Movie world Maintenance 2022

[Rivals]

Scooby is now also closed, i’ve also heard WWF still hasn’t been open but that could just be normal technical issues they’ve been having throughout the day.

If WWF being closed is true, every single family attraction (excluding road runner, which caters more to kids) is closed. Doomsday is also slated to close for 2 days next week (which knowing Doomsday it will be extended,) I am glad it’s out of peak season though, hopefully this means all the rides that should be open in the September holidays are actually open.

[aaronm]

16 minutes ago, Rivals said:

hopefully this means all the rides that should be open in the September holidays are actually open.

It seems like school holidays are the only worthwhile time to visit Movie World these days. The rest of the year too many rides are under maintenance simultaneously. Prior to the BGH buyout it was rare for more than one major ride to have scheduled downtime at once but not so much these days.

[Naazon]

4 hours ago, aaronm said:

It seems like school holidays are the only worthwhile time to visit Movie World these days. The rest of the year too many rides are under maintenance simultaneously. Prior to the BGH buyout it was rare for more than one major ride to have scheduled downtime at once but not so much these days.

Could it be that BGH are putting them through more regular maintenance to improve their reliability and bring the attractions up to a higher standard? We have seen them commit to WWF, GL (is this the second time with the 2020 downtime replacing the lift hill evac stairs?), and now JL3D. Not sure when RR was done / who was running MW, I've lost track of time.

[GoGoBoy]

1 hour ago, Naazon said:

Could it be that BGH are putting them through more regular maintenance to improve their reliability and bring the attractions up to a higher standard? We have seen them commit to WWF, GL (is this the second time with the 2020 downtime replacing the lift hill evac stairs?), and now JL3D. Not sure when RR was done / who was running MW, I've lost track of time.

I'd be surprised. Most of these plans would already have been put in place before BGH took over. And mind you, they took over ownership, keeping most of the existing management and executive team in place. They would have had to sign off on some of the planned big capital expenditure, but I think most of this would have been in the planning stages before their arrival on the scene

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

15 hours ago, aaronm said:

Prior to the BGH buyout it was rare for more than one major ride to have scheduled downtime at once but not so much these days.

The past 5-6 years has completely turned the theme park business on it's head. Since TRRR, new legislation, new oversight, coroner's recommendations, and a desire for every park, inspector and engineering firm not to get sued (and the resultant increase in insurance premiums) has made everyone sit up and take notice. 

A lot of the downtime can also be attributed to a delay on parts and shipping. Whereas in the past, the park electrician might have cobbled together something to keep the ailing water pump running most of the time, now, nobody wants to take that chance and prefers to just keep the ride closed. 

So it could be the new owners, or it could be the new eras.

[Levithian]

Regardless of what maintenance they might be scheduled to have performed, the simple fact is there are more rides than you have months in the year. You have no choice but to have multiple rides closed at once or they will never have their shutdowns completed. Can't keep building rides and keep the same maintenance schedule. 

Have a choice. Close more rides during off peak times when visitor numbers are low, or suffer the fallout of having major attractions closed during peak seasons. Many reasons for trying to avoid the latter as much as possible. 

Edited August 16, 2022 by Levithian

[Gazza]

Is that assuming a shutdown takes a full month per ride?

[joz]

It's worse than that too, aside from having to close more rides for longer, the windows for closures has shrunk. As well as school holidays there's now White Christmas and Fright Nights to contend with so that basically knocks out 2 months where you don't want to do maintenance on certain attractions.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

White christmas and most of their other events like Hooray or Carnivale etc they've kinda got covered because of school holidays over those periods, but Fright nights for sure. 

The only other way to manage it is to go seasonal and get in a bunch of sub-contractors to get all the maintenance done in the off season, but I bet people would be complaining way more if the entire park was closed.

It has been suggested before but perhaps they need to switch to an off-peak pricing in the low seasons when having multiple majors closed is more likely so people don't feel ripped off...?

 

[Tricoart]

6 minutes ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

White christmas and most of their other events like Hooray or Carnivale etc they've kinda got covered because of school holidays over those periods, but Fright nights for sure. 

The only other way to manage it is to go seasonal and get in a bunch of sub-contractors to get all the maintenance done in the off season, but I bet people would be complaining way more if the entire park was closed.

It has been suggested before but perhaps they need to switch to an off-peak pricing in the low seasons when having multiple majors closed is more likely so people don't feel ripped off...?

 

Do people really feel ripped off as it is currently, though? Cause, yeah, rides get closed in the off-peak for maintenance, but (personally, not to say it isn't the case) I haven't really seen anyone feeling/voicing concerns over being ripped off by that. Seems to me like most of the people who'd feel ripped off by a closed attraction are the people that only go on holidays (that being travelling/holidaying families), unless it's a very drastic and unforseeable series of closures.

Edited August 16, 2022 by Tricoart

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

43 minutes ago, Tricoart said:

Do people really feel ripped off as it is currently, though?

Given I referenced off peak pricing, you can deduce from that that I'm not referring to annual passholders who visit all year for less than double the price of a day ticket. So you can bet that I was referring to those who might have travelled a long way, and only have one day (or limited money) to spend to visit a park. 

Adult admission to movie world for a single day is $109 at the gate. ($99 online, but probably carries a transaction fee). As a day visitor, you'll pay that price on Boxing Day, or a weekday in August. So you'll get a lot more for your buck if you don't visit off peak. 

48 minutes ago, Tricoart said:

I haven't really seen anyone feeling/voicing concerns over being ripped off by that.

Like it's hard? These were all posted to google in the past 3 days.

...and 4 out of 5 of those have 2 or less reviews on google - which tells you they specifically logged into google to leave a review for movie world - THAT is how strongly they felt about the issue...

[jjuttp]

You can also see it on any Facebook post from them. At the same time though, ive seen people call for cheaper pricing when 1 ride is down and another thinking schedule maiteneance should only take an hour a day and be done on a rolling basis.

[New display name]

5 minutes ago, jjuttp said:

You can also see it on any Facebook post from them. At the same time though, ive seen people call for cheaper pricing when 1 ride is down and another thinking schedule maiteneance should only take an hour a day and be done on a rolling basis.

Can you attach it here so we can all see it?  Not everybody has Facebook.

[Tricoart]

1 hour ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

Like it's hard? These were all posted to google in the past 3 days.

...and 4 out of 5 of those have 2 or less reviews on google - which tells you they specifically logged into google to leave a review for movie world - THAT is how strongly they felt about the issue...

Dunno where you got me saying it was hard, all I said was that I hadn't seen it personally, so didn't know if it was that much of an issue. And, if it is the case that it's as prominent as what you posted, then I agree that they should do something about it. Which, according to the Local Guide, they have at least been testing rectifications already, with an (albeit small) discount offer at the gate. So, if it continues to stay a point of contention, and it's not just an unforeseen spike in closures like I said earlier, then maybe they will end up deciding to do something more, like an off-season pricing schedule. But I just don't see it being an urgent or prominent enough issue to warrant a switch as a result of the current closures alone, nor the routine closures that have to happen for a year-round park.

22 minutes ago, New display name said:

Can you attach it here so we can all see it?  Not everybody has Facebook.

These are all the comments I could find on their Facebook posts relating to maintenance from the Wizard of Oz announcement til now, sorted by relevancy:

Edited August 17, 2022 by Tricoart

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

3 minutes ago, Tricoart said:

Dunno where you got me saying it was hard

It's a movie quote which on reflection is quite dated for the average age of this forum. I wasn't suggesting you said it was, I was just pointing out that it wasn't hard to find evidence of it. Apologies for the confusion.

5 minutes ago, Tricoart said:

according to the Local Guide, they have at least been testing rectifications already, with an (albeit small) discount offer at the gate.

I think you've misunderstood that part of the review. Tickets online are $10 cheaper than at the gate is what I read it as (because they are). If they are however offering the online price at the gate, they aren't really offering anything.

6 minutes ago, Tricoart said:

But I just don't see it being an urgent or prominent enough issue to warrant a switch as a result of the current closures alone, nor the routine closures that have to happen for a year-round park.

Whether you SEE it or not, it IS a prominent issue, and to suggest that a 'year round park' is going to have closures, and that isn't a good enough reason to offer cheaper tickets when half the park is closed, just because it's off peak is laughable.

Disneyland has SIX TIERS of pricing based on their expected peaks and current pricing online varies between $76 and $128 per day. Hong Kong Disneyland has peak and off peak pricing that varies EACH WEEK as mainland visitors pack the park Friday to Sunday. 

 

 

[Tricoart]

16 minutes ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

Disneyland has SIX TIERS of pricing based on their expected peaks and current pricing online varies between $76 and $128 per day. Hong Kong Disneyland has peak and off peak pricing that varies EACH WEEK as mainland visitors pack the park Friday to Sunday. 

Disney also gets millions of merchandise-fiending attendants at all of their parks yearly, spends and gains an unfathomable amount of money no matter the price tier, and changes their policies faster than Movie World changes a paintjob. And, even if anything I said above doesn't relate to ticket pricing, just compare a Six Flags, independently-operated park, Cedar Fair, Herschend, SEAS, Merlin, and that'd be a much more fair comparison. But pulling from Disney, of all comparisons that can be made, is laughable.

Edited August 17, 2022 by Tricoart

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

:sigh:

For a person who wasn't even aware this was an issue (and are likely unaffected by it as a passholder), you sure are fighting this one pretty hard. Disney was just easy as it was off the top of my head, is something most people are familiar with and are frequently held up as the standard to aspire to.

• The US SeaWorld parks have demand pricing with tickets ranging from $45.99 to $96.99.
• Legoland Florida costs $85 today, $90 the weekend of Halloween and $95 on Thanksgiving weekend.
• Knott's is $74 today, $79 the weekend of Halloween and $64 a week prior to Thanksgiving (the thanksgiving period is unavailable to purchase)
• Six Flags Discovery Kingdom offers one-day tickets ranging from $25 to $90

 

In summary - they all do it, not just the merched up moguls at Disney. Because charging your customer full price when you aren't offering a full product is a ripoff. Given your stance on promoting a charitable cause, i'm surprised you're such a polar opposite on this profit-making issue... 

[Tricoart]

51 minutes ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom offers one-day tickets ranging from $25 to $90

I saw that for SFMM's website too, and they're advertised at $85 currently, whereas most of the other parks are hovering around the $30-$40 dollar region, which was interesting to me. Also, good job with the more reasonable comparisons, that helps. However,
 

51 minutes ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

Given your stance on promoting a charitable cause, i'm surprised you're such a polar opposite on this profit-making issue... 

That is both inferring something that's entirely false, and bringing up an unrelated thread for the sole sake of adding fuel to an argument you (and only you) want to exist. So, before you reply, read the room. I doubt you're going to convince me otherwise - you've made your point, I've disagreed with it - walk away. As will I (again).

Edited August 17, 2022 by Tricoart

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

You asked for the other comparisons. That's hardly 'walking away'. 

20 minutes ago, Tricoart said:

That is both inferring something that's entirely false, and bringing up an unrelated thread for the sole sake of adding fuel to an argument you (and only you) want to exist.

It isn't false. Your stance on promoting a charitable cause as part of a news article is that it: quote "seems insincere..." and "immoral" that in the end is "for the sake of monetary gain". 

Yet you are defending a park charging full price, but delivering half the product. That's not fuel to the fire, that's illustrating your contradiction.

This is despite the park's customers, other enthusiasts, and every other major chain you cared to name doing precisely what I suggested, simply because YOU don't feel like its an issue.

So while you might think you're clever paraphrasing my earlier advice to you - there is no room. It's just you. The only other folk who have added to this particular thread of discussion have supported my point of view. You're on your own... again.

You asked a question. I provided an answer. I backed that answer with examples. I gave examples of current best practice in the industry. You rejected my example so I gave more that were to your liking but showed the same thing. Despite the fact that you agreed if what I was saying was true they needed to address it, you're now unfathomably saying you won't be convinced - so on the off chance you don't walk away... which is it?

And if you do respond - i'd like to ask a question -

What do you see as the reasonable justification for continuing to charge full price admission to a park that doesn't offer the full experience?

 

 

[Dean Barnett]

The Gold Coast parks would be better off closing for a month or so to do all the maintenance at once (if they could have enough crew to complete it) - they'd spend most of winter operating at a loss anyway (apart from school holidays).  The flagship parks globally wouldn't have as many rides down as they have right now - it would be like Disneyland opening with Splash/Space/BTMR down .. putting everyone on Carousel of Progress and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

Heck European parks even get temporary carney rides in if they have extended downtime of a ride during the season. Get Speed in and offer rides included in the entrance fee  .. something you can't get anywhere else.

[Naazon]

Sea World was bashed for doing exactly this before they announced Atlantis, so which is it? Do get temp rides in, or don't?

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

The temp SkyFlyer looked horrible, and the restraint system was quite restrictive. I think Speed as a choice is probably a bit low capacity as a replacement for literally anything on the coast. 

I think overall i'd prefer if they didn't bring carnival rides in (except Olympia Looping - I'm sure many would sell their left nut if that ever travelled here), but at the same time if they had massive downtimes across multiple rides beyond their control, i'd applaud them for doing something to fill the gap.

40 minutes ago, Dean Barnett said:

The flagship parks globally wouldn't have as many rides down as they have right now - it would be like Disneyland opening with Splash/Space/BTMR down .. putting everyone on Carousel of Progress and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

In several parks, Pooh is more popular than some of the mountains. The mountains can and have all gone down at once though...

I visited Disneyland about 9 years ago (would have been april\may 2013?) and OSHA had just slammed the park for safety violations if I remember correctly. They were required to shut down Matterhorn, Space Mountain and Soarin'. Big Thunder was down for regular annual maintenance, and Splash had gone down earlier in the day unexpectedly. This was literally all the mountains out of action on the same day. It was my wife's first trip to Disneyland - and you know what? She had a blast.

(We did have several days at the resort, so we made the most of our first day getting many of the dark ride suite in fantasyland, pirates, Mansion, Tom Sawyer, Indy, Buzz, and the rest of DCA etc. Everything except Space was back up the following day. Space reopened at 6pm on our last day and we rode non-stop until midnight.)

[Tricoart]

I don't think they'd be bashed that bad (or, at least, worthy of being bashed in my view) if they were to do either of the things Dean said, so long as they made an announcement at least a couple months beforehand, found a good place for the flats to go, and/or made sure that the maintenance closures didn't become a common occurrence. After all, MW (and every other GC park) is still meant to be year-round, and it becoming common would effectively just make it seasonal.

With a MW maintenance closure, were they not being affected by a shortage of available maintenance workers not too long ago (vaguely remember it being mentioned in regards to Superman Escape, but I could be wrong)? I know you've mentioned "if they could have enough crew to complete it", so I'm just wondering if there's even a chance that they realistically could, as, if my recollection is correct, a maintenance closure at current (or close to current) MW could become more of a recipe for adding fuel to the fire rather than putting it out. 

Far as the temporary flats go, if MW were to attempt that route, where could a decently-sized temporary flat even be placed? Only place I can think of is that concrete queue space (?) beside Arkham, which of course is closed off for WoO's construction. Every other place I can think of that's remotely flat or empty would either cause crowd flow problems, outrage for noise, blocked/removed views, etc.

Edited August 17, 2022 by Tricoart

[Rivals]

In terms of temporary flats added into parks for ride closures, as long as they have a good capacity and look presentable i don’t see a problem with it. 
I also wouldn’t mine if they were added into seasonal events (best example is Dreamworld’s Spring County Fair) to soak up the crowds seen during these events. Imo Travelling Coasters (such as Olympia Looping) would work better then the flats but both aren’t bad options.

[Cactus_Matt]

If they could put temporary flats into an unused show building (not too familiar with what, if any buildings at Movie World they have that are unused) and then just have a bunch of smoke machines and lasers and other cheap but cool-looking effects I think that'd go a fair way of making an ordinary temporary flat ride into something "theme park worthy".