$39 VIP Locals Passes

[liz.wis]

If anyone 'likes' Movieworld on Facebook, they probably would have seen this offer this afternoon. Have they sold them at this price at this time of year before? I know there's only about 10 weeks to go until they expire, but it seems ridiculously cheap seeing it covers all 3 parks. Is attendance considerably down, even with the new attractions to make this viable and they're trying to get more numbers through the door spending money on food, drinks, merch, etc?

[d4le_robthomas]

Sooo cheap! The more people that get to experience the parks, the better in my opinion. I'm praying Dreamworld does a price drop to compete too!

[daltma10]

Even if had paid the $39 for a pass and experienced Movie World as it was today, there would be no way that I would renew for next year.

[cadboy]

What was so bad about your visit today tolly?

[MaxxTheMonster]

Wait times for all rides were over an hour from what I saw today. Green Lantern went down around 12:00pm and techs went to work on the second set of block brakes. Arkham Asylum was running reduced capacity. HWSD only did 2 shows. And the place was packed. We left after watching one HWSD and having lunch. This is another reason they need to up their ride count. Still a lot of people but less things to absorb the crowds.

[rappa]

To be fair anyone going to the park yesterday had to be kidding themselves if they didn't think it would be awful. Terrible weather all week (and holidays) and then the sun comes out and every man and his dog (and his family) would be heading down before their holiday ended. Added to that the weather was not meant to fine up yesterday so the park probably had not planned for this big attendance.

[daltma10]

I did know that the park was busy and that was fine. It was also overcast with a chance of raining on Monday and still extremely busy. I suppose I was a little frustrated that they were only running one superman train, there was also only 2 HWSD shows and that there was no indication of wait time for the Asylum. I knew it was going to be a while, I knew it was running at reduced capacity, but it still took over an hour and a half to get on the ride. It was a nice day from the beginning, and they need to look at calling in staff when, from an operational point you know it is going to be a busy day.

[Linus1995]

Wait times for all rides were over an hour from what I saw today. Green Lantern went down around 12:00pm and techs went to work on the second set of block brakes. Arkham Asylum was running reduced capacity. HWSD only did 2 shows. And the place was packed. We left after watching one HWSD and having lunch. This is another reason they need to up their ride count. Still a lot of people but less things to absorb the crowds.

Wyncenuros I may be confusing you with another forum member, and if so I apologise in advance, but I swear I remember you repeatedly complaining about the fact that MW has lost its 'movie magic' and is getting rid of all of their shows and quality attractions and just throwing roller coasters into the park?

[joz]

^ I think you're right, but I'll just point out that rides and 'movie magic' aren't nessacarly mutually exclusive.

[MaxxTheMonster]

Wyncenuros I may be confusing you with another forum member, and if so I apologise in advance, but I swear I remember you repeatedly complaining about the fact that MW has lost its 'movie magic' and is getting rid of all of their shows and quality attractions and just throwing roller coasters into the park?

No you are not confusing me with someone else... Just not been here for quite some time. I did say they need to increase their ride count to absorb crowds. I did not specify what type of ride so why is the assumption that I suddenly think they should, as you put it "throw in more coasters"? I still think the lack of shows doesn't help this situation either. I enjoyed Arkham Asylum and Green Lantern. Yes they are coasters, yes I have said I don't like coasters. But... I enjoyed Arkham for the wonderful job of rethemeing they have done that makes you feel a bit more immersed in the movie (or in this case, video game). I enjoyed Green Lantern because as you walk through the queue line you felt, if you stopped to read everything, that you were entering the comic book world. The audio also helped give the feeling you were flying around as Green Lantern would. As you can see it is still the themeing and "movie magic" that I find appealing and should these be present on a coaster I will enjoy them just as much as I would should it be a walkthrough experience. Edited April 20, 2012 by Wyncenuros

[liz.wis]

We decided to take up the offer, and headed down to Movie World today - it's been around 12 months since we were there last. We can barely take the family to see a couple of movies for that price, and don't have much happening over the next couple of months, so figure we'll fit in a good number of trips between now and the end of June. We have a 3 year old daughter, and a 4 month old baby, who both came with us today, so we pretty much avoided all the thrill rides - luckily we weren't going kid free, as if we were going to try Arkham, it was closed for the day. Husband and I plan to head down kid-free in a few weeks - the last time we went for the coasters, Superman Escape hadn't been constructed yet, so it's been a long while for that kind of visit. There seemed to be a decent crowd today - not over the top, but not dead either. Somewhat disappointing, the first sight walking down main street was the big screen announcing the stunt driver show wouldn't be happening today - though this was amended later in the day, I believe they added a show around 1pm. We spent most of the day in the kids world. Miss 3 patiently cued for the Yosemite Sam train ride - after about a half hour wait, she decided she was over waiting for a ride with dad, and asked if she could go on by herself, to jump the cue a little, so off she went. Somewhat exciting to us, because last time we took her, she needed to get off as she was screaming so much! This time, she had her ride, and got off looking sufficiently underwhelmed. We headed back into the main street area, and watched the live Batman show - this hadn't changed since we saw it last visit. Miss 3 likes, and is comfortable with Batman (dad's influence), but she somewhat concerned about the scarecrow as choice of villain. We got snacks from the food carts at this time, we knew these would be overpriced, but I had to ditch half the popcorn I bought due to being either unpopped or burned - I'd expect better from the exorbitant price of it. Husband enjoyed a dagwood dog, and shows no signs of food poisoning, so that's a plus. Back to the kids world, this time Miss 3 dragged dad onto the tweety cages - she quite enjoyed this ride. Another thumbs up from her for the mini drop down bouncing ride (no idea of the name). Next, and something of a proud parent brag, she decided she wanted to go on the Road Runner Rollercoaster. We took her to the viewing area to watch a few rounds, to make sure she knew what she was in for, and then went to line up. I waited with the baby in the viewing area, and chatted with a nice staff member who was a bit shocked at my daughters enthusiasm. I was almost certain she was going to freak out at the last minute, and ask to get off, but eventually it was her turn, and she had an absolute blast! No tears, just wanting to go again. Amazing, for a kid who wouldn't even go on the carousel last visit. For the record, despite being 3, she's really tall for her age, and only just got in over the height restrictions. We decided to head up to Wild West Falls (staff member thought daughter would enjoy it after being so enthused on the coaster, plus again she was tall enough), and she went through to line up, but after seeing it would be another 40 minutes or so, she decided not to bother - for those that don't have small children, waiting with kids is painful. We'll give it a go next time. I still feel like that whole end of MW is totally underutilized, would love to see attractions other than Intensity to get a few more people up that way. Overall, we had a good family day - I found the whole vibe of MW a lot more positive than I did 12 months ago - the crowd seemed to be happier, staff didn't sound as bored, it was a little busier, and there seemed to be a little more happening all round. I'd really like to see the kids area developed a bit more - the wait times were quite long for kids, and the Loony Tunes River Ride is sorely missed as something the whole family can go on. Will update again when we head down to Sea World next weekend.

[GoGoBoy]

Thanks for your review. Good to get the point of view of a family with young kids. I agree with you and think a very wise next move for MW would be to expand and refurb their kids area. There is a massive gaping hole with the closure of the brilliant Looney Tunes family ride

[liz.wis]

Due to fabulous weather yesterday, we headed back to Movie World - something of a last minute idea, as I was planning on studying, but too nice not to get out and about. Very surprised at the smallish crowd for the day - obviously most mums don't rate theme parks as how they want to be spending mother's day (meanwhile, I couldn't think of anything better). The car park at Dreamworld was pretty quiet on it too. We arrived at around 1pm and stayed til about 4.30. Everything seemed to be moving a bit quicker than last time, we got in 2 rides on the Road Runner Coaster, about 4 other rides in the kid area, one go on Wild West, and my husband got to go on Green Lantern for the first time. Also caught the Scooby Doo show, - not bad for being there less than 4 hours, and we were taking our time getting around. Husband really enjoyed Green Lantern, he only had to line up for about 10 minutes to get on. He's just over 6 foot, and found the restraints quite comfortable. I asked him afterwards what he thought of the audio, and he didn't realise there was any - is it not operating at the moment? He wasn't entirely sure why the ride slowed down at a couple of points - is this supposed to be related to what you're hearing on board when it's working? He thought the ride was quite unique experience to all the other coasters he's been on (hasn't been overseas), and a really decent addition to the park. While he was riding, I noticed they had a Superman sign up for the new Justice League ride (former Batman Ride), I didn't notice that one a couple of weeks ago, so perhaps new? He took the 3 year old on Wild West for the first time (for both of them) and was really impressed with the theming (particularly in relation to newer areas of the park). I'd been on it before, not long after it first opened, and then didn't go back to MW for years - excluding taking the kids in recent years, we only went once in about 10 years, and it was really soon after the fire, and not operating.

[Reanimated35]

Audio - It's hit and miss. I went one week and it was off, the week after it was working in some cars only. It's just dramatic music (or was when I went). The slow downs are just to stop the cars carrying too much speed along the track to keep them nice and seperate the same way Scooby will slow you down in certain points. How much varies on the weight in each car. Superman sign was changed a few weeks back. Used to be a generic justice league one before.

[liz.wis]

Thanks, that makes sense.

[Magpie]

I also grabbed the VIP at that bargain price, have been to MW and WnW so far. Great value from the pass already, with SW still to come. Haven't been there in two years, so looking forward to that. At MW, had to wait 90 minutes for Arkham. Luckily, I was able to listen to music or watch video's on my phone while I waited. I have never waited that long for any ride before, only did it cause it was the first time on Arkham and I wanted to see all the themeing. The ride itself, I still enjoy very much. Apart from Arkham, my mate and I did Green Lantern twice within a half hour, same with Batwing Spaceshot. Scooby took a bit longer but that's fine, being my favourite ride, I can wait awhile. Wild West Falls was about a 20 minute wait, and still as much fun as ever. WnW, there was no waiting on Tornado. We got to the top, and without breaking stride put our tube in and away we went. It was the same for the 2nd go round. Then over to the Sidewinder, again no waiting. The Aqua Loop was about a 10 minute wait, so very good. In all, we spent about 3 hours there doing about 10 slides. With SW having Dinosaur Island opening soon, we're waiting til June to visit there. I won't be buying a full priced VIP when they are released, will wait til there's a price drop later in the year or such. Even then, not sure I'll buy a pass.