Movie World's White Christmas 2010

[jakeman398]

I missed Looney tunes too last night. Saw polar express instead :\ Loved the parade's atmosphere though...

[Original]

Joz we were standing not far away from you! Can I say what an amazing night... I went with family which meant I had 2 10yr old cousins with me and it really was amazing a lot better sitting in a crowded park waiting for carols or driving around streets at night looking for home it up, it was the best Christmas event our family had ever done and it wasn't me saying that it was the rest of the family! We got their just before 6 and got inside just before the rope drop, when they did do the rope drop they turned on all the snow machines and wow, it was slow moving getting into mainstreet and when we did the snow was really going and was filling mainstreet and really did look beautiful it was one of those moments when you had to be there, with everyone taking photos. We stayed in mainstreet for most of the night and got a good viewing spot for ALL of the shows, we decided shows first, rides later. I also had my cousins go ice skating for $5 for 15mins and they loved it. Looney Tunes on Ice was also a great show especially for the young ones (tip: the show is suppose to be secret, its not in the program but starts at 7.30) The parade was fantastic and IMO was a good as the DC comic's one and the floats looked spectacular and Santa to be the last thing to come down the street and it gave the park to turn the snow machines on fall ball again! The park was packed but yet didn't seen to busy, it seemed as if there were a LOT of little kids with their families and so after the parade most of them seemed to go home after being tired, with so many little kids I guess lines for rides like SE would be short? After the parade we did the River Ride which can I say the crew running that were amazing! I know kids were still on a high after the parade but they really got everyone into it, and they were pumping people through, the minute the first room was cleared they begun putting people into again! When we came out we did Scooby which we were only in line for 15mins for, the park really seemed to have cleared out by this stage and the big rides had already closed for the night (no smoke on Scooby again) Finally we did Polar Express which was another great addition for the Christmas nights and I really enjoyed and again they were pumping people through on this... a show every 20mins! Overall we loved the night and are thinking of going back the lights in mainstreet looked amazing and the snow at the beginning was amazing... there will be a lot of impressed people at the moment with what the park pulled off especially for their first time, you can hear it in people on Joz's video when the lights get turned on and it was the same reaction at the beginning of the night with the snow! I hope they bring it back next year.

[rappa]

This is so great to be reading. Looking forward to be back on the coast and getting to one of the event nights this week!

[ScottG]

Our family is SO excited about this! The wife and kids (5, 3 and 9 months) are in Vic at the moment visiting family, they fly back on the 19th (so they may be some very tired kids, if you hear crying it will no doubt be from them!). But from the minute we read about this we weren't going to miss it, and reading the posts here makes it sound even better! Just one question, what time is the parade on? I hope it's earlier rather than later...

[Gazza]

The parade was fantastic and IMO was a good as the DC comic's one and the floats looked spectacular and Santa to be the last thing to come down the street and it gave the park to turn the snow machines on fall ball again!

They were actually really elaborate, one was like a snowy mountain with little model houses all over it, and a model train that ran around the track through the mountain. Another was a "Toy Machine" and it actually had a moving conveyor belt and cogs, with presents being carried along the belt and falling into a giant sack. The third was Father Christmas and his reindeer, but the reindeer were on a frame that was angled skywards , so the whole float was several meters high. Overall, fantastic as said above. PS, the toy solder characters that were walking around were creepy! Edited December 13, 2010 by Gazza

[Park Addict 93]

They were actually really elaborate, one was like a snowy mountain with little model houses all over it, and a model train that ran around the track through the mountain.

I was very impressed with all the floats, a closeup of the train on that float is here Was their any more shows/things happening that wasn't on the charity night?

[jakeman398]

The lasers weren't on when I went last Friday and the train had crashed hahah!! They toy soldiers were lifeless.. look at their eyes! o.o They were out of time too. Santa's float had smoke coming out of the chimney!

[lizt]

we drove all the way there today and arrived at 6.20pm but found we are not able to get in because it is full already.. the kids were very dissapointed too. we will be going again tomorrow but hope we wont get dissapointed again. what time should i be there ?

[Gazza]

It starts at 6pm, so as early as you want before that I guess?

[Reanimated35]

So vip holders just show up right? might have to get there super early as its sold out already

[joz]

we drove all the way there today and arrived at 6.20pm but found we are not able to get in because it is full already.. the kids were very dissapointed too. we will be going again tomorrow but hope we wont get dissapointed again. what time should i be there ?

Hi there! MW have have worked themselves into a corner here by letting VIP in for free without having to pre-register. The upshot is Movieworld is now turning away thousands of people every night, and still having a park bursting at the seams (the lightning closing the rides doesn't help either). Hopefully next year they'll get it right, but this year to be honest is a bit of a mess. My advice to you and anyone else wanting to go is to get there as early as possible. If you've got a VIP pass, why not go in mid afternoon to avoid the stress? It will also make the night easier by getting the rides out of the kids system, so come night you can focus on the extra entertainment without having to worry about rides so much. If you can't make it in during the day, I think to be assured entry you'll want to be arriving by at least 5pm, 5.30 at the absolute latest, as the carpark was being blocked off by 5.50 tonight. If you're going to be arriving later than 5.30 on Saturday, bring the swimmers so if you don't make it in, you can take the kids to Wet 'n' Wild and watch the dive in movie (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) or go on some slides. My final piece of advice is to get yourself a spot for the parade early, probably 30-45mins before it starts. It's a good parade (seen best from the plaza by the big screen) and well worth the wait. Good luck, be sure to let us know how you get on!

[jakeman398]

Get there as early as four!! Today the guests had to be taken back to the end of the kodak shop there were that many! It is supposed to be at the general store.. People were still across the PED-X lining up!

[lizt]

joz and all . thanks so much for the reply.. yes we all have a VIP entry.. cheers

[themeparkgc]

The crowds just made the news tonight. Hundreds of families who had purchased $40 tickets (dated for last night specifically) had been turned away because the VIP pass holders turned up earlier and packed out the park. I would have thought Movie World would have had this organised better. I can understand VIP pass holders being turned away but I cannot understand why Movie World would allow the park to reach capacity before the paid ticket holders arrived. Movie World should have the figures for the number of tickets sold to each night and subtract this number from the overall capacity of the event. This new figure should be the maximum of VIP pass holders let in on that particular night. Just as a side note, does anyone know what the capacity of these events are? Edit: Just saw that Movie World will be holding an additional event tomorrow night to cater for the crowds. Link

Edited December 19, 2010 by themeparkgc

[GoGoBoy]

So White Christmas was originally scheduled to finish tonight? Why didn't they plan to run it right through to Christmas and possibly beyond? I find it interesting that both DW's Winter Wonderland and MW's White Christmas have attracted such massive crowds. The words 'overwhelming response' were used by both managements to describe the events. We don't hear that very often from the theme parks, particularly at the moment with the downturn in consumer spending. I am really surprised that snow seems to be such a big attraction for people but either way it is obviously working for the parks

[jakeman398]

There is an event tonight and tomorrow night, if you are going, get there as early as 2 o'clock!

[themeparkgc]

No event tomorrow night as far as I can work out. Just a day time parade from Tuesday until Thursday at 3:30pm with snow. Here's the official response from the park:

On Fri 17 and Sat 18 Dec Warner Bros. Movie World received an overwhelming response to its White Christmas event and unfortunately some guests were unable to access the event for health and safety reasons. This year was the first time we had run the White Christmas event and the response was unprecedented. We would like to offer our sincerest apologies to those guests who were unable to attend White Christmas. For those guests who purchased a White Christmas ticket and were unable to attend the event, we are more than happy to offer a refund. Please contact 133 386 to organise White Christmas ticket refunds. To ensure VIP Pass holders don’t miss out on the Christmas festivities, Movie World will be holding the special White Christmas Parade including snow and Frosty the Snowman at 3:30pm on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of this week, as part of the normal daily entertainment. We have opened an additional White Christmas event for tonight from 5:30pm – 9pm. This event will give priority entry to those guests with White Christmas tickets who missed out on previous nights. Unfortunately we cannot guarantee entry for VIP Pass holders who do not have a priority entry pass. We do expect tonight’s event to be extremely busy.

[jakeman398]

There was going to be, but it got cancelled or something..... I'm not too sure on the details, sorry I am so getting down there for the day time chrissy parade - to compare it to the atmosphere of WC Should be good though! Would be nice if the 6:15 ice queen show was running though

[GoGoBoy]

Why does it seem like the Village parks are just doing EVERYTHING better than Ardent lately? This White Christmas event looks like it's one thousand times better than Winter Wonderland. You had so many people complaining that they were disappointed with Winter Wonderland and yet with White Christmas people are loving it. Then there's also Halloween and all the great theming we saw at all the Village parks with that. Not to mention all of the new rides. I wonder if it's got something to do with the American theme park execs Village hired recently? Most probably. Ardent are going to need to pull out all the stops next year to match this level of quality

[jakeman398]

Another quick thing I noticed.... On the VIP pass advertisement they say "Why do two parks, when you can do three" :S *STAB* haha

[lizt]

mm.. we went there on Saturday at around 4PM and all our purpose of going there is for the white christmas and nothing else .. since we have been to movie world like 20 times in the past 10 years there is nothing very special about this place to us. The reason we recently bought the VIP card is also because of the White christmas free entry for VIP card and a 6 months entry for free - which turn out a better deal (~$80 pp). I have a new born so there is no way that i can go for any of those rides .. so yeah.. the main reason we bought VIP is mainly the white christmas.. we want it to be memorable for our newborn's first christmas. well.. to be honest it was not that good at all.. probably better for family with older kids but definately not for us especially we need to stand for 4 hours long to get a good spot for the parade starting from 4pm (the parade started at 8pm) if we do not wait at that place we wouldnt have a good front spot for the parade. we were sitting on the concret kerb next to the kodak shop... we got two floor sitting spots, my husband and my sister were sitting down and i swap with my husband once a while.... the smoke were horrible and the foam.. made me sick.. a few times we were really tempted to leave but we thought we have waited and didnt want to miss the main event.. the main event wasnt bad.. my little 8 months old were actually watching. the problem is that.. it was toooooooooooo toooo pack.. they could have made more seats .. and make it more organised.. \ i dont know guys and gals.. dont miss out the street party at Sidney Drive, Coombabah tomorrow night (22 December 2010). They won the street christmas light for this year.. and i heard it is really really amazing better than the movie world's. I am going tomorrow! see us there. Have a wonderful Christmas and a happy new year The christmas street party information can be viewable in the link below http://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/attachment...inners-2010.pdf

No event tomorrow night as far as I can work out. Just a day time parade from Tuesday until Thursday at 3:30pm with snow. Here's the official response from the park:

omgosh.. why didnt i have the ability to predict this! i wouldnt have gone that night with full pack of people.. so hard to breath and felt sick.. i would have gone at 3.30 just for the parade.. i wouldnt mind without the smoke and foam spray. Edited December 21, 2010 by lizt

[rappa]

Please try to set a better example for your 18 Month old and use correct grammar and punctuation as per the community guidelines.

[Original]

^^ lizt - They were still going to use snow for the event during the day is what it said. GoGoBoy - I'm going to go with my gut here and say its not so much the new American management (but it might be, or at least maybe their idea?) but more so people in entertainment and people like John Menzies, who does all the new attractions for the park (which gives me hope for what will replace BT) because I mean all we have seen from the management is cost cutting exercises with rides and shops being shut, BT, Corkscrew receiving that dreadful makeover, Ski show gone, LW shop closed, shops opening later, Shrek gone and awful food at ridiculous prices!! But people like John Menzies have done rides like Castaway Bay, the Penguins, AquaLoop, new Jet Ski show and have no doubt had a hand in this, and entertainment have put this WC event together to make it what it is, plus the DC event and Halloween and I'm guessing the new Jet Ski show!! I get the feeling management make the decision and people like this have to either fix it, do the best with it or organise it and put it into place. The people that have a real heart and enjoyment where they work.

Edited December 22, 2010 by Original

[ads086]

Perhaps its a bit of both. Amazing staff who put the attractions and shows together, but also management who listen to these people who clearly know what they're talking about.

[rappa]

What are you basing this on Original? You're actually pretty far off in most of your comments and given the CEO himself was seen in main street ordering more decorations to be added the comments of management not being involved in creating White Christmas couldn't be further from the truth.