Scooby Doo Spooky Coaster Reopening [Dec 26, 2016]

[Reanimated35]

I thought we could use a specific thread to discuss the reopening of the Scooby Doo Spooky Coaster, and everyone's thoughts on it post-reopening. 

As we all know, SDSC is scheduled to reopen on Boxing Day.

Quote

 

Scooby-Doo Spooky Coaster

Closed for scheduled maintenance from Monday 14th November and will re-open Monday 26th December 2016.

 

The ride was testing this afternoon. 

Yes, this thread is a couple of days early, but I figured tomorrow being Christmas will likely be a quieter day on Parkz and this way a thread is ready to go without the talk being lost in other threads. 

[joz]

Yeah be very interesting to see what it's like when it re-opens.

[Park Addict 93]

Agreed, but until the 26th and the general knowledge of "changes" do not really see the point.

[diesal11]

How can you tell an indoor ride is testing?

[pin142]

If you are around the Arkham courtyard area the sound of it running is a bit of a giveaway.

[Reanimated35]

8 minutes ago, diesal11 said:

How can you tell an indoor ride is testing?

We got told while we were at the park, then we walked over and as @pin142 said, you could hear it when you were nearby. 

[T-bone]

Has anyone been down to MW and ridden Scooby? I'm hearing some rumblings of some major disappointing changes to the ride..

[Tim Dasco]

I have heard that there is no theming in the dark section any more and that the walls have been replaced with temp fencing.

[Reanimated35]

Disclaimer: These photos were sent to me. I am not at the park today and do not endorse people taking loose items on rides. Please adhere to VRTP's policies. 

 

[Intimidator305.]

Interesting... Is this temporary? Maybe so they can work on it while its open. It would be good to get it open as soon as possible, seeing as its peak season, but maybe they are refurbishing it as its open?
 

[joz]

Yep that's about the worst thing I've ever seen.  I'm surprised they're allowed to keep their Warner Brothers licensing with a ride looking like that

[Tim Dasco]

I heard that they had to remove it due to the theming being classed as a fire hazard. So I doubt VRTP had a choice because they wouldn't leave a ride like this on purpose.

[diesal11]

Wait, so they've removed ALL of the theming in the dark section and re opened it?

[bammrwolfe]

That's honestly shocked me, I don't know what to think. 

Just to clarify this is the first section where you go through the swinging swords and jump scares. Not the upper area?

[diesal11]

As atrocious as it is, they've probably opened it today to help with the boxing day rush.

No ride should ever open in that condition though!

[Reanimated35]

> Certain theming did not meet certain standards. 

> Park has 2 options

• Close ride and rebuild theming - park already has rides out of action - people will complain
• Removing theming and open ride for peak season - people will complain

 

The option they have chosen seems to be the lesser of 2 evils. There's no way they were going to be able to pull this off without some kind of complaints. They know that and they'd be expecting that. 

What disappoints me is the lack of communication. We all know MW love their A-Frames, so why not a sign out the front that advises guests the ride is currently undergoing refurbishment, however it is still open for guests enjoyment. 

It can be fairly safe to say that they don't want to operate the ride in its current condition however, given this has come at the start of peak season when they need to have as many of their rides open as possible, they had to do something. 

I seem to be the only person I've spoken to so far (yes I talk to myself, what of it ) that doesn't have an issue with the ride in its current state, given we know it's a temporary band-aid fix..

We know it's going to close after peak season for a theming rebuild. Can't we just be happy that they have the ride open to soak up some of the crowd in the meantime? 

Edited December 26, 2016 by reanimated35

[joz]

If Disneyland closed down pirates of the Caribbean and re-opened it as a ride through a warehouse it wouldn't be 'Great of the park to get the ride open for peak season'.  Having the ride look like that can only be called an utter disgrace.

[Reanimated35]

8 minutes ago, joz said:

If Disneyland...

You're right though, this isn't Disneyland. We have a lower ride count and more of a chance for vocal guests to cause brand damage. It's better they opened it. Give it a month or two and when it shuts down for the refurb, everyone will be over it. 

 

Edited December 26, 2016 by reanimated35

[Slick]

Please, let this not be Movie World's "jumping the shark" moment.

So let's be clear, Dreamworld is combing through every millimetre of every ride, being very open and transparent and yet are getting their arses handed to them for a sharp edge on a Flowrider mat, meanwhile Scooby Doo is almost completely gutted, there's no park communication why they've completely changed the ride experience in any way (which would come as a rude shock if you've waited an hour to jump on) and now they're just pretending people will be sweet and won't notice the difference? I'm so completely confused on this one.

This is some weird "she'll be right, mate" mentality coming from a park that prides itself on trying to match its global brethren in terms of quality.

This is a tough thing to write, because I want to be positive, but it's really tough not to be critical when you appear to be holding a lot of contempt for your customers. If they said "we're redeveloping our ride experience, please excuse our mess" on a sign, or told the greeter to say it, I think it'd almost be okay. But to bury your head in a sand is a recipe for disaster.

Edited December 26, 2016 by Slick

[joz]

I don't think I can buy that as an excuse.  It's not like Movie World presents itself as some carnival.  The niche it's carved for itself is Australia's best themed park with the best intellectual property and quality execution.  That's what they want to be. You can't take your best executed ride and butcher it because all of a sudden you've decided something that you've known about for years is a problem.  I think a lot of people knew that they'd decided to remove the themeing, but I'm shocked that they decided to not even try to make it look good.  Even when Wild West Falls caught fire they put SOME effort into getting it back to scratch. 

 

Someone go get some plywood walls from storage and put something in there even if it takes a couple of weeks.

[themagician]

That is crazy, and never would have expected them do such a thing. But this is definitely just had timing. If it was a fire hazard, or some major issues, then of course they'd need to remove it all. At least this could hopefully lead to the rides major refurbishment next year. And they did need to open it for the Christmas period, with DD closed as well. But still sad to see the ride like this.

[BNErider]

Wow. Just wow. I have to ride this thing just to see the difference. 

 

I wonder what the future for the Scooby Doo ride is?

[Hypermarket Hero]

I just feel gutted (no pun intended) I had no idea this was happening! Does anyone have the story on what went down? Can it be shared now it's out in the public?

I'm quite shocked that it is running to the public appearing like this, they could of at least shoved some tacky disco lights and smoke all over the place to hide the mess instead of worker lights (as a temporary measure obviously). I get it that they need this open for boxing day crowds but without signage or forewarning it would be quite a spooky coaster finding everything gone!

But of course the enthusiast in me wants to head on down to see it in person out of morbid curiosity! 

[elemist]

I'm curious how the park passed the recent inspections with theming that didn't meet standards?

[rappa]

Seeing these photos makes me think that this would surely cost millions to rebuild the themeing back to what it was... Which surely must be the plan. 

 

But it is that smart? Would that money be better invested giving the ride a new theme and thus a chance at ROI?

Im sure many are attached to 'Scooby' but is that an attachment to THAT theme? Or just an immersively themed coaster?