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  1. Hot PR tip for the person managing the social media account: If you're explaining, you're losing. Everything in that statement prior to the last paragraph should never, ever be said publicly or privately to a paying customer. They do not care about why the rides are closed, planned or not. They care about the fact that they've paid $110 to enter the park to watch HWSD2 while eating $20 chicken nuggets and possibly getting a ride on WWF, if it's open. They care about the disappointment they're experiencing for paying so much money to effectively enter an overpriced, extremely limited shopping mall. Movie World's failures are not the customer's fault - even if scheduled maintenance is listed on the website, people expect the majority of rides to be open, not one ride for part of the day. Acknowledge the unplanned stoppages and then direct people to guest services and tell them that you want to make it right. Don't say that guests are going to be 'well informed and an outcome achieved'. That's effectively code for 'Go F*** Yourself, no refunds'. Just acknowledge the disappointment, acknowledge the unplanned stoppages, acknowledge that this is not how you want guests to experience the park and then direct them to guest services because you want the chance to make it right. That's it. What guest services offer can be tailored to what the guests want, but don't blame the visitor because Movie World can't keep on top of ride maintenance enough to keep even ONE roller coaster operating. Right now, you're taking a bad situation and making it worse.
    20 points
  2. Wow! I can't wait for this to be the only ride within a ride in the southern hemisphere operating at MW.
    14 points
  3. I don't think anyone is disputing closing once and doing all the necessary work. The thing that people are pointing out is that they're doing that on SE AND Batwing AND DD (which has other issues) AND Scooby all at the same time, with a lot of unplanned stoppages/late openings/closed seats on GL, Rivals, RR, and WWF. There have been several days where MW were charging $110 single day entry for people to watch HWSD2, and see Batman showcase because every single adult ride has been closed, as well as Road Runner - meaning there was not a single roller coaster or thrill ride operational. That is an unacceptable situation to be in and is 100% due to the park's management failing to invest adequately in the maintenance of their rides, plan maintenance schedules properly, and replace defunct rides in a timely manner when it is clear that they've reached the end of their lifespan (SD, AA, DD). But also due to the types of rides and attractions they operate. A simulator ride like Batman could operate even if one or two simulators failed - just at reduced capacity. The Movie Magic show could still operate if one of the show elements failed, other areas of the show could be padded out and the host could still explain how things work with other demonstrations. It also means that annual maintenance can occur on part of the attraction while it is still operational, reducing the amount of time it would need to be closed. It is also apparent that there are management issues from staff attitudes toward visitors. Staff are not friendly, none of them want to be there, and replies to customer complaints on social media have shown absolute contempt for visitors that just wanted a fun day out with their family. Compare that with DW, where they acknowledge they are in a state of transition, they know most of the park is a construction zone, but the staff are engaging, friendly, courteous, and genuinely want to see people enjoying themselves. I visited DW for the first time since 2015 the other week and the staff were the single most memorable part of my day. The staff issue at MW is what really indicates this is a top-down problem because the front line workers are unsupported and have no power to fix the situation for unhappy visitors. A theme park is a retail business, a service industry business, an art/design and performance business and a heavy machinery business. Movie World was once the stand out performer in Australia for all of these, but it's fallen behind in all of them and completely bungled the last one. People are rightfully pointing out that 2 month closures should be unnecessary, and planned overlapping closures are just bad management. But 2 month closures when you've got so many other closures - planned or temporary - happening in the park to the point that people are paying full price entry and cannot go on a single ride, is what most people in this thread are complaining about. Yes, DW have some extended closures for various reasons, but the difference is in the broader context of the park's offerings and operations.
    13 points
  4. The Emporium has been repainted to remove the bright red, replaced with a better looking brown which gives it a better vibe. Apparently the whole of main street is being repainted to make it look more timeless. I think it looks great, and am happy to see the rest get painted the same. (thanks to Gold Coast Theme Parks on FB)
    12 points
  5. Seems as good a place as any to post this… nice little subtle dig at the park down the road….
    11 points
  6. AA closed in 2019, was demolished in 2022 and Groundwork for the coasters started over a year ago. abc kids world closed 5 months ago and groundwork for the coasters is nearly done, with all of the theming being assembled off site. i dont think its really comparable.
    10 points
  7. Absolutely. Ever since BGH Capital’s takeover of Village, the guest experience has taken such a dramatic nosedive and their poor management and cost-cutting is destroying the park’s reputation at a pretty alarming rate. It’s clear they only care about profits and don’t have a clue what made the park so special in the first place. So sad to see a place I loved so much fall so low.
    9 points
  8. I'm assuming that's a wrap on Doomsday. Watch village leave the ride to rot and degrade for 2 years before deciding to get rid of it. Also, Village with this 2-month maintenance bs for every ride has to be about saving money. Dreamworld the only rides that take that long is Gold coaster and if it's a major refurb.
    9 points
  9. I can confirm that Greg and most of the upper management in the park were very good leaders and some of them actually personally trained me when I worked for Movie World. Basically when Greg left, he took the good ones with him and left some of the others behind haha. I do remember one day when I was working, getting a bit of a shock when I looked up at the Superman control room to see Greg in the operators seat haha. And I know people that currently work for Dreamworld, and that same culture from what I have heard is very much alive in the park. Honestly from an employee standpoint, 2006 - 2014 really was some of the peak years for staff in regards to how they were treated.
    8 points
  10. The Cost to re build the Sky Voyager facade back to suit the area, while I believe is important to do at some stage, the capital can be better spent in the short term on more impactful projects that have better ROI. Such as a new ride. While impactful these works on Main street is more or less just repainting. The cost to rebuild the facades on Sky Voyager will be significantly higher.
    8 points
  11. Things really aren’t looking good at MW right now. Apart from all the previously mentioned issues (such as constant ride closures, poor operations, temporary fences at every turn, lack of music and atmosphere in most areas, a large amount of dead/disused spaces, rude/disinterested staff and terrible communication with guests), general presentation and upkeep around the park is severely lacking. There’s so much exposed wiring and conduit all over the place (some in very noticeable locations like the Scooby Doo facade and Wild West Falls), lots of broken equipment, numerous severely faded and worn out signs and gardens full of weeds. The whole place just feels very neglected at the moment. Here are a few “highlights”. I could go on, as issues like these are literally at every corner of the park and are so consistent that you can’t help but notice. It’s so disappointing considering how well kept the place used to be.
    8 points
  12. I don’t think it is from a ‘we’ll close rides to save money’ perspective, but more a lack of organisation in their maintenance department to ensure they have all the necessary parts for any unexpected downtime. And also a lack of managing their attraction downtime periods to reduce overlaps. Rides have and will always need yearly maintenance, but in reason years MWs attraction seem to be needing more of it, for longer periods and more rides are closing at once. The impacts of the TRRR incident has definitely had an impact on maintenance periods, but they need to get on top of this and streamline their maintenance processes. Rides will always have unexpected breakdowns from time to time, but the way to reduce the impact from this is to not have any more than two (whether that’s two main attractions, two kids attraction, or one of each) closed at a time (Obviously having Scooby closed for several years effects this, but in this case I wouldn’t include that in this formula). And try not to have the closed attractions next to each other in the park (for example, don’t close Doomsday & WWF at the same time because that makes one quarter of your park closed). For a long time they would close Storm Coaster at SW from Feb to April because that aligned with shortly after when the attraction opened and they had to ensure they completed maintenance the same time every year. And to fix that they did two lots of maintenance so its annual schedule could be moved to the much more sensible time of the year (winter). So maybe they need to do this again with all of their rides at MW. This would mean there would be a year when some rides would need to close twice, but if that meant a better schedule for the years to come, I think that would be worth it. So no I don’t think they’re closing their rides on purpose to save money, but I do think they are saving money by not investing in a catalogue of (backup) parts that they keep in back of house so that when rides do go down, they don’t have to order and wait for them to arrive. This cant necessarily be done for every kind of part for every ride in the park, but at least some effort should be made. But I don’t have any evidence of whether that’s fact or not, but whatever they are doing now isn’t working. They have become shit at managing their park, attraction operations and their maintenance. And if it continues like this it’s going really start to hurt their performance and most importantly (from their perspective) their pockets.
    8 points
  13. You're kidding yourself @themagicianif you believe MW isn't cost cutting on purpose by increasing maintenance times. DW are cost cutting by reducing park hours, MW are cost cutting by extending time frames. MW mechanics aren't working on 4 closed rides, every day at the same time, for 2 months.
    7 points
  14. In case you fall over from shock of how amazing the theming in the tunnel is?
    6 points
  15. Recent pic of the site. More concrete!
    6 points
  16. Funny you should say that... I worked at the park for several years, and Wild West Falls was one of the rides that I operated the most (along with Scooby) and not once did I ever have to stop the ride or witness a ride stop due to someone jumping the fence. It really doesn't happen often at all, people standing up on West was much more frequent but with the new harnesses it would be pretty much impossible to do that now.
    6 points
  17. That’s good they’ve gone to the effort to adding speakers and bringing back music to the area (because it definitely needed it). Maybe im being too harsh, but that feels like such a half assed effort of hanging speakers from a tree. Why not actually mounted them to a wall or somewhere more inconspicuous so you can’t see them. That tree is already cluttered with stuff, it didn’t need more adding to it. The area needed music, but if this is the best they can do, maybe they shouldn’t have bothered. I don’t know! (someone feel free to call me out if that too harsh). It’s just disappointing to see this is how the park is managed now and they seem to respond to feedback in a panic and just see what sticks.
    6 points
  18. https://x.com/jeremy__broten/status/1766118919897763983?s=46 ssstwitter.com_1709970086418.mp4
    6 points
  19. The post states: Construction is underway for the year-round alpine coaster, and it's set to open this winter! ❄️⛷ It will be 1.5km long, reaching speeds of up to 40km/h and riders will travel along a mix of uphill and downhill tracks featuring a tunnel, bridges and circles that traverse the alpine environment. And here are the photos shared
    6 points
  20. You can get a few angles on said bridge by DC / TopGolf, and on the road to PC. The first helix can be seen from the Superman Escape area in park. You got me! Here's the unedited original:
    6 points
  21. 3rd article about TRRR in the last 24 hours. if I’m one of the families I’m sick of it continuing to be brought up by the media every few months to get some clicks. move on.
    5 points
  22. Guys, they've hung two PA speakers in a tree. That's not a step in the right direction, that literally the least amount of effort possible. Movie World has always been my happy place, but the place now is honestly a glorified shopping centre with 2 decent coasters, a long void of anything interesting and then a water ride.
    5 points
  23. Neither, but I feel that (much like many other things Village have done recently), they respond to things now and don’t think about the future and the impacts it will have
    5 points
  24. This is why attractions like the Movie Magic Special Effects Show and the old Batman Simulator rides are important in a park's line up. Even if half the simulators break, or if one effect isn't working, you can still operate the attraction at reduced capacity, or stretch out other parts of the show to fill the time. At this point they should just do a Luna Park, open the park for free and sell wrist bands to kids that want to go on rides, hope that parents spend up on food and merch.
    5 points
  25. This is Actually insane. To think they moved a coaster over to cover capacity loss from Scooby, just to piss fart around with it like all their maintenance jobs and not have it open, along with everything else. It's deplorable that they'd have the gall to both open the park and charge full price knowing families won't have the foresight to check what's running. No park in the world gets away with this crazy level of shithousery, nor do they let themselves exhibit such poor function in the first place.
    5 points
  26. @Gobbledok that's it running with counterweights. I don't think the ride can operate without them.
    4 points
  27. both sides of Kansas Twisters spikes have been put into place. the only thing left now is the lift hills. (the_themepark_social_network)
    4 points
  28. On the contrary, the least amount of effort possible is what they've been doing - nothing. This is literally 'A' step.
    4 points
  29. I don’t think in any situation, putting the flash (a red coaster) within Superman (a red coaster) was a good idea. Superman towers over Flash making it look so insignificant and not exciting. At WnW it towered over anything that was nearby and it made it look impressive, but at MW it isn’t. And with it tangled within Superman’s track I’d say guests are going to get confused with what coaster is what. It doesn’t matter that Superman is nearly 20 years old and there’s entry signage, people still get confused with this sort of thing. The Flash at MW (in my opinion) was not the right decision, but having it within Superman was a terrible idea.
    4 points
  30. Nobody wants to see that ride again on the GC. It’s a travelling fair ride essentially. We need an immersive dark ride, not a carnival ride in a room
    4 points
  31. The whole animal area is still just as popular as tiger island (even for the non-international tourists). I think it’s a great way to break up your (full day) visit to the park. It offers something different to the other parks and as the park are pushing more towards being family focused, it’s perfect for that demographic. They’ve got plenty of other land for plenty more rides.
    4 points
  32. The theming for the Flash devalues MW as a theme-park. DC Super- villains is the standard MW set, anything less is a backwards step.
    4 points
  33. Worth noting the full Locals Annual Pass price has been $149 since November 2022. Of course there has been various promotions for it between $99-$129. Currently it’s pay full price but receive a $50 F/B voucher: From memory the Saver/Value pass increased $10 prior to the 23/24 summer holiday period. The park is well worth $149 for a year at present even without Rivertown imho. The operations and standard of the park is massively above VRTP.
    4 points
  34. That’s actually disgusting to see the park has come to that. Sort your shit out Village.
    4 points
  35. That's just it though isn't it. This past weekend illustrated that they've stopped giving a shit. Replying to people and saying the equivalent of "you should have checked the website before you visited, so it's your fault, LOL" is really really bad form. And social media comments this week has revealed just how many people were still unaware scooby was down for several years - even more than a year after it originally closed. The ride is a fan and family favourite. They could have closed it, knocked it down and put up another DC attraction, or an upcharge, but instead they've decided to invest in it's future properly by taking the hard decision to close it down for several years and fix everything - which is a bold decision after the time it spent in next generation limbo. They should be proud that they're doing this - refurbing a classic instead of gutting it as a place to store more parade floats - and they should be doing everything within reason to ensure guests are aware of it... rather than burying it at the bottom, hoping people don't notice it and still decide to visit because if they don't notice, and pay to enter, they've already got your money, and if they profited off you, they don't care how you feel because people still keep coming. but the tide is changing.
    4 points
  36. i really just can’t believe they’re adding a boh facility in prime Atlantis expansion real estate.
    4 points
  37. 4 points
  38. Why do you insist on gatekeeping this shit. If you have it, just post it.
    4 points
  39. It's not, but the difference is DW schedule their maintence so it's spaced out throughout the year so there aren't multiple major rides closed for months at the same time. While currently MW have four major attractions closed (Scooby being one and Doomsday now not having a reopening date). It seems the 1-2 month closures are the normal now (due to the new requirements post the river rapids investigation), but what the parks need to do is manage their timing and try and reduce the mutli-ride downtime as much as possible.
    3 points
  40. Yikes, this comment didn't age well, did it? Claw, Motocoaster, Kenny's Flyers, Shockwave and now Serpent Slayer are closed for 2 months or more this year...
    3 points
  41. We can only hope.. And then tear down the whole area, and re-purpose the sound stage. I understand Batman Legacy will be heading off at some point this year, and with it the end of the WB Showcase concept.
    3 points
  42. This maybe so, but look how poorly that land has turned out. The past year they’ve repairing the damaged statues and theming, but otherwise it’s been looking very tired. I’d argue when Wild West first opened that was the highest standard Movie World had set for a land. Villains was very well done, but it wasn’t as immersive as Wild West
    3 points
  43. I think with wooden coasters you often see a big raft because there are so many ground connections that a big raft is easier than trying to coordinate heaps of closely spaced piles. Premier rides did this on their spaghetti bowl coasters too for similar reasons. https://rcdb.com/528.htm#p=1769
    3 points
  44. This! I'm glad others are noticing. I think we forget how important staff interactions, behaviours, work ethic and operations are to the overall themepark experience. Whilst impressive rides and attractions are essential, the quality of staff can profoundly alter your overall perception of a themepark. It's the main reason why I leave Dreamworld/WWW feeling happier and more fulfilled than after a day at any VRTP property these days.
    3 points
  45. The below article is very interesting & inspiring for all in the theme park community. Jamberoo is a 'quiet achiever' in the Australian theme park industry as the above comments show, particularly in the water park market. Whilst telling some interesting & sad stories about Jamberoo's history (some I didn't know about until the article's publication), the article clearly reveals why Jamberoo is a 'quiet achiever'. I won't give the whole story away but the article below should be essential reading for all theme park industry professionals particularly after the relatively recent Thunder River Rapids tragedy at Dreamworld. The article gives hope for the future of the Australian theme park industry and whilst I know Dreamworld has made significant & impressive announcements recently about their future, Dreamworld & Coast Entertainment Holdings management should use the below story as inspiration to motivate themselves even more to return as one of Australia's great & trusted theme parks (though I'm already very confident in Greg Yong's theme park managerial skills compared to the skills of pre-tragedy Dreamworld management under the recently renamed Macquarie/Ardent Leisure). Whilst this interesting article focuses on Jim Eddy, Jamberoo's owner, it is somewhat overshadowed by what I described earlier as... Whilst it's not the most ridiculous idea in the world as it has been done in many countries on a larger scale, it is bizarre for 2 reasons - as far as I am aware, no other theme park in the world has contemplated such a proposal & secondly, it is controversial. Apart from time & technical reasons, the latter reason (controversial) is another reason for the deliberate delay in publication of the full article into this topic since I mentioned it on Thursday. It was to make a clear gap in the forum discussion as moderators may have to justify the proposal having its own separate topic if it generates lots of discussion due to its controversial nature. Surprisingly though, the proposal hasn't made any more news since July 28, 2023, particularly since Kiama, Jamberoo's local government area, is a very environmentally conscious locality & because the whole Illawarra (mainly between Wombarra & Kiama) is currently in the middle of a controversial debate on whether to have a wind farm off the coast. Heck, I'm even surprised not a single person on Parkz found out about the "bizarre" proposal at the time of its July 2023 publication as well. Anyway, enjoy!... (The "most bizarre theme park proposal I've ever seen" is in bold text (if you can't be bothered reading the whole article. However, the article builds to it though through its theme of 'risk')) From The Illawarra Mercury:
    3 points
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