Noll_57

So I recently visited MW again and I have to applaud the park on what an amazing turnaround they’ve made. The place was looking the best it has in ages and the majority of issues the park had have been addressed. The place was absolutely buzzing and despite the very large crowds, ride operations were noticeably better. The staff overall seemed to be in a far more positive mood too and acted like they really wanted to be there (shout out to the cast member dancing down Main Street and cracking jokes with the public while preparing for the parade. They were an absolute legend and reminded me of a Disney cast member). Having the extra character performers was great too. I’m still not sure what to think about the new character meet and greet “stage” by the tree in the Looney Tunes area. As others have mentioned, it’s a great idea, but could have at least received a better paint job that’s more fitting for the space. One nice addition I noticed is that they’ve added new speakers around the base of the tree which are now playing the old music loop that used to be heard all throughout the kids area. This has definitely helped address the issue of there being no audio in the land and it’s great to finally have it back after all this time. My only gripe is that it can only be heard around the tree itself and nowhere else, with all the in-ground mushroom and rock speakers that previously covered the area beyond Tweety Cages still abandoned and sitting in disrepair (one had even been ripped out of the ground and dumped on its side, not a great look). It would be nice if they were able to reactivate these speakers to use alongside the new units to help liven up that area of the land too (or even just add a couple new speakers for this section). I also noticed the external music outside Superman Escape wasn’t working either, hopefully the park will address this too at some point. Apart from that (and of course Justice League and the Doomsday precinct, which clearly need desperate attention) everything else was really on point and the park had such a great atmosphere, one that it had been lacking for some time. Nice work Movie World! Hopefully this trend continues.

Definitely, I’d say theming is what would set Movie World apart from Gumbuya the most. I honestly doubt a lot of the GP would even realize the coaster is a clone of that at GW anyway, but turning the area into an immersive, themed land would truly elevate the experience as being something unique, even if the rides themselves are not.

So I visited MW again yesterday and I have to applaud the park on what an amazing turnaround they’ve made. The place was looking the best it has in ages and the majority of issues the park had have been addressed. The place was absolutely buzzing and despite the very large crowds, ride operations were noticeably better. The staff overall seemed to be in a far more positive mood too and acted like they really wanted to be there (shout out to the cast member dancing down Main Street and cracking jokes with the public while preparing for the parade. They were an absolute legend and reminded me of a Disney cast member). Having the extra character performers was great too. I’m still not sure what to think about the new character meet and greet “stage” by the tree in the Looney Tunes area. As others have mentioned, it’s a great idea, but could have at least received a better paint job that’s more fitting for the space. One nice addition I noticed is that they’ve added new speakers around the base of the tree which are now playing the old music loop that used to be heard all throughout the kids area. This has definitely helped address the issue of there being no audio in the land and it’s great to finally have it back after all this time. My only gripe is that it can only be heard around the tree itself and nowhere else, with all the in-ground mushroom and rock speakers that previously covered the area beyond Tweety Cages still abandoned and sitting in disrepair (one had even been ripped out of the ground and dumped on its side, not a great look). It would be nice if they were able to reactivate these speakers to use alongside the new units to help liven up that area of the land too (or even just add a couple new speakers for this section). I also noticed the external music outside Superman Escape wasn’t working either, hopefully the park will address this too at some point. Apart from that (and of course Justice League and the Doomsday precinct, which clearly need desperate attention) everything else was really on point and the park had such a great atmosphere, one that it had been lacking for some time. Nice work Movie World! Hopefully this trend continues. On an unrelated note, this has appeared next to AA:

Very exciting! All the Victorian parks have really been stepping up their game in the past few years in terms of theming, expanding and investing in attractions, but nothing quite on this level. It’ll be interesting to see how the other Vic parks respond.

So I stopped by the park again yesterday and was disappointed to see that all of the above mentioned issues have only gotten worse. Gardens have only become more overgrown, there’s still barely any background music playing around the park and even the main entrance gate has a massive crack in it in plain sight. Not to mention the terrible operations and staff who clearly didn’t want to be there. I was hoping there might have been at least some chance that VRTP could have looked at some of these issues before the busy Easter school holiday period, but that clearly isn’t the case. Can’t see too many people being impressed with the current state of the place.

The new speakers have only been installed around new/upgraded rides. All the existing background music speakers (such as those in Looney Tunes Village) have been completely neglected, hence why there hasn’t been anything playing there for so long.

Hi all, long time reader, first time poster here. I’ve always loved Movie World and feel very lucky that we have it here in Australia. But I have to say, I’m really disappointed in the current state of the park and the absolute nosedive the overall presentation and upkeep of the place has taken recently. I’ve noticed this for a while now, but it really hit home during my visit yesterday and wanted to share my thoughts here. The park was the worst I’ve ever seen it, so bad it was embarrassing. The place just feels so tired with overgrown gardens full of weeds, cracked buildings and cement, faded signs and cobwebs at every turn. While these things could be easily overlooked, they are so consistent throughout the park that it is extremely noticeable and it doesn’t get much better when you look at the attractions themselves. As many on here have already discussed, Justice league is in an appalling state right now with countless issues throughout the attraction. Every time I ride it, it just gets worse and worse. Some of the “highlights” include “No Signal” and “Check Input” notifications being displayed on the pre-show screens, the Cyborg animatronic being way off-sync with his audio, the majority of other animatronic characters throughout the ride not moving at all, multiple audio/lighting cues not triggering, frozen/out of sync screens and perhaps worst of all, non-working laser guns (has happened on all of my recent ride throughs no matter what vehicle I was in). There was also plenty of damaged/worn scenery that hasn’t been mended. Scooby Doo is also in very poor condition with many of the new “upgraded” effects either not working at all or terribly out of sync. Other areas such as the weird “mirror smash” section in the disco room was covered in dust and cobwebs and looked terrible. None of the interactive effects in the Doomsday precinct were working either. There are so many things that the park used to do well that have now been neglected. One of these areas is atmosphere. Movie World used to be full of energy at every turn with music accompanying you wherever you went. Today, as soon as you leave main street, there is barely any background music being played, with some areas in complete silence. The worst offender for this is the Looney Tunes Kids area, which has absolutely no background music playing at all and has been sitting in silence for months now. Many of the speakers in the area are broken (and very noticeable to the public) and this (along with the overgrown gardens, damaged theming etc.) has made the land feel bland, boring and more or less a dead space, when it should be the exact opposite. There are so many other things I could harp on about, but I think you’ve heard enough of my ranting. I understand I may sound a little nit-picky and am sorry to be so negative (especially on my first post). But this disappointment stems from my love for the park. Movie World and VRTP can do so much better, they have in the past and can in the future. This is arguably one of the only fully fledged theme parks we have in Australia that is capable of competing on an international level. It’s so close to being an amazing park or even a world class park in today’s market. The foundations are there, but there are currently so many little things that prevent that from being the case and that’s the most heartbreaking part. Simple things like attending to the gardens, repainting/repairing signs and architecture and just turning on background music will make a huge difference. While these are admittedly minor things, they make a huge difference to the overall quality of the experience and the guests will notice. But unfortunately, VRTP don’t seem to be interested in any of that right now. It seems their number one goal at the moment is to cut costs and squeeze every last dollar out of the park. Here’s hoping things will change.