Good things to say

[rappa]

So myself and a couple others happened to be at Movie World yesterday and despite attendance being through the roof (it was over 12 000) I had some very positive things to day about the park. Scooby was running as good as anyone could ever ask for, looked brilliant so that made me very happy after waiting nearly 1.5 hours to ride it. I also saw HSD for the first time in ages and was very pleasantly surprised in how far the show has come. The pacing is better, the pre-show fun and effective and worked well into the show later on. The stunts are all more impressive with only 3 cars and the finale timing was excellent and spot on. Is this show a PA style must see, hilarious 1/2 hour, no, but is it re watchable and no longer an embarrassment yes. I would say that its a good show to see some stunt driving, nothing more, nothing less. I still don't think it's endless entertainment for the whole family, but it's definitely a lot more solid. The other big praise I have for the park is that a fourth show of HSD was scheduled for 5:15pm to cater to the extra crowds. That meant extra staff hours, greater expense, more wear and tear on the set and cars and all sorts of other things that cost money. Great to see the park doing things like this. My only negative comment for the day was to see Stars Cafe no longer serves real food with table service. Being it was the only place in the park you could order food restaurant style (other than nachos at Dirty Harry which is always crowded anyway) that was disappointing. Then again it's nothing new from the revenue department which makes more upsetting changes to the parks on an almost daily basis.

[Spotty]

Thats good to hear about Scooby Doo and Hollywood StuntDriver. However I'm very sad to hear about Stars Cafe going the way it was. I remember working there and how great the food smelt!

[Spencer]

Go Ahead.....Make my Nacho's

[Gazza]

attendance being through the roof

Can we say that phrase is applicable, given what sits over main street ^I thought it was 1 hour to get on Scooby?...From my timekeeping anyhow.(For those of you playing at home, the outdoor switchbacks, and both sides of the main hall were open) For the first time ever the back overflow queue for WWF was open, so to clear that entire queue house took 40 minutes or so. Surprisingly Superman was the shortest wait of the majors...20-25 minutes or so. We didn't ride, but Lethal had people spilling out of the Cinema doors...None of the switchbacks were full, but bear in mind this thing only tends to get queues as far as the ramp up to the loading gates. Agreed on Stunt Driver...It was the best version of the show I have seen to date...very well balanced, great driving skills and near misses, and it never felt repetitive. A nice touch was the way the 'featured extras' were worked in...They actually picked some people who did their little parts well. People have commented on the fact it is 2 police cars instead of 4, but in some ways it emphasises the near misses. When it was four cars and they were doing their figure 8s it tended to just feel like you were watching cars on a slot track, but now you can clearly see how close they come to hitting. Either way, the crowd seemed to love it. Anyhow, it was quite an experience to visit the park on its busiest day ever, the place managed to hold up quite well, and didn't decend into chaos. Another minor thing, but the burger places now use angus beef (But the prices are still the same) so at least there is a bit more value in it now.

[TimMc333]

Surprisingly Superman was the shortest wait of the majors...20-25 minutes or so.

I was there on Wednesday too, but I never saw the Superman line that short!! Also I never even knew that WWF had an outdoor overflow queue! I don't think I've ever seen a wait that long on it before... Nevertheless, on a hot day it's always nice to get soaked on WWF

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

The thing about superman is that when it is running efficiently, a full queue house can still clear quickly. I've walked into a queue that had JUST spilled over into the third set of switchbacks (in front of the lockers) and it still took only 30 or so minutes to ride. It just depends on the staffing levels as to how fast they can pump it through, and given this is peak season, one would expect that MW had their best crew on the job. WWF doesn't have an outdoor queue, it has a second part of the queue to your right as you first walk in the queue house. What Gazza is saying is that rarely (if ever) would you ever see the right hand side in use (it was used in its first months of operation, but that is literally years ago). Just look to your right hand side as you walk doen the queue house and you will see all this extra unused space. I think its a shame that they don't show the video anymore too. That was a good queue-breaker and helped to set the scene.

[Park Addict 93]

From memory WWF does have a overflow outside queue, its through the fire exit at the back of the main WWF building.

[Gazza]

Yeah, the outdoor queue has a shade cloth roof, but normally the sliding barn doors that lead to it are kept shut, so you never see it. But its right up the back.

Edited January 1, 2010 by Gazza

[tolly1804]

That queue line nearly holds what is inside the shed over again as well, they use it when it gets very busy as it soaks up a large number of the crowd from the main street as well

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Well you learn something new every day - i've never seen that before. Obviously never been busy enough to open it up. I did see it on maps in the past, and thought it might have just been boat storage or something.

[Spotty]

The year Superman Escape opened up, I lined up in the shed out the back of the ride. Was a 2 hour wait on a 40 degree day.

[joz]

A week or so late but have to agree that MW appears to be in great shape at the moment. Adding the studio tour for the holidays is a great thing to see, (hopefully a sign of things to come), pity it hasn't had half the publicity that Kasey Chambers got as I think that it may be the best short lived attraction the park has had. HSD is also now a decent rounded show, Scooby was running better then I've seen in a very long time. Some areas still need work (Looney Tunes WWF and LW come to mind) but on the whole, I was impressed with what I saw. Keep up the good work!

[Gold Coaster]

When does the studio tour wind up? And did you get to see Kasey Chambers?

[joz]

Not sure exacrly when it finishes, but at the end of this month rings a bell. I did get to see Kasey Chambers. Given I'm not really a Chambers fan and this is a positive thread, I think I might keep my thoughts to myself on that one

[cadboy]

Yeah, the outdoor queue has a shade cloth roof, but normally the sliding barn doors that lead to it are kept shut, so you never see it. But its right up the back.

I have been once when the outside queue was open, it took so long to get on the ride. Good to hear Scooby is running well again I hope it stays this way for the months to come. Last time I went was just before these Christmas holidays and the disco room was full of light and there was hardly and fog.

[rival81]

Must say it is good to see some positive comments from people on this forum. I no longer have any theme park passes but may look at acquiring one in the near future once the peak holiday rush dissipates.

[Reanimated35]

I must say I was very impressed with scooby today, (after the 40min queue wait) the final room was nearly pitch black and the lights on scooby wernt lit at all, but the final drop was black and masked with a red laser just like the green one after the backwards drop

[MickeyD]

funny i took some peeps on scooby for the 1st time a little while back (it was the 2nd ride for the day and yes about a 40 minute wait) - Superman was the 1st ride and Scooby scared them more than Superman did! I guess the element of suprise got them but the ride was in such fine shape on the day, maybe that had something to do with it as well?

[BNErider]

I went to Movie World on Wednesday and Scooby Doo was looking terrible! The mist/fog in the main room was no where to be seen -- or so thin that it appeared to be absent. The last room had no lasers and the final drop was lit up with the house lights from underneath (was pretty cool to see under there though). Both Wild West, SDSC and Batman Adventure seriously need some work because they're starting to show their age. The River Ride, while old, is looking better than the rest. While I have some negative comments regarding the park's older attractions, I am pleased to say that Superman now has subway sounds playing near the boarding area (although you really can only hear these if you're sitting in the train). Also the Batman-themed area (near the Gotham City Cafe) now appears to have a lectern out front of City Hall. I also thought it would be worth noting that the new Sweet Treats store isn't air-conditioned. I'd hate to be working there in summer!

[stardust]

When I went to Movie World around Easter, it was the first day Sam Clark (Neighbours) was there, he was signing autographs and singing but it was a surprisingly small crowd. MW did seem very quiet for a holiday, but the Scooby broke down and then when we went inside the line took up both sides of that big room, and ran outside. It was the longest I have ever seen it! Superman however was a 20 minute wait because the staff were so efficient! It was excellent. They were kicking off anyone who hadn't emptied their pockets at the front of the queue, quite funny Wild Wild West Falls was crappy compared to when we went and it was raining a lot and all the logs kept stopping halfway up the slopes and crashing into each other and water tidal waving into the boat. That was the coolest experience (but so frightening, we thought we'd take the big drop 3 boats at a time!)

Edited April 27, 2010 by Gazza

[MaxxTheMonster]

Went to Movieworld on 24th April due to them being closed ANZAC day (there goes a decade old tradition). Scooby had broken down within 5 minutes of opening for the day and remained closed for the next couple of hours. 20 minute wait on Superman was nice, however my wife's arm got stuck under the harness and as I was attempting to help her move it the attendant told me rather harshly "Sir sit down." I informed her my wife's arm was stuck and asked the attendant to have the harness released to which she replied "You don't have to yell at me sir". They released the harness and didn't give my wife the chance to hop off as her arms was injured, instead pushing the harness back down and then sending the ride despite my objections.. So made the trip to guest services... HWSD had 2 shows, both of which overflowed and as we were leaving the second show overheard a guest asking if there would be another show as they were turned away as they were full only to be told that no further show was planned (this was at 2:20pm). This was the first time in 2 years I had been to the theme park and was extremely disappointed with the overall lack of guest relations.

[Gazza]

Don't they normally run an additional 4:15 show if the park is busy? It is advertised with a message scrolling along the bottom of the big screen saying "Due to popular demand, an addtional Hollywood Stuntdriver show will be held at 4:15", or something to that effect.

however my wife's arm got stuck under the harness and as I was attempting to help her move it the attendant told me rather harshly "Sir sit down." I informed her my wife's arm was stuck

If I might ask, how did she manage that? If you do as they say and pull down with the black handles, then your arms would be in the right position right?

[MaxxTheMonster]

If I might ask, how did she manage that? If you do as they say and pull down with the black handles, then your arms would be in the right position right?

She was pulling it down when the attendant decided to push it down in what I guess was an attempt to speed up loading. We stayed at the park until closing to see if they would put another show on as we hadn't been since a week before the show opened and the did not run a third show. Edited April 28, 2010 by Wyncenuros

[JD_bunnies_supporter]

Went to Movieworld on 24th April due to them being closed ANZAC day (there goes a decade old tradition).

Any reason why they decided to close movieworld for the whole day, intead of opening at 1pm on anzac day??? I think am behind on the news with this one.

[MaxxTheMonster]

They could not give a reason when I enquired. I was simply told they were not opening due to management decisions and that it may or may not be an ongoing thing.