MW Mini Driving School - Officially Confirmed

[Brad2912]

Gold Coast theme parks catering to little kids with new junior attractions at Movie World and WetnWild

LITTLE kids are about to get more of a thrill from the Gold Coasts theme parks, with two big new attractions coming in time for the September school holidays.

Village Roadshow Theme Parks will today announce a junior driving school for Movie World and a pint-sized water park for WetnWild.

Theme park spokesman Darrin Davies said the new areas were expected to be a big hit with young families.

Wetn Wild Junior on the Gold Coast, an all-new kid sized water park created for kids and families Source: Supplied

There are plenty of thrills for the big kids, he said.

So we wanted to make sure that the little kids have the same level of excitement.

WetnWild in Sydney already has a junior water park and Mr Davies said it was one of the parks most popular attractions.

It is working really well in Sydney and we think it will have the same effect on the Gold Coast, he said.

This is a zone where families can just come and park themselves.

The attraction, which will be built near Buccaneer Bay, boasts nine water slides and is a mini version of WetnWild itself.

Kids who sign up for the junior driving school will be given the impression they are driving down Movie Worlds Main Street once they get on-board.

WetnWild Junior is a mini version of WetnWild itself. Source: Supplied

There is a great deal of work that is going on behind the scenes to get it ready, he said.

The creative is amazing.

Given the opportunity to stop, turn, signal and learn about seatbelt safety, Mr Davies said the attraction was not all fun.

The kids will learn a bit about road safety, he said.

Anyone who participates in the ride will take home a souvenir driving licence. Mr Davies said the cars were on the way for the track, which would be located near the Looney Tunes area when it was built.

Village Roadshow is also hoping to boost numbers through the gates of its four parks in the coming financial year with the launch of a new VIP Magic Pass.

It offers park goers a free all-park pass for 12 months with every three they buy, plus entry into the new Carnival show.

Passes that are purchased early are valid for 13 months.

http://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/news/gold-coast/gold-coast-theme-parks-catering-to-little-kids-with-new-junior-attractions-at-movie-world-and-wetnwild/story-fnj94idh-1226940584292

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

“The creative is amazing.”

Such Creative. Wow.

Mr Davies said the attraction was not all fun.

Thats a good selling point. (Looking at the photo in the article, it doesn't appear to be something parents can ride too)

Anyone who participates in the ride will take home a souvenir driving licence.

*For the first 6 months before we run out - at which point nobody will bother to order more and we'll just discontinue the practice. In other news, we're hiring more cleaners to deal with the several thousand discarded driver's licenses left on the ground.

Plus entry into the new Carnival show.

Carnivale*

I know Movie World is ABSOLUTELY overdue for a good quality kids ride... and it looks as though they're going to be waiting a while longer. I'm quite underwhelmed by the concept, and looking at the cars, it doesn't look like adults will be able to ride. I'm concerned we've ripped out a 'fun for the whole family' ride to replace it with what is in effect a very expensive, high-real-estate-usage kiddie ride, that is intended to be EDUCATIONAL?>???????

I don't want to be too judgmental with only the concept at hand at the moment, but - like a year ago when we all first started talking about it - i'm disappointed.

The WnW move confirms the excavators and other works seen at the park recently - and perhaps should have it's own thread? I always thought that this 'WnW Jr concept was something missing - especially when you see the wiggles area at WWW - this fills the gap nicely.

[Brad2912]

He says it will be a big hit for young families, looking at those cars which I certainly wouldn't fit in, I think he meant fun for little kids that make up part of young families.

Sounds like a larger themed version of the current Taxi ride, just what we needed! Yay!

[liz.wis]

As the resident person with small kids here, I think that ride will get a big yawn from my 5 year old, but perhaps not be suitable for my 2 year old either, if adults can't partake as well.

I'm quite interested in the W&W idea though, that looks like it has potential to be quite fun.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

I'm quite interested in the W&W idea though, that looks like it has potential to be quite fun.

Yes... in the same way Wonderland had 'beastie' (which many guests called 'little beast'), and bush beast - beastie was something smaller kids would ride and enjoy and be a 'graduating step' from kids rides to the big thrills.

Now we'll have Tornado, and Tornado Lite...

[rappa]

The wet n wild area looks great. A really nice addition to the park.

[MaxxTheMonster]

^{As the resident person with small kids here, I think that ride will get a big yawn from my 5 year old, but perhaps not be suitable for my 2 year old either, if adults can't partake as well.}

^{I'm quite interested in the W&W idea though, that looks like it has potential to be quite fun.}

^{I'm with you here liz... My problem is going to be my 2yo son is car crazy and will want to do this but most likely wont be able to since parents obviously can't accompany them... I think it is as mentioned above, a larger version of Speedy Taxis...}

[jjuttp]

Those 2 photos are of the ones in Sydney.

[westical]

I was reserving judgement on any LTRR replacement until we found out more details.

This is woeful.

[Santa07]

MCDS has been announced

I was hoping they'd do something a bit better with the building but oh well.

I want to see how they replicate main street inside a building though...

The WNW kids area sounds like a good idea. Will this go on new land, or will they remove a part of buccaneer bay to do this?

[themagician]

The WNW kids area sounds like a good idea. Will this go on new land, or will they remove a part of buccaneer bay to do this?

It is going on new land. The land behind the Buccaneer Bay play structure and next to constrictor. And I don't think that they will remove it at all.

[iwerks]

AlexB

Posted Today, 09:53 AM

I know Movie World is ABSOLUTELY overdue for a good quality kids ride... and it looks as though they're going to be waiting a while longer. I'm quite underwhelmed by the concept, and looking at the cars, it doesn't look like adults will be able to ride. I'm concerned we've ripped out a 'fun for the whole family' ride to replace it with what is in effect a very expensive, high-real-estate-usage kiddie ride, that is intended to be EDUCATIONAL?>???????

Great points Alex - this is depressing news indeed. They have taken out a family ride and put in one that looks like it has come straight out of Legoland. What gets me is that they say that the big kids are taken care of in their promotional material. If they mean adults or teenagers, they might be right, but if they actually mean older children, they couldn't be more wrong.

It just seems like some kind of cheap filler idea that will make few people happy. They would be better off getting go-karts in there. Sadly, it reminds me of the original Disneyland Autopia, but without the cool cars with fins.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Sadly, it reminds me of the original Disneyland Autopia, but without the cool cars with fins.

Nothing sad about the original disneyland autopia... except it's nothing like it (in my own opinion)

[themagician]

At this point in time I don't feel like this will be a good attraction, but we only know the very basics. The final product might be better than we expect, but I'm not feeling to confident about it.

Edited June 3, 2014 by themagician

[Reanimated35]

I for one think it should be a decent enough attraction actually. Older kids have scooby, mid range have RR, younger kids have the WB area. Older kids and adults have Superman, scooby, AA. This covers something else for kids.

I'll wait final judgement for when it opens, but based on the idea, I think it would do well.

Sure I'll miss the LTRR and really had hoped they would keep that and keep the LT theme to it, but we've got to move on and no amount of bitching and moaning is going to bring LTRR back.

[rappa]

To be fair we don't know that Looney Tunes WON'T feature.

I think the thing is, this attraction needs to be looked at in isolation when making a judgement on it. Whatever it is the right replacement for the river ride is a separate discussion really.

[mba2012]

Personally, I don't think this will be too bad. I've been on the driving school ride at Legoland (a good 6 or so years ago) and from what I can remember it was pretty good fun. And parents looked like they enjoyed watching their kids drive around (almost) following to real road rules.

It isn't the amazing family ride that LTRR was, but it shouldn't just be an entertainer for kids.

[Reanimated35]

To be fair we don't know that Looney Tunes WON'T feature.

True, but all talk I remember seeing about it from its initial launch focused on the fact it was a "mini movieworld" rather than LT based.

In saying that 2077 or whatever it was before it became another Strike/M9 combo in Sydney was around a "mini sydney" iirc and I couldn't place much of it until we walked through with the lights on.

Edited June 3, 2014 by reanimated35

[Jay Jay The Jet Plane]

I want to see how they replicate main street inside a building though...

Let's see if they do Chinatown...

[MaxxTheMonster]

I want to see how they replicate main street inside a building though...

With the roof over main street it can feel like it is inside a large studio so that part is fine...

[downunder196]

This reminds me of the driving school at the Legoland parks. I went on these rides both when I was about 5 and 12 and it was enjoyable. Must be noted that when I was 12 I thought the pre show was overkill and boring but there was nothing more satisfying than seeing that 5 year old driving straight over the middle of the roundabout

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

i think my disappointment will be tempered if 'grown-ups' can accompany the kids (and hey let's face it - ride themselves at least once). It's not like any of the other rides where the kids can see their parents standing behind the fence.

What good is the ride if the kid disappears into a dark room for 15 minutes and then comes out going 'awesome!' - Where are the home movies going to come from now?

[aussienetman]

Feel very disapointed in this as well. I truly hope this does not take up much valuable space

[MickeyD]

Feel very disapointed in this as well. I truly hope this does not take up much valuable space

My thoughts exactly. The way I see the next few years given this:

- JL and Storm accounted for recent major Capital investment across the Parks

- 2014 required some minor Cap investment to be cross-promoted (expect JL & Storm to be heavily promoted also as 'new' experiences as well as to promote 'fun for families')

- 2015 MW overhauls the kids area with 3 new kiddie rides and both Speedy and Tazzie cars are history

- 2015 SW opens a major new thrill replacing Seaviper and once proposed 'wild' location, most likely a major coaster

- 2016 will see MWs next major attraction - built in the western area.

- Northeastern side of the Tune shed remain used by Maintenance, parade floats etc

- 2017/18 major new family thrill ride replacement to roadrunner coaster and former remaining Tune ride space

I accept the decision made for a small kids ride however like pretty much everyone out there, the choice of real estate seems odd for the basis of investment in the short term, perhaps. Perhaps NOT however if you consider it being part of a master plan looking over the next few years.

But I just CANNOT understand the purpose or Theme of this new ride? I can only assume the same people responsible for this are same creative geniuses that have also been responsible for so much of everything it surrounds? Can somebody explain to me how recreating a version of the existing (and perfectly functional) version of the Park's Main Street as a completely dysfunctional version is in anyway intelligent?

Sure THESE are small kids we are talking about here but seriously? ??? COME ON MOVIE WORLD THIS IS HARDLY THE BEST YOU CAN DO, in fact this is imho THE WORSED DECISION YOU HAVE MADE YET AND BY A LANDSLIDE. Hardly creative and frankly a complete waste of money. Experts my arse, sorry if I'm being harsh but only because I know this business and it's talented people are capable of doing so much better

[iwerks]

Totally agree. I think they will dress this up to the nth degree. The operators will have snappy uniforms. The set design will be great and hopefully the cars reliable, but this will appeal to 10% of the people who go to Movie World. And how often will they ride it? The LTRR you could go on at least twice a visit. I suspect most adults will be reduced to seeing this from a viewing area and that's it. That will take up about 30 seconds of your day - what next? I hope you're right Mickey D and this is a part of some long term strategy because this doesn't bode well.