What can Movie World do to reduce the strain?

[Original]

GL if operated correctly could be continuous operation.

I know it's not really feasible, but I think Batwing should have a second tower, that way the ride could be operated all year round, closing one tower at a time. 

AA should have a second train like SE so one can always be being loaded.

Joz is right, instead of waiting for people to walk off the ride and close the gate just begin loading as people as they exit, check the exit gate last, not first before loading people. 

The park hasn't just lost the sponge rides but those rides also had the queue as part of the ride. Batman, LT and Gremlins all had preshows as part of the queues that could admit tons of people before getting to the actual ride. Now SE is just switchbacks, same with Justice League, the outside queue is still there, but no preshows are used just switchbacks, making the wait for the ride seem longer than what it used to be.

We've also lost the LT show, sure it wasn't much but could soak up crowds, it should have its own theatre like the kids theatre at SW. Also the two smaller soundstages that only get used during Halloween make some sort of behind the scenes thing just for Summer. 

[themagician]

^I can't see them ever getting another Batwing Tower. Would be like getting another GD tower. And would not be feasible (As you said).

And I remember one time a while ago when I was at MW they had all 6 cars for GL going and there always two cars on the track, at times 3. It worked really well and the queue went very quickly. But since that time, I have never seen them do it again. Or if they have had all 6 cars going, it wasn't speeding up the process. So MW can do it, but I don't know if they are told not to or the staff just don't want to go as quickly.

[Original]

24 minutes ago, themagician said:

^I can't see them ever getting another Batwing Tower. Would be like getting another GD tower. And would not be feasible (As you said).

 

Yep, but hey if you had unlimited funds to fix these issues, it's something I'd definitely do. Hell after watch just happened with GL, MW should be able to get a good deal from S&S on their products. 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

^ Wrong Alex @skeetafly - I'm not interested in calculating their theoretical capacity as such - just to see how long it takes for one ride vehicle to make a complete circuit. I'm not interested in calculating down to the PPH, but if random samples show SE cycling once every 5 minutes, or GL cycling once every 7-8, clearly it would show a problem.Right now all we have is queue times and waiting - but no hard data on exactly how often a single ride vehicle goes around the track.

25 minutes ago, Original said:

Yep, but hey if you had unlimited funds to fix these issues, it's something I'd definitely do. Hell after watch just happened with GL, MW should be able to get a good deal from S&S on their products. 

I think though this isn't a 'speculation and dreaming' thread, this is a realistic discussion on what the park should, can, and needs to do to fix their atrocious operations at present.

[Theme Park Girl]

I think one of the biggest disadvantages that Movieworld has is that it's a small park. Compare it to Dreamworld in size, even during DW's busiest periods the park still doesn't seem overly busy because everybody is spaced out. That and it has a lot more ride options. Half of Movieworld's rides are for kids, which means adults are going to be hogging all the other rides in the meanwhile. And everyone is cramped together down the main street and other tiny pathways. 

Movieworld definitely need to think about expanding, or at the very least start utilising some of its current areas that are going to waste (in. Western area in front of old Maverick show) so that people are more inclined to spread out more.  That would be my suggestion toward a solution for the overcrowding issue. 

Edited January 13, 2016 by OceanGirl

[New display name]

28 minutes ago, AlexB said:

^ Wrong Alex @skeetafly - I'm not interested in calculating their theoretical capacity as such - just to see how long it takes for one ride vehicle to make a complete circuit. I'm not interested in calculating down to the PPH, but if random samples show SE cycling once every 5 minutes, or GL cycling once every 7-8, clearly it would show a problem.Right now all we have is queue times and waiting - but no hard data on exactly how often a single ride vehicle goes around the track.

I think though this isn't a 'speculation and dreaming' thread, this is a realistic discussion on what the park should, can, and needs to do to fix their atrocious operations at present.

 

Ha Ha, I always thought one Alex was good as the next Alex. Well not really.  I agree dreaming has no place here, except for the 1.5 billion Powerball lotto draw tonight.

@OceanGirl I agree that space is a problem and it does not help when china town is blocked off.

 

Edited January 13, 2016 by skeetafly

[themagician]

I think OceanGirl has got it though. Yes, the staff could speed up, but really unless the park expands and gives people more reasons to go to areas, then queues are going to be a lot longer. DW may lack in some areas, but they cover all ages groups, have Australian animals, characters to meet and plenty of ride choices. Really, people are going to get more out of a day at DW (especially now they are open until 9pm), than a day at MW where people may only get to do 3 or 4 rides. I think MW really missed out this year with not staying open until later. I'm fairly sure in the last summer season they stayed open until about 6:30. Why couldn't they do that again, or even until 8. I know there are noise restrictions, but they don't kick in until 8:30. And as the Suns sets and temperatures drop, it will provide more time for characters to come out onto Main Street to get photos taken. Hopefully this world class attraction is a good crowd puller and will have high capacity, otherwise next summer could be just as bad as this one.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

that isn't justification for the staff to remain slow though - if they were to speed up, queues WOULD be shorter. The fact that the park IS small, and there IS a lot less to go on means they should be bending backwards to get as many people through as quickly as they can.

[New display name]

26 minutes ago, themagician said:

I think OceanGirl has got it though. Yes, the staff could speed up, but really unless the park expands and gives people more reasons to go to areas, then queues are going to be a lot longer. DW may lack in some areas, but they cover all ages groups, have Australian animals, characters to meet and plenty of ride choices. Really, people are going to get more out of a day at DW (especially now they are open until 9pm), than a day at MW where people may only get to do 3 or 4 rides. I think MW really missed out this year with not staying open until later. I'm fairly sure in the last summer season they stayed open until about 6:30. Why couldn't they do that again, or even until 8. I know there are noise restrictions, but they don't kick in until 8:30. And as the Suns sets and temperatures drop, it will provide more time for characters to come out onto Main Street to get photos taken. Hopefully this world class attraction is a good crowd puller and will have high capacity, otherwise next summer could be just as bad as this one.

 

The fear that I have with MW is that new ride will pull in more people into the park then it can service.  MW need to create something that is a crowd pleaser but not a crowed puller. (I still want a crowed pleaser but they need to sort this shit)

Even though I know people have already mentioned that DW have the space, so it seems like less crowed and even thou this is true DW always seems to add something extra for the busy period.  I can remember things like the diving show, the Mummy maze and one year I believe they even had extra rides.

Could they not leave one of the Fright Night mazes setup but keep it closed and just reopen it for the busy periods?  The maze in the old maverick show area would make sense to me.  Most people that go to Fright Night would be locals so a tourist would think. “Oh well! this is new”

Edited January 13, 2016 by skeetafly

[aaronm]

Couple of ideas:

- test seats for Superman and Scooby would prevent delays from offloading riders who can't get the restraints down far enough. Also good from a guest experience perspective as it saves some embarrassment in the loading area.

- a second show in the old Maverick theatre - something along the lines of Universal's Horror Makeup Show (better than it sounds) would work well without requiring a huge cast.

- add a family flat ride, perhaps a "shooting" spinner along the lines of Kang & Kodos at Universal Orlando. Adds a decent amount of capacity and big enough to pull adults as well as kids. Could even put this over the swamp between GL and the main park.

 

[mba2012]

I've always though that something similar to Haunted Mansion at Disneyland (or alternatively Duel at Alton Towers) would be a really good ride for the western area. If it is continuous loading and has the pre show like at Disneyland, I'd assume it'd be a pretty good "sponge".

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

2 hours ago, aaronm said:

Could even put this over the swamp between GL and the main park.

You do realise what happens to that swamp when it rains right?

[aaronm]

7 minutes ago, AlexB said:

You do realise what happens to that swamp when it rains right?

Yes I'm aware of that, the ride would need to be on some kind of raised platform I imagine, to allow the water to flow underneath.

[joz]

I can't speak for the OP, but I don't think the questions was 'should they build more high capacity attractions?'  The question is how can they make the park handle more people.

 

I hope they get better, they have a good GM at the moment who isn't just a numbers man so I'm cautiously optimistic.

[djmcbell]

Possibly moving away from "how can they improve operations", what can be done so that more people can experience more attractions?

The obvious answer is "buy a fast pass", but screw that - people spend enough money getting into the parks (though Gold Coast parks do seem quite cheap if you get year passes), they shouldn't really have to spend more to do what they should be able to do anyway.

I'm now reminded of my last trip to Flamingo Land here in the UK, and waiting 2+ hours to get on Kumali (we only managed four rides on the entirety of that day, simply because queues were do damn long and they were loading fast pass people as soon as they came on, which meant multiple cars left full of fast pass people before us lowly peasants got a go - nearly left the line to get fast passes myself, which I've never bought at any park).

But I really like what they do at the Disney parks, or at least my experience of it from Disneyland Paris. Fast passes are free, but limited to what you can do with them. Go to a machine and get a fast pass for a particular ride, which also gives the time your fast pass is valid. Come back at that time and go through the fast pass queue. Made it much easier and meant that, even when it was busy, we could still go on a good few attractions. Plus, as people are going about getting and using these fast passes (you can only have one at a time), ordinary queues are shorter.

The only issue (that I see) is that it doesn't generate revenue for the parks.

[joz]

I think the idea is that it gets people out of queues and into shops and restaurants, so it's an indirect method of raising revenue.

 

i don't think that would work at Movie World because there isn't spare capacity going unused, the shops are running at capacity when the park is open, the shows are full, and the less popular filler attractions don't really exist.

[GoGoBoy]

On 12/1/2016 at 20:28, AlexB said:

It is rides like these that the park is missing. Not dark rides, or kids rides, or simulator rides - just sponges. any ride that is capable of admitting a large group at once, and getting through those people quickly, but still keeping them occupied the entire time. 

FInally - and this is especially important in summer - they need rides that are air-conditioned. In peak summertime periods, the best thing in the world was riding LTRR, as it was dark, cool, and you would get wet. WWF was not the same - as to get wet, you had to endure several outdoor flume sections in the sun.

 

Well said, Alex! Agree wholeheartedly.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

14 hours ago, joz said:

I can't speak for the OP, but I don't think the questions was 'should they build more high capacity attractions?'  The question is how can they make the park handle more people.

 

I hope they get better, they have a good GM at the moment who isn't just a numbers man so I'm cautiously optimistic.

I know what you're saying Joz but the first two steps to fix that park is to improve operations \ staffing, and to build higher capacity attractions to take the load. the park has less capacity today than when it opened.

Once they get themselves 'back to par' then they can look at how they can handle more people with other ideas, methods and techniques.

[Levithian]

New rides may mean increased total capacity for the park though. So it's more of a case of more people coming through the gates and not actually reducing demand much during the peak periods.

i don't think we will ever see behind the scenes type stuff, too risky for people to leave the tour I reckon. If not personal safety, but also the potential for damage to park property.

i think the only way to relieve pressure has already been mentioned. Something(s) that take 2000 people off the streets for more than an hour. As already said, rides used to contain pre shows which helped, along with stage shows it could draw a lot of people out of the park, especially if you planned show times around when its busiest. Even the existing stunt show is often full to capacity, so a better show here isn't going to make a lot of difference. They did remove the grand stand closest to the western games area of the arena though. That probably cost a hundred or more seats which makes a difference when people are lined up around the corner past Scooby. 

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Didn't they expand the front-facing grandstand when they took out the western end (southern) grandstand though?

[Levithian]

I can't remember how far down it went at the first aid end of the grandstand. The other end still has the entrance near the daily planet, which was the same with police academy wasn't it? I'm pretty sure I remember that court yard thing inside where they have drink carts and stuff as you come into the show.

[Original]

Yep, grandstand was expanded. Can seat more people than what PA could. 

[MaxxTheMonster]

The exit ramp at the Looney Tunes end was straight to the road.  Where it meets the road is still in the same place so it was widened by however far that path kinks to the right.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Thanks Wyn!

So according to nearmap, that extension is about 8.5m long - going by Wyn's suggestion.

The old 'western' (southern) stand was about 18m long - but it was only five rows of seating - HWSD arena has about 14 rows of seating - so an extra 8.5m definitely makes up for the loss of the Western (southern) stand.

[DJKostya]

TBH I haven't been to MW since 2010 but I can still remember a few things of note about the visit that certainly did not help with the large number of people in the park.

I visited MV between Christmas and NYE so peak period and was greeted at the front gate advising that Lethal Weapon was closed. I had a quick chat with staff (Who were all super friendly I might add) and was told that they were not sure why it had been closed in such a peak period but it was likely due to a mechanical issue. OK fine I still went in. After riding everything else the park had to offer (With the exception of the kids rides) I looked at my watch and realized it was only lunchtime. TBH I was a bit shocked but remembering that MW is only a small park shrugged it off.

I've thought about it since and now this topic has popped up the main issue I saw was the lack of flat rides in the park. Looking at MW currently they only offer a total of 17 rides (Excluding shows) of which 5 are roller coasters and 7 are rides aimed at kids. That leaves 5 other rides for adults/teenagers.

Rather than expanding the park with another (Please don't hate me!) roller coaster I'd rather see MW spend the same amount on 3-4 flat rides spread throughout the park. Throw a Screamin' Swing in near WWWF and theme it to a mine exploding, or a Fireball/Round Up themed as a cowboy lasso.  What about a pirate ship? An endless chain haunted house?

Anyways that was my thinking.