The Decline Of Movie World

[Noll_57]

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.             

[Brad2912]

Having not been to MW in a few months, it’s sad to see it looking in such a poor state. It’s all in the details and that’s just poor.

 

[joz]

The big shame about that stuff is it's not all the hard shit. Some of it is the easy stuff thats broken. Haven't been for a while to check it out in person, but if that's representative then it's not up to where they should be.

[GoGoBoy]

What's going on @Bikash Randhawa? Very disappointing to hear this

[aussienetman]

Over the past few months I have been pondering the question...When did Movieworld lose its magic' 

Was it the closure of Police Academy for the bogan-fueled SD? 

Was it the lacklustre 'improvements' to Scooby?

Do we even go as far back and say the magic ended with the literal closure of the Special Effects show?

I remember recently travelling by bus to the park... And a family of tourists were sitting close by excitedly talking about what they were going to ride when they got there while I silently ticked off the rides in my head that were closed and thinking of the disappointment they might feel when they discovered the truth. 

I guess your pictures put into words the general feeling I have towards MW atm. All substance, no style. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[New display name]

@jozIt wouldn’t surprise me if the problems are out of managements hands.  I have a few theories.

1. The company that purchased VR had a shocking year and lost a lot of money so maybe they have been told to rein in the spending.

2. VR had major staffing issues over Christmas and maybe this hasn't been  100% sorted.

3. Covid.

 

[Rivals]

12 minutes ago, New display name said:

@jozIt wouldn’t surprise me if the problems are out of managements hands.  I have a few theories.

1. The company that purchased VR had a shocking year and lost a lot of money so maybe they have been told to rein in the spending.

2. VR had major staffing issues over Christmas and maybe this hasn't been  100% sorted.

3. Covid.

 

the only one of those that actually would make sense is the 1st one, hoping the last one is just an added in joke…

[Park Addict 93]

I have considered making a similar thread for quite awhile, the Villains area is in particular need of attention.

I have noticed a large difference since BGH took control, the parks have raised prices on everything but the quality/standard has fallen. I have no problem with a One Pass being $189 currently, but the park should be operating at the same or better standards than when they were at $139.

For example it's near impossible to get VQ reservations for the major attractions now on a weekend only an hour after opening as the allocation is much smaller to push Fast Track/One Shot's.

23 minutes ago, New display name said:

2. VR had major staffing issues over Christmas and maybe this hasn't been  100% sorted.

The only department I am aware of having staffing issues and are continually advertising for staff is Show & Entertainment, not surprising considering someone with strong vocal ability is only paid $26.69 an hour part time.

[Cactus_Matt]

If I had to hazard a guess at why there's been such a downturn in quality overall it could be something as simple as they've got very little in the way of competition and even when they had multiple rides out of commission the park was still as busy as it could be so from a success side of things the people in charge don't see there's anything wrong. People are coming to our park in droves and not going to the one down the road = we're doing everything right so why spend money on fixing/tidying things. It's obviously a bad attitude to have but it happens to a lot of companies when they're at the top. Being at the top and pretty much unopposed means you don't have to try as hard to win over every guest.

[joz]

4 hours ago, New display name said:

2. VR had major staffing issues over Christmas and maybe this hasn't been  100% sorted.

There is an element of this to be fair. But I don't think even with that you get to have screens that say 'check input'.

[xRazzBerryx]

10 hours ago, joz said:

But I don't think even with that you get to have screens that say 'check input'.

100%. That’s just embarrassing. 
 

MW need to turn this negative into a positive.

Yes, closing a ride that is only 10 years old with half decent theming (when it’s working) is unfortunate, but you’ve got a decent sized show building ready to go to house the best dark ride Australia has ever seen. 

[joz]

TBH it's a pretty small building, I doubt you'd get much more ride in there than is already there. It's also flanked on a couple of sides so you can't expand it easily. I don't think it's worth getting rid of, but I think it is worth getting back up to a standard. Not sure how involved that is, but I would suggest the first step would be to check the input.

[Cactus_Matt]

Just put another motion simulator ride with extensive queue theming like it was when it was Batman. Sure it's probably nostalgia speaking but the atmosphere around that queue/pre-show experience was so cool even if the ride itself was a bit predictable. 

[themagician]

Scooby is still an enjoyable ride, it’s just disappointing when we know what it once was. They just need to spend some serious money again on it 

[GoGoBoy]

5 hours ago, joz said:

TBH it's a pretty small building, I doubt you'd get much more ride in there than is already there. It's also flanked on a couple of sides so you can't expand it easily. I don't think it's worth getting rid of, but I think it is worth getting back up to a standard. Not sure how involved that is, but I would suggest the first step would be to check the input.

Agreed, it's actually a very small show building. I believe it's one of the reasons they couldn't have vehicles with freedom of movement to rotate etc. - there's simply not enough room in there for the required clearance. Sally managed to squeeze the ride into a small space. But even with the vehicles they used there are issues where they back up due to the small unload/load area and the ride then gets out of sync.

Edited March 27, 2022 by GoGoBoy

[jjuttp]

To add to the JL problems and don't know if i mentioned this yet, but each screen was doing something different. Your 3 alleyway scenes had 1 screen off but still taking points, 1 in 2D and the other was over 3D'd. Like for that to work you would need to view it from the car park. The ghosting was bad even with the glasses on. Then the others set on the ship were all 2d.

[webslave]

I stopped in recently and... yeah.  Not a great vibe there at all.  I'm sure there's a million excuses ("the Covid"), but there weren't any excuses made for still charging the prices they do.  For reference my wife (who does not at all stay up to date with the parks and isn't interested in doing so) came away saying the place "is looking very sad".  Interestingly we went to Top Golf afterward and the bay attendant asked how the park was and when my wife said it was pretty sad she agreed and noted that several others had said the same thing this week.

Justice League was a complete and utter shambles.  There's no point operating the ride in that type of condition, except if you're trying to cover up for a lot of your other rides being down (which, really, isn't actually making that situation any better).  The guns had a life of their own and bore no resemblance to what you did with them.  A significant proportion of the usually-lit set pieces were not lit.  The projection elements (where visible) were out of sync, non-interactive, and of very poor visual quality.  Elements like the mist screen didn't have a hope in hell of working.  Photo screens at the exit mostly did not work, and for those that did the quality of the photograph was abysmal.

Superman was down, which is a lost drawcard.  Batwing was down, which created a zone of the park right as you enter where your view is dominated right away by rides you can't ride (Batwing, Superman, Arkham).  West was down, which creates an entire dead wing of the park, especially given Doomsday does not announce its presence well to passers-by, and frankly is pretty sucky and unpopular.

The kids area is probably around two flat rides (and dare I say a play structure) short of being good.  If you have a young kid you will probably miss the height for Speedy so you're going to be restricted solely to the carousel, JDS, Sylvester and Tweety Cages (if your kid is okay to ride alone), and railroad.  Railroad is mighty uncomfortable for an adult and the rope-based restraint system ensures capacity is very low, so you're probably not going to want to do that many times.  Not having more characters doing walk-arounds of this zone is a missed opportunity.  I appreciate that they will do photos at times throughout the day at the entrance to the area (the backdrop to the photos is an odd-choice though), but it's not the same as a chance encounter with a character as you explore the area for the kids.  I'm not sure if it's a new thing but it's a shame that staff won't also take a photo with your phone in addition to their professional one so that more families can get photos together.  I'm sure there's a Covid excuse brewing there, but that doesn't feel like the motivation when you're in the park.

On the topic of characters and photos though; setting Batman up with Robin and the batmobile at the head of the main drag behind a red rope next to a sandwich board that spruiks $80/photo with them is fucking gross.  I lost count of how many kids I heard on the way past say they wanted to go and say hi to Batman only for them not to be able to.  Fantastic guest experience.  On the plus side the folks appearing as Shaggy/Scooby were really fantastic with the guests whenever we saw them, and I sincerely hope the park looks after them.

I'm not sure what's so hard about getting wait time signs semi-accurate out the front of major rides (especially given there's far less to keep up to date with half the park seemingly down), but we never saw one that was even within a multiple of accuracy.  It was frustrating watching Rivals advertise a 10 minute wait when it was a 45 minute wait, and all the more frustrating watching the load attendant on several occasions accidentally mis-count riders to be admitted and then rather than correcting the mistake when it was found instead just dispatching with empty seats.  That type of thing is hard to hide from guests when they have 45 minutes to watch it happen over and over and think "that could have been me on there".

The parade seems worse every time I see it.  Now we are down to the point of the floats never stopping and characters staying on them which doesn't make it very interactive or memorable.  Again, I'm sure excuses re: Covid, but jesus, fleeting contact and outside area.  Doesn't even need to be contact, really.  I also would avoid having the characters on the floats ignore the customers at either side of the road and play to the crewmember with the un-whitebalanced handycam for the big screens (that near-nobody is watching).

The stunt show was also worse than I remembered.  No fireball, no car jumping, little comedy, laughably poor quality LED screen.  I'm not sure who it's aimed at entertaining, but I'm guessing it's Showtime FMX.

Food and beverage is slightly better at Movie World, but generally abysmal across the VRTP parks.  Rivals is still good once you get on it.  Didn't bother with GL.  Scooby still had broken and crappy effects in the first half, but the disco room was quite passable.

Clearly the maintenance-related items are issues the park is choosing to have, because a short walk away at AOS they aren't choosing to have the same problems.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

^A long rant but very worthwhile of a read - especially for Village exec. Well said. In particular:

3 hours ago, webslave said:

the maintenance-related items are issues the park is choosing to have

You're god-damn right about that. And in my opinion I feel it comes across as contempt for the park-guest. Top-Golf has to deliver a certain standard, and it does (mostly). AOS is dinner and a show for ~$100 and you don't want Mr Dad coming out at the end of the show demanding a refund as that can be very bad for business.

But somewhere along the line, it became acceptable to do that in the parks. Ride down? don't blame us, government safety regulations. Check the T&Cs, we're allowed to do this and you can't say shit about it. Come back next time.

On 26/03/2022 at 7:54 PM, New display name said:

The company that purchased VR had a shocking year and lost a lot of money so maybe they have been told to rein in the spending.

2. VR had major staffing issues over Christmas and maybe this hasn't been  100% sorted.

I've deleted number 3 because I think everyone has coasted about as far as they can on that excuse. If you're still blaming covid because your 2019-era business model hasn't been updated to account for covid, and the different strategies required to operate a business in this time, that's on you for not pivoting, and is no longer something that can be gotten away with with a "but covid".

As mentioned, staffing issues are a possibility - but things like weeds, gardens, broken speakers... this isn't high-tech shit that requires much effort. A little weed spray here and there, generous application of rake and a few bags of woodchip et al... 

Heck, Wonderland ran a 7 zone audio system out of one room and the speakers and speaker housings were built IN HOUSE when they couldn't get the genuine dino's from the US by a total of 4 guys. It takes a level of knowledge, sure, but ultimately its about priority or giving a shit. If they can staff S&E with FOH operators, camera operators, etc - they could divert someone to work on these speakers for a few days - in the off season - mid-week - for a few days and you wouldn't notice. Don't run your camera down main street for a day. 

A lot of this comes down to caring and attention to detail. 'Reining in the spending' doesn't mean the 'weed killer' budget got cut. It just means nobody is paying enough attention to detail anymore, because they don't care as long as the one-shots, fast tracks, and all the other upcharges keep rolling in. 

4 hours ago, webslave said:

setting Batman up with Robin and the batmobile at the head of the main drag behind a red rope next to a sandwich board that spruiks $80/photo with them is fucking gross.

I just had to repost this again - one, to say I agree with it - and two, because it needs to be noticed.

[webslave]

Yeah, just on the staff shortages thing "because Covid" or whatever.  To the paying customer when they can seem to find plenty enough staff to wheel around popcorn or churro wagons or operate cheap upcharge carny games but can't adequately staff the attractions people have paid for you tend to feel pretty ripped off.  I appreciate these are differing skillsets, but we are talking about by-and-large unskilled labour here for both, and Covid ain't new.

[Levithian]

It seemed like they had been replacing a lot of that old style speakers and audio with new Qsys equipment when we went over the holidays. Like the new overhaul at road runner is a good example. But why the hell do you need to leave the old equipment just laying there too? throw it out if it's been replaced or no longer in use. 

There is no way around it, they need to start spending money in park presentation, then focus on problems with existing rides and get things sorted and up to date if they even care about improving on their investment. 

I don't agree that the company (BGH) had a shocking year and told village to reign in spending because of it though. If they told village properties to tighten the budget it's because it's their management decision (perhaps they feel there is too much bloat and they are leaning out the company to see where the money goes?), not because they had a bad year. BGH don't do yearly, it's simply not how private equity works. They start by seeking partners to invest in a private equity fund which is used to provide capital for future investment purchases. These partners are typically things like super funds, pension funds, foundations, government/ sovereign funds, other investment groups, etc. They aren't shareholders trading shares on a publicly listed company, they are investors in this fund only and all the assets it has acquired. The private equity firm manages the fund and it's acquisitions, forming a partnership with the fund investors. It's literally designed to acquire private assets with a promise of return when the asset is sold, not by paying out yearly dividends in share trading. This is the difference with a private equity investment. 

The management firm uses the fund to buy assets at what they feel is below their value, they invest in strengthening the companies over the course of a few years, aiming to unload them within say 5-7 years at a profit.  This is how the partnership makes their money, it's longer term investments of maybe up to 10 years. The management firm retain the control of their investments as the companies purchased no longer have shareholders to respond to. They charge fees to the partnership for their investment services and receive a share of the profits when assets are sold or traded from within the fund. If you do well, partners get return on their investments and they all share the profits, the management firm develops a reputation for these investments and they find new partners to work with in another new (separate) private equity fund. If you do bad.... well... their aren't too many poorly performing private equity firms. They tend to go bankrupt or get their assets absorbed in a take over of their own. 

BGH is a relatively new company, but they raised about 2.5 billion in capital for their first investment fund when they formed. They have their hands in so many things it's crazy. I just found out the other day that all the fresh bread and baked goods you see in a lot of supermarkets like IGA, Drakes, etc are supplied by a company owned by BGH. You'll even find them in some coles stores supplying their sour doughs, turkish breads, french sticks, etc. In short, if you see any baked goods with Laurent in the title, it's supplied by them. Check next time you are grocery shopping.

They've bought into education, health care, security and produce, along with their entertainment options as part of their initial fund. They literally just raised another 3 billion dollars capital for their second investment fund. They aren't having a bad year. They also aren't in the business of making poor investments.

The question is when will we see a spend within village properties or because they purchased so well during the massive covid down turn, do they just need to continue business as usual and wait for the covid recovery to make money for them? Clark Kirby is still in control of operations, just keep that in mind. Remember they initially offered nearly double their eventual take over offer before covid hit. More of the same from village could mean hundreds of millions of dollars profit just from purchasing at the right time. 

Edited March 31, 2022 by Levithian

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

30 minutes ago, Levithian said:

I just found out the other day that all the fresh bread and baked goods you see in a lot of supermarkets like IGA, Drakes, etc are supplied by a company owned by BGH. You'll even find them in some coles stores supplying their sour doughs, turkish breads, french sticks, etc. In short, if you see any baked goods with Laurent in the title, it's supplied by them.

Does this mean VRTPs will start serving an improved bread offering beyond the stale products currently on offer?

[Levithian]

Let's hope so. Im kinda partial to a roast beef and horseradish sandwich on ciabatta.  😍

[New display name]

On 31/03/2022 at 1:20 PM, Levithian said:

It's literally designed to acquire private assets with a promise of return when the asset is sold,  
 

My thoughts when BGH purchased Village was it wouldn't surprise me if they spit the parks up and sold them off separately.

Edited April 1, 2022 by New display name

[Noll_57]

On 31/03/2022 at 1:20 PM, Levithian said:

It seemed like they had been replacing a lot of that old style speakers and audio with new Qsys equipment when we went over the holidays. Like the new overhaul at road runner is a good example. But why the hell do you need to leave the old equipment just laying there too? throw it out if it's been replaced or no longer in use. 

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. 

[rappa]

How does one see Qsys equipment installed from out in the park?