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What do you think IS masterclass about the mini-land's execution? I'm interested to know why you disagree. I should be more specific with my opinions. I think the story, theme and name of the mini land is fantastic. Conceptually it had so much potential, but the overall execution of it was terrible: 1. The land was placed in the wrong location. Movieworld had a perfect area ready and waiting for this concept - the Arkham courtyard. This is where the land should have gone. It would have complemented the existing unofficial DC land, and Arkham Asylum theme perfectly (Joker has broken the villains out of Arkham and are reeking havoc). The old lethal gift shop could have been re-opened to sell the upcharge experience. Furthermore, the old lethal theatre could have been used for an indoor themed portion of the land (similar to the Knockturn alley mini-land at USO's Diagon Alley). Yes the available area is a lot smaller, but I think this compactness would have added a lot of atmosphere to the land (again similar to Diagon Alley at USO). The old boot hill graveyard and show stage should have been used for an expansion of the wild west area. 2. The Intamin Twin Hammer was a poor ride choice for MW and the land: Unpopular model that had a bad maintenance record with previous installations. Despite being a staple/classic amusement ride type, Intamin had only built 1 of these before (Space Attack) - which permanently closed in 2015 (1 year prior to doomsday opening). Richard wrote an article on the ride's downtime during 2015. This alone should have been enough red flags to find another manufacturer for this ride type, or a different flat ride altogether. Doomsday has been a maintenance nightmare since opening and has had a lot of downtime over the last 7 years. The themed land was designed for families, yet the anchor ride does not suit this demographic. Inverting rides scare off a lot of people, and a min. height requirement of 130cm prevents kids/tweens from riding. Movieworld didn't need another thrilling ride. It needed, and still needs, a reliable, high capacity, family-thrill flat ride with a 90-120cm min. height requirement. The ride system is unremarkable in the aus amusement/themepark landscape, and delivers underwhelming physical sensations. It's quite a dull experience for a "max thrill level" ride (as described on the MW website). The travelling Hangover delivers a more thrilling ride. Yes Doomsday is a "filler" attraction, but that doesn't mean the ride experience should be mediocre. 3. The upcharge experience is mediocre - and the negative influence it had on the land's design is not proportional to the experience it delivers. The decision to place the gift shop at the front of the land was made by bean counters (late in the project) to encourage sales of the wristbands. Because of this the spectacular Doomsday figure and sign is hidden from most guests, the land's entrance is a guest flow pinch point, and the shop obscures the view of Doomsday from the midway. All to upsell an upcharge that is dull, repetitive, not maintained regularly and not enticing for all ages. Originally a paid upcharge, turned into a free one, and now out of order. The upcharge didn't sell because the product was lacklustre. 4. The land doesn't blend in with surrounding areas. The transition between scooby - villains unleased - wild west is jarring and harsh. There is no graceful fade. It makes the mini land feel like a standalone experience that could have a separate admission fee.

No RF cards on the interactive elements in the supervillains area, and also appeared to be none for sale. In lieu of this they have decided to let Killer Crocs’ water feature just run constantly, which is cool, except the drainage wasn’t build for that, so it just floods the entire pathway (and also seems a decent waste of water….) Gees…. Just went on JL. Time to just gut that place and start again… I’d say at least 50% of the targets don’t work/register, or the 50% that do, half of those don’t go dark after hitting. 2 from 5 of the projection screens do not work at all (but audio plays for the scene you cannot see), the fog curtain doesn’t work, the doors are stuck open so the effect of the portals are useless, and half the animatronics are dead/frozen. 1/10. Do better Movieworld.

It's not 2020 anymore. Here's a new thread with all your favourite Nearmap updates all in one place. (Construction specific images can be found in the relevant construction threads) First up - everybody's favourite waterpark (June 5 2021) A little 'spruce up' looks underway for the WNW\AOS entry driveway - all the garden beds are dirt, and there's plenty of water thrown around - hopefully something nice and pleasing for the driveway as a little welcome to guests is on the way... Movie World - Also 5 June 2021 Dreamworld - 28 May 2021 This really gives you an idea of park attendance lately - the cars parked closest to the park gates are by far outnumbered by the cars parked over by the coaster construction. (This was taken on a friday) Also spotted in the maintenance area - a GD gondola shell, as well as - THE MISSING DRONKEYS! Out back of the Shell appears to be some of the removed railway tracks... White Water World shows its bones with most of the pools being completely drained for the Winter shutdown. And we'll finish up with Sea World - also taken on 5 May 2021 The village parks do look a lot busier - but bear in mind that the Dreamworld shots were all done on a friday, whereas the village parks were all shot on a Saturday...

Just remove the kinect games already. That whole area is a masterclass of how NOT to design a theme park land. The #1 worst decision execs made was swap the position of the gift shop and the Doomsday ride entrance - for the sole reason of forcing entry through a gift shop, in order to sell more upcharge wristbands. They hid arguably Australia's best ride entrance sign (also a very instagramable photo op) at the back of the land. And instead built a lacklustre faux brick gift shop as the land's entrance portal. This shop with the tall themed billboards obscures the 'reveal' of Doomsday from the midway (as you walk towards WWF) - making the ride look smaller and thus less grand/intimidating. Upcharge experiences should compliment an existing experience. Yet in this case, all it did was ruin any positive potential the land had. And now you can't even use the games! 0/10. Put the land and Doomsday in the bin.

You don't think part of the problem of lower numbers is what DW has to offer has been reduced? Ardent Leisure killing people wasn't the only issue, The old Ardent Leisure being shit and not investing in their product left the current team a mountain to climb.

even in park the complaints are bad, overhearing park guests talk about how bad the park looks, the lines are moving and even overhead a family requesting for a refund due to “the day being a waste of money.” even i go with my GP friends, and they bring up how movie world use to be so much better.

You clearly haven’t been on any of MW’s social pages of late. Complaints are endless.

I completely DISAGREE, I think Doomsdays seclusion from midway adds to the theme and experience. I feel like I'm in a mini land, although another DC land 🤣😂. I do agree the upcharges were probably a bad call. I did enjoy when they had the RF cards attached to the interactive elements. It's a shame they are no longer available.

Most/all of this spend was committed to before covid (and is being funded by huge debt). At its worst point, the joint had a couple of weeks left to run before it was lights out. It’s going to take many years before this is a healthy business, and right now there are much bigger priorities. There are about 20 people on the planet that notice the trivial issues being discussed here and they’re all on this thread.

So I stopped by the park again yesterday and was disappointed to see that all of the above mentioned issues have only gotten worse. Gardens have only become more overgrown, there’s still barely any background music playing around the park and even the main entrance gate has a massive crack in it in plain sight. Not to mention the terrible operations and staff who clearly didn’t want to be there. I was hoping there might have been at least some chance that VRTP could have looked at some of these issues before the busy Easter school holiday period, but that clearly isn’t the case. Can’t see too many people being impressed with the current state of the place.