee, wouldn't it be great if the customers could tell beforehand if the park was going to be at capacity, so they could spare themselves the drive? It seems that the app is deliberately designed to create confusion for guests so that the park can entrap them into paying for their garbage, overpriced and useless Fast Track. Customer service at MW is also poor - when inquiring over the phone whether FT could be purchased in the park I was told no, that it had to be pre-booked. When I visited the park (that same day!), lo and behold, you can purchase FT at the gate, not that you would want to since it's such a waste of money. I cannot stress enough how broken the app is and how poorly it is being utilised. Since I could clearly see that Village Roadshow was trying to scam me, I walked out of the park without riding a single attraction. I'm a UX designer myself and the thing that gets me the most (aside from the money grubbing of VR) is how poor the user flow for the app is. You have to sift through different tiers of navigation just to find what you want. The copywriting is vague and just creates more confusion. The confusion exists for staff as well, as you may ask them questions about the app, virtual queueing and expiration of your queue tokens, and they can't answer you at all.