TR - MovieWorld

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

ok so day three in QLD - September 15, we headed out to Movie World. We had picked up a smart pass, booked our coach and made our way to movie world by about 9:45. Got through the gates, organised ourselves and decided on heading into the Movie Magic show for the first show of the morning. I've seen the show many times but for the other three of our group, it was their first. My GF got picked to play the "Suicide Girl" climbing off the top of the WB building. The Foley stage got goofed up badly by the guys they picked, and soon after we were out and looking for more... it was time to head for Lethal Weapon. We cruised through china town and headed for the observation area. two of the guys decided it was a bit too much for them, and me and my GF headed into the queue. the queueing time was about 10 minutes, with 1 op in the front booth, one in the back, and one up front on the other side, 2 or 3 cycles before we got on the front row. only the red train was in use, the blue train was parked in the shed. Yet another amazing on-ride video from lethal, which i'll post shortly, while more handycam stuff from the ground, Lethal Weapon continues to live up to my expectations of a top thrill coaster. I try to single out one cast member when i visit a park to make special mention, and this time Lethal Weapon's operator - Seth - takes the grand prize. Seth sang, danced around, took out his microphone and ran up and down the opposite side of the queue line talking funny and making jokes. A man of a thousand voices, seth did some great impressions of many of the simpsons characters and many more. he made the wait time seem like seconds, and was very much into being part of the show. Seth gets top marks on service and going that extra mile. We headed off to Wild West Falls after lethal weapon which also had a very reasonable queue line. 10 Minutes later we were all loaded on and off on our adventure...lol. Once again another wonderful ride, some great theming and overall an experience that was reasonable enough for everyone to enjoy. Disappointing to see the lack of theming in the final lift hill. no sparks or anything like that, the top of the hill at the turntable has been themed to look like a cross roads in a mine tunnel. its just sheets of corrugated iron with a mirror that you face as you come up the hill. poor lighting and strobe effects are meant to give you the idea that it blows up after you've turned towards the drop. a very disappointing effort at retheming the ride. Next we took on Scooby Doo. The queue in here was about three rows back into the "ante room", with a posted approximate wait time of about 10 minutes. Sure enough, 12 minutes later we boarded the coaster, with our motion-sick companion JOINING US! *OMG*. Some of the theming in the first part of the ride is getting a little dusty and old, but with the theming it almost fits, and didnt detract from the ride experience. all of our group enjoyed scooby, and we rode a couple of times on scooby during the rest of the day. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. we caught the Police Academy stunt show, the looney tunes river ride, part of the matrix stunt show and part of the batman stunt show, before riding on the batman adventure towards the end of the day. We also caught a second ride on Lethal, where a second video was taken from the rear of the train. Two disappointments were had at WBMW... the first was the Matrix Exhibit... yes its a walkthrough and yes it has a lot of work put into it, but the combination of lack of excitement from the staff, and... really... the boring nature of it all was a disappointment. Matrix gets two thumbs down... and this from a person who does like the matrix. the second was the crap we saw at all the parks.... FRUTINA. at WBMW, we queued for 15 minutes to get a cold drink, only to find that they all tasted like crap. the scariest thing of all was that all the parks had this glop for sale, and i fail to see how they could get repeat sales from it given its taste... YUK So how did Movie World fare? Quality of Rides, Shows and Attractions: 9/10 Quantity of Rides, Shows and Attractions: 8/10 Cast Service: 10/10 Capacity and Staffing Levels: 10/10 Overall: 9/10 Comments: we could not really fault movie world with anything although a few minor things cost them points. Its so hard to give so much detail in a park like this because theres so much to talk about. We had an encounter with Austin Powers while we were eating, and while its not the best costume, he did a great job of staying in character. Top marks for movie world.... our number 1 ranked park from our visit. More to come later on... stay tuned for WnW next... Cheers, Alex.

[Ian]

Great to see you enjoyed Movie world Seth is one of my good mates he also plays Austin Powers a couple of days a week.

[GoGoBoy]

Movie World was always my favourite park by a long shot but I'm so sad to hear they haven't re-themed the splash down room on Wild West Falls properly. No sparks and a mirror when you get to the top? What happened to the expanding TNT barrel? What happened to the miners hologram? What happened to that great explosion sound effect with the burst of wind and smoke that pushes you out the door? What is it with theme parks and upkeep? Very poor. Regarding the Matrix Exhibit - I say ditch it and build a new world class attraction in its place (in usual MW style). The last time I went to MW was a few years back and since then they have added nothing to make me want to return. At this stage there's more new stuff for me to see at Dreamworld. Thanks for the trip report Alex

[mandajk13]

I went with Alex to MovieWorld and was eventually coerced into going on Lethal Weapon. What a ride! It was the best ride I went on out of the four parks we visited, closely followed by Scooby Doo. The downsides of the day for me were the same as they were for Alex - The Matrix Exhibit (yawn) and the ice drinks - what a waste of money! We saw people buy them at other parks and make faces when they tasted them -you'd think it wouldn't be that hard to make a drink with water and flavouring!! I loved the characters at the park - they stayed in character extremely well - especially porky pig. Alex forgot to mention another highlight of the day -LUNCH!! We had the buffet for $16 and it was worth every penny after suffering takeaway food a few days in a row...It was one of the best buffets I've ever had - even my BF who is a fussy eater found something to eat. Seth - from Lethal Weapon was amazing - it's great to see someone who obviously loves doing their job. I was nervous about going on Lethal (it was too late to get out once I was strapped in!) but his voices and singing took my mind off the fear factor. Overall I loved MovieWorld - if you could combine the dolphins from SeaWorld and MovieWorld into one park I'd be in heaven.