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Wizard of OZ is screaming dark ride. MW ending up with the same ride as Gumbuya World is a tad embarrassing for MW management.

I mean, maybe Village Roadshow have been cleverly laying the groundwork for the past 5 years by subliminally marketing WOO land to us? This is the longest rollercoaster teaser campaign we've seen since Leviathan!

"Hemisphere’s first multi-type coaster"🤣 Man they suck at promoting.

https://movieworld.com.au/attractions/wizard-of-oz Website is live

Just getting article now - Opening 2024 - Two new rides (but really 3) - Wizard of Oz Precinct - "like nothing we've ever done before'" - new Marvin the Martian ride in Kids WB coming in 2023 "Gold Coast Theme Park Movieworld is taking a journey over the rainbow with plans for the world's first Wizard of Oz Roller-Coasters. Featuring two new rides, the Wizard of Oz Precinct is the theme park's first major addition in more than 5 years and comes with sister park Seaworld in the midst of a multi million dollar revamp for the New Artlantis Project. It will feature two family-friendly rides, including a multi launch coaster, capable of reaching speeds of almost 70 Km/h around a 454m track and a racing coaster where thrillseekers will travel simultaneously on two 220m tracks reaching speeds of up to 58KM/h. Height restrictions will apply but the rides are geared towards families and kids as young as five. Clark Kirby Quote "This precinct is going to be like nothing we have ever done at Movieworld and we are working closely with our partners to make this one of the most beautifully themed precincts in Australian theme parks. Crews have spent the last few weeks hauling away track and equipment to make way for the new Oz Precinct. Movieworld is also building a brand new kids ride in the Kids WB! Fun Zone in April 2023 featuring theming inspired by Marvin the Martian. Credit: Gold Coast Bulletin

I found this thumbnail image on Goldcoast bulletin when I searched for movieworld! Emerald city, the farm house and the wicked witches castle! This looks incredible, seems like the next level theming we were hoping for! I cannot read the report because I have to pay, if anyone is signed up read and share!

Bought the article myself, full-res concept image:

Looking at the highest rez version of the concept as I can find. I wonder if the artist has the suspended coaster heading in the wrong direction on that track? Same for the dueling coaters. One's in the wrong direction, unless one will go backwards from the start, and forward on the return leg. The old movies theming will work well. Hope to see more of it. For those crying that they wanted big thrills to replace AA, you can go enjoy Leviathan instead. MW has sorely needed new family attractions for some time.

https://fb.watch/envMuHymvs/ “We are bringing the movies back to Movie World” On behalf of every enthusiast, we thank you. FINALLY!

The Mack Wilde Maus series (according to RCDB) has been operating since the mid-90s. Scoob went in in 2002, and is entirely indoors and so isn't subjected to the usual weathering either. I think Scoob has a while left, but agree it would be the perfect pivot to do a dark ride either tied to WOO, or maybe they can even do a chocolate factory vibe since its a WB property also?

Wow wow wow that’s way better than I was expecting, and the concept artwork is more achievable and realistic this time (in comparison to the new Atlantis). Congratulations to MW for providing a new immersive land that isn’t anything like we’ve got in Australia, reaches into a market the park has needed to show some love to for some time (family attractions) and offering attractions we haven’t yet got that everyone will enjoy. What’s also exciting for me is the area of ‘straw’ next to the duelling coasters creates an opportunity for a future flat ride or two. The plaza area reminds me of Nintendo Land at USJ, which is a good thing because that’s a very impressive land (just with bad attraction choices). I hope the green castle looks good from behind because you’ll see that from Main Street and even from outside the park. Part of me thinks there won’t be access from Superman, but this concept art could be deceiving. Seeing this I hope there isn’t access and they use the Main Street and Scooby access because that allows for the arrival wow moment seeing the large buildings. Im also excited to see a new attraction coming to the kids area next Easter, a great and easier thing to do to offer something new while they construct WoO. I can’t imagine the coasters themselves will take that long to build, but the overall land and it’s theming and stations will be what takes the longest. I’d expect a 12-15 month construction period.

Do you guys honestly think they’ll run the both duelling coasters outside of school holidays ?

Road Runner is more likely to move and join the new coasters before its demolished.

If that was the case they wouldn’t have just invested in new trains

The second-biggest issue besides cost is space. How can the park expand beyond its footprint and where would all these pie-in-the-sky attractions be built? I've always wondered, and perhaps someone with more local knowledge can answer; what is the feasibility of reclaiming some of the swampland adjacent to (south and west of) DC Rivals to use for future park expansion? We're looking at a sizeable area, and if a portion of that was reclaimed, the footprint could potentially expand by up to 30%. Don't tell me it's impossible because 40 years ago, that's what the entire site looked like. There's also room to extend out the back between WWF and the Wizard of Oz land , behind the Showcase building, creating another much-needed loop in the park's overall layout. Move a couple sheds and shipping containers and, bam, plenty of room out the back there. Dark ride, stage show, Mad Max coaster... you know the drill. The grassy strip next to the park entrance (opposite side to GL) between the back-of-house and carpark is plenty large enough for a thrill ride or compact coaster. If there was ever a prime spot for an RMC single-rail, I'd say this would be it. Remember the Intencity dodgem hall? And before that, it was the Matrix building? What is that space used for now? It's obviously far too small for a proper ride or show, but another walk-through exhibit could be of real benefit and help in some capacity to soak up the crowds. I predict the Road Runner would go well before Scooby-Doo; especially now with an SFC joining the line-up, Road Runner will be pretty redundant in a few years. Axe it and put in a kiddie-sized water ride. Also, would it be impossible to repurpose the two operations buildings behind JDS? What's in there and could it be moved into the hotel complex? Would it be infeasible to expand the WB Zone out that way? Just some ideas about spaces that could be utilised, although a 500-ft T-Rex and a B&M Giga would of course be welcomed. 😏

I believe they meant to say treatment, in which instead of demolishing the ride once it reaches the end of it's service life, they just repurchase the exact same coaster in the same spot with the same/slightly updated theming.

Ignore the man behind the curtain.

INB4 woodie beside wild west, something something mad max, something matrix, something something river ride, dark ride, use the whole LTRR show building, get rid of HWSD and replace with better show, use showstage for an actual show again. miss anything?

Vekoma model the park is getting isn’t launched, you’ll find that’s just a mistake by the media (similar to Today Show this morning showing WWW in its package about VTP, as well as the reporter saying “2 family friendly rides and one thrill ride”).

It confuses my why Movie World would choose to downplay this by stating two rides, when there are three distinct tracks, but the enthusiast in me is satisfied that the Parkz database entries tagged in the article show the boomerangs as "unknown...1" and "unknown...2"

Multi-type coaster? I don’t even know what that means. Just call it a damn coaster.

Alternatively WOOP (WIZARD OF OZ PRECINCT) 😄

Looks great! Nice to finally have it confirmed. Keeping my expectations low (New Atlantis concept art) but if it's coming in 2024 you never know what they'll be able to pull off! I understand the SFC theming (Flying Monkeys!) but how are they going to tie the Duelling Boomerang to Kansas? 😁

I wonder where they got their inspiration from for the SFC theme 👀 "The E-Tickets here included a FLYING MONKEY COASTER where you “fly” with the Monkey’s on a mission (inverted coaster)". https://disneyandmore.blogspot.com/2013/10/gary-goddards-wonderful-world-of-oz.html

Here's my analysis: 1) A barnyard-style building that serves as the entrance from the Superman plaza, rebuilt from the former Arkham queue building. 2) An enclosed walk-through of the woods area ("Lions, tigers and bears, oh my!), rebuilt from the Arkham loading station. The path continues, weaving through the SFC. 3) SFC entrance. Clearly, the SFC is themed to the Wicked Witch's castle. Guests will climb up and into the towers to board and exit through the gravel pathway just below the banked turn. 4) Another (?) barn-style building, split in two, for the dueling Boomerangs. I believe the station would be on the left side, with a fork-off from the main road (the one that goes towards the SFC). 5) Emerald City plaza, with lots of things for the little ones to see, do and touch. Possible "yellow brick road" alleyway back to Main Street. Could be off by a bit but that's just my two cents...

"And... you can ride it... BACKWARDS."

It's not a multi launch coaster. It is 100% the Vekoma SFC 450 model. And the duelling boomerang model is a clone of "Tweestryd" at Wildlands Zoo Emmenseen.

If the finished product looks even remotely near like that consider myself impressed. That’s a lot to promise given what Village has shown they’re willing to do in the last 10 years. Looks like a sizeable chunk of the area will be re-using the old Lethal Weapon courtyard.

TL:DR - Return To Oz is owned by Disney and it's unlikely you'll bring those characters to Movie World. If you don't want to read a century long history of the land of oz, skip the rest. If you want to read a page long rambling summary of the even longer Wiki article then settle down and read on... (Don't complain and say you weren't warned. If I could still use spoiler tags I would have.) All of the original L Frank Baum stories entered the public domain throughout the 80s and up to 1995, although several other writers have written Oz based works later than that, 27 of them (including Baum) are now public. There are still 19 different stories released later that are still protected by US copyright, with the last to expire owned by a still-living author, which won't expire until 70 years after they die. All that said, since the original works are out, so long as you stick to the concepts presented from the originals, you'd be fine, but any imagery from film adaptations that is a trademark of the film may still be subject to protection - which means no Green Wicked Witch, and no Red Ruby Slippers. (it's why Winnie The Pooh can now be used by artists at will, but not if he has a red shirt, which is a disney trademark still protected by law). The first films for Oz were silent films, all of which entered the public domain by 1954. Imagery from the MGM 1939 film (Judy Garland) was renewed in 1967 for a 95 year term, so won't expire until 2035. The Disney film 'Return To Oz' mentioned above wasn't even the first sequel - as 'Journey Back to Oz' (1974) was an animated sequel loosely adapted from one of Baum's original sequels. Disney owned all the film rights to Baum's books (except the original Wizard Of Oz). Like many of the current live action films we're seeing produced by the mouse house, the Return to Oz film (1985) was an attempt at extending their rights to the stories by producing further derivative works. It was a critical failure and so they abandoned further Oz films. Disney even used Ruby Slippers - which aren't in the original Baum story, but were a creation of the MGM 1939 Judy Garland version, but by 1985 the Ruby Slippers were so synonymous with the story that they paid MGM for the rights to portray the ruby slippers in their film. Likewise the Wicked Witch of the West is portrayed as a particular shade of green, despite her not being green in the books. (And interesting side note, but I learned just recently that the Margaret Hamilton character was portrayed on an episode of Sesame Street - I think back in the 70s, that aired once to much controversy and was buried by the childrens television workshop, and it has only just recently been released to the public after almost 50 years locked in the vault.) As for the James Franco 'Oz the great and powerful' (2013) by Disney - it was billed as a 'spiritual prequel' to the original 1900 story and loosely based in the world 20 years before the 1939 film. Disney had no permission from MGM or the rights to use the still-protected works or imagery - so the film retained a copyright expert to ensure that the wicked witch's green was distinctly different from the protected shade used by Margaret Hamilton. The Emerald City had to be distinctly different also. While WB and Disney didn't directly battle it out over this film, they did file rivalling trademarks to the name 'Oz the Great and Powerful' however the US patent office suspended WB's attempt as Disney had filed a week earlier. I know. it's tenuous at best but I knew the Disney film was still protected and off-limits to Village for use in the park, but in researching and fact checking this I found a far more interesting story with very complex rules and dates for various different written and film works, and I find this interesting, and thought i'd share it in case others found it interesting. If you did actually read this far - let me know by a reaction to the post! All that said, clearly the park has licence to the characters in main street, but as we've discovered, IP rights in parks can vary, and roaming characters, and ride themes, and shows can all be very different licences. The copyright on the film adaptations (those for which MOVIE world would likely want to attach) are a little complicated, so I would suggest which characters and what elements are used within the rides and theming would be very carefully curated and controlled.

Someone literally said a staff member said it wasn’t opening any time soon. The first party evident that the whole ride sits on a giant slab is the fact it does, which anyone can see with their eyes. The fact you believe your word is good (the ‘as mine’ bit is redundant) is cute. The entire idea the ride is sinking is nonsense.