What's Happening with Movie World?

[Richard]

At a recent visit to Warner Bros. Movie World, there is one thing that is immediately obvious. The park is incredibly more popular since the introduction of Scooby-Doo Spooky Coaster, there is no denying that. Movie World has spent the last 10 years trying new things to boost attendance significantly enough, and they've finally found it. It is clearly evident that Scooby Doo is what is attracting thousands more families through the gates. Wild Wild West (now Wild West falls) didn't do it when it opened, neither did Lethal Weapon, Looney Tunes Land didn't. They've finally managed to increase attendance dramatically, and personally, it is for the worse, at least short term. Movie World was designed clearly without capacity in mind. The park itself has narrow paths, no real open areas and is notorious for uneven distribution, thanks to the 'T' shape of the park, and the inability to get crowds flowing. They have added rides that aren't designed to be really high capacity, simply because there has never been the need. Scooby Doo, which runs quite consistantly at 1000pph, had an hour thirty queue today, to give you an idea of the crowds. Lethal Weapon, a ride that I have never queued for, other than waiting for the doors to open etc. Today, it had an hour queue. What really irritated me, was the lack of a second train on the track. The ride has two trains available, since the Blue train recently returned from a big rehab. Movie World has proved that two trains can be run effectively ont his ride earlier this year, when there was no queue. What does it take to utilise this when there is a desperate need to? If Movie World really wants to take this increase in popularity to their benefit, it won't be as easy as sitting back and taking in the profits, as other parks are able to do. Quite the opposite. The park should hit the ground running, so to speak. If the park is smart, they will do their first major expansion since opening, within the next few years, at the latest. An expansion, not necessarily consisting of giant B&M and Intamin creations. Just an area, that has some signature attraction/s, which not only draws crowds, but manages them effectively. Not another dead and area, like EVERYTHING currently in the park. No, they will have to make it lead somewhere, make it possible to exit the area a different way to entering. Honestly, when you're at a park, you get hungry, and decide to eat, you head usually to the closest food outlet. Movie World only has two real fast food shops, both very close to each other. As I entered the Gotham City Cafe today, I was rather hesitant to order, for the simple reason that in the surrounding area, where they have tables and chairs, there was not a single table free. If they are to expand the park. They will need more than attractions, and some amazing theming budget. They need facilities: toilets, various shops, food of course and anything else of this nature. Anything to relieve the stress put on the few of these facilities that already exist. Scooby-Doo Spooky Coaster is a ride that certainly has changed everything. But unless they can expand to meet the current demands, I see little point in further promoting the park. Comments, personal or similar experiences are more than welcome.

[Ian]

great theard and i agree with everything you said. as for coasters i think movieworld needs 2 over the next few years a hyper and a big wooden like movie world spain or knotts as for how i see the parks i arrived here from nz in jan and IMO movieworld remindes me a bit of Knotts Berry Farm in 1995 and disneyland as well, "meaning there are about to expand where dreamworld gives me more of a sfmm feel. one thing which is sad with scobby thou is the theming is starting to chip with paint ect when I 1st saw this ride disneyland theming came straight to mind, but sadly the quailty is beginning to chip.

[Richard]

The story with the chipping paint. A majority of the theming is merely polystyrene with a hard fibreglass coating. They then add the details, such as the roughness for the stone effect, similar method to concrete rendering and paint it. Media Day (15 July I believe), they opened the ride to the public late in the day, just to give it a real dress rehearsal (before that, it had only taken some staff, and media) before the opening. The ride's supervisor, who's name slips me at the moment, said to the few queueing, jokingly, having people give the wall a bit of a look over, "Try all you want; the walls are un-pickable". I have never seen so many people dash towards the closest wall and then frantically try and rip it to shreds. Needless to say, when I had a look over it later that day, it was obvious that his claim that they weren't unpickable was obviously false. If it were truely Disney quality, then it wouldn't have been possible to chip in the first place. And if it were, it would be fixed by the next operating day. However, you must keep in mind that Disney have a much larger budget to begin with, and I'd imagine that their maintenance team is more than likely double what Movie World's would be if it were the same size. You really hit the nail right on the head there. They need to add some good coasters, or just high capacity rides in general. The hypercoaster is almost a given, and with the way they are heading, if this isn't one of the next few investments, then I'll go ahead and say that they missed out on the most blatantly obvious complimenting additions. I deliberately tried to stick away from ride additions in my original post, because straight up, the park need A LOT more than a new coaster or two to really improve.

[joz]

Odly enough, I had a customer today with a 3 park super pass who came back to SW. When asked about what he thought of the other parks, he said that he came back to SW because MW is too commercial, and SW handles the crowd better. I asked him what day he went to MW, and he said he went on Monday (same day as Richard). So Richard does make a very valid point about expanding the park. Personally, I think Movieworld with 4 major attractions (Lethal Weapon, Wild West Falls, Scooby Doo & I guess you can count Batman as well) already has enough major, especially considering Dreamworld only has 4 major attractions (Giant Drop, Cyclone, Tower of Terror & Wipeout), and Seaworld has a grand total of 2 (Bermuda Triangle & Corkscrew). No, the problem with Movieworld is just that its too small, and the layout is appalling, to say the least. The 'T' shape of the park is an example of a nice sounding idea not working well in the real world. The best solution right now from my point of view, would be to put the entrance to their next attraction behind the stunt show. Make paths to the ride from both the Wild West section and the Looney Tunes Village, that way there'd be heaps of room to add food shops, a few flat rides (something that I think Movieworld really needs some more of) some more toilets, and perhaps a quiet area of the park, and you've got yourself a whole new area of the park to explore. What ever they do, they'd better get on with it; I know of at least one customer from today who'll only be going out to SW and DW next time they come up to the Gold Coast.

[thunder001]

I can not agree with everything said here more. The whole layout of the park is wrong for expansion and for crowd control. With DW, the layout allows you to walk right around the park, thus allowing for you to do a number of things. Number one is that if the path goes aroung the entire park, then the customer stays in the park for longer. 2 The customer is more likly to buy a food or clothing item if in the park for a longer time. 3 It gives the customer the feel that there is more to do within the park, due to the walk time. and it also gives the parks rides max exposure to the customer to incress the rides apeal. And these ideas are just of the top of my head, so lets face the fact that until the park improves it's layout, it will not be as apealling to the customer as the other parks. But this is just my opion.

[Shaun]

I totaly agree with Joz about expanding into a new area behind the stunt show and linking it up to the other areas to make a continues track and I reckon that there would be a pretty good chance of them probaly doing that. Last time I went to MW (before scoobydoo) the park seemed very small and annoying because of all the dead ends and to get to any big rides like lethal weapon or wild west you had to walk up long boring paths only to turn around and come back again. I rember the area between the Gotham city cafe and the wild west ride seemed all very boring and dull and seemed like a lot of wasted space. The thing you do mostly at a theme park is walk, and it's so boring haveing to doubleback all the time along the same long boring roads. Usualy when I'm bored at a park I just tend to walk around and look but you soon get sick of that at MW. Anyway I havn't checked out these forums for a couple of months now becuase no one was talking on them, and today I was bored so decided to have a look at them and was pleasntly surprised to see so many posts and I spent qite a while reading them. It is so much more interesting reading about Australian parks that you know about than reading the overseas forum. I was one of the first members to sign up here (not that that means anything) and am glad to see this site grow in members and in posts. I just wish that I could be up there in the action with yous instead of stuck down here in Victoria. Anyway looking forward to participating Shaun

[joz]

Sorry to hear about being in Melbourne.... how is Luna Park BTW I tell ya something though, Shaun has said exactly what I've been trying to say (with very little success) for a while now. "Usually when I'm bored at a park I just tend to walk around and look but you soon get sick of that at MW." Couldn't have said it better myself. Dreamworld and Seaworld (and to a lesser extent, WnW) accommodate to those who are just 'walking around' very well. 2/3rds of those parks are just quiet areas where you can just walk around and look. Movieworld does not. What's more, Dreamworld, Seaworld, Wet 'n' Wild and even Wonderland have offer stuff to do when your a bit over the rides. Be it flat rides, or shows (Movieworld only has 3 shows that appeal to a wide audience), a water park, animals and in the case of Wet 'n' Wild; a Wave Pool & Lazy river. Movieworld has nothing in the way of diversions, and the constant back tracking is irritating to say the least. As far as actual operations of the park are concerned, well, I think they're going through a bit of a rough patch. I had a customer who went to the park on Indy Sunday, and the report card from the park was not good. Scooby Doo had down time for most of the day (kinda ok, it is a new ride after all), Batman was running motionless all day, parades were cancelled (due to rain), and then there's the fact that Harry Potter remains closed for re-theming (she then made a small gesture toward her 12(?) year old son). Like I say, I think that the operations of the park may have just had a bit of a hiccup, and will be on top of things soon. But even when they are, they will still be left with the same park, with the same infrastructure problems. Only a new area of the park can relieve that, no matter how well the park is run..

[Shaun]

"Couldn't have said it better myself" lol Well thanks Joz :oops: I never really thought of that, DW,SW & WW do have some really nice quiet spots that you can just hang around and relax in. Just some where to get away from the rides and crowds. Another thing I like to do when I am bored is just hop on the parks transport system and just ride that around for a while relaxing and watching everything go past. (beets walking ) So you can do this at SW on the monerail, DW on the train and on the Clypso beach ride to some extent at WW but there is nothing like that at Movie World! Another thing..... lol is that all the shows at Movieworld are very full on. Not like at Seaworld where you can just go sit down and watch the dolphin show and relax. The MW ones seem a lot more full on, where you just can't sit and relax . It's hard to explain. You just can't sit and relax, you have got to be concentrating and with all the loud noises and effects.... I hope you get my drift Anyway what i think I'm trying to say is that there is not many places to relax in at MW Anyway Shaun

[Ian]

I agree that you back track at Movieworld alot, but as for the shows I think some are alot more fun then Dreamworld and not all are full on. Did you know that durning the PA stunt show outside in the main st there are the following shows going on Marilyn Monroe, the Director Show, Bonnie and Clyde, Austin Powers, Elvis in the afternoon and of course Bat Attack 12:15 and Parade of Stars 14:30 As for indy sunday it was pissing down I would stop rides if I was in charge as for Batman I worked in Batman that day and the ride was in full motion the customer you talked to must of gone on 1 of the 3 motionless flights that they do each day for people who dont like thrills. And remember at the end of the day Movieworld is a movie park like Universal Studios Hollywood where Dreamworld is a Thrill Ride park like SFMM or Knotts.