TR/Thoughts: 16/2 and 18/2

[Brownie]

Had myself a four day holiday last week which saw me visit Movie World on the Friday and the Sunday. If you want to read the full blow-by-blow accounts with a bit more detail (including a bit of non-theme park related material), check out my blog at lamerslame.net. Batwing Spaceshot - Probably my favourite ride on the Coast. Say what you want about the lack of theming, it's queue moves quickly and has plenty of shade (good enough for me). Unlike other rides in the park, you know what your going to get in advance and it doesn't disappoint by any means. The launch is amazing and the pop of airtime gives you a wonderful feeling inside. Must of rode this over half a dozen times over the weekend. The downside was during one ride on Sunday where I was stapled which was uncomfortable, but once you are launched it doesn't matter a great deal. On one of my last rides there was a smell emitting from the bushes, someone decided to let go of a few number twos. Great ride. Superman: Escape - The ride was down Friday due to annual maintenance which sucked, but it was okay because I'd be riding it on Sunday, right? First time we go to ride - you can't have a wallet in your back pocket, even if your sitting on it during the ride!? The second time, the fantastic ride-ops were not allowing people to line up. Why? Well there had been a shower within the last five minutes, and despite the fact that the ride was being launched in the rain, they didn't want anyone else in. About half an hour later we were back in line, and the ride breaks down! Amazing luck. It later re-opens in the afternoon, and that's when I get a ride. Decent queue, but the ride-ops inside are just as rude as the ones outside. I know they want to pump people through the ride but they could at least be a little bit civil, I don't think I'm asking for much. As for the ride - pretty damn good well deserving of the hype. Unlike most roller-coasters the theming right upto the launch is decent and tells a story, and while you could argue that the launch is a little underwhelming, the airtime and drops make up for it. Only had three rides on this one, my final one being in the back was suprisngly worse then my rides in the middle. Great ride and I want to ride it more. Wild West Falls - Still as good as it ever was, and I can confirm based on my numerous re-rides that the back seats get wetter then front seats do, because I soaked up water like a sponge. As a bonus, they had that frustrating video turned off! Sunday had long queues of 20 minutes (we were spoilt on Friday with five minute or less waits) but on the plus side I rode in boats loaded full of adults most times keeping me nice and wet. Saw something quite funny when riding on Sunday. There was a Japanese family getting ready to ride - father, mother and son (I'd say about 11-12). The boat is full but no-one wants to sit in the front, so the mother gets in. The boy wants to ride but his dad wants to ride with him, so he kicks up the biggest hissy fit I've ever seen. The boy wants to ride right now, but the ride-op thinks he just got off the boat and is trying to lead him to the exit. Then the mother stands up in a moving boat and yelling starts between her, her son and her husband. They end up stopping the boat and the boy gets the front seat ride with his mother while his dad waits for the next boat. Apparently it could be seen and heard from the other side of the ride too. Decent ride. Scooby Doo Spooky Coaster - Can be summed up in one word - fun. The rode better on Friday then Sunday where long queues (45 minutes long, the longest of the entire weekend) meant that the ride was sped up a bit (causing the drops to hurt just a little bit more). The queue is good but I'm really sick of that video where Sarah Michelle Geller talks about the transition of Scooby Doo from 2D to 3D, what a pile of wank. That and they have to make the queue lines smaller as I saw quite a bit of line jumping going on. Love that first drop in reverse, and I'd argue that the back seats in the back car give a better ride then the front seats in the front car do, simply for comfort. Shrek 4D Adventure - A much needed improvement on the old Duck Dodgers show, especially when you add in a ride-op with plenty of personality (three cheers to Michael, who either loves his job or needs to stop eating raw sugar in the morning). The show is quite amusing and flys by quite quickly thanks to another well written story. Thumbs up./ Other junk - Lethal Weapon still sucks, even with a cute ride-op with a poxy English accent (she was working on WWF Sunday and strangely didn't have it then?). Road-Runner Rollercoaster is good when there are no queues and the ride op lets you stay on. Looney Tunes River Ride had a one hour wait for some reason I couldn't work out, having no queues what-so-ever. I'm a huge Simpsons freak but get rid of those toys in the prize grabbers, they are just out of place. Food in Movie World is horribly inconsistent in both price and taste, ranging from the excellent (Nachos at Dirty Harry’s) to the average (steak burger at Wild West Burgers). I'd really like to see the park knock down a few of those phony buildings and stick in a few more flat rides for the bigger kids. The Main Street parade was entertaining on Sunday, despite featuring an ugly Princess Fiona and Marvin the Martian with lumps popping out below his head.. Personally, Movie World is the best park on the Coast. They have a few flaws in staffing and food in my opinion, but those could be fixed up fairly easily - you go for the rides and they are top shelf. I had great times on my two days at Movie World and look forward to the next trip.

Edited February 24, 2007 by Brownie

[dreamworld_rulz]

Great TR it sounds like you had a great time. How come you didn't visit WWW or WnW?

[Brownie]

How come you didn't visit WWW or WnW?

Number of reasons, mainly due to the lack of time, lack of interest and the price. None of us were really big water park fans either.

[BNErider]

I think MW was the best Staff...

[aidan]

Same it seems that the movieworld staff have more fun with their jobs and joke around alot which I think is great.

[mickey_079]

Sounds like you had fun, the shrek 4d at movieworld is a clone of the one in universal, lol last time i went to movie world im like yay never seen this b4.. get in there, EXACTLY THE SAME AS WHAT IT IS IN UNIVERSAL! the three pigs, ride operator speaking to you, did they play the, the seat belt is located behind you trick? they did it on us and everyone went to grab it, hehe it was funny as.

[Spotty]

^ That trick is so old... but it still gets a reaction every time! I still think the best op in Shrek 4D is Grant! Daniel "DuLoc, The World's Happiest Totalitarian Dictatorship on Earth" Harmer