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Happy 20th Movie World

MickeyD

By MickeyD,
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MickeyD Experienced

MickeyD

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Wow, 20 years rolls by fast and for me it seemed like only yesterday when "Hollywood On The Gold Coast" officially threw open it's doors. I was so inspired myself at the time that barely a year had gone by before joining the cast. A time I still cherish today as providing me with some of the fondest memories and friendships that will last a lifetime. Happy Birthday Movie World. After 20 fabulous years, you still continue to amaze & raise the expectations of the average Aussie Theme Park lover.

Edited by Adam
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MickeyD Experienced

MickeyD

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I enjoyed bringing up some fond memories of the Park's early years with a fellow original CM recently and would like to share a few stories and opinions with you. The Looney Tunes Studio Tour (original name) & the Batride (what the CM's called it) -two headliner rides of the 90's that helped shape a wonderful Movie park of International and perhaps even Disney standards. Looking back 20 years, MW's runaway success was a surprise to everyone including management and partner companies. It was after all a pretty big gamble but it was the demonstrated success and passion of John Menzies and the Sea World team that convinced Warner and Village to give MW the green light. You may only know this if you were there at the time but to keep the initial investment attractive, the Park was not built to last and relatively inexpensive materials were initially used in case it failed. I believe the original construction and development of the Park was only around 70 million. Add the land value, product placement, copyrights, indices, legal, marketing etc it was said to be around 110 million. SW property trust & Village fronted the vast majority with Warner providing their film rights and world class resources such as the services of the late Mr CV Wood who worked with Walt Disney creating the original Park On the 27th December 1991 MW gasped as a record 12000 visitors flocked to the Park. This was believed to be a new single day attendance record for any Australian Theme Park and an absolute NIGHTMARE for the CM's responsible for pushing the precious few attractions beyond the limit. Needless to say this was a big learning experience for everyone involved Working a busy day back then was exhausting but thrilling. You felt like you were truly a part of something big. It was a magical feeling walking down Main street and whilst only very much a half day visit at the time, the average visitor by and large loved everything they saw and they saw everything. From Attraction Presenters to Cleaners, the MW CM's were proud of their Park and it showed. The live entertainment was world class and overall the place was immaculate The unprecedented success paved ongoing commitment to bringing more world class attractions every few years widening the appeal and offering more for everyone. With impressive budgets as high as 18 million, quality was never compromised. MW had become Australia's "WOW" park and that's a credit to the passion of Menzies and the entire team of which I believe his drive and Leadership inspired. We knew we were the best Park on the Coast and that sense of pride fostered a wonderful workplace environment that was professional and creative. Come 1999, the original attractions were still getting the love and attention they needed to keep them looking great and staff were coached and mentored to be their best. I was one of those responsible for maintaining our proud standard and when this was happening the Park never looked better. Fast forward a few years and Management made their most dramatic reshuffle ever that resulted in the removal of many Supervisory and Performance standard positions. The Attraction Presenters and 'Preshows' have now all but gone and replaced by button pushes. Overall the Park has transformed from a giant Show Stage to just another Fun Park It was great to have ALL park attractions looking their best and I found it so sad to see my babies of Batman & Looney tunes left to rot for the last few years. It's like no body cares any more and small wonder after 5 or so years of practical neglect they decide these attractions no longer have a place in the "new movie world"? Give me the "old movie world" any day. The new one seems to be driven by Value & VIP passes which have all but destroyed the original experience, slashed operating costs to meet a lower spend market, causing capacity issues on fewer rides and subsequent long wait times for rides. All this adds up to discontent customer's who are less inclined to spend their $$$.. Just sharing a bit of 'shop talk' by some of the dinosaurs from the good old days that have reasonably valid concerns for the Park's future direction thanks for reading peeps! -Mikey

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GoGoBoy Experienced

GoGoBoy

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Actually I completely agree with the comments in regards to parts of Movie World being up to Disney standards (especially in the early years). I just came back from Disney World and I can tell you it's true! In particular the 3 Village dark rides (now unfortunately all gone); Bermuda, Gremlins & Looney Tunes, were all better than some of the dark rides at Disney World. They were innovative, immersive and unprecedented for an Australian theme park. Sad to hear the focus is all on VIP passes and "value" but I guess they feel that's the climate we are in. Hopefully this will change again soon. In the meantime it appears they are planning to keep adding some top notch attractions eg. Green Lantern... and I have hope for others. Most of the additions they added over the years well and truly lived up to the quality of the original attractions at the park. Lethal Weapon, Wild West Falls, Scooby, Superman... all brilliant world class rides. Movie World doesn't just take the easy way out and put in the most basic attractions. They always exceed expectations. Unlike Dreamworld, who spend the absolute minimum and generally underwhelm. Perfect example is Buzzsaw which ended up being the basic model. We were all so disappointed that they didn't go for the extended full coaster model. Meanwhile Green Lantern sounds like it's going to be more than a standard El Loco Coaster. We are hearing about possible new cars with more seats and better lap bars while the ride is rumoured to be larger than normal

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I haven't been to Disney so I can't comment but I have no doubt they were world class, and probably not just Disney but Universal standards as well? But not just Bermuda, Gremlins and Looney Tunes but Wild West Falls when it first opened, (Gremlins replacement) Scooby-Doo, that POV with the lights on... theres so much extra theming you don't even see, Batman the whole story and theming of that ride, Superman has that excellent pre-show coaster section and while Lethal Weapon doesn't have a story it IMO has some pretty darn good theming with China town and all! So I would say that it is world class and I hope for the future they can instil pride and passion in all those who work for the park and we see it maintain high standards (fingers crossed for Green Lantern, and Looney Tunes and Batman replacement). I think come Fright Nights we could see this pride? With what I'm sure will be an amazing looking park!

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RussellSmulders Explorer

RussellSmulders

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I haven't been to Disney so I can't comment but I have no doubt they were world class, and probably not just Disney but Universal standards as well? But not just Bermuda, Gremlins and Looney Tunes but Wild West Falls when it first opened, (Gremlins replacement) Scooby-Doo, that POV with the lights on... theres so much extra theming you don't even see, Batman the whole story and theming of that ride, Superman has that excellent pre-show coaster section and while Lethal Weapon doesn't have a story it IMO has some pretty darn good theming with China town and all! So I would say that it is world class and I hope for the future they can instil pride and passion in all those who work for the park and we see it maintain high standards (fingers crossed for Green Lantern, and Looney Tunes and Batman replacement). I think come Fright Nights we could see this pride? With what I'm sure will be an amazing looking park!

well lethal has no theming now as the entrance is down the side near superman and even the junk yard that was in the lineup has gone so there is no need to go down china town much anymore which is a sad change one that seems to be the new thing for movieworld just hoping something is built for green lanturn lineup and/or the start of the ride
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joz Experienced

joz

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Yeah it honestly works better than on paper you'd think it would. It's only for the 'return half' of the parade, and it gives the second half of the parade a street party atmosphere. Admittedly, it worked better for the night DC parade last year, but that parade was so good I'm not dissapointed to it reused for the daily parade. The daily parade that they were running before the 20th is one of the better incarnations the parade has had for a long time so yeah, the song works. I'm yet to see the special 20th birthday parade but from all accounts it's pretty good, and theme park fans particually should make an effort to see it while they can.

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