Planning for a solo visit to WBMW

[marty]

Long time lurker, first time poster. Hopefully this is posted in the right area.

As it turns out, I'll be in Brisbane for work in early August so am going to try to spend a day at Movie World - it's been many years since my last visit, talking pre-Green Lantern days. 

In the past, I've always been with friends or family - so can share a bag, someone can hold it if not riding, etc, but going solo, what's the best plan of attack? Basically travel light and hire a locker for the day, or do attractions have bag storage now? 

Any other tips for a solo visitor?

Edited July 8, 2019 by marty
Fixed typo

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

G'day Marty, and welcome.

Plan of attack depends a lot on a number of factors:

• which day of the week
• how much time you plan to spend in-park
• what you want to do

If you have your ticket prepurchased, and you're happy for a quick once-through, you can get away with carrying minimal stuff with you. If you're planning to be in-park all day and see and do everything, and keep riding until close, you may want to carry a little more with you.

Some attractions require hiring a locker (such as superman). If you're going to be hopping all over the park, having an all-day locker in a central location can be a pain, but so can continuously feeding a locker every time you want a ride.

Superman is the only main attraction without a 'free' storage system:

• Green Lantern (small items only)
• Rivals (on station storage)
• Justice League (on board)
• Batwing (on station)
• Arkham Asylum (on station)
• Scooby (on board)
• Doomsday (on station)
• Wild West Falls (on board)
• Roxy ("on board")
• Road Runner (on station *i think*)

An All-day locker is about $10-15 (i think there's a couple of sizes) but i do find it painful as they aren't necessarily in convenient spots - either the very front next to GL, or behind the photo shop next to Rick's. If you get a parking spot close to the gates, its almost easier to leave the park to get your stuff than spend $10-15 on a locker all day (just be sure to get a pass-out).

You'll invariably purchase a refillable drink, and end up carrying that around, so a backpack is probably best. Superman is your only issue there, so get all your rides in 'in a row', cop the buck for the locker and then spend the rest of the day elsewhere. With the money you save on an all day locker, you can pick up a backwards row seat on rivals for added fun.

If you're coming in on a weekday, you'll be done by lunchtime, unless you want to keep re-riding - consider checking out other nearby attractions including topgolf, Wet N Wild, and Game On.

If you can expand a little more on what you're looking for, or ask more specific questions, i'm sure you'll find some helpful, (and some not so helpful tongue in cheek) comments to help you on your way.

cheers.

Edited July 8, 2019 by AlexB

[DJKostya]

Hiya,

Welcome.

I frequently travel solo to theme parks, mainly because I tend to travel solo quite a bit for various reasons. Here are my tops tips for visiting a theme park solo:

1. Shorts/Pants with a zip up pocket are a lifesaver, especially for rides where you can take all your items with you. Bonus is to take a sandwich sized ziplock bag to pop your phone/wallet etc. into for wet rides where you can carry items, but also for quick dumping into storage bins provided at rides.

2. Pockets should have the minimum possible in them. I usually get by with either $20 (Enough usually for lunch) or my Debit card and my car key. Everything else can be left in the car (If I drove). Depending on the park and the facilities offered I may also take my mobile phone to occupy me in lines while I wait otherwise I leave it in the car.

3. Alternatively if I have to carry more that the minimum (Usually the case if you don't drive) I grab an all day locker that can be opened and closed as much as I want throughout the day. Sure it's annoying to have to go back and forth but it makes it easier to dump stuff then go on a ride and grab stuff when you need it.

4. Single rider lines are your friend, usually. Australian parks don't generally do these as well as overseas. What I have done in the past is talked to people heading into rides in odd numbers and asked if I can tag along to make the group even (Like being the 4th person in a B&M row or the 6th person in a raft ride for example). It works more often than not and you may get a better seat than waiting for a single ride spot.

5. Alternatively team up with someone else in the single rider line to form a duo. I've met some really cool people this way, usually they are enthusiasts whose friends aren't as keen on theme parks.

Hope those tips help!

[marty]

That's so awesome, thanks AlexB.

It will definitely be a weekday - Monday or Tuesday - dependent on weather so will get a ticket pre-purchased before hand.

Arkham is the only ride I'll be missing out on due to maintenance (unless its scheduled maintenance finishes earlier) - I'd love to ride the (not-so-new-now) new trains - last time was still the old Lethal Weapon ones. Yikes that is years.

Bag-wise, I've got a small satchel bag thing I think I'll take - size is for a 13" laptop so its not big. For Green Lantern, would the bag be a no-go and lock that up too, and get Superman and GL done without a bag?

Really looking forward to DC Rivals though! At least the majority have a solution for bags (either on-ride or on-station) which is really good to know.

Thanks DJKostya - really helpful to read too. I'll be lucky and have a ride to/from the park so can get away with ID, credit card, phone and some cash. Maybe my camera if I can get thrilled enough to pack it - I do love my photography too, but its that balance of being light and mobile vs a pain in the butt lol

Zip pockets are good though... I'll make sure they are my worn pants too. Really good tips there, thank you for your reply  

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

9 minutes ago, DJKostya said:

1. Shorts/Pants with a zip up pocket are a lifesaver, especially for rides where you can take all your items with you.

Be warned that Superman Escape is not compatible with this option. The greeter at the entrance to the queue will ask, and many of them are pretty good at spotting 'something heavy' swinging in cargo pockets and the like. A zipper is not good enough for the Superman loose item policy and you will be required to leave the queue and get a locker. I've seen it happen - even when the guy was already seated and harnessed.

10 minutes ago, marty said:

Bag-wise, I've got a small satchel bag thing I think I'll take - size is for a 13" laptop so its not big. For Green Lantern, would the bag be a no-go and lock that up too, and get Superman and GL done without a bag?

For superman you'll definitely need the locker. If you get through the queue quick enough, Green Lantern can also been piggy backed off the same locker hire. The GL policy has changed several times over the years from mandatory (like superman) to 'small items only' permitted in the pigeonholes, but i have also seen small bags left on the station (exit side) so i guess it varies. On a quiet weekday, you might be fine - but you can always try GL first off with minimal queue, and if you get rejected, then you know for the rest of the day.

[marty]

1 minute ago, AlexB said:

Be warned that Superman Escape is not compatible with this option. The greeter at the entrance to the queue will ask, and many of them are pretty good at spotting 'something heavy' swinging in cargo pockets and the like. A zipper is not good enough for the Superman loose item policy and you will be required to leave the queue and get a locker. I've seen it happen - even when the guy was already seated and harnessed.

Oh Superman I would try - I've seen that happen too when I was there last time. I think they had just some coins in their pocket but that was enough.

Getting excited now... gotta get the work bit done first though ha

[Park Addict 93]

I have never had an issue leaving a backpack at the GL station. The Superman lockers also haven’t had a charge for awhile now.

[red dragin]

I used to have pants with a pocket stitched on the inside, for credit card, pass and car key. Sat in the crease between leg and pubic area (male) so didn't stand out. Could even pull out the main pockets to show they were empty. 

Prior to that, credit card and pass in shoe under foot, key in the front of my shoe. Wasn't comfortable, but beat hiring a locker and was only for a short time for Superman. 

Edited July 8, 2019 by red dragin

[MickeyD]

3 hours ago, AlexB said:

Superman is the only main attraction without a 'free' storage system:

 

A--Lexi-B Superman Lockers have been FOC for some time now, just sayin😋

[marty]

Thanks for the additional input here - I think a small bag will be coming with me just to keep my gear together, and get the locker-needed bits out of the way before enjoying the rest of the day.

[DJKostya]

16 hours ago, AlexB said:

Be warned that Superman Escape is not compatible with this option. The greeter at the entrance to the queue will ask, and many of them are pretty good at spotting 'something heavy' swinging in cargo pockets and the like. A zipper is not good enough for the Superman loose item policy and you will be required to leave the queue and get a locker. I've seen it happen - even when the guy was already seated and harnessed.

True that, but the lockers there are free now as MickeyD pointed out. I do remember once they asked me to remove a used tissue I had in my pocket, I asked if they had a bin I could put it in but was told I would have to exit and get rid of it myself (Which I understand), luckily they let me jump the queue when I came back.

I guess my advice was more general advice for visiting a park on your own. I will admit there has been a few times (Pre-Superman's free lockers for example) where I have popped everything into my shoe or sock, which is why I carry minimal items.

[Spotty]

Green Lantern can have backpacks and other items left on the platform, and Superman is free for 1 hour. If you exceed the hour they -may- charge you $9 to open the locker, however I have never actually seen this happen.

[Gold Coast Amusement Force]

It’s 2 dollars for every additional hour.

[marty]

Hey all, I just wanted to pop back and say thanks for everyone's advice and input. I was at Movie World on Monday.

Had an absolute blast of a day, and had no issues with my bag. Locker for Superman, but everywhere else was fine. Queue times weren't too bad, although if I had a do-over I'd probably get a fast pass to skip some of those 30 minute waits. 

Had a blast with my camera too (off-ride, obviously - I love my landscape photography, and rollercoasters - duh - so was great to have brilliant conditions for that too)

Just a big thanks for everyone's input and suggestions - made heading out solo much easier knowing what to expect. And now I want to come back and do it all again

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Glad you enjoyed it. Feel free to post up some pics if you'd like - love to see what others can do with a camera and a coaster.

[marty]

Thanks AlexB. I only got back to Melbourne late yesterday so haven't had a lot of time to process them yet, but here's one that really stuck out for me. The brilliant blue skies in the afternoon really helped show off the scale of DC Rivals I think.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Circular polarisers also work wonders...

[marty]

Actually no polariser here - I was travelling light (my landscape kit is too heavy and bulky to carry for something like this) so was just handheld, filter free. I did use my polariser and NDs at Natural Bridge on Tuesday though  

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Wow, that's an incredible colour without a filter (unless you did some post processing?) - nice shot! 🤜

Edited August 8, 2019 by AlexB

[marty]

There is some post processing but actually really simple (compared to some of my other work) - mainly adjustments to shadows and highlights (is a high contrast subject after all), and a slight boost to vibrancy. Basically the simple edits you would normally take to process a RAW file - the light was really that brilliant on the day.

Here's a few more from the day too.

[Naazon]

They are brilliant photos. Would love to see some more from other parks when you come back. (SeaWorld 2020??)

[marty]

28 minutes ago, Naazon said:

They are brilliant photos. Would love to see some more from other parks when you come back. (SeaWorld 2020??)

Thank you 🙃and most definitely - as I was leaving MW I saw another vantage point for DC Rivals I want to check back on too. My last visit to Sea World was when the Sea Viper was SBNO closed for "maintenance" that never re-opened... so quite some time. The Storm Coaster is new for me too, and damn, that wooden beast should be pretty amazing.