WBMW Australia vs WBMW Germany

[beetlecoaster]

2 parks which started with a lot of the same rides and theming. Now, all those years after the openings there are a lot of differences. The Australian version has not as many new rides as the german version, but they look very well themed. The German park has more new rides but with less theming. Also the park is getting an old look. They should repaint a lot, but they don't. Now I heard only positive things about the Australian WBMW, but do you know some negative things about the park?

[Ian]

I work there and could say lots of good and bad things but I wont. main difference is WBMW gold coast is owned by warner bros/village roadshow where WBMW germany and spain are owned by Six Flags (with characters and mechinsed licened by WB) so you have a movie park like USH with the one down here VS a thrill park like SFMM, knotts up there.

[beetlecoaster]

Indeed it makes a big difference, and I'm not happy about it. But the park in spain is only for 5% of Six Flags. Biggest part is WB and also a part is of the spanish goverment if I'm right.

[Richard]

I don't work at any of the parks (thankfully ), so that allows me to give a good opinion of the place. Warner Bros. Movie World here might look shiny on the exterior, but to be honest, I think the park is badly designed and disorganised. I'm not sure about the European counterparts, but on the world scale, our park shouldn't be very highly rated. For every good employee, you've got two pretty ordinary/poor ones. Queues to buy tickets (or in my case, simply flash a card) often extend to close to an hour. Once you're in the park, you'll get people running rides who'd rather (and indeed do 90% of the time) be chatting with the others working there. I don't want to single out Movie World, but it quite honestly this is the only park in the chain that is anywhere near this bad (as joz will tell you, Sea World's staff are relatively perfect ). And as for the ownership of Warner Bros. Movie World Madrid. I've seen figures where 11% is owned by Six Flags and 6% by Time Warner. I've also seen 20% Time Warner, and 80% by Government, banks, local investors etc. Then again, the park's price has been stated as everywhere between US$380 and $430mil. Both Six Flags and Waner Bros. (Time Warner) do have a stake in the park, but the percentages seem to be all over the place. Six Flags does hold managing rights to the park (aparently though, they don't accept SF seasons passes, for anyone going that way).

[zztopless]

I have never had a problem with moveworld staff, if anything they are friendlier the Dreamworld staff from my experience. Particularly the ride ops. Movieworld ride ops will talk to you about the rides and some that know a bit will talk to you about other coasters as well. I havn't had the same experience with Dreamworld's staff.

[joz]

Well, for the chain, I dare say Richard is onto something. Still, its not exactly on a level such as Dreamworld where its 1 good staff member to about 4 or 5 bad ones. Just that Movieworld is more about interaction between staff and guests then say, Dreamworld, where staff use speakers to give instructions to guests who are often little more then 20 feet away. Its all relative, you'd be hard pushed to say Movieworld staff are bad, and I'm sure Richard would agree. But its also fair to say that some of the staff need to relearn the ancient are of smiling. It just depends on what mix of staff you see, I personally am under the impression that allot of staff out at MW are very... mechanical (although it always strikes me as odd that there seems to be 2 or 3 people chatting in the control room to Lethal Weapon when there is only one person actually checking restraints). Its kinda unfair to say that the staff are bad, I just don't think they are as good as the other 3 parks in the chain (SW, WnW & Paradise Country), the park still does have a few stand outs though, and so long as they hang onto them, they should be fine. As far as positive and negative things about the park, well, I'll put it this way, it has some really great stuff, just not quite enough of it. Movieworld Australia once ranked number 3 in the world (repeat, in the world!) on Theme Park Insider which is calculated on average rating per attraction. With all the ratings in the park averaging out to be about 7.65 (or there abouts), there clearly isn't anything wrong with the park, but there simply isn't enough to warrant it being rated above the likes of Disneyland, Cedar Point, and the Magic Kingdom, and because of that the park was pulled from the list. Also most of the rides at Movieworld Germany are clones of Australian rides, like Gremlins, Bermuda Triangle, Batman, Looney Tunes River Ride (themed to Germany in Germany and Australia over here, but other wise the same ride) and the shows like Police Academy are from over here as well. The real attention to themeing is now the only thing that keeps Germany and Australia apart Movieworld wise. Just look at the difference between Tom & Jerry and Scooby Doo.

[beetlecoaster]

Ok, to me WBMW Australia still sounds a lot better then WBMW Germany. BTW, The Police Academy Show is replaced this year by another show. I'm not sure but I heard it's also from fxillusions (www.fxillusions.com.au). And indeed, in the beginning everything was copied from Autralia. But what I also ment to talk about are things like this: and this (this one is repaired now, but you can still see the "scars ") When such a things happen in Germany, it will stay for a year or more before they will repair. That's why I think that WBMW Australia is much more better.

[joz]

Wow, that does look kinda sad, I see what you mean... Just curious, hows the food at Movieworld Germany? The food over here is some of the best theme park food around, and I was wondering if that is the case in Germany? Also, have you been to Madrid yet and if so, how does it compare to Germany?

[beetlecoaster]

Wow, that does look kinda sad, I see what you mean...  Just curious, hows the food at Movieworld Germany?  The food over here is some of the best theme park food around, and I was wondering if that is the case in Germany?   Also, have you been to Madrid yet and if so, how does it compare to Germany?

The food in Movieworld Germany is just like the rest of the six flags parks around. You pay a lot, and you get bad food. Or... you pay even more and you have some really good food. But most people can't or don't spend a lot money. But last year I saw some improvements I've never been to Movieworld Madrid, but I heard a lot from others. Don't know anything about the food over there but never heard anybody complain about it. The rest of the park looks amazing. Hope it will stay like that.

[joz]

Curious Bettlecoaster, how do the original rides (Gremlins, Bermuda, Batman & Looney Tunes River Ride) compare to the rides you've been on? It'd be interesting to get an international perspective on clones of the rides we've got here.

[beetlecoaster]

Curious Bettlecoaster, how do the original rides (Gremlins, Bermuda, Batman & Looney Tunes River Ride) compare to the rides you've been on?   It'd be interesting to get an international perspective on clones of the rides we've got here.

In the beginning they were very amazing. The mainstreet still looks great, but Batman is some sort of paint machine. Gremlins has only big waiting lines when it's Halloween, because then they retheme the ride. But normally a lot of peolple find the ride boring. The Looney Tunes ride is still fun, great indoor ride. That superman thing (also in Autralina or not) was nice to do some times, but now I don't visit it anymore because it's still the same. But it's a very great show for a movie park. When I compare everything with other parks it was a one of the best. They still can get that title back if they start to theme more again and everything nice and clean. But now, other parks like Phantasialand (not far away from WBMW G), Efteling etc are much better because they look clean and new rides are very well themed. But as you know, it's all because it's part of Six Flags European Devision...

[Belgian]

The park has been constructed using rather cheap materials which need very good maintenance. Especially in the rainy valleys of Germany. 'Der Bermuda Dreieck' as the famous triangle ride is known overhere, is a brilliant ride and slightly different than the Australian version. We have an Intamin transport system, a purple volcano, and a laser/strobo scene instead of the fire. Other than that, the ride is more or less the same...so it rules ! It's alot of fun to ride or watch it, the scenery and music is great and the heat effect near the final drop is brilliant ! 'Looney Tunes Studio Tour' is indoor, so no maintenance problems here. However, I think it's different in Germany than in Australia. The whole park overhere is meant to represent a production courtyard in Hollywood. When you enter the ride, you enter a studio in Hollywood and then Bugs Bunny says they are missing a baby dragon to star in their movie. They will then take Marvin's rocket towards the black forrest, in Germany that is. I don't know if the Australian version takes place in the black forrest too ? But it's a brilliant ride, using very good animatronics and sound effects ! 'Das Batman Abenteuer', 'Der Gremlins Invasion' and 'Police Academy Stunt Show' are all great rides for the whole family too enjoy. The wacky police officers of the Police Academy show have been fired recently and some Matrix, Lethal Weapon and Three Kings stars are now giving a breathtaking show ! The studio of Alf is still being terrorised by the Gremlins, and is still in good shape. During Halloween, the park transforms the ride into something more evil, more terrifying and more dangerous They also use some real actors to scare the riders. Batman has recently been improved (I hope) in Australia, but Germany still has the original Batman simulator with the gang of the Penguin. You can find pictures at: www.rcdb.com (search for movieworld) www.movieworld-fan.de www.movieworld-guide.de and the official website: www.movieworld.de

[joz]

We have an Intamin transport system, a purple volcano, and a laser/strobo scene instead of the fire.

Holy crap! No fire? What a jib BTW... What is an Intamin transport system? I figured Bermuda was a boat ride like ours? Our Looney Tunes ride is similar, but instead of going to the black forest, you just go down to Australia. Our new Batman ride is pretty ok, but I personally prefer the old 'live action' version.

[Flea]

Holy crap! No fire? What a jib BTW... What is an Intamin transport system? I figured Bermuda was a boat ride like ours? Our Looney Tunes ride is similar, but instead of going to the black forest, you just go down to Australia. Our new Batman ride is pretty ok, but I personally prefer the old 'live action' version.

It's odd really, shouldn't it be going from Australia to Hollywood. I mean, the ride is set in Australia therefore we shouldn't be jumping from australia to Hollywood to Australia.. then again, Movie World is set like Hollywood.. me confused Anyway, it's a good starters ride for juniors, but I wouldn't recommend riding it alone since it ain't that thrilling, and the drop is probally on the tamest angle I have ever experienced Nonetheless.. fun! ~Flea

[Belgian]

Well, with Intamin transport system I mean that the ride itself is by Intamin. I don't think the Australian Bermuda Triangle is built by Intamin... For example, Rio Bravo in Spain is almost the same as Wild West Falls, but the ride itself is built by Intamin instead of Hopkins.

[Richard]

Bermuda Triangle is proudly 100% in-house! I'd imagine most of the technical stuff was subcontracted to local companies - stuff that was out of their league. But hey, why pay another company to design and build a ride, when you can just steal all their ideas? As for Looney Tunes; I wouldn't get too bogged down on the storyline - let's just say it perhaps wasn't the best thought-out.

[joz]

Makes sense Belgian. Seems that both Wild West and Bermuda Triangle have both been cloned by Intamin Yeah, Australia's version is mostly in-house, A few components were sorced out (Apparently the operating system was cheap cause no-one could get it too work. That's just the rumour though, so I wouldn't read much into it).

[Guest Cokecool]

I have park maps of all 3 WBMW! :wbmw:

[Guest Cokecool]

In Germany!

[Richard]

You must be very proud of your accomplishment.

[Guest Cokecool]

UH! WELL! :evil: :wbmw:

[Andy_q69]

Do you know the site names for these parks? :wbmw:

[Flea]

Spain- http://www.warnerbrospark.com/ Germany- http://www.movieworld.de/ ~Flea

[Andy_q69]

Who would have known that? Flea would! lol Thanx for the links

[beetlecoaster]

Some websites about WBMW Germany: www.wbmwguide.com www.movieworld-guide.de www.movieworld-online.de