49 minutes ago, Michelangelo said:

No fans at all in the whole of WOZ

Nor bins or seats in Oz either.

So time to share my impressions 

Munchkinland/Forecourt 

the entrance photo op statues look great. Little close to the brake run for SE imo, but I get they working with limited space so will ignore it. The walkway down to the forecourt is great, the rainbow effect is great and the transitional music change is really good. The theming in the forecourt is great, and in the 50mins we were there there was photo op with Wicked Witch, a Dorothy performance, and a photo op with Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion. All great, however I’d like to see how regular this becomes or even if it still exists in off peak 

 

Emerald City

Lighting and design is decent. They’ll want to keep those wall projections functional (unlike other projections in the park) or it will be bland and boring. The wizard projection is quite good, though would have been fantastic to have it have more random or lengthy dialogue sets as it does get a little tedious being so short and just on repeat.

 

Flight of the Wicked Witch 

The internal queue is fantastic with the room of Poppies and then the enchanted forest. You feel immersed in the story, and even my son said “wow this is like a Japan-level queue” and then boom - you walk downstairs and you are in an outdoor cattle run with no shade, and ridiculous slow ops and burning to a crisp in the sun. I can’t overstate how much the experience is wrecked by this. The immersion is gone and you just want to get it over with. You enter the castle for the final part of the queue which does look good, but it’s not air conned so there is no respite from the baking you’ve just had. They only let 1-2 groups into the castle at the time. The ops just seem entirely haphazard. The 2 cycles where I could visually see what was happening has 4-5min waits between guest disembarking and next guests being let onto the platform simply because the sorter is also the harness checker and they didn’t start sorting until the previous ride disembarked. The entrance to the ride gates is in such a close proximity to the entrance, they have to fill gates 4/5 which are directly in front of the entrance last as you wouldn’t get people past them otherwise. 

the ride itself is punchy and smooth, and a much better experience than similar coasters I have been on, so gets a big tick on that. There is a short jolty break mid final turn prior to the full break run which is a little strange in terms of forces, and the ride photo for mine is far too late in the ride, but aside from that no complaints. 
 

Kansas Twisters

I could probably copy the same as the previous tbh.. the starting internal queue is great, immersive and fun. Then you are outside. In the sun. The grouper, who is deciding whether you get in the yellow or the orange train queue, had absolutely no concept of counting. We were told to join the orange train queue, which is on the opposite side of the station so you have to head up and over the track inside the barn. After a couple of cycle, it was blatantly apparent he couldn’t count as we were probably 3-4 cycles from getting on the orange train, and there was only 6 people waiting for the yellow. Cue us excusing ourselves back past another 10 plus people and jumping the rail to join the yellow train queue. Did I mention it was hot? And the barn had no air con or fans? Who designed this place? 
 

the ride itself is fun on the forwards cycle, but to be honest I found the return journey just too slow to really consider re-riding again. You walk off to look at chain link fencing and the 30 year old back of house offices. We’re not in Kansas anymore Toto…
 

i also didn’t mention that there was no announcements over the speakers on either ride, no “enjoy the ride” or “you’re about to take flight on blah blah”. The only thing said by staff was yelling “don’t touch the seatbelt, we will do it up. Don’t touch the seat belt” on FOTWW.

overall if they spent $100m they need their better people making the financial decisions for the park. Whilst it’s clear nothing is going to change short term, they need to drop some money into this thing before next summer to at a minimum have some shade sails over the queue line, and put some air con or fans into the internal queues. Then they need to sort out their ops. 
 

promises so much, but just misses the high mark it set for itself unfortunately. It’s not a fail by any stretch, but if it’s a 2 horse race between Oz and Rivertown - DW has is won by the length of the straight 

48 minutes ago, Brad2912 said:

DW has is won by the length of the straight 

This was not on my 2024 bingo card…

2 hours ago, Brad2912 said:

And the barn had no air con or fans?

Fun fact, the little ride operator booth in the middle of Kansas Twister, has a single air conditioner.. I mean, it's good to have the small areas be cooled down to prevent overheating.

4 hours ago, Brad2912 said:

i also didn’t mention that there was no announcements over the speakers on either ride, no “enjoy the ride” or “you’re about to take flight on blah blah”. The only thing said by staff was yelling “don’t touch the seatbelt, we will do it up. Don’t touch the seat belt” on FOTWW.

$100m and this doesn't exist. LOL. Are there safety videos or no?

Now the real question is does the seatbelt thing exist on TNT or is it solely restricted to the coast (and whoever village's insurance company is)

Just now, Baconjack said:

Are there safety videos or no?

Safety slideshows at best. Seatbelts are also on FOTWW. They aren't used on both Kansas Twister and Jungle Rush.

47 minutes ago, Baconjack said:

does the seatbelt thing exist on TNT

It exists on all of the 453m SFC model.

5 hours ago, Brad2912 said:

There is a short jolty break mid final turn prior to the full break run which is a little strange in terms of forces,

I thought I was the only one who noticed that, it's definitely weird.

5 hours ago, Brad2912 said:

After a couple of cycle, it was blatantly apparent he couldn’t count as we were probably 3-4 cycles from getting on the orange train, and there was only 6 people waiting for the yellow.

This is yet another oversight by the design teams. You can’t have a grouper blindly assigning rows without giving them the ability to view a camera feed of the queue lines, this doesn't happen on FotWW as the grouper has direct view of the queues. Giving the benefit of the doubt here... maybe the grouper couldn’t see up to the crossover point. Opening day the lady that was doing grouping did an excellent job of keeping both sides no more than a one cycle wait and trying to get us (and herself) out of the sun. That said, if you get a good grouper, you’re usually able to request which side you’d prefer, it worked on opening day.

3 hours ago, Coppertine said:

Fun fact, the little ride operator booth in the middle of Kansas Twister, has a single air conditioner.. I mean, it's good to have the small areas be cooled down to prevent overheating.

Fun fact, all the ride operator booths have air conditioning, even the 'open air' ones so cool air can fill the barn! VRTP clearly cares about our barn experience, so thoughtful of them.

On another note how do we think Kansas Twister will operate off peak, requires 7 staff to run 2 forward ops/restraint checkers, 2 rear ops, 2 groupers/restraint checkers and outside grouper. I can't see VRTP putting that many people on one ride that realistically won't have a queue over 10 min due to its exceptional capacity.

1 hour ago, Baconjack said:

Are there safety videos or no?

There are screens but just showing the ride logo, maybe some sort of safety video will come…

It's almost as If they've just done the minimum requirement so as to not piss off whoever licensed them the IP. It's aesthetically pleasing and looks well done regarding the IP applications, then just screw you to guest experience.

Someone mentioned the other day seeing village execs line cut opening morning. The arrogance to do that in front of paying guests, not to mention the stupidity of not having those things done behind closed doors (every park ever seems to let employees have rides before these things open) is unfortunately completely in character for the Current VRTP.

Maybe the $100m figure is a total investment between Flash, Oz and SDSC, and they've tried to white lie their way into a headline? 

I'd hate to see how the colours in the area will hold up over the years in that harsh sun as the management decide gold-plate their office chairs instead of repainting.

I really hope this tips the scales back in DW favour.

Edited December 22, 2024Dec 22 by Aw hype

Went to the final White Christmas last night and Oz indeed wasn't open. It was heart wrenching seeing families walk excitingly to the land and then stop and groan at the gate

\

The Emerald Palace has neon looking lights and looks really good, better in person (at least from what I could see of it haha)

3 hours ago, Baconjack said:

Now the real question is does the seatbelt thing exist on TNT or is it solely restricted to the coast (and whoever village's insurance company is)

  I'm pretty sure guests do their own seatbelts on TNT

7 hours ago, Brad2912 said:

i also didn’t mention that there was no announcements over the speakers on either ride, no “enjoy the ride” or “you’re about to take flight on blah blah”.

It's crazy they don't have this play when FOTWW dispatches

Edited December 22, 2024Dec 22 by Ogre

6 hours ago, Ogre said:

It's crazy they don't have this play when FOTWW dispatches

That’s almost the minimum, and something so simple they should have assuming WB approves.

Even with low expectations there’s various aspects of Oz I’m disappointed with.

Realistically there should be something to the right as you exit the station so you don’t just see the studios.

This also has the benefit of hiding the studios while you’re at the front of the queue/at the gates.

15 hours ago, Aw hype said:

It's almost as If they've just done the minimum requirement so as to not piss off whoever licensed them the IP.

Assuming this land is based on the book it’s all public domain IP, so no licensing fee.

Just now, aaronm said:

Assuming this land is based on the book it’s all public domain IP, so no licensing fee.

It's based on the 1940 film, they have the licensing for it. Like 80% of the visuals and audio are based off the film.

1 hour ago, aaronm said:

Assuming this land is based on the book it’s all public domain IP, so no licensing fee.

It’s all movie. So it’s a long way of public domain still 

18 hours ago, TV15 said:

This is yet another oversight by the design teams. You can’t have a grouper blindly assigning rows without giving them the ability to view a camera feed of the queue lines, this doesn't happen on FotWW as the grouper has direct view of the queues.

I've got an idea that could fix this.

Even with low expectations of VRTP I was surprised there was this bit of Arkham hidden (but still guest accessible).

I’m sure there was a reason to build the mural further out in the courtyard but would have expected this to get the “cover it all in green paint” treatment the rest of the path to Scooby did.

 

17 hours ago, Ogre said:

It's crazy they don't have this play when FOTWW dispatches

I have never watched the movie but $100m has been spent and they couldn’t get a CG animation on a screen remaking this where the mural is currently?

How are they doing things worse than 2 years ago?

Narcissist (a word)

 

Edited December 23, 2024Dec 23 by MickeyD

On 23/12/2024 at 1:14 AM, Aw hype said:

 (every park ever seems to let employees have rides before these things open).

It's company practice that joy rides are not allowed to happen. Not even for maintenance staff. Risk termination even if you do this without a valid reason for performing a ride check. 

The execs riding should have been handled during testing, but village are famous for bringing forward deadlines instead of following through with proper testing processes. Rather open earlier than intended or before everything has been really put through its paces, then have it break down with guests aboard, followed by an often lengthy "unscheduled maintenance" period for a brand new ride. 

You know, it really puts the shine on your new investment. The general public love turning up after reading opening announcements and seeing commercials only to find the new ride is broken. Really makes it seem like they known what they are doing and doesn't question the safety of their rides at all. 

Edited December 24, 2024Dec 24 by Levithian

On 22/12/2024 at 4:14 PM, Aw hype said:

Someone mentioned the other day seeing village execs line cut opening morning. The arrogance to do that in front of paying guests, not to mention the stupidity of not having those things done behind closed doors (every park ever seems to let employees have rides before these things open) is unfortunately completely in character for the Current VRTP.

from what i’ve heard, no staff previews were done before opening. so not only were execs riding on opening day, you could see normal staff from all departments riding as well. 

On 21/12/2024 at 6:20 PM, New display name said:

I don't know how you can be disappointed because It was never on the list of rides open for WC.  

It shouldn't have to be. the land is officially open, they should have opened it to guests. it defies logic as to why they would keep their brand new attraction closed.

On 22/12/2024 at 5:58 PM, Brad2912 said:

The grouper, who is deciding whether you get in the yellow or the orange train queue, had absolutely no concept of counting. We were told to join the orange train queue, which is on the opposite side of the station so you have to head up and over the track inside the barn. After a couple of cycle, it was blatantly apparent he couldn’t count as we were probably 3-4 cycles from getting on the orange train, and there was only 6 people waiting for the yellow. Cue us excusing ourselves back past another 10 plus people and jumping the rail to join the yellow train queue.

Like I mentioned in my Rivertown Restaurant reply, I'm happy to not sling shit on a poor employee trying to do their job and put it down to opening day jitters. I'm sure all the ops crew have learned from a few days of stress test and they'll all work out what works best. A friend of mine visited KT and the grouper was essentially sending one group yellow, one group orange and constantly alternating the flow unless one particularly large group was sent in one direction. 

Saying the cast have no concept of counting is a bit harsh - you've got no idea what level of training they were given or instructions they were told.

On 23/12/2024 at 5:59 PM, Dean Barnett said:

I've got an idea that could fix this.

I've got an easier one.

Quote

the grouper was essentially sending one group yellow, one group orange and constantly alternating the flow unless one particularly large group was sent in one direction.

 

On 23/12/2024 at 5:59 PM, Dean Barnett said:

I've got an idea that could fix this.

These fucking turnstiles have gone full circle. Its almost Scooby Doo Eyes level.

On 24/12/2024 at 2:56 PM, Levithian said:

It's company practice that joy rides are not allowed to happen. Not even for maintenance staff. Risk termination even if you do this without a valid reason for performing a ride check. 
 

In the mid 2000's (Greg Yong days) staff rides certainly did happen before the rides opened to the public. Green Lantern opened for approx 2 hours a day for about a week for staff to get rides in. We were also able to bring up to 3 family members one night for a preview. They did the same for JL as well (but not for Arkham). Not sure if this happens anymore though. In the summer months on West in particular we used to do a "ride check" once a day where we would just jump on a spare seat in a boat if there was one to check what theming elements were not working properly or had broken down to report back. Although TBH it was mostly to cool off...

Sad if that's changed now though, as having a night for staff to experience something new before everyone else is a nice little perk. it's also good training for the ride staff too before tech rehearsals begin.

6 hours ago, Spotty said:

In the mid 2000's (Greg Yong days) staff rides certainly did happen before the rides opened to the public. Green Lantern opened for approx 2 hours a day for about a week for staff to get rides in. We were also able to bring up to 3 family members one night for a preview. They did the same for JL as well (but not for Arkham). Not sure if this happens anymore though. In the summer months on West in particular we used to do a "ride check" once a day where we would just jump on a spare seat in a boat if there was one to check what theming elements were not working properly or had broken down to report back. Although TBH it was mostly to cool off...

Sad if that's changed now though, as having a night for staff to experience something new before everyone else is a nice little perk. it's also good training for the ride staff too before tech rehearsals begin.

Pretty sure it's still allowed, it's just the parks can't do it until the ride has passed all testing and regulatory inspections. Dreamworld did this earlier than Movie World from the looks of it, allowing them time to run technical rehearsals and staff rides. Movie World probably could, and should, have done so as well. But then Dreamworld would have opened first and they would rather guests deal with a worse experience than be second to open

Looks like this is a hit on social media. Seeing so many people booking flights to visit the area. It’s a timeless IP which is going to bring in a lot of interstate and international guests.