GoGoBoy

I agree. I am happy to see them develop this superhero land. But I think once they finish Green Lantern, Lethal Weapon refurb and whatever replaces Batman (assuming it's also superhero themed) then it's time for them to move on for a while. Would be great to see them focus on the Wild West area and give this part of the park a new major attraction. Or perhaps a great family ride to replace Looney Tunes. Preferably both

I didn't realise there was a possibility they might build the station on the 'inner' side of the track. I thought it would be on the other side, but figured there wasn't much room due to the little creek. Still hard to imagine how it will be done and if they can fit in a decently themed loading area... but I guess we will wait and see when it all comes together. joz - I agree with you regarding Batman Adventure and am also hoping they replace it with a decent dark ride. Does anyone have any pictures of the actual Batman Adventure ride building/s? Could they really fit much of a dark ride into the existing buildings? I had a look at Google Maps but hard to tell how much room is actually available

MW uploaded the latest construction pic. Still can't see any sign of any building construction. Also, I noticed the 'station track' doesn't seem to have much room on the other side of it for an actual station?

Absolutely no idea what it is but fantastic find! Certainly looks like something big is happening

I was just looking at the latest construction pics of Green Lantern Coaster and is this thing going to be friggin high or is it just my imagination? Looking at the latest MW construction pic I was thinking that the top of the ride would be where the tallest support poles are now. However, looking at a standard El Loco pic, these poles actually form the support for the track on a lower level, after its come back from its initial drop and turned a corner. If I'm right this means that the tallest poles and the full height of the ride are yet to be revealed. Am I on the right track with this?

What is with the song they are using for the parade in that video above? Black Eyed Peas? Is it really appropriate? And they just use the same song... no editing or megamix or anything. Weird

That's interesting that you mention continuous loop... I note that many of the dark rides overseas at Disney and at Universal featured scenes with continuous loops. That might be more to do with the fact that they have such high throughput due to number of visitors and so for capacity reasons the boats/vehicles are all very close together

Actually I think the sensors in Lassiter's/Bermuda & Looney Tunes were just above boat level. I used to assume they were triggered by people rather than the boats themselves too... presumably so that the scenes would not activate if the boats were empty. I remember as a kid I always wanted to duck the sensor to try out this theory - but there'd always be someone else in the boat. I remember once on Lassiter's Lost Mine (when I was really young) riding in the back row of the boat holding an umbrella. As the boat passed the sensor and the scene activated I would lean back and swipe the umbrella through the sensor again. I don't know what I was trying to achieve! I think I thought the scene might reset or get confused or something. Kind of naughty really! Aaah, I loved that ride

I was just thinking recently that I wouldn't mind getting together and meeting some of you guys who I've now been talking to for YEARS on this site. Although I'm sort of waiting until there's something really worthwhile to drag me back to the Gold Coast from Sydney. Shockwave and Buzzsaw definitely aren't it. Green Lantern is almost it. But the closure of the other Village rides recently sort of neutralises this. I really think I need one more major attraction - hopefully whatever replaces Bermuda, Looney or Batman

I agree with most of you and personally really hope they keep these rides as dark rides, preferably boat/water rides. To me there's nothing quite like the feeling and atmosphere on a dark boat ride. My concern is that Village might not be interested in maintaining animatronics and effects any longer? I certainly hope that's not the case as these type of rides add a lot to the Village parks and are a point of difference. As an alternative, perhaps they could create partial dark rides. For Sea World, something similar to Atlantis (as others have mentioned) at SeaWorld Orlando could work well. It's a great combination of some effective dark ride sections, flume drops and a coaster chucked in too. This is a major part of the park so they really need to do something special with it. Just hope they don't replace it with another animal exhibit. For Movie World, if they don't keep it as a dark ride, I would agree that a themed rapids ride could work well. Popeye's at IOA was just pure fun. Great theming, long ride time and some brilliant water sprays and effects. Everybody is in hysterics at the end of that ride as you just get so soaked. You could also incorporate some dark ride sections too, similar to the Neverending Story rapids

So we all know Village recently closed their 2 major dark rides Looney Tunes River Ride and Bermuda Triangle. These rides were state of the art (especially for their time) and great family offerings. An announcement has also just been made that Batman Adventure 2 will close in October. No doubt the closure of these rides leaves a big gap in this market. The claim is that these rides will make way for "exciting new attractions" but we are yet to see any work taking place. Many people have commented that Movie World should be expanding rather than replacing rides, but at least we can be grateful that we are getting new attractions (hopefully!). My question to all of you is - what would you either LIKE to see these rides replaced with and/or what do you THINK they will be replaced with? Put your best guess forward but try to be realistic, keeping budgets and space requirements in mind. Would you use the existing buildings or start from scratch? What do you think can be achieved? Will be interested to see the creative stuff everyone can come up with...

Hold that thought Alex! I am going to create a new thread for replacement ideas for all of these rides which have closed recently...

Ahh okay... and what do they look like now? They modified them for Batman 2?

Which facades are you talking about? Were there actual facades for the simulator pods? It's been so many years since I've been on the ride, I can only really remember the library and the batcave bit

Actually I completely agree with the comments in regards to parts of Movie World being up to Disney standards (especially in the early years). I just came back from Disney World and I can tell you it's true! In particular the 3 Village dark rides (now unfortunately all gone); Bermuda, Gremlins & Looney Tunes, were all better than some of the dark rides at Disney World. They were innovative, immersive and unprecedented for an Australian theme park. Sad to hear the focus is all on VIP passes and "value" but I guess they feel that's the climate we are in. Hopefully this will change again soon. In the meantime it appears they are planning to keep adding some top notch attractions eg. Green Lantern... and I have hope for others. Most of the additions they added over the years well and truly lived up to the quality of the original attractions at the park. Lethal Weapon, Wild West Falls, Scooby, Superman... all brilliant world class rides. Movie World doesn't just take the easy way out and put in the most basic attractions. They always exceed expectations. Unlike Dreamworld, who spend the absolute minimum and generally underwhelm. Perfect example is Buzzsaw which ended up being the basic model. We were all so disappointed that they didn't go for the extended full coaster model. Meanwhile Green Lantern sounds like it's going to be more than a standard El Loco Coaster. We are hearing about possible new cars with more seats and better lap bars while the ride is rumoured to be larger than normal

TOTALLY AGREE!! ^

I think the problem with the Village parks constantly using the 'closed to may way for an exciting new attraction' line so often recently, is it becomes like the boy who cried wolf. People will believe it, to an extent, but we actually need to see work start on new attractions! I just don't think it's smart to close such major rides if a replacement isn't 'shovel ready'. At least if we saw construction going on, that'd be ok, regardless of how long it might take. If they are planning on replacing these rides with something better, then I guess that's good enough (although I'd rather see Movie World expand rather than close rides, as I have said before) BUT to leave them SBNO for a long time with no sign of any action is pretty poor

I'd agree with that... but how can they possibly build anything decent by Christmas? It would be very rushed which is not what we want! I, along with everyone else it seems, really question their decision to shut so many major family attractions at the same time. Interested to see what happens

I notice they haven't started work on buildings or structures yet. Oh please don't let this be like Jet Rescue where they build a crappy little partially outdoor station with ugly awnings and a painted 2D sign stuck on the side. I will feel much better when we start to see some structures rising from the ground

The thing I don't understand is that the above pic seems to show right down to (almost) the bottom of the ride. However using the background as a guide, it still looks to be a long way off the ground. Is this thing going to be pretty high with extended supports or is it just creative license on the artists impression?

Wow, is the GC Bulletin a News Limited publication? Because that journalism is almost as bad as The Daily Telegraph in Sydney. Not that we want to discourage these publications from printing stories about the theme parks, but to quote our Prime Minister Julia Gillard, "don't write crap... can't be that hard!"

I'm not actually sure that Movie World will have the upper hand over the Xmas holidays, especially considering the closure of the Looney Tunes River Ride without a replacement. Yes they will have the Green Lantern Coaster but DW can still push Buzzsaw. Meanwhile Dreamworld will probably be marketing their new Dreamworks kids area. Not only does MW not have a new kids attraction or area to market in response, but in fact with the River Ride closed they have a large gap in this offering. This is why I think it was not a smart decision to close the ride before a replacement was ready to be built (I plan to start a new thread about this issue of Village dark ride closures soon)

I will be happy so long as the ride gets some excellent signage and a well themed queue building/s and station area which conveys the story and concept nicely. It might also be a nice idea if the first part of the lift hill is enclosed with a small scene or sequence (perhaps some animatronics, effects etc). And possibly the station return too. Just as long as it's MUCH MORE THEMED THAN BATWING!

Yeah I tend to agree with your thoughts joz. I also think pin and Bmull are on the right track. But I definitely disagree with qldtaw. He implies that there has to be a choice between either thrills or good theming... that one has to be sacrificed for the other. Move World have shown us time and time again that this is not the case. The majority of their rides (with the excepting of Batwing) are a perfect blend of thrills and excellent theming. The difference between Dreamworld and Movie World is that MW are happy to spend that extra few million per attraction to really make it top notch. Just look at Superman Escape - while the station and external areas are not much, it has a very effective dark ride sequence that the train travels through before the main launch. And you couldn't say any thrills were sacrificed! I just came back from the US (Orlando in particular) and while the parks were impressive, I can honestly say that many of Movie World's (and Village Parks in general) individual attractions are comparable and in some cases better than the offerings at Disney and Universal. Looney Tunes River Ride and Bermuda Triangle were both world class family dark rides. The theming levels and various elements were absolutely up to standard and in some cases better than the best dark rides at Disney. Then look at something like Wild West Falls - a perfect blend of thrilling elements with a nice amount of theming thrown in (especially when all the effects were working). So as you can see, Village Roadshow have demonstrated to us many times that they are able to build world class attractions with the budget they have. As long as they continue to do this, I'll be happy. They don't need to do more - just maintain the standard. I was a little nervous when Batwing opened and it didn't even have the level of theming joz referred to above. I pray that this is not the new direction... I'm quietly confident it won't be. We don't need $300 million dollar attractions considering what MW can achieve on much smaller budgets. I do agree that Movie World needs MORE attractions however. They have a tendency of replacing attractions rather than keeping what is there and building new ones. I believe the park needs expansion, not just updating. They should have left Gremlins and Looney Tunes operating. I think if they can manage to keep adding these very high quality attractions without removing what is already there, the park would be leaps and bounds ahead of the competition

I don't understand why Aussie parks always seem to give themselves such a tight time frame these days. How about, you know, starting work on the ride sooner so that it can open in time and all the finishing touches can be completed. PS If anyone can get some pics of the entry area to the ride including the main signage and how it all fits in with Goldrush, that would be much appreciated. Also, would be interested in seeing what the updated Goldrush sign looks like. Thanks!