Movie World Halloween Fright Nights

[BNErider]

LW closed at 9pm? Apparently it's meant to stay open until 11pm. And how were the mazes?

[Okguy]

I went along last night. The themeing and appearance of the park were very well done. The problem was there were simply way too many people to enjoy it. First we went to Superman Escape (which admittedly was pretty awesome at night) and were on and off in about 90 minutes. By the time we got off, pretty much everyone had arrived at the park. Even with the new attractions, the queues for everything were ridiculously long. We went to LW next and finished with that just before 9pm. By that time, Superman/WWF/LW/Spaceshot were all shut down, which meant the queues for everything else had got pretty massive (eg Scooby Doo was ~90 minutes). Most of our party of 4 had busy days (and thus we were tired) so we decided we would just leave then instead of lining up for 60+ minutes for 1 more attraction. So it was ok for $9.95, but I wouldn't have paid much more. If you go, be prepared to wait.

[Gazza]

Out of interest, were all rides running at full capacity?

[Original]

Well I went last night, I was very impressed with the event, the decorations around the park looked awesomeespecially the roof with the lighting rigs everywhere and the entry archway was pretty cool. There was fog everywhere and coloured lights lit up everything, trees and buildings etc. with red and blue and green lights giving it that spooky feel. My one bummer for the night rides not bieng able to run till 11 (damn residents the park was there first) and the lack of actors. I started off being there at 6 and we went straight for superman, just before going inside we saw it run with no people, then it ran with people and literally stopped at the top for at least 30secs before continuing on. We walked over just after that run to find it was experiencing difficulties and could be shut for 30mins to the rest of the night. BTW good way to completely clear out a que, so we went to LW, we got on pretty quick 10mins maybe a little more. It was my first time on it, got to say I loved it and didn't have a problem about getting a headache, but it was no where near as smooth as SE. They only had one train running as well, so that made things a little slow and in the end when we left the que was massive! We walked back over to SE to see a huge line as they were reopening, we already had a locker and went to get stuff when we realised no one was walking in they were just standing there and staff were yelling out if you had removed all loose items and weren't waiting on someone just come through, no one was responding to this, so we walked straight up told them we were all good and they let us through so it was only 20min - 30min wait. they were also running the two trains, so the line moved really quickly. Next we did WWF while the que seemed to be a fair size it moved really quick and once again 15min - 30min wait, it was great to do this at night and was a great way to cool off, it was soo hot and we got completely drenched. Although all the lights were on full bright when going throught the scenes, some fog and different coloured lighting would have made it way cooler and all the house lights were on, on the backwards drop so it wasn't dark like normal. Batwing was next and the que was massive, spilling outside, and 2 people in our group had never done it before so we lined up anyway. As we did they closed off the line behind us, so we were the literally the last ride of the night on Batwing. I felt so sorry for the staff the amount of rubbish they had to put up with from guests was so annoying because they had closed the ride, I mean they were only doing their job it wasn't their fault. Then a group jumped the fence and went in front of us so they wouldn't get caught Then proceeded to light up cigarettes, staff hadn't noticed them jump but they got them to put out their smokes, thank god. But it was funny to watch others try and jump and one person just refused to move and the lady turned around with the biggest grin and said "You can line up here for an hour and a half, but when you get to the front I can assure you I will not let you on. So I think its best you go somewhere else." We didn't bother with Batman Adventure or Scooby, mainly because of the massive que and it was shut off when we went to go to it. Shrek was also turned into a haunt maze or scary movie or something like that, anyone know? Also we didn't bother with the moto show or the show in mainstreet. We then hit up maze down the LW alley, there was a lady out the front with snake which looked pretty cool, and the maze looked great to, but it really lacked in actors, it built it up to nothing. The sign in the front warned of real snakes in there, but we didn't see one. All we saw was one actor who flashed a light at us which did make me jump. But was it other than black walls and to many strobe lights! So then we did Bedlam Manor, it was incredibly funny for me there were way more actors in there but all they did was sit in there rooms and stare at you, which meant I had great chats to them and just got an evil stare back, there was a room done up like the Addams Family with Mortisha in it and I told her how much I loved the show and miss and wish it would come back, stupid stuff like that, till eventually she just smiled at me. Or there was another guy who I talked to but he thought he would scary by hissing at me, to which I just hissed back, I don't he expected it, but I had fun. I didn't do the Fun House or Zombie Kill Zone, but really the mazes were poor. I went to halloween night the first year and the maze/scare zone was so much better and really it had nothing on The Mummy or Nightmare, which from Movieworld really was what I was expecting. Same with mainstreet there were a few actors out there, but no enough, I was expecting lots of actors dressed up just wandering, The addams family, Scooby Doo and Batman and their enemies should have been there just more people to add more atmosphere. There were plenty of staff, like I saw so many staff just walking around mainstreet with their cast shirts and walkie talkies but not enough actors! Not like how I remember or imagine. Also I loved how all the staff had make up on and bullet wound and their uniforms torn and coveres in blood and what looked like flour, nice touch. For $10 I thought it was great value and I had heaps of fun, I want to get the $10 ticket again for next week and do everything I missed. For those who remember me saying how I had did SE and escape before and couldn't breath and just needed courage to just get up and do them, well I did and I loved it!

[tipsy_bella]

I'm sorry 'Original' but is it not the first priority of a halloween event is to do the mazes and scare zones instead of rides. Perhaps people on this thread should go and experience the HALLOWEEN EVENT instead of the queues for rides which you can do anytime. Please, someone who went to experience the mazes and the themeing post here instead of people complaining about wait times. IT'S A HALLOWEEN EVENT PEOPLE DO THE MAZES FIRST AND RIDES SECOND.

[Original]

But the rides closed first, so wouldn't make sense to do what rides you can before they are shut off and then do the mazes, otherwise you will get the mazes done and have the rides closed and end up going home. Also I never complained about wait times, I was thankful about the times I got and you really should experience some of these rides after dark, it adds a different dimension. I did out of three of the mazes two of them, I could have done the third but we were tired and went home. I've seen the Moto cross shows every year at the EKKA and I didn't know what was going on in Shrek and then there was a Laser skirmish Zombie Kill Zone, which I was told you had to pay. I said I thought the themeing in the place was really cool, although I didn't take photo not having a camera, but lacked actors to scare you, especially in mainstreet and the mazes and was the main reason for not doing the third maze! Now I hope it was because it was just the first night and later on more actors will be added because it looked like there were plenty of times for someone to pop out! Another thing I forgot was there were a couple of photo op places were you could stick head through and have a skeleton body, you know those sort of things. So yeah everyone should really experience a night like this adds a whole new dimension to the park and yes do rides first and mazes second or your left with nothing else and going home early.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

From memory, my comments about wait times included the queueing FOR the mazes, as well as the rides, and we only went on one ride while we were there. Mazes had as much of a queue as the rides did, and we left after three hours having had some fun, and not wanting to ruin it with more and more waiting. My experience at the park in costume backs up the comments about the lack of actors just roaming the park. If a couple cast got done up in some ghoulish (and really effective) costume and makeup, and just wandered the park freely (eg: without a guide) they could have a lot of fun. Many (MANY) people stopped me while I was walking around just asking to take a photo with me, and I had a lot of fun hamming it up in character for the cameras. I actually kept running into one guy who was on mobiles all night doing food\bev, and various different souvenirs (lightup stuff etc). We ran into each other several times, and he commented how he wished he could be doing something like what i was. I'm sure there would be no shortage of staff to volunteer to be done up in costume and makeup (especially considering the SFX staff available to do the work in a MOVIE studio) and given free reign to cause mock havoc (within reason). I know a couple of staff who would have done it for free. My one shout out for best cast member of the night was left out of my original post. It pains me to say I have forgotten his name, but I think it was Michael (Sorry if I got it wrong). Michael was on Scooby, at the front of the queue doing load \ grouping. He had some amazing one liners, and pulled off his character (makeup done well, costume? looked great). He waved a very large bone around. I tried to put him off by shouting out "Michael(?) thats an impressive bone you have there", to which he quickly responded "why thankyou for noticing how impressive my big bone is" and made a suggestive motion with the bone. He did this at the top of his voice, and it elicited a great response from the crowd in the queue. It really helped to set the mood, and was much more entertaining than the usual scooby queue. So Michael (if that is really your name...) you did a great job on saturday night, and in my opinion, you were the the top performing cast member, and my highlight of the entire event.

Edited October 4, 2009 by AlexB

[Okguy]

I'm sorry 'Original' but is it not the first priority of a halloween event is to do the mazes and scare zones instead of rides. Perhaps people on this thread should go and experience the HALLOWEEN EVENT instead of the queues for rides which you can do anytime. Please, someone who went to experience the mazes and the themeing post here instead of people complaining about wait times. IT'S A HALLOWEEN EVENT PEOPLE DO THE MAZES FIRST AND RIDES SECOND.

I see your point, but it's not like you can go on Superman or LW at night whenever you want.

[rappa]

Having experienced two first grade halloween events last year at USO and Knotts I have to say I had high expectations for Movie World this year which appeared to be going after the same kind of concept this year. I ducked in quickly for the last hour on Sat night and what I saw in that short time and reading and hearing others comments I feel I set the bar way to high. Don't get me wrong, I will still be paying for a full price and going to give it a fair go myself but it seems they have missed the point. What makes the events at these parks is the atmosphere and the actors, both I felt were non existent. I saw one actor in the street the whole time, they need 100s. The park was way overlit and I have to disagree with AlexB that the lighting was aweful. Lots of big bright floods and LED everywhere, where as dark, smokey and moody should have been the goal. I hear the mazes lacked actors also which is what makes the event. 100s of purposely hired actors with no other job than to just seek people out and scare them! Not staff walking around with painted faces and STAFF shirts on. I would have expected a major stage show with high production in the Show stage, mix comedy with vampires or something and pack them in. As for rides, rides should be a non concern for such an event. We went on 1 ride at universal and 2 at knotts purely because they were the ones themed with actors (why is this not being done with WWF?). So hopefully it's a good start but from what I saw, they still have a ways to go. It's not rocket science, I could honestly have designed there entire event this year from lighting to entertainment to actors and mazes, all from 1 visit to each of those US events and a walkthrough and meet with the head of Ent. at Universal. Surely someone who actually is tasked with this job could do the same.

Edited October 5, 2009 by joz

[Ian]

I need to say a couple of things First off any halloween event you should maybe ride one or two rides max and then check out the halloween stuff. I cant speak for the other mazes but i can tell you That the funhouse had a scare talent in every room, and i didnt stop all night scaring people as they came into my area. there may have not been alot of talent on the streets but there was in the mazes.

[Gazza]

First off any halloween event you should maybe ride one or two rides max and then check out the halloween stuff.

It makes me LOL that scooby doo had 90 minute queues. I mean, riding one or two of the outdoor coasters at night is worthwhile because its a different experience...But wasting time on an indoor coaster that is the same no matter what Edited October 5, 2009 by Gazza

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Stupid question - WHERE was funhouse?

[Ian]

inside next to bumper cars inside next to bumper cars

[rappa]

Well that's good to hear Ian that there is talent in the mazes, I look forward to checking them out. I understand this is really the first year for MW and hopefully it does grow and become what it could be. Please let someone go over to the US and come back with a notebook full of ideas for next year!

[kieron5379]

Well that's good to hear Ian that there is talent in the mazes, I look forward to checking them out. I understand this is really the first year for MW and hopefully it does grow and become what it could be. Please let someone go over to the US and come back with a notebook full of ideas for next year!

I was of the understanding that this was their 3rd or 4th year doing this? I definitely remember going to one last year and I'm pretty sure I went to one the year before that. This is i believe the first time they've done so many nights though.

[downunder]

Well that's good to hear Ian that there is talent in the mazes, I look forward to checking them out. I understand this is really the first year for MW and hopefully it does grow and become what it could be. Please let someone go over to the US and come back with a notebook full of ideas for next year!

I'm going to LA on Friday, add notebook to packing list. It sounds like MW is heading in the right direction, I know they will never match Universal or Knotts but I see it growing if they keep getting good numbers. I'm scared about Halloween Horror Nights and Knotts Scary Farm, I'll probably have a nervous disorder by the time I've gotten through all that.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

I was of the understanding that this was their 3rd or 4th year doing this? I definitely remember going to one last year and I'm pretty sure I went to one the year before that. This is i believe the first time they've done so many nights though.

Doing this? No. Opening at night for hallowe'en? Yes It's no longer for families - its not just a park that is open at night with lots of smoke machines. THey're setting out to be seriously "frightful"... and like Clint, I hope they take this further next year

[kieron5379]

Last year they had a maze in the Leathal Weapon alley and that really wasn't anything to write home about. I have to say that the first one was great, because everyone was really into it, and even though it was for kids, it was still great fun for adults too. It doesn't seem that scary from what i've heard the year, but i think that they would have more chance of pulling crowds if it was more family orientated. Just my opinion though

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

But as to pulling crowds, last saturday was practically a sell out, at 6000 tickets. The overall response from those i've spoken to about it was that the park was jammed full, and couldn't have taken more given the conditions and operating hours, so I'd say that, considering they'd tried the family angle, and decided to go with the more scary adult line, that they're going for something different, and as to pulling the crowds, I don't think they need to be more family oriented. They got enough last week, and there were plenty of families with small kids who were completely ok with what was on offer. They need to ramp it up even more than they are, and Michael Croaker did say that was the plan as they saw what worked and what didn't. 6000 tickets on opening night, and it was still 4 weeks from the actual hallowe'en? I think they'll do just fine. As you said - last year's maze wasn't anything to write home about. This year was certainly good in terms of the dragons lair. It didn't take a lot of effort to put that together, but i tell you what, the experience WAS unnerving. Like has been said already - my feeling is they need more cast, IN CHARACTER just roaming the streets, with free permission to cause a little havoc, without "upsetting" guests. Just giving them a good scare. I developed a habit of walking slowly down the street, waiting until i got a slightly perturbed reaction from someone, and then as they went past me i kept eye contact, turned my head to follow, and then when they were almost out of my line of sight, i'd stop, turn around, and start following them. I got numerous screams, and hundreds of photos taken with people. Most people thought I was employed by the park, and were shocked to find out that I was a paying guest - this is what they expected the park to do. Hell, If Michael Croaker offered me free entry for the rest of the events, i'd come down and do it again, without any rides or shows - walking the street was THAT much fun.

[Intamin]

Hey guys, I thought I should give you a review of my experience at the park last night. First of all I got there at 5:40 and the gates were already open. As soon as I got in I headed to Superman (of course). There was about a fifteen minute queue which wasn't too bad. By the time I got to the gates just about to board the queue had filled up so much that it was using pretty much all of the switchbacks and I would guess that it would be over an hour wait. By the way they only had one train running. After that we headed to the batwing. By this time the park was dark and had all the effects running. There was a lot of smoke machines through the park and heaps of smoke filled the park, almost to the point that you ran into garden beads and people. Anyway I waited about 35mins at the batwing and it was great in the dark. Next was the lethal weapon which took 45mins and was incredible. There was no lights on so you could barely even see the track. By this time it was just after 8:00. Since we wanted to check out the Bloody moto x show at 8:30, we went to a maze to fill in some time. We went to the Fun House first, which had a 20min queue. I have to say there was absolutely nothing scary about this maze. It was still enjoyable because it had cool things in there such as SPOILER ALERT There was a bubble machine that produced so many bubbles that you had to walk through that your clothes and shoes were soaked, had pool noodles stuck to the roof to walk through. Two big air bags that you had to kind of climb through (definitely not for the claustrophobic) and of course strobe lights. Then we checked out moto x, which was absolutely insane. If you haven't seen freestyle motocross before I definitely recommend it. These guys did incerdible stunts. After that we did the other three mazes. The Bedlam manor had a 25min queue and had some really good theming inside, but was really short and seemed lame because it wasn't scary at all. Then we did the Zombie Kill Zone which you have to pay an extra 5 dollars for. It is like laser skirmish where the humans verse movie world staff that are zombies. The game lasted for fifteen minutes and was probably worth the five dollars. After that we went to Dragon Alley which didn't disappoint. The queue was massive in the earlier evening but was a walk on by the time we got there. This maze was truly scary because it was very dark, had fake snakes on the walls that touched your legs and arms, things coming off the roof, loud bangs, bodybags, freaky looking guys, many things coming off the walls that you could barely see, but felt them, strobe lights and gory things on the walls. I would have not wanted to do this going at the front. I would completely crap myself. Overall the night was well worth the ten dollars. The atmosphere was great and the queues weren't too big. Like other people said that the only bad thing was the lack of actors on the street and the ones that were there only stood there and had no expressions on there face instead of actually scaring people. Sorry about the long post, just thought I'd give you an in depth review of the mazes and queue times Cheers Intamin

Edited October 11, 2009 by Intamin

[rival81]

The photos on mw facebook page look great! I'm waiting for some of the later dates at full price in the hope of shorter queues!

[Spencer]

Can we make a list of the places in rides things/ staff jump out at you in Movieworld? I can't stand being shocked. I know theres someone in batman simulator ride and in wild west falls at the top, he comes out and squirts u, at least thats what happned last year.

[Reanimated35]

so i thought there was supposed to be FMX (motoX) at the fright nights and it was the same people that do the ekka, royal sydney show etc.... but watching foxtel live now (HD and FoxSports2) gary reed who does the FMX show is currently commentating moto cross in tasmania is there a show on every night and someone else is hosting? or was it a one-off thing? -i was going to go to fright night tonight but no one wanted to come along.

Edited October 17, 2009 by reanimated35

[BNErider]

I went to tonight's event and was left quite unimpressed. Firstly, the rides closing at 9pm (all outdoor rides) closed their queues at around 8:40pm. Most of the rides and attractions that closed at 11pm cut off their queues at around 10:30. This resulted in the park being quite boring after 10-10:30pm. Now, onto the mazes... I went into all three mazes and thought the Bedlam Manor was best. You pretty much walked through different horror-themed rooms and had a few scary people look at you. The Dragon Alley was just a pitch-black maze with a few things touching you and a guy that pops out and follows you. The Fun House featured a few rooms that were filled with bubbles etc. and some not-so-scary clowns. I do admit though, I did get a fright or two in each maze. The rides were VERY badly organised. Mainly Superman, which had its line well and truly out of the building (yes, all the switchbacks were full) and only one train was running. Lethal Weapon was also running one train, but the line didn't really warrant it. The Nightmare House film was really lame. It was pretty much just a few short films thrown together. In addition, Main Street needs MANY more actors and shows. The rock band that appeared last year was much better than the show they have now. One show in Main Street just isn't good enough. More so, the show stage really should feature a show with a high production value because there just isn't enough to do IMHO. A few general notes... - Wild West Falls needs a big overhaul some time soon. Some of the buildings in the ghost town need to have their backings replaced because you can see right through them. Also, the interior of the ride needs to be fixed up because in many parts it has broken off. - The Take 1 shop now has two big signs promoting the Road Runner on-ride photos and a plasma out the front displaying these photos. Looks REALLY bad... - The shop on the corner that separates the bank and Batman cafe is under construction... anyone know what is going in there? I am going again on the 30th with another group of friends. I will take some pictures then.

Edited October 17, 2009 by ash.1111

[Reanimated35]

i was at movieworld on friday and superman had 2 trains running with an (at most) 5min wait time. lethal weapon was running only the blue train and there was no wait at all when i got there and maybe a 2min wait after that. the red car was no where to be seen as it wasnt parked in the maintenance bay (unless that rollerdoor it can go thru leads to more maintenance track - but it looks more like that would be where they could load it onto a truck and take it away) i also noticed that bad smell which has been mentioned before outside guest services. it smells like a dead rat or something. as far as that shop goes - i'd say they are making another shop there