I rode it this afternoon as well, i don't think the screens are that bad, they are a huge step up from the previous ones. i think the wild mouse section was better with some disco lights in there, right now you cannot see a thing which makes the drops quite uncomfortable. The trains are the exact same as the old one, no handles on the restraint as promised, they are quite uncomfortable to be honest. overall its better than next gen but there are some things that still need improving.

Finally

This forum after 2 years can rest

1 hour ago, Levithian said:

They really have a terrible track record for restoring theme elements after a massive shut down. That west shutdown with the new station and boats was the same. Same goes for years upon years worth of justice league closures. It's literally like, somewhere along the line, someone gives absolutely no f*cks for any of it and any planned repairs are canned.

I just can't work out if it's apathy or if its budgetary.

It's honestly pathetic that everyone seems comfortable with the results they keep producing. At some point I would have thought someone with an opinion that mattered would have had a word and a focus would have shifted to actually doing something about it parks wide, but, nope. Still seems the same as usual. I can't for the life of me think its because nobody in their maintenance teams either cares enough or has the skill to make these repairs, so it only leaves me to think it has to be a management decision. Village MO would tend to suggest they don't allocate the funds and the labour to not only fixing the issues, but to keep them maintained/working.

I remember a time when they wouldn't want to open with things broken/out of service. They would actively hold up openings while repairs were attempted, and if the ride supe made a note of it in their diary because it wasn't fixed, it would get passed on to maintenance teams and you would normally see something done about it within a week.

Ok I have to ask what in hell you are ranting about

You havent even seen the ride and we have one comment on it and youve launched into a whole tirade about no one giving a toss meltdown

41 minutes ago, Gobbledok said:

Ok I have to ask what in hell you are ranting about

You havent even seen the ride and we have one comment on it and youve launched into a whole tirade about no one giving a toss meltdown

To be fair the continued degradation of WWF and JL point strongly to exactly what he is ranting out being largely correct

This thread is about SDSC so perhaps we could try and limit criticism of the rides theming to actually being about this ride.

Yes some valid points have been made about past experiences a lot of people who really do actually give a damn have worked on this refurb and I’d expect everything to be running. If it’s not it’s had an issue today and not something that hasn’t been addressed over this extensive time.

4 hours ago, patrick54 said:

The trains are the exact same as the old one, no handles on the restraint as promised, they are quite uncomfortable to be honest.

Interesting, could it be a case of some old and some new cars as this was what we were promised

The chassis, seats and restrains are all new.

The seats are actually very comfortable and I don’t think the handles are needed. The whole thing rides much smoother than it used to.

But it is a wild mouse so it does still have some sudden laterals of course.

13 hours ago, Brad2912 said:

Full lights were on in the queue area, nothing playing on the screens.

This was rectified later in the day, with the white lights turned off and the screens turned on playing the whole movie.

13 hours ago, Brad2912 said:

Entirety of the wild mouse portion is complete darkness

Movie World did confirm this was going to be the case in a video last week, but I don’t know how I feel about it either. Some of those turns are pretty jarring (nature of a wild mouse coaster) and having the laser lights with the Scooby music blasting was always part of the fun. Did they run out of lighting budget because they added so much ambient lighting to the queue and dark ride portion?

13 hours ago, patrick54 said:

The trains are the exact same as the old one, no handles on the restraint as promised, they are quite uncomfortable to be honest

The vehicles are new, but I don’t think they’re the newest Mack wild mouse vehicle model. The vehicle theming was removed from the old cars, refurbished and installed on the new ones.

Seen quite a few disappointed comments on socials. The laser room in completely dark, the drops are still very jolting despite a full retrack?

If what the Magician saying is correct regarding the laser room now confirmed to be dark, then that’s very disappointing, the lasers, smoke effects and soundtrack was the best part of this ride. Seems the locker/storage idea seems to be somewhat a failure too.

8 minutes ago, Ash said:

Seen quite a few disappointed comments on socials. The laser room in completely dark, the drops are still very jolting despite a full retrack?

If what the Magician saying is correct regarding the laser room now confirmed to be dark, then that’s very disappointing, the lasers, smoke effects and soundtrack was the best part of this ride. Seems the locker/storage idea seems to be somewhat a failure too.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure it wasn't a full retrack! Maybe just a couple of small sections

Edited December 12, 2025Dec 12 by GoGoBoy

1 hour ago, themagician said:

Movie World did confirm this was going to be the case in a video last week, but I don’t know how I feel about it either. Some of those turns are pretty jarring (nature of a wild mouse coaster) and having the laser lights with the Scooby music blasting was always part of the fun. Did they run out of lighting budget because they added so much ambient lighting to the queue and dark ride portion?

Yeah I did see that from MW and was hoping it was some poor copy given to whoever updated the website. Seems it was right. Zero lights for me made it seem unfinished or just straight up lazy. The scooby music and some lasers were great. The room doesn’t need to be illuminated, but it needs something.

55 minutes ago, Ash said:

the drops are still very jolting despite a full retrack?

My understanding is it was only some parts that were replaced. It was an “as-needed” replacement”. Maybe it’s pitch black so you can’t see which parts are old and which are new (that’s tongue in cheek before anyone jumps down my throat).

The jarring is more a nature of the wild mouse design and the way the carts interact with it than and age thing - I don’t feel that ever got worse with the rides lifespan.

Whats more jarring is not knowing when those corners or drops are coming because you can seem them

49 minutes ago, GoGoBoy said:

Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure it wasn't a full retrack! Maybe just a couple of small sections

I believe around 80% of the track was replaced, with the majority of it being in the disco room as thats the track that would’ve has the most aging due to the forces of the vehicles. The lift system was also completely replaced.

I have seen a few comments about the ride is experience is rough, but it seems to be just during the lateral force zones and on the drops. How are the brake systems (as they are all new), are they much smoother?

1 minute ago, themagician said:

How are the brake systems (as they are all new), are they much smoother?

Marginally better

I'm going to assume that the majority of the budget went into replacing the control system, safety systems, track, lifts and cars. They probably then had a smaller budget for the theming refresh, which could be why the disco room has missed out. The new animation on both screens, updated lighting and the new Tiki head all would have cost a bit. I guess we have to remember that Aussie parks just don't have big budgets sadly (although in saying that I'm not sure how we were able to afford such blockbuster attractions like Scooby and WWF in the first place)

Edited December 13, 2025Dec 13 by GoGoBoy

6 minutes ago, GoGoBoy said:

Aussie parks just don't have big budgets sadly

But how can DW open Rivertown and King Claw on a budget with its level of detail and story telling?

The track is not new, 80% certainly has not been replaced. Every brake and motor however

The cars track much better, tighter tolerances and less ‘shuffling’ on corners.

The Brakes are certainly not ‘marginally’ better. I think people maybe forget how the ride rode it’s been so long. The starts and stops are 1000% better, the ride is also much quieter with no slamming brakes and squelches in the dark ride as it transitions. The stop after he finally drop out of Ring of Fire is light and day compared to before.

The lift is an improvement of its own, the speed, the smoothness and the quietness is a huge upgrade

The dark high zone is a creative choice by the park, not saying a good or bad one, but a conscious choice rather than running out of budget.

The dark ride previously had some disgraceful projections (and projectors!) and basically some glorified garden lights.

Those have been replaced and more than a hundred theatrical lighting fixtures added. The audio is a mix of opening day originals and newly created pieces.

Yeah I don’t agree with budget side of things. They have had near 3 years to make this attraction the number 1 family coaster again. Lights and a smoke machine like the original had isn’t going to blow the budget.

15 minutes ago, rappa said:

The dark high zone is a creative choice by the park, not saying a good or bad one, but a conscious choice rather than running out of budget

Its a bad choice.

45 minutes ago, rappa said:

I think people maybe forget how the ride rode it’s been so long.

There is certainly some credence to that, no doubt.

You clearly have skin in the game when it comes this refurb whether you are directly involved or know someone who was.

I don’t think anyone (certainly not me) is trying to shit on the effort the people have gone to to get if up and running again. We’re not privy to the intricate details of exactly what was done, the time demand on that, or the costing. However in saying that neither is the GP who will judge the ride on what they see.

With such a long downtime, many kids will have aged up to scooby during its closure and will be riding for the first time meaning some parents may also be riding for a first time with said kids.

The more I reflect on the pitch black wild mouse section, the more I think it comes across as either incomplete or not-functioning. It feels like there should be “something” happening in there and it’s not working.

If that section is entirely to plan/design by management and not left that way by budget restrictions then in my opinion the management direction has unfortunately made the overall product feel somewhat incomplete and that is an unfair reflection on the people that worked hard to get it back up and running.

10 minutes ago, Brad2912 said:

The more I reflect on the pitch black wild mouse section, the more I think it comes across as either incomplete or not-functioning. It feels like there should be “something” happening in there and it’s not working.

"Dear Customer, we've serviced your car, and removed the stereo because we think it's better a better driving experience than what you've had before. Your Mechanic".

Seems a really odd change, and as you said, appears unfinished.

I'd expect some lighting to end up in there after people start complaining about sore necks etc from the unexpected jolts in the dark. The risk adverse bean counters will take over.

Edited December 13, 2025Dec 13 by red dragin

17 minutes ago, Brad2912 said:

I don’t think anyone (certainly not me) is trying to shit on the effort the people have gone to to get if up and running again. We’re not privy to the intricate details of exactly what was done, the time demand on that, or the costing. However in saying that neither is the GP who will judge the ride on what they see.

I don’t think ever a truer word has been spoken.

You are exactly right, it doesn’t matter how much effort, time, money, etc is spent on something, it’s only the result that will be judged, the customer does not know, or care (nor should they) what went into it. The product needs to stand up on time merits alone.

I merely pointed out the thing about how it rides because it IS a big improvement, the problem is quite likely people don’t know how bad it was before (or have never ridden it). Quite a lot of people maybe have never even ridden a wild mouse so don’t know some of the ‘jerkiness’ is by design.

And the final factor, many of us were kids when we first ride Scooby so naturally remember it being amazing so are going to be the harshest critics even if it wasn’t actually as good as we remember, that’s natural.

Full POV is on Mr Yum Yums YouTube channel. Yeah, really failed miserably in the disco room area. The Tiki ending looks great though.

That didn’t take long!

I’m guessing glasses given the over exposed lighting and distorted audio?

The mirror before the lift shows them holding the camera.

Everything bar the disco room looks great.

17 minutes ago, rappa said:

That didn’t take long!

I’m guessing glasses given the over exposed lighting and distorted audio?

I used my DJI Osmo Pocket 3, but I had to tape the camera to my hand, so the mic was kind of covered up hence the distorted audio.